"Professional Kinder"

Jexten is officially graduated from Kindergarten! Happy/sad for me.  Jexten has grown so, so much this year. I was reminiscing about his first weeks of Kinder, and the challenges and triumphs this year has brought.  Anyone who knows Jexten, or even has the privilege to talk to him for a minute, knows that he is quite the character!  He finds humor in places that most usually don't. When the humor is found, it's usually him.  Jexten is very different from Adessa.  They share the same kind heart, caring for others, and fast friendship making abilities.  But they are different in that Jexten would rather build something, or push something, slide standing up on a board down a hill than draw.  He struggled with holding a pencil at the beginning of the year, so I invested in some rubber molded hand trainers for his pencil at school.  It wasn't long before he outgrew them, and was writing me notes and drawing me pictures (mostly of engineered "angry birds" plans). :) Jexten is always ready to work, and has a mind for numbers.  I was nervous about the reading part of kindergarten though.  That has a story all it's own, dating back almost to the day he was born.  I start the language development part of my kid's brains early, from the day they are born I sing simple songs to them. When we come home and in the early baby weeks, I recite poems or nursery rhymes to them during feeding times, and in those sweet middle of the night nobody sees hours.  By the time Jexten was 1 I fully expected him to react the same as Adessa did to sitting by me to listen to a story, after all, it was never a foreign activity.  That didn't happen, I was devastated.  Jexten would NOT sit by me, he would walk around the room and laugh at -- stuff.  So I kept reading, he would hear something in the story that reminded him of something, or he would just get THE BEST IDEA EVER! and run away to fulfill whatever plan he had in his head, laughing of course.  So I started getting REALLY creative in my story times with him.  I got giant poster boards and hung them on the walls, gave him crayons, or water colors and let him DO something while I sat wherever he was and read small brightly colored books to him.  I even got the bells and whistles books that are FULLY interactive.  We should have bought stocks in Energizer batteries.  This struggle with reading books to him went on for a while.  So when it came time in the Kindergarten curriculum to send home "poetry pages" to learn and read, I was a bit nervous.  I took Jexten to the store to pick out some "special homework markers", all colors, that he could color the parts of the poem and highlight high frequency words (the, am, is, he, she...).  That worked for a while. Jexten had the most colorful homework around!  Then he decided that he didn't need the markers any more, he did homework with a "magical pencil" (mechanical pencil)  We started a "word bank" which was just a shoe box covered in white paper that he decorated himself.  With each learning to read book that he brought home he got to pick his favorite words in the book, or some words that he recognized were repeated a lot in the book.  I would write those words on some 3x5 cards and he got to deposit them into his "word bank"  when the bank filled up, we would open it and review the words, and he would get a treat...repeat.  Some books were funny, and we would have to stop and laugh for quite a while at the funny parts before finishing the book.  After he finished, I would ask him to find his favorite page and we would re-live his funny moment.  This was time consuming, but I am happy to say it payed off big time!!  Jexten tested at a end-of-the-year FIRST grade level reader BY THE END OF KINDER! YAY!!!  Jexten had the best kinder teacher! I couldn't have asked for a better one.  She has so much patience and a sense of humor to go with it, she encouraged Jexten in learning, and laughed right along with him in some situations that most would pull their hair out.  On some days when school was the furthest thing from Jexten's mind and it was hard to get him to cooperate, I just happened to remind him of Mrs. Jensen and then it was "Oh, YA! I GOTTA GET TO SCHOOL!"  Mrs. Jensen has commented to me on one occasion that starting a Monday with Jexten is the best way she can think to start the week. :)  I am so excited for the years ahead, and so very excited for the teachers he has lined up in the coming years as part of the dual immersion spanish speaking program! Congratulations Jexten!!!

The Kid's Great Adventures

W U Z UP

 Kurt has been working in his shop.   This is his logo idea.

 one of his projects

 I started a reading aide teaching job at the kids' elementary school, so we invested in fun!

 Jexten got a hair cut, and got some "cool green" sprayed into the new 'do

 kurt took the priests ice fishing. Jexten stayed home, but payton had a good time!

 Valentine's day mountains and sky! it was breathtaking in real life.

 Uncle Jeff got married!

 Jexten lost a tooth that same day

 kurt found out that the guy he bought one of our 4 wheelers from sold him a broken axle....the joke's on the guy because we know someone who can fix stuff like that! ;)

 and while he was at it, kurt widened the wheel stance, for better stability

 something kurt is tinkering with

 everybody's got to have toys

 It's spring!!! well, that's what I am calling it, so that's what it will be!

 we had fun "tilling up the garden" :)

 some more of kurt's project

 adessa is "rearin' " to go. GO ADESSA GO!!

Growing Bigger

 

Well it happened, I turned 31.  I don't feel any different, but I don't know how 31 is supposed to feel. I try to think of mom and dad when they were about my age. They seemed so wise and productive, and energetic... seriously, where did they find the energy???  I kind of expected to be more,,,, something.  More grown up, more wise, more insightful, more in control and "with it". Honestly, I feel like a 5 year old in Kindergarten.  I love Kindergarten. 

 Joan and Gordon watched the kids while Kurt and I went to a new restaurant. Costa Vida! YUM! I tried the Sweet Baja shrim tacos, and Horchata to drink.. I would highly recommend that.  Joan also made me these awesome bracelets and left them in a sack hanging on my front door with Farkle.  I won big time!

 Kurt came home with a 4 wheeler and dressed me up like this later in the week.

 Adessa thinks this is great

 The next day Kurt came home with this. Jexten thinks this is great.

 So grown up or not, I think I'm still pretty cool!

No Such Thing as Too Much Fun

 

When you picture Christmas this Year

 This is a project I learned how to do off of Pinterest, yes I pinterest-ed

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 we had such a fun family night making and taking chocolate covered cream cheese oreo balls to our neighbors!

 the first snow of the season, which melted the next day, but we got plenty for Christmas!

 Jexten sampled the chocolate cookie balls :)

 we like to draw names in our family and get small gifts for each other, it is so fun to watch the kids in their gifting process. We started out our family night with the Christmas story in Luke, then we have to do some singing. that is mandatory, we sing until we are good and merry..... then we GIFT!

 Adessa had Kurt's name this year.  she could hardly contain herself she was SOOO excited to give him something!

 of course he loved it!

 I had Jexten's name this year

 this is so much fun!

 Kurt had my name, i was spoiled with some raspberry shower gel and exfoliating gloves.

 Jexten had Adessa's name. He got her fashion design barbie. Kurt said Jexten knew just what he was going to get her and he wouldn't be convinced of anything else "no matter WHAT!"

this picture is funny to me in so many ways. your welcome.

 Our fun filled Family night ended in watching Elf, and eating root beer floats.

 Chrismas Eve was spent at Joan and Gordon's this year.  AND i forgot my camera-- sheesh. Grandpa Gordon started out the Eve of fun with a Christmas story, "The Christmas Train" by Pres. Thomas S. Monson.  Then, we had a fun game of holiday bingo, finger print tree decorating (printable art project) gingerbread man decorating, family gift giving (we had jill and james, they didn't want to open theirs on Christmas eve, lucky for them we had forgotten it anyway(oops), so it worked out all the way around), and a wonderfully prepared dinner by Joan that is becoming the best tradition EVER ;) (we order out ABC Mandarin Chinese) We all had so much fun!

 Christmas morning just wouldn't be the same without my two little elves. Life would be so dull without them.

 I got some new running shoes! And I hid a bench grinder for Kurt's shop in the trunk of the car for weeks and weeks. ; )

 CHRISTMAS MEANS CARNAGE!

Heather even got some presents. She was more content to snuggle up next to us when we weren't watching.