Spring Break

It always feels as if you dare blink, you will miss it. My spring break felt this way... it may have helped that my two amazing boys got along the entire time!

Feeling a bit more on a budget this year, we stayed in town. The fabulous town of McPherson.

Here is a quick recap of our 9 days off... 10 for me. I used my last personal day to enjoy some Big XII basketball. Jayhawks taking the title... again!

There may be snow on our ground now, but here is proof from my front yard that SPRING wants to come, and hopefully STAY!

I have a yellow door!
I HAVE A YELLOW DOOR!

I saw this on Pinterest, and had to have it!
Our painters are going to get started on our gray house as soon as Mother Nature cooperates!

The boys and I went bowling, and went to see the "OZ..." movie in 3D. Reece didn't think I would see he closed his eyes.
Poor Jake missed a lot of fun due to the nasty flu bug catching him... thankfully we all missed it and stayed healthy.
*knock on wood*

My adorable niece announced she is having a baby brother!!
This makes the girl:boy ratio an even 1:2.... 7 girls and 14 boys, come August!

Our last Saturday of break, the weather forecast called for 100% snow ALL day.... this is what our WiCkEd weather  looked like all day long....

Oh wait.... 10 hours late, it arrived. Depressing... feeling more like winter  break. 

If you know me, you know I was thrilled spring break fell on the first weekend of March Madness. Well, some exciting news from my hometown was Wichita St. made it to the Sweet 16! Yay! And here is proof I called them beating #1 Gonzaga! Double Yay!! The rest of the Big XII (other than my favorite Jayhawks) disappointed me terribly... by not advancing. Oh, well... ROCK CHALK & GO SHOCKS! Kansas LOVE!

My break ended with a great (well half the game was great) win against Roy William's Tarheels. This made me laugh.... Happy March Madness/Spring Break! Now we countdown to summer...

If you give a Reece...

...a Shamrock Shake, he's going to bug you for more.

I made the mistake of introducing the boys to McDonald's March milkshake. Riley had earned one for his bowling scores... Wellllllllll, Reece would not stop hassling me for another. It was March 15, and Reece was in panic mode that he needed to get another one before the month was over, and the Shamrock Shake went away!! So, Riley earned a second one and Reece got one for his great music program.

Mom is a push over. Honestly, I had no idea what the fuss was about. I had never had one, so I shared one with Jake and it was GoOd!!! Great thing I'm learning self control and that was the only one I got for myself. ;-)

Lucky Leprechaun

Reece brought home a "Leprechaun Trap" on Friday. He says the school had some sightings on the security cameras, so each kid made a contraption to try to catch a leprechaun.

This is what it looked like on Friday... we have a trip wire, lots of glue to make the leprechaun stick, and golden stars to lure him in. He also named his trap "Fun World" in hopes that the leprechaun would tempted by this.
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Well, Reece woke up on Saturday with no leprechaun. He stepped up his game and added sparkly gold glitter and this 1000 gold piece to try to get his leprechaun. He also decided to add more glue and make the stars trail up to the trip wire.

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Well, the bad news is we did NOT catch a leprechaun... the good news is we almost caught one.

***

We woke up to a glittery MESS! A glitter trail that led out the front door and we lost the trail at the edge of the porch. The gold stars and coin were gone, the trip wire was broken and it looked like the leprechaun struggled in the gluey, glittery mess.

Reece had to double check our house to make sure nothing else that was golden was taken... I think we were okay there. It was pretty darn cute/funny.

That lucky leprechaun.... maybe next year!

159

Riley had a pretty great game this week. He got his personal best, of 159, in bowling on Tuesday. It was amazing! Way to go, Riley!

Crazy Reece

Reece just keeps us guessing at all times... 

Just a couple months ago we finally got over the 7 week "bowel" issue (still unknown as to what actually caused it.) This time he woke up with puffy/swollen cheeks/lips Sunday morning. They were so puffy, I didn't believe him when he told me he didn't have anything in his mouth. Later that day he said there was a little pain in his jaw area. He had no other symptoms. Baffling.... We gave him Claritin and tried Benedryl, with no change. My thoughts were, if it was an allergic reaction, his eyes and maybe even his airways would swell up too. I was a nervous wreck that first night, praying he would breathe okay during the night.

I took him to the doctor on Monday, worried, because it was so weird and random. There wasn't much evidence to go on...It was more than likely an allergic reaction to something. It could have been from the air (It's been pretty windy up here), it could have been from the pizza we ordered in Saturday night... who knows?

Dr. DeWitt wanted us to continue the Claritin. He also said there was a chance it was an infected gland, but the chances of that happening to both sides of his mouth would be rare, so his money was on the allergy. If a fever were to pop up, then the doctor would know it was an infection and antibiotics would have been prescribed immediately. Thankfully, 3 days later swelling is almost gone.

***

Next...Reece is beginning to sleepwalk. It's creepy and I must document this. It is going to be hard for me to write this, because so much happened last night in such a short span of time, but here goes.

Last night, I was just ready to close my eyes and go to sleep...It was an exhausting day and I was beat! Then I hear Reece's door open and he comes walking into our room. He was a little sweaty and just gave me a hug. He acted like something was wrong, but couldn't tell me what. He had tugged at his shirt collar, which is when I had noticed the sweat. I asked him a million questions. Do you feel like you are going to throw up? Does your throat hurt? What's wrong? etc.... His answer was no to everything... he seemed pretty aware of what was happening, then he turned to walk away. Only, he didn't go out our bedroom door. Instead he walked over to one of Jake's drawers and opened it, peeked inside it, and then closed it. That's when he walked out and back to his room.

This is when I realized I wasn't talking to an "awake" Reece, but a "sleeping" Reece.

I freaked out to Jake and could not believe what had just happened! Reece has been "claiming" to sleepwalk for a while now.... I was convinced it was an excuse to end up in Riley's room over night. But now I have no choice but to believe him.

Before I could get over the shock, Reece's door opened again and he was walking back in our room. This time with his school shirt for today. I ask if he is going to get dressed, and he drops the shirt and says, "Yes." Then he came back to hug me. I had him get up in bed with me, when suddenly he kept saying, "There. They need to be there." Pointing to the end of my bed...( I'd be lying if I said I wasn't beginning to think there was a ghost in my room.) Reece was aware that I wasn't understanding what he was doing, and would hug me, almost like he was scared, and then he'd say it again. He hugged me a few times...scared or upset. When I finally pieced together that he was on stage and someone needed to be "there" on the stage, he finally stopped talking about it. He needed me to acknowledge it. When the "there" drama was over, he just laid next to me watching the TV. It was getting late, so I asked if he was awake, and he told me he was. I asked him to close his eyes and he did. He closed his eyes, rolled over, and was pretty still at that point. Jake finally carried him into bed. As of this morning, the only thing Reece remembers about last night was Dad carrying him to bed. Creepy!

Rewind to two nights ago, Reece was in my room... again talking about something not feeling right. Well, he was on an allergy medicine that he had never been on, and my fear was him having a serious reaction to it in the middle of the night. Guess who slept in Jake's spot? Guess who was probably, actually sleepwalking? Yep... Reece. Now we know! This kid will always keep us on our toes with his unusual illnesses and now his sleepwalking. Craziness!

"Disney Spectacular"

Reece had his 2nd grade musical, last night. This was probably one of my favorite musicals just because it was all Disney songs, and I knew most of them. It was very short and cute!

Posing before we heading to the concert.

The stage... hard to see but it spells out D-I-S-N-E-Y,

There's Reece!

Reece and Mrs. Backhus.

Reece got to do a streamer routine to "Candle on the Water."

Signs of Spring

The biggest sign of spring in our house is the snow has melted and soccer has begun for Reece. 

With soccer, comes Reece leaving his equipment anywhere he chooses... oh, JOY!

Happy Spring!

Spring Conferences

We had another good report from the boy's teachers.

Reece is above reading grade level. He is at an 'O' when the target is 'L'. They will keep him here through the rest of the year and focus on comprehension and fluency. They also want to keep the content simple for his age. He is still getting enrichment practice 4 times a week, this is because there isn't one specific area he needs help with. He is proving to be a strong reader... but still dislikes the reading homework each night.

Reece is at grade level for writing. Mrs. Backhus could not stop talking about his beautiful handwriting. He averages a 98% on spelling tests and gets 100% of his priority words right in his writing.

Reece is at grade level for math. He averages 93% on tests. He is practicing addition and subtraction, and trying to get faster at these to help him at math. I have him signed up on xtramath.org to practice at home each night. His teacher will get an email to show that he is practicing at home. This is a cool website... I had him signed up before his teacher requested kids do it, but for some reason when mom wants you to practice it's not a fun as when his teacher asks him, so he I was glad she assigned it as homework. You should check it out!

When Science and Social Studies happens, Reece is again at grade level. Not much to talk about here...Mrs. Backhus couldn't say enough nice things about Reece. He shows integrity in class, and is a positive leader. He follows rules, and tries to solve his own problems. He will stand up for himself when needed. He got all 5s when graded on his Lifeskills (5 being the highest), which are: Completes assignments, cooperates with others, follows directions, shows respect, stays on task, and works independently. I hope he continues being a great student, even though he gets "bored" with school easily and can NOT wait for summer!

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Riley is also above grade level in Reading. He is at the highest elementary will have him go, a 'T+'. His guided reading teacher said, "Riley is very quiet and quite pleasant. Enjoys sharing about his reading, but usually will do so only if I ask." (Mrs. Viola)

He is at grade level in Writing. Mrs. Smith also commented on his beautiful handwriting. He did have to write a persuasive paper to the principal, Mr. Beam.

Dear Mr. Beam,

Do you want to know a way for the students to think you're the best principal? You should turn the hallways to ice. You can get from class to class quicker.
It will encourage students to bring their coats to school. Everyone will get exercise and be healthier. Students will want to come to school and not be tardy.
If you freeze the gym people will participate in P.E. I hope you do it please.

From,
Riley

Riley is getting a 95% in spelling. I have to tease him because last year he averaged a 101%... what happened??? ;) Between snow days and sick days he hasn't had much to be scored on in this area.

His favorite subject is math and he is at grade level. He is really working on getting his multiplication facts and doing them quickly. He knows them, but they practice daily to try to speed the thinking process up. He also does the xtramath at home.

Not much to say about Science and Social Studies again... curriculum really puts these on the back burner, along with handwriting these days. Reading and math are 80% of the daily focus these days. It makes me sad, but Riley will get lots of this in middle school.

Riley didn't get scores on his lifeskills. His teacher wrote, "Riley completes assignments, cooperates with others, follows directions and shows respect to peers and adults. Riley is able to stay on task and work independently during class time. Riley is a role model in our class."

***

Riley is in the middle of state assessments. He just finished his reading this week, and this upcoming week he will do his math. His teacher said he was doing good on the practice reading tests, so she wasn't concerned. I've had to do some practice tests with students, and they are the least interesting stories ever. I don't know how they do it....

Riley did come home with some awesome news on Wednesday. He was the only one in his class to get an "A" on a practice math test. The scary news was 19/26 students in his class failed. I bet his teacher panicked! But... WAY TO GO RILEY! He has gotten exemplary the last two years.

Lastly, we officially got Riley enrolled in middle school. He will be taking a pre AP math class and a pre AP composition class. Everything else will be standard. The great thing about middle school is he will have a study hall last hour to knock out some of his homework that these pre AP classes will surely bring.

HP7

I can't believe I haven't blogged about Riley and I finishing the Harry Potter series! It was a very fun... and long... 2+ years of our lives. I resisted the craze, and broke down and discovered the exciting journey of Harry. I'm so glad I discovered it with Riley. I'd be lying if it was exciting all the time, there were some very long and very wordy chapters in the mix that didn't make us very eager to pick up the book the next day. In the end, it all had a purpose and we appreciated those chapters just the same. I was so excited to finish it, but so sad it had to end. I will also have hours of time on my hands, now that it's over. Riley and I have learned that the book is always better than the movie. That's a big lesson for a  10 year old. Here is his review... which is the opposite of wordy. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I loved this book and movies (it was split into to 2 parts). My favorite part about the Deathly Hallows was the battle at Hogwarts. The three Deathly Hallows are The Elder Wand, The Resurrection Stone, and The Cloak of Invisibility.

I've already asked Reece if he is ready for me to start over with him... it was a not-so-surprising NO!