Catching Up

I was in charge of the quilt back in August for do.Good Stitches, and I'm just now getting the quilt top put together.  I asked the ladies who were able to send 4 Easy Stack, Cut and Sew blocks in bright colors with white or gray backgrounds.  It looks great!  I have the holidays to get it layered and finished.  December is our month off, so I will play catch up and be ready for the new year. 

It's Great to Be Four!

Little Guy ran down the stairs first thing in the morning proclaiming, "Happy birthday to me!!  I'm four!!"  He's been counting down for weeks now, so he was thrilled. 

 He was really excited about being the helper in school and bringing donuts to his friends.

 He's the most excited about graduating out of his "baby seat."  He is absolutely thrilled to be in a booster like his siblings.  It's the small things in life that bring the most joy.

Progress With a Bit of Setback

With every large project there seems to always be glitches and obstacles along the way.  Things had been going fairly smoothly, so I should have known that it wouldn't last.  The painting was great.  I never realized how quick painting can be when you don't have to tape anything off or worry about the floor.  Little Guy even got to help.  I figured this was his one chance, because the paint couldn't hurt anything in there.  He was thrilled!  His excitement dwindled substantially when he leaned over and the wall painted his hair.  He bounced back fairly quickly and was less than enthused when it was time for nap time.  I had to bathe him before he could go to sleep, but he had a small streak of gray in his hair for a couple days. 

 The tiling initially went well.  The tile looks even better than I had hoped.  Unfortunately, there were some issues with the cement, so part of the floor had to come up.  The shower has been grouted, but the floor sets back our time line a bit. 

We're still hopeful that the bathroom will be done by the end of the year.

Another Kind of IEP

We had a meeting for Little Man today to evaluate whether he qualified for the Gifted program.  In the state of Kansas it is through an IEP process.  This means placement is not based on academic achievement but on cognitive testing.  Little Man's greatest strength is in Verbal Comprehension.  His standard score for this area was 150 which is in the 99.9 percentile for his age.  His overall IQ scored in the 99th percentile, so he qualifies for the Gifted program.  We got to tour the gifted classroom, and we're really excited for this opportunity for him.  They meet every day for 45 minutes and will be together essentially until they graduate.  Gifted is taken as an elective in the middle school, so he will still get to have that class every day next year as well.  We're excited for this new opportunity for him.

 Little Man got to teach a science experiment in class last week.  Of course, he told me of the supplies he needed the night before as I was headed to work, but I'll forgive him, because he did a good job, and he also promised to give me advanced warning next time.  Hahaha.

A lot of Musical Cuteness

Today was the kiddos' first recital at Kansas City School of Music.  They got to play a 12 foot concert grand piano!  Little Guy had his very first recital with a scintillating version of Hot, Cross Buns!  He was pretty excited about it.

Little Lady played Sonatina in G Major, Op.49, No.2 by Beethoven.
BB played Entrée by Jon George.
Little Man played Adagio in A Major by Morovsky.  He was incredibly upset because after about the first line his mind went completely blank.  He made up about 2 more lines and then added the ending on it.  It sounded completely like a normal song (I'm actually amazed he was able to do make it sound like nothing was wrong), but he sat down and started crying.  On the way home I told him about some of my awful recital experiences.  One in particular was pretty humiliating.  That did the trick.  He was laughing and feeling better.  Plus, he played classical guitar for the first time and did such a great job.  He played Prelude #5 and Etude #1 both by Aaron Shearer. 

 Little Lady also played Minuet #1 by Bach on the cello, so it was a busy recital. 

 Joel was out of town and the recital was kind of long, so I was so relieved Little Guy and BB made it through the whole thing.  We celebrated with Blasts at Sonic.

This picture is probably the most accurate to real life:

Better Late Than Never

We always celebrate half birthdays, but for some reason we all completely forgot about Little Lady's half birthday last month.  Even she forgot which is even more rare.  We decided to celebrate it on the same day as her birthday, so she's technically a month older than half, but it was still so fun to surprise her with lunch.  I was putting together homeless care packages with some friends and I didn't think I'd be done in time to bring her lunch, so I told her I would come the next day.  We were really efficient and everyone was finished and gone with plenty of time for me to run and get her lunch.  She was so excited!

The next day she took half of her cherry jell-o poke cake to Nabeela. This is her new best friend at school.  They are super sweet together.  They have their first official play date coming up next week and you've never seen anyone so ecstatic. 

Picky Patty

A couple of months ago Little Lady came home from school disappointed.  The music teacher had asked each child to put down their request for their 3rd grade musical.  Little Lady had wanted a singing part.  She sang for her teacher, but was given lines to say instead.  She thought maybe she didn't sing well enough, but she was a little sad.  A couple weeks later her teacher mentioned that she had sent home Little Lady's lines with her, because Little Lady was feeling a little overwhelmed by needing to memorize so many lines.  I thought it was a bit odd, but I didn't really think much of it, because Little Lady can be a bit dramatic in the area of perfection, and she didn't ever really want to go over the lines at home.  She mentioned a time or two that she had more lines than most of the other kids to learn, but it didn't really connect in my brain.  We show up to the 3rd grade musical, and as I'm watching, it occurs to me that Little Lady is essentially the lead.  She was in every scene and she's even the only person in the whole thing who has a name.  What?!

At one point, Little Guy exclaimed, "That's Emma!  Great job, Emma!"  Everyone in the bleachers got a kick out of Little Lady's fan club.

Picky Patty was awesome!  She had expression in all of her lines, and she remembered them all.  We're so proud of her.  I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see her on stage. 

"Graduating"

Tonight was the last official pack meeting for the Stanley Ward.  I was so proud of my Den, because all 7 of my boys earned their Bear rank tonight.  Little Man also received his Arrow of Light.  It's the highest achievement in Cub Scouts, so he's officially "graduated."  He's decided not to continue on to Boy Scouts even though a few of the boys are continuing with a different troop.  It's the end of an era.