Luke's report card

Luke got his second "real" report card yesterday. In Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade, students at our schools get 1, 2, or 3 on their report cards (below/at/above grade level expectations). So, when Luke started 3rd grade, he knew this was the first year for "real" grades (A, B, C, etc.).

The first 9 weeks, he did great. A's and one B. The area where he has always struggled is "behavior" because that is where "talking until you drive your teacher batty" comes into play. He's always gotten a "needs improvement" in this area. Well, in our schools, you can't get onto the honor roll if you have a "needs improvement" for behavior. Even if you have straight A's, you aren't officially on the honor roll with any "N's."

So, even though his grade would have earned him a place on the AB Honor Roll, he didn't get the recognition and silly little prizes. It wasn't that big of a deal. We told him how proud we were of his effort, and talked about continuing to work hard at being a good listener and talking at appropriate times.

So, yesterday afternoon, Luke zooms into the house after school announcing that he has some "VERY good news!" He pulled out his report card and showed me that he had straight A's! I was so proud. BUT, the part that made him the most proud was that he got a "S" (satisfactory) in the behavior category. He said, "LOOK! I even did good in behavior!" He was glowing. I was so proud of him.

The A's were nice, too, but he has always struggled with paying attention, listening and talking and appropriate times, and following directions the first time they are given. Knowing that he has been working hard at getting better at these things makes my heart happy. Maybe - just maybe - this bouncy, silly boy, who just "needs time to mature" is finally maturing!

Moments with my Big

One of my favorite times of day are the 30 minutes that I get with Luke, after Evan and Maiya are in bed.

Tonight, we started reading a new book series and had some really interesting conversations about the book. In the book, the main character lives at a boarding school, and we were talking about why a kid might be at a boarding school. This led to conversations about moving away from home, college, growing up, etc.

My baby boy's big blue eyes looked at me straight in the eye and asked me how many years college takes. I said it took about 4 or 5 years and then went on reading in the book. I read another paragraph or so and glaced over to see his eyes filling with giant tears. Immediatly, I stopped reading and asked him what was wrong. He said, "Will you WANT me to go away for 4 or 5 years? I don't want to go away for that long. I will miss you and NEED you."

Break. My. Heart.

Indiana Visit

We always hope for snow when we visit Indiana the week after Christmas. This year, we were not disappointed!

 With new snow boots, lots of cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa's backyard of fun, the kids were in heaven playing in the snow.

 Grandpa got out his lawn mower tractor and we hooked up a sled to the back. The kids all took rides around the "snow track." Evan liked driving helping to drive the tractor. Luke even drove the tractor by himself a few times!

 After playing in the snow, we have to warm up with hot chocolate!

 Maiya is exploring her cool new toy - the Bilibo seat!

 Luke and Meilyn playing with the new Hot Wheels track.

 One of the best parts of our trip was our visit to the ice rink! None of the kids had ever ice skated before, but they all took to it much better than I had expected. Evan used this neat contraption (basically just PVC pipes) to steady himself and push it along the ice. Once he got the hang of it, he was off and skating on his own!

 Watching the Zamboni clean the ice.

 Dad and his boys took a break for a picture. Evan didn't get off the ice for the entire two hours that we were there. We kept asking if he wanted a break and he always said no. He had a great time! (He also nearly fell asleep eating lunch because he was so tired!)

 Maiya and cousin Logan are only 3 months apart in age, and wowzers - does it show! They are both very strong, smart, and feisty THIRD children! They can hold their own!

 All three kids camped out in their sleeping bags on the floor in Grandma and Grandpa's basement.

 As we were packing to get ready to head home, Maiya was sneaking in a little extra snow play time. There were no sleds out, so she just slid down on her tummy.

Holiday Fun

 One of our final activities for our advent calendar was to hand out the homemade pipe cleaner/bead "candy canes" that we made. We had about 40-50 to hand out, so we went to our local hospital and parked ourselves in the entry/waiting room. The receptionist thought our candy canes were very cute, and she welcomed us to hand them out to anyone that wanted one. The kids jumped on the chance to hand out candy canes as they came off the elevator, or came in the revolving door. We got to see two brand new babies getting ready to go home for the first time. That was very exciting. Everyone was happy to take a nice candy cane ornament from my two handsome young men. We will be doing this one again next year.

Below are some random pictures from Christmas and the few days following.

 The kids got sleeping bags for Christmas and they all wanted to sleep on the floor of the bedrooms that night.

 We went to visit Mark and Danielle and Shelby. Maiya continued her obsession with her little cousin and was thrilled when she was able to help feed Shelby her dinner.

We bought the kids real snow boots while we were in Indiana and they LOVED playing in the snow. 

Shelby wasn't that big of a fan.

Maiya also enjoyed the cup of hot chocolate after coming inside from playing in the snow.