Ssssuch a good time!

Today was Kennie's birthday party.  Kennie's actual birithday is April 24th, but that was the worst day of my antibiotics from my bone infection, so I spent the majority of the day laying on the floor in the bathroom.  I didn't have energy to do much.  I wasn't able to get his invites out in time for a party around his birthday, so we fit it in today.  He choose a while back to do a reptile party and I was stumped when I tried to figure out what to do.  We finally decided to do Reptile Jeopardy since most of the kids were going to be older.  Take a look at how it went?

The food table.  We enjoyed Swamp Juice (limeade, sprite & lime sorbet), Frogs in Dirt (like dirt in worms only frogs), Snake Sandwich (french bread sandwich), Snake Eyes (green grapes), Red Gecko Eggs (strawberries), Red Iguana Tail (watermelon), Red Racer Scales (Nacho Cheese Doritos), Orange Belly Newt Fingers (Cheetos), and awesome cupcakes.

Closer picture of my spectacular cupcakes.

Kids (and Aaron) enjoying the food.

Jeopardy!  (This took so much of my time.  Seriously stressed myself out.  If you would like to do reptile jeopardy, let me know and I'll send you my file.  It'll cut out a bunch of work for you!)

I love his face in this picture.  He was planning on using his money from Grandma & Grandpa Burnside to buy him a tennis racket so he could play with Justin!  Love it!!

Blowing out his candles.  He took his wishing seriously!!

Pinata.  He LOVED beating his from up!!  (Do you know how hard it is to find a reptile pinata.  Just saying!  Thankfully I found this frog!!)

All in all, it was a very successful party!!  Happy Birthday my Tween Boy!!

Pinewood Derby 2013

The Pinewood Derby was held March 5th.  The boys were pretty proud of their cars but they didn't perform as well as they would have hoped.  Maybe we will do better next year.

Kennie & the violin!

One of the programs at the boys school is the music program.  During the coarse of the year, the 5th grade classes get a chance to play the flute, violin and the drums.  Here is Kennie's violin performance.  So far he has done the flute and the violin.  His favorite one was the flute.  We're hoping he can get into the music program at the middle school where he starts in fall.  YIKES!!  I am going to have a middle schooler.  I'm not old enough for that yet!

Could the kid get any smarter?

Any more words needed?  Love this boy!!  He looks so much older with his new glasses.  He's done everything Aaron has done and at the same age.  Only he skipped a grade earlier... :)  Let's just hope he marries someone as AWESOME as me!  ;)  What a handsome boy!

Let the mass posts begin!

I have a few minutes, so I thought I would start.  Enjoy your update.

Up first, Kennie's Birthday!  Kennie turned 7.  Hard to believe that I am old enough to have a 7 year old, I know.  I was a youngin when he was born.  Ha!  Anyway, we had a family/friend celebration and then a separate party for his friends.  This is the family party.  We had a few friends over.  The Hurst's and the Smith's.  Oh, the missionaries were here too!  Enjoy!  He's excited that there is only 1 more year until he is baptized.

More Kennie Info

This is more for my record than anything else, so I am removing the comment option.

I just met with Mr. Grabowski (Mr. G) who is hte head of the Gifted Programs for the Anchorage School district. Here is how he scored on his tests.

• He is reading on a 4th grade 3rd month level. That means not only reading, but comprehension.
• He is working on a 5th grade 1st month math level.
  
• He is in the 97th percentile of all 2nd graders in math and reading.
  
• He scored a 97% on his quantitative test. This is the magic test to determine if they are going to be in the Gifted Program. In order to qualify for the program, you need to get at least a 93%. GO KENNIE!!!
• To determine his rank of IQ scores, they took his IQ number and compared it to the rest of the IQ scores across the United States. Kennie is in the 99.5% for 2nd graders. SERIOUSLY??

I wanted to cry through the entire meeting. He is doing such a great job. Mr. G also mentioned that he is impressed with how advanced Kennie is socially. Most kids that are as smart as he is usually don't have good social skills. He was even more impressed when I informed him that Kennie is only 6 and supposed to be in 1st grade. Thanks to an AWESOME Kindergarten teacher who recognized his abilities and suggested him to be tested and advanced to 1st grade.

The Anchorage School District doesn't skip kids. Justin is far beyond his grade and the kids in his class. Thanks to an AWESOME teacher, he is given extra work and she sends reading projects home with him. I am excited for Kennie to start this program. I know he will do well and will continue to excel!

Kudos to Kennie

I got a call this afternoon from a teacher with the school district for the kids. He called my cell phone - so I was a little thrown. Anyway, he told me he just got Kennie's specialized test scores back. This is what I was told:

• Kennie's test scores are the highest he has seen from a 2nd and 3rd grader.
  
• After I go in and sign paperwork tomorrow - he will start the program next week.
• He is the first 2nd grader to start this program!

So excited for Kennie! The funniest part of this WHOLE thing is that Kennie is only the age of a 1st grader. This is SO crazy. Anyway, we are so excited for him. Knock 'em dead boy!!

My buttons are a poppin'

No, it's not what you think. Quite the opposite on that actually. I am so close to meeting my first huge milestone. 28 pounds lost. Just under 2 to go. I am so excited!!

Today, I attended another Rising Star Assembly at the school. This time Kennie was honored for his academic excellence and his friendly personality. Here are some pictures of that!

Cake with mom afterward -

Getting his certificate from Mrs. Mullings

He was so intent on reading it without anyone knowing, he just held it close and refused to turn it around.

Back in his seat posing for mom!

You might remember Justin being the rising star last month. If not, go here

After we got home, I was looking in the boys folders and found that Kennie has been chosen for the ignite program. This is the first time they have chosen a 2nd grader to participate in the program. It is designed for 3rd grade and above. I called and spoke with the teacher over the Ignite program and she was shocked to find out Kennie is only 6. After much discussion, she still thinks it's best if we start Kennie in the program. He is not being challanged enough in his regular class. Next year, they are trying to put together a 3/4 split and if they do, Kennie will be in this class. She mentioned that from here on out, she suggests Kennie be in a split. He is just to smart for his own good.

And, to top it off, she said he is VERY socially aware of what is going on around him. Most of the time when she sees kids this smart, they are socially "lacking," but not Kennie. She is amazed. Of course, I could have told them that at the beginning of the year, which I did. Everyone blew me off.

Off my soap box - Anyway, we are so excited for you Kennie! We love you and are so pleased with all you are accomplishing!

Hugs!
Mom & Dad

P.S. Thanks Stacie for watching Nate & listening for Maggie so I could go by my lone!! :)

Small Update

Kennie – He is doing well in school but is daily upset by the "fun" homework Justin has and his homework is so boring. He complains daily about being the oldest, but usually just accepts that he can't change it. He likes to pretend he is the boss.

Justin – Thoroughly enjoys school. He is excited about his homework and doing very well with his handwriting skills. He is enjoying reading and is very close to reading chapter books. His favorite part of school is being able to check out a library book and read it home for us to read together. He has brought home books about Snakes, Whales and this week brought home one about an elephant and his 11^th birthday party. He started his allergy shots today and isn't very thrilled about it.

Nate – Well, it's Nate. What more can I say about Nate? He is as destructive as ever and doesn't seem to want to take a break from that. He does his best to keep up with the other boys. He even likes to "read" during their reading time after school. He will occasionally tell me he needs to go potty, but I haven't pushed it at all. I am not ready for that fight. Once he is potty trained, I am thinking about doing a home-school preschool group with a couple other gals in the ward. There would be 3-4 kids so I would only have to teach about one week a month. Totally do-able.

Maggie – Oh boy! She sure is cute!! But, she is in to as many things as Nate is. Always wanting to do what he does. She is talking like crazy. Her favorite words right now are: Costco (love this one), airplane, Mama, Daee, Nennie (Kennie), up, down, stuck and all done. She has learned the signs for help, please, more, all done and thank you. Having a girl is so foreign to me! I tell ya, it's crazy!

Aaron – he is alive! He just finished a week of nights and is trying to recover. Work is very demanding on his time and what he has left is spent on his demanding crazy wife! (Did I just say that out loud? This is Sassy – byw!)

Sassy – Well, I am alive. I have lost 16.5 pounds and have 13.5 left to go. I am so psyched. It has been a tough road, and I have earned every pound, but it feels so good. Once it is all over, I will bask in my glory and MAYBE have a Mountain Dew. That's a big Maybe!!

We are looking forward to the visit of Aaron's parents next week. We are trying to figure out some fun things to do in Alaska in October. We've heard that March and October are the worst months to visit Alaska. Hmmm….what to do? Any suggestions? Oh, and I am going to give myself props for the excellent photograph at the top of this post. Do you know how difficult it is to get all 4 kids to smile at the same time? I DID IT!!! I believe this maybe the first time EVER!! Anyway, off to figure out dinner! Ciao from Alaska!

Kennie's Homework

Kennie A. Lewis

After school I do my homework.
I read and do my spelling
packet. Then I play outside
with my friends. It is super fun.
Next I watch tv. It is my
favorite thing to do in the
whole wide world. When I start
watching tv I stare at it
for a long, long time. After
watching tv we eat dinner. I love
eating. Then we play for a while.
We play for twenty
minits. Next it is time for
bed. Yay! First I get my
pajamas on. Then I brush my
teeth. Next I say family
prayr. last I get in bed and
go to sleep. What do you
do after school?

two words...one sound

Kennie brought home one of his in class worksheets today. I laughed so hard I cried. It's called Pairs of Pears. It's the same word, spelled different with different meanings. So, you had to connect the two that were the same word. On the bottom, you were supposed to use of of the pairs and write 2 sentences. Each using one of the words. Kennie picked 2 new words. Here are his sentences! So funny!

1. I whine when I get hurt.
2. Laben drank wine.

I am sure his teacher was like, huh? Who's Laben?!? So funny!

Kennie's big day (again)

Kennie just got home from school today with some great news. He won the end of the year spelling bee. He wanted me to take a picture. Way to go Kennie!

We needed to get Kennie's 2 front teeth pulled (dang seizure medication!!) Here he is all grown up with his two front teeth gone. This year, we will enjoy singing the great teeth Christmas song.

Kennie's 6th Birthday!

Kennie's birthday was on a Friday this year and his school was doing a night at the Dayton Dragons (a minor league baseball team.) Kennie really wanted to go. So, I got 5 tickets and planned on leaving Maggie home. I decided the day before that I really didn't want to take Nate with me, so I left him with the babysitter and asked Kennie who he wanted to go with him. He chose Hannah. For those of you who don't remember Hannah, you can go here. It's quite the funny story.

The best part of the night was when Hannah put the move on (and I caught it in pictures.) Remember that old school move where you would yawn and then put your arm around your date? Well, Hannah didn't yawn, but she should have. She lifted her elbow up onto her knee and sat there for a minute. Then stretched her arm out and put it on Kennie's shoulder. I thought I would die of laughter. I couldn't stop! No one would believe me if I didn't get it in pictures. Enjoy! What a good story!

He enjoyed his birthday this year. He got a Wii game, a Ben 10 watch (I don't like these older kid cartoons!!), a Ben 10 shirt, a Ben 10 action figure, a ball Frisbee, $6 and a digital camera. We are doing a small party for him soon. He is excited about that. He sure enjoys his friends here in Ohio and I am sure we will miss it more than we can even imagine right now!!

Happy Birthday Kennie. I LOVE YOU!!

Another Amazing Moment

Kennie came home today and proudly announced that he won the spelling bee in his class today. He was very excited! (There were 2 kids in the class that correctly spelled every word they have done this year. Kennie and MacKenzie. MacKenzie is his special "girl" friend. He blushes every time he talks about her. He even gave her the T-Rex Valentines day card. She gave him one that said I followed my heart and it led me to you!)

Also, every Friday, they do a timed addition math sheet. The goal is to be able to do all 25 addition problems on their sheet in 1 minute. They started doing this 3 weeks ago. Last Friday, Kennie did 25 out of 25 (and all were correct) and had his pencil down before the minute was up. He found out that in a month, they will start doing subtraction time tests and his goal is to be able to do all 25 the first time they do their time test. Good luck Kennie!

Kennie, you are the best!

Smart Kid

Kennie brought home a "Diagnostic Report" yesterday. It was results of some testing the did a few weeks ago. I was pretty impressed by his results, so I thought I would post them. The test measures his reading ability. Kennie is reading at a 2.7 level. What does this mean? He is reading equivalent to a 2 grade 7th month. Is national percentile rank is 94%. What does this mean? He scored greater than 94% of students nationally in the same grade. To be on grad level, right now he should be reading at a 1.5 level to be reading on grade level.

They also gave them a test to test their early literacy skills. Here is how Kennie scored. I put the goal before the end of 1st grade in parenthesis.

• Phoneme Segmentation (click here to learn more) - Kennie scored a 47!! (goal is 35)
• Nonsense Word Fluency (click here to learn more) - Kennie scored 141!! (goal is 50)
• Oral Reading Fluency (click here to learn more) - Kennie scored 127!! (goal is 20)

You go Kennie. He is my rock star!! Keep up the good work!!

Cheater

I overheard a very funny conversation while getting ready for church today. Kennie and Justin were standing at the game closet (because we have too many games!) This is how the conversation went.

Kennie: "Justin, which game should we play?"
Justin: "How about Chutes and Ladders?"
Kennie: "Are you going to cheat?"
Justin: ponders for a moment and says, "Yes, I always cheat at Chutes and Ladders."
Kennie: "Well, then I don't want to play Chutes and Ladders!"
Justin: "Well, which game should we play?"
Kennie: "Justin, will you cheat at Cootie?"
Justin: "Umm, no, I never cheat at Cootie."

It was decided and they played Cootie. A funny side note, I sat and watched them play Cootie while feeding Maggie and Kennie cheated the entire game! I think my kids learned how to play games from Sharon! (Sorry babe!)

This and that (it's a long one)

It's been a while since I did a general update, so I am going to do it today. A lot has been happening, so bare with me.

Aaron is enjoying a laid back month this month. He is doing geriatrics at the VA. He doesn't like the VA and is excited to be leaving at the end of the month. However, the first 2 weeks of November are night float, which is never good for me. He works all night and sleeps all day. His only night of the week off is Monday nights. He is going to D.C. the 19th of November and found out he gets to present his case at the conference he is going to. YA!! Maybe that will help him get his fellowship.

Kennie is doing well in first grade. He struggled in the beginning with his writing, since he hadn't been introduced to it. We worked with him conference weekend and now he is doing better. We are working with him on creative writing and including more details in his stories. Once we explain it to him, he is off with it, so it just takes us introducing things to him. He is still the top reader in his class and continues to excel in Math. He is very pleased with himself to say the least.

Justin is currently down with a stomach bug. He has missed the last 3 days of school and will miss today because he doesn't feel good. You can tell when Justin is sick (he acts just like Aaron) and he is sick!! Hopefully we are on the upswing of it and he will be back to "normal" by the weekend! He is enjoying preschool and he has started teaching himself how to read. He is really smart and is doing exactly what Kennie did last year. He has also won 2 of 5 football polls and is very pleased with himself!!

Nate is getting cuter by the day. He is learning all kinds of new words and won't stop talking. While Grandma and Grandpa Lewis were here, we cut out his nap and is doing so much better with it gone. We actually sleep through the night most of the time. Now, we just have to work with him about not throwing objects. I have many a bruises from him.

Maggie (this is where this post will turn into a book. This is more for me to remember than anything, so please bare with me.) We have had a couple of rough months with Maggie. She hasn't been a happy girl since August 13th (the day of her 2month shots.) She cried a lot, went from sleeping a lot to hardly sleeping and just no fun to be around. I was really at the end of my rope and didn't know if I could handle much more, so I took her into the doctor for her excessive crying and a 4 month check-up. Well, she weighed 10 pounds 11 ounces (she was 10 lbs 6 oz at her 2 month check up.) This was quite concerning to the doctor. (Let me take a minute and thank Troy. He is in our ward and just happened to have appointment openings when I needed an appointment. It was so nice to know that the doctor knew my family and my kids more than a normal doctor.) 5 ounces in 2 months isn't good. At her 2 month check-up she was in the 50%. At 4 months, she was in the 2%. Yes, that's right, 2.

What we decided in her appointment is that we upped her Zantac from .5 ml's twice a day to 1 ml 3 times a day. I also cut just about everything that is worth eating out of my diet. Gluten (wheat, barely, and rye to just name a few), dairy, nuts, eggs, sugar, artificial sugar, caffeine (that means chocolate) and carbonation. So, you might be asking yourself what I ate. NOT A WHOLE LOT!!! I was at a loss. It isn't too difficult to do one of those. But to do wheat and dairy was the killer. So, that was last Thursday. I noticed a change by that afternoon. She took an hour and a half nap. By Friday night when Shelby came over to hang for a bit before girls night, she took one look at Maggie and said "welcome back Mags!"

We have our old Maggie back, almost. She isn't quite sleeping through the night again, but we are getting there. I took Maggie back to the doctor today for a weight check and to touch base with the doctor about how things were going (we also did a mini appointment in the halls at church on Sunday and he said that since her change was so immediate, I could introduce wheat back into my diet because it wouldn't change that fast if it was wheat.) Anyway, so today Mags weighed 11 lbs. She gained 5 oz in 1 week. PERFECT. I don't have to go back for another 2 weeks for a weight check.

Now, we had some fun things at our appointment today. Troy heard a slight murmur while listening to Maggie's heart. For those of you who don't know, I also have a slight murmur. My heart is turned almost 180 degrees (they call this dextrocardia). It hasn't caused me much grief other than to limit my sports activity (like they could stop me) but I do have to be careful and I get winded easy. So, if she still has the murmur in 2 weeks, she will have an EKG and maybe an Echo and an X-ray to see if her heart is turned as well.)

There is also a chance that her hip socket is out of place. We will know in the next day or two if it really is. We went and got an X-ray. If her hip is out of place, she will need to wear a brace for 2 months and then we will have it re-examined to make sure all is well.Other than that, Maggie is doing a lot better.

So, you may have noticed that I have left myself out. What more is there to say. With all of this going on, I haven't had much time to do anything. Stamp camp is tomorrow night and I haven't finished the layout. I have a swap due the 1st of November and I haven't even started it. My house is a mess, my laundry is almost caught up (thanks to a throwing up kid I had to wash everything so we could live in this house with the smell.), I haven't exercised in 3 weeks (but have still lost a total of 11 lbs). I go to bed exhausted at the end of the day and wake up exhausted at the beginning of the next day.

I better head to help out with the screaming children in the bathroom who need their teeth brushed, medicine administered, prayers and kisses. Peace!!!Just a quick picture of our new Mags. Enjoy!!

Funny Funny

We were riding in the car today and Kennie made the funniest comment. He asked Grandpa Lewis if he were allergic to anything. Grandpa said no. Then Kennie said this:

"I wish I were allergic to blueberries. I don't like them very much."

On another note, Kennie is doing very well in 1st grade. He is reading at the highest level of the whole class and is up towards the top with math too. He likes having a little bit of a challenge and he likes playing on the big kids playground.

It's happened again...

Knowing this has happened before, you would think we would have better prepared ourselves. We should have expected it. I tried to ignore the early signs, but it has really been obvious. Grandma Burnside thought it would have happened sooner, and now neither of our parents are surprised. So, are you ready for our announcement?

Kennie starts 1st grade tomorrow! During the 5th week of school they gave Kennie the end-of-year exam for kindergarten and he flew right through it. He is very excited. In saying this has happened before, the last 2 months of Aaron's kindergarten year he was moved to 1st grade, and then went right on to 2nd. So he basically skipped 1st grade. David (Aaron's dad) skipped a grade too. So, you can see we have some smart men in this family. I am trying to have faith in our decision to skip him. I was prepared for this to happen since clear last spring Kennie's preschool teacher said this would happen. I freaked out then, but have had the whole summer to digest it. At least I'm not pregnant!

P.S. This picture was taken on Wednesday. Notice how great Kennie's hair looked. This is the best hair day Kennie has ever had. I had to take a picture. He has hair like his father and it is VERY difficult to make it lay just right. Finally, a good hair day.

4 minus 2 times 2

Okay. What does that mean? 4 wheels minus 2 wheels times 2 boys. We took the training wheels off the boys bikes today. They did great. Justin picked it up like he's been doing it forever. It took Kennie a little longer, but Aaron only had to work with him for 20 minutes. Here is video.


Both Boys



Kennie riding his bike

Justin riding his bike