Vroomans Visit

The Vroomans were in town for a visit and we went to Crown Center and Kaleidoscope.  

Tyler brought his new virtual reality headset for us to try out too.  It was a roller coaster ride that was pretty amazing.

Fall Soccer

Another soccer season is in the books.  I don't think they won a game, but they still had fun!  Hannah tried out the goalie position for the first time this season.  She liked it and she still likes playing defender, too.

Nelson Atkins

 We spent a fall afternoon doing at the art museum.  My favorite place with my favorite people. 

We got to touch the carved door with gloves.

There was a Day of the Dead celebration in the main hall.

And Olive honored a loved one.

Random Fall Pictures

a full rainbow at soccer practice

Olive's first grade teacher sent me this.  She often chooses reading to her 1st grade teacher's classroom as a reward in 2nd grade.

Franklin Park

kayak

cousins in Omaha

I am having way too much fun buying baby boy clothes and hats. :)

The girls had two fall sleepovers with the Wilson sisters.  Their favorite activity was "getting fat" in zip up pjs stuffed with blankets.

Pokemon

We had the best doughnuts here!

One time we were making up silly pet names and I joked a funny name would be "It's a Secret." If someone asked your pet's name and you answered "It's a Secret," it would sound like you weren't telling them.  So of course when Steve found a snail and we decided to keep him for a pet the girls named him It's a Secret.

 We trained for weeks for the T-bird Trot.  It was a fun family bonding experience.

Olive's girl scout troop in the Overland Park Fall Festival parade.

Trailwood parent game night.  Despite my abilities, I did not do well in the Connect Four tournament.  However, Steve took first place in the ping pong tournament!  He is pictured with his "beard brother" who got 2nd.

Miner weekend fun!

Crazy hair day at school.

 Olive's Star of the Week buddy.  We hung out with Paddington over the weekend and she shared pictures with her class.

Hannah's girl scout field trip was to the theater in Crown Center.  He troop learned a song and skit and performed it for parents.

Halloween

Halloween was my first time not being in charge of a classroom party since...ever. :)  I've been a room mom since Hannah started kindergarten.  I decided to take a year off and it was pretty amazing!  Of course I volunteered to help out, but it was a lot easier than planning all the games and bringing all the stuff.  I could get used to this stress-free life!

One of Olive's classmates had the exact same costume.

Stuffing socks for the homeless was their service project.

Trick-or-treating at Corinth.

We ran into some of Olive's school friends at the shops.

Astronaut and panda ready for candy.

My favorite tree on the corner.  I think we had the prettiest trees this fall.

We went trick-or-treating with the Wilsons who live across the street.  It was a super fun night with friends!

I'll stick our jack-o-lantern pics in here, too.  It has become a tradition to carve with our neighbors.  Olive did the winking one next to her and Hannah carved the panda in the center.

Fourth Grade Update

Hannah has 27(!) kids in her class this year.  Three sections went down to two sections from 3rd to 4th grade.  Hannah doesn't like how noisy it is with so many kids in a classroom, but she does like having more girls in her class.  There are 14 girls compared to only 7 last year.  Her best friend from 2nd and 3rd grade is in her class for the third year in a row.  She has also made new friends with some girls that she has never been in class with before.

Fourth grade is the first year for real grades, so that has been a big change.  Hannah was on the first quarter A honor roll.  They also switch teachers based on ability level for language arts and math.  Hannah is in the advanced group for both which means she only has her classroom teacher for homeroom and science.  She started the gifted program at the end of third grade and she goes to another school every Thursday for EL (Enhanced Learning.) She really likes the project-based learning that they do there.  Currently they have an adventure theme which included designing a theme park and researching a national park.  She chose Zion that we visited last summer. :)

Her after school activities are still girl scouts (with me as her leader), soccer, and student council.  She did a stop motion animation club in the fall and she is playing basketball for the first time this winter.  Her favorite special is PE and her favorite subject is science.

From her first quarter report card:  Hannah is such a joy to have in class.  She is a hard, meticulous worker and always tries her best on every assignment.  She understands new math concepts quickly and enjoys doing enrichment challenges and projects.  She particularly enjoys logic puzzles.  She is also an excellent reader.

Second Grade Update

Olive is loving second grade.  It is so weird that my youngest is now the age I taught.  Time flies!  She has one of Hannah's first grade teachers as her second grade teacher.  There are 18 kids in her class- 10 girls, 8 boys.  She goes to the speech teacher once a week.  She is still working on the /sh/, /th/, /s/, /z/, and /j/ sounds.  She has made amazing progress since kindergarten!  Her favorite special is art and her favorite subject is math.  She is reading above grade level, writing detailed journal entries, and her mental math is especially impressive.  She doesn't like it when she doesn't know something, especially if I'm the one to teach her.  Thank goodness we aren't homeschooling!

Although Olive is a chatterbox at home, she is pretty quiet at school.  She gets her work done and is annoyed at kids who goof off or cause trouble.  She stays away from girls she thinks are "sassy."  She loves to write encouraging notes to her friends and give them little gifts.

I've been trying to get her more involved in extra-curriculars, but Olive prefers to stay at home and play with Hannah. She attends brownie meetings once a month and she did a weekly craft club in the fall.  I'm signing her up for gymnastics this winter.

From her first quarter report card:  Olive has a love for learning that is contagious!  She has so many interesting thoughts to share.  I would like to hear more from her during class discussions.  She has a great attitude each day and enjoys many friendships in our class.