The Easter Bunny is coming to Mason's school on Saturday, so we had to make some eggs. There are 30 very colorful fingers around here.

Another art project, proudly displayed by Kenzie.



Mason then asked me if he could show me his. He said, "bring your camera." He wasn't exactly focused on the butterfly, no surprise.

It's raining and we all have the day off today, so Cindy is organizing one art project after another.

Mason brought me down this picture. He explained to me the cookies on the plate (on the left). There's a red chocolate chip cookie, a black one, and an orange one. Then (in the middle) there's a kite. Then (on the right) there's a frog with spots. Oh, and there's flowers in between the kite and the frog too. If you look close enough you can see the detail, even the frog's toes!



Then Kenzie brought me hers.

We went to Tia Jo's birthday bash this weekend in Tacoma. With Lauren's influence, I was persuaded to tackle a new hairstyle for Kenzie...two French braids. She looked so cute, and about 2 years older. (P.S., Randy, I figured out how to steal your pictures...thanks.)

After I posted about Mason's run in with the 2x4 in Kenzie's hand (Shiner #005), we all went to bed. I had looked in his eyes to make sure I saw no signs of a concussion, he seemed alert and happy--other than getting knocked on the side of the head and having a headache.

At about 11:30 he tried to make it into the bathroom, but puked. He puked! Oh no, could that be...he does have a concussion?? We should call a nurse to make sure we shouldn't be alarmed. I tried to convince her that he was behaving fine, but we all agreed the signs were too close together, so off he goes to Children's.

Four hours later he's home again. But he has the Flu. Nice timing.

We had a conference with Mason's teachers. Verbally we heard loud and clear that he's very social, well adjusted and "mischievous." They also wrote a long letter. Here are snippets from it:

Mason is a bright-eyed and busy four and a half year old and in a very short time with us he has managed to create a circle of friends and appears very "plugged in" with his class. He enters the classroom and is responsible about coming to write his "name ticket" before he is off to play. He has been willing to work on his lower case name and he has good fine motor skills for his age. Once this is done, he is off to join his friends.

Mason has connected with Cayden and Jason and the three boys enjoy playing with the cars, planes and blocks. They have very strong "boy energy" together and often need to be reminded that we don't allow shooting games in the school. [Editor's note: news to us...we don't see this. Hmm.] Mason also enjoys playing at the rice table and with the playdoh. Wherever he plays, Maosn has recently begun to do some boundary testing. [Yeah, we've seen that too.] If he's at the playdoh table he gets a bit wild and may throw the playdoh across the table (making the sound of a bomb dropping!). If he's at the rice table he's apt to get wild with the rice so it goes on the floor. He has definitely begun to show us his mischievous side. One game he played the other day was this: he would "hide" in the doorway of the bathroom and as a girl passed by he would lean out and kiss her on the back, then run back in and hide before she could figure out how had nabbed her!

Mason enjoys writing the news with us and can be delightfully animated as he tells us about events from home. He often writes about his sister, MacKenzie, or about his dog (in the flood! amazing!) or other family events that excite him. We enjoy his enthusasm and appreciate how quickly he warmed up to his teachers. While he clearly prefers play with his peers he is comfortable to share information with the adults around him too.

Mason seems very present for this experience at school and we are really glad he's here. He seems to flourish in a classroom that allows him the freedom to be self-directing as we do and he is also ready to benefit from the directed work we do at circle and with projects. We are very glad he is here and are all enjoying getting to know him!

Kenzie's report card is great. She got all 3's and 4's. A 3 means that she's at grade level. A 4 means that she's well ahead of grade level. Not surprising, I guess, her 4s were in her "leadership" traits (uses time wisely, completes assignments on time, and is a self-directed and enthusiastic learner in our classroom), communication (communicates clearly and effectively in presentations, uses word recognition skills and strategies, understands the meaning of what is read) and everything to do with writing (develops ideas and adds details, organizes multiples sentences on one topic, uses a variety of words).

The teacher's comments were:

• Takes great care in completing all assignments
• Communicates clearly and effectively
• Reads with expression and fluency
• Is beginning to write stories with a beginning, middle and end
• Has problem solving skills but struggles to communicate math thinking in writing
• Is focused and involved in science
• Participates actively in PE and music and cooperates with others (Yahoo!! This is a huge accomplishment!)

Great job Kenzie!

He stood on the arm of one of our chairs, toppled it over and crashed hard enough to break off the wooden arm. But that's not what hurt him.

His sister then picked up the splintered wood and swung it around in a circle, clocking him to the side of his right eye. He came down the stairs with blood dripping. Luckily Ed was over here and we patched him up quickly with a butterfly.

We are all ready for a new week.

Art time this afternoon.

It's March and we still have snow! We are to the point where we don't even notice the white stuff...is this really Washington? But, the kids are trying to make the most of it. Mason donned Kenzie's hat to play. He was so frustrated that he couldn't locate gloves. He searched and searched, unwilling to be convinced that he would be okay since it was about 36 degrees out and within 20 feet of the house. Finally he found the gloves! Then he asked if he could wear his floppy sandals.



Then Kenzie made her best Slushman.



Tonight we were lamenting the fact that we don't have a firepit built yet. We have a hole in the ground, but not a real outdoor pit. The kids wanted to roast marshmallows so we found the skewers and lit the stove. (Yes, we reinforced the fact that this was not something to do ever again, especially not without parents nearby.)

The other morning Mason was so excited. He said, "MOM! I made TWO armpit farts!!" This has been an ongoing goal, so I am trying hard to be supportive, realizing that it is a badge of honor amongst this friends. "Wow, okay," I said, "let me hear them." His shirt was off, so he cupped his hand, placed it in his armpit, and started flapping. No sound. He kept going, but it wasn't working. Soon I found myself on my knees with my hand in his pit trying to figure it out with him. We tried the full cup, the half cup, the flat hand, none of it worked. I think there is some physics involved that we haven't mastered. We need a dude to help. Next male relative that we see has to start tutoring. But let's try to skip the lesson on burping the alphabet, which I'm sure is coming soon.