Oct 31 2007
Happy Halloween from the ninja (covers up the bad haircut, don’tcha think?)
and she-who-was-going-to-be-Minnie-Mouse-but-changed-her-mind-again
to be Cinderella for the 2nd year in a row. I’m told that Minnie Mouse’s time will come next year.
It’s weird to send the kids out while it’s still light out – I hadn’t considered that consequence of not having Daylight Savings time last weekend. But it’s getting darker and the first ghouls are hitting our doorstep.
Oct 31 2007
I’ve never been one to do the blog games that roll around, but this time I’ve been officially tagged by Sherilyn.
The rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names.
Six facts about me:
I’m tagging the following six people:
Oct 30 2007
Ever had one of those really great days to yourself? You know – those rare afternoons when you get to take off the “mom” hat and the “teacher” hat, and you can just wear your own hat. Or, in my case, just go get a haircut. And I went crazy and got a manicure, too.
Came home to find the house in an uproar. My DH was spitting fire, my son mysteriously banished to his room. After daring to work up the courage to ask what was wrong, I found out that my children had given Clyde a haircut. (Which wasn’t the part DH was angry about, but I digress…) Once Clyde emerged from his bedroom, this is what I got treated to.
Hmm. Okay … I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure Halloween is still a couple of days away. It took several minutes, but I finally got him to remove his hat. And well, it looks like this.
Which immediately reminded me of this guy:
But Clyde didn’t find it nearly as funny as I. Clyde was understandably furious, as his hair-dresser (Bonnie) had told him that it was straight. I’m not seeing a career in cosmetology for Bonnie, are you? We trimmed the most offensive part for now, until we get around to making him an appointment with a real barber, so at least he doesn’t look completely goofy.
But Clyde has learned not to ask Bonnie for hair advice, I think. His words were, “I’d rather trust a horse with a bucket of oats than trust her that my hair is straight.” Wonder if I can talk him into wearing the Eddie Munster outfit to trick-or-treat …
Oct 28 2007
Thank goodness, the McDonald’s monopoly game ends tomorrow. We can now resume our “normal” eating habits. Didn’t win anything this year, and Bonnie and Clyde are kinda disappointed. Not only did they not find Boardwalk, but they also only won a free coffee (would only stunt their growth), and two online computer games. I guess we’ll download those, but seems like pretty meager winnings for such spirited players.
School wise, it was a slower week. But I think we also needed that.
Monday, we went on a field trip to view some pre-automobile-era transportation. I would love to tell you that Bonnie and Clyde were fascinated and thrilled, but really, I think the high point was (1) playing with their friends and (2) seeing a dead chipmunk. I was really hoping for a historical/socio-economical lesson – not a biology one. Ah well, can’t always plan for the unexpected!
Tuesday, Clyde did hard labor over at Grandpa’s house trying to earn the money to pay for his new TKD pants. Ask me how he could lose his PANTS. I mean, he wears them home. He puts them in a bag. And now, they’re gone? They must join the socks in the dryer …
Wednesday, Bonnie had her turn with Grandpa, and she and her cousin painted the new treehouse. Well, mostly only painted the new treehouse. There was also painting of Bonnie. And Grandpa. Cousin M, I’d keep an eye out behind you!
The kids are finishing up their art projects for this semester in preparation for the upcoming art show! We can’t wait to see what projects will be selected. Bonnie’s class worked on Mexican sombreros, and Clyde’s class drew either a matador or a Spanish lady. Clyde opted against the traditional red cape for something a little more psychedelic, and he’s hoping it gets selected for the show.
Unfortunately, it seems that a bug has hit our house. Clyde was pretty quiet today – you could tell he wasn’t feeling super great. He mostly laid on the couch watching the football game (his team lost), and then he worked on a Cub Scout poster to tell about what makes a good citizen. When he’s done, I’ll try to get a picture of it. Hopefully he’ll feel better in the morning as we’re supposed to go on a field trip again!
Oct 22 2007
But Bonnie and Clyde haven’t grasped that it’s more likely that you WON’T. Currently obsessed with the McDonald’s Monopoly game board, they’re trying to convince me that economically, we need to eat there every day. “If you don’t eat there, you can’t get pieces. If you don’t get pieces, you can’t win!” Way to go, McDonald’s. Your marketing works even on children who don’t watch TV.
Another busy week has flown by. Bonnie and Clyde are enjoying practicing Christmas carols for their piano lessons. That’s right. Christmas carols. It’s not even Halloween folks! Though I hope that someone learns how to play O Holy Night, and DH is hoping that they get Linus and Lucy from the Peanuts. No pressure kids!
Last week was Bonnie’s rededication into Girl Scouts. She’s officially a Brownie scout for another year! It was a fun ceremony – the Juniors and Brownies did a skit together to demonstrate the different components of the Girl Scout Law, and we invested a whole handful of new Daisies into the troop as well. Bonnie was thrilled to receive two new patches for her vest, too: one with a butterfly on it, and the Brownie Girl Scouts Around the World Try-It. She loves Girl Scout Wednesdays – it’s always fun to see what we’re going to do.
Art class this week moved on to Mexico. Bonnie’s class drew a picture of a bird from Mexico, and colored it in with markers. We were impressed with the amount of detail that went into the wings, etc.
Clyde’s class drew a picture of a boy with a burro – but I’m not sure what he did with it. So instead, I’ll show you a picture from earlier in the session. This one was his underwater picture, colored in with colored pencils.
I’ve been told I haven’t done a Tae Kwon Do update lately, so I’ll include a few pictures from last week’s board breaking class. The studio has gone to a rotational system of tackling the different classes – we have sparring week, forms week, kicking week, etc. This past week was breaking week. Bonnie and Clyde always have a good time at it, but it’s frustrating too, as they don’t seem to have quite enough “mean” to get through the boards on the first try. But I got a few good action shots!
Here’s Clyde with his flying side-kick.
and his jumping wheel kick
Bonnie has the right look for her knife-hand (hard to believe she was twirling ala Cinderella just moments before!)
And her flying side-kick. Maybe she has a career in the movies?
We closed out the week with a trip to the pumpkin patch, and that was great fun. But we need to take DH back with us, so perhaps we’ll do pictures then.
Oct 15 2007
I wanted to mention a website out there called “Remembering Our Babies”. Remembering Our Babies was created to provide support, education and awareness for those who have suffered the loss of an infant. A special day of remembrance has been created, and that day is October 15th.
So, for all the lost babies out there, will you consider lighting a candle between 7pm and 8pm?
Bonnie and Clyde will be remembering their brother today as well.
Oct 14 2007
Sometimes school is just gonna have to be about those little life lessons. Like, it’s not always the principle of the thing. And, it’s better to tell the truth and face the music, than be caught in a lie. And that two stubborn parents can genetically yield offspring that are more stubborn than the sum of the two parts.
Yikes.
Keeps the days from being boring, though!
Last week’s field trip was a trip to the zoo with the Brownies – that was great fun! But due to the freakishly warm weather the favorite attraction was not the wild animals, but rather the sprinkler that misted the passersby as they tromped along the walkway. But the girls are going to donate some money to their zoo charity, and they enjoyed the little scavenger hunt to find the different animals along the way. It was a ton of walking, though. 18,976 steps worth of walking, by the way. The shin splits were gone by Thursday.
This week in art class, the younger kids learned about the Pueblo Indians. Bonnie drew a colored-pencil picture to represent the Pueblo Indians’ dishes.
I have no idea what the older kids did in art class because Clyde had a tantrum of mammoth proportions. So, he’ll have to catch up next week.
But, Clyde is done with his next paper for his IEW workshop. I haven’t had him read his friends’ work yet, but will hopefully get to that this week. He’s checked and double-checked, and feels that he’s done, so it’s probably safe now to read others’ work. Their assignment this week was to take a sorta boring story and make it more interesting. Clyde chose the fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs, and worked to make it more interesting. He had a hard time using his imagination to find a more exciting setting and more exciting characters, but he tried. It’s going to take a lot of work to get this literal kid to write imaginative stories.
He tells plenty of imaginative stories about how stuff gets snuck into his room, though. If only we can channel that for good, and not for evil. 
Here’s his renovated story.
Once, in the Middle Ages, in a large castle, lived a king, queen, and a prince named David. David’s job was to gather the eggs from the one-eyed-gold-colored hen. One day he did this as usual when he found not an egg, but a diamond necklace. He sold it to the market and came home with two hundred pounds. When the big, bulky prince got home, his mother asked, “Where have you been?”
David answered happily, “I sold a necklace for two hundred pounds!”
The queen remarked, “That’s wonderful. Now let’s eat breakfast. We’ve been waiting an hour!” And so it went on, but David became greedy. He thought that he would get all the necklaces at once by killing the hen. When he killed the hen, though, he found nothing. He was sorry because now he didn’t have a hen, or any necklaces. He knew now that impatience doesn’t work.
Now, if only Clyde would realize that stubbornness doesn’t work either. Other things are moving along. We’ll be moving into adding fractions this week, so Clyde will see why we’ve been torturing him with all this talk about factors and multiples. In history, Columbus has discovered America, but thinks he’s in India. And in science, the kids have learned about oxygen.
In honor of oxygen, a quote for thought, from former President Ronald Reagan.
Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.
Have a great week! This coming week has lots of exciting things, so hopefully more pictures!
Oct 09 2007
This is rolling by on one of my widgets, so I’m going to link it here so that I can find it again. Anyway, it’s an article on the positive nature of yoga for kids, and how some schools are incorporating it into their curriculum.
Does that mean we’re on the leading edge? 
Methinks it’s time today for a stretch!
Oct 07 2007
The first week of October, already gone. It would be nice to be thinking fall thoughts, but we’re too busy sweating!
Bonnie and Clyde have been busy, busy. All the activities are underway, and they’ve even been in their first drama production of the season. They both starred in the production of Sourdough Sally, a play about Alaskan customs, and what it means to be a true Alaskan.
Bonnie played the part of Edith, the friend of Sourdough Sally. She enjoyed dressing up in her winter clothes – and we were pleased that we could hear her, even in the back of the room.
Clyde played the part of Sourdough Charlie, a miner who had struck it rich. Here he is with his friends sporting the different color beards…
They really enjoyed being a part of the production. Even the singing parts.
What else?
They’ve both gotten back with their respective Scout troops. Clyde is a first year Webelos (We Be Loyal Scouts) Cub Scout this year, and is looking forward to earning lots of cool pins. He also wants to earn every single belt loop. He better get cracking! Bonnie is a 2nd year Brownie scout, and her troop is looking forward to some fun activities this year: a trip to the zoo, a yoga class, and of course CAMPING.
Clyde started his writing workshop – it’s based on the teachings of Andrew Pudewa and the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). The first two classes are complete, and they’ve been working on how to generate a key-word outline from the source text, and then re-summarize in their own words. So far, so good. Clyde had to read his homework assignment to the whole workshop last week, and one of the parents said that you could see that his experience in drama had really paid off. Some kids were nervous (spoke really quickly, or looked down at their papers, etc.) and the kids who had been in drama together were generally better about making eye contact and speaking loudly and clearly. Great! So nice when a plan pays off.
Clyde is back in the kids’ yoga class this term with Miss Mary. He’s starting to understand the benefits of yoga – besides the flexibility. Of course, he says that when he’s a professional football player, he plans to stick with yoga to help with the flexibility. But he has noticed that it helps him gather his thoughts together, and he’s much calmer after class.
After a week’s break, both kids will return to TKD this week, too. We had a problem at the studio two weeks ago – one of the kids was upset because Clyde kept knocking him down during sparring. J took his frustration out on Bonnie, and kicked her in the face. We didn’t intend to take a break, but with school and drama getting so busy, it just occurred, and maybe for the best to cool everyone off. I’ll be headed into the owner’s office, though, to talk about the incident and find out why J wasn’t removed from class when it happened. Doesn’t really seem like it’s in line with the martial arts teachings.
On a humorous note, when we got back from mopping up the blood, Clyde said, “Mom, I didn’t appreciate J kicking my sister in the face, so I knocked him down a few more times when we sparred again.” At least he loves his sister!
Art class continues, too, and the kids both like that. This past week, they talked about Texas, and a little about Frederic Remington, an American sculptor of the American West. Bonnie’s class drew armadillos.
That’s a rattesnake in the bottom right corner, and a flowering cactus in the bottom left. Clyde’s class drew cowboy items: boots, rope, belt buckle, and cowboy hat. He’s quite proud of his design on the boots.
Think that’s about it. Christmas carols have begun to be practiced on the piano – that’s also wrong in so many ways, but at least it matches the Christmas displays in the stores. It’s not even Halloween folks!
Will try not to go so long between updates, it was a crazy couple of weeks, though. Tomorrow, the zoo, and then a regular school week.
