Outstanding Achievement

Earlier this month representatives from the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution came to the elementary school and distributed certificates of participation to the fifth grade students who submitted essays to their American History Essay Contest earlier this year.  We were thrilled to learn that Emily, took 2nd place!  It's a great essay ... each of the winners essays were written in letter format.  Emily wrote it all on her own and it wasn't until the librarian (pictured right) read her essay to the group (all the girls were too shy to read them aloud themselves), that we heard it for the first time.  So thrilling.  

Emily really loves history and reading historical fiction.  She had really wanted to base her essay on a woman from the American Revolution, but she got really discouraged when she couldn't find one.  Despite that little set back early on in her research, she had a great time researching the time period and history and writing her essay (which I've included at the bottom).  

The three winners, along with their parents, were invited to attend the chapters end of the year luncheon this morning to have lunch and read their essays to the group.  Diane and I attended with Emily and were so proud of her willingness to read her essay to a couple dozen women after sitting through a long chapter meeting.  She was nervous, but did such a great job and read with great pose and maturity.  

We sat with a delightful woman who has lived in the area for many years, but is a relatively new member of the DAR and was instated in the chapters 2012-2013 leadership at the end of the meeting.  She made the entire morning so enjoyable thanks to her warm and friendly personality.  She also did a fabulous job of telling us about the DAR and what they do locally and nationally.  It was fascinating to sit in on one of their meeting.  They do a lot of good work, but the rituals, and rules seem a little over the top to an outsider.  If Emily ever wanted to she could join the DAR she could via Diane's line ... Nathaniel Babcock.   Diane was a junior member as a girl and left upon principle - given their antics during the civil rights era, it's quite impressive an 11 year-old saw through the politics and racism and choose to walk away.     

Emily with the outgoing Chapter Regent, Ms. Johnson & the incoming Chapter Regent, Ms. Meyers. 

Emily's Essay: 

October 14th, 1816

Dear Family,

Sorry I have not written in so long. I would have gladly written a long while before, but I had no time. So much has been going on in New Orleans. Ever since I moved here three years ago, news of the war that so recently ended has just begun to stop as well. Now I have some good news, and I do not wish to say any more bad, but I may bring some up as I talk about the man I met a few weeks ago. He is magnificent, tall and proud, with a few scars on his head and his left hand. When he saw me, I was very shy indeed. He said that his name was Andrew Jackson, and that his nickname was Old Hickory, because once one of his soldiers said he was as tough as hickory.

He was born on March 15, 1767, a few weeks after his father died. He had no more family except for his wife. Then I finally got the courage to ask about his scars. He said when he was 14; he and his brother, Robert, were captured during the fighting of the Revolutionary War. The British commander wanted his boots cleaned, and he instructed that Andrew should do so. “I said then I refused, having rights of a prisoner of war,” Andrew said. I then gasped, and said “You refused a British commander! But what does that have to do with your scars?” “I haven’t finished yet. The commander lashed out his sword, for his anger had gotten a hold on him. It cut to the bone, and the officer also lashed my head. That is how I got my scars.” Afterward, he and his brother both caught a case of smallpox, and Robert died. A short time later, his mother died from helping sick and wounded soldiers. I can’t believe he went through so many deaths. I feel so bad for him. I wish so much to be able to help him.

When he fought in the war, Andrew once fought against a band of Creek Indians with 2,000 soldiers on his side. He said earlier, he was told to reinforce troops in New Orleans, and when he got to Natchez, Mississippi, he was told to demobilize his forces on the spot. Andrew said he was so furious and frustrated, for he had been sent no pay, food, transportation, or medicine for his reinforcements. So he led his troops through 500 miles of wilderness back to their homes. That was also where he got his nickname, Old Hickory. During the Battle of New Orleans, he killed thousands of British soldiers with the Kentucky Army and the Tennessee Militiamen. Then I realized why he was being honored so. They were all being perfect, some even bowing. I hope you have enjoyed this letter. I wish I could have written more, but I have guests coming over shortly, and I have much cooking to do.

Your loving daughter,

Anna

Last Day of School

Emily, Sam and Alex after their last day of school.  They each had a very successful academic year

Alex's class had a fiesta on the last day of school ... so much fun, and so amazed at the great school year he had! 

Alex with his classmates from his table this school year.

Alex and Mrs. C - We're 4 for 4, and love her!

Alex with classmates K and A.

Emily, as an outgoing 5th grader got spent the day playing with friends at PTA sponsored activities.  They bowled, ate pizza for lunch and played basketball and in the rec room at a local community center.  We got word last night that Emily scored high enough on her state assessment test to be in the advanced 7th grade math class next year.  She is so excited and so are we!   

Louisa May Alcott

This morning was Emily's 5th Grade Wax Museum.  2 months ago the kids were all assigned a historical person to research, write a paper on, then condense the paper down to a 90 second/150 word speech.  Emily was very excited to be assigned Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. 

At Emily's last parent teacher conference her teacher and I were discussing the need to find more challenging books for Emily to read that were also age appropriate.  We both felt Little Women was a good fit for Emily - she loves historical fiction, it's age appropriate, and it's LONG!  Something my fast reader needs.  So I picked it up at the library along with a stack of other books that I thought she'd enjoy and Emily and Rebecca both read it and loved it!  Love it when we have a book success!  Emily is now on to the Harry Potter series -- we finally have a child interested in reading Harry Potter!  Ha!

Back to the wax museum ... If you'll remember when Becca did this last year, part of the assignment was also to dress up at the historical person you were assigned.  This is one of my favorite parts of the assignment, because they are encouraged not to purchase items for the costume, but to use what they have around them and I love seeing what kids put together.  I saw one of Emily's friends in football pants and his mothers suit blazer; another wore an old prom dress from an older sibling, another used a short blue bathrobe to resemble a military jacket, another used a winter hat for a fight hat.  

The students are spread throughout the hallways of the school for one hour.  Students from younger grades, parents, and visitors move from student to student, and press a faux button (on the card taped to the wall to Emily's right in the picture below).  Upon pressing the button the 5th grader in front of you "comes to life" and recites their 150 word speech about themselves.  Emily recited hers over 30 times!  It's a really fun and impressive project that the students and family's really enjoy each year.   

For Emily's costume, we used on of my shirts and Becca's skirt I had made for the cultural celebration earlier in the month, then we tied up her hair and she started to resemble some of the pictures we'd seen of Louisa May Alcott.  

I would really love to know how women did their hair back in Louisa's day.
This poor attempt took 16 Bobbie pins.  

Mom's Day @ Preschool

I got to spend an hour with Anna at preschool today for Mom's Day and their Art Show.  It was so much fun.  Anna showed me the dress up corner. We planted a sunflower which I hope will eventually transplant well in the garden.  And then we went and looked at the kids art work in the gallery.  They studied three artists, Matisse, Monet, and VanGogh, making three projects in similar styles or using principles of art that correlate to the artist in their preschool art project.  This is one of my favorite art units at preschool!  I am totally in love with her VanGogh sunflowers.  It's gonna get framed and hung in the house somewhere.

We started off playing dress up - I adore this picture of her all done up - complete with the "I'm ready for the pavarazzi" shades.  Our together project was to plant a sunflower seed in a cup.  Mrs. K said last fall a mom brought in the head of the sunflower she and her child had planted at Mom's Day.  She said it was huge!  I will count myself lucky if this little seed spouts and survives a month. 

Then we had to hurry off to the gym (art gallery) to see all the children's artwork.

3rd Grade Music Program

Last night was the 3rd Grade Musical. They did sang about a dozen movie tunes, and once again did a fantastic job. This performance was fantastic because of how well the kids sang the songs, and because of the sheer number of songs they sang.

Sam was given a speaking line to help introduce "I'm a Believer" from Shrek. So we dressed him up as Shrek. It took me a couple of musicals to realize that typically, kids dressed up on their own, not because the music teacher asked them dress as a specific character. She encouraged the kids to dress up as a character from one of the songs they were going to sing.

Before we got his speaking assignment we talked about the different characters he could dress up.  The one he and I liked the most was Michael from Mary Popins ... simple and straight from wardrobe, and not likely to be done by many other kids -- which proved to be true - Adam's Family was by far the favorite! 

But when we got his speaking assignment and realized he would be helping to introduce Shrek, it only made sense to try and dress him up like Shrek.  I made the ears/horns using felt - they are about an inch too long - and attached them to a felt sleeve that went over one of the girls thin headbads.  The vest was made using these instructions.  It would have fit better if I taken one more measurement ... across the lower shoulder blade, around under his arms.  I needed an extra inch or so under his arms to help the vest fit better.  

He wanted nothing ... nothing to do with this costume.  In the end he left the ear/horns down in the audience.  I tried to tell him that the ears were what made the costume ... were what told everyone who he was.  He realized that after the performance and the next day apologized for not wearing them.

We "celebrated" by going out for pizza.  That's the other thing I've learned after years of music programs.  I can typically help get kids ready and/or in costumes and out the door on time OR feed them and get them out the door on time, not all three.  Hiring out dinner the night of the program ... we'll be doing that again.   

Here's their "I'm a Believer Performance":

Choir Concert

The 6th grade had a small performance this evening at the middle school.  It was one of the shortest performances I've been too, but it was delightful.  Anna and I went, as two others had soccer this evening and GR played Currier.  The theater was packed and thanks to some friends Anna and I got decent enough seats to record most of the two songs Rebecca's music class prepared.  We quickly learned that it is simply impossible for even half the parents to have a seat in the auditorium, making me extra glad that the entire family did not attempt to attend.

Tomato Tomato

Anna's preschool class did the Bible Story today.  They talked about all the amazing creatures God created.  A third of the class had flying creatures, a third of the class had water creatures, and a third of the class had land animals.  Anna's had land animals.  They were each given an chance to say what two animals they had in the hands.  Anna had a "reindeer" (aka moose) and "little lamb."

This picture is of her and her friend K, discussing after this portion of the group "presentation."  Shortly after she had to go to the bathroom and while we washed hands I asked her what she and K were talking about.  

"K says it is a sheep, but it isn't a sheep.  It's a little lamb." 

Picking Pumpkins with Preschoolers

We got to go to a new to us pumpkin patch this year.  Anna got a preview of it Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa, as it was one of the farms they stopped at on the farm tour.  

One of the little extras this farm has is a butterfly house filled with all the flowers butterflies love.  They mostly had monarch and swallowtail butterflies.  We got a great hands-on lesson about the butterflies, what plants to look for to find eggs and teeny tiny baby caterpillars, where to find big fat caterpillars ready to go into their J formation and form a chrysalis and which caterpillar would turn into which butterfly.  It was really cool for the kids to see butterflies in every stage of life. I posted a couple of my butterfly pictures here.

Here is Anna with her friend J.  They are playing with a Woolly-bear caterpillar.  Did you know they turn into moths?  

Anna really really wanted to ride on the tricycles, she tried every bike they had, looking for one she could easily ride, and never did find one she could master.  All the kids really miss having a paved driveway and street to ride their bikes on.  I keep hoping they will get over it and just ride them anyway, but it hasn't happened yet.  

The "pool" of corn kernels was where she spent most of her time, as did many of the other kids.  They had so much fun covering limbs, digging down deep and "landing" in the kernels.   

It took a little bit but she finally settled on a beautiful squatty pumpkin she is quite proud of.  We're getting quite a nice assortment of pumpkins at the house.  Alex's Kindergarten class went yesterday and he brought home a nice oval shaped pumpkin.  I'm waiting to get some big carving pumpkins so they don't rot waiting to be carved.   But we're looking forward to having friends over for an afternoon of carving. 

We were to BOOS (Bring our own snack) and took a trail mix of popcorn, pretzels, cheez-its, raisins, M&Ms and candy corns.  Very tasty and easy to put together for classroom parties. 

Teacher Thank You's

This is what the kids gave their teachers as end of the year thank yous.  Alex gave his preschool teachers homemade brownies and Mom wrote down special things he loved about his teachers on a card.  I have posted the inspiration as well as a link to the file on my TinyStitches blog. Some where I have pictures of the kids with their teachers, but I'm not finding them at the moment.  As soon as i do, I'll post them. 

5th Grade Recognition

In a few short days, Rebecca will complete the 5th grade and at the end of the summer, move on to middle school.  She is super excited about this new phase.  Sunday was 5th grade recognition and we all attended an earlier Sacrament meeting so we could all be in attendance.  It was really fun to see how all the kids have grown over the years.  After passing out all the traditional awards, they showed a short PowerPoint with pictures of the kids through the years.  Rebecca got awards for reading and participating in Math and Chess Club and was recognized for having been at the school since Kindergarten.  

Tuesday is their last day and Rebecca is very excited about the 5th and 6th grade Fun Day the PTA has planned!  They are going to a movie at the theater, and then a catered lunch at a local park thanks to the PTA.  She is so excited to do this with her friends.  They have been planning out snacks for days, even calling the theater to find out how much the candy costs so she knows how much money to take with her.  She had a great time with her friends.  And the rain that was in the forecast held off until the very end of the picnic. 

{now starts the parental rant ... feel free to skip}

The movie started out as a major issue, but was thankfully resolved - not as perfectly as I would have liked, but resolved. 

Earlier in the month we got a letter outlining the last day of school activities for 5th graders who had exhibited appropriate behavior (staying out of the principals office, no missing assignments) - a movie at the local theater in the morning and then lunch at a park.  

The movie they picked for the 5th and 6th graders (and interestingly enough, the 9th graders at the Jr High too) is the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie ... PG-13.  When Becca's teacher asked if anyone in the classroom thought their parents would have a problem with the PG-13 rating, Rebecca and possibly one other child raised their hand.  I was livid to say the least that the teachers even considered this.  Parents of 6th graders during the last couple of years have raised eyebrows and in some cases voiced serious concerns about their child seeing a PG-13 movie in 6th grade.

The district doesn't organize this activity, one of the teachers sets it up with the local theater, but I've got to tell you I'm still stunned that for years a PG-13 movie has been acceptable.  In every other instance I can think of, the school has taken a ultra conservative approach to what the offer their students.  We have fall, winter and spring parties now because of religious differences, we can't take cupcakes or cookies for birthdays because kids get too much sugar [at home] and need to have healthy snacks, and I can't take a salad from Wendy's into the school lunch room, because fast food isn't allowed there ... but we can show 10-12 year olds a PG-13 movie. 

I called a friend whose daughter is good friends with Rebecca and has similar values and asked if she was planning to say anything or just keep her daughter home.  Then I emailed the 5th grade teachers asking to discuss the movie selection.  When I got there, the principal had already put a call into the movie theater to see if they could offer a PG movie alternative.  In the end, Becca and a very small number of other kids watched Rio and had a grand time.  I was pleasantry surprised that kids were torn between seeing Rio and Pirates; in the end most saw Pirates.  I really wish the outcome had been different. For it to have been a true win for me, I would have had to intercept it earlier, before the announcement, and pushed for the entire group to see Rio.  Thankfully, Rebecca was happy and excited to see a cool movie with friends and was a really good sport about the whole situation.  

As I left the principals office (never really giving my full concern or argument) I said, "And this won't be an issue next year will it? 'Cause I have more 5th graders come up the ranks and you'll have more families taking this position next year and the year after that too."  Apparently he'd really rather not do the movie activity at all and would rather do an educational camp type activity instead.  We'll see. 

But I'm adding Fun Day to my now-that-I-get-to-do-it-again-with-my-2nd-child list, cause I'd really rather not ride that roller coaster again.  

I'm also going to offer to help organize Emily's 5th grade recognition.  I really expected more out of this recognition.  They did all the usual stuff ... had the kids who'd been at the school since kindergarten stand, those with perfect attendance (2), those who'd done the reading program, participated in StuCo and other groups and clubs, but after awhile it got old seeing the same handful of kids getting awards.  Shallow I know, but they are asking parents and kids to spend an hour on a busy Sunday afternoon, make it worth their time.  

Every child should be recognized for some kind of achievement.  85-90% of the kids and their parents were there to simply get recognized for being in 5th grade.  It was frustrating to see such a small percentage of the 5th grade getting recognized when there were so many great kids who have accomplished and achieved great things this year.  I hope that next year we can have teachers and students handout awards of character, achievement and overcoming obstacles to the majority of the 5th graders.  There's got to be a way to recognize each 5th grader for more than being a warm body in a chair.  

Yet another item to add to my now-that-I-get-to-do-it-again-with-my-##-child list.

Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney

This morning was Rebecca's Wax Museum project.  It's both a reward as well as a graded project.  They had about a month to research a famous person, write a two page paper on them, then using their research paper, write a 2 minute speech and create a costume that represents the person.  The speech and costume were then used to put on a "Wax Museum" at the school.  5th grade students lined the hallways, spaced about 4 feet apart and (in theory) remained perfectly still, until a passerby pushed their button, animating their character.  

Most of the grades came through and learned about political figures, famous athletes, generals, scientists, business men and women and more.  Lots of parents and grandparents made their way through too.  GR's parents and my parents were able to come through and listened to lots of students recite their speeches.  Alex and Anna had a great time pushing buttons and making the characters come a live.  I am so glad I was able to go!  I wasn't sure I'd be able to go.  I'm working textbook buy back again this week, but they had plenty of people and I was able to shift my schedule around so I could help her get into her costume and watch her perform her speech a couple of times. I'm really looking forward to doing this again as each child get's to fifth grade!


Rebecca selected Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney, who is famous for not only being a plantation owner, but was instrumental in bringing indigo and silk (among other things) to the south, allowing Americans a local supplier other than China in the mid 1700s.  Rebecca was very passionate about Eliza and I couldn't have been more excited for Rebecca to learn about her - what a great woman to learn about and admire.  

For her costume we were able to re-purpose my sisters bridesmaid dress from my wedding.  Barbara was a few years older than Rebecca, but the only alterations the dress needed were two good tucks up in the back.  Mom and I cut and sewed and pined to transform that little dress to meet Rebecca's specifications.  And while it isn't exact, she was thrilled, and all the kids in her class, knew exactly who she was.  Everyone kept saying, "You look just like the picture in our social studies book!!" 

Mom's Playdate and Art Show

I got to have an early Mother's Day with Alex today at preschool.  We had a little playdate together at school along with an art show of some of the work they've done this past year.  It's one of my favorite things to do with the kids.  Here are pictures of Alex with some of his art projects. 

I love these three art projects.  The children studied three artists and their works and then created a piece inspired by each of the artists.  Can you name the three artists and or the piece the children had as their inspiration? 

Alex was so proud of his pinch pot.  It's for candy ... he was very careful to explain that we would need to put candy in the dish. 

Once school is out, I need to find more opportunities for him to paint and be artistically creative.  Although he isn't as drawn to it as the girls, he enjoys art.  

The poor boy needs a hair cut desperately.  His art teachers did double take when the saw him.  They didn't recognized him because I kept standing with him combing his hair to the side with my fingers - apparently not the look he typically sports at school. 

Candle Shop Tour w/Preschool

Today, Anna and I joined Alex and his preschool friends on an excellent tour of the local candle shop.  The kids learned how candles are made, and lots of great information about the different kinds of materials they use to make candles.  And most important of all ... there was a hands-on experience.  The kids got to dip a votive candle in colored wax.  Quick, simple and fun!  They loved it.  Alex choose to dip his votive in the purple (lilac) wax and Anna choose pink.

P.S. The Candle Shop owner's name is Bob too, and he's just as good as Baker Bob.  I think it's in the name.

State Chess Tournament

Friday night and Saturday were spent traveling and participating in the state chess tournament with the three big kids.  We left the little ones with Grandma and Grandpa, knowing they would have a better time with them than with us and that made the entire experience much easier. 
 

State chess is for grades K-12 and is held at different schools in different towns each year.  There were TONS of kids participating.  Sam competed with 105 K-3rd graders, taking 43rd place, winning three of his six rounds (his best tournament so far!).  Rebecca and Emily both did well, each winning 2 of their 6 games, but ended up near the bottom of their grouping.  They were disappointed they didn't do well enough to metal.  But each of our kids did much better in this tournament than previous tournaments and that is something we are very proud of them for.  They were confident and didn't get rattled at all by the number of other kids participating.  Before Becca and Emily's first round started, a kid came out and threw up in the trash can outside the playing room, his stomach in knots with nerves.   

This was our first year attending the state tournament and I think in the end we decided that as long as the kids enjoyed it, it was worth the investment of time and money*.  We are continuing to look for ways to help the children better understand how to play chess, specifically helping them understand and identify classic patterns and how they play out.  I'm learning this is critical to doing well consistently, and something that truly comes with practice.  Nevertheless, I'm on the look out for a good chess book or two for kids (either geared toward them, or for adults to help teach children the game) to purchase with my supply of Borders gift cards before they are worthless ... if you have any recommendations, send them my way.  One I've looked though and like, although it's a bit advanced for my kids at their current stage, is "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess." 

  

* For the sake of family history ... typical tournaments cost $7/child as an entrance fee. State did not have an entrance fee.  Then there is food.  Much to the childrens annoyance, we do not purchase items from the concession stand.  It just isn't practical financially.  We typically pack snacks, water, and purchase lunch off site ... 2 $5 pizzas or at state, we purchased Subway sandwiches, which doubled as our dinner.  Since this tournament was 3.5 hours away, we stayed in a hotel Friday night to the tune of ~$100.  And then there is the gas money ... ~$3.20/gallon.  As for the time commitment ... you arrive at the tournament at 8:30am and you're there until 4:30 or a bit later.  Add to that travel time if it isn't local (and we are very blessed to have most of our tournaments close by) ... and that's a serious amount of time spent in a school commons.    

RR 3.0

At preschool today we celebrated Alex's 1/2 birthday (his 4 years and 7 month birthday) with mini pumpkin muffins frosted with cream cheese frosting. He came home with a very cute book that his classmates create for him. They each drew him a special picture and dictated a birthday message for him. He has such a sweet class.

They also started "R" week and over the long weekend built Recycled Robots to share with the class today. Alex and Papa even got out the power tools Sunday night to put this guy together. Like the others, Alex had very definite ideas on how this guy should go together and it was neat to watch him create the robot he had pictured in his mind.

Here's Rebecca's Robot, and Emily's Robot from their preschool years. 

The truth

It's never easy to hear what your children think of you. I got an email from Sam's teacher, Mrs. V today. It made GR and I totally bust up!

"As we're working on our important books today Sam asks for help writing about mom."

Teacher: Do you want to describe the way she looks? Would you say she's pretty?

Sam:...mmm, mostly on Sundays.

He said basically the same thing in Preschool on his Mother's Day "All About Mom" poster. I guess I should be grateful I haven't let thing slide more in the last four years.

* * * * *

Earlier this week, when I picked up the kids from school, Sam was carrying a slip of paper. I asked him what it was, and he showed it to me.

"You've been caught having a clean desk by the desk fairy. Great job!"

Me: Sam, that's really cool!
Sam: Yeah, I got a piece of candy. It says its from the desk fairy, but I know it's Mrs. Vail. Fairies can't write, and there is no such thing as desk fairies.

When I shared this with Mrs. V, she replied, "That wasn't all he had to say about it yesterday!! Sadly, some girls are busy writing notes to the desk fairy, hoping it's not me but kind of knowing it is..."

Chess Tournament

Thursday we got wind of a Chess Tournament.  The three big kids were really excited to go, and thankfully the parental schedule allowed us to support the event. The kids had a great time -- entirely too many electronic games were played but they really enjoy hanging out with classmates and it's a really good group of kids.  Thankfully, a few homework assignments got done and I did get them each to read for a few minutes during a mandatory electronic devise break. 

Tournaments make for a really, really long day.  If they are local and you are lucky, you're only gone about 9 hours.  The kids each play six games of chess with a variety of partners, and then there is an awards ceremony.  Our kids are still learning the mechanics of how to play, evident by their Win/Loss ratio. But for their second tournament ever, they kept their chin up and did well.  None of them had scores high enough to place, but Sam was able to help the K-3 team win 3rd place for our school.  He won 2 of his 6 games, something he was pretty excited about.  

The next tournament is in a couple of weeks.  I need to look into some chess tutorials for kids to help improve their game.

Rube Goldberg

For the last five weeks, Rebecca has been working on a science project with a partner. The task, build a Rube Goldberg machine.  Basically, combine 6 simple machines, using three of Newton's laws of motion, to perform a simple task ... move a soda can a meter, pop a balloon, knock over a row of dominoes, etc..  

The girls settled on removing a lid from an applesauce jar, and pouring the apple sauce into a bowl as their task, and put together a plan.  Once they had a plan, a design, a phone call to Grandpa Bob (who should get all the adult credit for insuring this project happened) was made.  Rebecca really wanted the jar lid to be sealed, but I was able to convince her that for this project an unsealed lid would be sufficient.  Maybe for their 8th grade Rube Goldberg project they will figure out how to remove a sealed lid from a canning jar.  

Alex, Anna and I went up with GR to see the projects in action.  So cool. So fun.  There were some really ingenious projects done with very, very simple materials.  I wish I had pictures and video of all of them, but there were so many!  The 5th graders presented their projects to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade classes who came to see the three 5th grade classes machines in action.  

Here's Becca's project in action, followed by two classmates projects:

Charmingly 2nd Grade

As seems to be 2nd grade tradition, Sam's music program was tonight, Musical Seuss, a mere 4.5 weeks into the new school year.  

As always the performance was fantastic and the kids beamed the entire time.  They had fun performing and you could tell they loved the music and were super pleased with how they did.  Samuel has a very expressive face, it was great fun watching him do the choreography complete with facial expressions! 

BTW -- we swallowed our pride and took the mega lens with us so the pictures would turn out ... it was more than a little embarrassing to walk in with a camera larger than my purse, but GR got pictures with the correct lightening and now, that is all that matters!

In other news the weather held enough that Alex was able to attend his extra midweek soccer practice/camp this evening.  Grandpa is taking him and Alex LOVED every second of it. 

Sam is now on his correct soccer team and his new team is so grateful to have him.  When signing everyone up, we inadvertently put Sam in the wrong age level, and got that straightened out so he's playing with boys his age and skill level.  His new team started with only 4 players and now has 6. 

And Emily's team now has a willing and skilled coach - not reluctant parents!  She's playing on a co-ed team, something she hasn't done since she started playing soccer and her coach plays for a local collegiate club team.  She's been playing soccer since she was a Anna's age and helps her father with soccer camps for young kids.  I'm hopeful that this will give her added training to improve specific skills she needs to be more confident on the field, and grow as a soccer player, something she's showing personal interest in doing.  

Back to School

We've had a full and fun summer.  Just before school let out I had dreams of spending this summer like we were in a summer house ... like families would do in the 40s ... mom and kids off at a summer house somewhere while dad stayed behind and worked, sometimes joining them on the weekends.  Spending the entire summer as a vacation, for everyone.  GR's summer was filled with deadlines, so he worked nearly non-stop most of the summer.  There were weeks when the kids would go DAYS without seeing him ... not far off a 40s summer, eh.  While the summer wasn't a constant vacation, it was fun and oh so memorable, and looking back, it was probably one of our best, and for that I'm grateful.

I took Alexander to his preschool to pay his tuition fees and show him around a bit.  He doesn't remember it.  He didn't want to go.  We talked about it being Sam's preschool and how much Sam liked it, and how he and I would take Sam there.  He said he didn't want to go to, Sam's preschool.  He wanted to go to preschool at his friends houses.  He ran and played, while I wrote out checks and signed my name.  He met one of his teachers and they talked about The Jungle Room and what it would be like.  They hugged at the end and we went and got ice cream before picking up the big kids.  I think he's excited to go now.  I think he's decided that he doesn't hate his teacher, either.  Let's hope he doesn't change his mind in the next three weeks.