Easter fun

Easter is so early this year that it seems to have snuck up on us!

But we got some egg-dying in last night:



Here's a cute picture of the kids waiting for T. to finish he Gameboy game so they could look for baskets and eggs:
And the baskets--and CANDY!

Second Snowiest Winter on Record

We've officially surpassed almost all other winters in terms of snowfall. The "official" snowfall for Milwaukee this year (recorded at the airport) is 96.9 inches, with 12.9 inches falling on Friday the 21st (yep--C's birthday party).

Luckily we had gotten some bare spots and the roads and sidewalks were bare before this snowfall. We still had banks built up, though. I can't imagine what it would have been like if we'd not had any settling...
We're several miles north of the airport, and closer to the lake and we got at LEAST 14 inches. You can see it piled up on the wishing well below:
But since it was such heavy, wet snow, it was perfect snow for making snow bunnies:
or snowmen in the neighbors' yard:
Temps hit 50 on Saturday and (unfortunately) both the bunny and the snowman lost their heads...

OK, I'm perfectly happy being second snowiest--we can be done now. No, seriously!

A Celebration of Learning

T's class had a "Celebration of Learning" yesterday afternoon. The kids got a chance to show off some of the things they've been working on in school.

First we went to the computer lab, where they showed up the Power Point presentations they've been working on in Social Studies:

Then any of the kids who played instruments could do a demonstration, so T. played his violin:
All the kids have been learning about advertising and marketing of products. They paired up and came up with commercials for products they invented. T. and his friend created the Miceaway 3000 mouse trap:
Then they sang and danced to a song they'd learned in music class:
Then each kid read a poem or two that they'd written about someone special in their lives. Here's T., reading his:
And his poems were:

L.

Wife, teacher, mom, sister

Creative, smart, enthusiastic, fun

Lover of cooking

Who believes in honesty

Who fears centipedes

Who wants to be successful

Who gives happiness

Who says “I love you”

A.

Mom

Helpful, loving

Helps, cooks, plays Guitar Hero

Helps me do my best

L.

Then they sang another song:


And all the families posed for pictures:

A haircut--of necessity

T's hair was just starting to get long again:
But this week we shaved it to half an inch:

Why? Because I got a phonecall yesterday from the clinic at school, telling me that one of T's classmates was found to have head lice, so they checked the whole class and found nits on T. (and four other classmates).

Me and my big mouth--saying earlier this year that we'd been able to avoid lice because anytime one of "the notes" came home from school, I washed all my kids' hair with Tea Tree Oil shampoo. I didn't get a chance this time--I hadn't heard anything about lice until the phonecall to pick Trav up.

So it's been a crazy 24+ hours, spent shampooing, combing and checking heads and then stripping every bed in the house, washing all bedding and hats and coats in HOT water (turned up the water heater), then drying on high, and then sending to the attic for below-freezing temps (Yes, I know I go overboard on this kind of stuff, but I'd rather be safe than sorry...).

This week has really sucked...

A day I thought I'd never see...

T. just said to me, "Mom, I just finished Summer of the Swans. It was a really good book!"


This from the boy whose only experience with fictional works was, for years, Captain Underpants. This from the boy who COULD read when he was three, but who never chose to read for fun. This from the boy who still does prefer Calvin and Hobbes, Paper Airplane books, and an occasional Star Wars novel...

His elementary school does "Battle of the Books" (and C. participated in fourth and fifth grade--her team took second place in fifth grade) and he chose to do this on his own. He's been reading a lot of things that I don't think he'd normally have chosen. This year's reading list is:

Author	Title
Banks, Lynne Ried	Indian in the Cupboard
Blume, Judy	Superfudge
Bond, Michael	A Bear Called Paddington
Boyd, Candy Dawson	Circle of Gold
Byars, Betsy	The Summer of the Swans
Cleary, Beverly	Henry and the Paper Route
Coerr, Eleanor	Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Conford, Ellen	Felicia the Critic
Dahl, Roald	James and the Giant Peach
Dalgliesh, Alice	The Courage of Sarah Noble
Fitzgerald, John	The Great Brain
Henry, Marguerite	King of the Wind
Holling, Clancy	Paddle to the Sea
Howe, James	Bunnicula
Lawson, Robert	Ben and Me
Lowry, Lois	Anastasia Krupnik
Morey, Walt	Gentle Ben
Sharp, Margery	The Rescuers
Uchida, Yoshiro	Jar of Dreams
Wagner, Jane	J. T.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls	Farmer Boy

They form teams of three, so he doesn't have to read ALL of the books, but I'm hoping he continues to enjoy them enough that he WANTS to read them all.

Color me a proud mama...

Lazy Vacation Days

Most years, winter break seems to be over with very quickly--too quickly. But this year the kids had two FULL weeks off of school and G. had over a MONTH off of school. In addition, Grandma K. came and stayed with us for over two weeks.

It was so nice to not be rushed to get things done in a few days. We had lots of time to just relax and play with our new gifts.

Here's G. and M. I think he was holding her because he wasn't sure he'd be able to pick her up after she turned five..Here's T, probably watching "Myth Busters" on TV--giving his hands a rest from playing Guitar Hero III:

And here's Grandma K., begging me NOT to take a picture of her (I always was a lousy listener...):

Christmas Day

The "it's too early in the morning" photo:
Actually, the kids were the LAST ones up this morning! I got out of bed around 7:00, and the kids got up between 7:30 and 8:00.

Here's M., building a tower with all of her unwrapped gifts:
G., modeling the hands-free flashlight he got:
And the BIG hit of the day: Guitar Hero III for wii:
C. also got Dancing with the Stars for wii, and M. got Big Brain Academy--all three are really fun!

I got some cool laptop accessories, Uncle S. got a remote starter for his truck, and Grandma K. got an iPod!

Best of all, we have nowhere to go on Christmas day. :)

Holiday Concert at the Elementary School

Today was the Winter Concert at T. and M's school. Pictures of them dressed up, before the concert:

M (and the rest of the K4 and K5 kids) sang Jingle, Jingle, Jingle; Lights on the Tree; and Patta patta pan. Here she is with the whole kindergarten crew (she's circled in each):

T (and the rest of the 4th graders) sang Deck the Halls; When the Winter Comes; and
T. even got to play the xylophone on When the Winter Comes.

Unfortunately, G. couldn't make it to either performance this year, but neighbors videotaped it for us. (We really need to get a camcorder that works...)

Gifts That Money Can't Buy

T's teacher (who was C's teacher for 4th grade, too) gives the kids a writing assignment this time of year. The assignment is to write about gifts that money can't buy. I remember C's... I might even have it saved somewhere electronically. T. wrote his last night. I love the rambling tangents, but especially the sentiment:

Gifts that Money Can’t Buy

By T

You don’t need money to be wealthy in heart. Money might buy you fun toys, but friends are free and keep you happy longer, not to mention a lot more fun. So, if friends don’t cost money and are more fun, why not make friends instead? Also, love and nature are free. The best things are free and don’t come in boxes, for that matter. Heck, other than food and water and shelter, you hardly need to buy anything, whether it gets you teased for being Amish or not. So what if you see a commercial for a remote control hovercraft, you still don’t need it. A common way people waste money is museum souvenirs. People buy lots of things because it’s a certain brand. The worst waste of money is electricity. People think that if they leave lights and electrical appliances on while they’re away that it will ward off burglars. Unfortunately, overnight it doesn’t go off. And thieves usually figure out they used that type of remedy once the T. V. runs for two days straight. It also costs a lot of money to do that, so it’s pretty pointless. Money only gets you temporary fun, and I mean things like toys and television. It’s lots of fun to have play dates, another reason to have friends.

Remember me?

Yikes! I am SO out of the habit of blogging. I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. Apologies galore...

So here's the month in a post:

I got a new computer--a laptop! The kids' computer completely died (the motherboard on a crappy eMachines) and when I went to find a replacement, they had this Compaq Presario with a dual processor on clearance for $399--which was cheaper than any of the desktops they had.
I have always wanted a laptop ;) I haven't taken it out of the house (to cool coffee shops or wherever) yet, but just the fact that I OWN a laptop is cool. I didn't realize how much I used the number keypad on the right until I no longer had it! I also am not a huge fan of the touchpad, so have a mouse connected when the computer's at the desk. Still, going from a half dozen plugs (CPU, monitor, speakers, etc.) down to one makes the desk area a lot neater, too. And now C. wants one of her own for Christmas--she's thinking of saving her money to get one. With five people currently fighting over the internet connection on two computers, I am not discouraging her.


T. had his half birthday, so he's now closer to being ten than being nine. YIKES!



And here's a picture of C. and T. wearing the Halloween tees I bought them on clearance:

C. has been enjoying Schwa. Schwa is very cuddly and friendly and loves to be held. She isn't a big eater, though. We think she's maybe eaten two worms in the month + that we've had her...



And Grandma K. retired! She had enough vacation saved up that, although her birthday isn't until January, her last day of work was November 2nd. She's been down to visit already twice (and will be here for Xmas)--which is more than she often can make it in a year! The kids are loving it!


Besides that I've been tutoring like crazy (sometimes 7 times a week). I have a great bunch of students this year, and I am helping most of them with double subjects (both Science and Math). G. is on bedtime duty most nights and it's so nice to not worry about things like that. Even if he has an evening obligation, C. can watch the kids while I'm gone.

I also have sent in my application to substitute teach. I'm not sure if that's something I want to do for long-term, but if M. really does go to school fulltime next year, that opens me up (for either subbing or taking classes so that I can go back as a regular teacher). G. will have a few weeks off in January, and his semester finishes almost a month before the kids are out in June, so between that time (and actually Spring Break, too), I should be able to get into the schools enough to at least pay back my application fee and maybe I'll decide that I love subbing!

I've been helping out a lot at the elementary school (not many opportunities at the Middle School), and between M. and T's classrooms, plus the social events (coffees with other moms), I'm seldom home in the morning while M's in school. It's both good and bad!

We had teacher's conferences for all three kids, that overall went well. For the first time, C's conference was the harshest. All her teachers love her, but the disorganization and general sloppiness is catching up with her. I'm hoping that she'll figure things out before high school.

It was our turn to host Thanksgiving here for both families, but we lucked out in that my brother didn't come, so it was only my mom from my side, and G's brother and sister went to their in-laws, so we only had his parents! G's sister's family did come later, for dessert, but the actual meal was pretty simple.

And now I'm off to tutor, so I'd better post this, or it'll take another week to get anything on the blog! :) I'll try to do more keeping up.

Another Field Trip for T--Stony Hill School and Village

T's class took another field trip today--this one to visit a Pioneer Schoolhouse (in the morning) and Village (in the afternoon).

These are all pictures that his teacher took.

In the school room:


Reciting:

I found these amusing:And these absolutely hysterical!

Then they had lunch at the train station:

Then they learned about the trading post
Learning how long mail took for delivery in 1840:
Looking at a wringer washer:

A covered wagon: