Jog-a-thon

The Kindergarten:

The Third Grade:

The original Jog-a-thon date had to be postponed due to rain, but we managed to hold the Jog-a-thon this week!

What a pretty day - a bit on the chilly side, but sunny - perfect for an hour of running!

I was the Volunteer Coordinator, and from my vantage point everything seemed to go well...

Julianna and the rest of the Kindergarteners were new to the Jog-a-thon, so I went to their classroom beforehand to tell them how it works. Later, several parents came in to help pin the lap cards to their shirts and walk them over to the track.

The Olympic theme was playing as all of the students arrived at the track and found their grade's headquarters. Then more energetic music started, while the kids warmed up and got ready.

After everyone gathered together for a prayer, the students went back to their grade's starting point, and it was "Ready, Set, Go!"

Julianna stuck with her friends or her sister, running some but mostly walking, and completed 10 laps! The same as Katie's Kindergarten number.



Katie did some running with her friends, some running on her own, some run/walking with Julianna, and some running with me. She completed 15 laps, the same as last year. She and I both think she could have done more, as there were a few laps when she wanted to run, but walked with Julianna instead.



All in all, good job!!



Here is a video, if you are able to watch it:
It starts with the Kindergarteners taking off on their first lap.
Then watch for Katie waving as she runs by (about a third of the way through her first lap).
Then Julianna and her friends come walking in as they finish their first lap.
Later, we see Katie has joined Julianna's group for a bit.

Last weekend

On the spur of the moment, we found out that my friend Jodie and her kids were in Newport Beach last weekend visiting her dad! We dropped everything and drove down there to see her on Saturday, and Wendy did too:

We played a bit at the Balboa Fun Zone and spent a little time on the beach.


Then on Sunday, the girls and I met Darell, Kathryn, and Kathryn's mom Maddie at the Huntington. We had a lovely time visiting the gardens and the European art gallery. It was my first visit to the new Chinese garden:

Funny!

Good Eats

Nick and I would like to show you what we did Thursday morning!

We baked an apple pie!

Here's our chef mixing the pie filling.


Now he's putting it into the crust.


We made it an open-faced pie, because we only had one pie crust dough in the refrigerator (store bought, but that's why we were making the pie - because we had a crust in the fridge!).

It's ready to go in the oven!


While it's baking, Nick would like to show you the tool he used for the apples:


I didn't take a picture while he was using it; I was too busy holding it steady for him while he cranked the handle.

He loved this tool! He did ALL the apples himself!

The pie is done! As you can see, we served it to everyone in the family after dinner!


YUM!

Where did February go?

Hmmm. It's March now.

I'm not sure how that happened.

I feel like I've been buried under a huge pile of volunteer duties. I can think of three big things right off the top of my head that I've been working on during the last two weeks.

I've also been going to the gym a bit more. I've been pretty good about going to a class twice a week since early October, and during the last couple of weeks I have been extra focused on making sure I get there. I am seeing NO RESULTS. Wheee!

We got to see Darell and Kathryn a few times, between hitting them up for babysitting and watching Westridge girls' basketball with them. We get to see them and Kathryn's mom this coming weekend!

We also got to see Noni twice! Katie missed her the first time, because she was at Catherine's sleepover birthday party. It was on Friday the 13th. Some of the girls decided they had better stay up until Saturday because it would be creepy to sleep on Friday the 13th. I don't have to tell you if Katie was one of them!

Well, I did manage a few photos this month:

Nick's friend Sean came over and they played with cars in the living room!




Nick and I had a little Mardi Gras celebration together. He said he wanted to go to the donut shop, and I decided I could shell out the $0.85 for our date!


The kids and I went to the zoo the other day. We enjoy reading maps! (We also enjoy watching industrious little orangutans!)





This month we started letting Turbo go outside in the back yard! He is very happy with the arrangement!



This photo tells two stories. One, Julianna lost one of her front teeth on Ash Wednesday during school!

And two, you can see the big scratch on her face where Turbo attacked her! She was playing outside with Alyssa and Nick, and Turbo ran up, jumped up and attacked her face! She was very upset. SO WAS I. GAH.


But let's move on. Here's another photo, taken just three days later when another tooth fell out!

You can see that the scratch is almost gone already. Phew.

I think the tooth fairy is moving in! Since January 22nd, Julianna and Katie have lost seven teeth! Seven! (Katie four and Julianna three.)

In fact, they lost four during the last week of February alone, including one each last Saturday! That's right, a double-tooth-fairy-visit!

And it's not over: Julianna has one more loose one, and Katie has three loose teeth!

They are falling out left and right around here!

Poor Nick keeps pulling on his teeth and despairing "when will I lose a tooth?" I can't blame him feeling left out right now! But he visited the dentist this month and I saw his x-rays. None of his teeth are getting ready to come out, in case you are remembering that Katie lost her first two when she was 4.5!

As for Eric, he started February with the big downsizing at his company, and now he's ending February with jury duty. That's right, he's on a jury.

Nick

We were just listening to a song ("Fidelity") where the lyrics repeat "It's breaking my heart" over and over.

At the end, Nick said, "What's breaking her heart?"

I said, "you know, I don't know!"

and Nick said, "maybe a rock in her head."

Julianna's 6th Birthday

Julianna had her 6th birthday party on Saturday the 24th. She chose to have a "Pajama Party," and invited the girls from morning Kindergarten (and Sara B.) over to her house.

The friends arrived at 5:30 pm, wearing their pajamas. The plan was pizza, cake, and a movie (the "Tinker Bell" DVD).

That being said, no party is complete without Free Play with Friends!

Upon arrival, the girls decide to play with some toys:


And then, they wanted to color for quite a while:



After a pizza dinner, we went ahead and had "cake time!"


(I like that picture: mid-candles! A few are out, and the smoke is blowing from them!)

Here are some close-ups of the cake. I was instructed that it needed to have pajamas on it.



After cake, we started the movie! While they were watching the movie in the darkened den, popcorn was delivered to them, as well as light-up bracelets.

The girls' parents arrived to pick them up between 8:45 and 9:00 pm, while Julianna was opening presents. Home and to bed for everyone!

Julianna was a wonderful hostess! She made sure everyone was taken care of and got them what they needed. She made sure everyone took a party favor before they left: a spool of pretty ribbon, a Disney Fairy doll to take home and color, and a package of cookies!


Julianna loved having her Pajama Party, and was full of smiles and giggles!

__________

Julianna's Actual Birthday was a busy day. She brought a book ("The Pigeon Wants A Puppy!") to donate to her classroom, and her teachers gave her a crown to wear. Due to Open House, there was noon dismissal from school, which means the morning and afternoon kindergartens were combined. The other kindergarteners thought she was so lucky to have all 35 kids there on her birthday!

Since the big kids were done at noon as well, we went out to lunch with two other families.

Here are the Kindergarteners at the restaurant:


Julianna was given a birthday sundae!


It appears that she was sharing it with Nick, whether she wanted to or not! (Julianna, as usual, was a gracious sharer.)



In the afternoon, Katie had violin, and then Julianna got to pick what she wanted to have for dinner. She chose In-N-Out!

(You can see here that she got the American Girl cat, "Ginger," that she had been hoping for!)

We all went to the school's Open House to see the classrooms, and Julianna lost a tooth while we were in the 3rd grade room!

It was her third lost tooth, a bottom incisor. That makes three bottom teeth!

Mommy carried it carefully between her thumb and forefinger during the rest of our time at Open House!

Back at home, we had cupcakes and sang the "Happy Birthday" song:



And at bedtime, Julianna put her tooth in the Tooth Fairy pillow.

When she woke up the next morning, she found 50 cents and a little note in the pillow. It was a tiny note, with tiny writing:
"Julianna,
Because I got to come on your birthday, I decided to give you a present!
Next time I'll go back to the rings and things.
Lots of Love,
The Tooth Fairy"
She drew a little picture of a tooth with a star.

The present was two outfits for Julianna's Tinker Bell doll! I guess the Tooth Fairy likes fairy dolls!

The Rainbow Roses

When you send your daughter off with her father for a camping weekend with the Rainbow Roses* Indian Princess tribe, you say a little prayer as you blow kisses and wave goodbye.

After the tired pair returns home, yawning and telling of their fun weekend, there comes a time when you take a peek at the pictures in the camera...

Let's take a look, shall we?

...

The girls were plopped down in the snow for a cute picture (sure hope the long underwear I packed were worn under those jeans):



And then apparently the dads threw snow at the daughters...



And then it appears that they told them to eat the snow...



What's this... and then they were given reptiles?



The tribe did some archery at the camp, and here I see that the Dads had their daughters pose for a photo IN FRONT OF THE TARGETS.



A skit was performed, entitled "wee wee."



You see why the moms say that little prayer when they send them off for the weekend!


____________________________

In other Rainbow Roses news, the tribe went to an equestrian center earlier this month:





___________
*Julianna thought up the name, and it received the most votes!

A Yurok Village

The big project in Third Grade at our school is the Native American Villages. The students are divided into groups, and each group studies a tribe and makes a model of their village. The goal is to have accurate details that truly reflect how they lived and used the land.

The teacher assigned the groups and chose a Chief and an Assistant Chief for each tribe.

Katie told us that the Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs were chosen because the teacher thought they would be "good leaders without being bossy." :-)

Guess who was Assistant Chief of the Yurok tribe?

Yep, Katie!


It took them many hours, spread over three school days, to make their villages. I got to come in on the third day to help them finish it (hot glue guns had to be operated by parent helpers!). The best part of being there on the third day was that I got to hear them present their villages to each other! I'm glad I had my camera with me!


Here's the Chief and Assistant Chief:


And here's the whole group:



Katie says:
The Yurok lived on the coast of Northern California, in the Redwood forest. Their primary means of transportation was in canoes up and down the coast. They lived in Longhouses made of redwood. Salmon meant a LOT to the Yurok Indians. Our group accidentally made enough salmon (out of clay) to last them about 2 winters!! They also grew corn to eat and hunted small game and deer. The chief (David) and I did the water. Isn't it cool how they overlap and look like waves?

Here's the Cherokee village (Catherine was the Chief)


And here's the Navajo village:



Then the villages were in the classroom at Open House for all to admire!