Jared Student of the Week

The week he was suppose to be student of the week our family whimsically decided to go on a mini vacation so his teacher said he could do it the next week. Well, unbeknownst to us we would be traveling to Idaho for a funeral. His teacher was very understanding and let him do his poster on Tuesday instead of Friday. (Those two weeks he only went to school twice! They had Monday off both weeks and we were gone Wed-Fri both weeks. If I'd known we'd been going to Idaho we wouldn't have gone the first week. Oh well!)

This was his poster.

We hurried and did it Monday night. Jared pretty much did it all by himself. The only part I helped with was gluing the stuff in the center. Other than that I just shouted out suggestions for him to look for in magazines. I thought he did a good job:).

He said all the boys were wearing suits.

On the left it says (written correctly), I wish I had magic, I wish I had wii games, and I wish I had 3DS games. (He's a little obsessed with electronics, we're working on it...). In the center his favorite things are: ice cream, legos, water parks, chocolate, diamonds?, ring pops, DS games, popsicles, and Wii games. On the right it says: I am 46 inches tall and I weigh 48 lbs. My hair is blonde and my favorite color is red (just changed this year from blue to red, I don't know which one to believe). I am 6 years old and my name is Jared.
When he grows up he wants to be a tennis player. He drew this before I could throw out suggestions... Good picture and honest answer at the moment. The things he doesn't like is my favorite. He doesn't like: Potatoes (very true, never has even fries), Dora (I really don't like Dora and I guess I voice that too much because he used to like her. I don't mind if my kids watch her I just can't stand listening to her), doll houses, broccoli (used to love and now I have to threaten him to eat them), and my favorite... Waiting. Ha, ha! His picture is of me talking to another sibling while he is waiting. Love it! And he did this all by himself.

I love this boy and really I couldn't have done it better myself!

Please Stop

These are two words I hear often from two of my children when I either tickle or sing. From Miles when I am tickling him. I want to keep going but the way in which he pleads I concede to his politeness.

And from Jared. When we're in the car and I start singing along with the radio he politely asks me to stop. Last night he asked twice. The second time he said, "I said PLEASE." I asked him, "Don't you like my voice?" He replied, "I just want to listen to the radio." I guess I won't be trying out for American Idol soon.

Jared Turned Six!

This little/big guy is six!!!

His birthday was at the beginning of December and he was so excited. So excited that he ran right past his presents and didn't notice them at all.

When riding his bike this summer it was apparent that he needed a new bike. Whenever we went on family bike rides he would be pedaling quickly non stop just to keep up to Chris and my coasting speed. Now instead of his little 12" bike he now has a 20" bike. We've taken it out a few times and it's a little big making it difficult to start and stop but he'll figure out soon...hopefully:). He wasn't as excited about the bike as I thought he'd be, he was much more into his legos and dagedar stuff.

At school I was excited to bring in his treat. His teacher said I could make the treat as long as it didn't have peanuts. I knew immediately what I wanted to make and it didn't take too much convincing to get Jared on board. My favorite birthday treat that my mom made as a child was her carmel popcorn around a sucker. We arrived at Jared's school just as they were coming in from recess.

For the most part it was well liked, but I may need to reconsider what age is appropriate to serve this dessert to. It took the kids a long time to eat and it was really sticky.

After school we came home to get ready for his party. Over two months before his party Jared knew he wanted a rock and roll party. I really liked how Spencer's homemade invites had turned out and wanted to do something "homemade" as well. As I was trying to figure it out Chris was totally instrumental in helping my pull it off. He gave me the idea of making a backstage pass and then as I was making it he pretty much told me what graphic and font to use. I got so many compliments from them to which I took no credit and gave it all to Chris.

For his cake I made a guitar cake... twice. I was just finishing up the guitar strings when I hit the corner of the pan and it flipped right on the floor.

The kids were in bed, I screamed felt like crying but what do you do... Make another one. I was crunched for time so Chris suggested I buy a cake to which I immediately refused (you can't buy a guitar cake!)

We invited only the boys from his class. I thought this would help on the numbers game. We still had 10 boys show up. Crazy? Um... Yes! But they all had a blast and it was a success. They went crazy when the pinata broke, they ate lots of pizza, and danced and rocked out with their inflatable guitars.

Right after the pinata broke. No picture of the pinata, it was boring and not cool at all.

The completed guitar cake second round.
Then after everyone had left we headed over to our neighbor's house to trim her tree. What a fun filled day. Success? You bet!
Jared's favorite things these days are video games, Captain Underpants, and legos. He loves sports and dancing. I love how he interacts with his siblings. Little Miles mimics everything he does and looks up to him so much. I love his energy, laugh, smile, hugs, and love for little children. He loves babies and wouldn't mind another sibling, as many or more than his cousin scottie (7 kids), but I've informed him that's not happening any time soon. He's a good first child... forgiving and full of love:) Love you J-Rod!

Chris left a little later for work this morning...

He got a little distracted... The boys didn't have school today:)

Halloween 2011

With Halloween on Monday I felt like this year Halloween was never ending. We started on Saturday by going to Clark street and trick or treating the shops on that street. It was really fun. This year Jared was a ninja (he's known he wanted to be a white ninja since last Halloween), Spencer a pirate, and Miles Peter Pan.There were lots of people on Clark but it wasn't too overwhelming. At their "headquarters" they had games set up for kids, things to decorate, and food to give out. They had two bounce houses set up along the way. We stopped at one and played for a good 10 mins.Then we came home, I finished preparations on our chili and we were off to our church Halloween party. (Jared pretty much wore his mask the second half of the day. When he took it off to eat his little cheeks were so red.

Kids doing a parade to show off their costumes:

I loved Marcus' Michael Jackson getup. He even has eyeliner on:)

On Monday Miles and I hit both Spencer's and Jared's class parties. Below is Spencer with his friend Noah.

Spencer really looks out for Miles whenever we visit.

We came straight home after Spencer's party and Miles was tired so I started to lay by him for his nap when I suddenly remembered Jared's school was doing their costume parade at 12:00. For some reason I was thinking 1:00. It was 11:55 when I remembered. I scooped Miles up, grabbed Spencer and rushed out the door with the stroller. We ran and few blocks and there right in front of us getting ready to cross the street was Jared with his class! Phew!
His teacher was Wendy, their teacher's aide was Tinker Bell and the other Kindergarten teacher was Peter Pan.
Back in the classroom they played games, ate food and watched Peter Pan.
That night Chris came home early and we started our trick or treating at 5:00. We were just planning on doing the street by our house, lots and plenty of candy, but ever since we've been here we've heard raves about Burling street just a few blocks down. The kids were in good spirits so we went for it. That street was crazy crowded but fun. All, most, of the houses are totally into Halloween all decked out and giving lots of candy. There were a few haunted houses that Miles and Spencer refused to go up to. The people handing out the candy looked too scary and the music was too eerie for them. (the pictures we took on Burling didn't turn out very well because it was darker by then so all the pictures are of the street near our home.)By the end their bags were pretty full and heavy. But Miles still insisted on carrying his own. He also snuck too much candy in between homes. He was sick the next day and I honestly believe it was from too much candy!

Coming home getting ready to view the loot.

Their piles, Jared, Spencer and Miles

Scientist of the Week

In Jared's class one student gets a bag full of experiment ideas for a week. During that week they practice the experiments and then on Friday they pick one and present it to the class. A few weeks ago it was Jared's turn. He picked the Lava Lamp. You fill a container with water, add food coloring, then oil and then salt to produce a lava lamp effect.

Below he is getting everything ready (Mrs. Lowe, his teacher, is in the picture too):

Halfway through the experiment:

Showing it to each table:

Halfway through showing off the bottle there were lots of kids out of their seats trying to see so Mrs. Lowe had Jared go to the front of the room to wait for everyone to get organized. Well Jared took it very seriously, a little too seriously, and waited til everyone was seated and seated the right way.

It was fun being in the classroom and talking with the other students. I wish I was able to get in there more but unfortunately Mrs. Lowe doesn't have parent "helpers". I'll be able to get back in there in January when I'm signed up to be a parent reader where I'll get to read to the class so that will be fun. Till then...

Visiting Aunt Terri At Work

On Monday we headed downtown to visit Aunt Terri for a late lunch and tour of where she works (she's a disc jockey at xrt). Chris was able to meet us for at Wildberry for lunch (we found this place in the burbs one trip out to Ikea and he's been craving it since and it just opened up downtown, yum!) Terri loves these boys and was excited to show them off to all who were there. They got cool flashlights and headbands. Then we went into the studio where she records her shows and the boys got to record their voices and listen.It was a fun little trip. Aunt Terri is the best!

We've Gone From This:

To this:

So Monday I took Jared back to the clinic I initially took him to. His vision seemed to be getting better but he had Monday off so I decided to take him for a quick check instead of waiting til the 28th.

A student stared going over things with Jared and everything seemed fine, which I thought it would. She had him read some things far and close. He took his glasses off and said, "I can read it without my glasses too." The doctor came and looked at his eyes and we were sent on our way. I took Jared over to a different room to have his glasses adjusted better. While there, the doctor came to me and took me out in the hall to talk while the student entertained all three boys. She proceeded to tell me that Jared had the right prescription but it was so insignificant that she wouldn't have prescribed him at his age.

She said his eyes were strong and focused well, his depth perception was fine, and his eyes didn't wander or anything else that would be of concern to her at this age and at his prescription numbers. So I asked her what she would do if it were her child. She said if he wanted to wear them she'd let him because they'll only help. But if he didn't want to wear them she wouldn't make him and he wouldn't be hurt by not wearing them either.

I then asked her about the potential of growing out of it and she said there's a good possibility he could, which the other doctor said he wouldn't because of his astigmatism in one eye. I asked her about that and she said everyone has a slight astigmatism more or less and his isn't in the "sweet spot" where it affects the amount of light entering the eye so he could still grow out of it.

We talked a little bit more, I got her information for future reference and we left. I felt so much more confident with this doctor than the first doctor we had. She explained everything well and answered all my questions thoroughly and I was impressed that she sought me out to tell me all this when Jared would've been fine other wise. She wanted me to be aware of all my options and I really appreciate the time she took to talk with me (a good 10 mins). I wish we would have seen her the first time.

You know the funny thing though? I've already grown to love the way Jared looks in his glasses. They had become part of him and something was missing whenever he didn't wear them.

So far he's opted not to wear them to school, Tuesday and Wednesday, but wore them at the end of the day yesterday. I've been deliberating if I should keep my appointment on the 28th or not and I'm leaning towards canceling it. I want to get a third opinion since the first two were opposite, the first doctor initially said he needed to wear the glasses just for reading, homework and things of that nature and then changed it to all the time.

I think I'm going to hold off on it though because Jared is sick of eye doctors at the moment and I think it's psychologically hard for him to be told you have to wear them to you don't have to but you can if you want. I trust the second doctor more, even though she did less tests with him, and I feel good with what she said. We'll definitely be testing him in a year from now and in the meantime he's not going to be hurt by wearing or not wearing them. Oh and the school does eye testing at the end of the month so he'll be checked again then.

The first and last picture is of Jared with his first library book. When he first showed Cherie (Chris' mom) and me we had to try hard not to laugh. We read about 20 pages of it. I told him to get a smaller one next time. He got a Goosebumps book and we have about 20 pages of that one left to read; much better.