Two Visits From Tooth Fairy

Kyra chipped on of her top molars. The next day it broke off. She did not hurt it or hit ir or anything. We went to see Dr. Grater who said that her 6-year old molar was pushing on it so it can possibly happen with another side too.

They did panorex x ray which was very cool, we could see all her teeth, even those that did not have roots yet. Ironically, it was good and we came at that time because their appt is in August, so between now the then we can have ortho consultation so that doctors could talk and create plan for her.

When Brandon and I was sitting and waiting in the room and Kyra was taken for x-rays, Brandon saw this monkey with false big teeth and toothbrush next to it. He looked at me and said:
- Mom, do you want to brush monkey's teeth?
It sounded so out of place, it cracked me up, I could not stop laughing :) love his sense of humor!

When Kyra lost half of that tooth, she put it under her pillow and Tooth Fairy brought her half of dollar (two quarters) and she was very upset about not getting an envelope. She started crying that she did not get it. Oh boy!

Next night Brandon lost one of his top teeth. Tooth Fairy almost broke a bank this week! :)

Reading Russian With My Boy

So Brandon and I were practicing learning Russian letters as he would like to learn how to write and read a little bit by they end of summer. Letters are so different but I have to say after two days, he got them all. He still stumbles on them sometimes, but overall he is doing so well!

Yesterday we stopped at Russian store and there was a box that said "Конфеты". He looked at the word and slowly read it. He was soooo excited to not only read it but to understand what he read. I was very impressed! So cool! Very proud of him!

Santa Question Ready

Kyra:
- Mommy, I wonder is Santa real?
- Why don't you think he is not?
- Well, last Christmas one present said "From Santa" and then a few days later Dad said that it was from you, guys. Can we check online and search "if Santa is real".

At this time I could redirect her attention but I know it will not be much longer. Oh boy, they are growing up.

Strong Girl

It has been 5 weeks since my injury and today I tried biking for 4 miles. Veeeeery slowly, paying attention to my knees. After that they hurt and dr said not to do anything that hurts during or after. Sigh...

On a positive note, I could do 11 SHORT pull ups when we walked to the school. I was so impressed with myself. I really, really miss sweating and being out of breath and pushing myself to the limit. I cannot believe I did not run/biked for 5 weeks, it seems like eternity.

Thank goodness, PT next week. Hopefully it will help, or else! My body needs to stop acting out, I am so ready to move on!

Girls Time

Kyra and I had fun in the last couple of days. We walked to the school twice and just talked. She mentioned she missed school and most of all jelly beans. On my question she said that if they got the right answer, Ms. Dentler was giving them a jelly bean. I guess it is sort of m&m for using the potty during potty training process.

We played square game on a paper and both of us won. It reminds me that we need a championship game to win :)

First Full Day of Summer - Crossing Off Bucket List

My goodness weren't we busy!

Day started with this:
And I thought - why not?

We started with going to Honey Bear Orchard to pick sweet cherries. Except when we got there, we saw that, by some miracle, they still have strawberries for picking. I was so upset we did not get to go this season due to different conflicts and here it was! I was beyond happy :) Some strawberries were.. how simply put it..mutant, for the lack of right word :) How about that? Two on the right bottom are my fav :)

Here is the start :) 

Brandon in strawberry jungle 

Next, we got to picking sweet cherries. It was only the 2nd and final day, so cherries were really scattered all over the place. Kids' most favorite activity was to find them by climbing the trees. I guess, it counts too :)

Lots of cherries overheard. Can even see Brandon's loose tooth on top left

 My favorite monkey

 Oh, Momma was not bored either :) why bother put cherries in the bucket? :)

Next on our list was ice cream in Jigger Shop, first for the year, yay! Kyra had her fav chocolate and I had espresso mint with pecan butter. Both were soooo delicious! Brandon did not want at first, but looking at us changed his mind and settled on vanilla :)

This day we had to do a short hike because of Kyra's later appt. We wanted to go to Governor Dick's tower but we did not have all the time in the world, so we did very short Dinosaur Rock.

Where we parked, there were many boulders around. Kyra got on one trying to pose and Brandon was jumping from one to another like a kangaroo. I told him either get off the picture or get it. Here what I got:
Love this photo of both. So naughty looking!

We tried for serious, as you see, he was not in the mood.

 We tried again. He was the one who got away :)

 Finally. Settled :)

 Wait, he is playing with camera again, where is Kyra in the picture?

 Okay, NOW he settled for somewhat decent picture of the girls.

Walk to the rock was so short. Reminded us about trip to Boxcar Rocks last year. We leaped from one to another, short enough to stop to pose. Yes, just like this guy :)

Dinosaur Rock can be seen behind Kyra. When we were leaping to it, we saw another family being on it, so there was a way to get on. but I needed help bigger person than 9 year old :)

What else do you do on a hike? OF COURSE, you do gymnastics!! Caught in the action.

Then... As we walked to this big pile of rocks and I started climbing... some bad creature stung me. Oooohh that hurt! Badly! I wanted to scream. Later, when I got home and googled images, looked like I was stung by a yellow jacket. Well, that was not nice!

Kyra said: "It was still fun!"

We got home in time for a snack and headed to her bone dr. appt. Lucky for her, dr had family emergency and had to cancel all his appts but they called only our home number and after we left, so we did not get a message.

On the way home we stopped at Karns to get some yummies and oh boy.. weren't those two arguing. About who pushes the cart, who looks for an item, who is putting it in the cart. By the end of our trip I wanted to scream again from being put in the middle. We managed to get out of the store soon enough.

Brandon and I played Frisbee before supper, it was so fun! And at night kids caught some lightning bugs. Looks like a good heck of a day :)

Artsy As It Gets

Proud to say - my work. Little bit of watermelon never harmed anyone :)

Kyra's Summer 2014 Bucket List

She's got a plan!

Summer!

Today we spend the real summer day in the swimming pool. I love it, we really spend time together. I am with them 100% of time, we snuggle in the water, we play, splash, dive, even did a couple of laps together, had lunch and fruit healthy snacks on the blanket. Brandon made a friend and they swam together for awhile. Of course, getting some healthy tan is also benefit :) Loving summer!

Still Hurts

It still hurts and it is not so good (according to John Mellencamp song). I went for check up yesterday and the recommendation for me was to finish those pills, just once a day instead of twice and start PT. Never done it but, apparently, my knee cap instead of sliding up and down when I move, moves sideways, hence pain in both knees where it was rubbing.
SOOOO anxious to run but I know I can not until pain completely is gone. Such a test for my willpower and patience. Ugh!

Learning Russian

Brandon is still excited about it. I keep telling the kids how it used to be or what it used to be for me when I was little. Both kids would love to visit Russia but.. hopefully sometime when they do not have to ask their Dad's permission.

We started with letters, so glad my Mom send the blocks and alphabet poster. Two days later, he can recognize just about every letter. I am so happy he is open. Wish Kyra was same interested. She used to speak so well until something clicked and her interest was down. Brandon has reading and writing Russian on his bucket list for this summer. Yay!

Baseball Season This Year - Written By Coach

This was Brandon's first year of pony level baseball.  Ponies are 9 and 10 year olds.  He missed the age cut off to be too young by 9 days, so he was one of the youngest players in the league.  Despite the majority of the players he was competing against being older than him he had a very good first season as a pony.  He was the only first year pony on our team to consistently play on the infield (2nd base) and was the teams lead-off batter.

 

As the season progressed, Brandon became more confident in the batters box and became a player we counted on to get on base and score runs for the team.  He showed great versatility as a batter, getting on base by drawing walks, laying down bunts and making solid contact for base hits.  He displayed a good command of the strike zone and discipline at the plate by not swinging at bad pitches and waiting for strikes to take his cuts.

 

In the field Brandon played second base.  As I mentioned, he was the only first year player that we utilized, on a regular basis to play in the infield.  He quickly learned the responsibilities of a second baseman and understood when to cover 2nd base/first base and when he was to be the cut off man for throws from the outfield.  He put in extra practice throughout the season to expedite the development of his fielding and throwing skills.  He work effort and desire were rewarded as he was a solid fielder throughout the season and earned a spot on the all star team.  This is a very big accomplishment for any player, especially for a first year pony.

I would also add that Brandon displayed excellent sportsmanship all season and proved to be an excellent and supportive teammate by cheering for all the players on his team and being supportive of tem when things didn't always go their way.  He was very "coachable" and eager to learn.  Any team/coach would be happy to have a player like Brandon on their team.

Ready to bat!

 Shoot me now?

 Pitcher is ready1

 Here it comes!

 My fav picture of him.

Just for the record who were on Brandon's team: Luke Wren (5), Austin Little (4), Ryan Angerer (4), David Shillow (4), Avery Book (4), Max Griffith (4), Logan Suggs (4), Brayden Pavone (3), Elijah Speck (3), Corey Baker (3). 

Hershey Park With My Girl

Oh boy! (Or should I say girl?) Kyra is FINALLY Hershey size so we could do all but 4 most thriller rides in the whole park. Yay!

When we parked, I almost gave a growl, seeing how few parking spots left. I thought we would have to wait in line for an hour for a fricking ride. 

She wanted to do SDL first, boom, couple minutes waiting, we were one. Went to do Comet, same. Coal Cracker took us the longest - about 10 minutes. Besides Hershey having travel soccer tournament, I have no idea where all those people who parked, were. 

From there.. Oh, we went wild. We tried all the rides that Hershey could go.We were not much impressed with swings, there were just okay.

I could not believe how much she liked Sidewinder. She is so tiny and this ride took us upside down and twisting and stuff.  We did it twice.

We stopped to do her hair at the station. She wanted it for a while now, she picked her green, blue and pink color and here it is. Looks beautiful!

I was not crazy about this one. Kyra liked to race another train but for me, this old wooden ride seemed like brain shaker. I would, probably, get a concussion after riding it a couple times.

 Wildcat was the same as Comet or Lightning Racer. Or may be wooden rides are not for me.

 Oh, the Claw was the ultimate winner. We rode it 3 times. Awesome ride!

 One final with Mom :)

Kids Bloopers

Kyra:
- Mommy, if you are in the hospital, do you still have to brush your teeth there?

Brandon:
- Home runs are measured with Kyra's butt cheeks and my home runs are measured with....aaaawesomeness! :)

When Jimmy stayed home, still not feeling well and I went to work, Brandon called me and asked when I would be home. He wanted me to come home immediately because he needed me to look at his iPod at that very minute so I could download the new game he wanted to play. Interesting how they measure the things that can be/can't be done right at the moment.

Happy Father's Day

I took the kids earlier in the week to get Jimmy what he wanted from Bass Pro Shop. They each picked what he circled in the newspaper. Brandon got him a camo cover for his car and Kyra got him a rug for front door. At some point Kyra was tired of carrying it, it was heavy and bulky and she asked me to carry it. Brandon took it from her hands saying:
- Kyra, it is not heavy at all, I will carry it for you.
He is such a gentleman who does like a lot of praise for it!

Kyra made a book for Jimmy where we all, including his parents, wrote some nice words ( I just drew a picture :) After that Kyra and I went to Hershey park and boys stayed home to do their boy stuff like shooting BB gun. I did offer to go to grocery store to free Jimmy from his Sunday chore but he did not want to hear any of it.

Kyra Sleepover and Brandon-Mom-Others Fun

Initially Emma was supposed to come over but with Jimmy still not feeling well Tracy offered for Kyra to come over there and if I was not busy, stay for a drink. I asked Brandon if he wanted to stay with Dad who was in bed or come with me but there would be only girls. He chose the last and here we went.

Funny thing, when Kyra is getting ready for school in the morning, I have to keep her right on track, asking and telling her what to do every minute before she is completely ready. Here, she got herself ready in no time and did not forget anything. I guess she can, right?

Anyway, we all had a blast. Four girls (Emma and Kyra, Carly and Shannon) were having fun upstairs, Brandon was playing his iPod and basketball and Tracy and I were enjoying our conversation and drinks. Kids ate supper and after a while I saw Brandon was getting bored. We suggested he go upstairs to check on the girls while keeping our fingers crossed he would not be rejected.

He was not. Kids played for, probably, 2 hours on their own, 4 girls and 1 boy until Brandon came downstairs in tutu, necklace and crown. Girls were chasing after him. He was such a great sport! I can guess it was not his fav thing to do but he went with the flow, because that was the only way to have fun.

We spent almost 5 hours at Stephens and could not get to leave. We agreed to do it again :) Good times :)

Jimmy Scare

He went to bed the night before very early. Way too early. I did not think much of it, thought he was, probably, very tired. I read a book till 2.15 am just to be awoken up at 4am by Jimmy who asked me to take him to the hospital.

Kids, thankfully, slept over so we did not have to awake anyone to come and watch them. I was so tired and it was storming, so I could barely concentrate on my driving. I remember, when Jimmy was telling me the symptoms, in case he could not say them, I was trying to listen and drive and at some point Jimmy told me I was in a wrong lane. Brrr... I had to awake up.

Anyhow, back to him. He felt strong chest pain the night before and felt nauseous and at 3am he awoke up with sharp pain and in sweat. He said he tried to fight it off but felt so bad that he did not see another option but to go to ER. It is so not him. I can tell when he is in pain but he, certainly, is not a moaner when it is not a big deal.

They took him immediately and did EKG and blood work for heart stress hormone. Right away 5 people were working on him. Those two tests came normal. They did x-ray since his pain shoot in his back, it came clear. Another EKG, then ultrasound. Dr thought aorta was not looking very good but he could not tell by ultrasound so they ordered CT scan. An hour later, results came normal. Another EKG and blood work, all good and last stress test. All still good.

Had no idea what was going on. Jimmy was given some medicine for nausea but it gave him belly ache. He did not want any drugs but in the end took morphine which took the edge of the pain and he was sent home. What the heck was it???

My Absolute Favorites

It took me two days to sort through year worth of kids' stuff in math, spelling, writing and stuff. Those two were one of the last ones that I came across. The first one, my guess, is one of the very first records of 1st grade. 

 I LOVE IT!

After reading those, I called Kyra to come to me and I was crying. Really crying. I hugged her so very tight and the picture below shows exactly how I felt at that moment in addition to being so overwhelmed with love, I thought I would die. I love her so much!

Writing Samples - Beginning And End

That was the first writing of the year. "At the bech I like to surf!"

 Definitely can see how letters are still all over the place in October.

 Here is the end of the year. "On Saturday my Mom took me to Twin Kiss. My Mom got choclet ice cream. When my Mom got her ice cream, she orderd mine. My Mom orderd me vinilla". How awesome is that???

Memoirs of 3rd Grade

Memoirs of 1st grade

That was what Kyra wrote in her journal:

My favorite snacks this year were gummys. goldfish and crackers.
My friends were Lauren, ALexia, Ashlynn, Owen, Emma, Georgia, Carter, Brady, Maddison and Aubrianna
My favorite activity was field trip to Lake Tobias.
This year I learned how to tell time on clocks in math.
The thing I will remember the most about 1st grade is all of my friends.
The thing I will remember about Ms. Dentler is how nice she was.
The thing I will remember about Mrs. Thomas is how gorgeous she was.
The best part of 1st grade was having the world's best teachers.

Kyra About Love

She made a little book which said this:
"Love is a kiss or a hug or saying I love you. That is how you know it is love." By Kyra Bibb

Love is good because it means you have someone who loves you. Like I love my Mom, so do you. Every one has someone to love. Just like me and you."

Have I ever said I love her to pieces???

Report Cards

Brandon raised his C to B+ in social studies thanks to his double effort in the test (still need to cover it again), map they did together with a couple of boys and international project where he researched Russia. 

Good advice. He is so smart, but it does not matter if he rushes through his work just to be done. Overall, I can definitely see hard work on his part!

 Can't complained. 1st grade was rocked by her!

 All good is good. Kyra will definitely miss Ms. Dentler, she was a good teacher!

Last Day of School

What a great day it was, probably, one of my favorite in all school days. We all were so excited for the last day of school! I took off that day and when I asked Ms. Dentler if I could come to take a picture of her and Kyra, she told me I could come for the entire day and hang out with them. Brandon asked Mrs. Weimer and here you go. I was there.

First, I spent about an hour in Kyra's class. For fun they were watching "Frozen" but had to get interrupted for 2nd graders to come in and show their writing samples to 1st graders so they know how they will be writing by the end of next year. When Ms. Dentler told the kids about their visit, she said:
- I expect you to be good audience. Do you know what being good audience means?
I am not sure which boy it was, but the first thing this one boy said was:
- You can't go Booooooo!
Ms. Dentler did not even wink and said that he was right.

When I came to Brandon's class, they were watching "Shrek". I have never watched it so it was a small bonus :) Kids had a snack and did a craft and Brandon made a bracelet for me to keep :) He is so sweet!

Here Wesley is in red shirt, behind him is Ethan who is moving this year. Brandon is in green together with Corey.   (Donkey is in the background)

In the middle of the movie it was time for recess. It was interesting to step back and watch the relationship between the kids. A couple of them were taking outs pretty seriously and were upset. Others did not care much (like Alexis, the only girl who wanted to play) - she was just happy playing.

Brandon begged me to play 4 square with them and the boys let me play without getting me out because I did not know their exact rules. It was very kind of them (plus Brandon saved me once :)

I was very impressed by how Brandon stood up to a couple kids when they were upset about losing and he came and right in the face told them to be out. Here he is playing with Wesley, Reese and Corey. Alexis and Valerie are in the background.

 Happy monkey monkeying around.

Picture of Mrs. Weimer's 3rd grade except Julia.
1st row left to right: Brooke, Liam, Corbin, Alexis, Valerie
2nd row left to right: Mrs. Weimer, Wesley, Maddison, Brandon, Reese, Corey and Ethan.

How could they get away with no picture with silly faces??? 

When we got back to the class, Mrs. Weimer gave the whole class their awards. She was describing that person and, apparently, kids voted. Brandon got an award for being the best leader of the class. How awesome is that??

We took pictures with kids teachers' and we were on the way to start our summer. 

 Kyra with her aid - Mrs. Thomas.

 Mrs. Weimer and Brandon.

 4th and 2nd graders! Yahooooooo!

When we got home we had picnic lunch outside and chilled for a little bit. We drove to Harrisburg, stopped at Pop's work to say hello and went to ToysRUs and 2nd and Charles to get kids end of the year great reports cards awards. Kyra picked a big stuffed penguin and Brandon picked NHL video game. They both were very happy with them.
Summer is finally here!