Third Year Party

At our school, we have Kindergarten, Primary centers (which are for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students), Intermediate (for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders) and Middle School (7th & 8th grade). At the end of the Third year, a party is thrown at a local pool to celebrate completion of the Primary years.

At the party the kids start off with a "mixer" where the kids have to answer certain questions on a piece of paper by finding kids who have the same birthday as you, or have blue eyes, etc... They are not allowed to ask the same student twice, they can not ask someone they know, and they can not ask adults. The party and mixer are designed for the kids to get to know each other in the hopes of them starting new friendships in their new classes for Intermediate.

Ummm...ya. I have four kids, and the only way I can go to the pool with them all, is to have them (not the oldest anymore) where life jackets. They have had lessons, but I guess I am a little uncomfortable with them just floating around with out their safety vests. Well, Kaylin was one of the only kids who wore a life jacket at the party, and it was a bit of a wake up call for me. I need to let go and let her swim and float on her own, especially when she can touch the ground!

Cousin Luc is like a fish in the water. He had just gotten in and I asked him to turn for a picture. He was about to do the peace signs, but I took the pic too soon, and it looks like he is doing quotations! haha!

This is such an exciting right of passage for these youngsters! Just one of the many things that I love about our school!

Art Walk

Our school is very artsy. Every year the classes work hard on projects to present at the annual "Art Walk", where families come to an "open house" style event. The classrooms are all set up with art and projects that students are proud of. Music is played by the band, and our PTA type board hands out free Italian sodas.

Last year a silent art auction was started during the event and was very successful. When they asked for volunteers to donate for this year, our oldest immediately thought of her Grandma and Goo-Goo's (aunties) who are all very crafty.

Goo-Goo B, designs her own Jewelry and donated a lovely set with freshwater pearls and garnets!

Grandma hand knitted this cute scarf and hat set, along with another hat, and an infant hat and booties set!

Our girls were so proud to walk around the auction and announce that they're family members made items that they were bidding on!

The classrooms make it a full event and even fancy up the hallways with welcoming displays. This is the entrance to our oldest daughters classroom.

The kids in her class were challenged to create a project based on the work of Alexander Calder. She did "Broadway Productions" and created a theatre with a stage and people sitting to watch the show. While walking around the class, the kids were all so proud of what they created, as they should be. It was very cool!

They also were learning about Lewis and Clark and created a map to document their trip.

Kaylin and Em are in the same class, as it is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. This is the entrance to their classroom.

Every year they have a big project, this year it was called "The Expert Project". Kaylin made a list of things she was good at, and narrowed it down to things that she is good and passionate about. She chose (all on her own) "How to make a friend". She got her bestie, Isa and her sister, Haley to help. They made cute signs and took pictures of the steps. I gave her some patterned scrapbook paper and printed her pictures and she did the rest. She did an amazing job!

Em didn't make a list. She just announced that she was going to do "How To Braid Hair". I then asked her if she knew how to braid hair. She said that she did and then showed me buy getting to strands of her little sisters hair and twisting it. Ummm....not exactly braiding, but she was so dead set on it, that I couldn't make her change her project. Instead, we got out one of those big Barbie Heads with the long hair and I showed her how. She picked it up so quickly! After that, she just kept practicing (often using her little sister), and she wrote down the steps that it takes so that she could teach her class. Her Daddy drew the pictures of the hair, and she colored them and glued them to her poster board. I again, pulled out some scrapbooking supplies and let her pick the embellishments she wanted to use. It turned out great!

Cousin Luc, did his project on Chess! He had spent a good part of the year in Chess Club (the one that his cousin Sheree from G6 brought to our school) and really enjoyed it.

I forgot to mention that the kids also had to do a 3-5 min. presentation demonstrating how they are experts.  Kids made cookies, smoothies, gak, did presentations on chess, baseball, friendship bracelets, etc...

It was so fun to watch these!

The kids had some of their artwork in the hallway. They used construction paper and tissue paper to make these "3D" type pictures. (Kaylin helped her teacher get ready for the art walk, and  he was all out of juice, so he rewarded her with a soda! Wow! She was a happy girl!)

I love that the hand in Em's pic had rings on and nails painted. Ha! She is such a Diva!

Thank you Goo-Goo B and Grandma for your kind and generous donations!

Thank you to Goo-Goo Linh, Goo-Goo B, Goo-Goo Xuan, Dan, Auntie Robin, Auntie Andria and Uncle Van, and Grandma Ruppert for coming and supporting our girls!

We love you!

My little Daisy

Em and her troop. :)

(She has known six of the girls since pre-school. Her buddy, Breanna, is also in the troop, but not in the picture.)

Em has enjoyed another year of being a Daisy in Girl Scouts. This year, we unfortunately missed many a meeting due to conflicting schedules. But, she did have fun and has decided to continue with Girl Scouts next year. She went through the bridging ceremony to become a Brownie. They received flowers and ate cookies to celebrate!

Spring Band Concert

Haley's last concert of the year for band and jazz band was on Tuesday.

She played flute for band and has decided not to pursue it any longer. She loves the piano and jazz band and is going to continue to practice and play next year. We have even signed her up for lessons again, although this time it will be with her beloved band/jazz band teacher, so we are hoping she will enjoy it more than her previous lessons.

Her Grandma came and brought her flowers. So sweet! I asked Grandma R. to pose with Haley for a picture and she could not believe how tall she is getting!

Auntie Robin, Auntie Andria and Livi all came to support her (Andria and Livi had to leave a little early so I didn't get a picture of them).

Goo-Goo Xuan and Dan also came out!

Thanks to you all for supporting our girl! We are so very proud of her!

Chess Club

Emma started going to Chess Club a little over a month ago. She had been interested in it for quite some time as it is a game that her Dad plays with Haley. Me, I do not know anything about Chess. My Dad and I played backgammon while I was growing up. (hee! hee!)

 Em's bestie, (Nana of the G6) is also in Chess Club. In fact her Mom, Sheree, runs it at our school! Last week, I offered to fill in for her so that I could check it out, and I'm so glad I finally got to see what it's all about! Em loves this game. She is still a beginner, but she loves to strategize and is enjoying learning. She is finally able to play against Nana! (They were both happy to pose for a quick picture!) It is taught by Coach Hristo from Chess4Life and the game is taken very seriously.

Pay, Dev, and his big sis Isa, came along with me. The classroom has a whole corner dedicated to Lego toys so they were entertained very well during the hour. (Thanks for helping, Isa!)

I'm so glad that Sheree brought this program to our school! Surprisingly there are many girls and boys of all ages who are enjoying it!

Thanks Sheree!

A Day Out

My good friend Sheree of the G6 invited us out last Thursday to the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square. This is something that we have both wanted to do, but had never done before. Her Aunt was working (I love her bags!) so we thought we would go and visit her.

The kids loved looking up at the tall totem poles and running around. The weather was pretty iffy, but the rain stayed away, so we decided to head to Uvillage for lunch. Little Madi is always being silly and trying to get us to laugh. She thought she would hop in her Mommies drivers seat and take us for a ride.

We walked around for a bit and then headed to the Apple store to check out the ipad's. We had never played with one and wanted to check them out. To our surprise, a sales rep said that each of the kids could play with one and even showed them which games would be best for them. This kept them busy for over a half hour, so the Mommies could play, too! I must say they are super cool. I loved that it has everything all rolled into one package. The ibook app allows you to flip it sideways and it looks like a real open book! So cool!

We went to Johnny Rocket's for some kid friendly food, and the waiter made (or attempted to) animals on the ketchup bowls. The kids had never seen that done before and they enjoyed it. We ended our visit with a trip to Barnes and Noble. It was so nice to get out and do something new!

Thanks for inviting us out Sheree!

A Baby Shower

Kaylin and Emma's beloved teacher is having a baby.

The kids and parents threw her an amazing shower. With lots of game and treats. Okay, the shower was more for the kids enjoyment, but I think everyone had a good time.

One of the games was for the kids to guess what type of candy was in the diaper. I can not even tell you how disgusting this looked. It's been awhile since I have had to deal with poopy diapers, and I do not miss it one bit!

Another game was set up for the kids to see and smell, (no touching or tasting) and guess what is inside. The kids were not upset at all when they were told they couldn't eat it.

                 This was the easiest game. A classic. Guess how many jelly beans are inside the bottle.

The set up was pot luck style with lots of kid friendly foods. It was like they got two lunches that day!

The kids grabbed a plate and took a seat with their buddies.

Check out all the presents! Their are 53 kids in the class (it is a multi-age classroom with 2 teachers). Have you noticed all of the pink? Yep, she's having a girl!

The kids all gathered around while she opened presents. My fave was a book that was put together from the kids. They each wrote down what they thought she should know and remember while raising her little one. Like "always give them healthy food, not hamburgers". It was so cute!

One of the parents made this adorable teddy bear cake along with lots of cupcakes. I love the bright pink, purple, and yellow together!

The kids made her promise to bring in her sweet baby next year (she is due in July). We can't wait to meet her!