Captain(s) Planet!

Two recent happenings from our very earth-conscious kiddos. They're teaching me every day :)

*I was making muffins for the kiddos a couple of weekends ago and had cracked the eggs. I reached over and threw the eggshells in the trash, and immediately Landon said,

"Mommy! Eggshells DO NOT go in the twash! They go in the compost!"

(Totally busted...and how did he know that? :))

*The other night I was running Addie's bath water. I usually do not stop up the tub until after I have finished washing her hair because I don't want it to get too full, but need to use the clean water to rinse. She had sat on the potty as I turned the water on and this is how the conversation went:

(Addie) "Mommy, I have to go potty."

(Me) "Okay, sweetie, that's fine."

(Addie) "Mommy, I said that I am going potty."

(Me) "I see that, honey."

(Addie) "Then why are you letting the water run? Just to waste it?"

(Ouch. :))

I must give a shout-out to John Michael who is teaching them all these great things. Their very favorite chore is to take items to the recycling bins in the garage. John Michael (or I) will call out, "RECYCLERS!" and they come running. They know which bin to put them in without even being told. So cute! The get onto their mommy frequently for slipping up and throwing the wrong things away. I'm learning!

Our little schoolgirl

*So I actually started this post in January, but went back to copy and paste into a new post so that it wouldn't post-date and make me lose credit with the grandmommies for actually posting - hehe. ANYWAY...here goes:

I know, I know. It's been a while. I still need to do a Christmas post. But there was one very important happening that I have failed to blog about, and it's certainly not because it isn't important: My Addie Leigh is officially a full-blown READER! She has been reading lots of words for a while now, but she was super shy at home about reading to us. We caught her reading to herself a few times, but I guess she was waiting until she was more confident (hmm...perfectionist much? Wonder where she gets that... ;)).

So a couple of weeks before Christmas break, she came home with a new reading folder. She already had a "Guided Reading" folder with books she and her small group were reading, and we were supposed to have her read them to us and check whether she read them by herself, with a little help, or if they were too difficult. She was consistently reading them by herself, but again - they were fairly simple books. Then she came home with a new folder and a congratulations letter that she was going to be starting the Accelerated Reader program. Ooh, how proud was I?! You have no idea :) The AR program is a program that all kids at her school will do, but I was super proud that Addie (and three of her classmates) had gotten to begin the program before she was even halfway through her Kindergarten year! Basically, the kiddos read the books (in Kindergarten, she has to read them three times each) and then take a test on the computer. She has been doing GREAT so far! She is very proud of herself, too, and tells me how she's an "AR Kid." Cutie.

*Okay, now I'm in current (April 5, 2012) time. Addie's reading continues to improve. Her reading group books are now second grade level! She is starting to get a little competitive edge with her reading and wanting to read a LOT and make sure she is not getting behind her reading group friends with the AR books :) I can't explain how happy that makes my bookworm heart.

Also, right before Christmas break, we got an email that Addie was going to be receiving an award at an upcoming assembly. Our sweet girl got an Excellence Award for Academic Effort. Her teacher talked about how she always does her best and gives her everything in class and how it really pays off.

(Maybe if she could bring a little of that effort into cleaning up her toys?! TEEHEE!)

We are so proud of our favorite little Kindergartener. I just love that she loves school as much as I did, and hope that is always the case :)

Addie with her award and her fabulous teacher, Mrs. Sellers

(It was jammie day :))