Real Time Post--An Almost Perfect Relatively Uneventful Thursday

I keep slipping with this blogging business. Eventually I will write an entry about my 6-year old's 5th birthday, but I'd like to pause with one real-time post to say that today has been an almost perfect Thursday.

Wylie is such a big boy now--potty trained and proudly wearing his PJ Masks or Paw Patrol underwear during the day. But small enough that I still get to keep him with me while his sisters are at school.

This morning we exercised together, then went to a yoga studio to redeem $75 worth of free merchandise with a gift certificate we won at a library event last summer (I know, it only took me a few months to get over there. So happy I didn't lose it before it expired!) After we grabbed some groceries (I got an amazing deal on applesauce and Teddy Grahams), we went to the library for Story Explorers story time where Miss Andrea read us a book about a polar bear. Then Wylie got to play with some fake snow and tiny arctic animals . . .

. . . and squirt warm water on a blue ice cube to simulate a melting iceberg.

We came home for lunch, then cuddled on the couch to read a couple of Curious George books. I love that Wylie will still sit on my lap and let me nuzzle his head.

Next, I sat at the piano to work on this, with Wylie's help (he loves the piano these days):

He also played his own little songs with me before I let him turn on his favorite show--Boss Baby.
While he's watching, I might even have time to practice this:

Beethoven 5. I can't wait for rehearsal tonight!

Stay tuned for documentation on Paula's 5th Birthday . . . it's coming . . .

Holiday Parties 2018

All three girls had their holiday parties on the last Thursday before winter break. Paca came over the night before, and we read him "Whose Boat Is This Boat" by Donald Trump.

Matchy-matchy Thursday

4th Grade Party in Mrs. Drage's Room

2nd Grade Party in Mrs. Haselby's Room

Summer and Mika trying to shake ping pong balls out of tissue boxes strapped to their hips

Wylie and Paca leaving Bethke and headed to Paula's preschool party

In addition to the party, Paula got to celebrate her birthday that day in class, as well. The kids traced her on a giant sheet of paper and decorated it.

I was in charge of the winter party. We started with the craft.

It was supposed to go something like this:

We paused for a snowman snack made out of donuts, chocolate chips, baby carrots, and pretzels

Powdered Sugar Princess

For games, we played "Pin the Nose on Rudolph." Paula was way off and missed the poster completely! A lot of the kids got pretty turned around, making the game even more adorable.

We also played a game where we passed the jingle bells around

At the end of class, Miss Stacie read the kids a book (while Wylie played with the tools)

After school, we did this:

Whew. If that wasn't enough for one day, there was more. In the afternoon, Paula and I went together to get our hair chopped off and donated. Here is the "before" picture:

12 inches of Paula hair and 12 inches of Ivy hair:

After:

Finally, in the evening there was some time to relax . . .

. . . and eat a plate of cookies from Teresa

December 2018

For me, December 2018 began with a phone call at about 3am. It was time for my friend Danielle to have her baby girl and she was coming early! I got to be the one to crash on their couch for a few hours to stay with their son Logan and the dogs while she and Daren went to the hospital.

It was Saturday and we had planned to go to Foothills Mall to see Ramona's artwork on display. Once Logan and my kids were all up and dressed, we all made the outing together.

Little two-year-old Wylie was walking around with his hands in his pockets like a big boy.

At some point we went back to Logan's to let the dogs out. The kids had fun playing in his backyard before we left.

Decorating cookies was another past time that day

The best news: Baby London arrived safe, sound, and adorable. Welcome, little one!

It was about this time that Wylie showed a strong interest in changing burnt-out light bulbs. If he saw one wasn't working, he was relentless about reminding us. One night, we had finally heard enough and decided to change several. Wylie was ecstatic!

One project I took on last school year was teaching a handful of music lessons to the half-day kindergarten class at Bethke. Because of overcrowding and (presumably) funding issues, children enrolled in half-day kindergarten were not offered any specials instruction like art, music, technology, or P.E. that year. Only children whose families paid tuition for full-day kindergarten were able to participate in those classes. As a music teacher, I felt that this was supremely unfortunate (in addition to being somewhat discriminatory according to the ideals of public education), so I contacted the half-day teacher and obtained permission to do a lesson with her kids about once a month. I was already doing music lessons for the two neighborhood preschools, so I just adapted those lessons for a larger, slightly more mature crowd. The most daunting task was to have them each create their own composition on staff paper by drawing notes, then interpret them on my own and plug them into notation software. Then I brought in an electric keyboard and performed each composition at the beginning of December.

Seeing the kids' reactions made it all worth it. They really do need a little something more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic to inspire their love of learning and creativity.

Preschool Paula:

Last year, the girls were really into watching an Australian mermaid show on Netflix. Wylie loved getting right up to the screen during the end credits and pretend he was swimming in the water.

I love this picture of Paula and Wylie chowing down on sugar cookies:

Paula next to a giving tree at the bank:

Forest took the girls to the Timnath Tree Lighting Festival one Friday night. They admired the lights from a carriage ride, got their faces painted, and made crafts.

We spent most of a Saturday last December building a backdrop for Ramona's fourth grade wax museum project. She was supposed to choose a historical figure from Colorado's history, dress up as her, and give a speech about her life in front of a small set that could fit on her desk at school. She chose the writer Helen Hunt Jackson, and decided to have bookshelf as her backdrop. It was time to put some trash-to-art skills to work as we gathered cardboard, empty snack boxes, styrofoam, packing paper, and lots of paint to create a lightweight bookshelf with fake books and a foam picture frame.

Since our dining table was overtaken by this project, we got Subway sandwiches and had a picnic on the floor that evening for dinner.

Ramona at the fourth grade wax museum:

Izzy Sheridan, Ramona, Isabel Shostedt

A memorable event that month: Mika accidentally turned Ramona's idiom homework into a saddle for her toy horse, thinking it was scratch paper. Once we were able to salvage the paper and get it turned in on time, I had to laugh.

Another preschool craft for letter C:

Ramona's "Share the Joy" open house at her dance studio
She performed ballet first

Snowman dance from their "Frozen" ballet

Her jazz class performed after that

Ramona and her teacher Miss Jessica

All that and still a lot more December to go! It's always a packed month.