LOL...that is all Raine wanted to say. He is going to work on some other kindergarten/grade one curriculums now. He needs practice writing and comprehension, but pretty much rocks doing anything else!
Monday, March 08, 2004 My brother broke his leg :(
Leif and I were outside playing on a snow pile in our front yard. We were sliding down the side of it (it was pretty much a straight vertical on one side) but then we got brave and started jumping off the vertical side. Leif jumped first and I came down right behind him. I thought I hurt him at first, but Leif told me afterwards it broke when he landed, not when I landed on him. Mom suspects it was a little of both....
We drove Leif to the hospital and I got to watch them take x-rays of Leifs leg. Leif was crying a lot. I felt awful. Leif stayed in the hospital that night and then took an ambulance to Vernon the next morning and stayed another night (2 nights, 3 days total).
Leif, the first night in traction
Just casted. They decided not to do surgery because of the risk of inhibiting growth in a child so young. Instead he was super lucky *eyeroll* and got a body cast
Forgot to mention that Leif has a spiral fracture of the femur. Biggest bone in the body. Also the most painful break. Look how grumpy Leif is here :( Poor baby. He got several stuffies. One on the ambulance ride, one in the hospital, and one when he got casted (they casted that stuffy as well!!! LOL)
Leifs first wagon ride. We have a wheelchair now thankfully...but this is how we got around for awhile!
This is the first time Leif was up to being off the couch...our first meal at the table together! Leif prefers to eat on the couch still though. Ignore mommys goofy expression!
Feeling a little better! Some balloons from some good friends! Leif is getting some tummy time here :)
WOOHOOOO!!!! I passed my 9th Kyu in Shotokan Karate!!! I am now a red belt!
I was VERY nervous, but wouldn't admit it to anyone. I practiced my heart out for days prior to the grading, but also prepared myself that I might not pass. I am the youngest kid in Karate right now (normally they don't accept kids before the age of 7).
This is me, about 10 minutes before the grading started. Notice the lack of color in my face! LOL (remember, these are all thumbnails...you need to click on them to see the big picture!!!)
And this is my grading! I did really well for my age Sensei said!!!!
Monday, November 10, 2003
Raine had an AWESOME week. This week he went crazy on worksheets. I am sure that in the last 2 weeks he did more worksheets than in the entire year so far. He also did 3 accelerated reader tests so far. We read "I Have To GO!" by Robert Munsch, "Franklin Gets Lost" (coffee hasn't kicked in, I can't remember the author), and "A Monster in my Closet" by Mercer Meyers. Raine got 100% on every test and earned himself 1.5 AR points towards a prize!! YAY Raine!!!
Raine had a MAJOR breakthrough in reading this week. He was doing really well earlier in the year and then just froze. He could sound out individual words when it was important to him, or when he was showing off...but was struggling with reading small sentences of even the most basic words. In the car one day he surprised me and read "The Royal Tyrell Museum of Drumheller"...little booger. Anyhow, the other night he read through units one and two of the reader rabbit program with very few problems!!!
In late July we noticed that we had a little friend on the outside corner of our living room window. It was a huge spider that the kids named Charlotte. Dad and the kids would hunt down flies and other bugs and gently throw them into her web and then watch her spin the bug up and then suck the juices out. Charlotte would rebuild her web every couple of nights, and one night I was lucky enough to catch a couple of photos of her....they didn't come out super clear, but they are clear enough to leave us with a super cool memory. Charlotte disappeared in the first week of October...she left behind a tattered web, remnants of bugs and lots of spider poop. The third picture is one of her eating a big stink bug! YUCK!
We packed up the kids, baked some desserts for the potluck and drove the 1.5hr trip down to the Wild Flight Farm on Mara Lake for their 10th anniversary. The kids had a blast taking pony rides, painting pumpkins, running through the fields doing a letter puzzle, taking a hay ride and then finally heading to the hall to eat at a huge potluck and dance to great music! It was a FANTASTIC night! The best part was most definitely the sense of community!
In mid-september we were very fortunate to be offered a tour of the initial attack helitack base here in Revelstoke. It was very timely, as the fires were just finally under control after a few days of heavy rain, and they were packing up all of the excess equipment that they had brought in in the last couple of weeks. It was very quiet there, although the kids got to watch a helicoptor fly over several times, and they got to watch a couple of videos about forest fires.
What an exciting trip. We travelled with another homeschooling mama and her 2 kids all of the way up to Edmonton, and then halfway through the week ventured down to the Tyrell Museum. Aside from a long day of driving, the kids had a BLAST!!!!
