Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Twenty Minutes

Last night I asked each kid to spend twenty minutes in his/her room cleaning and straightening up.

Out from under Adam's bed came all of this:

IMG_6694

From Under the Bed II


Approximately one hour and thirty minutes later, he was still there.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mother's Day Picnic

Last Friday I attended my final Mother's Day Picnic at the park with the school's kindergarten classes. It was a gorgeous day. The kids went on a scavenger hunt with their mothers and we traipsed all over the park looking for the items on our list. Andrew and I were down to one final item--an acorn. Andrew thought perhaps we could find one under the trees by the creek. As you can imagine, the rocks in and around the creek were too tempting and several of the kids were jumping from rock to rock. Not surprisingly, Andrew fell in--up to his waist. We had to make a quick trip home for a change of clothes and some dry shoes.

Mother's Day Picnic
That's my boy!


We had free time before lunch was served to play.

Mother's Day Picnic


After lunch all of the kids sang songs to the mothers. It's so cute. They had practiced and practiced and did such a good job.

Mother's Day Picnic


Andrew has a special friend, "T." He asked her mom if it would be okay for them to have their picture taken together. "T's" mom has a folder that she calls "The Andrew Loves "T" Folder." It contains all of the things Andrew has written, colored and drawn for her. It's so cute.

Mother's Day Picnic


You can see some of the moms reflected in Andrew's glasses. His teacher told the kids they had to take their sunglasses off for the songs so the mommies could see their eyes.

Mother's Day Picnic


It was a really fun day. As soon as we got home Andrew made his teacher a thank you card.
Thank You Card
Thank You Card


Here's Adam from my Mother's Day Picnic with him in 2006 (he's in the middle).

Mother's Day Picnic 2006


And Abby from my Mother's Day Picnic with her in 2008.

Mother's Day Picnic 2008

Friday, May 7, 2010

Ability, Motivation, Attitude

Determination
Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it
Lou Holtz

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Nature


The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. ~ Anne Frank

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Glasses

There was no school yesterday. After an appointment in the morning, we had the rest of the day to play. We decided to go see How to Train Your Dragon -- in 3D. Let me say it never occurred to me that it would be more expensive than your normal "way too expensive" movie. We were going to the same theatre after all; we were just going to receive a pair of glasses to see the movie in 3D. When the lady at the ticket counter told me how much, I almost fell over. Adam said, "How much?" I muttered a number slightly less than $50 -- just slightly. I laughed and said, "What a bargain." To which the ticket lady replied, "Awww, thanks for saying that. Almost everyone is complaining about the price." Too funny!

Adam 3D
Andrew 3D
Abby 3D

3D Glasses II


I have to admit it was money well spent. The movie is so cute and it was so fun for me to sit and watch the kids reactions to it. There were several times where I saw them reach out to touch what they thought was right in front of them.

Another good day...

Monday, May 3, 2010

Field Trips

Last week, Adam had two field trips. The entire fourth grade class went to Reed Gold Mine where they were having Carolina Heritage Days. Reed Gold Mine is the site of the first documented gold find in the United States. There were several special exhibits set up for Carolina Heritage Days. Like this guy ...

Tanner
The bucket was used in a fire brigade.


As soon as Adam saw this guy, he said, "Look, a pirate!" and he was serious. To say his class was not prepared for what they were going to see on the field trip is an understatement.

And this ...

IMG_5519


...this sufficiently scared one of the girls in my group...the one who had wondered off every time I turned around. The one was not dressed appropriately and only wanted to stand in the sun.

We did pan for gold.

Reed Gold Mine


We learned that all of the gold that has been found would fit inside the elementary school gym. I was surprised by that. Adam found a fleck of gold.

IMG_5579
A teeny, tiny fleck.


Adam + Jacob
Adam and a friend.


We also toured the mine. My favorite parts of the tour went something like this, "This is an air hammer. It wasn't used at this mine." and "This is an escape ladder. It wasn't here during the time they were mining." Um, so the escape ladder is for our benefit? Great.

The next day the fourth grade AIG kids went on a tour of Historic Concord. They had just finished a study on architecture. The teacher had prepared a scavenger hunt for the kids. They were to find certain architectural features on the houses and buildings. Each feature was worth a certain amount of points and the group who had the most points at the end of the day won a pizza party with the teacher.

Adam
The kids took the scavenger hunt very seriously.


We also had a geocaching riddle to solve. My group worked together very well. Instead of finding a treasure, the kids were led to historic markers on the sides of buildings.

Geocaching

Geocaching


Solving a Riddle


We took a tour of the Old Courthouse. The first floor of the courthouse had been converted into an art gallery and the second floor into a theatre. We toured the Museum and the Memorial Gardens where the roses were in bloom.

Memorial Gardens


After a trip to the Creamery for ice cream and the Chocolatier, we were all to meet in front of the library. The teacher was collecting everyone's responsibility slips, scavenger hunt sheets and geocaching information. She did all of this right under this sign.

No Gathering
Too funny.

At the end of this week, I head out with Andrew. Every year the kindergarteners take their mothers to a local park for a Mother's Day Picnic.