Mr. Wigglesworth

Months after Little Miss A had her first wiggle...Mr. D is joining in the fun. We felt his first wiggle this morning. Bottom right front! :) Now that his sister has lost 3, he is so excited to be sharing in the fun!

World Cup Champs!!!!

Mr. D's team...Forza Milan WON!!!!!

They are officially the winners of the World Cup in our neighborhood sports association. Mr. D was so completely pumped...we're talking cloud 9!

It was AWESOME!!!!

World Cup Tournament

Mr. D's soccer team had a tournament to determine the teams to challenge each other on Sunday in the "World Cup". Each 5 year old team played 2 games...the winners advance to the games on Sunday. Mr D's team won BOTH games and will be playing again tomorrow in the World Cup! We are so excited to cheer him on!!!!! :) Go D, Go!!!!

Tying One On

The kids are earning feathers for their Thanksgiving headdresses at school. In order to earn a feather, there are certain tasks that they each must do:

read and write their sight words

know their phone number, address and birthday

tell the days of the week and months of the year

AND

tie their shoes!

Now, Little Miss A has been tying her shoes for a while now, but Mr. D was having some major troubles. A lot of it was due to the fact that so many of his shoes do not need to be tied, slip-ons and velcro haven't helped him advance his skills. However, this was just the challenge he needed. As soon as I read him his "checklist" including the shoe tying bit, his eyes lit up and he ran upstairs to get his old lace up sneakers. He brought them downstairs and I repeated the same shoe tying technique options we reviewed in the summer before school started. This time he had incentive and that was seriously all he needed. He picked up his shoe and after seeing one demo from me and did it on his own...PERFECTLY! So glad to finally have that battle conquered. Through practice he'll get to be as fast as his sister. I think my shoe tying days for my little monkeys are finally a thing of the past. :)

Star of the Week!

Our Kinder classes at school each have a Star of the Week. This week was all about Mr. D is Ms. A's class. He was so excited to pick his pictures that he wanted on his poster. We had so much fun looking back through our adventures. I loved hearing him recount events...I am always completely blown away by his amazing memory!!! :) We went to the store so he could pick his favorite color poster and extra supplies to make it totally what he wanted! He helped me cut the pictures with fun scissors and place everything around the board then he was done. He fell asleep shortly after , so I finished after he went to bed. He woke up to the final product and was grinning from ear to ear at all of his pictures. He was so excited to take it to school and show all his friends. It's going to be a great week!

Winning Bookmark

Our librarian has a bookmark contest every year for student to submit bookmark creations. The winners of the contest have their bookmarks copied and added to the years supply of bookmark option for the entire school to use. Both Little Miss A and Mr. D submitted their designs, and neither one spent more than 5 minutes creating. Mr. D however, had his bookmark selected as a Kindergarten winner. He was so excited when I saw him after school asking "Mommy, did you hear my name on the announcements? I won!"

Here is his design. We are the Rattlers, so Mr. D decided to draw a really LONG rattler and write "Read 4 a LONG time" across the top.

Little Miss A drew a rattler as well, but covered every space around it with hearts and wrote "LOVE 2 read!"

Cute ideas!!! Totally them! I love it!

GOAL!!!!

What a soccer game Saturday morning! Mr. D was wound up (as usual), but in kicking off the ball from midfield from the other team scoring a goal, our little man kicks the ball as hard as he can straight down the field...GOAL!!!!!!!

It was awesome!!!! Wish I had the video on that one or at least been able to snap a pic of his ear to ear grin. Even the other team cheered for him on that one. One proud Mama of my super psyched soccer playin' little boy! :)

Speedy Gonzales!

One guess who this post is about...Mr. D!!!!! He is a speed monster!

We have seriously been riding bikes after school every day this week, it's been GREAT! Mr. D is getting faster and faster and today was the day for the big biff! No camera, no video...not even after the fact...he wasn't having ANY part of that at all. He does have a pretty decent case of road rash, so we are now strictly enforcing the "no, pads, no helmet, no riding" rule around here. He HATES his pads! Doesn't mind the helmet so much, but the pads are his arch nemesis! Maybe we need to head out this weekend in search of new ones that fit differently.

His sister on the other hand, has no problems wearing any of her protective gear, in fact she's the one reminding Mr. D to put his helmet on before he leaves the garage! She takes her rides seriously with a decent amount of caution. It doesn't help that her twin brother has virtually no spatial awareness what-so-ever and has already crashed into her bicycle while she was riding in the cul-de-sac the other day. Mind you, the circle isn't small! So I'm still trying t figure out how that happened. Although, Miss M and I were run out of place SEVERAL times the other day by that same little boy. Perhaps he's just a road hog. ;) He sure is cute though. Mr. G got out there with the kids riding (my bike needs a little help) and was seriously getting 1'upd by little man all over the place. How do you make that stop?

One thing I can say is that he has no fear (good or bad I still don't know) but he brushed off the grit from his wipe out and hopped back on his bike and kept going still thinking the pads were completely unnecessary! Total boy thing I guess!!! :)

Official Riders!!!

A friend of mine was insisting that I try out their family "green machine" to help A & D drop the training wheels on their big boy/big girl bikes. We picked it up on Sunday around 4:30, ran some errands and were back home close to 6:30. Not exaggerating, they played on the "green machine" collectively for maybe 30 minutes and both decided to grab their big bikes and hit the pavement without a hitch. Off they went like they've been doing this for years! These videos were taken a little after 7:00!

We are so excited to hit the road as a family!!! We'll be practicing every day until they feel confident enough to handle the hills in the neighborhood. So glad we live at the end of cul-de-sac so we can practice after school as often as we want! :)

Team Captain

Mr. D was team captain for this week's soccer game. This was his opening...the coin toss.

He was so excited!!! Team Forza played an AMAZING game!!!!

Marathon Kids Update...

Our after school running program takes place at school and is completely run by parent volunteers. One of the coaches is one of neighbors and friends. Miss T told me this morning that she heard all about Mr. D over dinner. Apparently, he was the fastest Kindergartner to run in to the finish line and even beat quite a few first graders and even some second graders as well. AWESOME!!!!

Mr. D ALWAYS has an abundance of energy, I swear there are days I wish I could bottle it up and use it for myself. :) However, Tuesdays are crazy. Mr. D has recess (30 minutes of running), this particular Tuesday he also had PE (50 more minutes of running), Marathon Kids (an hour of running) and soccer practice in the evening (another hour of running). He was exhausted and crashed hard!!!! Tuesdays are now super crazy.

The week went along just fine, but Friday night we were out to dinner with friends and Daddy had to leave early with D to take him to the after hours clinic...he as WAILING in pain about his legs. (Not a common reaction for Mr. D who never really cries about anything...that's how you know he's serious.) Thankfully, we were with friends and Daddy could take D and Little Miss A and I could grab the check and head out separately with M and G. Mr. G was right...leg cramps. Apparently, he wasn't hydrated enough. I didn't think we'd see that kind of issue (to that severity) that much AFTER the intense day of running. So we are now taking along extra water bottles on Tuesdays and I have other coach friends watching Mr. D reminding him while he's outside to drink more water. Another friend suggested extra potassium. Unfortunately, bananas are one of Mr. D's LEAST favorite foods. So we are looking for other potassium rich alternatives that we can send for an after school snack before the real Marathon Kids running begins. Whole Foods and REI, here we come in search of "real" athletic remedies! :) LOL

On a Side Note...

Mr. D is in music class now and having a blast with Mr. S. He came home and wrote him a note...

How cute is that? He was even able to tell me what everything was...whole notes, quarter notes, half notes. LOVE MUSIC!!!!!

Trouble In Paradise

So, Mr. D had his first scuffle at school today. Not that he did something to someone else, but that something was done to him! :( I was beyond upset!!!!! I wish I could just put my kids in a bubble! There are days like today that I just wish I was homeschooling my sweet little munchkins!

A New Kind of Bike Ride

Tio Luiz stopped by for an afternoon at the house to hang/play/rough house with the Caswell twins which they of course LOVE!!!! :) He rode his motorcycle to the house...SOOOOO COOL!!! As he left, he gave each of them a quick ride down our street. The grins were priceless!!!

Kindergarten Crushes...

Okay, didn't think I'd have to post on this topic for a while, but we've already had our first "crush" report! Mr. D came home from school this week and announced that he had a girlfriend. At first I didn't think anything about it...it's a friend that's a girl...no big deal, right? Wrong!

I began with the basic question. What's her name? With a dreamy faraway look Mr. D told me "Her name is Maddie short for Madelyn. Isn't that such a pretty name? Oh Mom, she's the most beautiful girl in Kindergarten!!!" Am I really hearing this from my five year old little boy?? What's really funny is that as I am asking what she looks like, Miss A has an open ear, taking it all in then announces that her brother HAS to show her who this girl is on the playground tomorrow! This is a scene I have imagined in my head before, but with the roles reversed!!! Too funny!

In taking the kids to class the next day, I stopped by Miss. A's room to get a sneak peak of "the girl", but alas she was absent. I was explaining to D's teacher who I was looking for and why, Miss. A laughed...she said that ALL the boys like her. With my curiosity at an all time high, I can't wait to check in again tomorrow morning to see this mystery girl. :)

First Soccer Game

Mr. D's first soccer game was great! It wasn't too early in the morning and was the perfect overcast sky...no sunscreen required and not too hot! The kids are so cute on the field! Playing in the neighborhood is wonderful since A & D both kept seeing other kids from school. Mr. D had some really good plays which definitely kept him "in the game" with a smirky grin every time he heard his name called in encouragement from the sidelines whether it was from Mommy and Daddy, other parents or fellow teammates. :)

One of our favorite pics of the game was this one.

Mr. D's friend from class on the team was CONSTANTLY hand-in-hand with our Mr. D.

Little Miss A began as the team cheerleader

then turned MIA. Apparently called from the sidelines by the nearby play scape...we need to work on her game time focus. :)

Through the plays of the day, we have some work to do. Additional practice for Mr. D and a pep rally rundown for Little Miss A about expectations for game day. Focus on Mr. D!!! :) This is going to be family fun for everyone for the next few fall Saturday mornings!!!

First Soccer Practice

Mr. D's first soccer practice just happened to fall on the same night at the same time as Kinder curriculum night. Luckily all the events were at the school, so Daddy and Little Miss A took D outside to practice and I went inside to Ms. H and Ms. A's classes to get the scoop. Team North Forza Milan consists of 3 boys and 3 girls, one of which is in Mr. D's class at school. From what Daddy said, the coach is AMAZING!!!! Total patience with Mr. D's emotional highs and lows giving him just the right amount of encouragement to keep him engaged in the fun activities he had planned for the evening.

Soccer Kick Off

To start the soccer season, the association holds "soccer practice" before assigning teams. It's basically an assessment of each individual player's skills to provide all teams with an equal balance of ability. Mr. D had so much fun and really did pretty good having not played since he was 3. It's going to be a fun season full of exciting Saturday mornings!!! :)

Hair Do by Drew

Little Miss A was more than happy to have her bun shish-kabobbed by Mr. D.

Pirate or Superhero?

We acquired a set of matchy-matchy dress up costumes that the "boys" used in full force this weekend. Thanks again Ms. A...Mr. D LOVES to match his father!! :)

It was battle mayhem...superhero/pirate vs. superhero/pirate. Totally even playing field as far as special talents were concerned. Mr. D was commentating the events as they unfolded announcing the winner each round. Ironically, it was a back and forth win, which is a miracle for anyone that knows Mr. D...he NEVER loses. Father/son fun for sure!