Just Some Random Pics

Keeping busy here. We are now in the last stretch of school with about a month left. My official last day is 6/20, a Monday. YUCK! I think Colby is done a couple days earlier. No real news here, just enjoying some better weather, although it is still very cool for this time of year. I'm waiting for those beautiful 80 degree sunshine filled days.

Colby just had his 4 year old checkup and everything went great! He is getting so big. I can't believe it. In just a couple years he has become such a big boy. He now weighs in at 38 pounds and is just under 42 inches tall. 3 and a half-feet tall. That means he has gained about 15 pounds and grown 10 inches in just over 2 years. Yikes! We definitely need to stop feeding this kid. I can only imagine our food bill when he's a teenager.

But, thought you might like some random pics. These are from around Easter. Colby had lots of fun with Auntie Trish during her visit.

Growing Up

Yikes! My baby is now 4. I can't believe it. I'm not sure where the time has gone.

Ok. I did mention news, but sorry nothing truly amazing. Colby has begun T-ball. We have a great Police Athletic League (PAL) program here. Colby took free swim lessons with them last summer and is now in the T-ball league. He had been going to swim lessons on Saturday mornings at the YMCA but we are taking a break to try T-ball. I am really hoping that it might help improve his coordination and have him learn some patience. He is one of the youngest on his team. The kids are ages 4-6 I believe. It really is adorable watching them run and try to hit and throw a ball. We have had 2 practices and I think games start in a couple weeks. It does make for a long Tuesday and a VERY tired and cranky little man but I think/hope he will have fun and make some new friends. Only trouble I have with it, the coach does smoke and he does so in front of the kids. UGH! So, here's a few pics of my future Mike Piazza???

Happy Birthday Colby!

Happy 4th Birthday Colby! I love you all the way to the "back moon!"

Love, Mommy

Happy Easter...and Some News

Ok. A little late but we want to wish everyone a very Happy Easter. We hope you all had a good one. Ours was busy with lots of family and fun. We celebrated with Mike's family on Saturday and mine on Sunday. We also celebrated Colby's birthday with both families. We had a nice ice cream cake with Mike's family and Colby wanted a fire truck cake with my family. So in the midst of making pizza gain, coloring Easter eggs and visiting the Easter Bunny with Auntie Trisha, Mommy made the fire truck cake. My first venture in decorating cake. It came out ok if you ask me, but if you ask Colby it was "Cooly Mommy, look at the ladder. But where's the fire hydrant and the fire man?" Ugh! But I'm glad he liked it. Auntie Trisha was in from Ohio so along with spoiling Colby for his birthday, we took him to his first movie at the theater. We saw Rio and it was great. So, busy here....and yes I have some news but that can wait. For now...enjoy a few Easter/birthday pics.

Colbyisms.....

Ok. No pics. Right nowI am at work/school waiting for Open House/Conference night. Not sure what I will be doing as the Reading Support teacher, I wasn't hired until after the first one at the beginning of the year. But, we will find out. I did get to Colby's school for his conference and was very happy. He's doing great in all areas. Only slight trouble, recognizing his shapes. But I think that is more confusion because they just introduced a new one. Otherwise, ready for Kindergarten....oh yeah, PreK first. So, no pics but I thought you might like to hear some of Colby's newest sayings: 1) "No, Mommy. It's not the right one." (On hearing 2 lines of the song from CARS but not sung by Rascal Flatts, sung by someone else. 2) "You read the book to me Mommy." "No Colby, you read it to me." "No Mommy. You can. I don't know the words." -He has noticed there are words in books and seems to be getting frustrated that he can't read them, only Mommy and Daddy can. 3) "But Mommy, I was just having a conversation with my father." -On being asked why he talked throughout church service. 4) "Daddy, that's not nice. You stop teasing me right now." 5) "But I'm starving!" -His reason behind why he NEEDS to have pudding, even though he didn't finish his dinner. 6) "Mommy....I like you." -On tucking him into bed. That's after our kisses and our usual. "I love you Colby. I love you to...." "The back moon Mommy." My Mom always tucked me into bed and we would say I love you to the moon and back. Right away I read the book Guess How Much I Love You to Colby and it says the same thing but Colby turned it around to him saying "The back moon." And many more. Well, almost time for parents. Ugh! I hate conference night.

So Long March...Where is Spring?

Ok. Sorry I haven't updated much lately. It has been a busy March. I can't say it's been a fun busy, just busy. March seems like such a long month. I never thought it would end.

I have been hard at work getting my 3-5th graders through the state mastery tests. These are HUGE! I wish so much emphasis wouldn't be placed on these standardized tests but there is. Schools here are actually put on lists for not making the benchmarks or not making enough progress every year. Unfortunately, the city schools never do that great. But we survived.

Colby has been hard at work at preschool and daycare. He is loving school and learning so much. We often have conversations about who's name starts with what letter. One day he chimed in with, "I don't like C in my name Mommy. I want the other letter that sounds the same. Just like Keith." Too smart for me. He knows all but a few letters. His teacher taught all the kids the letter that starts their name and Colby seems to have learned them all. Too bad he doesn't have friends that start with F, H, N, Q, U, or V. He does know Y because it is in his name. He is also starting to write his name and I can tell what it is although the C is a little upside-down and his "b" looks more like a tire-swing. But I am impressed. He also loves to read. He is enjoying his TAG reader and is constantly reading books. Today he picked up the student copy of the social studies book I had in the car and was "reading" it on the way home. However, he has told me he likes for Mommy or Daddy to read to him because he can't "say" the words like we can. He already knows there are words on the page and he wants to read them. He gets a little frustrated at times because he can't. But we do have him spell words a lot.

Colby is also still loving music. He loves to sing as we drive home from school. I have been serenaded by anything from Itsy Bitsy Spider to Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland and even the Jeopardy theme sing. Yes, that's true! The other day we were listening to the radio when one of his favorite songs came on, "All Night Long". He knows it as sung by Rascall Flatts on the Cars soundtrack. Well that day before we heard two lines of it Colby chimed in with, "But that's not right. It's not the same." Huh? I had to listen more closely. Oh, someone else was singing it. But boy did it sound very similar. And today....Today I was serenaded all night with "Baby, baby, baby. Oh!" Yikes! Where did he hear that? I NEVER would listen to that silly boy Justin Beiber. Thanks a bunch Miss Jenn!

Well, I'm sure you'd like a few photos. So here's a couple. I don't ahve many from Feb and March. We didn't really get anywhere and my camera battery died and the new one just came in. But enojy these few. The last one...a rare moment. Colby has been exhausted lately. That afternoon he jsut crawled on the sofa while I was working on the computer, tucked himself in, and fell asleep. Not sure when the last nap was before that. He hasn't really napped since he turned 2.

Now so long March. Here comes....more Snow? What? Is this an April Fool's joke. We are under a winter storm watch for tomorrow. Ridiculous. I want warm weather.

A Bit of a Bump

I'm not sure where to start today. I feel like I have hit a bump, or perhaps a wall. Work is going ok, although tomorrow we start the CT Mastery tests (grade 3 and up) and that is a huge deal. Lots of stress to "pass" as a school. Last year, the school's scores were very poor and I am feeling the burden to boost them up. We've just finished about 3 weeks of test prep. The kids did well but I can only hope we haven't burned them out. We'll see when we get the results around June or so.

On the home front, we are definitely feeling the results of a long, cold, snowy winter. Spring can't come any sooner. Colby's school schedule was so messed up with snow days of and late starts which result in no preschool but going to daycare all day. It has not been good. We've been back on track about 2 weeks or so and he is exhausted. I think he is also fighting a cold/cough. Not sure what. I battled with a high fever and stomach bug myself for a couple days. We NEED to get outside and run and have fun. Bring on the sunshine! Too bad it rained all day today.

Colby has also entered into what I can only hope is another phase. Please let it be a short one. He has become a little controlling and demanding. His good manners have all but disappeared. Eating has become a chore. Going to a store is worse. And he has gained a little smart mouth. He has even begun to ignore me when I ask him a question. I usually pick him up after school and on the ride home we would chat about his day. Not anymore! He actually said the other day, "I'm not talking to you. Turn up the music." I was crushed. He won't cuddle with me as much and he is just overall a bear. He told Mike today during his bath, "Go away. You two aren't listening to me."

I'm at a loss. He says nothing is bothering him. He says he's happy. But I'm not. Mike's not. Time outs don't work. Nothing seems to matter. Any thoughts? I can only hope that those "terrible twos" that didn't show up until he was 3 will be gone next month when he turns 4.