Terrific Kid

On December 20, Mommy and Daddy went to school to hear and celebrate Jack being named a terrific kid.  (Mark was named terrific kid the previous month but his teacher accidentally forgot to let us know about it).  

We are so proud of Jack (and Mark) for both being "Terrific Kids":

Ms. Hohstadt's description of Jack

Jack getting his certificate

Jack and Mommy

Daddy and Jack

All of the 2nd grade terrific kids

Middle School basketball

The boys' school is now a fully functional K-8 school.  There are some sports teams at the school.  One of them is basketball, both for boys and girls.  The boys won their conference tournament last year.  This year so far, the girls are undefeated and the boys are something like 8-3.

The boys are really getting into the basketball this season.  They like CCA basketball almost as much as they do NC State basketball.  They even like to make signs for the games:

Go CCA! - Mark

Let's Go Cardinals! - Jack

Backyard Football

Some days, when you get home from school, you just gotta get the football out and play some backyard football.  Problem is, it appears that they are just practicing for the next time they play Daddy and Grandpa.

Look at these videos:

Letterland Parade

One of the areas the boys spent some time in the first quarter of the school year was using a web site called Letterland.  This is a phonics approach to learning.  At the end of the Letterland unit, each kid was supposed to pick a letter and dress up according to that letter.  After they did that, there was a Letterland Parade at school.  It just so happened that Mommy was volunteering at school that morning.  She got some good photos of the boys in the parade.

Here are those photographs:

Letter F - Freddy the Fireman - Jack

Letter E - Eddie the Elephant  - Mark

Boosterthon

The annual Cardinal Charter Academy fundraiser, known as Boosterthon.  Each kid runs up to 35 laps and for each lap they run, people give a specific donation ($1 per lap for example).  The boys love it.  In the span of about 45 minutes, they usually run about 53 or so laps.

Words aren't necessary here when you have pictures like this:

Ready to run!  - Mark

Ready to run! - Jack

This running thing is easy! - Mark

Mark and his good buddy Preston.

Brothers after another completed fun run.

Selfie time!

First Day of School

On August 29, also known as Daddy's birthday, was also the first day of school for the boys.  It is hard to believe but it is the start of second grade.  Man, time flies.  Jack and Mark were ready though to start the new year.  Jack's teacher is Ms. Hohstadt and Mark's teacher is Ms. Garcia.  We are hoping for a fantastic school year.  Here they are ready for their first day of school:

Mark

Jack

Ready or not, here we come 2nd grade!!!

Daddy's birthday

Daddy had another birthday come.  With his birthday being the first day of school being on his actual birthday, we all decided to celebrate it on Sunday afternoon.  Check out some good looking pictures from the celebration:

Mark, Daddy, and Jack 

Is it really number 42?  Wowser!  Thanks for the cake Mommy, Jack, and Mark

The boys really decorated the cake really well.  I was really impressed with the abilities they possessed and used for this cake.  Maybe Mommy and Daddy have some new Cake Bosses on the way!

On the actual birthday, Daddy spent it by first by having the boys go to their first day of school, a quick round of golf, and ending it with Lookouts baseball practice.

Last Day of 1st Grade

It is hard to believe but Jack and Mark have finished the first grade.  Today was the last day of 1^st grade.  We are so proud of them.  Mark has really enjoyed being taught by Ms. Thompson and she has enjoyed Mark being in his class.  The school will miss Ms. Thompson next year as she is moving to another school.   Jack has done really well in school this year.  He enjoyed Mrs. Khatibi being his teacher. He had another challenge as she had a baby in late March so his class had a couple of substitutes for the remaining part of the year.  No problem for Jack though.

Here are some pictures from their last day:

School pictures

Remember when we said that Jack and Mark couldn’t get their hair cut due to school pictures were upcoming.  Well here is the outcome of those pictures.  Aren’t they so cute?

Mark

Jack

Mark’s Presentation at School

Mark’s class as the last big assignment for the year had to present something to his class for 5 minutes.  Ms. Thompson said that it could be on any topic, just something the child is interested in talking about.  To no one’s surprise, Mark chose to talk about baseball.  He made a poster that had some basic information about baseball and was going to demonstrate how to properly field a ground ball.  

Here is his poster and his talk (we recorded this as he practiced):

Excellent posters!

Awards for the first quarter

In Mark's class, Ms. Thompson gave out awards for the first quarter of school.  She gave out awards for Math, Reading, and Science.  If a student had a certain grade in those subjects, they received a certificate.  Mark got a certificate for all three areas.  We are so proud of Mark.

Mark receiving his awards!

Meet the Teacher

It is hard to believe but we are running out of summer time fun.  School starts on Monday.  Can't even fathom that the summer is almost over.  It really felt like time was running out on the summer of fun as we went to meet the teacher at Cardinal Charter Academy today.

First, we went in and met Mark's teacher.  His teacher this year is Ms. Thompson.  Mark was a little shy today but that is expected.  We think Mark will do well with Ms. Thompson.

Then we went in and met Jack's teacher.  His teacher this year is Ms. Khabiti.  She is a new teacher, but we think Jack will flourish.  Jack was a little shy as well.

Here are a couple pictures of the boys and her teachers:

Ms. Thompson and Mark

Jack and Mrs. Khatibi

Last Day of Kindergarten

Mommy and Daddy can't believe it.  Jack and Mark can believe it.  The last day of Kindergarten has arrived.  Mommy and Daddy had just gotten back from a quick trip to Denver where Mommy had a conference to attend (Daddy was just sight seeing and playing golf).  The boys stayed with Granna and Grandpa for the two days while the parents were out of town.

The boys were happy to see Mommy and Daddy on Wednesday morning (and vice versa).  We had to take some pictures of the boys on their last day of school for the year.

And when we picked them up from school in the afternoon, it was off to Myrtle Beach.

Here are some pictures from before school started that morning:

Mark and Jack

Mark

Jack

Best friends!

First School Field Trip: North Carolina Zoo

On April 1 (yes April Fools Day), Jack and Mark took their first school field trip.  It was to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro.  That morning we had to get to school around 6:45 and the boys left on charter buses at 7.  Even though they are in different classes, Jack's teacher asked Jack if he wanted to ride on Mark's bus.  Jack said yes and the boys sat on the set of seats with their buddy Sawyer.  Yes, all 3 of them sat on the same 2 seats.

As chaperones, Mommy and Daddy had to drive themselves to the zoo, as only students and teachers were allowed on the buses.  But then again, for the 120 students in Kindergarten, there were around 60 chaperones.

When we got to the zoo, Mommy and Daddy were in charge of the boys as well as Sawyer.  We were spending the whole day at the zoo.  The plan is to spend the morning on the Africa side, eat lunch with everyone, and then spend the afternoon in North America.

The three boys were so excited about going to the zoo.  They had been counting down the days to go to the zoo for at least 10 days.  Jack was really wanting to see lions.  The zoo had 6 lions (one male and 5 females).  The one thing that was a little disappointing for Jack (and the other boys) was that they were sleeping the whole time we were watching them.  We also saw some giraffes, bison, elephants, and baboons, just to name a few of the animals.

Then after lunch, we went to the North America side.  We saw some alligators, polar bears, black bears, just to name a few.  The boys were getting tired.  We had walked a lot over the day and while the three of them were getting tired, they did a good job with all of the walking.  They did not complain much at all about the amount of walking they did.

When we got back to the front entrance, Sawyer joined his classmates to ride home on the bus while we drove the boys back to home.

They were so tired.  By the time we got about 5-10 minutes outside of Asheboro, Jack, Mark, and Mommy were all sleeping well.  In fact, they all slept almost till we got back to Cary.

They had a great time and really enjoyed their zoo experience.

Here are some pictures from the field trip:

Hey, its giraffes!

Ms. Robinson plays with Jack and Mark.

There were multiple alligators just relaxing.

Do you see all of these animals, brother?

Daddy turtle and Mommy turtle.

The kids looking at the seal as he goes by real close.

Jack, Sawyer, and Mark

The boys showing off their strike out fist.

The polar bear close up.

Everyone's favorite part.  The Polar bear started peeing and never quit.  He peed for about 2 straight minutes.  It was very impressive.  Each boy said that was their favorite part.

Going home, Jack is wiped out.

Going home, Mark is wiped out.

Play Date

On January 2, Jack and Mark had a play date with a couple of their friends from school.  We had told them before the holidays that they could each invite a friend over from their class.  Mark invited his buddy Sawyer (who is a fellow Volcano) while Jack invited his buddy Anders.  For a couple of hours, there were four boys running around this house having a blast.  One thing is for sure.  It was loud.  Everyone had a great time.  This time got them ready to go back to school and see their other friends.

Thanksgiving Feast at CCA

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the Kindergarten classes at Cardinal Charter Academy all got together for a Thanksgiving Day Feast.  A lot of the parents had signed up to bring some traditional Thanksgiving feast food.  Now this was another meal shortly after lunch.  The boys didn't really eat too much, but they had a good time.  After eating, the classes each made a craft.  They had so much fun with their friends.

It was a good time for everyone.  Here are a couple of pictures from the event:

Look at my turkey head.  - Jack

How do I look?  - Mark

Jack and Mark

Drinking some juice with my friends.  - Mark

Craft time for my class. - Mark

Craft time for my class too.  - Jack