Almost Two-Year-Old Wylie

We got a visit from Grandma a couple of days before Wylie's second birthday. She had just been in Mexico, and brought him a straw cowboy hat as a souvenir. 

He wore it around the house for a while, added some black cowboy boots as a finishing touch, and then showed off his new style to the neighborhood when we went for a walk down the street.

When the sprinklers came on by the sidewalk, the kids decided to play in the water before going home.

Once she was clean and dry again, Paula showed off some reading skills to Grandma.

Perhaps feeling inspired by those sidewalk sprinklers, the next day, we picked up some lunch and went to a sprinkler park in Loveland so the kids could get wet again.

In the afternoon, the girls enjoyed playing with Lacey and Cagney, Grandma's dogs.

At some point that day, I put together Wylie's birthday cake so we could celebrate while Grandma was still in town. It was about the time the kids were really raving about "The Greatest Showman" movie, so I attempted a circus-themed cake. It looked a little bit like two elephants sinking their legs into the top of a circus tent, but I didn't have too much of a problem with that.

It was good enough for Wylie, so it was good enough for me!

After cake, Wylie got to open up some presents from Grandma a whole day early.

Thank you Grandma, for the gifts! And thank you for visiting us!

Second Half of First and Third Grade

Despite the challenges of this particular school year, second and fourth grades are finally rolling for Mika and Ramona. Here is a look back at some projects and fun they had the second half of last school year:

Mika's First Grade 100-Day project:

   With some help from her family, Mika stuck 100 penguins on and around an iceberg made out of styrofoam and foil.

Hers was the most awkwardly-sized-project by far. I don't know how she brought it home with her on the school bus.

Ramona's Third Grade Biography Project:

   Ramona chose to research Marie Curie for her biography presentation last Spring. She created several powerpoint slides and wrote a puppet show about Marie's life. We helped her make puppets out of old gloves, fabric, and buttons.

Ramona seemed genuinely inspired by Marie Curie's accomplishments, and perhaps because of it, she especially enjoyed her fourth grade chemistry unit in September.

Third Grade Roman Festival:

The kids got a day to wear togas made out of white pillowcases, make laurel wreaths, and create jewelry out of aluminum foil.

First Grade Music Performance: "It's How You Play the Game"
First graders got to wear jerseys or other athletic gear for their show in April. Mika represented her favorite sport with her Highland Meadows Tennis T-shirt.

Around this time she also completed her solar system project. Mika decided to research the planet Mars.

And here is a peacock Ramona drew for her animal research project:

Showcase:

The grand finale of every school year at Bethke is of course the Spring Showcase. We began our evening by perusing the art room. Mika had some clay owls to show us. 

Next, we watched Ramona perform a dance with a group of friends in the gym.

Not long after that was the third grade recorder performance in the cafeteria.

Finally, we made sure to spot all of the girls' projects displayed throughout the halls.

Teacher Appreciation:

As the classroom coordinator for Mika's first grade class, I was in charge of a class gift for Teacher Appreciation week. I decided to attempt a compilation of acrostic poems by the kids, and this is what I came up with:

I wasn't in charge of a class gift for Ramona's third grade class, but Ramona made an adorable card on her own for Ms. Fennimore:

First and third grade ended on a great note last year. Hoping the girls will be able to look back on second and fourth and admit that it wasn't so bad, either.