Where does the time go?

Chance officially graduated Kindergarten!

 

 

He was very proud (as he should be).

 

 

 

And looking good in his pinstriped suit and purple shirt. 

 

 

He is in need of a haircut but he has been wanting to get a mohawk so standby.  No mohawks allowed at OLOH so we had to wait for school to let out.  

 

 

He is getting pretty tall - but just like Shaeleigh - he always looks so much bigger at home.

 

 

 

Shaeleigh is likely to soon be overtaken by YiLin.  At their last doctor's appointment, Shaeleigh, at 4 feet, measured a quarter inch taller than YiLin.  She is constantly reminding us that she is taller than he is.  

Shaeleigh-ism of the week:

Chance:  Mom, YiLin is doing everything I'm doing.

Me:  That's a compliment.  It means he likes what you're doing and wants to do it too.

Shaeleigh:  Yeah...  or he could just be mocking you.

 

Ah Shaeleigh...   so young to be so bitter....

And when she's not spreading doom and gloom, she is busy sharing her bathroom humor (when does one grow out of this?!)

 

Knock knock

Who's there?

A pile-up

A pile-up who?

 

HAHAHAHAHA.  Oh yeah, that one has been hysterical to the three troublemakers for over a month now.  The funny part is that when Shaeleigh first read it in a book, she didn't get it.  Passed right over it.  I made the terrible error of letting out a little giggle and then explained it to her.  What was I thinking?!

But, despite her lacking sense of propriety she could not be a better student so we have nothing to complain about.

I should note that she has also been a pretty good teacher to YiLin.  She has been his after school homework helper this year and did a great job.  I had at one point, made a video of YiLin reading a bunch of sight words.  In the video, Shaeleigh is off-camera but she is putting down the flashcards and passing him chocolate chips after each one he gets correct.  You can hear her every now and then when he struggles over a word and she explains something or other to him.  During one of the many contentious meetings at YiLin's school I showed the video to prove that he was reading.  One of the school officials, after watching the video asked, "Is your daughter trained in applied behavior analysis?"  Ha.  Yeah, sure.  I should have followed with a video of Shaeleigh sharing her knock knock jokes.

 

 

Another T-ball season is over.  As you can see in the photo above, there was some kind of sale on teal green shirts this year.  We thought it was bad enough that Chance's team got stuck with them but when the "Wildcats" play the "Hornets" and both teams are dressed in the same crazy color you know that someone was clearing out the warehouse.

 

 

As Kenn mentioned earlier - both Shaeleigh and Chance did well at the science fair.  Chance took first place for his experiment:  Which Color M&M Melts the Fastest.

Shaeleigh came in 2nd for her:  Food Powered Clocks.

Science Fair is optional until 5th grade so really, it's just nice that they both wanted to do it.  The judging is by grade and done by the 7th and 8th graders.  

The photos of the scientists in action are on the other computer so I'll have to post more on this.  The food powered clocks were pretty interesting.  And so as not to keep you hanging...   the brown M&Ms melted the fastest.  We don't know why.

 

Shaeleigh is still doing ballet.  Her class is participating in a recital of Alice in Wonderland next weekend.  

 

 I still don't quite get the world of dance but apparently, in order to continue in ballet next year, she needs to move up to the more official level which requires her to take 2 classes a week.  That probably wouldn't be bad but they only offer the class at 3:30 in the afternoon which is not too handy for working parents.  This seems to be the case with all the studios.  She's signed up for a 5 week summer session and then I guess we'll decide what to do after that.  If she doesn't move up, she can take "Recreational" ballet but then she doesn't get to be in "The Nutcracker."    

 

 

Although it looks like perhaps a blast from the past, the above "grocery list" is actually YiLin's!  He was pretending to make a list so I started spelling the words and was pretty stinkin' surprised when he actually wrote down the letters as I said them.  He has been making some big progress the past few months.  He still has a very difficult time focusing but he seems to have most of the alphabet down and is now, not only reading about 30 sight words, but is gaining some phonic skills.  We are working on reading Bob Books (Mat sat.  Sam sat.  Mat sat on Sam.).  We managed to finally win our battle with the school and put an IEP (Individual Education Plan) into place for the final 10 weeks of school.  He made HUGE progress once he started getting focused teaching on the level he needs it.  We have tutor lined up for the summer and I am hoping to keep the momentum going as much as possible.  He did qualify for Summer School but unfortunately I have very little faith in the school system at this point.  He qualified for the classroom for Intellectual Disabilities and if we find that they don't actually teach him anything, I plan to pull him.  I'd rather him enjoy summer camp.  But, I am keeping an open mind.  It would be great for him to get a half day of education.  We'll see.

 

 

Sweet Chance

 

 

 

Kenn is getting all sassy with me.  He thinks that just bec

use he has been sooooooooooooo good at keeping his fancy schmancy facebook page updated (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Corners-Petit-Fours-LLC) that I should be doing a better job at blogging.  I wouldn't call it being sassy. I simply mentioned that she hadn't posted in a while. See? I am out here pushing for updates for all of you kind readers! Wow, she rummaged around and found a photo...woohoo! Did you get to hear about Shaels making Summa Cum Laude for the second time? No. Did you see all the teeth in YiLins mouth? Don't think so.....Great job Joanie!! Hopefully this'll learn you about being "sassy". To you readers, hopefully this will prompt her to bring you up to speed on the science fairs, family school days, T-ball, ballet recitals, etc, etc,. 

 

Of course, I SUPPOSE I could help out with the blog from time to time......I DO have that other site to maintain, however.

Let me rummage about and find you a photo....

 

And since a photo is nice but a photo and a story is nicer...

I took the kids to iHOP on Friday night.  Somehow I had managed to promise them that we would go even though Kenn was working (poor guy missed his breakfast for dinner fix)....  The kids love them some iHOP.  Even Chance, who still lives largely on goldfish crackers, ate an entire Happy Face pancake, two strips of bacon and a plate of hashbrowns.  Shaeleigh was just about stuffed and the boys were getting restless so I told Chance that he should go ask our server if we could have a carryout box.  The place was empty and our server was just hanging out right behind us by the front desk.

Chance takes YiLin with him and they loop behind our booth to find our server.  So I'm sitting there listening to see if they are being polite and I don't hear anything.  I turn my head a bit and as I do, I glance out the window and there's Chance and YiLin heading out the front door and down the sidewalk around the restaurant.  Well I'm sure the guy at the front desk must have thought I was running out on the bill as I jumped out of the booth and took off out the front door (although I did leave Shaeleigh happily still eating her pancakes).  Turns out Chance took his job very seriously.  When he went to find our server, the server had just headed outside for a break and Chance just followed him right out no doubt ready to ask him for a carryout box right there in the middle of the parking lot.  Good grief.  

 Thats it? That's all they get?? Hahaha! (I will surely hear about this, but it is worth it for the fun!)

So around these parts, the "s" word refers to "stupid" which the kids know is not a great word choice.  Frequently we hear, "that show had the "s" word in it," or "that song has the "s" word,"  or in the case of Shaeleigh, "this book has the "s" word but I just said, "silly" in my head when I saw it."  

There is also the "s" word with "up" in it (shut-up) which is always carefully stated just like that - in case of any confusion - Shaeleigh takes these words very seriously.  She is a sweetie.

Well yesterday I overhear Shaeleigh tell Chance, "I know the "a" word."  Oh dear.  I sat listening trying to decide whether I should stop the conversation before it got any further.  Chance, unlike Shaeleigh, likes to try out words so while Shaeleigh might mention the "s" word and leave it like that, Chance will always take the opportunity to say it five or twelve times.  "That song has the "s" word in it.  You know, STUPID.  That song has STUPID in it, you know the "s" word STUPID.  I don't know why it says STUPID."  

So yeah, we didn't need him to know any "a" words.  But as I'm debating my approach in my head, out comes the "a" word.  Straight out of Shaeleigh's mouth:  "Alleluia"

Ha ha ha.  Yes, during Lent we don't say Alleluia.  And so it becomes, the "a" word.  

Phew.

Above is the gloop factory.  Shaeleigh found this recipe in a book of hers and took it upon herself to teach the boys how to make gloop.  Corn starch, water, food color.  Pretty cool.

 

Oh yeah, that's good stuff.

 

Homemade snot.  What's not to love?

 

Sometimes I just want to wear a shirt that says, "My kids pick out their own clothes."  Above is Chance's favorite gymnastics outfit.  Chance loves to wear these little shortie shorts (size 2T) that he'd pulled from the box of clothes I was putting away last fall.  A few weeks ago Kenn thought he'd gotten them all hidden away and here comes Chance, "I found one!!!  Hahaha."

He is obsessed with keeping his shirt tucked in.  He tucks in his pajamas.  What more can I say.....

 

Brotherly love.  

 

 

I have to say, as the kids have gotten older, the number of gross incidents have definitely lessened.  But lest we get too complacent.....   Shaeleigh got her ears pieced in January and all in all, the ears seemed to be doing fine.  She changed her studs out for a pair of pink hearts just before Valentines day (after the required 6 weeks).  No problems.  Well yesterday she comes in and tells me that her earring broke and the little heart was gone.  I was surprised because they weren't cheap and I wouldn't have expected the little heart to fall out so soon.  I look at her ear and look again and move her to the light and look once more.  Somehow the entire earring has backed into the hole which then seemed to have grown over the earring itself.  It's just gone.  Swallowed right into her ear.

Poor Shaeleigh freaks out.  Won't let me touch it.  Waterworks ensure.  She can be quite dramatic.  I try to clean off the top of the ear to see what's really going on.  Drama escalates.  I threaten a trip to the doctor.  That didn't help calm things down.  Kenn wakes up to Shaeleigh melting down, "I don't want to go to the doctor!"  Good grief.  He talks her down a bit - comes up with the ol' freeze up the ear approach and makes her an ice pack.  Finally, ear frozen, she sits still long enough for me to look, locate the earring inside of her ear so that I can line it up and shove it back forward.  Ugh.  That was disgusting.  I lost my appetite for hours.

However, I cleaned out the ear and put the studs back in.  Today the ears seem okay.  I don't know.  We'll see.  

 

You can take the boy out of China, but you can't take the China out of the the boy.  Hahaha.  How is this comfortable?

 

A little bragging.  YiLin was the Focus on Character Student of the month for "Determination."  Go YiLin!

He is still gaining ground.  Still a mystery, but still progressing bit by bit.  Since Christmas break he has really been talking.  He is tough to understand but his vocabulary has really grown amazingly.  He is also showing signs of being able to retain information better.  I started teaching him a few sight words and I have really been impressed that after less than a week, he  has a solid hold on at least 5 words.  

We are still fighting Loudoun County Public Schools.  We are heading into "Mediation" on March 11th over his IEP (or lack thereof since I rejected their proposal on support services).  

And finally, just a shot of our favorite door de art.  We are between holidays so there is not much of a theme going on but it's nice mix of this and that.

Chance's Three Kings (leftover from Christmas).

 

YiLin's hearts (from V-Day).

 

Two more days until Chance turns six.  I asked him to stay 5 for me but he refused.  Sigh....

 

Happy New Year!

新年快乐！

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới

 

 

Photos to come but here's my favorite story from the past few weeks:

The boys and I were driving home from gymnastics class.  It had been the first night in a new session and they both had new coaches.  I was asking them about their class and the conversation went like this:

Me:  How was your class YiLin?

YiLin:  Pantsie Pants.

Me:  What was that?

YiLin:  Pantsie Pants.

Me:  What did you say?

YiLin:  Pantsie Pants!

Me:  I still didn't get it.

Chance (ever protective of his brother):  HE SAID, PANTSIE PANTS!

(Pause....   Chance suddenly realizes what he said and starts laughing hysterically.) 

Chance:  Pantsie Pants?!  What does that mean?

YiLin:  My classie.  

Me:  OH.....   Panda Bears!

(Panda Bears is the name of the class he is in.  We laugh the rest of the way home)

 

And then what really kills me....  We get home, still laughing, and I start to tell Shaeleigh the story....

 

Me:  And so I'm asking YiLin about his class and he says, "Pantsie Pants"

Shaeleigh:  Panda Bears?

 

Sigh...................

Why so happy you ask?

Well, somehow, the night of the kids' Christmas pageant I was trying to adjust the camera setting and I inadvertently deleted the entire SD card on the camera.  How do you DO that without noticing?  I have no idea.  I had initially pinned it on one of the kids until I realized that I had just taken photos of them right before we went into the school.  Those photos had also been wiped out and no-one touched the camera since then, except me.  

At first I wasn't overly bothered.  I had already dumped most of the photos on the camera a few days ago (just hadn't deleted them from the camera yet).  But then I remembered that I did lose all the photos I had taken of Shaeleigh's dress rehearsal of the Nutcracker.  I hadn't taken any photos of the actual performance because I had been able to shoot at will during the rehearsal.  I was so bummed.  Luckily my parents had gotten a few nice shots but somehow I could not get the event out of my head.

And so tonight (not sure why it took so long) I thought, well, let's Google it.  And sure enough - there's software for bozos like me.  It literally took no more than an hour - including a trip out to Target to get an external card reader ($12) - to download the software and recover the photos.  Woo Hoo!!!  

Was losing a few photos the end of the world?  No. But I have to say, knowing that you an fix little problems with a little Googling, is always satisfactory!

And so....

 

This one makes me smile.  The woman in the blue was the director.  She stopped to give one of the bigger girls some guidance and Shaeleigh was just nosing around to see what was going on.  

 

Land of the Sweets

 

Shaeleigh told me that she wants to be one of the girls who holds up the garlands when she gets bigger.

 

 

 

We were so proud of her.  Shaeleigh is a true introvert - nothing wrong with that - and it's been hard for her to find something she enjoys and feels comfortable with.  She's tried several things and while she's enjoyed them in the moment, she never wanted to re-sign up.  When she said she wanted to try ballet again (which she tried when she was 3/4) I was surprised.  I asked whether she wanted to be in the Nutcracker without the expectation of her saying, "yes."  She's been so awesome.  She has really enjoyed her class and rehearsals the past few months.  She was completely confident during the show and really enjoyed the whole event.  

Shaels is turning nine in two days!  She is a joy and a blessing.  Happy Happy Us.

HO HO HO!

Merry Christmas!!!

Look how old the kids look this year compared to the little photo of them from last year (on the left of the blog).  

 

Chance had been wearing his Christmas suit for the three weeks before Christmas whenever he could get away with it ("no Chance, you can't wear your suit to the playground....").  However, a few days before Christmas Eve, his suit likely in the wash, he pulled the suit jacket above out of the closet and started wearing it everywhere.  It was a very nice hand-me-down from his much adored cousins.  It was at least 2 sizes too big but it had gold buttons on the sleeves and the outfit he had previously been wearing out was not going to compete with that and so he proudly went to Church in an oversized suit jacket.

 

YiLin is not quite the fan of dressing up that his two siblings are but he does clean up nicely when the occasion calls for it.

 

Shaeleigh always enjoys shopping for a Christmas dress although she wanted to wear her school socks (navy blue cable knit knee highs) with her dress this year because she is not a fan of tights.  Although I am 100% with her on the tights, I did manage to convince her that tights were the better fashion choice.  As for me...   I wore pants

 

After overhearing a conversation between Shaeleigh and a friend on a playdate in November (her friend was telling her all about this elf that comes to visit in December hahaha) we decided to join the masses and ask Santa if he would send us an elf.  Shaeleigh named him Fred (with no disagreement from her brothers) and dutifully hunted for him each morning.

 

A good summary of the past few days.  Grandma and Grandpa gave the boys costumes for Christmas which Chance cannot get enough of.  YiLin loves to do anything Chance does although no one can keep up with the clothing/costume changes that Chance goes through each day.  He drives us all crazy by leaving his clothes tossed about the house.

Shaeleigh wanted an American Girl doll (Caroline) for Christmas.  I must admit, I thought we had dodged that expensive bullet....   I will say, she has been playing with her and has been tucking her into her little made-out-of-a-box bed for the past few nights and has covered her with stuffed animals and moshlings (so that Caroline's bed looks a lot like hers- cluttered).  She's been reading the books too which is nice because there are tons of them and I would love for her to find a new series of books to read.  She loves to read and goes through books so quickly but doesn't always like to try new authors.  

 

 

Hm...   because even in their suits, superheroes are superheroes.

 

Today, in order to get the energy out of the house, we went into DC to the American History museum.  The kids were really good and we all had a good time.  I need to take them more often as there is so much to see but they don't have the stamina for multiple museums.  YiLin, amazingly was really the most engaged.  He LOVED the dinosaurs bones, the insects, the mummies.  He loved to look at each of the displays very carefully.  He even really loved watching the live scientist who was scrapping stone from a fossil behind a glass display area.  

 

Shaeleigh (scary, scary, scary) loved the gems.  The Hope Diamond - a big hit.  "Take my picture in front of this" she says.  Hahaha.  Oh boy.

 

On the way to DC, Chance delivered what I believe is his first real joke.  We were riding the Metro and Shaeleigh asks, "What are we having for lunch?"  Chance didn't miss a beat a says, "Subway.  GET IT?!  SUBWAY?!"  HAHAHA - I have to admit.  That was funny.  

And as long as we're talking Chance - here are the latest Chancism:

 

While riding in the car one day:  

"I'm not going to go to college.  I'm just going to get an iPad."

 

Out of the blue, while just sitting and watching tv:  

Chance:  I want to get one of those backpack things that you put on your tummy and put a baby in.

Me:  Oh yeah?  You gonna have a baby someday?

Chance:  Yeah you know, I'll just go to China or something.

 

The night of the Christmas pageant:

"I sing two songs.  Happy Birthday Jesus and Quiet Night."

 

 What can I say?  This was in the folder marked "for Xanga."  I guess I got a bit behind.  The kids loved Halloween.  I have to say, the schools don't make it easy on  parents though with all the political correctness causing them to decide that Halloween is not a proper holiday.

 

 YiLin's school decided to celebrate "Scarecrow Day" which meant I needed a scarecrow costume.

 

Shaeleigh and Chance, of course, needed costumes for All Saints Day and so we needed St. Agnes and St. Michael in addition to the actual Halloween costumes.  

 

And this?  These were the costumes the kids invented during the two days the had off for Hurricane Sandy.  Shaeleigh schnookered the boys into playing "Old English Horse Riders" and the rustled up what they could find that looked remotely like the photos in a book she had.  Those boys are too good to her.

 

This is NOT a costume (although I kept thinking he was dressed like an ice cream man).  Kenn found an old bow tie and gave it to Chance.  Chance LOVES it and has been wearing it whenever he is not wearing his Christmas suit.

 

This is also NOT a costume.  This is from the tv appearance the kids and Kenn made on Thanksgiving Day - marketing Kenn's petit fours.  The kids had a blast and both Shaeleigh and Chance's teachers played the clip in their classrooms making them quite famous for the week.

 

And now I believe I am signing off.  I have a few more photos uploaded to the picture gallery but I am getting further and further away from Christmas.  Although wait - here's two more Christmassie ones:  Shaeleigh's Nutcracker debut.  She was awesome!  Surprisingly - she did NOT like wearing make-up.  Her final word on the subject, "I'm never going to wear make-up.  I only need Carmex."  Amen Shaels!

 

 

 

 Oh - and because we are new to ballet I have to say, I am still laughing over this costume note to the parents (and yes, it was written in all caps).  ABSOLUTELY NO UNDERWEAR SHOULD BE WORN AS IT IS UNPROFESSIONAL."  I will never look at ballet dancers quite the same.

 

For those of you who are local to us:  Thanksgiving morning at around 9:40, Fox News is going to have a short segment on Kenn and Little Corners Petit Fours.  The plan is for them to interview Kenn while the kids are decorating Petit Fours.  Should make for good conversation over the bird later.

 

Holy Gravy Batman, I haven't posted the Halloween pictures yet!

Well, it's not going to happen tonight.  

Maybe tomorrow....

 

One of yet another great series entitled, "Can you three get together for a nice picture?"  This is a clear case of doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.  Well, not entirely.  I think I set my expectations about right.  Oh sure, it would be a nice miracle to one day have a photo of all three of them with their arms around each other smiling but I know the subject matter above too well to really expect that to happen.

 

Okay - anyone out there know their beans?  What the heck is this?  We have a whole bunch growing in the backyard.  They started out as little beans (like pinto beans) that had Chinese characters on them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall is arriving and the weather this week has been fantastic.  I didn't have too much on the camera though except some interesting nature picture.

Speaking of nature...

As we were driving to school one day this week, Shaeleigh asked, "Does hair die?"  I told her that hair was actually already dead and blah blah blah as much as I could pull out of my brian about hair and dead skin cells, to which she replies in disgust, "Gross.  I'm never going to ask THAT question again."

 

 

 

How cool is that photo? (and yes, that's the sound of me patting myself on my back).

Biology continued on the way to school later in the week....

I hear little whistling sounds from the backseat along with some giggling.

Me:  Chance, do you need a tissue?

Chance:  No. 

[nose whistling continues]

Me:  Chance, are you sure you don't need a tissue?

Chance:  No.  I want to do THIS in my CLASSROOM!

 

 

 

Chance is a joy in the classroom.  The note we got from his teacher two weeks into the school year said so.  Oh sure, there were some other observations but, he is a joy.  He may have a future as a teacher.  The other night after the kids were all in bed, Chance shouts to me, "Hey Mom, I'm teaching YiLin to talk." Then he says, very carefully so that YiLin can repeat, "I......   AM.....    STINKY!"

Nice.

 

Chance singing in the kitchen the other morning while getting dressed:

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBoooob SquarePaaaaaaants I'm bleeding.

 

I look over and he having nose bleed all over the place.  Good of him to add that little tidbit of information into his morning ditty as he's putting on his tie.

 

And finally, a quote from Kenn.  I was looking through a catalog and happened upon something I found amusing.

 

Me:  Someone needs to get this for a Christmas gift.

Kenn:  Let's hope it's not me.

 

(Oh, you'll be getting it Mister!)

 

And our final bit of nature for the evening.....   Three monkeys in the backyard:

 

 

Loud, loud, loud!