Drama, Art and Music Camp

Gabriel enjoyed his Drama, Art and Music camp this week. It was help at Redeemer OPC off Chamblee-Tucker by Miss Jennifer Taylor. The theme was "Children's Literature" and they studied Winnie the Pooh.

Here he is on the very first day - you can see the aura of excitement... :)


He met a friend named Gabriel there and came home excited every day.


Jim and I were a little surprised when our very expressive, loud, non-stop singing child seemed to be very motion-less, quiet and not singing in the final performance.

May have been a case of stage fright or didn't know the words, but he tells me he was singing. When I asked the teacher afterward she said she didn't notice, but wanted to tell me that he was one of the most well behaved kids out of the entire group during the week. I was very happy to hear this so we took Gabriel out for dinner and allowed him to pick his own dessert as a special treat.

Our Staycation

We had such a great staycation - a whole week off from work to spend some quality time with the kids doing fun things around Atlanta while Jimmy works on our front porch railings. I'm determined to have Gabriel learn to swim by the end of summer so we hit the pool as often as we could.

Gabriel's last day of school was Friday, May 27th and I had him do some CRCT tests. The next day we took him to the Decatur Arts Festival because he wanted to go to Zucca pizza for his celebratory meal and then we went to Assia's pool and the next day too with Jimmy. Giselle was timid of the water and Gabriel is trying really hard with his freestyle front stroke, but just looks like a spaz in the water and doesn't actually do anywhere. For Memorial Day, we went to Thrasher Park with the Morrey's and Crofford's and then did a cookout at our place with tons of food. It was so hot and we let the kids play in the sprinkler afterward. We went to Mountain Park Aquatic Center as a family the next day. I took Gabriel to the World of Coca-Cola where he enjoyed the history of how the company came together, how they bottle their product and tasting 60 different flavors from around the world. He's been wanting to do putt-putt and they happened to have one outside the museum. It's been so hot - around 95° – so we got some ice cream to cool off.


The following day we went strawberry picking with our friends at Southern Belle farm in McDonough. Later, I took Gabriel to Bethesda indoor pool for more fun and practice.

Friday we went to Krsipy Kreme for National doughnut day and then we made jam out of our strawberries. Saturday Gabriel participated in Home Depot's "Kids Workshop", then we went to PDK's air show and then the pool again. This time Gabriel was swimming a little better, but Giselle has made huge leaps with jumping into my arms from the side of the pool over and over again. They both had a blast. We ended our vacation by pretending to be Van Gogh with some afternoon art and hot dogs with friends at a new coney island place Jim found.


Giselle really started talking this week. She repeats almost anything. While putting her in her car seat she'll say "I do it!" Followed by her clicking and "Mama, I did it!" So cute!!!

We kept busy and cool in the pool, but some of my favorite moments was when we weren't doing anything but cuddling on the couch, laughing and playing. My kids are getting big at 6 and 2 – just trying to soak in all these wonderful moments because everyone tells me it goes by so fast.

My sweet little girl and thoughtful young boy

My children make me so happy – insane some days – but so incredibly happy. I'm on vacation right now and getting to spend some much needed quality time with them. I've enjoyed singing ABC's and The Wheels on the Bus, playing nosies, peek-a-boo and exchanging sweet, slobbery kisses and hugs with Giselle. We've gone to the pool twice so far, the playground once and have run here and there including The World of Coca-Cola and strawberry picking, but the greatest times are the simplest where we're on the couch snuggling, laughing and playing.

Giselle is still very independent and climbs up the tallest slides and without fear, joyfully slides down them. She talking more now and says as we try to get her buckled into her car seat, "Mama, I do it" followed by a click and raised hands singing, "Mama, I did it!" You can have real conversations with her now. Granted, it's mostly asking her something and her telling you "no" but she understands and she is able to communicate more. The other day Jimmy was doing something goofy to make them laugh and she says pointing at him, "Mama, Daddy funny."

Gabriel made me so proud at the playground when a bossy little boy was blocking the slide telling kids they couldn't slide down. When Giselle approached, Gabriel stood up to him and said "No, that's my baby sister, she's allowed to come down." He said it with such authority that the kid replied, "oh, okay". We've been talking to him about being considerate of others, and this was proof that those talks must have landed on fertile ears.

Gabriel is still hyperactive and chatters non-stop, Giselle is demanding and whiny when she doesn't get what she wants at the very second she wants it. No, they aren't perfect, and neither are we as parents, but we have such beautiful blessings from God and have so much to be thankful for. We just can't imagine loving them anymore than we do.

Gabriel's End-of-Year Homeschool Report: 1st Grade

Year-End Academic Evaluation

For Gabriel Pett

First Grade
May 20, 2011

OVERVIEW:
Our focus this year hasn’t changed with the three R's (reading, writing, and arithmetic) and sprinkled in science, social studies, music, art, and sports. We’ve enjoyed our involvement with NEACH homeschool group to do fun activities, projects, field trips, park days, spending time with friends and experiencing children of all ages.

MATH:
He continues to excel in math and is working above grade level. He has most of his multiplication tables memorized and either recites or writes tables of them daily. We haven’t entered into division yet, but when asked, “what is 2 x __ =22” He has no problem saying the answer of “11”. Earlier in the year (January) I asked him how many steps we had on our stairs. He counted 14. I said, “what if we had two sets of stairs side-by-side, how many stairs would we have?” He said “hat's easy just add 14+14.” I said yes, or you could just do 14x2. He says, oh yea, and without hesitating he said 28.

We intersperse reviewing his basic drills such as double and triple addition and subtraction lest he forget everything he learned last year. We identified Mondays as “Monday Math Review” days.

We ended up returning the “RightStart” math curriculum because it was too teacher restrictive. Classes are offered to learn how to teach this curriculum along with the Spell to Write and Read curriculum and determined that it was too intensive for us along with liking to be a little more “free” in our approach. We’ve grown to really like the Harcourt Learning workbooks we get through the Homeschooling section of Barnes & Noble and may stick with those for a while.

LANGUAGE ARTS:
(According to the American National Council of Teachers of English, the five strands of the Language arts are reading, composition writing, speaking, listening, and viewing (visual literacy).

Reading and Comprehension: Gabriel is a fluent reader now and is reading on a second grade level. We’ve finished two reading workbooks (McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Learning) with comprehension questions this year and he is eager to buy the next level. His retention is high and when asked can dictate to you the main “take-away” from the story along with most details. He can respond with complete sentences if asked, otherwise will provide fragments as answers which makes it difficult to understand him. He still only likes to read 2-3 pages and his attempt to read a real chapter book from the library was an unsuccessful one. He read 1 chapter a day and didn’t complete it. He is beginning to understand prefixes and suffixes and will attempt to sound out any word he doesn’t know without hesitation. He also participated in the Discovery Channel / Six Flags over Georgia reading program and earned two tickets to Six Flags this year. We continue to frequent the library for story time and to check out new and exciting literature.

Creative Writing and Handwriting: His penmanship for print is clear when asked to write neatly. We have begun the early stages of cursive and hope that it will make it easier to write for him. Our big accomplishment this year is his “O’s” are now drawn in the correct direction. He occasionally makes mistakes like reversing his “b’s” and “d’s” and “p’s” and “q’s” as well as sometimes “s’s” and “2’s”. He catches his own mistakes and corrects them. As for composing sentences and writing them, he has extreme difficulty. This is the one area that he may be on or behind grade level. We have changed curriculums from the Flashkids Harcourt workbook to “Writing with Ease” to see if we can have a breakthrough in this area. Only a few weeks underway, but there is real promise with this new program.

Spelling, Phonics and Vocabulary: Gabriel enjoyed a Spelling Bee competition this year. We are using Harcourt Spelling workbook and he does the work without any problems and is on grade level. I give him periodic spelling quizzes which he likes and he does very well. We haven’t given him a set of vocabulary words to memorize or learn yet. He's not shy about asking what a certain word means that he's never heard before. We bought him a new dictionary and showed him how to look up words by himself. We finished Explode the Code workbook for our phonics work and breaking down words. He enjoys this.

Grammar: He understands nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns, as well as synonyms, antonyms and homophones. He also understands to capitalize letters of proper nouns like names and places. He is gradually learning sentence structure, but again writing sentences is daunting.

Listening and Speaking: One of the other concentrated efforts in working with Gabriel is getting him to listen better. Sometimes he seems to be inside his own head and world and doesn’t listen well. He is a happy boy and doesn’t do it out of defiance. We’ve pointed out times when he doesn’t listen and is making incessant noises. He said he didn’t realize he was even doing this until we pointed it out. Now we make him recite a times tables and place his hands in his lap so he can exert some self-control. There are a lot of times when Gabriel speaks he begins with fragments and in the middle of the story. We’re explaining to him that he needs a beginning, middle and an end to clearly communicate. He gets excited and does not communicate well although he is confident speaking in groups or for presentations.

SCIENCE:
Gabriel loves science and is a fan of Jamie and Adam and the entire MythBusters crew. He works in his Science workbook, but mostly we read science, nature, human body, and physics books to him. He has an interest in the weather and talks about seasons, etc. And will occasionally teach me a thing or two about something he has learned (i.e., a marble will stay in a funnel even if you try to blow it out).

SOCIAL STUDIES/GEOGRAPHY:
We celebrate various holidays to study traditions and he enthusiastically marks off the days of the week on the calendar. He completes map snaps online http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-series-geography-map-snaps.html. Last year he studied continents, and this year was focused on countries such as USA, Europe, and Asia.

PHYSICAL FITNESS:
Jim works with him on golf, soccer, tumbling and tennis while I work with him on dance. He just finished swimming lessons and we’ll continue through the summer so he can be a strong swimmer by summers end. He is finally growing and becoming faster than he was last year with the additional height. He has exceptional hand/eye coordination skills when conducting activities such as golf, catching balls, etc., but is average with large motor skills such as swimming, running, etc..

OTHER:
Drama/Music/Art: He loves to play charades, monopoly or any other computer or video game. We have fun doing crafts, but is not gifted in the arts in terms of drawing. He can color inside the lines, but struggles to come up with other creative ideas on his own. We were given a piano and plan on finding a piano teacher for next year.

FIELD TRIPS/EVENTS:
We hope to do more field trips next year now that our youngest is two years old.

· Horizon Theatre’s production of “Madeline’s Christmas.”

· “Barn Dance” with NEACH group.

· Scripps Spelling Bee with LEAD homeschool group.

· Exploration of Nature at “Big Trees Forest Preserve” with Dunwoody Hive group.

SUMMARY:
In our opinion, Gabriel is working above grade-level in certain areas such as math, on average-to-above grade level in reading and below level in writing and communication skills. He is bright and has an easier time remembering ideas he’s learned through subjects he’s interested in and a harder time on subjects he is not. He has a hard time focusing on what he is supposed to be doing with staring out the window and dropping pencils, unless it's the television or computer screen. We are concentrating on trying to help him focus and listen better. We conducted first grade CRCT sample tests on our final day of schooling for reading, language arts and math. He scored 100% on math and 92% on L.A. and reading, respectively. He said, "They were easy, and actually a lot of fun!" Overall, he has a love of learning and doing new things, is quite social and tremendously enjoys his friends, telling jokes and having fun.

His first grade curriculum. Mostly Harcourt Learning Series.

April 2011

We had a fun April by celebrating two new baby girls on the block, Eleanor and Callista. We had the kids do an Easter egg hunt and play fun games. I'm probably one of the luckiest women around to have such loving friends in her life.

I love my kids – and they love each other

After the rush of vacation, I've been taking a breather and really just enjoying my kids. We don't do much, and certainly nothing expensive to have fun, we just enjoy each other. Whether Gabriel is making forts out of the sofa cushions or a new Lego creation or Giselle running around in my high heel shoes talking about babies with a pretend phone in one hand and a doll in the other, there is never a dull moment with these two. They keep Jim and me on our toes for sure with spilling drinks or selective hearing, but they also keep us laughing.

I love how loving they are towards us and others, but am relieved and blessed to see how much they love each other too. Here are a few moments I've caught them enjoying each other.

Gabriel reading Giselle a bedtime story...


Her turn now, reading a story to him...
Holding hands and giving kisses ...

18 year anniversary and birthday trip to Tampa

Our celebration trip down to Tampa turned out to be a good one, but hard when the kids fell ill.

We arrived Saturday afternoon which allowed us to settle in, do a private birthday celebration for Giselle with just Grandma and Uncle Troy and then all of us go and get some Cuban food.

Sunday was buying and preparing for Mason and Giselle's two year old birthday party. We were keeping an eye on the weather. It eventually didn't rain but was quite windy to the point we didn't hang up any signs at the park and didn't stay longer than an hour or so. The kids had a good time playing on the playground with their cousins and friends and we had the cutest cupcake cake ever so all was good.

Monday was our 18 year wedding anniversary so we had mom watch the kids while we went to Ybor City to dine at Columbia restaurant for lunch. The food was phenomenal and the sangria really made me giggly while sipping on an empty stomach. We felt like tourists taking photos of the block long picturesque building which was established in 1905 and then headed home to pick up the kids to take them to the beach. The wind was still kicking so we only stayed out there for an hour and we headed back Gabriel said he wasn't feeling well. We were going to go out that night, but Gabriel asked us to stay. I knew right then that he really wasn't feeling well because he's never asked that before. We put them down for the night and then we heard someone vomit. Checked in and it was Giselle to our surprise. My mom helped clean the sheets, put new ones down and I laid down with Giselle for a little bit face-to-face and she seemed happy. Once she drifted I went to my own bed and did the same to only wake up to the same vomit sound. She had thrown up again! Repeat the clean up process and back to sleep only to wake up again to say "She's thrown up again!" Repeat one last time. Then, Gabriel began vomiting at 2 am and didn't stop until 10 am the next morning. We kept my mom's washer and dryer going all through the night. Those poor kids! Gabriel didn't move from one spot on my mom's couch the entire day.

Wednesday they seemed like they were getting their energy back and it was looking hopeful to go to Disney. I had secretly planned on taking the kids (I hadn't told them just in case it didn't work out, I didn't want them to be disappointed).

Thursday we packed up the car with the intent to drive back home when Gabriel was having some diarrhea. We got him some absorbent underwear and about 45 minutes into the drive decided we would give Disney a try. I called my friends who could get us into the park for free which really made the trip worth the effort. We got ourselves a hotel on Hotwire.com for only $54, met up with my friend Beth at Hollywood Studios to get our tickets and saw a great parade with Buzz Lightyear, Rattatouille and Shrek, left there since Gabriel doesn't do theaters well (his ears are super sensitive) and we wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom anyway. We fed them well at a restaurant and got into the park by 6:00 pm. We went to Tomorrowland first and rode the People Mover and did the Buzz Lightyear ride. We all loved it! We had some good daylight time and some beautiful nighttime with all the lights. We enjoyed the Electrical Parade and the Fireworks, but Gabriel did NOT like the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster -- I did!

We came home Friday morning after a big IHOP breakfast with Giselle having diarrhea! We had to stop every hour or so at rest areas because it was so explosive. We were so happy to see friends and family and get to do what we were able to do, but it was so hard traveling with the kids being sick. Very hard!

Giselle Turns Two!

Our Gisellie Belly turned two!

We celebrated it many times ...
1) First with Daddy making her a strawberry pie one evening, we placed two tall candles and the three of us sang Happy Birthday to her (she doesn't know how to blow out candles yet);

2) The next day on her actual birthday we took her to a Gymboree class where she had fun doing her own thing while all the other two-year old's bounced around with their moms and the instructor.

3) The next night we went to Outback and let her enjoy wait staff strangers sing to her along with some free ice cream - she didn't know what to think about that.
4) Then we drove down to Tampa and had another little family cake and candle-blowing out gathering with just my mom and brother and us and some nifty doll and stroller presents.

5) Then the day after that we had another party at the park stacked full of immediate family and friends and kids, playgrounds and picnic fare with the perfect Mickey and Minnie Mouse cupcake birthday cake to celebrate her and Mason's birthdays. It was a bit windy, but the kids had a good time.


Height -- 34.5" (75-90%)
Weight -- 25 pounds
Shoe size -- 6.5
Clothing -- 2T

Favorite book -- Any book that has pictures of babies in it. She'll find them immediately and point them out while giggling out "babies!"
Favorite food -- Macaroni and cheese, pizza, spaghetti, rice ... we eat a lot of this, but mostly yogurt and string cheese!
Favorite treat -- Cookies (daddy will make her semi-healthy oatmeal and raisin)
Favorite word -- "Babies"
Favorite saying -- "Mama, I wunt cook-kie or Mama, I wunt Babies" (meaning the movie)
Favorite movie(s) -- Babies (we stream it on Netflix probably 3x a day and are trying to find more ABC shows for her since it's gotten really old for us)
Favorite things to do -- Suck her thumb, push her stroller around, look at books, go for a ride in the car and dance to music
Favorite toys -- Any one of her 8-10 baby dolls she has
Activities -- She pretends to do school work at the kitchen table along with Gabriel - in fact, she does practically anything Gabriel does, she copies everything he does
Interests -- She is really intense and is very independent. She's interested in doing things herself right now.

Gabriel's Golf Lesson

Gabriel had his first golf lesson with Ms. Heidi at Stone Mountain. She said right away, "Wow! Gabriel's been practicing!" I guess it had been some time since she saw him for summer camp. I'm not really sure how much he has practiced with the cold weather, but I guess he's made improvement. He had us all cracking up because he went through three buckets of balls in the time others were still working on their first. When he came to get more balls he asked her "Uh, how much are they?"

She wants him to spend more time on his set up and gave a wonderful analogy. She asked him if he baked with his mommy? Does she spend time getting out all of the ingredients first, then mixes in the bowl and then finally bakes it? He was putting his ball down and just swinging away and she wanted him to set up. He has a good swing and follow through. I told him on the way home if he likes golf and wants to, we can sign up for a tournament once he turns seven years old. That means not until this time next year will he be able to join. Meanwhile, I guess we have a year to teach him the rules and etiquette of the game.

Edit: we shared the photos of his swing with our good friend Larry who was on the pro tour once. Here are his comments:
"I like his swing, particularly his footwork/position through the ball. If a player has good footwork, it overcomes most any other bad habit. The only slight criticism I would offer is the flying left elbow which looks to be caused by his right shoulder being a little bit low coming through the ball. No big deal! Fundamentally sound."

Valentine's Day

Gabriel and I enjoyed making these homemade Valentine's cards for his homeschool friends out of some good construction paper. Accomplished approximately 20 cards in two nights, about 2-1/2 hours total. Fold, cut-out hearts, glue, envelopes, done. We all met at Jumpin' Jamboree since the weather was a little cold and wet. The kids made mailboxes to receive the cards. Everyone's was so creative.


As for us, it's considered a Hallmark Holiday, but we still take advantage of the time to do something. We finally used a Groupon I had since last April, our friends the Morreys watched the kids while we went to Eclipse di Luna for some scrumptious tapas. We ended up talking mostly about the kids all evening laughing at some of the crazy and silly things they do and say.

Beds, Car Seats and Sleep Overs, Oh My!

They say things happen in threes – we had three milestones happen three days in a row!

1/20/11 – First, Giselle crawled out of her crib so we placed her mattress on the floor and with a big smile, she happily clutched her baby doll and slept in a "big girl bed" for the first time. She didn't come out of the room even once.

1/21/11 – The very next day, I noticed her legs were beginning to become squished in her rear-facing car seat. They recommend to keep rear-facing until age two nowadays, but seeing her birthday is just a month away I went ahead on a whim and turned it around in a Lowe's parking lot. She seemed to like being able to face forward like her big brother.

1/22/11 – The very next day we had some friends children come to visit whilst they went out on birthday dinners, respectively, and ended up having one of Gabriel's friends, Sean, sleep over. It was Gabriel's first time having a sleep over – and oh my goodness, you would have thought I bought him a pot of gold, he was so excited. In fact, both of them were excited – they were so cute.

I tucked them into bed and was surprised they both were quiet. At one point, Gabriel came to me saying he needed some lotion because he was itchy. I asked if Sean was asleep and he said, "yep, he's asleep, but I'm still, um, er... alive." Jim and I busted out laughing. I hope you're alive! Another classic Gabriel-ism.

Here they are together the following morning in their adorable p.j.'s.


1/23/11 – On the fourth day, we went and bought a bunk bed from someone I found off Craigslist. It was the perfect color, style, sturdy as a rock with Brazilian Pine wood and most of all the perfect price. Jimmy and Matt spent 2.5 hours putting it together while the kids ran around it jumping up and down with excitement. Gabriel said, "I finally have my bunk beds that I've been wanting. It's the first time I've had a bunk bed, ever!"

Ok, I guess that could officially count as four, but you weren't really counting, were you?

2011 Junior Spelling Bee

Gabriel participated in the Scripps Junior Spelling Bee for the first time (and just for fun) today. There were about 20 children grades 3 and under. They each spelled their name first and then progressively spelled harder words each round. Gabriel made it the third round. He spelled Rat and Hip, but was dismissed on the word Must. We had fun. I got a lot of comments on how cute he was and one precocious.

Winter Storm of 2011

Atlanta usually gets at least one snow day a year with which the snow melts by the next day. This season we were blessed with 6" of snow which turned into ice. Atlanta isn't equipped but with approximately 700,000 snow equipment (according to GaDot) and ill prepared to plow or de-ice pavement, therefore, the entire city was shut down for a whole week. Wherever you were, you were stuck there. It snowed on a Sunday evening - our office was closed Monday through most of Friday although we all tried to work from home as much as we could. We took advantage of the event dubbed "snowpocalypse" by sledding down the street and our neighbors sloped driveway. Giselle wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but warmed up to the ice by weeks end. We certainly got to know our neighbors a little bit better with my only regret being my neighbor friend Erin who was 32 weeks pregnant and under the weather being unable to join us. Hoping we'll have another opportunity like this next year when she'll have three little snow bunnies.

Here is a video of Jimmy pushing Gabriel down the street in a laundry basket.


Slideshow of our January "Snowpocalypse"

Mid-year Report

We are required to do 180 days of schooling which means we are upon the half-way point. I'll save the in-depth report for the end of school year when I'm supposed to write one, but just wanted to say how very proud I am of my son. His reading has clicked and can read chapter books now, willingly. His math is exceptional and has most of his multiplication tables memorized. The other day I asked him how many steps we had on our stairs. He counted 14. I said what if we had two sets of stairs side-by-side, how many stairs would we have. He said that's easy just add 14+14. I said yes, or you could just do 14x2. He says, oh yea, and without hesitating he said 28. Blew me away. We're learning geography with a fun website he can snap any country or state shape into place. He still loves science and conducting "tests" and is enjoying learning Ancient history (and so are we!). But the one thing I'm most happy about at the very moment is that he is finally drawing his "O's" in the correct direction (counter clock-wise). Ack, it's been killing me so one day I just had him do it over and over and over and over, quizzed him on it and then over and over again until it became second nature. Good reason to learn how to do it right from the start.

Santa?

Every year I tell Gabriel Santa isn't real, but Jesus is. I know this is controversial, but every family has their "way" to celebrate the holiday. We are Christian, and believe the focus should be kept on Jesus. Despite my efforts in telling him the gentle truth, he's not sure he believes me. With all the Christmas commercialism, movies and music about Santa, I think he wants to believe. So for the first time this Christmas, I'm all torn up inside because I don't want to disappoint him, but I've always been honest with him.

I asked him the other night what he thought.

"I don't know. I think we should do a test," he replied.
"What kind of test?" I questioned.
"Let's set out cookies and milk and see if they are there in the morning," he remarked.
I nervously asked, "and what if they aren't there in the morning?"
He exclaimed, "then we'll eat the cookies!"

I wanted to gauge how much he'd be disappointed, but we set out to complete his experiment. It tortured me all night having those cookies displayed. The next morning he completely forgot about them until after breakfast, "oh yea, the cookies!" as he ran into the family room by the fire place.

He had a big smile on his face as he ate the sugar cookie and I felt a little better. Then I thought I needed to go into a little more detail with him about how Saint Nicholas was a person who loved Jesus long ago who was very loving who gave secret gifts and now people play the "Santa game". I also went into serious detail that in no way is he to interrupt anyone who is playing the game or they (and their parents) will be really upset with us. He seems to get it and my spirit feels at peace again. Whew, for a moment there, I contemplated going with what majority of society does simply because it would have been easier....and honestly maybe a little fun, but I'm glad we have our strong belief in the Lord. He is the center of our world. I've considered perhaps playing our own version of a "Santa game" next year by pinpointing someone who we can give secret gifts to....that would be fun.

December 2010 Photos

A lot this month .... Cirque du Soleil, Madeline's Christmas play at Horizon Theatre, Matt's holiday party, Point of Vision Holiday party, Christmas at Callanwolde and of course... Christmas!

Giselle 21 month stats

We switched healthcare providers for the kids to reduce our rate and because of that she missed her 18 month doctor well visit. Here are her stats for her well visit when she's 21 months:

Date: 12/14/2010
Height 35"
Weight: 24 lbs and 6 oz
Head Circumference: 41.3 cn

"She's doing great," according to Dr. Deeb who surprised my husband with a good bedside manner. He was either in a very good mood or he's caught on that his condescending attitude towards patients doesn't make for a healthy pediatric practice.

She's still obsessed with baby dolls and babies in general. Always going up to babies when we're out and about, driving down the street she points to Callista's house and says, "Mama, ....baby!" and asks for me to show her babies online.

She will try to say any word you ask her to although they are hard to make out still. She has certain "sounds" that mean certain words. Here are the ones we know:

Nane : Shawna
Nee Nee : Sit down with me
Ba : Bread
Kh-eeze : Cheese
Juu : Juice or Water
O : Open or Off
DeeDee: candy
Gaga: cracker

She's a little terror still getting into everything and anything. Typical toddler. She's a lot of fun and very loving.

Year in Review: via Facebook statuses

Interesting to see all of my remarks on Facebook this year - you can certainly see where your interests lie.

I love this time of year

Christmas is my favorite holiday by far and I love this time of year. Not the cold weather and certainly not the virus' and colds that come along with it, but a time when you get to celebrate life a little more and everyone else is doing the same whether they celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, winter solstice or just the festive winter holiday - everyone seems to focus on family and friends collectively.

What I love about Christmas:

• Christmas music
• Christmas movies
• Christmas decorations
• Hot chocolate by the fireplace
• Beautifully wrapped presents
• Time spent with family
• The pine smell of the Christmas tree
• Twinklie lights
• Christmas parties
• Christmas cookies
• Christmas dinner -- more turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and rolls!
  
• Watching a Christmas play
• Decorating the Christmas tree
• Stockings hung over the mantle (okay I guess that is classified under decoration and so should Twinklie lights but they deserved their own mention in my book)
• Christmas cards in the mail
• Secret Santas
• Surprising someone with that "perfect" gift
• And this year, especially looking forward to the kids faces light up when they open their gifts Christmas morning
  

And if you're thinking that Christmas is just to celebrate the birth of Christ, and not all of my superfluous list above, I say we are thankful for our Lord, and God sending him to earth to die for our sins, every day.

What's your favorite holiday?

Look Alike?

Many people tell me that Gabriel and Giselle look a lot alike. So I drudged up a old photo of him from when he was younger. She's on the left and he's on the right. I guess I can see what they are talking about although obviously she has earrings, less hair and a thinner face like her daddy. They both have smiling eyes and an infectious smile.

What do you think?

(In these photos they are four months apart: she is 14 months and he is only 10 months old.)

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts by Marcy

Gabriel must be wishing it was Christmas already. Two days after Thanksgiving, he says, "I think almost everyone thinks it's Christmas except for us."

Giselle is obsessed with babies: Baby, baby, baby, daddy, baby, baby, de-de (food), baby, baby, mommy, baby, baby, gog (dog), baby, baby, BABY!

Bullying in schools is out of control.

The new TSA full body scans which emit small radiation or body pat downs on toddlers is ridiculous. I won't be flying any time soon.

I'm so glad I'm not sick anymore. Gabriel is now sick, but taking care of a sick child is MUCH easier when you aren't sick yourself.

So thankful for Matt and Shawna - not sure what we would do without them! Not only do they love and watch our kids for us, Shawna took me to see Carrie Underwood for my birthday. How sweet is that?

I wonder if there will be a war between South and North Korea?

November 2010

This month has flown by...

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.

We decided to stay home rather than travel with two small children to either of our family which would be an 8-or-13 hour drive. You really have to be up for an adventure like that and with us all being sick recently, my recent heavy workload and my mom's poor health - we didn't need any added stress. So staying home sounded perfect to us.

Jim normally cooks Thanksgiving dinner whether we travel or not so by him stating he wanted to have the neighbors over and do it again this year was no surprise. We have grown close with several of our neighbors on our street and we had three families over with their children, along with Matt and Shawna and another family we've grown close with over the years, Assia and Lydia.

Everyone arrived around 2 pm – dinner was ready by 2:45. We joined a folding table along with our dining room table with the leaf in it to accommodate 12 people. Then used the other folding table for the kids and put them right next to us. I made the place cards, and Jimmy made the entire dinner himself. He served salad, juicy turkey and dressing, along with corn, asparagus, rolls from our favorite baker, enough mashed potatoes to feed a small army and the perfect mushroom gravy which doused most of it. I'm very proud of him, he did an amazing job.


The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we opened up every window and the french doors, and the kids spent a good amount of time playing outside. I just love how well they all play together–no arguments and only one accident that I know of :-) Gabriel wasn't feeling too well so I laid him down for a bit and gave him Advil. As soon as the medicine kicked in, he was up and about with his friends, but we knew it was a little more serious when at about 7:00 he had a temperature of 103°. More medicine and in a hot shower he went and then straight to bed. Everyone left around 8 pm which leads me to believe they all had just as much as an enjoyable time as we did. We are so thankful for our friends for without our lives would undoubtedly be much duller. (I'm also thankful Gabriel felt much better in the morning) :)

Beauti-Fall

The Last Soccer Game

The last soccer game .... of the season. We're pretty sure we'll come back in the spring unless something else comes along of interest. All of the Strikers improved this season and he made some new friends - to us a success.

A Day in the Life....

A Day in the Life of the Petts ... where we homeschool, golf, work, are potty-training, bake cookies, play soccer and snuggle, but more importantly are all healthy and happy.

That's the summary version so if you're a light reader no need to go any further - but if you want the chronicled, slice of life version continue reading. I did this a year ago for this post and promised myself I'd try to do every so often - apparently at this rate, it's once a year.

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7:00 – Gabriel wakes and comes in to snuggle with us. It's a little chilly outside so we warm him up under the covers. This is one of my favorite parts of the day. Gabriel tells me he had a dream about the show "MythBusters" - I'm not surprised. So I figured now was a good time to let him know the new series began this week (every Wed at 9 pm) and I recorded it for him.

7:30 – I don't have to go to work today (I'm off every other Friday), but do have to get a proposal done and sent out so I get up and take a hot shower and feel so thankful. I was sick with a virus last week along with the kids - we're all so happy to be feeling better.

7:45 – I'm sitting in front of my computer with a quick check on facebook and my work emails and begin finishing up a proposal for a company who needs branding, identity, naming and a website. Jimmy brings me up some homemade beignets, but I have to send them and the kids (Giselle is now awake) downstairs with him so I can concentrate and get this done.

8:30 – BREAKFAST: I'm finished with the proposal and sent it off to my colleague for a final review and send off to the prospective client. Meanwhile, I hear Gabriel downstairs complaining about his eczema. Jim puts on some Triamcinolone to help clear it up. Jimmy made pancakes too so we all sit down to eat together.

8:45 – All Giselle wants me to do is to hold her. She wants to be held in the mornings for a bit - and Jim and I are chasing Gabriel around saying "Ching" (our version of the Claw if you've seen the movie "Liar, Liar" with Jim Carey). He is so ticklish. We call a truce and I cut Jimmy's hair. This is our way of saving $20 at the barber and I've become quite good at cutting his hair over the years. While I'm cutting, I send Gabriel upstairs to finish his morning routine which is: potty, brush his teeth, make his bed, get dressed and turn off his light and air cleaner. He had *forgotten* to make his bed and turn off the light ;)

9:15 – We normally start our school by 9 am, but due to the haircut we're running fifteen minutes behind. We don't stick to a strict schedule anyway (it's more of a routine). I had Gabriel do a worksheet on reading comprehension about fireflies (he asks me if I did that because we live on Fire Fly Court) and answer questions on the story while I got Giselle dressed and tried to find his helmet. Today was going to be "ride your bike day" with his homeschool group. We're always multi-tasking it seems, and that's exactly what I'm doing as I try to sneak in some one-on-one, quality time with Giselle to introduce her to the potty, and as we read her favorite book. It's pictures of dogs and babies.

10:00 – I created a review test for him with double digit addition and subtraction, multiplication for 2's and 5's, telling time, greater than/less than and a spelling test. He did really well and I'm so proud at how well he is learning. Guess daddy is doing a good job teaching and working with him during the week. Giselle joins us at the table and pretends to be working too.

10:30 – I'm desperately trying to find her shoes, pack snacks, get everything into the car and out the door for our NEACH homeschool group at the park. Why is this so difficult? Regardless, I ultimately always leave something behind that I wish I had?

11:15 – We arrive at Lucky Shoals park and see everyone with their bikes and gear. Gabriel rode for a little bit, but didn't want to ride the trail (I think he wants a bike with training wheels rather than his glider) and ended up playing with Emma.

Giselle is my fearless daughter who went up and down the slides about 20 times and then later fell off the playset. I was standing right there but on the opposite side of where she fell so I couldn't catch her. She's ok, but landed on her face/side. I'm still a little blue over this. I know as a parent your toddler (and children) are bound to have bumps and bruises, but it's so difficult to see them get hurt.

1:00 – LUNCH: Back home, made some macaroni and cheese. This is dad's "world famous" that he has pre-made as part of his way of still taking care of us from the golf course, and all we have to do is warm it up on the stove with a little water on low heat.

1:30 – Giselle is down for her nap. She chatters a bit before falling asleep. I worry a little about her and will keep an extra eye on her today. I notice she has some cuts on her face from her fall that weren't there before so I'm hoping her fall wasn't worse than I thought.

2:00 – It's break time!! Gabriel is down stairs playing his computer games for 30 minutes while I check work emails and call a client who wants to start a new project. The day is only half over and I'm completely exhausted already!!! I really want a nap, but I work instead. I'm thankful I get to take every other Friday off from work so it's the least I can do.

2:30 – Gabriel and I reviewed some old School House Rock videos on YouTube about prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions, then went to this site to begin typing skills and a fun geographical map, and visited our recently favorite and resourceful Khan Academy math website with thousands of videos.

4:00 – SNACK: Giselle wakes up and appears to be doing just fine. Instead of doing our normal crackers and cheese for snack time, I hustled to get Gabriel in his soccer gear and out the door early so we could swing by Chick-fil-A - my favorite fast food spot. (I seriously should own stock in Target and Chick-fil-A with as often as I frequent those companies).

4:45 – It's already forty-five minutes later by the time I change my second poopy diaper of the day, get her bundled in warm clothing, find his soccer ball, shin guards and water bottle. On the way, Gabriel asks to turn some music on and I opt for my Carrie Underwood CD. It's the second of the three I own. Playing track 7, it's an intense, very grown-up, melancholy song and Gabriel says "I really like this song." I really like it too, but I'm surprised because he normally just likes either rock or pop songs for which he can dance fast.

5:30 – We're munching on some chicken nuggets still - Gabriel is kindly sharing with his sister – as we pull up to the Gwinnett Soccer Association (GSA) fields and realize the gates are closed. All the other soccer moms are pulling up next to me and we're trying to figure out what to do from here. We decide to go to Mountain Park Park (yes, there are two parks in the name, it's not accidentally redundant). We end up only getting in 15 minutes worth of practice since it gets dark so early now after Day Light Savings. There is a playground nearby and Gabriel comes running up to me after they announced they are done to ask if he can play. I say, "sure, for five minutes" and off he runs. Another mom mentions to me, "my son didn't ask me." I feel proud for a moment. Being a parent is hard and he just made me look good at this instance - I'm sure there are plenty of other times exactly the opposite is true.

6:00 – DINNER: Jimmy called and we meet him at Pizza Cafe for a large, pepperoni pizza. This has been our favorite pizza joint this year every since Gabriel's last soccer coach (Coach Adam) introduced us to it. You have to get a pie though, slices aren't anything to write home about. Giselle must have had more nuggets than I thought because she barely eats and just wants to head over to the games to pretend drive.

7:15 – We arrive back home, it's dark, cold and the kids are rambunctious so I let them play for a little bit with their toys in the family room.

7:30 – I announce it's bath time! The kids both love to take baths so they both run to the bottom of the stairs where Gabriel opens the gate for Giselle and I follow them up into the bathroom. I pour some bubbles and baby soap into the tub along with their toys and they excitedly get undressed. Gabriel pretends the bubbles are burger patties which I have to pretend to eat and Giselle just loves playing in the water (pour out, pour in, pour out, pour in, ....).

8:00 – I get Giselle out first to dry her off and get her into warm p.j.'s. I put her on my bed while she plays with daddy while I get the boy out, dried, dressed in his p.j.'s. At this point, I'm really tired myself, and now secretly thankful it's nearing their bedtime. Daddy puts more lotion on Gabriel for his eczema. I have Gabriel read to me one page out of his book, Giselle has some milk and we say time for bed. Sometimes we let Gabriel stay up a half hour later than her, but tonight we say "that's not one of those nights and both to bed."

8:30 – We all go into their room (they share a bedroom), turn out the lights, look at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling and sing soft worship songs. Gabriel sings with us (this is new) and Giselle is swaying, clapping and snuggling.

9:00 – We're free!! Strangely Gabriel didn't come back out of his room tonight asking to snuggle. He must have been tired and went straight to sleep. Jim and I do a light work out routine. Then I take a shower, then we lay in bed and do a little talking, praying and sailing (yes, that means what you think).

10:15 – Jim is snoring and I'm typing in my blog post for today and thinking how incredibly boring this all must sound. Our lives used to be gymnastics, swing dancing, college...we're parents now and our day proves it. After the day I've had with the kids, schooling, driving around to here and there, I'm thinking Jim is some kind of Super Dad. I'm really unsure how he does this every day and does everything else like pay the bills, grocery shop, cook, dishes, clean, laundry and work on the home? I'm sure he'll get a kick out of me telling him that in the morning ... or... I could just keep it our little secret ;)

11:00 – The kids are sound asleep - and that's where I'm headed now. I bid thee adieu.

Gabriel's Golf Swing

The weather is beautiful and daddy took Gabriel to go play 9 holes of golf at Mystery Valley. It's great - he only has to pay his age, $6!

Gabriel Flashback

Cleaning up the server - found some videos of Gabriel when he was two and three...

October 2010 - Block Party & Halloween

Wow - October blew by in a blink. I guess that's what happens when you are super busy at work, spend a week in Tampa caring for your Mom, organize a neighborhood block party and prep for Halloween.

But first I have an update on Jerry (my homeless friend)...who from what I hear on the street....is no longer. His family came and got him. I'm so thankful my prayers for him were answered, especially since the problem is so much bigger than me - God worked on the hearts of people who could truly help him. I'm so elated! Meanwhile, I met another man without a home who had his three year old son with him. Gabriel, Giselle and I took him some Chinese food, but since they don't want my assistance in the way of finding temporary shelter, I just keep some t-shirts, bottled water and $5 Subway gift cards on hand with me in the car. Everyone needs food and clothing - and water is a necessity so it's the least I can do. The t-shirts are new and donated to me by my marketing agency from old swag we did way back when - they were just sitting in the closet, so really they are brand new "old" shirts that hopefully will be worn someday.

I'm thrilled our first neighborhood block party turned out well. About 40 or so neighbors came, brought food and drinks and spend the afternoon just talking. How wonderful to finally get to know everyone.

Giselle is a little red, lobster and Gabriel is Super Mario - along with Sean - the two Mario Brothers. The neighbors came over to start out trick-or-treating from our home - it's all about the kids, costumes and candy!

A busy, scary month

This month has been quite stressful with my unmanageable workload and my mothers emergency triple bypass surgery. The prospect of losing my Mama was quite scary. It all worked out nicely in the end. She is recuperating well and I was able to take a week to work from her kitchen and help nurse her back to health. I'm undomesticated so being out of my element just a bit with cooking, cleaning, giving meds, taking blood pressure, etc., but loved every minute of it.

We were able to launch three websites and a 28 page magazine the same week our friend Greg Hammer has returned to work. Together, should make my work load feel like a vacation, at least says my boss. I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel and making a concerted effort with my stress level. Nothing is worth the risk its toll such as hypertension, or worse, cancer, stroke or heart attack. This is my own method for stress-reducing:

1. Working more efficiently and smartly
2. Delegating to others
3. Learning how to say the simple word "no" so you don't over commit yourself and spread too thin -- by the way, I'm TERRIBLE at this
4. Make yourself take breaks - get up from your desk for five minute walks/stretches to refresh your brain in order to be productive
5. Learn to relax my muscles at my desk and just breathe. Studies have shown when you are stressed you take shorter breaths, trying to take deliberately longer breaths for much needed oxygen.
6. Don't worry. Worry leads to stress which leads to illness like hypertension, or worse... cancer, heart attack or stroke. Worry generates confusion and leads you down the backwards path.
7. Remembering that it's "not the end of the world" if you ask to push back an interim deadline or maneuver other meetings around to accommodate your stress level and manage your day.
8. Prioritizing my responsibilities. God, family, work, friends, extra curricular activities, etc.
9. Pray - always having a mental attitude of thankfulness and optimism. "You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you."

Finally, realizing that I'm not alone in this world. God is always with me and I have family and friends who love and support me.

Phonics and Reading and Spelling ... Oh My!

We love getting to be the ones to teach Gabriel his phonics, reading and spelling.

Almost every night I have him read to me out of this book (see blue book on right) and then answer the comprehension questions. Next I have him conduct the Explode the Code workbook which breaks down words and sounds. I'll also give him a spelling test about once a week which he loves. We're having a great time doing it and I'm so proud of him.

CNN: Less families homeschool for religious reasons

Less families home schooling primarily for religious reasons.

CNN reports.

Giselle at 18 months

Giselle eating her dinner and talking. She's obsessed right now with her little pink bear blanket she calls her "baby".

Back to School - Gabriel is a First Grader!

First of all, I can't believe I have a first grader. Secondly, I never thought in a million years we would be homeschooling! I've come a long way from a year ago when we were just "trying out this home school thing." We really see the benefits of getting to educate our son and all the perks that come along with it. We're so happy.

Here is his first day of school picture. He is saluting the new year:



At Sandy Springs "Big Trees Forest Preserve" for play in the creek with one of his homeschool groups.

Our Birthday Bashes

Both Gabriel and I had birthdays the month of August which turned out to be very special.

I plan my own birthday every year, which enables me to get exactly what I want. It's brilliant, I think. I take off from work and off from "home". Normally I get a massage and it's my one time a year luxury, but this year I found a place right around the corner which gives discounts with insurance. With the discount in place, I was able to get a two hour massage at the same rate I was accustomed to paying for one hour. It was so relaxing and still went by so fast. I remember her saying, "Ok, Marcy, we're going to begin." And the next thing I know she is telling me we are done.

Then Jimmy and Gabriel took me to Farm Burger in Decatur to get a good cheeseburger. The day ended with a date with my honey to see a movie, "Eat. Pray. Love." with Julia Roberts. Mixed reviews, but still enjoyed an evening out and being taken on a journey to lands I'll probably never get to go. My birthday continued the following day to Tacqueria Del Sol for lunch...one of my favorite restaurants.






Gabriel turned six - and I can still hardly believe. I wanted to package up the five year old age and keep it my pocket forever. We celebrated with a MythBusters themed party. It's his favorite show so in honor of turning six, we conducted six science experiments with his friends. Of course, we had to do the Mentos and Diet Coke Geyser one and we made a bottle rocket shoot off. I think the kids enjoyed it, but afterward, I asked Gabriel what his favorite part of the party was .... the experiments, dancing, opening presents, or the ice cream? None of those. I was secretly hoping he would say, "It's your marvelous organization skills Mommy," but was taken back when he said, "Playing with my friends." Such a sweetie. Ok, I must remember this for next year....Less is More.....maybe just cake and friends and less hoopla? We'll see....six weeks before his party, I may not be able to resist the planning....it's chronic.

Here's his birthday song. He wanted just ice cream this year - no birthday cake!


Here he is performing his birthday breakdance routine with his friend Kevin: