Adventurous kids – Page 56 – Letters from Home

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!

Easter 2009

This was our Easter. The kids decorated eggs after church. We then invited the Dedmone family from across the street to our house for ham, potatoes, asparagus, pineapple, homemade rolls & apple crisp. The Dedmones stayed for a long while so we had a good visit.

Sun in the eyes and wind in the face doesn’t make certain people very happy. But really, we were joyful and looking forward to the candy at home…

Timothy and Daniel sang and Paige accompanied them on the piano for sacrament meeting. They did great! It was the last musical number that I assigned in my previous calling. I was a nervous wreck, hoping the short song would be “enough” to satisfy the heavy expectations for an Easter song. I started to get teary when the first person complimented the kids, I was so relieved! As church progressed, Richard and I received so many compliments that I think I’ll turn over doing music in church entirely to my kids. It’s a lot less work for me but I still get all the glory.

Good boys

I love working on Cub Scout stuff with Daniel. Daniel made brownies and mashed potatoes for our family tonight. Richard came home sick from work, so we fed him dinner in bed. Timothy kept him company.

Agua Caliente Park Field Trip

Presenting our day at Agua Caliente Park, Friday, April 10th. We were in a group of about 40 people and it was a perfect day.

Here is Daniel looking at aquatic critters he and Paige collected.

Look at this perfect oasis in the desert! We stayed for a long time after classes, just enjoying the day. We came away with a few skinned knees from exploring, a true sign of a successful explore. Richard had the day off, so he came with us. Mark was still recovering from his illness, but he had fun.

There were a couple of Great Horned Owls in the trees. I love this photo that Richard took of Daniel.

Mark and Timothy are lizard hunting. 2009-04-10-Agua Caliente Park 104.jpg

The older kids went to one class, and the younger kids went to another. Timothy took careful notes. 2009-04-10-Agua Caliente Park 064.jpg

Mark took notes, too.

Paige and Daniel, collecting invertebrates and minnows to look at in the lab.

Kindergarten friends are best

This is Timothy with his friend, Sophia. We were on a field trip and the teacher was showing them a pair of Great Horned Owls nesting in the trees. Apparently they thought making faces at each other was much more interesting.

A moment from our Friday

Cupcakes, enjoyed on a big boulder in the front yard.

At the same moment, Paige was diligently practicing piano. — Meanwhile, Paige diligently practiced the piano...

I owe those big kids a cupcake, too.