a denial break

i'm a bit sad that my caboose will be going to all day school this year. 

she talks my ear off all. day. long.  boy is it going to be quiet.

4th grade wax museum

 hey, it's daniel boone! he's working to get his *fire* under control before the other classes walk through.  the past few months, each student in the 4th grade has been working on a report about a non-living (why can't they say dead?) historical American.  today, was the culmination of that hard work.  they dressed up, had props and speeches memorized so that when their button was pushed they could come to life and tell about who they were.  all of the children did a great job!  below, daniel boone is telling his nana who he is and why he is famous.  the chair held his button and name plate... somehow it became his security too! 

 

 jackie robinson and annie oakley 

 pocahontas and neil armstrong 

 daniel's not so excited here, since his sister and her friends rushed to his station first. 

 orville and wilbur wright

 shel silverstein and rosa parks 

 lucille ball and robert e. lee

 

one additional story: during this project, little man has been creating things out of the twigs we collected ~ sling shots, arrows, guns ~ and his momma has allowed him to use a knife at times (he already uses one to help on his nights in the kitchen with tomatoes, cucumbers and various fruits).  last night he came in from outside, asked for a Band-Aid and then passed out on the floor.  i saw a stream of blood from the door to the kitchen, as well as some smeared on the fridge and dishwasher.  i picked him up and got him to the sink so i could rinse his hand off to see how bad it was and he passed out again (hitting his head hard).  i took a rag of cold water and threw it on his face.  asking him his abc's, he was able to get to W before saying he did not know what came next.  on a positive note, he was able to repeat his daniel boone speech word for word!  the cut was not very deep, i think he was reacting to seeing a large amount of blood spurt from his body.  after a little while he was feeling better, but his hand was mighty sore.  talk about exciting!

3rd grade pet day

 m1 and holly ~ since we don't have a pet, she borrowed one of her teacher's dogs.  another classmate borrowed the other. 

 each class walks around and pets the animals, some tolerate it better than others.  holly seemed to like the attention. 

 this picture makes me cringe... the only non-fury pet of the group.

after the classes walk through, each student give a short speech about his/her animal that includes how they came to live with the family, a funny story and what they like about their pet. 



what i wore wednesday... county fair

the third grade hosted the county fair (after reading charlotte's web) so i pulled out my over-alls and cowgirl hat... m1 had on a plaid shirt and a pink cowgirl hat.  most wiww posts have product details so if you are wondering: both shirts and over-alls old navy (over alls at least 15+ years old and not in my current rotation of everyday wear :-) my hat: target, girls hat: consignment sale. 

 the girls behind the idea... they cut a few fabric strips, before the mom's took over.   

 the object was to throw spiders (made from black socks) and lady bugs (from a bean bag toss game we already had) through the web.  some of the other groups did face painting, nerf bullet target games, putt putt golf, ring tosses and some others i don't recall right now.  each class in the school gets to come through the fair and win candy for participating in the games. 

charlotte's web

the third grade just finished reading "charlotte's web" so we are getting ready to host the 3rd grade county fair.  each group of children had to come up with a game concept, create the game and rules and then host the game the day of the fair.  m1 and her two friends wanted to do a web toss.  so we made spiders and had bean bag lady bugs from another game that are going to be tossed through the web.   the girls also cut strips of left over fabric from other projects which i sewed together to create a girly web.  hopefully, the object will be to toss the spiders and ladybugs through the web.  if that does not happen we might have to change the rules for them to be tossed into the web.  it will be a county fair game day decision.  ps ~ you can be certain that i am holding onto this and m2 will be politely coerced into the same type of game when she reaches 3rd grade. 

hmmmm, what is this going to be?

homework outside

papers, homework, art projects, things to be signed and returned, notices to be read... this is NOT my favorite time of day.  but any day we can get outside (and get the mess outside too) is a great day in my opinion.  m1 is working hard on her spelling homework.  little man is pondering mathematical equations.  m2 (not pictured) runs back and forth with snack options and full water cups.  such a helper. 

three months of catching up... part 1

 m2 before her first dance class... so excited!

 pre-k zoo field trip...

 sometimes balls are found in random places.

 4th grade warm-ups before playing apple baseball

 team cheer before said apple baseball game.

 why yes we are riding on the boardwalk in october in shorts.

 sand sculpture contest... my favorite. 

the front said "in one ear" and the back said "out the other"

with the letters b, l, a, and h coming out of the bucket. 

no zip bags have been harmed

thanks to these we are not wasting ziplocks every day with lunch packing.

dog bags for m2 (the snack bag has paw prints) ladybugs for m1 and frogs for little man.

we have already passed the break even point for the purchase.  

life as a preschooler

on wednesday i picked m2 up from school.  this was our conversation as i buckled her in:
m2: when do i have to go back to that place?
me: well, tomorrow you spend with mommy so you will go back on friday.  did something happen?
m2: we had chapel and i had to sit still and not talk or we would not get playtime outside.

this was our conversation on friday:
me: well, how was your friday?
m2: i loved it!  we had p.e. and could be as loud as we wanted to be. 

by monday she was still loving it because she was able to go to the library and bring home one book!  wednesday is definitely her hardest day because of sitting still, but she is getting better. 

field day

we had a gorgeous day for little man's field day.  only the 3rd - 5th graders participate which makes it very competitive.  during the morning hours they had individual events ~ he competed in the soccer dribble, mile run (it was a photo finish with him coming in second) and jump rope challenge.  there were more events, but i was helping and missed some. 

little man and his buddy nathan tied in the jump rope challenge so they celebrated with a chest bump.  when the boys saw the picture, they each said the same thing, "hey, our shadow looks like a dog".

after lunch little man and a classmate won the wheelbarrow race for the purple team.  the fourth graders participated in the three legged races and the fifth graders do piggy back races. 

the tug of war challenge is the highlight of the day.  each team (purple, white, gold) compete with several pulls.  then each grade competed against the other class (little man's class won the third grade pull).  below is my other son, christian (he calls me his other mother) doing a great job as the gold team anchor. 

mr. hardy's fifth grade won... seriously, they did have a slight advantage.

little man and his classmates working together to defeat the other third grade class.  mrs. chaplain even got in on the action. 

elana and m1 looking on.  her class had a field trip this morning and when they returned they watched a few team events in the gym.  when the tug-of-war started all of the non-field-day classes were brought out to watch and cheer for their favorite teachers and students.  i like the way they do this... something for the younger grades to look forward to.  in the end the gold team prevailed in first place and little man's purple team came a very close second.  coach rose always works hard to ensure fair teams and a fun but competitive day.  m1 can't wait until next year.