Finn

Finn was working on his workbook the other day and came to a page where he was supposed to draw a picture of an item that went with each group. Here’s what he did.

I think Ezra did the first drawing. Finn did the quarter (my favorite) and the jeans below it. When I said that I really liked his drawings, he said, “I know why you like my drawings. Because you’re a mom and moms always like their kids’ drawings.”

He went on to say, “It kind of looks like a chicken.” And, “Don’t send it to Ms. Jessica [his teacher]. I need to work on it.”

I think it’s great just the way it is. But then, I’m his mom.

Finn and I were having a mellow conversation on my bed last night after his bath when suddenly he decided to show me the yoga poses he’s learned in school this year. Excuse the poor camera work — dim light, an iPhone and a tired mom don’t make for great photos. But he’s pretty cute anyway.

My lovely second son knew I was having a tough week and so he made me a card.

On the outside he drew us running to hug each other.

And on the inside he drew me crying and him coming to give me a hug.

He also added one of the much-coveted gold stars. What a sweetheart.

Whereas Ezra’s project idea came to us instantly, Finn’s was less obvious. We talked first about doing something with the palm fronds that had recently fallen in the yard. But then we forgot to move them to a safe place and the gardeners took them away. Oops. Somewhere along the line, Finn got an idea for dice. We searched the house but could only find seven of them. But … we could make them! And a project was born.

As much as we like the boys to do the lion’s share of tasks for these projects, some things only a grownup can do. Like cutting small blocks of wood with the table saw.

And sanding with the electric sander.

But drawing the dots? That a five-year-old can do.

It was pretty chilly last weekend, so Finn and I moved our dot-making operation inside.

They had a nice production line (sanded versus non-sanded) going in the garage. Ezra was the runner.

How many? 68 and counting.

Finally, we got to 100.

But we still hadn’t figured out how to display them. There was much deliberation among the design team.

Finally, it was decided — a clear plastic box with a hole on the top. Custom cut and glued by Bruce, of course.

He proudly took it to school today.

There are a few more pictures in a slideshow here.

This is what it’s come to: plastic sea creatures in a mid-afternoon bath. Perhaps we shouldn’t have nixed the idea of a Spring Break Belize trip so fast, huh Jamma?

It’s that time in Kindergarten when the All About Me Box is due. We actually turned it in on Tuesday, which meant Bruce had a lot of last minute additions Monday night after returning from their camping trip. When I got home from Palm Springs at around 7:30, it appeared that the art supply box had exploded all over the dining room table.

There was lots of drawing, cutting and gluing going on and all three Moision boys were very focused.

Here’s a look at how it turned out.

And here are the contents of the box. First, some Ninjago, a recorder and some other doohickey I’m not quite sure about on the right.

Finn drew Bruce, me (looking like a teddy bear because I do snuggles at bed time) and himself (with flames for hair because he’s always hot).

Ezra contributed a sweet Pokemon guy and a not-so-sweet drawing of himself.

When we took it to school Tuesday, the other kids were very interested. I think it was because there was so much stuff glued to the outside. Each student will get the chance to present his or her box to the class. As of right now, Finn hasn’t gotten the chance to go yet, but I can’t wait to hear all about it when he does.

(If you want, you can see Ezra’s box here for a trip down memory lane.)

Finn brought home his first book today. It was a project in honor of Martin Luther King Day so this is the cover.

Before he turned the page, he said, “I made some mistakes with my letters. Because … Kindergarteners make mistakes.”

Then he told me what he was trying to write: “I have a dream that everybody will have a home.” He drew a house and him showing someone inside.

Sweetest boy ever.

Finn’s Kindergarten class took their first field trip this week and, of course, I went along as a chaperone. The trip is part of a larger Aveson focus of “global competencies” which is a little vague and unwieldy but, as I understand it, basically means helping the kids understand the world. For the youngest kids, this translates into learning about their immediate community, so our trip was to visit the public library, fire station and sheriff’s station. We also got to ride on the city bus — very exciting!

The bus stop is just outside of school, so we walked down and started the wait. Each adult was assigned to a group of kids. Here are my charges for the day: Finn, Charlie, Luca and Morgan.

It took a while for the bus to come …

But finally it arrived!

The Kindergarteners charged onto the mostly empty bus. I inadvertently got a picture of this very stunned lady wondering what just happened to her roomy seat and quiet bus ride.

Here’s Finn all the way in the back.

Luckily another mom got a great shot of him.

We traveled just over a mile on the bus and then walked about a half mile from the bus stop to the public library. Here’s my favorite picture of Finn and Charlie on the walk.

At the library, we started with story time.

And then got a tour of the library and a chance to look at some books.

Next, we walked over to the fire station and got a tour of the whole facility. Finn was thrilled that we not only got to see the fire trucks, but we got to see where the fire fighters live when they are on duty.

The kids were particularly enthralled watching this firefighter put on his gear. We’ve seen a similar demonstration before when the firefighters visited Cottage and they do a good job of making sure the kids aren’t scared by the mask and equipment.

By this point (about 11:15) the kids, having skipped snack time, were starving so we walked up to the community center and had lunch.

Then a couple of sheriffs came over to chat with the kids and answer questions.

But the best part of the sheriffs’ visit was that they brought their car and let the kids climb through it. Here’s Finn in the back seat. Hopefully this will be the only time in his life that he finds himself in the back seat of a police car.

Soon enough we were back at the bus stop waiting for the bus back to school. Ms. Jessica led the kids in some songs to pass the time. Here’s part of the Fall song — the boys are making trees with their hands.

And finally, back on the bus!

We made it back to school safely right at lunch recess time so the kids took off to play. I came home and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Kindergarteners are exhausting! My hat is off to their teachers.

Apparently, Finn’s been learning at little Spanish at school. Here is counting to eight.

The end of our first soccer season has arrived. Finn ended up having a great time on his first team. His last game was rained out last weekend, but the scheduled pizza party happened anyway. The kids got trophies, and while I don’t really agree with the “everybody gets a trophy” philosophy, he and his teammates sure enjoyed them.

They enjoyed the little toy ninjas from the vending machine even more. And the pizza and cupcakes.

Kudos to his coach for keeping games and practices lighthearted. We had a nice group of families and the kids had a blast.

Finn’s class spent the last couple of days before their [week-long] Thanksgiving break learning about the Stone Soup story, making Stone Soup and, on Friday, making butter and eating the soup. I volunteered to help with the butter-making and it was a fun — and exhausting — three hours at school.

First, the adults ran around getting things ready, while Finn’s teacher, Ms. Jessica, handled the regular early morning stuff. It was someone’s birthday so they did the “birthday shower” and the kids wrote out birthday wishes for her. Here is Finn’s table working on their birthday wishes.

Then the butter-making began. We put small amounts of heaving whipping cream into baby food jars and the kids started shaking.

They did a lot of jumping, light shaking and complaining their arms hurt, but eventually the cream turned into butter and some leftover milk. The kids drank (or at least tried) the milk and then ate some of the butter on crackers. Next up after recess they got to try the Stone Soup they’d made the day before. Finn had loved cutting up carrots and celery for the soup the day before and he gobbled up his portion and asked if we could make Stone Soup at home.

Finn has learned two songs in Kindergarten so far and he sings them all the time. I got him to sing them for video on Friday.

Finn and Charlie (and many, many other boys at Aveson) ended up with the same green shirt from Target and have been unsuccessfully trying since the first day of school to coordinate a day to wear it. The problem is twofold: neither knows how to do laundry and neither has an attention span long enough to remember to tell those who do know how to do laundry that they’d like to wear their special shirt the next day.

But finally the planets aligned today and they accidentally ended up matching. Smiles ensued.

Finn and I had a play date with Chapin yesterday while Cari worked in Ruby and Ezra’s classroom for 1900s Day. It went spectacularly well. These boys played outside, inside, upstairs, downstairs; they never asked for a snack and barely looked up from their tasks.

First, they grabbed some instruments and had a parade in the front yard.

Next, they cut out the parade part and just played an original composition.

They did a little exercising.

And they worked on a little art. Chapin drew this picture of him and me. That’s him on the left with the curly hair, and me on the right with the long hair (and the big nose).

Finn had to get in on the act, so he made some pants for me and glued them on the picture.

Apparently, I wear my pants a little high.

(Chapin also had drawn himself as a baby in the middle.)

They ended their time together with train track building. What a pleasurable afternoon!