Thanksgiving Feast

As usual, that day is reserved for Dads. They come and serve kids lunch - the whole deal. Kids get to dress up. Jimmy did a miracle and got them to hug each other (it IS miracle from Brandon's side :) I just wish he knew how to turn on flash on my camera.

 She looks pretty innocent here, does not she? :) (you know, look can be deceiving :)

 What a handsome guy I have got!

 They ARE hugging!

HOW Many?

I counted how many stuffed animals are only on Kyra's bed. Not total they own but just on her bed where she sleeps surrounded by them. 39! Plus a pillow pet she sleeps on makes it 40. INSANE! (and very, very blessed!)

Another Lego

I love how detailed Brandon is. He has a dog, snake,bunny, pretzel, a guy with a walking stick/with a seeing dog. This is whole Lego city. I need to remember to see which of his creations I can send to Lego magazine. 

Why Not?

I seriously wonder why Kyra does not like to sing to the music. When we are in the car, listening to BTR or whatever else, she NEVER sings. I asked her about it and she would still say "Nah, I just do not want to". 

So she is stuck with listening to the best Bibb band ever, me and Brandon :)

Russian Language Is Getting Interesting

How did we get into that, this past weekend? I do not even remember. Brandon asked me to write all the letters of Russian alphabet for him in his special book and now, he can write his own name and Kyra's without looking in his notebook. And yes, we are playing with blocks. It is still the best means of building words.

 Kyra's.

A New Foreign Language

Nothing is wrong with having your own language. I remember creating one when I was 7-8. Just very interesting choice of words that kids decided to name.

Simple Pleasures of Life (Besides Crayons)

Flyin' high

And climbing trees (in a dress, fancy boots, pig tails and doing gymnastics too)

My Parents Trip To Vietnam

They went for 10 days. So different than just a trip to a beach, right? Here are a few photos:

 Favorite big MAN in my life

 Pretty!

 Yip, an ostridge!

 National clothes

Little Person In Need

Being awoken up at in the middle of the night by a little person who had a nightmare and could not fall back asleep...ugh... being kicked many times when she kicked me in my bed... double ugh... having her snuggle against me with her little hand in mine.. priceless.

Blow Away Parent-Teacher Conferences

Yes, every time I get so excited to talk to a teacher, it is not even funny! Thing is, it is not like I do not know how kiddos are doing. I see their pretests, I see their tests, I see their worksheets. Conferences is something more. It is when you hear from another authority adult how your child is doing academically and socially. Every year/marking period that we had those conferences (twice a year), we always had great ones. This one simply blew me away.
I posted report cards a few posts away. Both kids did a great job this marking period from my state point but that is what teachers said.
I met with Ms. Dentler first. As soon as I walked in, she said she can't say enough how much she loves Kyra. She is always positive, she is helpful, she is excited about learning. She is advanced in all the areas.
-  In reading she is at comprehension level 8, although she is pushed at level 10 now when the goal for this time of the year is 4.
- Her writing is incredible. I can not believe 1st grader writes what she writes - one example from her portfolio: "In the past Emma and me were enormous and powerful. People were in danger because we were giants". Look at the words - no big, it is enormous. There is no sentences that start with I, etc. I will post another piece she did. I love seeing her progress as a writer so much!
- In spelling she did all the tests 100% and right now she is studying 3rd marking period words. Ms. Dentler expects her to work on 2nd grade words probably in the spring.
- In math, she just flies by. When kids are given 3 different sheets to do, she is done with 3 when some children are done with one. That is when help comes from Kyra - she asks if she can help someone and Ms. Dentler lets her "tutor" someone.
Last thing Ms. Dentler said that she asked the school so she could let us know about the time Kyra can be tested for gifted program. She indicated she had no worries that Kyra would slow down much. She seems like she will be just flying with stuff faster than an average student. They do not test students until the end of 1st grade. Typically either teachers recommend to parents or parents can ask the school to test their child themselves.

As for Mrs. Weimer and Brandon.. As soon as I said Hello, Mrs. Weimer exclaimed that she "loves the heck out of Brandon". He is such a well behaved, respectful child. He follows directions well, he is a good leader. When she puts him in a group of children who tend to wander away from the task, he is really good at keeping them all on track and they look up to him. What is impressive is that it is not him who follow their path to wander off but it is them who listen to him.
- his rocket math skills are where he is supposed to be - at 40,
- his reading level is 30, exactly where he is supposed to be
- and his oral fluency in reading is incredible. Expectation is by the end of school year to read 100 words a minute. Right now his average speed is 143 words a minute.
She did mentioned earlier that he has higher level of thinking skills, excellent class participation and she has no concern from the list she sent home a few days earlier. She said if she had all the children like Brandon, she would have been on vacation. :) He is a very strong student and the way he always behaves well at school, she would just take him home with her. :) I could see how excited she was to have him in her class.

We will have to talk with Jimmy about possiblility of testing both kids. If that is something we will want to proceed with, we would need to have a talk with Mrs. Weimer about it as well.
I can not say enough how much proud I am of both kids. May be some things come very easy at this point to them, but still, being helpful, follow directions, behave respectful is still conscious choice. I am very, very proud of them.

Basketball/Who I Am Struggle

Brandon had temporary team set up for this one time to make sure all the teams had equal amount of the best and not so good players. Even though they do play games against each other, this level is still not THAT competitive. I think Brandon felt left out because he was not going for the ball, he was waiting for his teammates to pass the ball to him but he knew only one person on the team and so those boys were passing the ball among each other.

After that Jimmy was very disappointed. I have never ever seen him like this. I felt like he was upset that Brandon was not like him - he was beating 6th graders in Brandon's age. Honestly, is it something to be proud of? He thinks kids have half of his DNA so they have to be aggressive somewhere.

Jimmy says he needs to man up or not play at all. It is touchy subject. You do not want to tell a kids they are not aggressive enough, where the real message sent is if you are not who I want you to be, you are not good enough. Will see. Hopefully as he knows those boys better,AND he will developing new/improving skills, he will be aggressive enough to make a play. I will love him regardless, but to me, I do not want Brandon to become who he is not.

Hershey Bears

So fun! We used to go so often before Brandon was born. I still remember how he used to jump in my belly because of how loud music was. This time there was promotion - every person got complimentary ticket to Hershey park. Heck, yeah! Two in one!
I like watching hockey in general and since neither of us gets out much, it was a great outing. I was able to find someone to cover my shift in the last moment and we all had fun. Funny thing was Bears lead 3-2 when we left 4 minutes till the end of the game (so we are not stuck in traffic) and what do you think? In those 4 minutes another team did 2 goals and Bears actually lost. So ironic.

Report Cards and Rewards

Sometimes it seems to me that I am the one who anticipates those report cards more than kids. Not that I do not know how they are doing at school, but I enjoy seeing the notes their teachers write. Those notes are the ones they do not have to write but they do so kids know.

So, here is Kyra's - she got all, reading, writing and math - all advanced level.
She constantly bring home challange words since she does all the pretest ones. Her math was never less than 100%, her reading level is 10 since mid October when they expect level 8 by January.

 Ms. Dentler said that Kyra's progress is outstanding. Absolutely!

 Brandon got advanced in many areas as well

Biggest compliment that I saw brought tears to my mind. Mrs. Weimer said "he demonstrates high level of thinking skills".

I am so, so, so proud of them!

So at night we went to get them rewards they well earned. Brandon picked video game. We tried to get them away from video anything but that was something Brandon wanted. He was happy. Kyra picked big fluffy blanket with 3 pandas on it. I washed it right away and she loved sleeping on it :)

Flag Football and Cheerleeding

Both kids were excited to try those sports. We signed them up for the same camp - every Saturday for 6 weeks.
Cheerleading did not start on a good note. Coach was late one time, late and left early another time, did not show up for the third one etc. All the parents were super frustrated and complained to the director of the program. We were given a lot of apologizes and another time for cheer and complimentary camp in spring. I have to say this camp totally killed any desire if Kyra had any for this kind of sport.

Although football was better, only by little. They had so many kids signed up that half of time all those kids had to stand and wait for their turn. Very frustrating. At the last game coach's son was playing the entire time while Brandon had only turn twice.
Practice. Brandon is #25.

Boy are patiently waiting for their turn at the game

 Brandon and his classmate buddy Cory

Terrible run organization, we never had to deal with anything like that before. Will never recommend them to anyone. 

Tooth, No Tooth, Tooth, No Tooth

Another tooth is out and how cute she looks (even with terrible quality, I did not focuse the camera right) with every other tooth!

Happy Birthday To My Dad

I got a kick out of this one :) His birthday is on November 18th, I hope it will reach him in time.

 Brandon asked me thow to write Попа :) and he asked himself how to write "with love".

Reading Beauty

I am not quite sure where Kyra finds room to lay with all those stuffed animals but she does :)

Licking Yummies

I remember those days when my Mom or Grandma cooked something and me with my cousin Zhenya would put a line in the bowl for both of us to lick. This time they shared who wanted a spoon and who wanted a bowl. So funny!

Kate Is 34!

First thing Kyra said to me this morning when she opened the door to my bedroom was:
- You are 34 today!
Geez, thank you for reminding me, girl! :)

We opened Monique's present during breakfast and Kyra said:
-Oh, you owe her a big thank you, Mom.
Oh yes, I do :)
Funny book How to marry Finish woman, card, blanket, chocolate and notebook from Monique. Two cards on the bottom left are from my parents and grandma and from work on the right (dog).

I kept asking if I am getting lava lamp that I have been asking. Neither of the kids would tell me. They both say it would not be a surprise anymore. I pouted and begged but the closest thing I heard from Kyra was:
- You will be able to open presents after supper when Dad gets home..
Me:
- Oh, so I AM getting a present?
- Mommy, I did not finish, I meant to say IF there is a present :)
She recovered pretty fast :) I really did not want to know, it was just a fun game to try to get it out of them :)

At work I asked to be low key, but when I got to work, I saw balloons tied to my chair with a card and box of brownies Tonya's hubby made. Thank you! :) I also got pair of pretty earrings from Renee from MP.

So on my actual birthday Tonya gave me off and I went to have my fav pumpkin coffee at cafe Zooka, then drove to Russian store where I got some yummies and then drove to East Mall's new book store. I lost myself there for like 2 hours.  I got a few books dirt cheap and also 3 free books that they have outside.Did I mention high heel shoes as well? Love them.

Kids jumped to the candy and baranki and pryaniki like crazy. Kyra also like doktorskaya kolbasa. Yum! I hid my birthday on fb but I was surprised that so many people left me happy birthday wishes. It was a nice surprise!

Kids and Jimmy got me lava lamp blue color like I wanted, it is soooo pretty! The most amazing thing that each kid spent 6 dollars of their EARNED allowance and Jimmy spent 4. They got me two cards, Bliss candy (Brandon's idea), cake (Brandon and Pop) and Kyra made me Connect the dots book. When I was opening this book, she said:
- I made it all by myself, it is not sold in stores! :))
So cute. It was fun connecting them with her!

I also loved the card kids picked, soooo pretty!

Love is all around

Present from Lisa, I loved how she wrapped it. When I opened the box, I saw how she blew ballons half way, so original!

I loved this key ring that says "Everything is possible". Fits perfectly with my globe and Russian flag!

 Postcard from The office and of course candy! :)

As for my parents.. They had a package from me but my cousin Zhenya was at their house in October and they gave her the box so she could bring it to me when she visits me for my birthday. I had a feeling it would not happen but my mom hoped that would mean we would get in touch again. It is November 9th and I do not think I will see this package unless my aunts mails it to me herself.
Yip, LOVE my lava lamp!

Responsible Children

They showed it so many times - first with Oreo taking him out, giving him food, giving him attention. Then, when we got Hammy they rush home from school to give Hammy attention as they put in and they change his cage on their own, take trash after him out by themselves. Proud of them!

Good Night, Babies

I love the time right before bed..We snuggle reading books. Sometimes kids read to us, sometimes it is us who reads. They pick a parent they want to read together with. It is tough when they pick the same one, we have to figure out things then.
They brush their teeth and we cover and tuck them in. Typically both of them ask me to lay with them. I LOVE it! It is different with both of them. Brandon usually snuggles into me as close as possible and I rub his hair or his back. Sometimes he hides his head into my chest.. He is so close..
Kyra loves to hug me REEEEEEEALLy tight.. We usually play with each other's hair and very often she asks random questions like "How babies are made" or "What is your favorite Disney princess" like before.

After tending to second, I usually come back to the first one for another round of a hug and a kiss.. Love them so much!

Request

Brandon:
- Can I please have either water or ice-cream?

Were We The Same?

Kids say, apparently, Olivia likes Brandon. Today she caught Brandon, cornered him and Brandon had to call Cory and other boys to save him from her. After they saved him, she said to Brandon:
- Watch out for tomorrow!
I wonder if we were the same at their age? :)

Who Is Stronger?

Fair and square Brandon beat me today in arm wrestling. He is only 8!

Halloween

Kyra was pink Batgirl

 Brandon was Indiana Jones

As always... LOOOOOOOOTS of candy brough home. I always hope it would last them until Easter. Fat chance!