Wolfing it Down

      Zach has been working really hard this past year on his studies, as my last post shows, but also in Cub Scouts.  {{As a mom... I really don't understand the scouting program, having never gone through it myself.  Its a bit crazy}}.  

     Tonight was the first pack meeting since Zach turned 9, and became a "Bear" instead of a "Wolf" (The Pack Meeting of all the age levels in cub scouts and their families. It happens once a month. Big Hooplah!  This is when the boys get their awards)

       Zach finished all of the requirements to earn the award for the Wolf Badge and was awarded it tonight.  Whenever a big accomplishment is made... it is only fitting that the scout leaders make a big deal about it.  Soooo...

The Cubmaster, James Slavinsky,  got a pie plate, and put his badge and other goodies that go in it, in a plastic bag, into the pie plate... and put  a BIG PILE of whipped cream on top of it and told him he had to "WOLF IT DOWN"  The pictures tell the story from here...  It was fun... and Zach was a GREAT sport!

Brother Slavinsky awarding Zach with his Wolf badge.

Dad "helping" Zach not use his hands

 All the boys were chanting, "EAT IT! EAT IT!"

Coming up for air.

Smile!!

 

 Now I get to sew on more badges... Not my favorite thing in the world!

Report Card Time

I can't believe it is the end of the 1st quarter of the school year!  Every 1st and 3rd quarter we have our scheduled Parent Teacher Conferences, so mine was scheduled for today.  Our school, like most schools nowadays, have grades posted online, so there really shouldn't be any surprises. 
 

Zach... This Morning, while getting ready for school, he told me that his teacher, Ms. Newburgh told him that due to him not turning assignments in on time, his Math grade was a "D".  This has been a common problem, so I didn't jump online to check what was going on. I told him I was disappointed and I told him that he needs to learn to turn his assignments in (with his name on it too!!) and that we would discuss things after school once his Dad and I had a chance to talk too. We have never been really hard on grades, but he is a bit of a perfectionist... if his assignment isn't JUST right, he won't turn it in. As of 2 weeks ago, he had an A and I couldn't figure out what went so wrong.  Frustrating.

So I ran a bazillion errands {no exaggeration there!} this morning before school got out early at 12:30.  We went to Ms. Newburgh's conference first.  She is such a great teacher and we adore her. We had a very informative time discussing Zach's abilities in class... only to discover, that...

Zach is a GREAT LIAR!

He has STRAIGHT A's!  
(Ms. Newburgh was in on the little deception too! She thought it was really funny I fell for it!)

We also found out that Zach in on the Headmaster's List for the quarter.  And his goal for the year, is to get straight A's all year. If he does this, he will get the Governor's Award at the end of the year at a school wide assembly. 

As all schools do, they test him throughout the year, right now, as a 4th grader, his reading level is on a 6.5 level (6th grade, 5th month of school) and his math level is 5.8 (5th grade, 8th month) - so much for that D --- there are NO excuses buddy!!



Cannon... In 1st grade, they start grading him with traditional grades at this school, instead of just doing "E's" "S's" and "N's", like they did last year in Kindergarten.  I like it SO much better, I can really SEE and gauge what he is doing, where he is excelling and what he is struggling with.

He is doing great also. He has all A's and B's. He actually has OVER 100% in spelling because of the bonus words he has every week.  His teacher wants to move him up to a harder spelling list, but he takes the grades SOOO personally when he doesn't get 100% on spelling, that she just doesn't have it in her to take that away from him... yet.  He is just so sensitive and we agree, it is building his confidence right now and that is important.  The only reason he has "B's" {and I'm not complaining} is because he rushes through some of his work instead of applying himself.  We see that with homework too.

He loves to learn about science... right now they are learning about SPIDERS... (ewww) but he is having a blast with it! He is also really gifted with Math and loves to read.

I'm pretty sure that my kids are smarter than me.

Moby

Introducing, Moby, Our newest addition to our family. 

We have had a tough year or so when it comes to vehicles. Last year we were trying to keep our 98 Town & Country Mini Van alive, just a while longer.  It drained us - emotionally, physically, and financially. 

Then, some dear friends, Gave, yes GAVE us a 95 Plymouth Neon.  It took a little work to get it running smoothly, but we didn't want to put a lot of money in it either, not wanting to do the same thing to it, that we did to the van.  It was a HUGE blessing. But we were never able to get it to pass emissions so that we could get it registered in our name. Brett, my brother in law,  started working on it, and realized there were a lot of problems with it, that were not worth fixing. So, we were once again, carless and borrowing a car.

Luckily, we had some money come in.  When we got the little Neon, we hoped it would last longer, but at the very least, get us through until now, when we new our school money would come in.  So here we are.  But we knew we wouldn't have money for car payments, so that meant getting something CHEAP and that sort of freaked me out, because once we spent the money on the car, we won't have money to fix it up. 

So the past week or so has been stressful and exhausting. Not at all fun, like car buying should be, I think.

We ended up going to downtown Phoenix and found a bunch of little dealerships.  Some were kind of a joke.  We found this one called, Autos Barrititos.  They had some decent little cars, for fair prices.  When we saw this Astro, we were impressed by the condition it was in, the low miles (99,000), and a lot of new parts installed. It seems to have been taken care of well, inside and out.  We had Brett take a look too, and he really liked it.  The only thing wrong with it was the back AC was blowing hot air... which is a big deal in a rig that big in AZ.  Which they fixed.

I hate the haggling part of car buying.  I don't think David and I are very good with it.  But I think we got a good deal and we are quite happy with it. 

Now I just hope that it doesn't break down and stress me out and we get some good life and miles out of it.  So we are thinking happy thoughts, whispering sweet nothings to him. We have him a name, Moby, not just because it is a big blue beast, but because we like whales... and it seemed fitting. 

The Walls are Moving!

My Family makes fun of me.  Years ago, my brother gave me the nickname Slippy, after I slipped and fell on my bum on some ice.  I've repeated that "move" several times, which because of the humor of it, I promptly call Jeff so we can laugh together. 

They also laugh at me because I swear that the walls move from their original place, just enough for me not to be used to them, so I kick them and stub my toes.  One would think you would get used to where the walls are in the house, yet, I find I kick the walls, or other inanimate objects, often.  And people laugh at me.

I think it runs in my family. A genetic trait... there is clumsiness in several generations... Oh the stories I could tell you about my dear sweet mom... But that will take TOO long, so I will save her the embarrassment today.  I have a niece too, who is known for her "gracefulness"

So, on Zach's birthday, right before dinner, I kicked the corner of the wall (I swear it was further away a moment before!!)  I hurt a nice loud POP and I was quickly sitting on the floor.  I limped the rest of the night. 

I have broken my toes before, so I was sure by the look and feel of it, that I had done it again.  My worry, because or bruising underneath, what that I had broken my foot (which I had done before also).  Grrr.  So when I took Zach into the doctor the next day for his sore throat, I decided to have them Xray just in case.  My foot was fine, so I got to hobble around with a taped up toe for a couple weeks.  SIGH.

When I was taking pictures (the bruising was far worse underneath - love gravity) Elliot had to show off his "broken toe" too. 

Zach's birthday snuck up on us. I can't believe my little baby is 9 years old.  I guess I say something similar at every birthday for each of my kids.  But seriously... My oldest... is 9.  That is pretty big, kinda grown up, he has his own idea of what "cool" is, how he wants to dress, he is doing great in 4th grade (just Aced a big book report!!)  He is a GREAT brother. He is such an example to them - and to David and I.  He is patient and kind.  He is funny, highly intelligent, analytical, and brilliant. 

The night of his birthday, David had school and work, so it was planned to be low key, until our friend, Chrystina, and her family, decided to bring pizza over for dinner as a surprise.  Zach loved it.

Unfortunately, we couldn't celebrate his birthday very much, for a few reasons, but mainly because of sickness.  The week before, he caught a cold, which turned in to Bronchitis, aggravating his asthma.  He missed a bit of school.  He did go to school on his Birthday, but complained of a sore throat... I didn't think much of it because he was on anti-biotics.   BUT when i looked at his throat... EWWWW - NASTY. So another trip to the doctor was made.  A new prescription was given and it seemed to take 5 or 6 days before he started feeling the effects.  We still aren't certain if it was full on strep, but, boy did it look like a really nasty case.  That made case #5 of strep (or the like) for my boy.  He basically missed almost  2 weeks of school because he was not breathing, or barely eating.  Poor guy.  Next week is Fall Break, so he will have some friends over then for sleep overs, since we couldn't do a party.

So, when he did get healthy again, we celebrated with a family dinner to Logan's Roadhouse for some steak (Zach's favorite restaurant) with my sisters and their families in tow also.  It was fun.  We embarrassed Zach with the staff announcing his birthday. And we were all stuffed by the end of the night.

Zach received lots of cards, some cash and the final (I think) book in the Indian in the Cupboard Series. Also the Last Olympian book from the Percy Jackson series. and David and I found a smokin' deal on juggling classes from a company called "Trapeze U" just down the road.  Zach has wanted to learn to juggle and since Uncle Dirk isn't here to teach him, (and I can barely catch) we figured we would set him up with a couple classes! He is so excited.  He is saving his money up for some video games.

Opening the package from Mema and Papa. Zach considered it 

"Papa Wrapped" since it was so hard to get into

A box inside a box - see it IS Papa Wrapped... and mailed to SARAH - it can't be a present for ZACH

MMMM! Pizza and Friends! What a good night!