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| Events |
| 4/3/2012 |
| Addison turns 4!!! |
| 12/22/2011 |
| Leave for Florida |
| 9/17/2011 |
| Austin's 6th birthday!!! |
| 8/5/2011 |
| Dusty and the boys here |
| 7/15/2011 |
| Set sail on The Disney Dream |
| 7/10/2011 |
| Leave for Florida |
| The Wancio Blog | |||
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| The school year is almost over. Addison only has 2 more weeks left and Austin has 4. Then, he will officially be a 'grader'. Wow! He had his last soccer game this past Saturday and he did score a goal. His first one of the season and second one of his career. We have enrolled him in a soccer camp this summer. It's like a 'real' soccer camp so I am curious to see what he's going to think. Then, next season they will have goalies. He really wants to play goalie and I am very interested to see how it goes. He had his last gymnastics meet as well. He was a level 1 this year and the coach wants to move them all up to level 3 for next year. That will be exciting to see the new, more difficult skills. But, they have a long way to go to get there. I am going to try and incorporate gymnastics at home into their summer routine. I'm also planning on working on memorization and penmanship with the both of them, phonics and reading with Addison, and have Austin read chapter books as well as more advanced math. I have all these plans, we'll see what actually gets accomplished. Addison has her end-of-the-year performance at school this week. And, of course, her tap recital is coming up. We are very excited about that. Poor girl has been dragged around to all of Austin's soccer games and gymnastics meets, I'm glad that she finally has something that we can all go to. Costumes are adorable, tap routine is cute, and, of course, she is the natural born performer so it's going to be awesome! She has also filled up her bead jar again and decided that she wanted to take a family trip to Chuck E. Cheese. So, that's what we did today. Spent three hours there and the kids had a blast! Makes my heart smile. Charlie's contract has ended so he is in between gigs right now. The downside being, obviously, the money. But the upside is that he is now free for a family vacation to San Antonio that I was wanting to go on. And, he is going to build a shed for our pool supplies/chairs/toys, etc. And, he wants to buy a new grill and build a grill structure. Plus, all of the other things that need to be done around the house. I'm excited and have already started my honey-do list. | |||
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| Happy Easter!!!! This Easter is a far cry from Easters past as we only had 2 egg hunts and they were both for Addison only. Usually we attend 4 or 5 for the kids. I guess that's how it goes as they get older. I did put some Easter treats and a toy in their Easter baskets. We also really try to concentrate on the real reason for the holiday which is Christ rising from the dead. I bake a Jesus cake (a cake shaped like a cross), that we have on Easter morning. We had resurrection rolls on Friday and talked about how He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again. We went to church. We are also going to watch a Veggie Tales Easter movie today. Austin understands, I think Addison mostly understands. Addison's party is over and was a success, the consignment sale is over (made almost $600), work has settled down a little big. Those were the biggest stressors that I had going on. We had our anniversary right before Addison's birthday. Now, my schedule is pretty clear so that I can get some stuff done around the house. Scrapbook, organizing, planning. Summer is approaching and I've got to work out everyone's camps schedules as well as vacations and trips. People coming here, us going there. I have decided that we are going to take a family trip to San Antonio this summer so I'm excited about that but have a lot of planning to do. Let's start with Addison. She is officially 4, now. Her birthday party went well. Snow White came and did a great job entertaining the kids. Mom and Aunt Dang cooked so we had a wonderful spread of food. The kids had cake and ice cream. They had fun playing outside and jumping on the trampoline afterwards. I think all the kids enjoyed themselves and that makes me happy because that's really the whole point. I want to switch gears now. I have mentioned before about how resilient Addison is and, she showed her stuff again. Right before her party she had to get a filling. Technically she was only 3 at the time, but even if she was 4, at that age the dentist usually has to use general anesthesia for the kids because they freak out. But no, not Addison. She was perfect! And, I mean seriously PERFECT! She was so good that the dentist was teary-eyed afterwards when she was commenting on how well Addison did. How she made her week and that she was such a special little girl. I'm telling you, Addison is awesome! So proud of her. As for Austin, nothing too exciting going on with him right now. He's got one more gymnastics meet of the season. Then, they'll have their team party after that. He's less than half way through the soccer season. School is going well, they are in their final semester which means he'll be an official first grader soon, YIKES! He's still my sweet, sensitive boy that is such a good big brother. Love him! I've also posted some pictures. 3 under Addison, 1 under Austin, 1 under Family, and 1 under Events. | |||
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| We are currently smack dab in the middle of spring break. Unfortunately, Charlie had to start going back on-site yesterday so he is not able to enjoy any spring break with us. We didn't have anything major planned, but if Charlie had been home we probably would have gone on a couple of outings. I say that but Addison has a fever and basically been napping all day. So, we may be stuck at home all of spring break. We'll see. I'm 95% done with getting ready for the consignment sale, YIPEE! That will free up a lot of my time so that I can start working on the 2008 scrapbook (yes, I am that far behind). BUT, I have already printed out all the pictures and organized them so now all I have to do is the fun part, putting the actual scrapbook together. AUSTIN MADE AIM!!!!! Remember that gifted program that I mentioned earlier where he had qualified to move on to the second phase of testing? Well, he passed the second phase as well. We are super, SUPER excited!! 9 out of the 100+ Kindergarteners qualified so, less than 10%. He has already had his first class and said he liked it. In Kindergarten it's only 1 hour a week and as they get older it increases. By the time they get to 6th grade, it's one whole day. We are very proud of him. He has also had another gymnastics meet. He improved on a couple of major things but, overall, had a rough meet. Soccer has started and he has already had his first game. He still needs to learn how to be more aggressive but, overall he did really, really well. When he is on his own with the ball, he's got the skills. But, when there is a group of kids around the ball, he hangs back. The coach has started to incorporate the sweeper position and Austin really wanted to play that. He did for a quarter of the game and did OK. Charlie and I can work more with him on defense since that's where he wants to be (he really wants to play goalie, but that's not until next year). As I mentioned above, Addison is sick. She had a fever one day last week and had to miss school as well. She is such a trooper. She doesn't complain or cry, she just kind of sits there and goes with the flow, even though she is not feeling well. Just like we learned with her hospital visit, that girl is resilient. A trait that is going to serve her well in life. Speaking of, she's growing up so fast and going to be 4 in a couple of weeks. I've been busy planning her party, Snow White is going to come by and entertain the kids. Can't wait! I have also been paying more attention to her writing and instead of having her just kind of doodle, actually having her write letters. She's not too shabby. I can freak out a little less, now. Last, but not least, I have posted tons of pictures. 2 under Addison, 4 under Austin, 1 under Events, 1 under Family, and 1 under Relatives. ENJOY!! | |||
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| Now February has progressed at a more normal pace. Charlie is still working from home but will be starting a new contract, that requires him to go on-site, in the middle of March. He going to sign up to be Watch Dog at Austin's school one more time before that. I have been all consumed with getting all the kids' old clothes, toys, books, etc. ready for the huge consignment sale that takes place in the middle of March. Charlie's been helping me some with that, too. So, over the President's Day weekend we went to Great Wolf Lodge. Since it is still cold outside, only the indoor part of the water park is open. To me, it was basically like Hawaiian Falls only indoors and way more expensive (you have to book a hotel room for the night). They do have a couple of other cute things that you can do there but it all costs extra. So, I'm not sure if it was worth the money for us. The kids had fun so it made us think about getting season passes to Hawaiian Falls this year. As for Austin, he had his first fund raiser at school. He called all the relatives and asked them to sponsor him in his 'Fun Run' to raise money for a shade structure for their playground. He ran the maximum number of laps and raised the most money in his class. They did a really good job with it. The Kindergarteners had a blast. I volunteered to help at the sixth grade run as well, they weren't as enthused. Soccer is starting again, same team. He has his first game this weekend. And, we finally sat down with him and have conquered tying his shoes. Addison did move up to the big girl gymnastics class and no, I did not say anything. She is the youngest and smallest one in there, by far. But, she is loving it. She is behind on some of her skills so I will be working with her some. She is a much more willing, compared to Austin, to practice gymnastics with me. Last week her school hosted 'Muffins with Moms' so I went up there and ate breakfast with her. 'Donuts with Dad' is in April. Because of Austin's birthday, he had an extra year of preschool (and actually went to their Kindergarten) before attending Kindergarten at the public school. He was more than prepared because he could already read and write. So, I am starting to freak out about Addison. I know we have a whole year and a half before she goes but I feel like she is not going to be ready. I can't remember exactly what Austin was doing when he was this age but I feel like I need to teach Addison to write by the end of this summer and then read by the end of next summer. Part of me knows that I am crazy but part of me is really freaking out. | |||
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| Hello, hello! For some reason, January has seemed to just creep by. And it's STILL not over. Not that I'm complaining, it's just gotten me all out of sorts for some reason. Maybe part of it is that Charlie has been home since the middle of January. Which, I am very excited about. He has had to do some work but he has also had some 'free' time to get some things done around the house. With him being home he was able to be Watch Dog at Austin's school. They were both very excited about that. It's where a dad is on campus for the day and rotates to various classrooms (including their child's), plays in PE, has lunchroom duty, works carpool, etc. He was also able to attend a special event at Addison's school. They had a little Olympics for the 3 year old classes. We both went. I helped out with the events and Charlie was able to rotate around with Addison and take pictures. And, with him home, I also made an overnight trip to J-B Weld last week. So, lots of advantages and fun to be had with him at home. I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that Addison was very close to filling up her bead jar and she, indeed, did it. She did want the Barbie and horse set from Kohl's but when we went there they were sold out (must have been more of a Christmas item). So, I gave her the choice of waiting and I would see if I could find it online or she could pick out something else. She picked out a zhu-zhu pet and a book (I let her get two things because they were so cheap and she didn't whine about the horse not being there, have I mentioned how resilient that girl is). Now, she is on her way to filling it up a second time. As for Austin, he filled his up today. For the longest time he said he was going to ask to go to LegoLand. Then, a couple of days ago, he said he wanted this specific Lego set (like $150, YIKES!). But today, out of the blue, when he actually filled it up, he said he wanted a Star Wars Wii game that one of his friends had. So, that's what we'll be doing. Austin has been quite the overachiever this month. He had his second gymnastics meet and improved on all of his scores (except for floor where he got confused and did the routine wrong). He even got 2 blue ribbons this time(the highest you can get). And, drum roll please, he scored high enough on the CogAT to move onto the second phase of testing. So, let me explain. CogAT is a cognitive abilities test that the give to all the Kindergarteners and 6th graders to see if they are 'gifted'. For AISD, they have to score at least a 97% or above on, at least, one of the three categories to qualify (verbal, quantitative, non-verbal). We knew he was really, really good with numbers so we thought that he would qualify but you never know. Anyway, now that he has qualified he moves on to the second phase of testing. They take another test, there is a parent and teacher survey that we (and his teacher) have to fill out, and then there is some writing thing. If he 'passes' the those things as well, he will be chosen for the AIM program. Which, then, they are in for 'life'. They get pulled out of class to go to their AIM class for special lessons and other really neat and extra things. Even when they move on to middle school and high school, they still carry that 'gifted' label with them and have access to special classes and opportunities. We are very excited and will know whether or not he got in at the beginning of March. I'll keep you posted. As for Addison. Nothing too exciting going on with her. She has started learning her tap routine for the recital. The theme is radio and their class is dancing to 'Peppermint Twist'. It's an older song. I had never heard of it but Charlie had. Their costumes came in and they are super cute. Can't wait. The recital is in May. School is going good, gymnastics is going good. She has been at the gym with us when the team girls were doing their floor routines and she dances to the music. She asked when she is going to move up to the big girls class. Soon, I do believe. I’m not sure what the age requirement is. I want to talk to the coach but I don't want to be THAT parent, so we'll see. | |||