Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures from Austin's turkey lunch yesterday at school.

Abigail and I pulled our chairs up to Austin's desk to eat our lunch.

After lunch, the kids read their "Angry Turkey" stories aloud. They all wrote their own stories.

It was fun to hear all the different stories they came up with! They all put their pictures up on the projector so the whole class could see them.

On to our Thanksgiving feast! It was just us again this year, but that didn't stop us from making a big dinner! I love cooking my turkey in a bag, it's so good!

All the goodies to go with it!

Yummmm, my favorite! You can't have Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes!

The turkey without the bag.

Carving the turkey!

We've had lunch and we're ready for a nap!

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This is a picture of Austin's place mat from school. I love what he's thankful for!

- My family

-Grandparents

-Frinds (friends)

- I am thankful for my pet Lexi

Love him!

And a finished picture of the napkins! I love how they turned out, I might have to make some for myself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2nd grade school picture

He's so handsome!

Full snow gear

Because of the snow, Austin has to suit up in snow gear every morning for school! Here he is the morning after Halloween!

And there he goes, running for the bus stop! You can barely see him, but you can sure see the reflective tape he put on his back pack!



It's hard to believe that he goes to the bus stop at 8:35 every morning. It's pretty much dark until mid morning. So far we're all adjusting well to the darkness, we'll see how we do once we start to see less and less of the sun during the day!

The first days of school

Here are the pictures of the kids first days of school while we were still in Missouri.

August 2011

And Austin's first day of school in Alaska! Quite the difference in clothing!

October 2011

First Grade school picture

It's that time again...school picture time. We're still not sure why he smiles this way, but here it is!

And for comparison purposes, Kindergarten is here.

Pre-K is here.

** Edited **

I made a picture collage over at Picnik of the last three school pictures!

First Grade

Austin started school on Monday. Because we went on vacation to Michigan, he started a week and a couple of days late. So far he's jumped right back into it and this week is going well.

Again, we've transferred Austin on post to go to school. Once I get a job, he'll be attending the SAS program again after school, and possibly before school also. He's really excited about going to SAS again and he keeps bugging me about getting a job!

Kindergarten school picture

Austin's school picture turned out better this year!

The talker

So, I've kind of fallen off the face of the blog world. My days are filled with waking up early, dropping kids off, putting in 8 hours of work, picking kids up, making dinner, bathing children and putting them to bed. I soon follow them to bed and then we get up the next day and do it all over again. To say I'm exhausted would be an understatement! Needless to say, the blog has fallen to the back burner.

Tomorrow this little girl has her first class of tumbling! It's a parent and child class so we'll be participating together. (Just in case I wasn't tired enough!)



She's quite the talker lately too. I simply can not have a phone conversation without her wanting to talk to the other person on the line.



Every time Michael sees Abigail on the webcam he wants to know when was the last time I brushed her hair! It's wild and crazy all the time!

Since her hair cut it's been growing at a nice steady, even pace.



Since Abigail's signed up for tumbling, Austin is going to play soccer. He'll actually be on a team and I'm interested to see how he reacts to it. He really likes school and is even more excited about SAS. When he's at SAS he gets to choose between the arts & crafts room, the computer lab or the game room. I always like to guess what room he'll be in when I pick him up. He likes to split his time between the computer lab and the game room.

We're all looking forward to this weekend. We'll have three whole days to do nothing.

I hope this satisfied those readers who look for blog posts! Is there anything you'd like to know about what's going on with us? Leave it in the comments, it would definitely give me more to blog about!!!!

School Supplies

1 box of Crayola markers ~ $2.50

1 pair of scissors ~ $1.50

1 set of watercolor paints ~ $2.00

2 pink erasers ~ $1.00

2 spiral notebooks ~ $0.30

4 boxes of tissue ~ $3.47

2 bottles of white glue ~ $0.50

4 boxes of Crayola crayons ~ $1.00

5 plastic folders ~ $0.75

30 glue sticks ~ $3.75

24 #2 pencils ~ $1.00

1 supply box ~ $0.62

2 packages of 3 x 5 index cards ~ $1.28

Sending our kid to Kindergarten ~ PRICELESS

Austin's school supply shopping is complete. We got everything he needs at the store tonight to beat the rush as it gets closer to the first day of school. I can not believe he's going to be in Kindergarten! He returns to school on August 24th!

Our Star Student

Austin brought home a Star Student Award! How awesome is that?

His award was for showing responsibility. We're so proud of him!

Pre-K Christmas Program

Austin had his Christmas Program today at school. I also video taped this performance, I just need to figure out how to get it onto the computer!

All the Pre-K students

Can you spot him?

He was very animated during the entire performance. They even got to do it twice. I guess some parents walked in the door as it was ending the first time so the teachers decided to do it again.

After the program I headed back to work and Austin got ready to ride the bus to the CDC.

I'm so glad I only work a block from Austin's school and was able to attend the program.

He did such a great job. I'm so proud of him!

I is for Inch Worm

Look how scary he made it!

Please look past the dorito faces. When Daddy's away, they get whatever they want for dinner (unless it's something totally outrageous)! Last night it happened to be chicken nuggets and doritos!

School pictures

Of course it's a picture of his school pictures, but how cute is this?

Who thinks I should have them re-taken?

The missing "E" hat

We learned at our parent/teacher conference on Thursday that Austin would be making an Eagle hat on Friday. When I picked him up from daycare on Friday, the eagle hat was no where to be found. I asked Austin where it was and he mumbled something about not being finished so he had to throw it away. I really can't imagine his teacher telling him to throw it away, but I have no idea where the hat is at.

Any guesses for the letter "F"?

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Our parent/teacher conferences went well on Thursday. Austin needs to work on recognizing his letters, but is average in everything he's been tested for.

I know he's absorbing something because he can do a lot of things he didn't know how to do at the beginning of the year.

He can now:

* Write his name unassisted and without looking at it to copy the letters.

* He can recite all the months of the year in order.

* Counts objects, recognizes the correct number and matches them together.

* Is learning how things rhyme with each other. He tries to rhyme all the time.

* Recognizes some upper and lower case letters. And even knows the sound they make.

There are more, but I can't seem to think of them now. He's done well, and has only had one color change for his behavior. He got a green smiley face last week for hitting others with his lunch box. Apparently he wasn't the only one so that makes me feel a little better. Still doesn't make it right, but we had a discussion about it when we got home.

Overall, we just need to work on recognizing letters. We bought some flash cards and some work books so he can practice.

Tomorrow is picture day. It should be interesting to see how they turn out!

I'm one of THOSE Mom's

Yes, this is a L.L. Bean backpack.

Yes, it has a matching lunch box.

Yes, they both have Austin's initials monogrammed on them.

Yes, I'm one of THOSE Mom's.

(But guess what? Austin couldn't be more excited about them! Can you say spoiled??)

Day 2

Day 2 turned out to be a better day for Mommy, but not so much for Austin. I walked him into school this morning and he didn't want to let go of me. We walked into school with some of our friends where the boys then posed for a picture.

I also had Austin pose by his class list, but you see how well that turned out!

The teacher mentioned this morning that Austin had an excellent day yesterday. She said he even received a compliment from a 4th grade teacher about how well he was walking in the hallway.

He must have had a good day again today, he came home with a blue color listed on his discipline chart!

Blue = Excellent behavior

I expect him to come home with blue on his discipline chart every day, we'll see how well that goes.

I'll leave you with some Pre-K art Austin brought home today:

The first day

It seems as though the first day of school went off without a hitch. I prepped myself the whole way to school, but it didn't seem to help in the moment I left my son at school for the first time. I really shouldn't be surprised, but I was an emotional wreck as I made a bee line for the doors heading out of the school into the parking lot. And of course, Austin did great!

From what we were able to get out of him, he had a great day at school. He was very excited that he got to ride a school bus to the Child Development Center (CDC) after school. The ladies at the CDC said he was great on the bus and was very polite while at the center. He was just finishing up his snack when I arrived at the center to pick him up.

Hopefully I'll be in a better emotional state when arriving at school tomorrow. I'm hoping to get a couple more pictures other then him standing by his clean underwear and walking to school! Tomorrow is the last day we can walk him into the school without getting a visitor's pass. After tomorrow, I'll be dropping him off at a circle drive where an aide will assist him with getting to his classroom.

He already knows his teachers name and is excited to take his own lunch in his backpack. (Which is on it's way!) He'll be in the swing of things in no time!

Now if I could only get him to stop growing up so fast...

Meet the teacher

Monday is the day I've been excited sad nervous about since I registered Austin for school.

Austin and I went to his school last night to meet his teacher and see the school. Once we found his name on the class lists, we went to his room where we were greeted by his teacher and went on a scavenger hunt to explore his classroom.

We first found his cubby where he will keep his backpack every day. We unloaded his school supplies and headed on to the next place, the place where he will read books.

(You know I brought my camera for this!)

We next moved onto the place where they can wash their hands and go potty.

Next it was on to the place where they might play house and pretend to cook. Austin's first meal he made at preschool was chicken. He was loving the kitchen part!

He then had to find his desk where he's going to do his best work. He had to find the spot where his name tag was and draw a picture for the class quilt. His teacher is going to take every one's picture and create a quilt for the first day of school.

His teacher took his picture and we continued on to check out the library and the cafeteria. We put some money in Austin's lunch account so he can eat lunch at school without having to carry actual money.

I think the cutest part was when the little girl who shares Austin's cubby came into the room. She'll also sit at the desk with him and I see a potential little "girlfriend" for him! She is so cute! She was wearing a little dress and even has an L.L. Bean backpack with her initials on it like Austin. Of course, I really slacked on getting Austin's new backpack (the shark one) ordered, but it should be here by next week. His backpack and his lunch box will both have his initials on it too.

We've been practicing our routine in the morning and it's gone pretty smooth. We'll be preparing ourselves all weekend for Monday. Let's just hope my emotions stay in check Monday...