While unpacking from our flood, Colm found this music box. I have had it for as long as I can remember and used to love winding it up and listening to it when I was a child. I love that Colm loves it, too, but I am also a little worried about how long it is going to make it before he breaks it.
Archive for January 2011
Cursive…a newly acquired skill. L’s are his favorite letter to write in cursive.
Colm told me this week he wants to be a scientist, an inventor and a dinosaur digger. I think he’s already got one of those covered.
(Notice the Dino Kit under Colm’s feet. He had a gift card from Christmas and that is what he decided to buy with the money. If you are not sure why this concerns me, please read the post dated 1/14/11.)
I was so excited when I got the mail this weekend! My maternal grandmother made me a grandmother book (the one on the right). My paternal grandmother made me one for my 16th birthday, so now I have one for each of them. Let me just tell you a little bit about why they are so neat. The one I got this weekend had a bunch of information in it about my grandmother that I didn’t know, like that she was basically raised by her grandparents and that she got married at 17. (Wow!) Also, I knew that she and my grandfather had moved a lot, but I didn’t realize how much. I also didn’t know about all of the places she had worked through the years. The one my paternal grandmother made me also has a bunch of information in it about her like that she wanted to be a hairdresser when she grew up, but her parents wouldn’t let her. My grandmother also included a letter my dad had written to her when he was in Vietnam, a lock of her baby hair, some very old family pictures and family recipes. I feel so blessed to have these! They are such treasures.
Colm usually spends his money on gum/candy or projects/kits. He has saved up for a butterfly net, an ice cream machine and now this. I love that he loves this, but my Swiffer is getting a workout. See, it’s a little dinosaur encased in a hard plaster molding that when Colm uses the special tools to dig him out, it leaves a fine dust (and some chunks of plaster) all over the kitchen floor and island. Of course, this project can’t be completed in even one or two days either…it goes on for daaaaaays.
I can’t believe I haven’t showed you these yet! Here they are…the new washer and dryer. I do love them. The only complaint I have is that the dryer seems to do something to the dryer sheets that renders them useless after one use. Other than that, two thumbs up!!!
When we first moved here I had a couple of people tell me that I HAD to get one of these. They are awesome and totally pay for themselves, especially when you buy the book on sale (like I did). It’s a coupon book for Portland, but the companies/restaurants/brands that are featured are companies that are, let’s say, earth friendly, for lack of a better term. I have already gotten a free baguette and a dollar off a loaf of sandwich bread. Later on this year I will be getting $15 off a summer camp class for the boys, a free entree at our favorite burrito shop and much, much more. Love it!
For the month of January, the children at school are learning about Yani Wang through the school’s art literacy program. I went and learned about what we would be teaching the children as well as learning how to make what the children will be making.
Colm’s teacher passes out “chair awards” each Monday. Colm has been coveting the reading award ALL year. He wanted it SOOOO bad. Well, guess who earned the reading award???? Yep. He deserves it, too. He has grown leaps and bounds in his reading this year. Bravo!!!