Peanut Butter Cookies

Freddie's been asking to make "cookies with the lines on the top" for a while, so we found recipe online but tweaked it a little by adding more peanut butter.  These are really yummy!

Ingredients:  

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars.
2. Beat in eggs
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour.
5. Roll into 1 inch balls, flatten each with a fork.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes.

Notes:

• Mine were much bigger than 1 inch balls and so I baked them for quite a bit longer.  15 minutes maybe?  I am not good with making appropriately sized cookies for some reason.
• This recipe made a lot of cookies!!  

Lovin'

• Matching hats
• Brothers, even when they're wild they sure can be sweet to each other
• Ice cream trips through the snow on Fridays after school
• "Parenthood" on Netflix with Charlie
• Slow weekends
• Blooms in the window
• My Valentines making hearts, and hearts, and more hearts
• Pizza
• Trips on the calendar

Everywhere and all the time

I love, love, love that the boys can connect with a story all on their own.

Gymnastics Exhibition

The boys' gym had an "exhibition" as a fundraiser and as a way to let the kids show off what they've learned.  Hans' group is too young to participate, and quite frankly it is a toss up as to whether or not he'd like running out to the carpet with all of those eyes on him.  Freddie, of course, loved it.  He said he was "just a little nervous, and SO excited.

I usually watch the kids classes so I typically know all of their tricks, but it was nice to see Freddie as part of this "team" getting to show off their stuff,

Gymnastics has been great for Freddie working through his fear of heights.  He's a lot more comfortable climbing high and playing on playground equipment.

I do realize he's only five and has plenty of opportunities ahead to develop himself, but we've seen increased confidence as well.  Gymnastics is also another example we like to refer to when the going gets tough that hard equals results.  And on top of all that, the kid's getting a six pack!

And a little video of course...

Freddie's Winter Parent Teacher Conference

Walking to school

I had Freddie's winter conference this past week.  All is well.

A little of what we discussed:

• He's on schedule to reach mastery or exceed kindergarten mastery in each content area.  He's made lots of progress since his November report card.
• Although I know he isn't "behind" I worry about him holding his own in his class.  Ms. S reports that he's in the middle of the pack academically, which is a perfect spot for him.  
• His reading is really taking off.  His reversals do effect his reading, but it'll eventually work itself out.
• The reversals in writing seem to be just about gone, but they are still pretty frequent with numbers.  Nothing to worry about, and it'll probably disappear as they start spending more time writing numbers within the next math unit.
• His writing is great, although a bit rushed.  Perhaps a boy thing, Ms. S commented.  The work he does makes sense, he uses appropriate capitalization and punctuation, and his phonetic spelling is appropriate.  She recommended practicing spelling some of his sight words and high frequency words.  I think he knows how to spell many of them but rushing may be playing a roll in his spelling as well.  The class is entering into a phase of trying to extend their time on task during writing so we'll see how he does with that.
• He loves reading and can spend extended periods of time looking at books and reading to himself or with a partner.
• The addition and subtraction unit is just beginning.  Freddie is entering with a strong grasp of both, and she's going to work on expanding his understanding of numbers and creating math facts.
• Although he still really enjoys playing with the girls mostly because he enjoys the type of play they engage in (dramatic/imaginative play as well as writing and drawing) lately Freddie has been trying to break into the group of alpha males in the class.  Rather than finding a quiet spot on the rug to read he has been testing out a little push and shove here and there with the boys.  I've seen some of this at home with Hans, so I wasn't surprised, but still find it curious.  She isn't concerned and says he's easily redirected and follows instructions.
• He's very engaged in everything going on in the classroom.  He participates well in small and large group activities.  

A very positive conference.  A glowing report.  Very proud of my bug.  Cannot believe the year is more than half over!

On a field trip to the Natural History Museum

Selfies

Makes my day to find such foolishness on my phone.

Skate Season

Cannot remember what Freddie's face was all about

We're in the last month of "skating season."  Considering we've just had our biggest dump of snow this season its hard to imagine that our rink will be shutting down in a few weeks.

Worst part is that gives me false hope that we'll be out and about enjoying spring in now time.  Spring is definitely not around the corner.  It'll be a few more months before we're baring our legs and wearing sandals.

Watching the zamboni!

Not sure how many times we'll make it to the rink before it closes, but I think we'll try a few indoor rinks to keep up the skills and interest in the ice year round.

I imagine a July trip to the nearby indoor rink will be refreshing!

Hopefully we won't need our parkas, but for now I'll take full advantage of all the snuggling being offered.

Break Through

Freddie's learning to tie his shoes.  The level of patience required for this rivals potty training.  No joke.  Freddie has been easily frustrated wanting to get it right way.  There have been tears and deep breaths.  Thankfully I have some successes to refer to:  hard work in swimming has equaled progress.  I use the hard work over time that he's put into swimming and reading as concrete examples of being able to do anything with the right amount of practice.  

Thankfully we've both stuck with it and around day ten he actually got a bow!!!  Amazing!  And then on day 11 he did it again, twice!  He's on a roll now.

About a month ago I decided we would take the plunge into learning to tie.  I bought him shoes with laces but it took me several weeks to muster up the courage to add the instruction into our routine.  He's got a lot going on already with homework, being responsible for all of his school supplies and winter gear to and from school (yet to lose anything!!),  and his nightly reading.  To make things "easy" I decided the only instruction would be when he put on his sneakers and it would consist of me doing one side as a model and him trying the other side 3 or 4 times before I finished it off for him.  Low pressure.

In case you're curious, we're going with the straight up old fashion bow tying.  I considered the double bunny ear method but after trying it a few times myself, decided it also required quite a bit of dexterity and fine motor precision so I figured we'd just cut to the chase and front load the work rather than having to learn another method down the road.  If you consult google there are lots of "new" methods to tying, but none of them seem to be actual shortcuts that'll make life easier.  Not for Freddie, anyway.

Probably the best thing we did was practice with a jump rope around his legs.  He was able to really see where the different strings were going, what the loops looked like, and he was able to find some success and build confidence. Also, sitting behind or next to him was important so that he could see what to do with the right and left hands.  I suppose if he was a lefty sitting across from him would have been better so that he could mimic a mirror image.

Lots of hard work and that makes the success feel even better.  He's so proud of himself and I swear seeing him like that is one of my favorite parts of being a Mama.

Lovin'

Children's section at 42nd Street Library

• Exploring big, old libraries, and NYC has so many!
• Enthusiasm for reading
• Biscuits for breakfast
• Holding a warm cup of coffee watching the morning snow
• Old Ugg boots and pajamas under my parka during the morning walk to school
• Excitement every single time we leave the house that there is snow on the ground
• Disney trip planning
• Unsolicited "Thank yous"

Family Photos 2014

Back in October we had a photographer come to our hood.  I can't get everyone looking at the camera anymore so decided to have a professional step in.

The cost of a professional photographer in the city is absurd.  We're talking thousands of dollars for just a few images.  Thankfully I was able to get a recent college grade building her portfolio for a whole lot less than that.

Hoping I can get a her a few more times before she raises her prices.  I love both of these little faces smiling for the camera.

Next time we might seek out a setting outside of our neighborhood that has a little more color, but I think I'll like seeing the little park in our neighborhood when I look at these in years to come.

My favorite