New Schedule

Pace goes to school from 845-1130 M-TH, and 845-11 on Fridays.  Max goes to Preschool 9-11 M, W, F.  Pace's school requires parental involvement (40 service hours/year), and so I go to help out in his class every Friday during their learning center time.  I also contacted his teacher and asked if I could teach health/nutrition once or twice a month, and she loved the idea.  So before learning centers on the 1st and 3rd Fridays, I teach a little health/nutrition concept for 15-20 minutes.  It's really fun seeing Pace in his environment and he likes seeing me there, too.  I've gotten to know all his little kindergarten friends and a couple of the moms who are also there on Fridays.    

We have a snack after school, and sit at the table talking.  They are so excited to see each other after school, asking each other what they did at school, what letter they learned about, etc.  And then they play together for a couple hours.  I do my cleaning chore for that day, and then call them down to do their afternoon chores, and we do homework, workbook, Upstart, and or reading.  It's a good new rhythm.  

Pace drew a picture for his favorite school friend, Janeyi, a tornado with a National Geographic logo.  

Max still comes running when he hears me in the kitchen.  He especially loves helping me make bread.

Pace built a combine harvester

Since we instituted the chore chart and allowance, I bought the boys little wallets, and told them I am done buying them toys and things of that nature, except for birthdays and Christmas.  They have their own money, and they can bring their wallets when we go out and run errands and choose to spend it or save it.  (When we give them their allowance we first pay tithing, and mission fund, then the rest is theirs)  Their new most favorite game is playing "Store".

They run and get toys, lay them out behind a lego "store counter", and one is the store owner, and one is the customer.  "Hello, sir, how are you today.  What can I help you find?"  "Um, I'm an army guy.  I need an army truck.  How much cents is it?"  "It's 25 and a half."  "Uh, ok".  

Pace has all the coins and their worth down, but Max is still working on it.  Since he ran out of quarters, I told him he could pay me with two dimes and a nickel.  He spent some time trying to find the requisite coins...

Max's First Day of Preschool!

Max first started Upstart, and was so super excited!  He spent all last year watching Pace do it, and wanting to participate, and now it's his turn!  He was grinning ear to ear the whole day.  He's on a completely different level, naturally--he's starting a whole year later than when Pace started, but he's doing it with a huge grin.  I love that the program adapts to the child's level, and sticks with what the child needs to learn and focuses on the skills they need to improve on.  

Here he is, day 3, still grinning...and still nodding his head, grinning from ear to ear, when I ask him if "mat" and "bug" rhyme...that kid!

Max so rarely says he wants or loves something independent of what Pace wants or loves.  So when we're out running errands and he sees something and says, "Oh, mommy, I love that.  I just love it so much.", I usually cave and get it for him.  The other day, Max said he'd "always wanted the clothes that go over the shoulders like this," and he motioned his hands rubbing his shoulders.  "Um, overalls?"  I asked.  He grinned and started giggling (Max's way of letting you know you hit the nail on the head), "Yeah!  Over-walls!"  He was so excited to wear his "over-walls" on his first day of school.  (Pace has a school uniform and Max wants to make his red 

"over-walls" his school uniform.  I keep telling him he can wear whatever he wants, but he only wears those, so far...)

Max measured 39 1/4" on his first morning of Preschool!

Max was a little hesitant when I dropped him off, and wanted me to stay, but I snuck out when they started a Name project.  When I picked him up, he was all smiles!  

A few of Max's pearls of wisdom:

-On crossing the universe:  "And Mommy?  You actually get across the universe in a portal."

-On playing:  "But Mommy?  I want to play with an adult girl grown up."  "You mean you want to play with me?"  "Yeah!"  (giggling)

-On expression: "Mommy, I'm gunna totally show Pace this when we get home!"  (He's got the "totally" down pat.)

Pace's First Day of Kindergarten!!

We've been prepping Pace for Kindergarten for so long!  He's completed at least 7 workbooks in his life, if not 10!  He did a preschool in our last neighborhood that he loved!  And last year, when I thought he'd be starting kindergarten but discovered the state law (the child must be 5 before Sept. 1), and that Pace would be starting kindergarten the 2016-2017 school year, I was sort of at a loss!  That poor kid was so over workbooks, and ready for some sort of school setting and new activities, but we'd just moved and had one car and no budget for paying someone for preschool...and then we discovered Pace had been accepted from the waitlist to the online Pre-K program, Upstart!  So he embarked on a year of this Pre-K Literacy program, and at home we did reading, Project Day, Experiment Day, and Library Day.  All with the focus of, "Pace, you are getting ready for Kindergarten!"

A quick sidetone, we got Pace's Upstart scores from his final WACS {Waterford Assessments of Core Skills} test he took, and we are so proud of him and his scores!!  Academically, this kid could easily go into 1st grade!  We didn't go into the testing room with him, so I don't have a clue how they tested the kids, or the games involved in the program, but Pace did say he wore earphones and he played games with a sheriff.    We are so proud of how well and how hard he's worked with his reading, Upstart--especially sticking with something that was at times hard (or annoying)--all the projects and experiments he's had fun doing.  He is learning so much about life, and how much he loves in life, and that's so great to see and watch him blossom!  

Letter Recognition: K Beginning; Letter Sounds: 1st Beginning; Initial Sound: K Advanced; Blending: 1st Advanced; Sight Words: K Advanced; Real Words: K Advanced; Non Words: 1st Intermediate; Vocabulary: 1st Advanced; Reading Comprehension: 2nd Beginning.  

We also had three goals for Pace to accomplish before starting kindergarten.  We worked on them all spring and summer long trying to get this boy ready!  1. Ride his pedal bike comfortably, 2. Tie his shoes, and 3. Wipe his own bottom.  Haha.  He worked and we practiced, baby steps, and he checked them all off his list--tying his own shoes, perfectly, the week of school!

Ok, back to Pace's 1st day of Kindergarten!!  We measured him first, and he wrote his name on the measuring board (44 1/2"), and got his backpack ready.  Our bright-eyed boy is off to the big, wide world!

He was so excited to ride his bike to school.  We love living so close to school, Pace doesn't even have to cross the street, he just rides the sidewalk down and around the corner, and there it is!  This school had the option of AM/PM/All Day Kindergarten, and we went with AM, thinking it would be a fine transition for Pace.  

Pace found his name for his backpack hook, and went right in to open play before school began.  A cute neighbor girl two doors down is in the same class, and that helped both of them feel a little better adjusting to a new environment!  They played together all summer, but they've become best little kindergarten friends.  David had two vacation weeks--our camping trip, and Pace's first week of school, so he was there for the drop off and pick up on Pace's first day! 

After the first day of school?  All smiles!!  

A couple pearls of wisdom from Pace:

-The "What if" stage:  Pace and Max ask "What if" questions all day long!  "What if we were on a train and I got off and you didn't?"  "What if we were stuck in a tornado?"  "What if we were on an asteroid and we hit the earth?"  "What if..."  

-On trying new foods:  Pace only likes pizza lately.  And Max only likes hot dogs and cheeseburgers.  The other day Pace told me, "I just keep telling myself, "If you eat something you don't like, like a hot dog, I just keep telling myself "You will survive"..." 

-On disaster preparedness:  "If there's a tornado, clothes don't matter, school and church don't matter; you can buy everything again.  Just get out and get in the tornado shelter!"

Coombs Campout: Medicine Lodge Campgrounds

We met nearly everyone in the Coombs family for a camping trip at Medicine Lodge Campgrounds in WY.  It was great to see everyone we haven't seen in so long!  The first night and day were rainy and cold, but our tent held up great.  I hadn't packed any pants, and just sweatshirts and light raincoats, so we bundled up in everything at night!  socks, slippers, pjs, sweatshirts, raincoats with hoods, bundled up with extra blankets from everyone else in their comfy RVs.  We made it through the night!

The campgrounds were really cool--there were 10,000 year old petroglyphs and a little stream running through the grounds!  The next morning we all woke up pretty early to the sound of pitter patter of rain on our tent.  We bundled up and went for a walk, exploring the petroglyphs.  

Max wanted to play car wash on the bridge.

It cleared up a little later and David played a big game of horseshoes with Terry, Ray, and Scott, and then David and Max went on a big Scout ride with Papa and Ninnie.   

Pace and I stayed behind and played a great game of beanbag baseball!  We learned if you want to win, you gotta be on Terry's team.

Max was in his happy place right at Papa's side!

Throwing rocks in the stream with Papa was probably the best activity ever.

Ray pulled out the big kid candy ball and everyone had a blast getting candy and toys!

Before we headed back to Utah Zack took us on a Dinosaur tour!  We saw some fossilized tracks and found "stars"--fossilized plants.  Such a cool sidetrack!  

Layers of volcanic ash

The way home to Utah took a little longer than expected.  We stopped a few times to get the wiggles out.  We ended up staying the night in a hotel and finishing the drive the next day.