Fun days

Anna's "crazy" hair for Awanas

There is a LOT of gel in that hair!

Emily likes to be silly and do bug eyes

Heidi's pick-up-stick hairdo

Luke was chosen to represent his class for the flag processional at the Veteran's Day assembly

Anna was chosen to read her letter to Veterans in front of the whole school (only 6 kids out of the entire 4th grade).

We have had a few busy days here, and we are looking forward to our full week off next week.  Let me back up a little and tell you about our parent-teacher conferences.  As always I enjoy meeting with the kids' teachers.  Luke has the same teacher Heidi and Anna had for second grade, and she is very pleased with how Luke is doing.  He is very respectful and helpful (and he never minds being paired up with girls), and is excelling in math and spelling.  She said Luke is coming out of his shell pretty quickly, volunteering answers very often, and he had two playdates with his buddies this past weekend.  Anna's teacher just loves her (we had already received an extensive phone call from her teacher about what a great student Anna is).   Anna is doing really well in most areas and just struggles with math a little (she graded herself lower in this area).  She is such a hard worker, and is finally comfortable enough to ask the teacher if she needs help (yes, my kids are that shy).  And Heidi's teacher told us how helpful Heidi is, and how she doesn't complain when paired up with more "difficult" students (which she is fairly often).  She also does well in spelling.  And Justin and I are learning all new methods for multiplication and division, in order to help with the math (Heidi's teacher is piloting a new math series and there seems to be some disconnect between what is taught and what is in the homework, so Justin has spent a few hours teaching Heidi the "old" techniques).  I was very happy with the compliments about how our kids have great manners, are kind and helpful friends, and are respectful to others and of others things.  I feel like those qualities get you farther in life (and have more value) than half the stuff they learn in class will. 

We are enjoying having Justin home several days a week.  He is helpful in driving the kids back and forth to school for me, and I just enjoy the company.  He spoke with the boss last week in hopes of working this week, but there just isn't enough work.  The bad news is there may be little to no work for the rest of November, but the good news is that Justin is slated for the next job, which should start at the beginning of December and run for a year. 

Everything else is pretty routine here, Emily loves school, Awanas, girl scouts and chorus keep us running back and forth, and everyone has thankfully been healthy.