Week Review

In our neighborhood, we are the youngest family...by like 30 years. There is good and bad to this. Good=it's a well established, wonderful street filled with people who take care of their homes/yards and it's super quiet. Bad=we stick out like a sore thumb. HA! Just kidding...sort of. The real bad is that there are just a few kids that live by us. I find this to be a bummer, but Scott prefers it. He would rather entertain and play with only our kids in the backyard but I know our kids would also like to have friends within walking distance. A few years ago, The Webbs moved a few houses down and they too have four kids. But, they got screwed and have three girls and one boy :) Poor Jack is the youngest in a houseful of girls. He and Brady have become very good friends and spend ALL of their free-time together. They must ride 100 miles on their bikes each week...up and down the street, around the block, and over to the school yard. And, I love that Jack is very good to Cate who often insists on tagging along when they play out back!

Brady is such a gentleman...offering Cate his jacket when it got cold (even though he made her help him carry this slide across the yard!)

Carrying the slide to the trampoline so they can climb on top to reach the tree to jump out onto trampoline. *I can hear my mother's groan and loud sigh*

A teacher's aide in Bennett's class is being reassigned within the district and on her last day he and Rhett wore mohawks in her honor (I have no idea why). She left quite the impression because he spoke very highly of her and he went to school with crazy hair just for her!

The first grade classes do a leaf painting project each fall. Cate had dance class so Scott took a few hours off work and volunteered in Brady's class. Before school Brady said "I can't wait til 12:45 when my dad walks through my door!"

On Friday, Cate's preschool class went to the pumpkin farm. She was so excited to hang out with her friends outside of school.

Reid was talking to the "rubber duckies"!!! Miss Christy is a rockstar teacher...Cate adores her (and so did Brady). Both of her teachers are awesome.

Difference between girls and boys-Reid was done taking pictures after 30 seconds-Cate insisted on having her picture taken with every pumpkin!

I was surprised to look through my cameras viewfinder and see this little guy...my cousins son Owen!! They happened to be visiting the farm too.

Hadley slept through the entire pumpkin farm trip and Cate was so sad that she didn't get to be in any pictures. So after lunch we had a mini-photo shoot in the front yard. I love this picture of Cate trying to lean on her hand and, well, just about everything Cate does makes Hadley belly laugh!

Also on Friday, Brady reached 100 book reader status. Holla! He had until April to hit this goal but he is so competitive that he wanted to be the first in his class to reach 100.

Now, I must brag.....

1st quarter report cards came out this week...Bennett and Brady both had straight A's. I think the lowest average between the two of them was a 96.98. Carter also had a great report card...not all A's, but I'm hoping he'll get there next quarter. He's finally started to adjust to highschool academics....soccer + being super social + hard grading scale + being super social + Spanish + being super social = a rough first few weeks!!!

ISAT scores from spring came for Ben and Carter this week...both "exceeded" our expectations! (that's a play on words for those not familiar with ISAT. Grades are categorized by "below standards", "meets standards" and "exceeds standards") Both boys rocked their tests!!

Brady's teacher called me a few weeks ago and said she can't wait until his spring testing because she's dying to know his IQ. (Dear Lord, please help Brady to continue using his brain for good and not evil. Amen.)

Our fall schedule is finally winding down...Bennett's fall ball is over, Carter's soccer is over, Brady only has a few more soccer games, and best of all..Scott's 8th grade basketball season only has 3 weeks left. WOOHOO! Here's hoping for a very boring winter! I could really use a few months to relax before spring.