Learning some sign language....sort of

The past few weeks, the kids have watched a TV series on PBS called Signing time. It's a simple education show, that involves teaching kids American Sign Language. It has Rachel, the Mom, teaching sign language, with the help of her daughter Leah, who is deaf, and nephew Alex who can hear. She goes through a series of signs throughout the thirty minute program, each episode based on different sets of signs, ex: school, home, family etc. etc. etc.

Gabryle has lately really gotten into the show and the past few days has started using some of the signs he has been watching. One sign particularly Gabryle has been using more than others. I will admit I don't spend the entire thirty minutes watching the show with the kids, and I now have found myself really wishing I had. I know I have picked up some of the sign language, but not as much as the kids.

We were in Wal-Mart tonight and Gabryle started showing us the sign he keeps on using the past few days. He holds his right hand out flat, palm up and then uses his left hand with his pointer finger, tapping his right hand. As far as I can tell, looking online at different websites, he is either signing Dance or Jump. He loves to dance, so if that what he is signing that doesn't surprise me. He loves to dance. We asked Kylie what she thinks it is since she has picked up the most from the show, and she believes he is also signing dance (she told us that before I started to even look up what the sign he is doing means).

I'll still try to find more images of sign language signs to see if I can figure something else out, but from now on I  believe I will start watching Signing time with a lot more attention than I previously have. If any of you have a suggestion as to what Gabryle is signing, I'm more than happy to know! The sign language he is learning will be a great asset to him later on. It will be great he knows how to sign, and it is especially helpful since he doesn't know all the words he needs too, to be able to express what he is wanting or needing from us.

It's also great for the girls to, too learn how to do sign language. Kylie so far has picked up the most out of all three of the kids. If you give her something to learn, she soaks it up like a sponge. It will be interesting if she uses the sign language at school also. If I figure out what Gabryle has been signing I'll make sure and put it up here that I finally actually figured out what he is telling us.

Till Next time!!

Parent Orientation

Well, Jerrod and I attended the girls parent orientation at school earlier this evening. We had Kylies first, which was pretty much a review from when Mackenzie was in pre-k. Kylie has the same teacher that Mackenzie had, which we are thrilled about. She is a great teacher, who has been teaching for nearly 20 years, and her teachers aide is a sweet lady who has been doing her job for about 10 years.  They both fell in love with Mackenzie, and are excited about having Kylie this year. (They are in a run for their money this year with Kylie!!) Not much changed with the pre-k, except for now they are not allowed to ride the bus. We had hoped they had not changed that cause we had hoped they would be able to ride the bus, but not this year.

Kylie will have homework once a week and of course her family homework project once a month. She will have pe twice a week,  then art, music and guidance once a week. These are their "special" classes. They have different centers in her class which the kids learn different things. There is a science center, math center, writing center, reading center and home living center. Kylie will love the home living since it has a kitchen and dolls and things like that.

Mackenzie's teacher seems to be a very energetic teacher that really cares about her students. She has been teaching for 17 years now and has kids of her own. She seems to love talking, which will match Kenzie's personality very well since she loves talking also. Kenzie was also glad to hear that one of the girls that was on her tball team with her over the summer is in her class again this year, and one of the other little boys from her kindergarten class that she is real close with. This year she will start with spelling, phonics, reading and math. They will go through 5 different reading books during the school year. Tonight we were sent home with a folder of booklets for us to help with the kids when they have homework.

Homework will be daily this year. Her reading textbook will be sent home every day and then of course the spelling word list and anything else that needs sent home to work on. Her teacher is also starting a new part of her class called "Mystery Reader". When possible she will have a parent, or family member come to the classroom, unannounced to all the students and read to the class. Before the reader comes in she will read a paper with a few bits of information about the reader and see if the class can try and guess who will be coming into the class.

This school year will be busy, but I'm sure we will all enjoy it. I'll help with one class party per girl, and whatever field trips I can help with. Kylie will only have one this year, and it will be at the end of the year. I'm not sure yet how many Mackenzie will take this year, but I'm sure whatever they will be, it will be enjoyable for her. I know the girls are looking forward to Thursday getting here and it can't get here fast enough. I'll for sure make another post Thursday evening on how the girls first day of school went.

Till Next Time!!

back to school nerves

Well, there are only five more days left of summer for the girls. They both will start school on Thursday at 8 am and get off at 3 in the afternoon. Mackenzie can not be more excited. She is so ready to find out which teacher she got and is hoping it is the one she likes the most, but I know whom ever she gets she will love it!

Kylie however has started to get a little bit nervous about the start of school. I think a lot of it is because Mackenzie has told her so much of what she needs to do and not do and how to do things. Jerrod and I are hoping she gets the same teacher that Mackenzie had in pre-k, but I am sure who ever she gets will be great. I've made sure to let Kylie know that she will enjoy school, and that she will have to get used to her routine with her class, but once she is used to going after a few days she will love it.

The one thing she is most excited about is that she got to get a new Barbie backpack and soon she will be able to buy beef jerky's and smencils (pencils made out of recycled paper that are scented. Heavily scented!) at school in the office like Mackenzie. Sometimes I think she is more excited than she is letting us see that she gets to start school. Even if she isn't and she is still nervous,  I think she will do great. She loves to learn, loves playing with other kids, and all around will be a good student. She might be shy the first few days but I know she will make many friends, just as Mackenzie has (who is little Miss. Popular at school. Even with the teachers!)

Till next time!

Almost there!

Today was enrollment day for the girls at school! It was convenient this year with them putting all of one family together in one file to fill out this year, and I think made the process go fairly smoothly. Took us all but an hour and a half. could have been worse I guess.

We got there at noon so Kylie and I could do her check with the speech pathologist. Kylie walked in and the pathologist was telling Kylie what we would and she would check her hearing and if needed send us to the doctor to have her ears looked at. First thing out of Kylie's mouth "I already got my stitches out, i don't need to go back to the doctor." I laughed at her for saying that. (for those who don't know she fell and hit her head back in April and had to have 7 stitches put in her forehead just above her left eyebrow.)

She went through the process handing things that she was supposed to hand over, repeat things she needed to repeat and doing the hearing test (which we eventually convinced her that the headphones although they looked weird, are like Mommy's in her i-pod.) She passed of course, and I never doubted she would  not pass. Kylie can explain some things and talk  better than some adults I've met. She can also talk your ear off if she wants to!

After we were done we drove on around to the activity building for the school system and went in and started the enrollment process with getting our "family packet" and getting the forms filled out. We then started in the line to make it down for verification we live in the school district and to find out what bus we would be on if we use the bus. (that is still a deciding factor due to not knowing if Kylie can ride yet or not) We turned in our paper work, went ahead and got the girls their school field trip shirts, turned in current shot records and then went through the cashier line to pay for the school supply fees, t-shirts and lunch money.

all in all I can say that it was much better than getting Kenzie enrolled last year in the school. The process was a lot simpler it seemed today and that was with a gym full of parents and students, ranging from pre-k through 12 grade. Mackenzie got to see a lot of her friends from last year, and some of her favorite teachers. Now all we will do is wait and see what teachers the girls get, go to parent orientation next week on Tuesday then start school Thursday of next week!! This has been a quick summer it seems, but I'm ready for the girls to be in school.

Till next time!!

Clothes Sorting

I gave all three kids a clothes basket this morning and had them all empty out completely their dressers and the things on hangers in the closets and had them bring them in the living room.

We went through each basket one at a time and had them try on the clothes and get what doesn't fit out of the way and into a "goodbye Box" so we can get them out of the house soon. I was honestly shocked to see how many clothes Kylie has that she can still wear. Out of all three kids she grows the slowest and can wear clothes the longest out of them all. Since she can do that, she gets pretty attached some some outfits more than others. (her favorite clothes right now are skirts and tank tops) She still has a lot of jeans that are to large for her to wear, that have been passed down from Mackenzie, and if she would grow a little faster she could wear them too! A lot of her problem too is that she is in between clothes sizes. She can wear the 4 or 5T but she can also wear the x-small in girls.

Mackenzie surprisingly can still wear the majority of the jeans she bought last winter. When she tried on her favorite pair, which is a pair of Wrangler Jeans, she was disappointed because she finally out grew them. I folded them up and put them up in Kylie's closet for when she can get big enough to wear them, and Mackenzie has decided we need to find her a few more pairs of Wranglers to wear with her boots and cowgirl hat. Her boots go best with the wranglers.

Gabryle still has a lot of clothes he can wear.  A lot of his were larger sizes than he needs, and he is finally now starting to grow into them. He is starting to be to where he is in between sizes, and I always hate it when the kids are in between sizes. Right now he is in between a 24 month and 2T. Some 24months fit better than 2t and some 2T fit better than 24 months. It just all depends on where they come from.

We're taking the kids to get a few new outfits for back to school, so it will  be interesting to see what the girls pick out since they get to choose their own clothes. If Jerrod or I try and pick it out there is no way they will wear it, unless it happens to be a dress for Kylie. I'll update on the shopping experience with all three kids clothes and shoe shopping once its complete!!!!

Till Next Time!!

Oh no! Not Justin Beiber!

Our house has been Justin Beibered due to our six year old!!!

We took the girls to spend some of their allowance the other day. They had been asking if they could use the money, and we figured it would give them something new to do during the day while it is so crazy hot outside, and it has helped.

On the way to Wal-Mart Kenzie made the decision to buy a Justin Beiber cd instead of a Hannah Montana cd. She has been wanting a cd of her own for a while now, and I guess the ones I gave her from my collection since I have them on my computer just weren't as good. (How can she not like Rascal Flatts? Weird Child!)  I took Mackenzie back to where they have the cds and I asked her for sure what she wanted and she said, "Justin Beiber" so I helped her search for his cds. We found him and was thrilled. She had two choices and ultimatly the deciding factor came down to which album had her favorite song "Baby." (which I hate that song, but its what she wants.) I handed her the cd and we went and found Jerrod, Kylie and Gabryle. They were in the Barbie area finding Kylie something new to get with her money too. (Kylie ultimately decided upon getting her Barbies a new dress that came with a necklace, shoes and purse and is very pretty.)

When we got home Jerrod helped Mackenzie plug her cd player back in and unwrap the cd and get it ready to play. (They are still a pain in the butt to unwrap. Makes me enjoy mp3's much more since  you don't have to unwrap them!)  She spent the rest of the evening in her room listening to her music and dancing around her room. It was cute watching her from the living room. She has gone to sleep the past few nights with the music on also. She says it helps her sleep at night, which wouldn't surprise me since I sleep better with music on also.

It actually hasn't been that bad with her new album. She knows if we can hear it in the living room it is way to loud, so she keeps it down to where it is just in her room. She does sing along with it, especially to the Baby song which is adorable. I will admit that. Pretty soon we will probably have her getting Justin Beiber posters to decorate her walls replacing all the horse posters she has, and she has already asked for the Justin beiber movie that is out, whatever it is about.

Maybe the Justin Beiber craze won't last too long and someone else a little better will come soon. Maybe she'll start wanting to listen to classic rock or different country artists.

Till Next Time!

Back to School preparations

The preparations for back to school have begun in our household. This the first year we will have two in school, so this year it is double the supplies, back to school shoes, and school fees. We have started getting them ready by going to bed at their normal bedtime for during the school year. Mackenzie is still not used to it, as she still sits up in bed, plays with her toy horse, or her DS when its not taken away. She has even figured out that she can sit up far enough in her bed to where she can watch the TV in the living room without us seeing her if I look around the corner. Kylie goes to bed and within 15 minutes will be asleep.


We finally got the school supply list the other day and Mackenzie has stopped her worrying because we didn't know what she needed yet to bring. It made her day when I told her that we got it a few days ago. This year yet again, all we have to take is cleaning supplies more or less. I like how the school does a supply fee for the pre-k through 2nd grade, that way all students have the same crayons, folders pencils etc, etc, etc. I bet it makes it easier on the teachers to not have their students complaining because someone else has a Hannah Montana pencil or something else like that.


We will go in the next few weeks and get some back to school outfits and new shoes for the girls, and of course Gabryle will get a few new outfits I am sure along with new shoes. We can't leave the little guy out! We have already started browsing through the selections of clothes for the girls, and Kylie is excited because she is on the borderline of being able to wear 5t clothes in the little girls, and the extra small size in the big girls clothes, so she can now wear a lot of the things like Mackenzie can wear. All she knows though, is that she would like her clothes to have some pink in them, and possibly Hello Kitty or Hannah Montana. Mackenzie thinks she should get some Justin Beiber and Hannah Montana clothing for her to wear. We shall see what they finally pick out when we do go to do our shopping. The only rule I gave the two, is they must not pick out the same shirt as one another. I already have trouble getting the right clothes to the right dresser between the two of them!!


I'm sure the transition once school starts will go smoothly with the two girls. Mackenzie will have no problem I'm sure with getting back used to getting up on time in the morning and getting ready. Kylie will have a little getting used to, but I think she will do great once we start! I'll make sure and keep you updated on that!!!


Till Next Time!!