Adventurous kids – Page 55 – Letters from Home

Top of their Class

Paige and Daniel received their piano awards this week.

Paige won the trophy for the most honor points in the 12 and older age group.

Daniel won the trophy for most honor points for the 5-11 year olds.

Honor points came from participation in the Sonata/Sonatina Festival, the Piano Ensemble concert, Guild auditions, participation in group lessons and preparation in weekly lessons for the 2008-2009 school year.

The trophies, medals, certificates, and pins are very nice, but we would be proud of them even without the awards. They really worked hard this year. Congratulations, Paige and Daniel! We hope that your musical talents bring joy to your life and many opportunities to serve others.

Fathers and Sons

This weekend was our ward fathers and sons campout. We went to Parker Canyon Lake and had a great time! A little “boys only” time is good once in a while. Friday night we fished, swam, roasted hot dogs, and slept in our tent. Saturday morning we were up with the sun at 5:30 and had bacon, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and bacon. 🙂 We got some more fishing in along with a little canoe ride.

Timothy wins the prize for most fish caught. He caught two. That doubles the number of fish he’s caught in his life. Check out the variety: 1 catfish, 1 trout, and 2 bluegill.

Daniel wins the prize for most innovative. We only had one fishing pole so he went on a treasure hunt. By himself he found abandoned fishing line, sinkers, and a hook. He borrowed a worm from someone. He fished by dangling his line over the side of the dock and what do you know? He caught one! I wish I had a picture of his setup.Here are some pictures that I do have.

Tribute to Teachers Week: Friday

Michele Brady (Miss Michele) is Paige’s ballet technique and team teacher. Paige joined Miss Michele’s class just a little over 3 years ago and we are so happy about the progress Paige has made since then. Michele is one of those women who really “thinks big.” Her productions are beautiful. Only a few years after establishing her studio, she has a building of her own (nearly completed!) to house her dancers and other artists in town. She envisions a building where many art & music classes can be taught; a place where performances can be given and the community can come together. How great would it be if we all gave so much to our community? On a personal level, we appreciate her positive example in Paige’s life. She’s a busy mother of four who is active in church and has a great relationship with her dancers. As her husband goes away to serve in Afghanistan, we wish her family extra protection and peace. We love you, Miss Michele.

Coach J.D. Reyes is Daniel’s baseball coach. We like Coach Reyes because he makes the boys work hard, but always acknowledges their efforts in a positive way. He’s funny, well-prepared, and expects a lot from the boys. No matter the score, he continues to encourage the boys and give support. What a positive example he is for the team. Coach Reyes is a father of 5 and a really nice guy. We should also mention that Coach Reyes’s wife, Laura hands out candy each game for good plays and his older son often helps out at baseball practice. What a nice family! Thanks, Coach Reyes for all of your work this year with the Round Rock Express!

Richard is an assistant coach on Daniel’s baseball team. Daniel really likes having his dad around at practices and games. Richard works hard to get Daniel to the batting cages before games. Often this means that he comes home from work, drops his bag, grabs a cookie or something and runs out the door to baseball with Daniel all evening. Thanks, Dad!

Tribute to Teachers Week: Thursday

Paige began her study of German this year with our neighbor and friend, Heike Dedmone. We feel very blessed to have Paige taught by a native German speaker and such a fun person! Classes were full of games, songs, and activities. When Heike saw Paige at the park, she’d enlist her in a game with instructions shouted in German. Paige really enjoyed German class this year and we appreciate the time Heike took to teach a group of preteens and teens in her home each week. Heike is a very busy lady who runs an Awana club for her church, homeschools her own children, landscapes her own yard, hosts Bible study each week in her home, and has created a beautifully decorated home full of her own art. Her children are beautiful & even her minivan is clean. This is one great lady. Thank you, Heike!

Tribute to Teachers Week: Wednesday

Each Wednesday morning this school year meant P.E. with Coach Pat (Patricia Graff) from Sports Kidz Arizona. Timothy and Daniel attended her class. Coach Pat is a very kind person and gave the kids a very good workout each week. She quickly learned the kids’ names and always had an encouraging word for them. Her job was not easy, trying to create a P.E. class for kids ages 5-17, but she did a great job. She began each class with a prayer and Bible recitation. She ended each class with a group cheer. Way to go, Coach Pat! Thank you!

Tribute to Teachers Week: Tuesday

Tuesday means art and pond work for our family. We have two teachers on Tuesdays, Sister Alyce Jones and Mrs. Rebecca Costello.

Alyce Jones has taught the kids to paint with oils and watercolors since June of 2008. We meet with her every few weeks on Tuesday afternoons. We like her approach to art teaching. She gives a few instructions and then encourages the kids to explore the art of painting. She has a huge art library in her home and she’s allowed the kids to borrow probably 20 books and several videos to help them. That reminds me, I need to return some of her best brushes that she loaned to Paige. She is like a grandmother to the kids, bringing them gum, sharing her cookies and never critical. She has taught the kids to enjoy painting and they have a lot of satisfaction from their work this year. My house is full of beautiful oil paintings by my favorite little people, thanks to Sister Jones. She is also very musical and attends the kids’ piano performances. She wrote the nicest note to the kids after she heard them sing in church. She also works at the Family History Center in Tucson and she helped us learn more about Family History there. We love you, Sister Jones!

Mrs. Rebecca Costello has been our aquatic ecosystem teacher this year at the community pond. Basically, she teaches the kids how to be water gardeners. She knows all about plants and fish and how maintain a pond. We spend one or two mornings a month with her, taking water samples, planting things, or just enjoying watching the pond. She is very knowledgeable and generous with her time. She’s a busy person, teaching her own son and meeting the demands of her job. It means a lot to us that she works so hard to see that the kids have meaningful activities. We appreciate how she has given the kids a real hands-on science experience this year. Daniel and Timothy look forward to wading in the pond, even if it means removing nasty filters that need to be cleaned. Thank you, Becky, for the time, the patience, your generosity and knowledge this year at the pond!

We have one more teacher on Tuesdays, but we’ll highlight her on Friday since she teaches on that day, too!

Tribute to Teachers Week: Monday

This is a week of tributes to the teachers in our children’s lives. Today we celebrate our Monday teachers, Mrs. Paulette Albertson and Mrs. Kay Ellett.

Mrs. Albertson is Paige and Daniel’s piano teacher. She challenges them and I know she cares. Her attention to detail and desire to help stand out as some of her strengths. I think it takes a special person to be a piano teacher. Mrs. Albertson, Thank you for the extra hours you devote to the kids, seeing that they have performance experiences, awards & even gifts at Christmas. Thank you for seeing that they are always well-prepared for their performances. Thank you for your time and your talents. We know the kids have learned many things from you.

Mrs. Kay Ellett (Miss Kay) is Paige’s pointe class teacher; in other words, she teaches Paige how to dance on her toes. Miss Kay is a mother of 5 and so she knows how to relate well to the teenagers in her class. Paige likes her because she is a fun person to be with. Paige likes how Miss Kay is willing to work with the girls on things, over and over until everyone “gets it,” even if it takes all of class time. Seeing to the needs of her students is most important to Miss Kay. She has a calm, confident way about her and she is very generous. Thank you, Miss Kay, for teaching Paige!

April 23

Paige and Daniel went to Raytheon’s Career Day. Richard signed them up for mini-classes on different kinds of engineering and took them to lunch in the cafeteria. Paige liked the software engineering demonstration (they had a robot) best. Daniel liked the electrical engineering and the robot, too. I am glad Raytheon opened their doors and prepared these classes for the kids.

After the Career Day, we raced over to our homeschool geography bee. We were too late to really do much, but Timothy was able to present his geography project: he sang This Land is Your Land. All the children joined in at the chorus and I felt like Maria von Trapp on the guitar.

Daniel then went to a book club discussion about The Wright 3 at the Billings’s house. Last week they played with pentominoes and worked on codes. This week, they learned about fibonacci sequences and “magic” triangles in nature and in classical architecture. (That last sentence I copied and pasted from Amy Billings’s e-mail, since I don’t know anything about that stuff.)

We didn’t have a normal school day, but I think I can say the kids were well-taught all day. Last night was the first night in a very long time that our family has been together in the evening. We sat and talked for hours in our family room. Everyone was happy. I made a turkey dinner and enjoyed the sleepy full feeling as I listened to the kids tell me about their day. Paige is looking forward to braces (that’s another trip we made earlier this week) and Daniel told us baseball stories. I talked about the Town Council elections that are driving me crazy. Richard told us about a discussion he had on the way home from work. Mark got tired of waiting for someone to put him to bed and we found him snuggled in his crib, sound asleep. Timothy nearly drifted off to sleep, snuggled up on the couch, listening to us.

Paige and Daniel are looking forward to performing Hamlet this summer. I found this series, Shakespeare Can Be Fun! that is written in couplets, uses some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, but is much simpler for children. I’m totaly inspired by this series. I can just see the boys getting into the sword fighting and poisoning and hopping into a grave. I can just see Paige and a friend acting like crazy Ophelia and the guilty queen. Now, I just need to enlist 5 or 6 children to join us. Costumes, props, etc. will be a great summer project.

Timothy’s shiner

A giant ant did this to Timothy. I’m not kidding. It was one of those big playground toys. He stood up beneath it, not realizing he’s grown 6 inches in the last 2 weeks (or so). He says it hurts. We’ve never had a black eye here at the Presidio. Am I stupid for posting a picture of my child thus bruised for all the world to see? Probably.

Take me out to the ballgame!

Baseball is in full swing for Daniel and Timothy. Daniel’s game tonight was one of his best yet. He hit a double that landed between the left and center fielders. He also got to pitch for an inning and struck out one batter. He doesn’t aspire to be pitcher, but it’s fun all the same. His dream position is second base. Here are a few photos from tonight.

Fielding a grounder

Pitcher taking the signal

Winds up

Cocked

Delivers the pitch!

Strike three, he’s out!