Caleb 1st grade/Lexie Pre-K

This week has been busy for the Young Family. It was the first week of school for both kids, Caleb's birthday, and Greg and my 9th anniversary. Caleb started first grade with reluctance again. He has never been the greatest fan of school. The teacher seems nice, but Caleb still came home upset about going back to school the first few days. One night he even requested going to another school which just broke my heart. Though he had a rough few weeks at the beginning of last year too, so I'm hoping he becomes acclimated quickly. After talking to the teacher to ensure nothing concerning happening, I encouraged Caleb to give it a few more weeks try. He has been getting Satisfactory on behavior at school which is equivalent to green color. I told Caleb I was proud of Satisfactory but he should always strive for Excellent. He looked at me in despair and said "do you know how hard it is to be that good all day long?" LOL! I love my boy. Mean while Lexie was so excited to start Pre-K this year, she hardly slept before the first day. Such opposite of Caleb. We started her a year early to keep her with her same friends, but I think she'll do great. She loves her teachers, and is so cute in her little uniforms they are required to wear. These last few months Lex has become so much more outgoing and social. She is very talkative and always has an opinion. Though she has become a little more bossy lately. One day she had asked for a popsicle after dinner. I had left the table early to take a shower and she came in with hands on her hips and said "You can't just do your thing until you get my popsicle." And when Caleb gets mad at Lex for something, she tells him "I'm only 3 and a half Bubba". As if that is the only explanation for her behavior that is needed.

Caleb's Skylander Birthday Party! Turning 7

Caleb picked Skylander Giants as his birthday party theme this year. Miss Kristen made his cake again this year and it was awesome. Caleb picked Laser Quest as the for his party venue, and he had lots of friend come to help him celebrate. During the games I wore the heavy laser tag vest, while Lex got to shoot the enemy. We had lots of fun with all the parents and friends who played. Afterward Caleb opened lots of wonderful presents from everyone. We sent everyone home with a "Skylander Element Pack" with lots of fun goodies that the kids helped me make. Another successful party down.

Lexie spells her name!

I have come up with a reward system for Lexie and Caleb to encourage doing some learning even over the summer months. Lex has been working on learning her letters and recognizing her numbers. At 3 1/2y, she can count to 20 and knows all her colors/shapes. This week we started working on spelling her name, and on the way home today she mastered the spelling of Lexie! Caleb on the other hand has spent hours working in workbooks and readers to reach his goal as quick as he can. In fact he reached his goal for his first prize in 1 day, and that meant a lot of homework. I am so proud of my hard little workers, but I may be broke by the end of the summer.

Lexie's First Kiss

Today when I went to pick up the kids from daycare, I witnessed Lex's first kiss from a boy. It was so funny because she was standing waiting for her paper, and he came up in front and kissed her right on the lips. She blushed and grinned, and the teacher gasped and told poor Owen, "we don't kiss on the lips." I just laughed and told Caleb , we probably shouldn't tell Daddy. Lol! Of course that meant the first thing Caleb wanted to do was inform daddy of this kiss. Greg acted appropriately appalled, and Lex grinned saying "Owen is special to me." Uh oh! Romance at 3 years old. Not happening, but very cute anyways. While discussing this "kiss"  Caleb looked sad to have missed out and said "There's no one in my class I want to kiss." Wow. I told him that was a good thing and we should wait a long, long time before kissing.

My Silly Kids

I haven't had a chance to blog in a while with our busy schedules. But I did want to capture a few of the kiddos silly conversations this week. I volunteer in Caleb's Kindergarten class on Tuesday's. This past Tuesday Caleb's teacher informed me that after having the class complete a sequential cut and paste project about Goldilocks and the Three Bears Story, Caleb informed her she had the sequence wrong. She said he told her to look at the door in the background, the curtains are on the inside and the bears were on the outside, therefore they were leaving and not returning. She said sure enough she was wrong and laughed about how observant Caleb was. I told her not to feel bad, he often corrects me too. Lol!
Meanwhile Lexie has been much more outgoing since turning 3 years old. She loves to dance and sing, especially to her new Wii Dance game. One of her favorite songs she enjoys dancing to came on the radio. Caleb started singing and dancing to the song and Lexie looked at him saying " no Bubba. That's my Justin Bieber song". Crazy, Justin Beiber has a dedicated 3y old fan.

On the way home today Lexie informed me she needed to eat. She had to eat because "I have the hungries." You do?  " Yeah, I have all the hungries." Just love my Silly Kiddos.

Christmas Season 2012

 Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. I love that the kids are at an age where they can both share in the joy of this holiday time with me. We have developed traditions that the kids expect us to uphold each year now. Especially Caleb. He informed us we needed to all decorate the tree while listening to Christmas music, then watch the lights as we enjoy hot cocoa. The kids were big helpers this year decorating the tree, and of course they had to help Daddy put the tree topper on in the end. That is getting more challenging for Greg as the kids get bigger. LOL! For the past 3years, we have also made a trip to see the ICE at the Gaylord and get some snow tubing in as well. Lexie was tall enough this year to do it too. The kids loved it. And to round off the traditions, the kids helped make the 3 dozen Christmas cookies. Decorating got a little messy, which ended in the kids trying a few of their masterpieces. Love Christmas time!!!

Lexie turns 3!

Lexie picked the Little Mermaid for her 3y old Birthday Party Theme. Our friend Kristen did an awesome job on Lex's cake. She was so excited about her big day telling me "I so esited" for about a month prior. Unfortunately she came down with a cough the day of her party. I was so sad for her. We made it through lots of jumping and running around with her friends at Let's Jump. But by the time cake was served, Lex was coughing her head off. She didn't let that prevent her from enjoying her cake though. Overall it was a success, and Lexie got lots of presents to celebrate her big day.