Book order

One of my favorite things at school was when the Scholastic book orders came and we could order books. Rion brought his first one home on Friday and it was nice to see that some things haven't changed. They are still printed on that thin paper and books are plastered all over the pages in no real order. It's almost visual overload trying to look at the pages. I asked Fred if he also got those book orders when he was in school. He said he did and the Star Wars book that he has in one of his boxes downstairs came from school book orders. Rion looked through it and found some books they had read in class so we will be ordering those.

Board game mania

Torii has become my board game buddy. We have been playing Monopoly Jr., which he beats me at all the time. I don't even let him win, he flats out beats me. The properties on the game are amusement park rides and instead of a jail there is rest rooms. I always land on the space that says "Pay $3 to take the tramway to the restrooms." When I put my car on the restrooms Torii always tells me, "There, that will keep you busy."

The Olympics Part 2

Yesterday Rion told me he wanted to go to the Olympics again. I told him the event at school was a one time thing, but we could have our own Olympics at home. So last night I spent some time online looking for activities and found a bunch of printables. I tried to mimic the activities that were held at the school. The first event was a reading activity. I found a ton of printables online and the boys each did an alphabet sheet for the reading activity. The second event was a computer game. They made a calendar from www.starfall.com. Third they made books by cutting out things they liked from old magazines and catalogs that were laying around. Fourth, they completed a pizza puzzle I found online and lastly, they did a counting game with pennies using some number cards Rion brought home from school. After they completed each task they got a star on one of the Olympic rings just like at school. When they got all five stars they got their gold medal. (The gold medal was the lid of a frozen juice can with a ribbon attached). Rion loves his medal and wore it all evening. I think we will be playing Olympics again.

Kind of weird

Today I stopped at a rummage sale and picked up a Monopoly Jr. game for the boys. They have recently discovered board games and Torii was so excited to see it when I brought it home. I think Laurie had it when she was younger. Everything was there, but a dice and the instructions (which was ok because Torii makes up his own rules anyway). Actually, there was extra money from some unknown game and a regular Monopoly game. I have a Monopoly game that I got years ago from a thrift store so I went downstairs to get the dice from there and also to put the new stack of extra money with that game. I had to laugh when I opened the box. Inside was a bundle of Monopoly Jr. money and chance cards. Really what are the odds of that? Now we have a bunch of money for both Monopoly games and extra chance cards for the jr version. I also found the instructions from their website and printed that. Torii really likes the game. I couldn't get him to spend any money to acquire property until I told him he would lose if he didn't buy anything. Now he wants to buy everything, even if he doesn't land on the space. And I'm happy for this new interest in board games. First, it gets the boys to sit down and away from the TV and computer. Second, I love board games and finally have someone to play with.

The Literary Olympics

Tonight Rion's school held the Literary Olympics. I wasn't sure we were going to go, but Rion asked me about it right after school today. He was really excited about going to the Olympics. "Remember when we watched it on TV" he said, "I liked the swimming." I had to explain to him it wasn't that kind of Olympics. It was a such a beautiful evening so we walked to the school. Right away we saw many of his classmates. Which was good because the class with the most students participating is going to get a pizza party. It turned out to be a fun event. Each student got a piece of paper with the Olympic logo on it. Then they had to visit different stations, complete the task and then get a star for the task. After they got five stars (one for each ring) they got to pick out a brand new book. Then they also got a snack to take home. They also had a book swap, but I forget to bring any of the boys' old books. Torii also went with and he got to participate, although he didn't get to pick a book. They had fun and educational activities although many of them were pretty hard for Kindergarten students. I guess it's good to challenge the kids sometimes too. I think Rion had fun and he probably learned something. While we were there it had gotten dark out so the walk home was also an adventure. They were really excited by the lights around the movie posters at the video store we walked by.

Field trip day

Today Rion had a field trip to the fire station. Since they were leaving about 45 minutes after school started his teacher said Torii and I could hang out until they were ready to leave. It was really fun to sit in on his class and see their morning routine. Plus I haven't been in Rion's classroom much so it was good to sit in with the class and have more of a sense of what they are doing every day. Torii also sat on the mat with the class and answered questions with the class. They did flashcards with letters, numbers and the sounds letters make. He knows all of that already so he was able to keep up. He just didn't know the words the class is learning yet. I think he will be ready for Kindergarten next year. The kids in Rion's class were really excited about having a guest in the classroom. They were all very polite and nice. A couple of kids did debate on whether or not Torii looked like Rion. Before we left for the fire station the kids had a potty break. Torii joined right in and stood in the line as they made their way to the bathrooms. Then we walked to the fire station. It was a very nice day for it too. The walk was probably just as exciting as the fire station as we saw construction vehicles and a car transporter dropping off a vehicle at a car dealership. Apparently they had read about one in a book so the teacher stopped to point it out. The fire station was fun and everyone enjoyed it. I think they were most impressed by the pole. This fire station is the only one in town to still have the pole in their station. When we got back to the school they got a little recess time and many of the kids wanted Torii to play with them. I let Torii play for a little while before we had to go.

A Cordelia look alike?

Yesterday Rion was eating an apple when he informed us that he had a loose tooth. I didn't believe him, but Grandma checked him out and sure enough he has a loose tooth. His first loose tooth. It is on the bottom so when it falls out he'll look like Cordelia. And of course school pictures are next week. It's pretty loose so I'm not sure it will hang on until then.