Open House- show us whatcha got!

Hunter and Paige both had a rescheduled open house last night, since our previous one was snowed out. I remember Paige's first kindergarten open house- I was amazed at the transformation in her journal writing, science notebook, and all of her drawings from the beginning of the school year until 3/4 of the way through.

Hunter walked in his kindergarten room, without much hesitation, and showed us all of his journals and notebooks.  I have to say...I was pleasantly surprised at his growth.

of course, we had some McQueen references...

His teacher doesn't help with ideas or spelling in journals- this says, "I played with JP.  We played with cars."

"I made a snowman and played in the snow."  It went from black and white drawings to skin and colored clothing.

When he showed us this one, he said, "That's you, Paige!" It says, "I played in the snow with Paige."

He showed me all of his scavenger hunt items, his favorite daily 5, his favorite center, his stories, his art in the library, his green eggs chart (he was not surprisingly on the "no" column)...

this year I want to learn to make my bed...good one, H!

 and then grabbed my camera, and whispered in my ear that he wanted to take a picture with Ms. H.  Check out that smile!

We then went to Paige's classroom, after seeing his parrot sculpture (which she dropped and shattered to pieces...broke my heart.  I hot glued it back the best I could today:( ).

 Her group studied the respiratory system, which was so interesting for Paige.  She asked many questions about being a preemie, being on oxygen, how to protect the respiratory system...

 and then she showed us her "brain table," where they can use dry erase markers to draw/ write out their ideas...

 And some of her "artwork..."

Such a fun time, and even though there were overwhelming crowds of people in the hallways, classrooms, gymnasiums, and cafeterias, Hunter did amazing.  He asked for my phone one time, but after saying no he was fine.  He grabbed my shirt several times and stretched it out to my knees, but I can handle that over a hit any day.

Today, I had Peyton do his own little open house while the bigs were in school:

He needed a LOT of help and direction, but the O and T were on his own

Hunter's teacher took these pictures from their Dr. Seuss week and their green eggs day:

 And both of my kids were the artists of the day!

Both Hunter and Peyton have been doing fine since Monday.  Thank you for your prayers!  Hunter's first week post-IVIG has been smooth so far...I have had to wake him 2/3 days (and he was NOT happy about it), but he has had a positive temperament and has handled "no" quite well.  

Looking back at all of his growth since September, I am continually amazed by what this boy has accomplished.  Granted, we were blessed with a strong, kind, and supportive team of teachers and professionals, but his intrinsic motivation to succeed and please has surfaced.  He handed me another Valentine today, a little heart he cut out for me in free choice time, and when he got in the car after school, told us that he and another friend sang "Jingle Bells" in art... "and Mommy, the WHOLE class joined in!"  

Yes, I know we are four months past Christmas, but you guessed where my check mark went on that one:

Win.