Shoe shopping with friends

I took the G4 team shopping for new running shoes.. It was an big job, but it worked out

First musical

Best husband ever bought us tickets to Joseph and The Technicolor Dream Coat! Kids' first musical live theatre

Softball season with Lil Bombers

After a quick exchange of kids (Molly picked up Juna and Eli, Gali took Ella, Adam and Finn), I hurried to Zoë's practice, just in time to see her helmet up, and get guidance from Coach Uri. She was practicing swinging, while the other girl swung the bat. I went out and told her to paint a rainbow between her shoulder thru the bat, to the ball.

Zoë's first bat at a softball and she hit all of her first three pitches.. We are off to a great season.

Measured heights

Finneas: 4' 1'

 

Zoe: 4' 7'

​ 

Look what I can do night!

It was look what I can do night at Traditions Montessori and Zoë showed off her work.. She does so much, such a diverse amount of material covering language, math, science, art, not to mention gardening, music. Below is a very small view of all I saw.

Fwd: Zoe yoga :-)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marnie Krajicek <marniekraj@me.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 9:22 PM
Subject: Zoe yoga :-)
To: amy.a.gooch@gmail.com








Sent from my iPhone

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Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Chief Operations Office

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Best chocolate (banana) muffins ever

These are my new most favorite muffins ever.  I doubled the recipe, used half butter, half oil.. The tops were crisp, interior moist.. Loved it!

​Happy Valentine's day​

​Amy​

 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

 

Print

These muffins are moist and delicious! They have the most amazing flavor!

Author: Nikki

Recipe type: Breakfast

Ingredients

• 1½ cups mashed bananas
• ⅓ cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1½ cups flour
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• Sugar for sprinkling on tops

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine bananas, oil, egg large mixing bowl.
3. In a separate large bowl, sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder. Add to banana mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon batter into greased or lined muffin tins. Sprinkle the tops of each muffin with 1 teaspoon of sugar.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees F.

These are my new most favorite muffins ever.  I doubled the recipe, used half butter, half oil.. The tops were crisp, interior moist.. Loved it!

Twin day!

Christmas notes

29 degrees!

It's 7:30am and 29 degrees outside and the kids are playing before school...

Softball

I asked Zoe if she wants to play softball with Maya.

Her first question was, what is softball?

Her response to my explanation was, "sure.  Especially if I get to wear my hair in a pony tail and were a cute uniform."

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Chief Operations Office

​r                 ​

                  amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
ViSUS LLC          

​                                        ​

                     amy@visus.net
               
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Math!

Zoe wanted me to giver her a math test.. The stuff on the left side.. But she said it was too easy so she added parts.. To show off her new found knowledge in area and perimeter

Christmas toys

Notes to Santa

Good friends!

hour of code

Finished an (‪#‎hourofcode‬) hour of code with kids today at Traditions Montessori School. 30 minutes with eight 3-4 year olds; 45 minutes with seven 5-6 year olds, and 70 minutes with seventeen 6-12 year olds. We used Scratch Jr. this year, and it was a success.. must have been anyway.. my kids are now playing with it.

​ I'll have to video the ones that the kids made when they got home.. pretty cool magic happening here.

pre-preteenage stress

Last night, we didn't get home from dinner until 7:30 and Zoe had a lot of homework to still accomplish, but she was at the end of her rope.  She put a lot of pressure on herself to get it all finished and in the end I had to physically get her to move away from her homework and get ready for bed.. She was in bed by 8:15, but was crying and wanted me to leave her alone.. push me away, turning away, telling me to go.  But I could tell she needed me.  I stayed with her.  Quiet when I could, just sitting there.  Offering and giving massages despite half hearted refusals.  Identifying with moments when I was stressed, tired, and crying. In the end I gave her a visualization of the leaves falling from trees, walking amongst them, blowing one as it fell in front of her, to let if float higher, letting it fall to the ground, finding another.  Still crying, but settling, until she finally fell asleep.  In the morning she gave me a hug and apologized for giving me a hard time.  [Wow!]  I told her I understood and that we all have those moments, especially when we are both very tired and very stressed.

A glimpse of the future?  or perhaps we will have a handle on it?  I'm not sure.

After school skate!

Advent calendar

4 days into her first lego calendar and Zoe has already decided that she is not going to do them in order, so she can get the other friend...

She will go far in this world.. Out of the box thinking... Literally!

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Growing, learning..

I feel like it has been so long since I wrote much on the blogs.  Zoe and Finn are growing in leaps and bounds, not just height, but in all they know.  It is so fun to hear their knowledge come out in words exchanged with friends, things they teach us like

Z: mom, let's play a game, each of us are a part of speech.. What do you want to be, I think Finn is and interjection.

M: remind me what that is

Z: like " ouch!"

M: oh yeah, that fits Finn

Or like when Finn was doing two digit math in his head.. 32 - 23, and he had to jail (a picture of a 3, that was changed into a 2), and he got the right answer.  

They recently performed in the thanksgiving program at school.  Zoe had three long speaking parts and her teacher told me that she could have easily recited the whole play and was always willing to take a part from anyone who gave them up.  Finneas also had one speaking part and I could easily hear him belt out the songs.

Both Mrs Bethke and Mrs Ledbetter spoke at length with me on how excited they were by the achievements of both kids.  It made me remember how far both of them have come. 

 A year and 4 months ago, Zoe came to the school without reading or writing in English, she was still doing letter reversals and numbers too.  She is now reading Harry Potter and any other text she can find.  She masters her spelling easily, seeing the corrections and remembering them.  

A year ago I had a conversation with Mrs Keelan and Mrs Ledbetter on whether Finn was ready for first grade.  He was having trouble with sounds.  Over the last 4 months he has mastered his reading, and whenever he sees something new, it becomes a permanent part of his knowledge base.  He is taking on his math by storm too.

More soon...

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~