Speeches and Enunciating

Tonight Ethan practiced his "valedictorian" speech for his "graduation" from the "Apple Valley One Room School House" tomorrow. For three weeks, everyone in the fourth grade has pretended to be part of the Apple Valley Schoolhouse in the 1850s. It has been really neat. Ethan's alias is Robbie Smith. His teacher is now Miss White. They wear old style clothing and carry their books in pillowcases. The three weeks is coming to an end so the other night, he had to write (OK, I helped him a little) a valedictorian speech. Yesterday he found out that his was one of six out of the entire fourth grade that would be part of the graduation ceremony. So yes, folks, Ethan will give the first speech of his life tomorrow morning. Drumroll please....:

"Good morning fellow classmates, staff and parents. Thank you for attending our graduation. The teachers and students have worked very hard. We have learned much about reading, spelling, writing and mathematics.

Much has happened this year. I remember the time when I brought an apple to my teacher Miss White. When she took a bite of it, a worm popped out! Boy did she scream to the heavens! She ran out of our one room school house faster than a speeding horse! I also remember how we all came together to mourn the passing of Farmer Brown's beloved cow, Bessy. We are more than a schoolhouse, we are a community.

As graduates entering our community, I believe we can work together to bring peace back to our country. President Pierce did us wrong by signing the Kansas Nebraska Act. Now, we are graduates. We can do our part to make a difference.

Thank you for coming."

Video camera's ready!

So while Ethan did his work, Brenden did his. Of course it took me saying "focus focus focus" to both boys, but that's how it always is. Anyway, Brenden had to write the words he missed on the day's spelling test three times each and in a sentence. When we got to the word "would" I explained to him that the word isn't the "wood" that's is like the wood of a tree. Instead, I said, it's like "Would you like to go to the movies?" So not to cheat, he came up with his own sentence: "Would you like to go to the park? (hehe) When he was writing out the sentence, he came up to me and said how do you spell "jya?" I replied HUH? What are you talking about Brenden?! and he said YOU KNOW, JYA!! WHAAAAAT? says me! Finally, he says YOU KNOW, LIKE WOULDJYA LIKE TO GO TO THE PARK? HAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I guess I should start enunciating.

Ok, good night. :)

Mission Inn Run: New Family Tradition?

On November 9th, the boys and I, along with my niece Sarah, participated in the 31st Annual Mission Inn Run. It was awesome. I had a blast and the boys did awesome. It was fun to be a part of something with my family that so many other families were participating in. There was a great sense of community. Everyone had a smile on their face. Well, except for the really tired runners - haha.

I did the 10k. My family gathered on one of the corners and cheered for me each time I passed. Ethan ran down the street to watch for me and then ran up with me when I finally came by. Both the boys waved and yelled "MAMA! GO MAMA!" every time I saw them. During the last mile, I was running up toward my family and Brenden yelled out while Ethan ran up near me. The lady next to me said "Aw, that must be really inspirational." She was right. It was such a good feeling to have all the people that I love, the people who genuinely care about me, there to watch me reach my goal of running my first 10k, without stopping, in less than an hour. It was wonderful. And I finished without even feeling tired. I was only happy. So happy.

The kid's races were fun too. They were SO proud of themselves and I was SO proud of them too. Brenden and Sarah completed a 1/2k while Ethan did the 1k. As soon as the kids took off during the 1k (fast I might add!), a bunch of the parents (including myself) took off down the side street to meet them at the pass. It was so funny! I tried to run to get ahead of Ethan to take a good picture of him but he was too quick! Aunt Jay got one though!!!


Brenden and Sarah were quick too! Ok, well Sarah wasn't so quick but she is a lovely little tea party type of girl and she did FABULOUSLY considering that. Her mom Jocelyn ran with her the entire time convincing her not to give up!

I had done something similar a couple of days before, yelling at ALL the kids not to give up when they came down to the track for a "trial run". Since they had never run in a race before, I wanted them to experience the run so that they would get a feel for how far they had to go. They did well, but wanted to walk some, and I kept yelling across the field "DON'T GIVE UP!!!"

After the kids' races, they got their medals, we looked at the list of names and times, and then headed for a family lunch at our mexican restaurant. :)

I do believe (and genuinely hope) that this will become a new family tradition for us. Even Kel said that maybe she'll do the 1 mile run next year - hehe. It was terrific!

The Jungle Book

This past Sunday, the boys, my niece Sarah and my mom went to a children's theatre production of The Jungle Book. It was great!

At first, Ethan didn't want to go, but I think he was pleasantly surprised.
For him (just as it was for me when I used to go with my Grandma Evelyn to the Fontana Players when I was a kid), they play was magical. His eyes were so bright and big, and I was so happy to see it!

Sarah loved it too! She was bouncing and singing in her chair during the musical numbers. It was stinkin' adorable.

Brenden liked it too, but he asked if he could play with my Blackberry twice...so it wasn't as magical for him. LOL

After the play, Ethan wanted to go back to get a look at the actors up close and as normal people. And when we got home, even though it was late, the first thing he did was look up the theatre group online. I think I might have a little actor on my hands!!

October 31, 2008: A Zoo and A Whole Pirate Family!

For the past month, Brenden's teacher Mrs. Moerke has been sending home information about Mrs. Moerke's Zoo...a place where all the first graders become animals, and they talk about themselves. Parents receive admission to the zoo through donation of school supplies, and get to buy bags of food for the animals for 25 cents.

For the past week Brenden had been working diligently memorizing facts about the panda, and lines for his class performance. For the past several days, while the kids did this,

, I worked diligently on a panda outfit for Brenden to wear! Now, I don't know how to use a sewing machine very well so I did it by hand.

It turned out pretty cute, and Brenden looked adorable in it!!!

He did a great job speaking and telling facts about the panda. He also enjoyed talking to his friend Kyle while the whole class was singing! (...that Bren!) And everyone thought the giant bamboo stalks that Grandpa Steve collected for the pandas were awesome!

The panda exhibit at the zoo was a definite success!

Later, we got dressed up and drove down to a nearby Halloween event with Jay, Sarah and Ryan. They had music and all of the stores were passing out candy. It was WAY better than trick or treating in our dud neighborhood!

Ethan went has the "head legendary" pirate, and Brenden and I were his followers. Sarah was a cheerleader and Ryan was Piglet. So fitting! :)

While we were having frozen yogurt, some people walked by and said "Look, a whole pirate family!" Aww it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

On Main street they had a band playing. Ethan and Brenden showed us some of their break dancing skills! Here's Ethan in action:

What a fun day!

Brenden got to be a panda and a pirate.

Ethan was the legendary leader, and an awesome dancer.

And I was a very proud pirate mama, indeed.