Spelling Words

"Wear you hair regular!"

So, my fifth grader picks out his own spelling words each week..usually they are very random choices he pulls from the dictionary.  
The weekly spelling assignment goes like this: pretest over grade-level words on monday.  Then, depending on the grade from the assigned pre-test words, the student gets to chose new words,  which would include any that are missed, totaling up to 15 words.  I am lucky to have a good speller in the house, so each week after the pre-test, he picks all new words.  Different activities follow for the week using the new words, then there is another quiz on Friday.  One of the activities includes illustrating the definition of each word in a little book he makes.  So, his pictures are very entertaining, at least they bring a smile to my face and I hope they entertain his teacher a little bit!  Here are a few samples..

I have been encouraging him to challenge himself, but also give himself a break and pick a few words that aren't so tough.  Last week he picked 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'...try putting that into a simple word search puzzle  with 14 other words (another one of his activities)!  I think he learned his lesson to keep it to words that are less that 30 letters long!  It took a village to find them all!

Choir

Those kids can sing!!

Ariston decided to join the choir a month ago and they are singing Friday at the Austin City Limits Music Festival--a big deal! (Many choir members started practicing over the summer, but Ariston joined choir after meeting our new music teacher--he was inspired!)

They will be joined by members of another elementary school choir where our new music teacher formerly taught. They are performing 8 songs, by Wilco, the Flaming Lips and The Beatles, and a few others. Here is a short clip from today's dress rehearsal. It is always a cool moment to see your child flourishing in such amazing ways!

Piano Recital-Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky

A partial clip from Ariston's recent piano recital--a few bobbles along the way, but all in all, he played well. According to him, he received very loud applause, and I concur in my most non-biased mother opinion!

Boat Driving

spring break fun at the coast...

he is really driving, does better than me!

A New Beginning

At long last, election day arrived. I am extremely happy to see the end of political ads nauseum, and even happier at the outcome. Ariston had a school assignment to plot the electoral map, so he was up and really into watching the returns for a while. It was cool to see his interest in the election and for me, it was exciting that both my kids knew the names of who was running and had opinions, regardless of their reasoning behind their choices. His class ended up in a local news story about mock elections at school, so he was on TV as well. He had a very exciting day.

Smell My Feet

For the first time in a couple of years, we stayed in our 'hood for tricks and treats. I was not the most inspired parent as far as creative costumes go, but the kids were happy with their choices. We had a bleeding skeleton with a pumping heart (look hard for the red blood on the ribs) and Optimus Prime Transformer (sans mask). I was apparently not allowed to take pictures of Optimus with his mask on or with his brother, so we have separate pictures. Optimus had a costume parade at school, which was the best I could do at getting a full on picture of him. We were visited by BumbleBee (another transformer--really this is all beyond me--we have not seen the movie, so I don't know what the heck I am talking about). This guy had dismantled a motorcycle to create his ultimate costume--Matthew, I mean Optimus, thought BumbleBee was pretty awesome. At the school parade, Optimus is next to Batman.

Paper, Knives, Pumpkins

We enjoyed our annual pumpkin carving with my sister and her family. The boys created their own pumpkin designs and we helped execute the carving when it appeared that a child could potentially lose a finger. All is well, no doctor visits required and we enjoyed roasted pumpkin seeds while watching our glowing jack-o-lanterns!

Moving on UP

Next up, Ariston decided he has outgrown his bunkbeds (or perhaps we have all hit our heads, shoulders, back, etc) one too many times, and so we spent a good part of the day dismantling the beds and cleaning. This is probably only momentous to me because it just means he is moving on, growing up a bit. I thought he would want to be in the 'cave' forever. He is enjoying the new arrangement (his pick) although I have not yet taken a picture to post here as a before/after. Matthew is still sleeping in his brother's room (even though he has his own), but at least now he is no longer sleeping on the mattress from the top bunk which we put on the floor. Again, just holding on to these moments in time--they are fleeting. Ariston was about 3 when he moved into the bunk beds and he was shorter than Matthew is in this picture (since Matthew is now more than 4).

First Day Fourth Grade

I am so behind in everything, including posting new stuff. Sad to say the blog takes a backseat to most things since I am sure it is not followed by many. First up, I have a picture of at least one child's first day back to school. They did not start on the same day, so sad to say, no picture of Matthew's first day, which was a week later. Next year will be the real deal for him, so I will do better (or at least I tell myself I will) when he starts kinder. Anyway, here is the big 4th grader on his first day. Of course, we are already 10-12 weeks into the year and he has received his first report card, and he looks completely different (okay, just kidding about the last thing).

More pictures

Tent brothers, 4-year-old view of the Grand Canyon, Pacific Coast Evening

Re-surfacing

After a hiatus, commonly known as life, I am attempting to get back on the blogging board. A brief catch-up. We had a busy and fulfilling summer. Good times at/with: camp, cousins, coast, California (legoland), Grand Canyon, more coast (before hurricanes). Now we are back in the swing of school, work, volunteering for schools, homework, piano, and family. A few (very few) pictures from our summer, include (in no particular order): learning to be one with the boogie board, awe-inspiring creations at legoland, sunset at the beach, Grand Canyon through a four-year-old's eye.

Post Camp Report

Ariston not only survived camp (as did his parents), he loved it! I have been slowly (and gratefully) been hearing bits and pieces of camp life and how his days were filled. I say gratefully because sometimes details from this boy are difficult to come by, but he has been eager to share this time around! I have heard stories of juice-filled water balloon fights (for winning the cleanest cabin of the day) to boy makeovers with markers by the girls who won for clean cabin. Ariston was one of the lucky recipients of marker makeover--with remnants still on his face when we picked him up! Being bounced off the blob into the lake, becoming a professional at turning the canoe in circles, completely enjoying horseback riding and telling me who was the most annoying cabin mates. He tactfully declared that camp food was second best, saying home was better and decided that his bunk was pretty comfortable after getting used to the graffiti that decorated it. A few pictures from pick up, with his counselors, a good friend, Matt, who gave a new nickname "Arister" and The Blob on the lake!

Getting Comfortable

Looking a little more comfortable with his surroundings and his new friend, Max, who astutely proclaimed when we got settled in the cabin,"This is my first time here too. I'm Max." Max is 7 and standing next to Ariston waiting to play 4 square.
I selfishly wanted my mom hug, so we walked over to the cabin to take a picture on the stairs of his new digs. A few tears were shed by both of us, which we all had been holding in, and with some words of encouragement and humor we left, with half a smile on our faces and loads of emotion in our hearts.

Bunk and Sports

Ariston got settled into his bunk and then, after making himself a name plate out of a piece of sliced-tree trunk which was tied around with plastic-type strink, he joined the boys for a game of 4-square. Nothing like the common language of games/sports to break the ice. He was observing and sizing up his new friends while waiting for his turn to play.

Off to Camp

Well, it is off to camp for Ariston--a first in his world. After a 2+ hour drive we feel our way around through check-in, then on to find his campsite, which consists of about 6 tree-house , air-conditioned cabins, each holding 8-10 people (including counselors), as well as common areas, such as cafeteria, arts and crafts, volleyball nets and a swimming pool very near. A 1/2 mile walk takes the kids to a lake where they will canoe, swim, goof around. Each 'campsite' is co-ed, girls in their own cabins of course, ;-). They will also get to horseback ride, which Ariston has never done before!
He picked a bunk and we helped settle him in and stayed around for a short while chatting with the counselors to learn about the schedule, etc. I hope he slept better than I did last night!

Super Chalk Man

While I was working in the house recently, Matthew was outside with his brother, entertaining himself with his new Easter chalk. He came in and said, "Mommy, I made a present for you, for everyone, come outside and see!" So I did. My first thought and question I asked was if the older neighbor girl had created this. She replied no, Matthew did it all. He made a winding path of letters about 25 feet long with chalk. Now, they are in no particular order (it would be truly genius if they were), but he did make letters that he previously had trouble with. He was rightfully proud of his effort!

It is hard to see them all in the picture, but letters he made included: L, R, P, Y, B, A, M, H, to name a few as well as the numbers 3 & 4. I am amazed and awed daily with the brain of a child, how open they are to creating their unique visions that come to them. I find it much more difficult to get in touch with that part of myself, but I keep trying.

Chelsea Clinton Campaigns for her Mom

Today, Chelsea Clinton held a Q & A at the south campus of ACC. I was a little late, but luckily for me, so was she. There were about 200 people present with questions from social services funding to healthcare, and funding for the sciences. Chelsea is a very eloquent speaker, with quiet humor interjected, despite being bogged down with what appeared to be a cold, (or maybe Texas allergies). She was very involved with the crowd and stayed around for photo-ops with most anyone who wanted one.

Democratic Presidential debate

Top: Press filing room, where all from the media can sit, plug in laptops, have phone connections and watch the debate. Each room (there were 2) had seating for approximately 225 people.

Second: Broadcast news reporters preparing for their next segment.

Lastly: Obama as he came on stage for the debate.

Scenes from candidate supporters

Photo Op-Start of Debate

Just pictures here--I made it in the group who was approved to go into the 'photo spray' in the debate hall at the start of the debate....

The Stage is set

Can't wait to see the action the stage will see Thursday night.
Let the 'spinning begin'. More than 100 members of the press ask questions and get the lay of the land during the press walk-through.

More pre-debate scenes...

Just to clarify, in case I didn't, these are pictures from the Democratic Primary Presidential Debate, to take place Thursday, Feb. 22, 2008.