7.6.09

Eric and Kate Plus Eight



Friday was the boys' last day of school, which is always sad for me- I don't like transitions. Brigham and Eric, for their part, didn't seem sad at all, just proud of all they had done in Kindergarten and first grade and excited for summer to begin. Part of that may have been due to the fact that we brought home a little souveneir from Eric's class: eight baby chicks. We're giving the backyard chickens thing a try- hopefully it will be fun and not too much work. If not, as Eric (big) says, we can always eat them.

Today after church we were looking over Brigham's report card and noticed something strange. They're graded on a scale from 1 to 4, 1 being bad and 4 being excellent. All year long, in almost every subject, Brigham has 3's:

Knows the front and back of the book- 3
Knows to read top to bottom- 3
Speaks in complete sentences- 3
Recognizes own name in print- 3

It was at this point that Eric and I started laughing. Knows the front and back of a book!? Recognizes his own name!? Maybe I'm one of those ultra-competitive moms with an inflated vision of her child, but I'm pretty sure that Brigham recognizes his own name perfectly, and can figure out which side is the front of a book- throw him a 4 or two!

So we're looking it over with him, trying to make it sound all great that he's a completely mediocre student, when he notices one 4 on the page and points to it saying, "Read that one Daddy!"

Days absent- 4

He did get an O for outstanding on Responds appropriately to adults. What does that even mean?

Here are the boys with their teachers. We were SO lucky to have wonderful teachers whom we loved, even if they did think our kids were mediocre...



And here are the octuplets....

Tiger assistant (he hangs out with Tiger a lot)


Sunshine


Rose


Sprinkles


Sunset


Tiger


Chickmonk


Duke

12 comments:

Kathleen said...

I love that you have chickens! You'll have to let me know how that goes. ;) I love your boys' enthusiasm!

Lindsay said...

No offense - - - but those are some UGLY chickens! Maybe they're cuter if you actually see them walking around...? :) I'm amazed at the pictures, though! Let's hope you get some really great eggs out of 'em.

Cindy said...

LOL--I love your title! And we have to come see the chickens!

Rachel said...

Yay for chickens! We have 4 hens, and we love them! They still live in our bathroom, though, so I expect to love them even more once Robert finishes building their "aviary" and they can go outside and give me my counter space back :) Do I see two roosters, too? You'll have to let me know how that works out. Do you know what breeds they are? What are they, about a month old? They look like they're at that "awkward phase" where their adult feathers are just starting to grow in ... So fun!

Kate Alexis said...

WOW

Kate Alexis said...

oh, and the report card thing is totally weird. What's up with that?

Laura Oler said...

I am so glad you posted about your "mediocre" kids. First of all, I know they aren't mediocre at all, and never will be, so who knows what the teacher was thinking (sounds like she wasn't when she did grades). But after reading about everyone's kids who are "top of their class," "reading in preschool," etc, I was glad to see that it's not just my kid who is not the very best student ever. And the chicks are hillarious. Keep us posted on that endeavor!

Laura said...

Chickens!! that is so great for the kids! And yes they are pretty ugly but if your ever hungry...you'll have to tell us how it goes! and your kids aren't mediocre!

team howey said...

Oh my, this really is a funny post. I'm cracking up. Which is funnier...4 days absent or the alternative of eating your pets?? Great to talk to you!

Cailean said...

I love the title :) And what an adventure you'll have with those chickens! I especially wonder too about the "responds appropriately" - what is appropriate for anyone...young or old?

Amy and Clark said...

That is too funny about the "grades." I don't know that there will ever be a perfect grading system for any age of kids! But at least you got (and provided us with) some entertaining laughs!
One a chicken note, my brother just built a coop and got some chickens and now my dad is following suit! Chickens must be the latest thing!

Liz said...

You're really raising chickens????? I am so interested to see how it goes. I've toyed with the idea a little bit myself. But for now we are a no pet family. We'll see.....