Happy Halloween!

This is Luke Skywalker.... pilot, Jedi Knight, rebel fighter, all-around good dude.

This is Ramsey.  Pilot, Jedi (in training), sword and saber lover, all-around awesome kid.

 Ramsey had been sick with pneumonia last year and wasn't able to go Trick or Treating.  This year, his only ailment was a big fat infected lip from his trip to the pediatric dentist the day before (he bit his lip a ton while the Novocain was wearing off - ugh).

 I picked him up from school and we headed straight to the police department to see Daddy and get candy from all of his co-workers.    Notice that Ramsey had a little fella (Jedi Master Yoda) on his back (a gift from Great Aunt Nancy).   His costume had a lot going on and Yoda kept falling off, so he wore the Yoda for just a little while, then we proceeded to fill the Yoda backpack with candy (and then start fresh with a new candy bucket!).

We  left to see Nana Karen (who treated him with an entire package of Oreos and some money).  Then, we went to Bethlehem Lutheran's Trunk or Treat.   There were so many people dressed up, handing out candy.   Ramsey especially loved the guy dressed up as a knight.  He got to hold his sword (he was rather impressed).

We made a good haul, but after that, Ramsey was "done" (it was windy and his feet were cold).  He decided that he did not want to go to the Fall Festival (games, bouncy castles, candy, etc) and asked to just go home.  So.... we went home and had a pizza party and ate a little (er - kind of a lot of) candy instead.

Happy Halloween!

A Love of Self-Imposed Homework!

In the last two weeks, Ramsey's frustration with writing has gone to the wayside; he has been improving by leaps and bounds (things really "clicked").   Now that he's progressing in that area, everything else seems to be falling into place nicely.

EVERY DAY, before and after school, Ramsey is obsessed with completing pages in the workbooks we bought for him.  As you can see in the pics below, it was dark.  This was prior to leaving for school.

 After school, he gets off the bus and spends an hour and a half or so on his workbooks, while snacking on something I've concocted for him.  His favorite workbooks are Star Wars themed and anything that focuses on math.    The letters and Kindergarten/1st Grade Reading workbooks seem to bore him a bit since he's a wicked awesome reader (it came very easy to him - a year and a half ago!).  But the letters and reading ones are good for him for practicing his writing, so we continue.

 Ramsey even came up with these workbook problem pages for Dad while I was gone on Sunday.  He conjured one to match the shapes with the names of the shapes, plus a maze, and a number match.   Eric said Ramsey created them and brought them to him to complete.  When Eric finished, he excitedly gave him Kudos and told him what an awesome job he did!  Great job, Dad!!

When Connor was home on Monday, Ramsey roped him into his workbook fun.  Ramsey wrote numbers on a sheet of paper, in pencil, asking Connor to "practice his writing skills" and "TRACE".  

 Sweetly, Connor obliged and traced everything that Ramsey had written in red marker.  

 What a sweet big brubby!!!  

I hope Ramsey's zest for school and learning continue with this kind of momentum! 

Red Ribbon Week - "Wear Red Day"

This week, it's Red Ribbon Week at school.   Each day, the kids get to wear fun outfits to school   Day 1:  "Wear Red".  I think we have this one adequately covered.  😉

The national Red Ribbon Week was first started in 1988 by President and Mrs. Reagan, along with the National Family Partnership and is now the country's largest drug-prevention awareness program.

Wearing red ribbons during the month of October represents pledges to live drug-free and also honors the sacrifice of those who have lost their lives in the fight against drugs.

Practicing Light Saber Moves

If there's one thing Ramsey loves.... it's light sabers... and practicing his moves.

Warrior Bug

Ramsey comes up with all kinds of funny things.   He drew a picture at school and called it "The Bug Can Fight Wind".   It depicts a warrior ladybug, donning a sword, that is fighting a tornado. 
Lethal Ladybug.  Hmm.  A bit oxymoronic.  I like it.  ;-)

Singin' in Church

The Sunday School kids gave the congregation the gift of song this last Sunday.   Pardon the guys' heads in front of us in the video.  Ha!

Early Snowfall

I guess I'm turning into a "weather nerd", keeping track of each first snowstorm of the new season. 

Last year, October 10th was the first snowfall.  This year, October 10th was ice, slush, sleet, and rain.  I had to take Ramsey to the doctor (again) and there was about an inch of slush on our driveway at 9 AM.  Ugh.

Then, on Friday, the 11th, it turned to snow, starting with small flakes, then huge flakes.

 Then, the wind came up like mad.  Oh joy.    Every one of us was sick and not planning to go anywhere anyway, so the timing wasn't awful (just too EARLY!).

 I don't recall a year where the grass, [most of] the trees, and the standing corn in the fields were still green when the snow started to fly.

We were more fortunate than my more northern-living in-laws; they got around 20" of the white stuff! Yikes.

"The Numbers Guy"

We have a Kindergartener who is obsessed with numbers lately (and germs/viruses also, but that's another story!).    His favorite numbers right now are "centillion" and "googolplex".   *eyebrow raise*
Though he can count by 7s and 60s and whatever else he can dream up, we're still working on perfecting the art of physically writing them.

One afternoon, after school, while focusing on writing 8's and 3's, Ramsey had written five 8's all over the page, in different sizes.  He said, "Mom, look, this is the number eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight!" 

Curious as to if this was a fluke or if he knew how to read larger numbers, I wrote random numbers down and put him to work.

Five-digit numbers:

Six-digit number:

Tonight, I am going to throw a 7-digit number at him.... just to see!

I was surprised to say the very least.  This means... he did NOT inherit my math skills.  ;-)