Today JJ had his first Suzuki violin lesson with Mrs. Gontea. He was waaaay excited. Which I was glad for, because a few weeks ago JJ told me he didn't need lessons because he already knew how to play the violin. I had to explain to him that there are lots of things about the violin that he doesn't know yet. I guess to his ear his "sawing away" sounds quite musical:)
JJ learned the three stances for playing, how to bow (JJ's version looked like bowing gone hyper - updownupdownupdown), and how to hold the violin. He learned how to tighten and slacken his bow, but wasn't allowed to use it yet. He also learned 3 rhythms that he has to practice clapping, tapping, and plucking on the violin - mississippi-hot-dog, strawberry-blueberry, and peanut-butter-peanut-butter. This is a lot for Mom to remember!!! But JJ can't wait to practice, so I think it will be lots of fun for him. That's why we're starting him so young (a Suzuki method idea) so that it is fun and they learn so quick when they are young that when they are older it comes naturally. This is the same way that Jonathan and his brothers learned and it seems a good fit for JJ, too. And he looked so cute standing so straight with that little violin tucked under his chin!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
1st Day of Kindergarten
Tuesday was JJ's first day of Kindergarten! He had so much fun. We walked one and a half blocks down our street to his school at 8 a.m. Elise and I walked back down to pick him up at 3. He was so excited/tired/overstimulated that I couldn't get very many details out of him. Here's what I gathered: He loved music class, where they got to sing together. The other boys were noisy during nap time (he seemed very annoyed by this - my good sleeper!). There are 16 letters in the alphabet. ?! He had a 3rd grade girl as lunch partner and JJ only managed to eat his sandwich and nothing else. Apparently the lunchroom had lots of interesting things going on and it was hard for my slow eater to get 'r done. He's improved on this in the past couple of days.
JJ's teacher is Mrs. Schoenike. For those of you not from the Shawano area this name is pronounced Shen-i-key. She is very nice and has taught at Lincoln Elementary for a long time. JJ already knew 6 kids in his class, 4 from Pre-K, one from soccer and one is our neighbor across the street. That made Mom a little more relaxed about the whole thing.
JJ is excited because tomorrow they have gym class. I'll fill in with more details the more I find out from him.
More new stuff to come, as JJ has his first Suzuki violin class on Monday and swimming lessons on Friday. Rest assured, there will be not one more thing added to our family schedule this fall!
So, in all, JJ seems to have adjusted to K pretty easily and even tells me he can just ride his bike to school by himself - I don't need to walk him. In his dreams! I told him next year he may be able to do that.
JJ's teacher is Mrs. Schoenike. For those of you not from the Shawano area this name is pronounced Shen-i-key. She is very nice and has taught at Lincoln Elementary for a long time. JJ already knew 6 kids in his class, 4 from Pre-K, one from soccer and one is our neighbor across the street. That made Mom a little more relaxed about the whole thing.
JJ is excited because tomorrow they have gym class. I'll fill in with more details the more I find out from him.
More new stuff to come, as JJ has his first Suzuki violin class on Monday and swimming lessons on Friday. Rest assured, there will be not one more thing added to our family schedule this fall!
So, in all, JJ seems to have adjusted to K pretty easily and even tells me he can just ride his bike to school by himself - I don't need to walk him. In his dreams! I told him next year he may be able to do that.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Broken Bone Club
Elise is a new member of the broken bone club! Sunday night she broke her left wrist and has a nifty cast on her arm to prove it.
Sunday night we were getting ready for bed and Elise had finished brushing her teeth and ran into her room to get in bed. We have wood floors and she had a baby doll blanket on her floor and when she ran in, she hit that blanket and it FLEW out from under her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her land on her hand. She cried and cried, but it didn't look bad and wasn't swelling. I was worried it was broken, but it didn't seem to be. I gave her Tylenol and wrapped it in an Ace. In the morning, it didn't look any different (fine) but she said it hurt. Conversely, she was playing as normal and rough-housing with JJ and not acting as if it hurt. I decided to take her in to the Dr.'s office because Jonathan and I are leaving on Thursday for San Francisco and I thought I'd rather deal with it Monday than Thursday! We had to wait for 2 hours in the waiting room and toward the end of the wait, Elise still wasn't acting as though it hurt and I kept asking her, thinking I just wanted to go home. Well, it's a good thing we waited because the first thing they did was take and x-ray and sure enough, she has a green stick (torus) fracture. Elise was so brave and stood still for the x-ray, answered all of the nurse's and doctor's questions, and held still when they were casting her arm. She is very shy around strangers still, so that was a feat for her. Elise is a very matter-of-fact little girl and having a cast on hasn't phased her. She still does almost everything for herself, like getting dressed, eating and playing just as crazy as before. She had a bath last night and she was very careful to keep her arm hanging out of the tub.
Mom and Dad and JJ signed her cast, which she liked. Then yesterday morning I came downstairs and JJ and Elise had found a marker and Elise had JJ write HER name on her cast. She though her name ought to be on it! Then JJ had drawn a big circle with a smiley face, and a "train," which was a huge blue blob on her cast. Oh, well. She liked it:) Her cast goes from just below her elbow to her hand, with a loop around her thumb. It is 6 inches long. And now "fiberglass" is her new favorite word that keeps popping up everywhere.
I guess this runs in the family. I (Megan) broke my wrist when I was 1, after falling off a couch. Jonathan broke his wrist when he was 5. I'm not sure how. It was one of his many injuries and accidents as a small child! So let's just hope JJ breaks the chain.
Sunday night we were getting ready for bed and Elise had finished brushing her teeth and ran into her room to get in bed. We have wood floors and she had a baby doll blanket on her floor and when she ran in, she hit that blanket and it FLEW out from under her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her land on her hand. She cried and cried, but it didn't look bad and wasn't swelling. I was worried it was broken, but it didn't seem to be. I gave her Tylenol and wrapped it in an Ace. In the morning, it didn't look any different (fine) but she said it hurt. Conversely, she was playing as normal and rough-housing with JJ and not acting as if it hurt. I decided to take her in to the Dr.'s office because Jonathan and I are leaving on Thursday for San Francisco and I thought I'd rather deal with it Monday than Thursday! We had to wait for 2 hours in the waiting room and toward the end of the wait, Elise still wasn't acting as though it hurt and I kept asking her, thinking I just wanted to go home. Well, it's a good thing we waited because the first thing they did was take and x-ray and sure enough, she has a green stick (torus) fracture. Elise was so brave and stood still for the x-ray, answered all of the nurse's and doctor's questions, and held still when they were casting her arm. She is very shy around strangers still, so that was a feat for her. Elise is a very matter-of-fact little girl and having a cast on hasn't phased her. She still does almost everything for herself, like getting dressed, eating and playing just as crazy as before. She had a bath last night and she was very careful to keep her arm hanging out of the tub.
Mom and Dad and JJ signed her cast, which she liked. Then yesterday morning I came downstairs and JJ and Elise had found a marker and Elise had JJ write HER name on her cast. She though her name ought to be on it! Then JJ had drawn a big circle with a smiley face, and a "train," which was a huge blue blob on her cast. Oh, well. She liked it:) Her cast goes from just below her elbow to her hand, with a loop around her thumb. It is 6 inches long. And now "fiberglass" is her new favorite word that keeps popping up everywhere.
I guess this runs in the family. I (Megan) broke my wrist when I was 1, after falling off a couch. Jonathan broke his wrist when he was 5. I'm not sure how. It was one of his many injuries and accidents as a small child! So let's just hope JJ breaks the chain.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Long Time, No See!
It has been quite the year so far! This is my first blog of 2007 and it is JULY. I'll have to remind you all to take a look at this again since I'm sure you've all given up on me.
We are getting settled in our new home in Shawano, Wisconsin. This week I just got the computer set up and got internet service running. (Yeah, we have been here since March, but I'm slow, OK :) So now I hope to put at least weekly updates on this here blog and learn how to import pictures on to it (hopefully Jen can tell me how).
Recent interesting notes include that Elise and I went on a Mom-and-kid camp out to Madeline Island (in Lake Superior, close to Bayfield, WI) with our old WAKO group from Ashland. We set up our tent all by ourselves, cooked our own food, etc. It was neat to show Elise that moms can do just about anything and we had such a fun, fun time together. We played on the beach most of the time, and the rest of the time was spent sleeping. So, yeah, we were at the beach to whole time! I have cute pictures, so I'll try to get those on soon.
JJ still constantly provides us with humor! He loves to make people laugh, but sometimes the funniest things are when he is just being himself. Jonathan and I have to hide behind magazines sometimes because we don't want to embarrass him; but he is so JJ. Just last week Jonathan gave him a piece of mint (in JJ terms "govermint") gum. He rarely has ever had gum, so Jonathan reminded him to spit it out when he was done with it. After about 15 seconds JJ raced to the garbage can, with me watching, then went out and told Dad that he was done with it. Jonathan started to tell him that he can chew it longer so it is not wasted. I gave him a look and shook my head. For I had seen JJ with drool running out of his mouth, and had just realized that JJ couldn't figure out how to swallow his saliva without swallowing the gum. So he had to spit it out before he majorly "overflowed". I know some of you will be able to picture this in your mind, if you know JJ, and get a chuckle out of it.
We are getting settled in our new home in Shawano, Wisconsin. This week I just got the computer set up and got internet service running. (Yeah, we have been here since March, but I'm slow, OK :) So now I hope to put at least weekly updates on this here blog and learn how to import pictures on to it (hopefully Jen can tell me how).
Recent interesting notes include that Elise and I went on a Mom-and-kid camp out to Madeline Island (in Lake Superior, close to Bayfield, WI) with our old WAKO group from Ashland. We set up our tent all by ourselves, cooked our own food, etc. It was neat to show Elise that moms can do just about anything and we had such a fun, fun time together. We played on the beach most of the time, and the rest of the time was spent sleeping. So, yeah, we were at the beach to whole time! I have cute pictures, so I'll try to get those on soon.
JJ still constantly provides us with humor! He loves to make people laugh, but sometimes the funniest things are when he is just being himself. Jonathan and I have to hide behind magazines sometimes because we don't want to embarrass him; but he is so JJ. Just last week Jonathan gave him a piece of mint (in JJ terms "govermint") gum. He rarely has ever had gum, so Jonathan reminded him to spit it out when he was done with it. After about 15 seconds JJ raced to the garbage can, with me watching, then went out and told Dad that he was done with it. Jonathan started to tell him that he can chew it longer so it is not wasted. I gave him a look and shook my head. For I had seen JJ with drool running out of his mouth, and had just realized that JJ couldn't figure out how to swallow his saliva without swallowing the gum. So he had to spit it out before he majorly "overflowed". I know some of you will be able to picture this in your mind, if you know JJ, and get a chuckle out of it.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
No House Yet
Our trip to Shawano was fun and family-filled. We were able to spend much time with Pyatskowits and Hamanns (my mom's side of the family). We looked at 10 houses, I think, but nothing was quite right. We will continue looking when we move to Shawano. We will be staying with Al and Gloria for a while, but hopefully not too long, for their sake. We are thinking of looking in other surrounding small towns like Gresham and Cecil, WI for housing. We saw some really strange stuff in some of the houses we looked at, like painted-shut windows, wobbly second stories and walls that were so bowed they looked like a wall in a fun-house at the carnival. There were a couple that we liked, but not well enough, so we'll keep looking since we have my cousin Billy-the-Realtor at our disposal!
JJ had great fun with his Pyatskowit cousin Isaac (just turned 5) and they sledded on the inch of crusty snow Shawano had. They were being wild, crazy and having so much fun, that you knew at some point someone would get hurt. Sure enough, JJ took a header off the sled and scraped his face on the snow. Think really bad encounter with a many-clawed cat and add swelling. Poor kid; but it is almost all healed already. He wasn't even phased; just the price for fun as a 4 year old.
My mom and dad came up to Ashland for a few days this week as well, and we had fun enjoying each other's company. We geocached near the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center and drove to Ironwood, MI so that I could ski. They had snow over there, lucky town, and I was able to ski 8 kilometers in the beautiful winter wonderland. It was just breathtakingly beautiful. I got a good workout and the kids had fun watching me a little and Dad took video of me. Interesting to watch myself ski.
This week will be lots of packing and saying good-bye to people. I'm taking the kids to things for the last time, so we'll be taking lots of pictures. Maybe in a couple weeks I can get them on here.
JJ had great fun with his Pyatskowit cousin Isaac (just turned 5) and they sledded on the inch of crusty snow Shawano had. They were being wild, crazy and having so much fun, that you knew at some point someone would get hurt. Sure enough, JJ took a header off the sled and scraped his face on the snow. Think really bad encounter with a many-clawed cat and add swelling. Poor kid; but it is almost all healed already. He wasn't even phased; just the price for fun as a 4 year old.
My mom and dad came up to Ashland for a few days this week as well, and we had fun enjoying each other's company. We geocached near the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center and drove to Ironwood, MI so that I could ski. They had snow over there, lucky town, and I was able to ski 8 kilometers in the beautiful winter wonderland. It was just breathtakingly beautiful. I got a good workout and the kids had fun watching me a little and Dad took video of me. Interesting to watch myself ski.
This week will be lots of packing and saying good-bye to people. I'm taking the kids to things for the last time, so we'll be taking lots of pictures. Maybe in a couple weeks I can get them on here.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Sleigh Ride
Yesterday JJ took a sleigh ride with his class at Bad River Head Start. Mom and Elise went to watch the two big, black horses pull a wagon with 20 kids in it. Elise even got to pet the horses. The horses had jingle bells on their harnesses just like the song. So we sang "Dashing through - there's no snow, in a two-horse open sleigh, o're the roads we go, laughing all the way. Bells on bob-tail ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song today!" The kids had such a blast! I took a bunch of pictures and I'll actually try to get them on here today. After we move and settle in I'll try to figure out how to put pictures on myself and do that often.
We're going to Shawano tomorrow and we will look at 11 houses on Saturday. What a day that will be!
I have packed only about 15 boxes so far. I need to get going on that. We will be staying with Jonathan's parents when we move at first as it will take a little while to close on a house. They are so generous to let us do that.
JJ is, at this moment, reading books to Elise. He loves "reading" books to her that he already knows, like the birdsong identification and alphabet books, so he can teach her things she doesn't know. Is this just being sweet, or sly domination:)? At least so far he has taught her B, E, M and Q.
We're going to Shawano tomorrow and we will look at 11 houses on Saturday. What a day that will be!
I have packed only about 15 boxes so far. I need to get going on that. We will be staying with Jonathan's parents when we move at first as it will take a little while to close on a house. They are so generous to let us do that.
JJ is, at this moment, reading books to Elise. He loves "reading" books to her that he already knows, like the birdsong identification and alphabet books, so he can teach her things she doesn't know. Is this just being sweet, or sly domination:)? At least so far he has taught her B, E, M and Q.
Monday, December 18, 2006
We're Moving
The latest news is that we are moving to Shawano! What a change it will be for all of us. Jonathan is looking forward to working with his tribe and his brother and JJ and Elise are looking forward to playing with their cousins and Pepper the puppy. Megan is more focused on the packing/finding a house at the present time. We are going to be able to buy a house, which is exciting, but may prove to be time-consuming during the holiday season. Jonathan starts his new job Jan. 8. Megan and the kids are busy taking pictures of all the special people/places so that they can make an Ashland photo album.
Busy day! That's all for now!
Busy day! That's all for now!
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