The boys are now purple belts in Tae Kwon Do and are going to the junior advanced class.  Dresden has better control of his body than Aiden does (Aiden is three years younger) and he’s doing well.  We are also reading books about nutrition and how exercise and nutrition work together to keep us healthy.  It’s a good lesson for a boy who loves to sit on his butt for hours, playing computer games on the weekends.

Dresden has found a book series that he’s really gotten into: The Warriors.  The books are about cat clans.  Science-fiction.  I’m relieved he’s finally reading on his own and I’m not making him do it.

The really exceptional students will be nominated by their teacher and will then be sent to the Principal’s office.  The Principal calls the parents to read off what the teacher said about the student and then the student will be put on the phone with the parent.  I got this phone call last year when Aiden was in Kindergarten and I got another one this year.  Apparently, he loves to help in school, is friendly with everybody and is doing outstanding in both math and reading.

And then he comes home and tries to get out of brushing his teeth every night.

Aiden is actually doing very, very well in reading now.  He’s always been great with math (I am teaching him how to figure out quarters of a number now), but I am very surprised at how great he’s doing with the reading.  Dresden didn’t really care about reading until just recently, so I guess I was prepared for the same type of thing with Aiden.

Hi all.  We’re still here and alive.  Life is busy so we’ve not posted much here but just to let you all know, everyone is happy and well.  The kids are big, the cats are a pain and we’re just cruising along.  We’re currently working to decorate up our very boring house interior.  Mandy has picked up some cool stuff and we’re just waiting for it all to come in the mail.

For those of you that don’t know, Mandy is currently working at Mathnasium as an instructor.  She enjoys it and it keeps her busy — not that she needs help with that.  Our kids are quite demanding on their own.

Aiden just celebrated his 7th birthday on September 23rd.  Dresden is up next with his 10th coming this Thursday, October 8th.  They’ve both been very excited.  And spoiled but they deserve it.  They’ve both been doing tremendously well in school and we’re very proud.  Aiden has recently decided that he wants to write and sell books.  I’ve created him a website for this undertaking — http://www.aidenschilling.com .  We’ll see where he takes it.

I’ll try and be better about updates but no promises.

We have been bad with keeping up with this site, huh?

Well, Dresden checked out six library books for the summer and has managed to read the Calvin and Hobbes one and two chapters of another.  He has become obsessed with a new computer game, and that keeps him busy.  He is also doing Tae Kwan Do four times a week.  Dresden just got his yellow belt!  Also, we had to cut his hair because it was just becoming way too mop-like.  He isn’t happy.

We decided that this summer, we would have cooking classes.  We did that for a bit, but I work so much, it’s become hard to keep up with it.  Dresden wants to learn to cook.  I think he just really likes food.

New favorite band:  Kaiser Cheifs

Well, I wanted to get Dresden reading more this summer and while he’s successfully gotten through two books that are over 200 pages (reading alone), he’s still not really into it. He’d much rather play his DS. But anyway, we’re trying!

We’re reading this fun book, George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking right now. It’s the first book that we’ve read together where he actually has questions about things in the book. We talk about light years and stars so far…still only on Chapter 8.

Dresden also just got his first stripe in karate.  He’s very proud of himself and I think he deserves it.  He’s been practicing a lot and I’ve seen a lot of improvement.  He says that he loves karate!  Hooray!

For everyone reading this who is thinking about breeding…school supplies for both of them this year came to well over 100 dollars. And we’re looking at 40 dollars a month for school lunches. 200 dollars for the monthly extra-curricular activities. I’m totally AMAZED that people can have like 5 kids these days. How? They haven’t started asking me for new school wardrobes (I get them a little clothing here and there, as needed) yet and I shudder to think about having to pay for those.