School starts!!!

Although I have many posts/pictures to catch up on...I can't let this event slide by. Friday was the first day of school for our boys. They are now in two different schools which is weird! Caleb had a fabulous first day of 2nd grade....he played lots of games, met some new friends and reconnected with his first grade buddies. He already went to his first birthday party on Saturday at his besties house. :)

Noah loved sixth grade....and reports that he did nothing. ;) tomorrow will be his first day traveling to different classrooms/buildings for his classes. He spent the evening practicing his combination lock for his PE locker. 

April 17

Noah's fifth grade class had their PYP Exhibition night with a gallery walk-through for family and friends.  Noah was in his element chatting it up with the adults strolling around the exhibit.

Here he is with his group members in front of their presentation board.

 Here he is educating our state representative about his project.

Here is a video they made as part of their exhibition project.  They also organized a beach clean-up we participated in as a family this past weekend.  Pics of that event are coming soon!

Fun Run

Last Wednesday was the Fun Run Fundraiser at the boys' school.  It was 8:30 a.m. and it was hot!  The kids had a ton of fun running around like crazy and even more fun enjoying all the snacks and Jamba Juice afterwards.

Caleb's class.....he's the far right, back row.

 Noah in the orange shorts with some of the other fourth graders.

 Thank heavens for the parent misters!

 Caleb attempts to lap EVERYONE....again!

 Snacks with their besties!

Busy Little Bees

Everyone here is busy, busy, busy.  

Mom is back in school....which means the blog gets neglected.  

Dad is busy at work with meetings and phone calls and all that boring grown up stuff.  

Noah is loving fourth grade, powering through HOURS of homework almost every night.  

He is still swimming for the Kamehameha swim club three days a week, during which he was recently moved up a level to a new coach!  Very exciting news!  Here they are working on their arm strength.

He is also playing soccer this fall for AYSO.  He is enjoying some time in the goal, but also getting to play other positions too which is nice.  He seems to be emerging as a pretty great defender.  He always puts himself in the right position.

Caleb LOVE LOVE LOVES kindergarten.  His writing has perfected in just the last three weeks and he is a book worm.  Give the child a reading log and make it like a competition with prizes and suddenly the kid sits and reads books for hours!  

He is also in a fall soccer league.  He is the giant on his team.  He scored 3 goals rather easily in his first game and had to sit the rest of the game.  Luckily, he is more concerned about the snack than actually playing. :)  And his jump roping skills are being perfected as well.

Jonah has been busy being Jonah.  If he isn't playing trains, he's searching the trash can, or cleaning out the bathroom cabinets, or exercising his reach by grabbing anything and everything he can off of the kitchen and bathroom counters.  He is also into reading books which quickly turns into ripping out the pages.  And he is busy working on climbing (which includes reaching the top bunk all on his own), blowing kisses, raising his hand (good practice for kindergarten), and lifting Tiki.

We try to contain him by putting ankle weights on him....haha! (That's a joke.)

Doesn't this look just scream mischief! 

Our newest family member (by newest, I mean, most recently moved into our house), Bushia is busy too!  She has finally adjusted to the time change, catching up on sleep.  And she is busy keeping up with her grandsons.  As if Jonah isn't enough to keep her busy, she has even succumbed to a few board games with the older boys as well.  She is also busy with her daily walks, trips to the library, and trying to get her show times and channels figured out here! :-)

And last but not least, Mr. Tiki.  He's just busy trying to get as much love and attention as he can.

School Days

And so starts the first FULL week of Kindergarten for Caleb.  School is in full swing here and we are settling into new morning and evening routines at home.  Here are a few pictures taken over the past couple of weeks at school....

Ahh, they are so dang cute!  Besties.

 Check out that new Batman backpack!

 Getting ready to enter his classroom for his first full day!

 He found his desk...and was settling in.

 Jonah, on the other hand, is enjoying his one on one time with mom... 

especially when it involves a playground

 with big twisty slides!

Life is good as the third child and your mom lets you crawl around barefoot, on your own, on the big kid playground equipment at 13 months!

Kindergarten Testing

As I mentioned previously, Caleb's actual first day is....well. Huh?  I guess, technically it is NEXT Thursday. But he has lots of activities and mini school days between now and then.  Today he was scheduled for testing.  Man oh man, I wish I was a pushy parent.  I want to know what he was tested on.  How he did.  What he answered.

How does he compare to the others?  I just want to know!

But instead, I remove myself from the group of hovering parents, taking Jonah to the playground and just think about how smart and fun and cool that  boy is.  And when he is done, I give him a BIG hug and in my silliest voice I ask, "Was that the hardest test EVER?!?"

To which Caleb responded, "YES! (Pause) Actually, it was easy.  I knowed all the answers."

So I say, "You are the smartest kid EVER!"

And then we headed straight to McDonald's for a hash-brown and some hot chocolate!

Noah's First Day of 4th Grade

Yes, on July 30.  School has officially started here in Hawaii.  And Noah has completed his first day of 4th grade!  Wow.  Fourth grade.  Things are getting serious.  I say that on the first day of school each year, yet Noah always seems to rise to the challenge.  I am so excited for him to get back into the swing of school.  He really thrives in the school environment.  Structure. Discipline. Mental challenges.  He loves it all.

Here he is heading into school this morning.  First with Caleb....who by the way will start kindergarten very soon.  Their schedule is a little different in the beginning.

 And then, on his own.

 As I look over these pictures tonight, I think Noah looks like a hot mess.  His bed head.  Shoe untied.  I can't explain it.  That is just him.  Laid back.  Carefree.  Easy going.  But very intense in academics.  I told Eric that I compare it to Mark Zuckerberg wearing hoodies to important business meetings.

 This is his teacher standing at the door.  Each student had to introduce themself and their parents, if present, before entering the classroom.  They were then asked to choose a card and follow its directions leading them to their seat and first task to learn about their classmates.  Noah's task was to find out where each student was from, Hawaii (which island), mainland (which state), or other country.

 Here you can see he has found the seat for his chosen card.  He explained it to me as "way in the back between two really nice girls."  Oh boy.  Fourth grade.

As easygoing and laid back as Noah is, he really does get himself worked up about the silliest things....not that the first day of school is silly.  Today was nice because it felt familiar.  A school he has attended the previous year....well, semester at least.

Kids were saying hi to him.  They were even shouting, "Hi Noah's mom!" to me as I waited outside.  I love that comfortable feeling, especially after only being here for 7 months.  It just makes me proud to know that Noah is so well adjusted even though he has experienced some major changes in his short life. 

Noah's First Political Campaign

This spring, Noah decided he wanted to run for Student Council Treasurer at school.  Having only attended the school for one semester, I'm not sure what brought this on.  All I know, is that we were all for him getting involved at school and trying something new!
He attended several meetings during recess in order to learn about the position and rules for the campaign.  He made several posters to hang around school.  Some of his slogans included, Noah knows money, and Vote 4 Noah, It makes cents!  He watched several student council treasurer speeches on YouTube, and then wrote his own speech.  Last Friday, he gave the speech in front of all the current third and fourth grade students and teachers, as well as several parents and school administrators.  Here, you can see how he did....

He did such an awesome job and I am so proud of him for taking this on.  Although, he lost the election to a fourth grader, I know he had a good experience and learned something new through the process.  He is already talking about other ways he wants to get involved with student council and other aspects of the school.
How am I so lucky to have such a talented, thoughtful, driven, and insightful kid?

Here he is with some of the other candidates, patiently waiting to give their speeches.

Noah the Science Kid

For school, Noah prepared a science demonstration.  His only requirement was that the demonstration or experiment included water.  He searched online and looked through books at the library and finally decided to do a demonstration depicting the surface tension of water.  He was afraid he would get nervous speaking to his 3rd grade class so he practiced several times at home.  After lots of practice, he was SO excited to present to his class!  I wish I could have been there to see it.  At least I have this video to enjoy....

Noah's New School

On his first day at Haha'ione Elementary School, I had one nervous little boy.

It appears to be a cloudy day, but this school is in a valley and there always seems to be clouds over the mountains.  Behind the direction of this picture is the water and it was clear and sunny in that direction.  Oh, and the black clouds are not from rain clouds.  It's vog...volcanic ash blowing up from the big island with the Kona winds.

We arrived to school a bit early, as we had no idea who his teacher was or even where the third grade classrooms were located.

While waiting in the office, I realized I forgot to bring a copy of his birth certificate with me...so I had to leave him there and run home quickly to grab it.  Add to the nerves and watch the water well up in his eyes.  

Dang. 

Bad Mom.

When I returned he was still waiting patiently, with his brother, and there were two other new students waiting in the office.  Finally a counselor walked us to his classroom and off he went.

He was just another kid in class at that point.  Not sure if it was me being the worried, overprotective mother of my child's feelings, or the fact that he is getting older, but there was no special tours of the school.  No overly welcoming action of him into his class.  

The teacher barely paused to point out his seat to him.

The aide did let me stay and watch for a bit but after two questions to Noah about where he was from and what he did over holiday break, I knew it was my cue to leave.  Noah couldn't answer the questions....he couldn't remember.  He just kept looking to me for answers.  Aka, time for Mom to leave. He is an amazingly strong and smart kid and can stand on his own two feet...as long as I'm not around.

Needless to say, he LOVES his new school.  He has been handing out our address and phone numbers to all his friends and collecting theirs as well.

As for my opinion of the school, I think I like it.  It is less warm and fuzzy than other schools he has attended. They are very down to business as for the learning.  He comes home with assignments from his math text book each night as well as work in at least one other subject.  This week his Social Studies test covers community development in the US, from Native Americans to today.  That is a LOT...but he is on it.  He can tell you all about the Spanish, English, and French settlements in the Americas including the American Revolution and Civil War.  I feel like I am learning this stuff all over again.  Oh, and he has a report on England's government due next week too.  Holy cats.  It is nice that he has enough homework each night to keep him busy.  

The school, the textbooks, and all sort of remind me of my grade school Epiphany.  It is like taking a step back in time when you enter the school, but so far so good.

It's a good thing he gets his fair share of warm and fuzzy at home.  No time for that at school.

One last comment about the campus, which is always so different than those in STL....there are about 10 different buildings on campus.  The third and forth grade building (as I imagine all the other grades) is open air.  The classrooms have doors to close but the hall are all essentially outside.  Birds flying around and all.  And no a/c anywhere.  Just a cool breeze coming down off the mountains.  Pretty cool, huh?

Third Grade

Noah started school this past week and his first two days went great!  He has several friends in his class and is looking forward to making many new ones.  I can't tell you how nice it is to have him returning to the same school.  The anxiety level on my part, for the start of the school year, was much lower.  Perhaps that also has to do with the fact that Noah is so easy going, mature, loves school, he has always adapted exceptionally well.
Wednesday we attended an ice cream social at the school to meet his teacher and check out his classroom.  (That is one BIG baby!!!)

Thursday, was the actual start of school.  We were hustling to get out the door on time, but we made it with time to spare!!!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Last night, I had Noah's parent teacher conference. And like any normal parent, I cried. Dang. Really? Anyone who knows me well is probably not surprised at all. But there I was, sitting in front of his classroom teacher and the speech teacher. She broke out the science notebook and was describing it to me explaining Noah's love for science. She was showing me the table of contents saying, "Look how beautiful he did!" And I lost it. Holy science nerd. Or proud Mom. I can't decide.
Needless to say, Noah is doing wonderful in second grade. He has been excelling at math and is already beginning to multiply. In science, he is getting so good at making observations and predicting outcomes and shows the greatest interest in learning about this subject. His spelling is good. I should probably practice with him mire on this, but as I mentioned previously, there are no spelling lists for the week. Its 300+ words for the year. You never know which ones will show on the test. (Excuses, excuses, right?) He has made a power point presentation, complete with slide transitions, animation, and backgrounds. He has published his own song from garage band into itunes and is hoping to incorporate that into his power point. Next up, excel spreadsheets. He could probably teach me a thing or two. His reading has exploded this school year. He has already read over 37,000 words for the school year in AR and is currently testing at a level 5+, whatever that means.
Hopefully Mom can keep up with him for the remainder of the school year! And hopefully next parent teacher conference won't be so emotional. Geez.

I'm Drowning in Second Grade....

HELP!

I should apologize now because this post is going to be super, scatter-brained! Tonight was parent curriculum night at Noah's school. Holy 2nd grade! His teacher is amazing! She is smart, sweet, fun, fit, challenging, and so much more. 2nd grade is the real deal. Go ahead, check out their website. This teahcer is ON IT!
397 spelling words, 12 of which are pulled from a hat each Friday for the test. What happened to sending the list of 12 home on Monday so we could memorize them for Friday?
Learning centers, yoga, SmartBoards, Wii remotes with laser pointers, government, dual projectors, science experiments, 100 problem, timed math quizzes, AR (I don't even know what that means), spellingcity, garage band, I AM WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE!
Working mothers and fathers are crazy amazing. How in the world are you supposed to prepare your kid for school each day and still spend let them be kids?
Hopefully soon we will settle in to a routine. A schedule that balances school work, TV, family time, reading, and video games. :) Not to mention swimming, chess, and soccer.
Fasten your seatbelts, its going to be one heck of a year....

Preschool!

And so it begins...finally both boys have started school for the year. Caleb's first day of preschool began today. He attending the same school as last year. They did some rearranging of the teachers and it ends up that he is in the same classroom. His cubby is even in the exact same spot. In addition, one of the co-teachers was his "extra hours" teacher last year. So he is set. Entering school this year will be an easy transition. At dinner tonight he informed us that school was, "great! We did everything, 'cept swimmin." But not to worry, that was the first thing we did when I got home from work!

Here is Caleb climbing out of the car at school....

and again, getting ready to go in.

So handsome...and so excited!!!

Second Grade!

It's FiNALLY here!!! School has started for Noah and it is, in his words, "SOOOO GOOD!" As expected he loved his first day of school. This is is third school in three years, 4th in four years, if we count pre-school.

I am always way more nervous than he for things like this. Working today was probably the best thing that happened for me. It was the first time since school started, for him, that I did not cry on the first day. And it was a chance for Eric to be Mr. Mom. I hope, and I think, he really appreciates moments like today. They don't seem like much at the time, but looking back at pictures from the first days of school are some truly special memories. Here is what he took from today....

While they may not have been the pictures I would have taken, I think they are amazing. I am so ready to settle into the school year, routines and all. I'm ready to pack lunches, do homework, plan schedules, buy overpriced crap, I mean, treasures from the book fair and fundraisers. Not to mention chess tournaments! He played an adult who was helping run the chess display at "Meet the Teacher" last Friday. She was rocking kids left and right...no mercy. Not to mention, she didn't speak English. Noah sat down for a quick game, and about 40 minutes later..check mate, Noah wins! So cool, we almost missed meeting his teacher. Priorities, right?! Needless to say, we are super excited about the second grade!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Today, Noah's first grade class had a Teddy Bear Picnic. All the boys and girls were able to bring in a teddy bear from home to enjoy some activities and a picnic!
In the classroom, the kids had all sorts of different activities to participate in. They spent time reading to their bears, sorting gummy bears, making sandwiches, playing bingo, and weighing and measuring their bears. Afterwards, we all went outside and enjoyed a picnic. The weather was amazing and the campus has plenty of room for spreading out on blankets and enjoying the outdoors.