tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25202246685933744832024-03-14T03:05:08.641-04:00TrackcatSewing, gardening, travel, family...LIFE!Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.comBlogger398125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-18284978378623631062019-11-23T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-23T11:00:05.282-05:006 Years + 7 months! (October 2019)
Ryder has settled back into school really well and he really
seems to like his class and his teacher.
This year’s teacher uses Class Dojo, an app that lets teachers award
students points for displaying good behavior and also share photos and
information with parents. Ryder is still
super competitive and he likes to come home and check to see how many points he
has earned. We Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-49119506950467008382019-11-22T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-22T11:00:08.164-05:004 Years + 10 months! (October 2019)
One
of the funniest things that Vivi said this month was “Fine for you, not fine
for me!!” We were taking about something
at dinner and whatever I proposed, she didn’t like. I said it would be fine, and then she said “Fine
for you, not fine for me!!” It was so
funny that she would be able to express that idea in such a succinct way. She used it again in another Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-62451890808946399642019-11-21T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-21T11:00:03.306-05:006 Years + 6 months! (September 2019)
Ryder’s first day of first grade was right after Labor
Day. He generally likes school, so he
wasn’t unhappy to go back, but he was definitely nervous. The first day of school I could barely get a
smile for his picture and he was very nervous standing in his class line,
waiting to go in. He had a great first
day though, and I got a smiling school photo the second day. He Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-3654035247149836102019-11-20T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-20T11:00:01.723-05:004 years + 9 months! (September 2019)
September means back-to-school, so back to school Vivi
went. She was not necessarily looking
forward to going back to school, but she handled it well. There were a few tears on the first day, but
that was probably at least partly due to the fact that I brought her and
leaving me is still a hard thing for her.
She was right back into the routine as soon as I left. She Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-5156230416306124612019-11-19T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-19T11:00:09.019-05:006 Years + 5 months! (August 2019)
This summer Ryder set a goal for himself to read all 10
books in the Eerie Elementary series. The
series is part spooky, part mystery and part funny. He read the first one early in the summer,
and when it was obvious that he liked it, I told him that it was part of a
series. He immediately wanted to keep on
reading and then decided to read all 10 over the summer. It’s Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-42963072629504284782019-11-18T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-18T11:00:05.711-05:004 Years + 8 months! (August 2019)
Almost every nice day, Vivi asks to go to the beach, which
isn’t that surprising since she started asking to go to the beach back in
January! Most days either Janda or I, or
both of us, will bring the kids down to the river. We also started going to Good Harbor during
the week when it’s not busy and they both love that beach too. Vivi loves swimming and splashing in the
water, Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-4110210944592099142019-11-17T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T11:00:01.413-05:006 Years + 4 months! (July 2019)
We did the usual fireworks in Gloucester and parade and
bonfire in Rockport for the 4th of July. Ryder absolutely loves the parades because of
the candy that the floats throw out to the spectators. He is absolutely primed and ready to go to
dart out and grab candy when it gets tossed!
He is aggressive about getting out there! He has always loved the bonfire and I imagine
Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-22916434570507229642019-11-16T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.784-05:004 Years + 7 months! (July 2019)
We did the usual fireworks in Gloucester and parade and
bonfire in Rockport for the 4th of July. Vivien likes the parade, but she doesn’t like
the non-chocolate candies as much as Ryder does, so she’s not quite as excited
as he is. I think what Vivi likes most
about these two events is the fact that she gets to stay up late and be out
when it’s dark, which is definitely a treat when Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-6204925001865722352019-11-15T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.273-05:006 Years + 3 months! (June 2019)
Ryder had a lot going on this month with the end of
school. First up he had a showcase
night, so we all went in to see his work hanging up in the K-1 hallway at
school. The projects that they made were
all really cute and his came out really nice!
Next up he had field day, which Janda and I were able to attend for a
little while, because we had a half day.
It was Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-25448492264500537782019-11-14T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.788-05:004 Years + 6 months! (June 2019)
Vivien finished up her school year early this month. Riverview gets out a school before public
school, so she was done a couple of days before Ryder, but the same day as Janda
and I. At the end of the year, Riverview
has a combined graduation ceremony and field day to close out the year. Vivi had fun playing games with her
classmates and then the teachers give each kid a littleMichelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-78362810534800997032019-11-13T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.288-05:006 Years + 2 months! (May 2019)
This month t-ball games and practices began. Ryder had one practice at the beginning of
the week and a game on Saturday morning.
It’s amazing to see his skills improve so quickly. He had never played any kind of baseball, not
even at home, so he’s had a lot of improvement over the course of the
month. His catching is ok, but his
throwing skills have really gotten better. Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-51840722909055786022019-11-12T17:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.835-05:004 Years + 5 months! (May 2019)
Vivi still loves dance
parties! She dances anytime that music comes on and she requests certain
songs; she prefers pop songs and female singers for the most part! She
loves to do dance moves, yoga moves and (sort of) gymnastics moves. It is fun to watch her make up moves and try
them out!
Now that the weather is nice again,
Vivi loves to be outside. She runs out all Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-41535955967032117812019-11-11T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.240-05:006 Years + 1 month! (April 2019)
The big thing this month for Ryder was t-ball. Ryder wasn’t sure if he would like t-ball, so
it took some time for him to decide to join, but one of the deciding factors
was that he would have the same coach from basketball, so ultimately he decided
yes. Games and practices don’t start
until May, but there was the Little League parade the last weekend in
April. Ryder got his Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-49884969426401236372019-11-10T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.826-05:004 Years + 4 months! (April 2019)
Since the weather has been getting nicer, we took Vivien’s
pedal bike out this month. She probably
could have ridden it last year, but neither she nor Ryder wanted to move up to
the next bike. She was happy on her push
bike, so that’s what she stuck with.
This year we convinced her to give the pedal bike a try and after a
couple of lessons, she was riding up and down the Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-58761548194185344552019-11-09T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.269-05:006 Years Old!!! (March 2019)
Ryder is a true reader now and he can read books on his own,
with little to no help. He loves that he
can read now and he is constantly reading books. We have a lot of board books and a couple of
sets of just-learning-to-read level books, and he picks them up and starts
reading on his own. He is very proud
that he can read now! He is also still
going full steam with Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-25501791065128060682019-11-08T11:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.792-05:004 Years + 3 months! (March 2019)
This month Vivien has been very into taking my jewelry and
wearing it around the house, or packing it into her many little cases and
bags. I have very little jewelry, all of
it costume, and I never wear it, but she found it on a little stand in my
room. Even though I probably won’t wear
them, there are a couple of pieces that I do care about so she has to be
careful with those. Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-4202237057307030022019-11-07T20:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.243-05:005 Years + 11 months! (February 2019)
Ryder has been making steady progress reading and it’s
really coming together now. I bought him
some learn-to-read level books and he’s been reading them this month. He’s been reading board books, but these have
more words than that, so it’s exciting to see him make progress. He really loves being able to read and he
reads words all the time, wherever he sees them. He Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-87802871826164371892019-11-06T14:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.878-05:004 Years + 2 months! (February 2019)
So the sleepovers are back on! Vivi is back on board with sleepovers,
although now each time we have to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to work out the
sleepover plans. That can turn
contentious because Vivi doesn’t quite understand that you can’t just wait for
the other person to shoot and then play the hand that will beat them. They have to shoot back-to-back and then I
announce Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-29524820588086537192019-11-05T23:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.227-05:005 Years + 10 months! (January 2019)
At school Ryder’s class has started using a reading program
called Lexia that allows students to move through at the own pace and work on
what they need to work on individually.
Ryder has taken this program as a personal challenge and he wants to
work on it every day at home so he can move through and “beat the game” so to
speak. He is so excited every time he
gets a certificate forMichelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-8533791015797904602019-11-04T23:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.874-05:004 Years + 1 month! (Jaunary 2019)
The kids got a bunch of games for Christmas and Vivi loves
to play them. She loves to play with us
and with Ryder, or all of us of course. Spot It is a huge favorite, which is great because it is quick. Chutes and Ladders and Candyland are popular too, but those games can take a long time! I love that they can play the games by themselves, although some refereeing is Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-71282067303132083192019-01-21T18:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.280-05:005 Years + 9 Months! (December 2018)
As has been the case for the past 2 years, Ryder has been extremely pumped for Christmas this year. Thanksgiving was very early this year but our Christmas tree place didn't actually have Christmas trees until December 1st, so that was when we got our tree. I had to call every day to see if they were in because I knew that when I got home from school Ryder would ask me if they were Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-25800298957944248752019-01-21T14:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.796-05:004 Years Old!!!! (December 2018)Vivien is all in for Christmas at this point. She mostly got the idea last year, but she really has the idea this year. We have been doing Christmas activities all month long and she loves it. She loves decorating still, but now she leaves the decorations alone more. Gone are the days where the decorations move a couple of times every day, which is nice because I can have all Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-38739363640788425392019-01-20T18:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.233-05:005 Years + 8 Months! (November 2018)
In November, we made a trip to Lake Placid so that Janda could buy a surf ski and we wanted to break up the drive, so we ended up going to another re-enactment at Fort Ticonderoga. It was an extremely cold and windy day, especially for early November, on the way there we drove through a bunch of snow squalls in Vermont. There is a heated building there, so we were able to eat our Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-60667110241304999502019-01-20T14:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:41:08.849-05:0047 Months! (November 2018)
Since Janda needed to go to Lake Placid to buy a surf ski, we made a family trip out of it and stopped at Fort Ticonderoga on the way to see another re-enactment. Vivi is generally a very good traveler, mostly she sleeps a ton on the way and otherwise she serenades us with a variety of songs. It was super cold and windy at Fort Ticonderoga, but Vivi was a pretty good sport about it.&Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2520224668593374483.post-49815907271373213682019-01-19T18:00:00.000-05:002019-11-17T07:40:24.256-05:005 Years + 7 Months! (October 2018)
Ryder has gotten really settled into the school routine this month. He goes in for breakfast once a week and gets school lunch once a week. I bring him in early on Mondays, and that is muffin day, so Ryder is thrilled to be getting breakfast even if he has to go in a little early. I let him order school lunch once a week also and so far cheeseburger is his choice. He Michelle Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13653576755081461980noreply@blogger.com0