Even Stars Have Tooth Fairies

What a week it was for Caleb!  He came home all excited that he had been chosen Star of the Week in Kindergarten.  That meant that he got special attention and treatment all week, that he got to bring a toy to class each day, and most importantly, he got to make a big poster about himself to hang in his classroom all week.

All weekend Caleb kept reminding me that he still had to make his poster, but that was last weekend, a holiday weekend, so I figured I had plenty of time.  Then suddenly it was Tuesday morning, and the poster hadn't been made.  Good thing Caleb goes to afternoon kindergarten!

First Caleb and I went through all the pictures on my computer and he helped me pick out his favorites.  Then using my Big Shot we die cut a bunch a stars from fun papers.  So far, so good.  Then I hit a huge speed bump - my printer wasn't working.  The paper jammed, I cleared it, but the printer wouldn't work anymore.  Refused.  Said there was a jam that I had to clear, but I already did, and I couldn't find anymore paper jammed anywhere.  So frustrating!

But this was vital.  This was Star of The week, and it had to get done!  So I figured out that I could pick the pictures, a few at a time, and email them to Dennis' computer, and print them on his printer.  Only Dennis has a lousy free trial photo software that I couldn't navigate very well, and I was having problems with his printer as well.  Of course. It was quite an involved process, for just printing off a few pics.

Anyway, while I was in Dennis' office battling it out with the printer, Caleb and Luke decided to get started on the poster - you know, to save time.  So, unbeknownst to me, they started gluing down all the stars that we cut all over the poster board, and came and got the pictures I had already wrangled out of the printer.  When I came into the kitchen the masterpiece was almost finished.  They had glued all the stars and pictures everywhere, and to add just a pop of color, they went at the poster with crayons, and a fat yellow highlighter - right over all the pictures and everything.  They were beaming with pride at what they had created.  We only had time to slap the remaining few pictures on the poster, and scribble a few captions wherever I could find a blank space on the crayon-covered board, before we were out the door.

Now you have to understand, this is my 5th Star of the Week.  With all my other boys, I carefully made the posters like giant scrapbook pages, in such a way that I could deconstruct them and turn them into scrapbook page layouts when the week was done.  You know: two birds, one stone.  But Caleb and Luke had their own "vision" for this poster, a very colorful one, I might add.  I was kind of frustrated, like I had  wasted the whole morning trying to accomplish my vision, when all I had to do was hand them some crayons and say "Have at it!"

Still, I think the poster turned out pretty fun, and Caleb was proud as a peacock to bring it to his classroom.  I guess that is all that matters, right?

It is good to be the Star of the Week, and Caleb enjoyed every minute of it.  And to top the week off, Caleb lost his very first tooth!  It was pretty loose all week.  Dennis even tried to yank it out with dental floss on Saturday.  But Alex, our resident tooth extractor (he wants to be a dentist one day) finally got it out on the drive home fom church.  Nothing more exciting than a bloody mouth with a hole in it.  Yippee!

What do you think about Caleb's new look?  Quite distinguished, don't you think?

AB Pattern

There is nothing as great as having a kindergartener in the house!

They begin to read and do math and the whole world around them seems to open up for them.  How fun it is to watch them incorporate what they are learning into their world.

Look what I discovered.  Someone was practicing their lettering on my antique molasses crock.  He did a nice job.  I should be furious. Writing on stuff is a serious "no-no."  But I can't bring myself to erase it.  It adds to the charm, don't you think?

This was my Christmas present from Caleb.  This is my 5th gilded macaroni frame with a picture with Santa.  I have one from each of my boys from their kindergarten days.  He was so excited for me to open it, and as soon as I tore the tissue paper off (with his help,of course) he exclaimed, "See!  It's an A B pattern!"  He was so proud - not of his darling picture with Santa, or of the beautiful gold frame, but of the A B pattern.  It took me a second to get it because it has been a few years since my kindergarten math.  He proudly pointed out how he had carefully arranged the holiday-themed macaroni in an A,B,A,B pattern. Santa, snowflake, Santa, snowflake, Santa - across the top, and sled, present, sled, present, sled - across the bottom.  Oh, of course - A B pattern!  He couldn't wait to show off his mathematical genius. 

Then the other day, Luke and Caleb wanted to help me make muffins.  It was a little chaotic with a 2 year old and a five year old in the kitchen.  But Caleb, and his aforementioned mathematical genius, announced a plan.  "I know.  AB pattern!" He arranged it so that he was A, Lukie was B.  He would break and egg, Luke would break an egg.  He would measure a half cup water, Luke would measure a half cup water.  Caleb would stir, Luke would stir.  It was very efficient.  Then he labled the rows of the muffin pan - A row, B row, A row B row.  Caleb put all the paper liners in the A rows, and Luke the B rows.  Luke, never having been to kindergarten, didn't quite grasp this higher-order math skill, which bugged Caleb to no end.  But the A B pattern muffins did get made in a somewhat orderly fashion, and they were delicious!

Now if I could get my kids to use an "A B C D E F G pattern" in such things as sharing the Nintendo DS, or choosing who sits in the best seat in the car.  I could put Caleb in charge of that. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

So while Dennis and I were back and forth to the hospital, life continued at as close to normal for everyone else, and a lot was going on.

The middle school had a special honor roll assembly, and both Alex and Nathan were recognized.  I missed it, of course, but I was there in spirit, and they both know how proud I am of them.

Nathan got a gold award with a GPA of 3.86.  Can you believe he missed straight A's by one B+?

Next time, for sure, Nate.  Not bad for his first quarter in middle school.

Alex got a Silver Award for his GPA of 3.71.  He, too, only missed straight A's by one grade.  We are so proud of him, as it took a lot of hard work on his part to make those grades.

Alex also got another another very special Character Counts Award for Responsibility.  That fits Alex to a T.  He is extremely responsible with his homework and schoolwork.  He comes right home, shows me what he needs to do, then gets right to work.  He is organized - something he did not inherit from his mother, and works so hard.  I am so proud of him, and am grateful that a teacher recognized this trait in him and recognized him for it.

Also, Caleb had an Indian pow-wow in his Kindergarten class on Tuesday.  I was absolutely exhausted Monday after getting home from the hospital.  When I found out Caleb needed an Indian vest for the next morning, I was ready to just cut arm holes in a brown paper bag and call it good.  But Caleb was less than thrilled by that idea, so I pulled myself up by the bootstraps, and helped him make his own Indian vest with a scrap of faux suede I dug out of the garage.  He decorated it with Indian symbols.  He was thrilled with it. He wanted to wear it to bed and was so excited to go to the pow-wow.  Now I am so glad that just I made the effort to do that for him.  I know I would have regretted it if I hadn't.  The whole world doesn't come to a screeching halt because one kid is sick.

There was also a belt test for taekwando while I was away.  Caleb got his orange belt, Dennis got his senior green belt, and Nathan got his red belt, which is a really big deal.  Dylan would have received his red belt too, if he wasn't tied up in a hospital recovering from surgery.  Poor Dylan.  He'll be up and kicking soon enough.  Unfortunately I have no pictures of the belt test, since I wasn't there to take them, but I am proud of my guys, and I know they did great!

Kindergarten Carnival Magic

On Halloween all the kindergarteners went in the morning.  It was their annual Carnival!  All my boys have had a chance to attend this magical carnival when they were in kindergarten and it is such a treat for them.  The teachers and dozens of parents go ALL OUT to pull a rabbit out of a hat and give these little guys a really terrific Halloween.  It is one of the highlights of their year!

Caleb the Great was having a high time playing at the dozen or more booths.  Amazingly, every kid wins every game.  There is a lot of cheering and prizes and smiling.  No tricks, just treats!  Caleb had a great time and got loaded down with tons of prizes (most were not candy, thankfully.)

Here Caleb fishes at the fishing booth where I was working.  I got to hand out the poles and somebody else, poor thing, had to crouch in the booth to attach the "fish" to the poles.  Abracadabra!  There's a prize! 

The Great Calebdini and his lovely assistant, and teacher, Mrs. Cathcart.

How lucky we are that our kids have all been part of the same absolutely Amazing kindergarten program!  Kindergarten is the most wonderful age.  It's magical!  (Just like Caleb the Magician!)

Caleb's Got Game

S is for spider.

Tonight we had family home evening.  As we were getting ready to have our closing prayer, Caleb announced that he had a game for us to play.  My initial reaction was to think that it really was getting late and we didn't have time for some silly game he made up on the  fly.  But instead I indulged him and let him do his thing.  I was surprised.  He had a game that he had planned in advance and really put a lot of thought into.  He was so thrilled that he was given the opportunity to have us play it.

Caleb is 4, and just started Kindergarten.  He loves it!  In his class they study a different letter each week.  They practice the letter, eat food that starts with the letter, and the teachers even dress up as something that starts with that letter.  Last week was 'S', which is why Caleb made that lovely googley eyed spider hat above.  He calls it a "pider" - so much for all the 'S' training.  This week it is 'M'.  Yesterday Caleb came to me with a little baggie with dozens of little 'S's and 'M's that he had obviously cut out from somewhere.  He was so excited.  "I found m's and s's!"  I was a little concerned and asked him what books or magazines he had found those letters in, but he couldn't remember.  Yikes! I guess I'll find out soon enough. I quickly located for him a stack of old magazines and he continued merrily cutting out tiny little letters all morning for his little baggie.  I don't know what he is planning on doing with them.  Maybe he can use them for ransom notes one day.

So Caleb stood up at FHE to introduce his game very authoritively.  He handed everyone a new, not-for-cutting magazine, and announced that we were going to have a race.  When he said go, we would each have to find a capital 'S', a lower case 's', a capital 'M', and a lowercase 'm'.  When we found all 4, we would raise our hand, and he would come check our answers.  He had another little baggie that contained little strips of paper that he had carefully written each of our names on.  After showing him our found letters, we had to close our eyes, and stick our hand in the baggie and pull out a slip.  If it was our own name, we won.  He had really planned this and was very clear on the rules of play.  We all had fun playing his game.  Derek cheated and Caleb yanked his magazine away and told him he was out of the game.  Too funny.  Caleb was thrilled at the success of his game, and I was pleased that it didn't last too long.  Caleb is such a cute, one-of-a-kind kid.

Oh, and he is so funny because a school when a kid does something good, they earn a reward called a "Super U" that they can accumulate and buy prizes with at the "Super U" store.  Only Caleb always calls it a "Super Me."  Now thats a kid with confidence!

I also love that he calls a watermelon a "waterlemon".  That cracks me up every time.