Jordan's parent teacher conference was last week. He's doing great, as usual. Not surprising considering how much he loves school. Apparently he's always nice and cheerful and well-behaved, which makes me wonder why I don't always get the Jordan at home. I guess if he's got to misbehave somewhere, I'd rather have it be at home than in public. I got a bit of surprise when his teacher told me that he'd been tested to see if he should move into Gifted and Talented math. It looks like he'll be fine in regular math for now, but they're going to keep an eye on him and he might move later this year. Reading's going really well too. They want the kids to be reading at a level 22 by the end of the year, and he's been at a level 23 since the end of first grade. I guess all the hours and hours we've spent reading to him are really paying off. I'm so very happy that he loves to read. I read a chapter from a book to him every night at bedtime (we're doing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory right now) and he's reading chapter books on his own as well. He still really loves art and also writing. This is a story he wrote for school; I especially love the begining and the end:

N or M

Some of my favorite "Sasha-isms" - "naybe" instead of "maybe"and "grow-mup" instead of "grown-up". These are often used together in sentences that start out, "Naybe, when I'm a grow-mup..." The poor little girl tries so hard to keep up with her big brother and sister. When they're here she follows them around trying to play with them, talking and talking at them and trying to get their attention. When they're not here she spends a lot of time talking about what she'll do when she's as old as they are and imitating all the annoying things they do that I'd like a break from while they're gone. Especially the way Jordan spends all day asking me if anyone is coming over and if we're going anywhere and then freaking out when I say "No" and "No". Give her a few decades and she'll start talking about the good old days when she was little and didn't have any responsibilities. Although, to be fair, she has taken on rather a lot of responsibilities for a girl who's not yet four.

She's very busy bossing her father and I around and panicking about things not being done properly. She's also been taking care of her "dollies" since she was about 8 months old. We now have Tiny Baby, Big Baby, Other Big Baby, the Raggedys (tiny Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls), Alpha-Betty (a doll given to my by my Grandma Betty when I was little) and a few other ones. Tiny Baby is the most important and usually goes everywhere with Sasha, along with Heart Blankie. Sasha spends a lot of time feeding, dressing and caring for her dollies, especially at night when she's supposed to be sleeping. She also has an imaginary dog named Jumper who was a gift from Grandma Tamar. She has such a realistic plan of care for Jumper and such a clear idea of what Jumper does that after she spent 10 minutes telling my boss about Jumper he turned to me and said, "You guys got a dog???" There are only two ways you can tell Jumper is imaginary - he goes to school with Jordan because he's 5 and he frequently changes colors (rather unrealistic colors at that).

"When I Grow Up"

About a week ago Jordan brought this picture home from school. It's a picture of him working in our basement (which we are currently finishing). I love how he even drew the step stool and the fan that Justin's been using down there. His goal for quite a while has been to be an artist when he grows up, so when I saw this I asked him about it. He said he guesses he'll be two things - an artist and a handyman. I thought that sounded like a pretty complementary combination. Then Sasha piped up and said when she grows up she wants to be a computer player and a baseball player. I said, "a baseball player, huh?". She said, "Yeah, and something important." "More important that a baseball player?" I asked. "Yes," she said. "I want to be a computer player, and a baseball player, and I want to play at Mae's house too." I had to laugh. Of course, to her nothing could be more important than playing at her best friend's house!

Mother's Day

Jordan made this card for me at school. He also gave me a cool rock with some shiny spots. It's smooth and fits nicely in my hand. For some reason holding it is very relaxing. I love my Jo-Jo!

Wheelin' and Dealin'

Jordan had yesterday and today off of school. Earlier this week he asked me if he could have his friend Nicholas sleep over some time over his long weekend. Then he asked, if Nicholas could sleep over, would I make macaroni and cheese from a box for supper. It's so funny how the kid is not that interested in my fabulous homemade mac and cheese but he loves any kind that comes in a box. (Oh wait, he's not a big fan of the Annie's organic mac & cheese either.) Not sure how this all fits into his New Year's resolution to eat healthier, but anyway...I said "we'll see" about the generic box mac and cheese and he immediately started bargaining.

Jordan: "I'll give you some of my money if you make macaroni and cheese."
Me: "I'm not going to take your money Jordan."
Jordan: "I'll make you something special in art class this week."
Me: "I love when you make me things in art class. We'll see about the macaroni and cheese."
Jordan: "But Mom I'll give you something or make you something."
Me: "Jordan, you don't need to give me anything. I understand that you really really want macaroni and cheese. We'll see. Probably."

Needless to say, he got his box mac & cheese for supper tonight. Kind of reminds me of sophomore year of high school when I spent two days trying to convince my parents to let me go to the Bush concert. I finally won the argument by telling them I would never take hot lunch at school again unless I paid for it myself.

Side Note: Sasha's teeth are "very sparkly and shiny" because she just had her first "dentist be-pointment".

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Fairly relaxing, everyone was pretty healthy, the kids were happy, the weather was decent, and we made it to church with time to spare. On Good Friday we went to church in the evening. Saturday afternoon we spent at Justin's grandparents house in Albany, had lunch and the kids did an Easter egg hunt. This morning we went to church with Lydia, Brandon and the boys in Janesville. Then we went to their house for lunch with some of my family. Here's some of my favorite pictures from the weekend. (I know there's more pictures of Sasha than the other two, but I just can't help it.)

Here Goes Nothing

Christmas is over, the new year has begun, and I'm still waiting for life to slow down. Here's a little tid-bit for you while I try to get back into the swing of things. A few days after Christmas, we were at Justin's dad's place, getting ready to go sledding. I wanted Sasha to go to the bathroom before I put her snowpants on, for obvious reasons, but she was having none of it. I finally convinced her to go and followed her into the bathroom. She hopped up onto the toilet and said, "Here goes nothing...because nothing's coming out!" Followed immediately by a tell-tale tinkle sound. Being a generally nice girl, she graciously admitted that I had been right while I wiped her. What I want to know is, where the heck does she come up with this stuff?

Kids Say...Part 2 or 3?

A few days ago Jordan said to Sasha, "Sasha, you're so cute. You're the cutest girl I ever saw." And she replied, "Yeah."

Thinking of cute things my kids say reminded me of something Sasha said this past spring. My friend Beth was watching the kids for me while I was interviewing some people for an article I was writing. When I came to pick them up, the first thing Sasha said was, "Mom, Bethie touched my butt." Turned out, Sasha had a dirty diaper and Beth had changed her. It was hilarious. I guess I don't need to worry about Sasha keeping any "bad touch" incidents to herself at any rate!

Jordan's Favorites

One of the things that makes me happy is reading kids' writing when they're just learning. Lately one of the best parts of my day is when Jordan shows me what he brought home from school in his folder. I love finding out what's going on in his head. Here's a few samples with captions (in case you have a hard time reading them).


My favorite things to do
1. Play the wii
2. Play
3. Go to parties


My Favorite Food
1. cheese burger
2. mac and cheese
3. pizza
4. ketchup
5. ice cream
6. turkey

Sasha's Third Birthday

The best thing about warm Novembers is going to the park for Sasha's birthday (this was our second year in a row). I felt bad because "the big day" was none too fun. Sasha was recovering from a fever (meaning mommy wouldn't let her have any sugar) and both Justin and I had to work, so the only time we were together was at breakfast. We did sing Happy Birthday before Jordan left for school, and I managed to dig up a gold party hat and three yellow balloons (the last ones in the party box). We didn't even have her present because we decided to get her a sled and Target (the only store we'd had time to look at) didn't have them in stock yet. Luckily, by Sunday the 7th, which was the first day we had time to celebrate, Sasha was feeling better and the weather was beautiful. Our friends Pete and Beth came over with their two little girls, Mae and Violet and we went to the park. The kids had lots of fun playing in the leaves while the guys played football and Beth and I talked (what else?). Then we came home for supper, cake and presents. Sasha got some new ponies and her own chapstick from the Rozaks (she opened that before we went to the park, and it shows up in almost all the pictures since she wouldn't let me hold on to it for her). I managed to find a very reasonably priced sled at Farm and Fleet, as well as a little red snow shovel and a My Little Pony puzzle. Sasha loves puzzles so much right now that she'll often inform me that she's done all of her puzzles, and ask to do some of Jordan's. Anyway, we had a great time and got some pretty good pictures too!

Sasha on the slide.

Mae & Sasha, ready to go.

Made it to the bottom!

Putting leaves on Violet.

Jordan joins in.