2019-2020 School Year: Second Grade and Fourth Grade

Boys,

Summer flew by in a haze of pool days, sno-cones and playdates and somehow here we are again! Back to School! We usually start a bit sooner but we were having too much fun and we waited until the end of July to begin. Both of you have already completed the first units of your school year and are about three weeks into your curriculums. Both of you are more than ready for your grade levels and have had an easy transition back into school time.

Landon, this should technically be your first grade year age wise and maturity wise that fits in some regards. However, you completed a full year of first grade curriculum last year and have earned the right to call yourself a second grader. Not only that, but you are flying through your second grade curriculum easily and I can tell you are ready. I wish you'd let me call you by your age-level though because I'm not ready to make you sound older faster! But you were adamant that you are a second grader and so we'll go ahead and let the title stick since you've done the work to earn it. 

Ethan,

This year you have really stepped up to the plate time-management wise and are working hard at staying focused so that you can start school at 8 am and be done by noon. You recently discovered how much more you could get done in your afternoon between school and Taekwando when you buckle down instead of taking longer breaks! In fact, you were liking your early start so much that you tried to start before 6 am one day! We gave it a go but really Mommy works best when school doesn't start before 8 am so we had to make a rule on how early we could start. Trust me, you'll get a better Math lesson this way.

You boys keep me busy and not just during morning school-time! I love our audio books over lunch, board games in the afternoons and our early morning walks. I'm so thankful that we get to do life together!

Summer: Swimming with Friends

The past two weeks have been busily spent going to daily swim lessons and meeting up at the pool with your friends or as a family. You both have grown so much as swimmers over the past two weeks!

Ethan, I am so glad that you and Liam had the chance to take swim lessons together this year. I enjoyed watching the two of you cheer each other on, encouraging each other and confiding your fears in each other and then facing those fears head on. I feel like your experience was richer for it.

Ethan and his buddy Liam racing and swimming and being 9 years old

Landon, on the second to last day of swim lessons you had a breakthrough moment when swimming with your friend Arilyn and then your confidence grew and you were swimming all around the pool any chance you could get.

I am glad that you have close friends living in our neighborhood who you can meet up with at the pool or park or invite over for a last minute playdate!

A Trip to the Cat Kingdom

Ethan sending messages to "everyone in the Cat Kingdom" about a secret portal and hidden treasure.

King Landon ready to protect and defend the Kingdom

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Today we took the boys for a walk in the woods. We spent an hour and a half walking the trail and geocaching along the way. The boys declared it an "epic quest" and carried their cat tail "spears" that they collected along the way.
































The stopped everyone we met on the trail and asked if they wanted to join our "Epic Quest" and told them about their spears for protection and about the Cat Kingdom and got many smiles from the strangers.

Enchanted Tree

Ethan sat on a "throne" inside a evergreen tree. Landon found a banquet hall between a grove of tree branches and they found several signs of "bob cats and wolves" (not really) that they needed to protect us against. They also found several magical objects of protection in the form of stones.

I'm not sure if there is anything more magical than little boys on an adventure in the woods. Real life felt a little flat after a trip to the Cat Kingdom!

Clay Creations

It's fun to watch their different personalities shine in the way they approach their creativity. Landon likes to build buildings, environments, playsets, or artifacts. Ethan likes to create different creatures or action figures. Both have so much fun doing it.

Ethan made different creatures and figures

Landon built an environment for a cat figure to live.

Playdates with Stevie

Once school is in session, you boys usually are still able to get together for playdates with Stevie around 3-4 times a month. Y'all love having playdates (even if Gabi isn't available) and playtime usually revolves around cars, planes, dragons, and castles and at some point each time, play turns to Star Wars.

This particular day, y'all enjoyed visiting and fighting bad guys on multiple different planets and ships and each time I would change the color of our LED lightbulbs to reflect the colors of your new environment. Y'all had a blast!

I'm so glad that you three boys are friends!