Budding Author

This is going to be a bragging mommy post, so stop now if you don't want to hear me gushing over my little princess!

I am so proud of McKenna. Academics have always been a huge deal to me...guess that's why I became a teacher! I've always loved to read and as a kid I loved school and learning and everything associated with it! So it makes me beam with pride knowing that my little girls loves this stuff just as much as I did/do!

McKenna is top notch academically. She's reading (pretty much on her own) chapter books. Her favorites are the Junie B. Jones books and The Magic Treehouse series. Today McKenna's teacher (who is losing her voice) had McKenna read a book outloud to the class. She said she was so impressed with McKenna's fluency and expression.

Her teacher recently had McKenna start writing a journal at the beginning of the school day. This has really helped McKenna develop a love of writing. Her teacher has her use inventive spelling instead of worrying about whether or not everything is spelled correctly. I think before, McKenna was too much of a perfectionist and she didn't want to write because she didn't know how to spell all of the words and now she knows that it's okay to not spell everything right. Well, now there's no stopping her from writing. Today alone, she has written 3 stories - one in the car on her way to school this morning and the other 2 on her way home.

Here's one of her stories from this afternoon (I'm going to spell the words just as he has them written in her notebook):

there wontse woz a snwman hiz naeme woz Frostie the snwman he had a carit nowse and botine eys he oslso wor a hat and butinzs for the botinzes wale thate Frostie wos my frind he wos jole and fat and skine at the top he is sutch a gode snwman wal he woz so kuwt he woz the best frind on erth the end

No punctuation, but look at those details..pretty good for a kindergartner who isn't even 6 yet!

Here's what she wrote in case you were unable to decipher: There once was a snowman. His name was Frostie the Snowman. He had a carrot nose and buttin eyes. He also wore a hat and buttons for the buttons. Well, that Frostie was my friend. He was jolly and fat and skinny at the top. He is such a good snowman. Well he was so cute. He was the best friend on earth. The End

I really need to take the time to thank McKenna's teacher for all that she does to challenge her academically in the classroom! She is a big part of the reason why McKenna has grown so much as both a reader and writer in the few short months that she's been in school and she's also a big part of the reason why McKenna LOVES reading and writing so much! McKenna's 1st grade teacher will have big shoes to fill!

My Little Gymnast

...Betcha think I'm talking about McKenna, right? WRONG! During McKenna's cheer class there is a gymnastics class for 3 year olds. The coach is absolutely wonderful, she did McKenna's private lessons for tumbling over the summer. Chase knows her from this and always asks where she is when we are in the gym for McKenna's cheer class.

So, today I decide to let Chase try out the class. I really expected him to cling to me and not participate much, if at all. Boy was I wrong! He did absolutely AWESOME! He stayed with coach Diane the whole time and did everything she asked him to do. I sat off to the side just watching him, and I don't think he looked back at me at all! I was amazed! He talked about how much fun it was the whole way home!

We are signing him up for the class beginning in January.

Gingerbread Adventure

We were grocery shopping earlier today and as usual while Jason was at the Deli, the kids begged me to take them to the bakery to see the cakes and other goodies. On top of one of the counters they had a gingerbread house. The kids and I ohhhed and ahhhed over how cute it looked. As we turned around to leave, McKenna noticed that they were selling kits to make them at home. So of course, she and Chase got super excited about it and I had no choice but to buy one...oh, who am I kidding, I was just as excited as they were!

We no sooner got the groceries put away before they were begging to make the gingerbread house...we had to bribe them with it to get them to eat lunch first!

They were in awe when I opened up the box and they saw all of the little candies!

Here are a few pictures from our Gingerbread Adventure:

Getting started:


The house is put together and ready for decorating:


Decorating the roof...Chase ate more than he decorated - LOL!:




Finished! It may not be the prettiest gingerbread house ever created, but we sure did have a lot of fun making it!:




Now, could someone please tell me what we are supposed to do with it? Jason says we eat it (of course, the kids are siding with him!), but I say its just a decoration...any ideas? For those of you who make gingerbread houses, what do you do with it?

Jamfest 2008

McKenna had a cheer competition this morning. We had to leave the house at 6:45 which meant I got up at 5am and got McKenna up at 6am. Jason and Chase stayed home and slept in until 8:30! I really thought McKenna would be super grouchy while I got her ready (she really hates the hair!), but she did awesome!

Here are some pictures:

The Twinkle Team:


The Twinkles take the floor:


cheer/dance/tumble/stunt(for some reason I didn't get a picture of McKenna's stunt!):








Awards Ceremony:


Jammy!!!



First Place!!!



Time to head home:

Everyone Likes a Good Giveaway

After reading my friend, Kim's blog, I decided to pass the giveaway love on to all of my blog readers!

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

Head over to Gabrielle's blog - Design Mom

http://www.designmom.com/labels/12%20Days%20Giveaways.html

to check out her awesome 12 Days of Christmas giveaway! You can pick from 12 prizes and enter once to win the prize of your choice!

Wordless Wednesday

...well almost wordless!

Here are some of our Christmas decorations:


Our mantle minus the stockings...we aren't hanging them up until Christmas Eve.



I had a hard time getting a good picture of the railing:





We also have candles in each window, but it must not have been dark enough for them to come on yet. The lights you see in the window by the front door are the ones on the stair railing inside.



Notice all the pictures of McKenna and Chase in the photo above. I take a special picture of them every year at Christmas and put them out with my decorations. I love looking back at their old Christmas pictures as I put them out every year.

Husband of the Year

My sweet husband drove us an hour away this afternoon - after working all day - to get something I've been really wanting for Christmas. It's something that I will cherish forever and am so excited to get! We pick it up next week, I can't wait! Oh, and speaking of wait...you will just have to wait until I open it up on Christmas morning to see what it is! (Yes, Jason is wrapping it and making me wait - maybe he's not husband of the year! LOL!)

I picked his present up last week. I am absolutely going nuts wanting to tell him what it is! I've had to bite my tongue more than a few times to keep from slipping! I'm not a good secret keeper when I'm excited about something! Do you want to know what it is...TOO BAD!!! I'm not telling ANYONE because I don't want it to accidentally slip! The kids don't even have a clue!

We are going to have a FUN Christmas morning!