on december 21st, two entire weeks of all my babes home full time seemed like a blissfully long and welcome idea. now, on january 3rd, it seems like not nearly long enough.
there are definetly moments when the whining reaches new heights and the boys clamor to play the wii and the house is a disaster and suddenly school seems so far away. but mostly, i am treasuring the extra time with my adorables. one amazing benefit of sending my children to school is that the burden does not rest solely on me to educate them. therefore our breaks and vacations can be saturated with play and fun with a little educationalness sprinkled in.
here are a few of the things i best loved this break:
1. the new nest. it is as awesome as the typical sat night creation, but is located in our room and occupied all break. both boys are set up on the floor of our room, right next our bed. i love waking up and seeing those beautiful faces all snuggled. even harv has joined the boys on the floor the last couple nights. not my choice...
2. gaming. the boys got some really fun games this christmas. and they are old enough to play competitively. so much time has been spent playing sorry and spot it. we laugh and play and make some cute memories. like today when bear bear was attempting to say sea lion and lost the power of speech in the heat of the moment. he kept repeating "see! see! see! o, i cant say it!" then he dissolved in a fit of giggles as did maxer and me.
3. sissie days. kels was home for a few days and i so enjoyed catching up with my baby sis. even though we talk frequently, long distance relaitonships are hard. then, beans took me on a sister day involving mani's, pedi's, lunch, and twilight. bliss. on new years day, we bowled with meg and aust, and alex and courtney. meg and aust then hosted a pizza party at their cute new house. i am so blessed by dear sibs whom love me and my fam so well.
4. barn parties. we have been utilizing the new barn for festivities and have found it a perfect place to party! we even dragged some christmas decor in there.
5. puzzle time. brad bought a 300 piece puzzle for the fam. i totes doubted that we could handle that extreme of a project. i was absolutely mistaken. we had so much fun creating this puzzle. maxer was amazing. he was connecting pieces left and right and high fiving the whole time. i love that even though he is huge, he is still a little boy, not repsectful of personal space and sneakin his way in wherever he wants to be. bear bear preferred to have me locate some pieces that went together and then pointing them out to him. otherwise, his interest waned quickly. ayla jo continously doled out teensy tiny puppies to all participants.
6. the slow pace. wow. we really snapped right back into the summertime schedule. sleeping in, jammies all day, soaking in each other's presence. it felt so beautiful. minimal agendas were maximum enjoyement. never once did my children say bored. love that
7. the announcement of the healthy howard triplets due this summer and the birth of beautiful baby boy sawyer grassmid. god is so good and his mercies abound in these new and precious lives! much prayer covers both of these sweet fams.
today i dropped off my boys at school again to start up our schoolday routine. as i watched their excitment mounting during the hectic morning of teethbrushing and mitten locating, i was thankful for schooldays too. both were eager to see their beloved teachers and friends. and absence surely makes the heart grow fonder. so excited to see my boys again and gather my little fam around me tonight knowing the very best part of christmas break, celebrating the presence of christ in our lives, icontinues every day we live in communion with Him.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
2013
happy new year!
we have arrived people. 2013 is here and with it comes blessings and miracles mercies untold. as we were driving to our traditional siblings bowling new year's day adventure yesterday, brad and i were discussing that new years day is a strange holiday. the beautiful reminder tucked within the time off work and the opening of a new calendar is the anticipation for the works god will do in our lives in the coming year. looking back we can see his hand in 2012, and we can hope and have faith that he will remain beside us in 2013, and that promise is worthy of a celebration.
christmas break has brought a lot of family time together. that is my fave. i cannot get enough of my hubs and our three babes. to have them all around more is literally the manifest of my hearts' contentment. though some of the days have been spent healing from various illnesses, the majority have been spent reading stories, eating good food, partying for jesus, playing with wii and lots of teensy tiny puppies, and nesting.
this year, instead of making a new years resolution that i will promptly fail and soon after forget about, i will be intentionally praying for my fam. i chose a verse for each of my beloveds and will be praying that over them for a year. i am so excited to see how god will answer these prayers in the lives of my husband and children.
for brad, "let the beauty of the lord our god be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us, yes establish the work of our hands" psalm 90:17
brad continues to be our sole provider, financing our fun and our food alone. that is a big burden that sometimes weighs heavily on his shoulders. the work of fatherhood is also a daunting task as brad strives to provide for the adorables spiritual and emotional needs as well. i pray that he finds peace and release as he works each day unto the lord.
for max, "because he has set his love upon Me, therefore i will deliver him; i will set him on high, because he has known My name" psalm 91:14
maxer is a smart boy, he has lots of knowledge about jesus and the bible. this year i pray that max really knows jesus as his savior and friend.
for wes, "for god gave us not a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self control" 2 timothy 1:7
bear is filled with courage and adventure and power and passion. my prayer is that he begins to utilize his spirit of self control. because wow.
for ayla jo, "now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit" romans 15:13
baby blue is such a sweet girl, albeit sassy at times. i pray that her beautiful childhood innocence be filled with hope and joy straight from the source.
i am often overwhelmed with feelings that i am not doing enough with this precious time with my fam. we are at such an amazing place as a fam, the adorables growing and gaining in independence but still considering their daddy and mommy as their best best friends. i dont want to waste or miss a moment. that is a lot of pressure, so i intend to cover them all in prayer, one of the most powerful resources i have as a mom and as daughter of the king.
lord jesus, i surrender to you 2013. may we seek you hard this year, relying on you for our everything with the sure knowledge that you are enough. may your word prevail over our family lord as we strive to bring glory to your name.
amen
we have arrived people. 2013 is here and with it comes blessings and miracles mercies untold. as we were driving to our traditional siblings bowling new year's day adventure yesterday, brad and i were discussing that new years day is a strange holiday. the beautiful reminder tucked within the time off work and the opening of a new calendar is the anticipation for the works god will do in our lives in the coming year. looking back we can see his hand in 2012, and we can hope and have faith that he will remain beside us in 2013, and that promise is worthy of a celebration.
christmas break has brought a lot of family time together. that is my fave. i cannot get enough of my hubs and our three babes. to have them all around more is literally the manifest of my hearts' contentment. though some of the days have been spent healing from various illnesses, the majority have been spent reading stories, eating good food, partying for jesus, playing with wii and lots of teensy tiny puppies, and nesting.
this year, instead of making a new years resolution that i will promptly fail and soon after forget about, i will be intentionally praying for my fam. i chose a verse for each of my beloveds and will be praying that over them for a year. i am so excited to see how god will answer these prayers in the lives of my husband and children.
for brad, "let the beauty of the lord our god be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us, yes establish the work of our hands" psalm 90:17
brad continues to be our sole provider, financing our fun and our food alone. that is a big burden that sometimes weighs heavily on his shoulders. the work of fatherhood is also a daunting task as brad strives to provide for the adorables spiritual and emotional needs as well. i pray that he finds peace and release as he works each day unto the lord.
for max, "because he has set his love upon Me, therefore i will deliver him; i will set him on high, because he has known My name" psalm 91:14
maxer is a smart boy, he has lots of knowledge about jesus and the bible. this year i pray that max really knows jesus as his savior and friend.
for wes, "for god gave us not a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self control" 2 timothy 1:7
bear is filled with courage and adventure and power and passion. my prayer is that he begins to utilize his spirit of self control. because wow.
for ayla jo, "now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit" romans 15:13
baby blue is such a sweet girl, albeit sassy at times. i pray that her beautiful childhood innocence be filled with hope and joy straight from the source.
i am often overwhelmed with feelings that i am not doing enough with this precious time with my fam. we are at such an amazing place as a fam, the adorables growing and gaining in independence but still considering their daddy and mommy as their best best friends. i dont want to waste or miss a moment. that is a lot of pressure, so i intend to cover them all in prayer, one of the most powerful resources i have as a mom and as daughter of the king.
lord jesus, i surrender to you 2013. may we seek you hard this year, relying on you for our everything with the sure knowledge that you are enough. may your word prevail over our family lord as we strive to bring glory to your name.
amen
Monday, December 3, 2012
6
maxwell alan meiste is now a 6 year old big boy.
what a momentous occassion, for 6 years ago, he made me a mama. i am so incredibley thankful for the precious gift of my eldest son. it is my absolute privelege to be his mom, and i pray daily that i am doing a worthy job to equip him and glorify the giver of this perfect give.
last night we had the final birthday celebration for maxer. i adore birthday parties for my adorables. not because i give amazingly themed parties, or because i am a hostest with the mostest. quite the contrary. last night we had jets pizza. though i did serve some really beautiful rainbow jello and these delish lofthouse sugar cookie bars.
the reason i love birthday parties so much is the opportunity to be sorrounded by peeps that cherish him alongside of me. the chance to gift max with good things we think he will enjoy. to concentrate our love and thanksgiving for my son, to take an evening to honor him and appreciate him collectively.
for maxwell alan, you are loved, son. you thoughtfulness abounds. yesterday, you used your blue tickets (earned each day for good behaviour at school) to purchase a crazy straw for weston. you love your little sibs, and i love watching you interact with them. you are a hard worker, at school and at home whether doing projects or outdoors work. you are appreciative. this thanksgiving you told us you were the most thankful for a daddy that works so hard with the chickens so we can live in our house and do fun things. (bear was most thankful for monster trucks, and ayla jo was most thankful for ponies). you still look forward to nest nights on saturday and are the only faithful participant for the entire night. you are a very good friend, as is evidenced by the stories and vast number of kindergarteners that say goodbye and hello each day at school. on your birthday, dakota's mom sent me a text of dakota holding a sign wishing you a happy birthday. i cannot believe you are receiving texts already...
and max, the thing i am most proud of, you love jesus. you always tell me our little saying in the mornings, mommy loves you and jesus is in your heart. as christmas approaches, you are committed to remembering that we are celebrating jesus' birthday, not just presents. i pray that you and jesus continue to build a real and strong relationship together. i pray thatdaddy and i offer you an example of what it looks like to live for god's glory. i pray that we make jesus' happy with the way we raise you. i praise the lord for you my son.
thank you jesus for this sweet boy. you have given us much in this adorable boy, may we love and raise him with your love.
what a momentous occassion, for 6 years ago, he made me a mama. i am so incredibley thankful for the precious gift of my eldest son. it is my absolute privelege to be his mom, and i pray daily that i am doing a worthy job to equip him and glorify the giver of this perfect give.
last night we had the final birthday celebration for maxer. i adore birthday parties for my adorables. not because i give amazingly themed parties, or because i am a hostest with the mostest. quite the contrary. last night we had jets pizza. though i did serve some really beautiful rainbow jello and these delish lofthouse sugar cookie bars.
the reason i love birthday parties so much is the opportunity to be sorrounded by peeps that cherish him alongside of me. the chance to gift max with good things we think he will enjoy. to concentrate our love and thanksgiving for my son, to take an evening to honor him and appreciate him collectively.
for maxwell alan, you are loved, son. you thoughtfulness abounds. yesterday, you used your blue tickets (earned each day for good behaviour at school) to purchase a crazy straw for weston. you love your little sibs, and i love watching you interact with them. you are a hard worker, at school and at home whether doing projects or outdoors work. you are appreciative. this thanksgiving you told us you were the most thankful for a daddy that works so hard with the chickens so we can live in our house and do fun things. (bear was most thankful for monster trucks, and ayla jo was most thankful for ponies). you still look forward to nest nights on saturday and are the only faithful participant for the entire night. you are a very good friend, as is evidenced by the stories and vast number of kindergarteners that say goodbye and hello each day at school. on your birthday, dakota's mom sent me a text of dakota holding a sign wishing you a happy birthday. i cannot believe you are receiving texts already...
and max, the thing i am most proud of, you love jesus. you always tell me our little saying in the mornings, mommy loves you and jesus is in your heart. as christmas approaches, you are committed to remembering that we are celebrating jesus' birthday, not just presents. i pray that you and jesus continue to build a real and strong relationship together. i pray thatdaddy and i offer you an example of what it looks like to live for god's glory. i pray that we make jesus' happy with the way we raise you. i praise the lord for you my son.
thank you jesus for this sweet boy. you have given us much in this adorable boy, may we love and raise him with your love.
brave
this morning as i rolled into sandy view with minutes to spare before the bell rang, i parked the new van glancing anxiously at the new alert on the dashboard when maxer rocked my world with these words
i think i am just going to walk in by myself.
what?!
yeah, you can tell me you love me and jesus is in my heart in the van.
what?!
yeah mom, i am brave
o, yes you are you 6 year old!!
also brave is bear bear.
he poops in the dark. complete blackness in the bathroom, but there he is pooping. and he poops naked. so i just walked by the bathroom to put some shoes in ayla jo's room to find a naked son pooping in the dark.
my world is exciting for sure.
baby blue is a little different than her brothers. cupcake is super frightened of certain parts in movies the boys never were fazed. she also is scared to step over the threshold of the elevator, pointing to the crack and screaming monsters. darling gets frightful at night sometimes calling out and telling me scary monsters. aw, i am happy to rescue the little prinpress.
i think i am just going to walk in by myself.
what?!
yeah, you can tell me you love me and jesus is in my heart in the van.
what?!
yeah mom, i am brave
o, yes you are you 6 year old!!
also brave is bear bear.
he poops in the dark. complete blackness in the bathroom, but there he is pooping. and he poops naked. so i just walked by the bathroom to put some shoes in ayla jo's room to find a naked son pooping in the dark.
my world is exciting for sure.
baby blue is a little different than her brothers. cupcake is super frightened of certain parts in movies the boys never were fazed. she also is scared to step over the threshold of the elevator, pointing to the crack and screaming monsters. darling gets frightful at night sometimes calling out and telling me scary monsters. aw, i am happy to rescue the little prinpress.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
election day
what a privelege it is to live in a country that gives its citizens the power to choose our leader. this morning, as the adorables were up way before the sun and we had some extra time before school started, i attmepted to teach the babes about the land of the free and the home of the brave.
that was an enormous undertaking for the four of us, but i think we made some notable progress: everyone wore red, white and blue in some form. max requested green and white for the spartans flag. i took that opportunity to launch into a lecture about old glory at which point max told me he changed seats at school and now he sits by matthew. and matthew puked at school yesterday. dont worry, he plugged his nose...
so, i gracefully guided the children into a little lesson about voting. maxwell, ever full of information told me that mrs. pitcher has a boat. at this point i gave up and just had the darlings repeat after me the bible verse for the week.
"every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord"
whenever i paused after jesus christ is... bear says IN. and i say, in? like in what? my heart shouts weston. okay, that is also an acceptabe answer ;) love that bear bear
then we prayed all together, for our naiton- that we strive to be a nation demonstrative that our true leader is the lord. my fearful heart takes comfort in knowing that even if people succeed in taking god's name out of every legality, he will not be moved.
we prayed for the citizens, that they will exercise this right to vote and do so with the responsibility such a task warrants.
we prayed for the leaders of the country, that they will use their power for god's glory.
at this point, bear said he thought we should just sing god our father next time as this prayer was quite lengthy.
with this sort of inspirational beginning to the day, i knew big things were in store for the meiste's.
next on the list of amazing happenings, we took the new veen. the ride was beautiful and smooth, the seats were toasty warm, and there was dvd magic. then somehow the dvd got stuck inside the player... not sure where to go from here. we took the old veen to pick max up from school. still just more comfortable breaking that one.
onto the polls. i was number 193, which is remarkable considering the polls had only been open for 2 hours. bear bear and ayla jo were very well behaved playing the racecar game on my phone sitting on the floor near my chair. and the best part, on the way out, we literally almost ran into val. the kids were racing down the ramp and she was awaiting us at the bottom. aw, loved that.
when maxer came home from school, we looked through some of his papers and came across an article about the election. he proudly told me he chose mitt romney. when i asked why, max told me it was because mitt looked like mr john (john zoet, brads boss). wise boy.
in the world of baby blue, she voted to wear jammies all afternoon.
whatever makes you happy cupcake! she also went from noon till almost 3 without a diaper, including a nap. but she woke up saying she leaked, so i cheered and told her she was peeing and yeah, lets go on the potty! she shrieked and kicked and requested a diaper. diapers it is.
go america!
that was an enormous undertaking for the four of us, but i think we made some notable progress: everyone wore red, white and blue in some form. max requested green and white for the spartans flag. i took that opportunity to launch into a lecture about old glory at which point max told me he changed seats at school and now he sits by matthew. and matthew puked at school yesterday. dont worry, he plugged his nose...
so, i gracefully guided the children into a little lesson about voting. maxwell, ever full of information told me that mrs. pitcher has a boat. at this point i gave up and just had the darlings repeat after me the bible verse for the week.
"every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord"
whenever i paused after jesus christ is... bear says IN. and i say, in? like in what? my heart shouts weston. okay, that is also an acceptabe answer ;) love that bear bear
then we prayed all together, for our naiton- that we strive to be a nation demonstrative that our true leader is the lord. my fearful heart takes comfort in knowing that even if people succeed in taking god's name out of every legality, he will not be moved.
we prayed for the citizens, that they will exercise this right to vote and do so with the responsibility such a task warrants.
we prayed for the leaders of the country, that they will use their power for god's glory.
at this point, bear said he thought we should just sing god our father next time as this prayer was quite lengthy.
with this sort of inspirational beginning to the day, i knew big things were in store for the meiste's.
next on the list of amazing happenings, we took the new veen. the ride was beautiful and smooth, the seats were toasty warm, and there was dvd magic. then somehow the dvd got stuck inside the player... not sure where to go from here. we took the old veen to pick max up from school. still just more comfortable breaking that one.
onto the polls. i was number 193, which is remarkable considering the polls had only been open for 2 hours. bear bear and ayla jo were very well behaved playing the racecar game on my phone sitting on the floor near my chair. and the best part, on the way out, we literally almost ran into val. the kids were racing down the ramp and she was awaiting us at the bottom. aw, loved that.
when maxer came home from school, we looked through some of his papers and came across an article about the election. he proudly told me he chose mitt romney. when i asked why, max told me it was because mitt looked like mr john (john zoet, brads boss). wise boy.
in the world of baby blue, she voted to wear jammies all afternoon.
whatever makes you happy cupcake! she also went from noon till almost 3 without a diaper, including a nap. but she woke up saying she leaked, so i cheered and told her she was peeing and yeah, lets go on the potty! she shrieked and kicked and requested a diaper. diapers it is.
go america!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
october 30
october 30th was a good day. i took the adorables to aldi after dropping off maxer at school. after the groceries were unpacked and lunch was served, bear bear and i did a spooky skeleton project involving construction paper and noodles. then i made some chicken noodle casserole, fruit pizza and peanut butter brownies for the fam. brad worked rather late in the pig coop fixing a heater, but was able to join us for the delicious dinner. as the night was gray and chilly, we spent the latter portion of the evening telling scary stories in the fort the boys made behind the couch. (brad started it off with a story about a camel named max, a donkey named weston and a beautiful princess named ayla. then the boys told stories that strarted the same way. not so scary as they were adorable)
once the babes were all tucked for the night, brad and i picked up a bit and then enjoyed the warmth of the down comforter we brought down from the storage room upstairs.
october 30th held beauty and peace and contentment.
only because of another october 30th eight years ago. that day i went to class, wrote some papers, spent some time on looking my best, and met the man who forever changed my life.
october 30th marked eight years since brad and i's blind date. i was living with the schoonvelds at the time and they persuaded me to join them and their friends for dinner at tgi fridays to meet their friend's brother. i felt a bit obligated as i was living with them free of charge, but i respected their opinion so i agreed.
when 7 rolled in i opened their front door to reveal a dashingly handsome farmer with a big and loud red truck. not knowing how to respond, i gave brad a tour of the schoonveld's home and started talking about anything and everything. i remember complimenting brad on his truck, and telling him his beard worked for him. o embarassing. the night was super fun and culminated in me asking brad if he would call if i gave him my number. poor man did not have a chance to say practically anything as is evidenced by the fact that i offered my number before he could ask.
for all the awkwardness of that night, there was some profound goodness. after knowing of each other for only 5 months, brad proposed. 3 months later we were wed.
and throughout my day,
as i repeatedly set up the princess bowling set for my son and daughter to knock down,
as i attempted the first french braid in ayla jo's hair,
as i picked up my grinning kindergartener from school,
as i stopped in at my soon to be neighbor's house,
as i cleaned up our dinner dishes,
i sent silent prayers of thanksgiving for the blind date that brought me here.
and as i fell asleep, i had the same feelings of blissful anticipation as i did october 30th 8 years ago.
thank you brad for making my life so exciting and loving and awesome.
thank you jesus, for uniting us for always.
once the babes were all tucked for the night, brad and i picked up a bit and then enjoyed the warmth of the down comforter we brought down from the storage room upstairs.
october 30th held beauty and peace and contentment.
only because of another october 30th eight years ago. that day i went to class, wrote some papers, spent some time on looking my best, and met the man who forever changed my life.
october 30th marked eight years since brad and i's blind date. i was living with the schoonvelds at the time and they persuaded me to join them and their friends for dinner at tgi fridays to meet their friend's brother. i felt a bit obligated as i was living with them free of charge, but i respected their opinion so i agreed.
when 7 rolled in i opened their front door to reveal a dashingly handsome farmer with a big and loud red truck. not knowing how to respond, i gave brad a tour of the schoonveld's home and started talking about anything and everything. i remember complimenting brad on his truck, and telling him his beard worked for him. o embarassing. the night was super fun and culminated in me asking brad if he would call if i gave him my number. poor man did not have a chance to say practically anything as is evidenced by the fact that i offered my number before he could ask.
for all the awkwardness of that night, there was some profound goodness. after knowing of each other for only 5 months, brad proposed. 3 months later we were wed.
and throughout my day,
as i repeatedly set up the princess bowling set for my son and daughter to knock down,
as i attempted the first french braid in ayla jo's hair,
as i picked up my grinning kindergartener from school,
as i stopped in at my soon to be neighbor's house,
as i cleaned up our dinner dishes,
i sent silent prayers of thanksgiving for the blind date that brought me here.
and as i fell asleep, i had the same feelings of blissful anticipation as i did october 30th 8 years ago.
thank you brad for making my life so exciting and loving and awesome.
thank you jesus, for uniting us for always.
conferences
this week was full of parent teacher conferences. the opportunity to speak with both max's teacher and bear bear's teacher were much anticipated for me. so much happens outside of my little world with the adorables. for max, school is his main stay for his days, he spends most of his time there during the week. i know and love our time spent together, but those hours at school remain a mystery despite my most insightful and persistent detective work.
brad and i began the conferences tour on monday evening with a 5:20 date with mrs. pitcher. i was seriously excited. probs no less than four moms have come up to me since school began telling me that their son/daughter talks exclusively about maxer. with good stories. max always has a smile when i pick him up from school and does give me a detail or two from his days. so i had a great feeling that mrs. pitcher would only have goodness to share about my big boy.
bopa came to watch the adorables and brad and i arrived right on time to be whisked into the world of kindergarten. amidst the tiny tables and mini chairs, mrs. pitcher unfolded the "i'm not lion, max's been tryin" book housing the efforts of our boy. as we hungrily looked through paper after paper, we discovered max is doing great academically. but even more awesome is that he is doing superb behaviourally. mrs pitcher stated he is loving and respectful to everyone. hooray max! recently, mrs pitcher started rewarding the kids with a blue ticket for every day they did not need to move their clip (her classroom management technique). max has earned a ticket every day and already got to choose a prize for saving up 5 ticks.
my other fave part was looking at some of the artwork. when asked to draw a person, maxer did. he drew brad, as is evidenced by the fact that the man had side hair around his head but not on top. precious.
our time with mrs. pitcher ended much to soon. brad voiced his opinion that perhaps i mentioned the fact that i was a kindergarten teacher for my student teaching much to frequently. that might be true. things get a little wild when i am excited or anxious and talking.
we returned home beyond proud and poured on the praise to max. he responded, "wow, i did not know how happy you guys were gonna be!" love that little man
then, on thursday morning, bradley and i got to attend bear bear's conferences. i was as apprehensive about this meeting as i was confident in maxwell's. weston is every bit as amazing as his big bro. his behaviour just varries drastically from max's, which is quite cool to witness when it does not manifest itself in hysterics because he does not want to wear pants to school, only shorts, in the 38 degree weather.
i think brad had similar concerns about bear bear's school experiences so he was able to arrange his work schedule so he could accompany me in a chat with miss brittany. turns out, our trepidation was unneccessary. wes is doing awesome in school, both academically and with his action and attitudes. miss brittany told us wes is eager to answer questions, plays with several different groups of children, and listens to directions the first time. brad literally asked if she was sure this is weston meiste.
congrats wes! we were equally proud of this little pumpkin. as a reward, max got a darling (in a manly, farmer way) john deere camo jacket and weston got a spiderman halloween costume. even though those were both things i would have purchased anyway out of necessity, it was perfect to gift the boys' something special for their hard work at school.
we spend thursday afternoon celebrating at tunnel park basking in the suns warm glow, working on some excavating, sand sledding, and enjoying one another's company.
so blessed are we!
brad and i began the conferences tour on monday evening with a 5:20 date with mrs. pitcher. i was seriously excited. probs no less than four moms have come up to me since school began telling me that their son/daughter talks exclusively about maxer. with good stories. max always has a smile when i pick him up from school and does give me a detail or two from his days. so i had a great feeling that mrs. pitcher would only have goodness to share about my big boy.
bopa came to watch the adorables and brad and i arrived right on time to be whisked into the world of kindergarten. amidst the tiny tables and mini chairs, mrs. pitcher unfolded the "i'm not lion, max's been tryin" book housing the efforts of our boy. as we hungrily looked through paper after paper, we discovered max is doing great academically. but even more awesome is that he is doing superb behaviourally. mrs pitcher stated he is loving and respectful to everyone. hooray max! recently, mrs pitcher started rewarding the kids with a blue ticket for every day they did not need to move their clip (her classroom management technique). max has earned a ticket every day and already got to choose a prize for saving up 5 ticks.
my other fave part was looking at some of the artwork. when asked to draw a person, maxer did. he drew brad, as is evidenced by the fact that the man had side hair around his head but not on top. precious.
our time with mrs. pitcher ended much to soon. brad voiced his opinion that perhaps i mentioned the fact that i was a kindergarten teacher for my student teaching much to frequently. that might be true. things get a little wild when i am excited or anxious and talking.
we returned home beyond proud and poured on the praise to max. he responded, "wow, i did not know how happy you guys were gonna be!" love that little man
then, on thursday morning, bradley and i got to attend bear bear's conferences. i was as apprehensive about this meeting as i was confident in maxwell's. weston is every bit as amazing as his big bro. his behaviour just varries drastically from max's, which is quite cool to witness when it does not manifest itself in hysterics because he does not want to wear pants to school, only shorts, in the 38 degree weather.
i think brad had similar concerns about bear bear's school experiences so he was able to arrange his work schedule so he could accompany me in a chat with miss brittany. turns out, our trepidation was unneccessary. wes is doing awesome in school, both academically and with his action and attitudes. miss brittany told us wes is eager to answer questions, plays with several different groups of children, and listens to directions the first time. brad literally asked if she was sure this is weston meiste.
congrats wes! we were equally proud of this little pumpkin. as a reward, max got a darling (in a manly, farmer way) john deere camo jacket and weston got a spiderman halloween costume. even though those were both things i would have purchased anyway out of necessity, it was perfect to gift the boys' something special for their hard work at school.
we spend thursday afternoon celebrating at tunnel park basking in the suns warm glow, working on some excavating, sand sledding, and enjoying one another's company.
so blessed are we!
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