ABC Feast

"First grade is so fun!" is a phrase I've said often this year.  I'm sure first grade everywhere is pretty neat, but C's class seems to be doing so many neat things.  They do a lot of project based learning and the students often get to make suggestions for and vote on their subject matter.  Their first project was about donuts!  I think the first time I told C first grade sounded fun was when he told me they made donuts at school. 

 

Another fun thing?  The new book club they started for the few advanced readers in the grade.  C gets to go to the other first grade classroom for this and he just LOVES it.  I spoke with this other teacher and she said C is constantly asking her, "What time is book club today?"

 

And then there was the ABC Feast.  C had been talking about it since the class started preparing.  He was so excited that we were ALL going to come.  (He likes showing off his little brothers...this particular time he got lil' peanut to say poo-poo and pee-pee at the lunch table and had his friends in a riot.  Classic.)

 

Anyway, the ABC Feast...each kid was assigned a letter and they brought in a food that started with that letter.  C is for Cupcakes!

They were all lined up with their hats and cards to read.  When I got him to practice reading his card the night before he was hamming it up so much I told him he needed to use a normal voice because I couldn't understand him.  Then surprise, surprise when it came his time to read his card he got all shy and I couldn't even hear him!  Ha!

 "My name is Christopher.  My letter was C.  The food I brought was cupcakes.  I chose this food because it's yummy.  It's important to give because you give on Thanksgiving."

 He finally looked up and smiled at the very end.

 All of the first graders!

After they all read their cards we went into the classroom and filled our plates with ABC food and then went back outside to eat and play.

The teachers asked the parents to help out with any kids that didn't have a parent there and C snatched this little girl up.  As they walked beside me (holding hands!) C proclaimed "Mom, Lydia's my girlfriend."  Oh geez, another one. ;)  She is a little spunky one that Lydia.  She sat beside me at lunch and asked "What were you doing under there?"  "Under where?"  "Haha you said UNDERWEAR!"  Owned by a first grader.

Lil' peanut thought he was big stuff hanging out with the older kids.  I mentioned his potty talk performance already, right?  And of course hubby is always a hit with kids when he wears his uniform.  I don't think any of them said anything to him this time, but one day when he picked C up a kid walked up to him and asked "Are you in the army?"  "Yep."  "How are you not dead yet?"  That was followed shortly by "Have you every killed anybody?"  Oh boy.  I told you...first grade is fun! ;)



Veteran's Day

C actually had school on Veteran's Day, as do most kids I think, but hubby decided to keep him home and give him a bit more real world education.  We went to the national cemetery in Houston where my grandparents are buried.  It is really a stunning sight, so many headstones, representing just a fraction of our country's veterans.

We reminded C that he was given his middle name in honor of his great grandpa.  We also talked about how only the most awesome vets have spiders hanging out on their headstones.  The boys thought the spider was very cool. ;)

Only some of the graves had flags so the boys went in search of one so they could give it to grandpa.  They came back with bundles of them and together we walked the rows, speaking each veteran's name out loud before placing a flag in the ground.

C is not the only one named after a veteran and one day this little one will learn of his namesake, a dear friend and remarkable man who lost his life while serving our country.

It was a beautiful day and a meaningful time of seeing my husband share his heart with the boys as he spoke about what it means to be a veteran.  When we got in the car to leave hubby turned to me and said "We're going to do that every year."  I readily agreed.  I hope this small act of service, of placing those flags, will foster an appreciation in the hearts of my sons for the brave men and women who serve in our nation's military.  It's important for us to be grateful, not just on this one day set aside for our veterans, but every day.  They certainly deserve that.

A sweet season with my sweet boy

This kiddo is amazing.  He has gone through so much change over the past year and a half and he has come out on the other side of all that transition just beautifully.  He's weathered a deployment, a move, a new school...and lest we forget that after almost 6 years of being an only child he became a big brother TWICE in less than 18 months. 

Although not nearly as exciting as his first few weeks of kindergarten, the start of first grade did present some challenges.  It took him awhile, and some extra effort on his teacher's part, but he is owning first grade these days.  Parent-teacher conferences were last week and she had so many glowing things to say.  His behavior has improved so much she said it's not even an issue anymore and she just expects him to earn all his minutes each day (part of the behavior chart we worked up at the first of the year).  Maybe this is actually a secret strategy of his...go in all crazy so he can impress them with his vast improvement later. ;)  Academically he's above grade level in all areas.  He particularly excels in reading.  She mentioned that she needs to retest him for his reading level because she used the top level test she had at the time and he blew it out of the water (her words.)  She's never had a student reading beyond that level this early in the year.  They have an online reading system which is broken down into levels aa-z.  He's just about done with level z, which is considered 5th grade reading level.  Crazy, right?!?  I don't think people would observe C and think, I bet that kid reads at a 5th grade level.  Lol!  It presents unique challenges when he can read on a 5th grade level, but the books for 5th graders on their online system are about hp addresses and fiber optics (two things I remember him asking me to explain.)

Another thing he is currently owning?  The big brother role.  He and lil' peanut definitely spend a lot of time pestering each other, but they actually play together sometimes too.  Given their rough start, I'm still floored when I hear C say something like "Come on! Want to play in my room?  Go get your plane we can play airport."  Did he just invite him to play?  In his room?!?  Mind. blown.

And as far as his littlest brother goes, C is just completely smitten.  It's incredibly precious and such a gift to have their relationship start out so smoothly.  It's like the baby brought out a new goodness in C.  He's a bit more kind and helpful...more loving, more patient...more grown up. 

I love that we are in such a sweet season right now.  I'm bottling it up!

Halloween 2013

After hours of a torrential downpour, the skies cleared up just in time for trick or treating last night.  Hubby suggested they ride in the gator, but C said he wanted to walk.  So, we went old school and set out on foot.  We were definitely spoiled on base the past few years.  It made for super efficient trick or treating and everybody hands out candy there!  Not so in our new neighborhood.  We kept having to skip houses that didn't have their porch light on.  And they even got turned away at a woman's house who opened the door saying "sorry."  Turn off your light lady!  They still came home with plenty of candy though so I think it was a success.