Time to buckle down and get to work!!

No more excuses!! I need to start SCRAPPING! I have my photoshop back, I have my old digi scrap stuff back, I have all my photos, I have time. It is time to get to work and make some books! This Christmas's book will be the biggest one I've made simply because it will have TWO years worth of pages in it! I will be documenting some very big moments in our life. Our move, Elizabeth's first day of Kindergarten, then 1st grade coming up in September, Christopher's first day in Pre-K and his first trip on the bus, last Christmas with my folks, birthdays and more!

My goal is 50 pages by December 1st. That should give me enough time to get the books printed as well as be able to get some photos of the kids with the Christmas tree and hopefully some snow photos. Wish me luck! The countdown is ON!!

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3rd term report card.

Elizabeth's teacher called me today for our phone parent/teacher conference. Mrs. Johnson was very happy with Elizabeth's progress, especially with her reading.

As a recap, from my previous post in February Second Term Report

They have 3 Scales.

Achievement scale which ranges 1- little understanding doesn't meet grade expectations, 2- Limited understanding, 3- General Understanding, 4- Thorough understanding always meets grade expectations

Effort Scale N- Needs improvement, P- making progress, G- Good, O- Outstanding

Skills Code- NA- Not assessed, X- Progress Needed, I- Improving, Blank- Acceptable.

Elizabeth's marks were

Kindergarten Readiness Skills- Achievement- 3, Effort G

Writing, Speaking Listening- Achievement- 3, Effort- O

Technology- Effort G

Reading Readiness Achievement- 4, Effort- G

Math Readiness- Achievement-3, Effort-O

Social Studies/Science- Effort-G



This report has following improvements or has stayed the same.

Kindergarten Readiness Skills- Achievement- 3, Effort- O <- effort improved

Writing, Speaking Listening- Achievement- 3, Effort- O <- stayed same
with the added improvement of her retelling a story.

Technology- Effort G <- Same

Reading Readiness Achievement- 4, Effort- G <- Same

Math Readiness- Achievement-4, Effort- G <- Her achievement has improved but her effort decreased a little, simply because she knows it and gets a little bored.

Social Studies/Science- Effort-G <- Same

She is improving with talking in class but still needs a gentle reminder now and then.

She has also read 25 more books this term.

They also did the AIMSweb test which is a requirement in our district.
The outcome measure is based on the following:
Letter Naming Fluency
Letter Sound Fluency
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
and Nonsense Word Fluency.

She score above average in all areas.

Mrs. Johnson commented on how much she has improved with reading in such a short time. We also noticed reading "click" in just a week or so. She is doing well with sounding words out and she is writing stories now without help, writing her words phonically. Elizabeth is a little big of a teacher pet, from what I gather.

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*swoon*

There are few things in life that make my heart pound just a little harder with want and desire. I'm not a materialistic person. I don't have a closet full of designer clothes or tons of jewelry. I don't own a fancy car or a huge house. But every once in a while I get a bad case of the I Want!'s

This little beauty, for a *eye roll* small price of $400 dollars, screams out at me BUY ME BUY ME BUY ME!!

Cricut Cake

Where do I sign up to be a random tester?? Cricut Cake, I desire you!

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Back to the grind.

Spring break is over. My sleeping in until 8am days are behind me. Elizabeth is off having a great day at school. Christopher is happily playing in his room with all his little plastic solders. The house is clean, dinner is leftover lasagna and I have absolutely nothing to do! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. I've been so busy for the past week with spring cleaning, referring the kids squabbles, and of course having our little visitor Alexa come over to play on Thursday and not it seems like I have a little post vacation funk.

We had a great weekend together as a family. Saturday we had some running around to do. Grocery shopping and a trip to Sportline to pick up a petcock repair kit for the bike fuel tank repairs. We came home to throw some hot dogs on the grill for lunch. He took over dinner and make some amazing Chicken Marsala. We bought quite a big bottle and it was very sweet(he should of bought dry!) so Chris decided to head out once again for some strawberries. He also bought some blackberries and jiffy mix so we could make shortcakes! It was amazing, the smell from the berries simmering away in the wine was mouthwatering, the taste was even more delicious then I expected!

Sunday, Chris slept in until late morning. After his relaxing start to the day he was in a great mood. We laid on the couch all day watching movies and holding hands. I love sweet lazy days like that. In the afternoon we started on lasagna. By we I really mean, I chopped some onions and garlic, opened a few cans and let Chris do the rest! He added more meat sauce then he normally does to the lasagna this time because we were using the no cool Barilla noodles and wow the extra sauce really made the meal! I threw together a quick salad, sliced some fresh Italian bread and we enjoyed another meal together as a family. We don't get very many of those with Chris' schedule so every family dinner is appreciated even more than the last. I love weekends like this. Calm, relaxing and just all of us together.

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Best. Easter. EVER!

We celebrated Easter yesterday. Don't confused that with celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Chris, we celebrated the Easter Bunny and Chocolate. I am really big on holidays, the non-religious side. They are fun, I love watching my kids enjoy the magic of it all. Christmas, Halloween, and of course, EASTER!

Yesterday, we started the day with the kids digging into their Easter baskets. We didn't do a lot for their baskets but they loved them.

Christopher received a Black n Decker tool set which included a tool belt full of the tools he needs to do his important work, a vest so we can see him at all times, a hard hat and safety goggles because we all know how dangerous pretend carpentry is. He also received a sticker book just for BOYS. Full of fun stuff like bugs, trucks and spaceships.

Please excuse the Peter Griffin stroke eye.



Elizabeth received some sidewalk chalk, hairclips, a new ubber cool alarm clock and a new Melissa and Doug magnet calender.




After a very delicious breakfast of pancake and bacon (which was amazing btw, see my previous post MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT) I went out to scatter the eggs for the egg hunt. 250 filled eggs. Yeah, what was I thinking?

The hunt was soon on. We have a huge yard so it took some time for the two kids to gather all the eggs. We gave them two boxes to unload their full baskets into. The final count: Elizabeth- 139 Christopher-111. Math don't add up to 250? Yeah, we had to return and find the missing eggs.






After the eggs were gathered, we took a small trip to the grocery store for some hot dogs and the fixin's to rub on our beautiful ribs we had for dinner. We had the choice of a turkey or ham but with the day being a beautiful 75 degrees, We just needed to BBQ! Chris rubbed the ribs with some amazing spices, added some pepsi and wrapped those bad boys up in tinfoil for a low and slow bbq. We added some hot dogs for a quick lunch before decorating the real eggs. What is it about a hot dog cooked on the grill or over a campfire? To me it, they taste like childhood. Memories of camping with my parents all over BC and Alberta. After our perfectly cooked dogs, the kids and I sat down at the table for some serious egg decorating. 20 eggs to be exact. Why? No will eat them. Just because we can I guess.

The ziplock baggie method. Way less mess to deal with. Add your colour and some vinegar, drop in the eggs and let them sit for 10 mins or so. Swish the bags now and then to make sure they are evenly coloured.
Tinted gold paint makes a huge mess but the kids had fun so C'est la vie!

Our beautifully bright dyed eggs.
Elizabeth putting the final touches on the dyed eggs with glitter and stamps and stickers.

I would like you all to take a minute to bow your heads in honor of my next photo. Breath it in, can't you taste the bbq goodness? No of course you can. Trust me, they were heavenly! Sweet and tender. Mouthwatering. And I get leftovers for lunch!


Of course, a nice garden salad. The perfect side dish to our 'Summer in April' Easter Dinner!

Did I mention the ribs were mouthwatering... and I get some for lunch? Don't hate!

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