First Grade Weeks 26 and 27 in Review

Okay, well we are DONE!  We are all caught up, and I am sooooo happy!  It is such a relief to be caught up.  Now, I just pray we can stay on track once we start back after the New Year!  With that said, here’s how weeks 26 and 27 went for us.
Week 26:
Heritage Studies:  We discussed early trading, animal furs, and captured not conquered.  Caleb was introduced to Pierre Esprit Radisson.
Math:  We did some supplemental lessons on renaming 10 ones and renaming 10 pennies (carrying the ones).  Caleb did surprisingly well with this concept! 
Bible:  Our Bible story was on “God Still Takes Care of His People.”  We reviewed all the verses we’ve studied the past 12 weeks.
Phonics & English:  We added “only, shoe, and push” to our list of service words.  We added “-oom, –ool, and –oot” to our word families.  We discussed capitalization, antonyms, and the abbreviation “Dr.” 
Week 27:
Heritage Studies:  We continued to discuss trading, and we learned about the wampum.
Math:  Caleb started a new chapter on subtraction.  We discussed subtracting the ones first, two digit subtraction, and subtracting the pennies first.  Again, Caleb is doing really well with two digit addition AND subtraction. 
Phonics & English:  We added “-ook and –ood” to our list of word families.  We added “won” to our list of service words.  We discussed capitalization, punctuation, and the seasons & months.
So, we are now done until the new year!  It’s a GREAT feeling.  I hope that you all enjoy the holidays with your loved ones.  We’ll spend Christmas with my folks, and then we leave early on the 26th to head to Beech Mountain, NC.  We are sooo excited to see some snow and enjoy the cold!  We’ll return on the 2nd of January. 
So, if I don’t blog for a while…well, it’s because I’m enjoying my family and friends.  I hope you take the time to do that as well!

Christmas Newsletter 2009

Since the few faithful most everyone who checks our blog should have received the newsletter by now, I thought I’d post what I ended up sending out.  We opted to go with the funnier version as opposed to the normal serious one.  Granted, they didn’t vary by much, but I added a little bit of humor into the one we sent.  So, here it is:
December 2009
Dear Friends & Family,
Wow…where has the year gone? I can’t believe it’s time for another update on the Childress family.
Micah is growing up so very fast. In the past year, he has gone from crawling to running and climbing. He’s gone from babbling to saying lots of words and phrases. His favorite thing to do is scream at the top of his lungs for no reason or to get his point across. It’s amazing we’re not all deaf.  He’s such a momma’s boy, and it’s hard to leave him with anyone other than family. His favorite TV show is Yo Gabba Gabba…we’re all quite tired of it, but not him…he laughs, sings, and dances away!
Caleb is now in First Grade at Childress Academy. If he had his way, he’d never school again. He’d much rather just watch TV, play the Wii, or draw. However, after a little prodding and disciplining, he eventually does his work.  His favorite subject is Science, but he despises Phonics. He enjoys aggravating his little brother, but he also loves cuddling with him. Baseball was the highlight of his summer, and he’s already looking forward to playing again next summer.
Brian continues to thrive with his own company, Childress Merchant Solutions. He is constantly on the phone, on the computer, or on the road trying to solve all of his clients’ issues. He’s yet to shed any of his “baby” weight mostly because of his new found hobby of beer tasting. Luckily, his job allows him to do this without any dents in the family budget.
I am still staying at home with the boys and homeschooling Caleb. There are days when schooling is set aside for blogging, facebooking, or dealing with Micah’s fussiness. I, too, have yet to shed any of my “baby” weight, and enjoying Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha hasn’t helped. Each month I run away from all of my problems and enjoy some “mommy” time with a great group of moms. There’s always lots of food, fun, and laughter involved.
Little Man still sheds like crazy, and he drops little pieces of rice all over the carpet. However, he and Micah have a wonderful relationship. Little Man spreads his dog germs right onto Micah’s hands, and Micah then inserts said hands (thumb) into his mouth. It’s really such a cute sight. Albeit, nasty, but cute.
In all seriousness, we have truly had a wonderful year and have been blessed. We would like to wish you all the HAPPIEST of holidays. It is our prayer that God will bring you lots of joy, peace, love, and health as you set out on another exciting year in 2010.
With lots of love,
Brian, Sherrie, Caleb, Micah, & Little Man Childress
WAYS TO KEEP IN TOUCH:
Address:
Brian’s email/phone #:
Sherrie’s email/phone #:
Family blog: http://www.childresshousehold.blogspot.com
Here are the pictures I put on the card.

So, did you send yours out yet?  Did you send a serious one or a funny one?  Or – did you do something totally different?  I love to see what others do.  I always find it very interesting to see everyone’s take on the family newsletter.

First Grade Week 25 in Review

Oh.my.stars…I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We are sooo close to being all caught up.  In fact, only 8 more lessons, and we are DONE until January!  I am soooo excited.  I truly hope that we can stay on track once the new year starts!  Hey…I can wish, right?!!?  With all that said, here’s how the past week went.
Heritage Studies:  We finished up our chapter on Schools Then and Now by discussing rules about school and taking a test.
Science:  With the upcoming holidays, we have taken a break from science until the new year.  Besides, our book doesn’t have enough chapters to last an entire year. 
Math:  This week we started a new chapter.  We discussed adding the ones first, two-digit addition, adding dimes & pennies, and money addition.  Caleb is loving the fact that he can now do double-digit addition.  He is stoked!
Bible:  Our Bible story this week was on “God Used Joseph.”  We reviewed Romans 8:28.
Vocabulary:  We’re taking a break from vocabulary until the new year as well.
Phonics & English:  We added “laugh and year” to our list of service words.  The “-irl and –irt” word families were added to our list.  We discussed punctuation and capitalization as well.  Caleb has to do some writing each week in Phonics & English.  He really surprises me at the stories that he’s able to put down in his journal.  Granted, he doesn’t LIKE writing, but he does a fine job with it!  I’m so proud of him…it’s amazing to think that he has learned all that he has, and I had a little part in that. 
As always, thanks for following our first grade adventure.  We’ll share more in few more days, so stay tuned!

Childress Family Day

On Saturday, we drove up to East Point to visit with Uncle Patrick, Aunt Darcy, and Harper.  Omi and Opa had flown down as well.  This was our first meeting with Harper.  She’s the first girl in the family, so we were thrilled to be meeting her.  She was born on 9/5/09 at 31.5 weeks gestation.  On 11/8/09, she had her homecoming.  She’s doing great, and we were so happy to be able to finally meet her.  Both boys were sooo gentle with her, but Micah really surprised us with his gentleness. 
We were able to go out for some pizza for lunch.  Then, we came home and everyone decorated some cookies.  After an afternoon of naps, fun, and games, we enjoyed some burgers and hot dogs.  It was a great trip, and we all had a lot of fun.  I’ll leave you with some pictures of our day!  Enjoy!

Micah in the car…ready to go.  If you look close enough, you’ll see his first busted lip.  He and the tile floor in the kitchen had a fight on Friday night.  The tile won!

Caleb drawing snakes with Aunt Darcy (she’s an art teacher).

Micah counting eggs.  Uncle Patrick showed him how, and then he copied. Micah loving on Harper before we left for pizza.

Micah with his eggs…he was occupied with these most of the day.

Aunt Darcy shows Caleb all the choices for decorating the cookies. Uncle Patrick shows Caleb how to use the frosting.

Caleb starting his first cookie.  I tell ya…the boy can’t do anything without sticking out his tongue.  It must help with his concentration. Micah getting in on the cookie decorating fun…but he much prefers just to eat the nonpareils. Micah enjoying some frosting.  I don’t think he took any bites of the cookies. Caleb decorating his Gingerbread Man…note Brian taking a snooze.  He caught up on some sleep while we all decorated cookies. Uncle Patrick demonstrates his “concentration” look with his tongue out.  I wonder if it’s a family trait…hmmm

A close-up of a snoozing Brian. Harper looking up at Omi.  Isn’t she just the cutest thing ever?

Caleb checking out Harper.  It looks like he’s shaking her hand.  LOL!

Micah loving on his new cousin.  This is just the cutest picture to me! Brian finally woke up and joined Patrick for some cookie decorating.  They were getting all serious (well goofy really) at this point.

Omi joins in on the fun! Brian getting everything “just right” with his cookie.

Aunt Darcy and Caleb playing a game of “Go Fish.”

Brian’s Gingerbread House.  He was very detail oriented with this one.

Close-up of Brian’s house.

Sweet Harper.  We are so happy there’s now a girl amongst the kiddos.

Tricks and Jingles

Okay, okay…enough already!  Get your mind out of the gutter.    This post is NOT going where you think it might.  Now, onto the matter of the post.
Micah figured out a new trick this week.  His latest trick is to carry his overturned blocks container to the light switch.  He then gets the biggest kick out of flipping the switches off and on.  On Thursday, he carried that box to nearly every light switch in our house.  He then proceeded to flip every switch several times.  It was such a hoot, and I HAD to take pictures.  I mean…yes, my electric bill may suffer, but he is still the cutest darn thing.  Oh, and he’s ever so bright (no pun intended).

 

I know I’ve mentioned before about the Elf on the Shelf.  Well, our elf is as old as I am.  When I moved away from home, my mom gave me all of my childhood ornaments.  Well, amongst all of my ornaments was this elf.  Last year, I heard all of my friends talking about the Elf on the Shelf.  I looked through the bag of ornaments, and I got out the elf.  After looking at him, I figured he would surely pass as our “Elf on the Shelf.”  I don’t know if he served the same purpose when I was a child, but hey…he’s doing his job now!  I thought I’d take some pictures of said elf and post them.  He’s not as clean as some of his elf buddies, but he still looks good considering his age.  Caleb has decided to name him Mr. Jingles!  It is such a sight to see Caleb searching for Mr. Jingles immediately when he crawls out of bed.  I think Brian enjoys hiding him, too!  Mr. Jingles is getting sneakier and sneakier as the days go on.

 

First Grade Week 24 in Review

Another week down…too many more to go!  LOL!  Anyway, here’s how this week went for us.
Heritage Studies:  We discussed Hornbooks and schools today.  Caleb actually got to make a hornbook, and he was stoked about that. 
Science:  We’re taking a break from science until the new year.
Math:  We finished up our measurement chapter by learning about reading a thermometer and taking a test.
Bible:  Our Bible verse this week was Romans 8:28, and our Bible story was on “God Planned Joseph’s Life.”
Vocabulary:  We added “switch, ancient, action, entire, and whirl” to our list of vocabulary terms.
Phonics & English:  We added “obey, busy, and through” to our list of service words.  We added “-ore, –orn, –erk, –erve, and –ern” to our list of word families.  We discussed synonyms, compound words, and capitalization.
Thanks for keeping up with our academic achievements.  We’ll share more once we finish up Week 25. 

First Grade Week 23 in Review

Whew!  We are slowly getting all caught up.  I honestly believe we’ll be caught up before we take our Christmas break.  So, wish me luck!  LOL!  With that said, here’s how week 23 panned out.
Heritage Studies:  We started a new chapter on “Schools Now and Then.”  We talked about schools in America and learning to read.
Science:  We finished up our chapter on air by discussing water in the air and the water cycle.
Math:  We studied estimating and measuring in inches, cups and pints, pints/quarts/gallons, and more than or less than a pound.
Bible:  Our Bible story was on “God Changed Jacob.”  We reviewed I John 4:10 and Ephesians 1:4.
Vocabulary:  We added “perform, fan, bashful, costume, and modern” to our list of vocabulary terms.
Phonics & English:  We added “-ark, –arm, –ar, and –art” to our list of word families.  “Gone” was added to our list of service words.  We discussed synonyms and contractions.
Thank you for following our journey.  We always love sharing what we’ve accomplished each week.  Join us next time to see what we’ve learned.

Guess Who Came to Our House?!!?

As German custom would have it, children set out their boots on the evening of December 5th.  It is their hope that St. Nikolaus (St. Nick) will stop by to fill said boots with goodies if they have been good children.  If they get twigs, well…they weren’t so good.  Being as Brian grew up with this tradition, we’re implementing it here in our household as well. 
So, the boys sat out some of Daddy’s shoes (bigger is always better, right?) in hopes that they would get some semblance of what to expect on Christmas morning.  Much to my surprise, St. Nick actually stopped by.  You see…with all the fussing, fighting, and screaming that happens on a daily basis in our house, I’m shocked the guy even knew where we live.  LOL!
Anyway, the boys woke up to find some chocolate candies, oranges, apple, and bananas.  So, I guess they’ve been good I don’t know who’s checking that list, and they’ll luck up on Christmas morning as well.
Here they are with their goodies…

The shoes after St. Nick stopped by.Caleb with the goodies…he had just crawled out of bed. Micah with goodies in hand…he loves M&Ms. 

Did St. Nick stop by your house?  What did your kiddos get?  I’d love to hear from others who participate in this holiday tradition, so share if you do!  If not, there’s always next year! 

It Looks a Little Like Christmas…

I usually like to get the house decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Yeah I know…that’s a tad too early for some of you out there. But – I like to enjoy the tree for more than just a few weeks. I also like to get it out of the way before all the hustle and bustle begins. Well, that didn’t happen this year. Then, we left to go to VA for Thanksgiving. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to put the tree up or not. Keep in mind, we’re leaving the 26th of December for a mountain vacation, and we’re not returning until after the New Year!
With all of that said, I finally broke down and put up the “playroom” tree. This is the little 4-ft tree that we bought last year to put in the playroom. It houses all of the handmade ornaments from preschool, and some of the other ornaments that aren’t as fragile. Well, being as Micah is INTO everything, I was hesitant to put it in the playroom. So, we opted out of putting up the big tree and just put the playroom tree in the dining room. We keep the dining room/office gated off, so little fingers can’t destroy things. This room is also home to the many LEGOS that Caleb leaves lying around the floor trying to cause damage to his parents owns.
So, Caleb helped me decorate the tree, and I hung the stockings on the china cabinet. The only other decorations I pulled out were the countdown calendar and the wreath (which happened to be a gift from Omi and Opa…and it’s real). That’s the extent of our decorating this year. With two destructive little boys, I think we’re good. LOL!

The tree looks so tiny up on that box.Note the Star Wars and Indiana Jones Lego people that now adorn my tree. This is Caleb’s handiwork. More Star Wars figures to enjoy.This is Micah’s 2nd Christmas ornament. My mom started these collections for both boys, and it’s nice to look back at the ornaments each year. This is a reminder of our whirlwind day at Walt Disney World this summer.This is the “fishing” ornament Caleb got from my mom last year. He loves it. This is the very first ornament that Caleb brought home from preschool when he was two years old. I hope to keep it forever!This was made with the Neil Family during Christmas 2008. Caleb brought this home from preschool when he was four years old. Again, I hope to have it around for years to come.5 stockings…all hung with care. I usually hang them on the mantle, but I think my little “grabby” toddler would pull them on himself, so they’ll stay here out of reach.

Poll…Cast Your Vote in the Comments Please!

Okay, I want to take a poll.  When it comes time to send out the Christmas newsletter, would you rather read a serious newsletter or a funny one?  Granted, the serious one is just your basic, everyday, run of the mill family newsletter.  However, the funny one really tells it like it is.  I can’t post them on here yet as some of my readers might just receive one.  So, cast your vote in the comments section.  SERIOUS or FUNNY?

Thanks bloggy readers!

Thanksgiving in Virginia 2009

As most of you know, we headed up to Virginia on the 25th of November for Thanksgiving.  The trip up there was pretty uneventful.  We actually took a new route, and we really enjoyed the break from the Atlanta traffic.  It was much less congested and nice.  We arrived around 5:30 on Wednesday evening, so we stopped by Ukrops (where Omi works) to surprise her as she was getting in her car.  Then, we headed to the Childress house for some pizza.  After supper, Caleb helped Omi make a Black Forest Cake…he was so proud of his work. 
Thursday brought Thanksgiving dinner.  We were joined by Uncle Ed and Aunt Pat (Opa’s brother and his wife).  The meal was yummy, and there was plenty to go around (and for leftovers).  Later in the afternoon, we were joined by cousin Barbara (Uncle Ed and Aunt Pat’s daughter).  We enjoyed a Skype conversation with Uncle Patrick, Aunt Darcy, and the newest Childress member…baby Harper.  Harper joined the family on 9/5 at only 31.5 weeks gestation.  She is doing wonderfully, and we are all thrilled that she’s home and thriving!  After a little dessert, Brian and I headed over to visit his best friend, Dave.  We enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples (along with some adult beverage).
Friday, we exchanged gifts with Omi and Opa.  Since they are going to Germany for Christmas, we decided to go ahead and do the gifting while we were there.  The boys had fun and got some great gifts.
       That afternoon, we headed over to Portrait Innovations to attempt taking family pictures.  However, after realizing they were about 40 minutes behind schedule, we decided to bail.  We tried to take some pictures once we got back to the house, but I didn’t get too many decent shots.  Here are some of the shots I did get.  :)

That evening, Brian and I went out to dinner with Dave and his wife.  It was a great time, and we always enjoy spending time with them.  There’s NEVER a dull moment when Brian and Dave are together.
Saturday we goofed off around the Childress house.  It was the day that Caleb finally lost his wiggly front tooth.  Let me just say…it was quite the ordeal.  Omi was finally the one who was able to sneakily get the tooth out.  So, now our big guy is getting his two front teeth for Christmas (he lost the other one the night before we left).  After the whole tooth ordeal, Caleb deserved a little treat.  So, we headed out to Kohl’s.  We picked up some winter wear for our after Christmas trip to Beech Mountain, NC.  Caleb also got a Nerf Blaster gun…fun times.  Then, we went to enjoy some dinner at Chili’s.  When we returned home, Uncle Ed and Aunt Pat dropped by with a little something from the “tooth fairy” for Caleb.  He was stoked to be getting so much money.  He racked up I tell ya.
Sunday we got up and got everything packed.  Then, we made the trip home.  Well, it was NOT uneventful like the trip up.  It was CRAZY!  We took the same route home, but it took an hour longer.  Traffic kept being stop and go, and we had no idea why.  The Garmin GPS was showing no signs of a traffic delay, and we couldn’t see any cops or wrecks in the area.  But – it was just CRAZY how bad and slow the traffic was.  We kept taking little detours, and one of our detours actually took us across the huge bridge in Savannah, GA.  It was a great sight, and we were pleased that we were able to see it.  We finally made it home.
We had a GREAT trip, and we are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.  I hope you all had just as much fun on Thanksgiving.