Pajama Party

Today Regan's class had their end of year Pajama party with breakfast. There was tons of food there, the kids all wore their PJ's and brought stuffed animals and blankets. After breakfast they were gonna watch a movie and have a fun day. I got some pictures of Regan and her BFF's:

Field Day

I hadn't been feeling good all week, but have been busy with field trips and book fair, and then today, FIELD DAY! The kids love field day and it's one of the only events at the school that I don't volunteer! But, I finally caved and made a doctor's appointment, so I had some time to kill that morning, and went and watched Regan's class for a while. The theme was Extreme Weather, so her class was the Friedlander Fronts and they all made visors and decorated them. Here are Regan and Natalie on the sponge relay (soaking up the water in one bucket, and transferring it to another):


And here is snack break, it was sure hot already and only 9 in the morning!


And since I left early and went to the doctor (and found out I have strep throat) I missed out on Riley's field day, they were the Margolis Meteorites. I had gotten the class the cool flaming bandanas to wear, and he said they had a great time, but as usual, it was HOT!

Texas Capitol

Riley's field trip today was to the Texas Capitol, which is about the best field trip ever! I just love Texas History and find it all so fascinating. We started off with a tour guide, which we could have done without, I know all this stuff! But, she was good with the kids and led us around and showed us some of the new basement offices and gave us the general history of the building and Governors, etc. Then we made a pit stop in the gift shop, then got to sit in on the Senate in session, always super cool, to me anyway. Some of the kids were really getting into it too, it was enthralling. Then we went to the grounds and had a picnic lunch, and took a tour of the statues around the grounds. It was another beautiful day too, not too hot, so it was so nice to sit outside under the giant oak trees.

Whole Foods

It's time for the last field trips of the year. Regan's class went to Whole Foods, the nice big one downtown. We got to tour the store, and sample the merchandise! I just adore Whole Foods, and the one downtown seems a lot nicer, they have way more stuff. I took tons of pictures just of the displays of food. It wasn't a good idea to go on the field trip after skipping breakfast. Everything looked delicious. The kids saw a giant halibut, talked to the seafood guy, saw the chocolate fountain, got samples of chocolate, met the cheese man, he gave them all cheese sticks and let me know they carry my favorite, hard to find cheese, Kefir. Then we headed to Pease Park to eat (I bought a sandwich from WF to take with me, yum) and enjoy this nice weather we've been having lately.

Skate Night

Tonight was a fundraiser for the school, Skate Night. Regan wants to skate well so bad, but she doesn't want to fall at all, so it makes it hard to get any practice in when she hugs the rail all night. Riley on the other hand, wants to race and win, and after having a broken hand for a few weeks, the first lap around the rink, he fell back and landed on his wrist and now has a very sore, probably sprained, wrist. Boys! Regan likes to walk/skate around the track and stop for poses at each air conditioning vent. Girls!

Swine Flu?

A teacher at Regan's campus has the flu, they say it's "likely" the swine flu, so they closed both campuses until May 11th. On one hand, sweet, 10 day vacation! On the other hand, what the heck are we gonna do for 10 days when no one really wants you going out and about? I'm not a panicky, get all worked up type person anyway, so to me this is all just ridiculous. I tried to talk David into getting a tent and us heading out on a road trip, at least this time of year it won't be crowded, right? But, no go. Oh well, I'm sure I can find something for us to get into over the next week!

K-5 Dance

Regan and her BFF Raquel making a silly face

Riley's idea of a school dance, pizza and Dr. Pepper

I'm such a guppy. I'm on the parent volunteer committee at the kid's school, and they weren't going to have a dance this year because no one had stepped up to organize it, and like the sucker I am, I said, "I'll do it!" The kids love the dance, and I figured, how hard can it be, right? UGH! Not that it was that difficult, but just getting everything together, the pizza and drinks and snacks to sell, the volunteers, etc. But in the end, it was worth it, the kids had a great time and we raised almost $500 for books for the school library.

And, being the guppy that I am, I also agreed to organize Teacher Appreciation Week, which is the week before Book Fair, which I also organize. This is the busiest time of year, school wise for me, as a parent volunteer. I sometimes wonder if by home schooling, my life might actually be a little less stressful!

Wells Branch Homestead

Wells Branch Homestead

Today I subbed in Regan's class, for a study trip to Wells Branch Homestead. It was a lot of fun! The kids had tour guides that were just like the old settlers, they made one group the "Cowboys" and the other group the "Indians" and showed the kids what it was like to live back in those days. They got to climb in a covered wagon, lay under a brush arbor, see a sugar cane stripping machine, see the "outhouse", the flat-top syrup maker, and even a small farmhouse and some of the tools people used back then. It was quite informative. We also had a picnic lunch and played on the playground for a bit.

Regan doesn't like to listen to me when I'm her teacher, so it always proves to be an interesting day when I'm subbing in her class!

Writer's Celebration

Today Riley's class had a writing celebration, in order to prepare for the TAKS, and the kids spent all week writing some great stories! There were some really good, well written stories. Riley wrote about his sister bugging him to play video games with her. Really heart felt. He did win an award for showing emotion in his writing. But, the parents came and brought snacks, and I've never seen my little bird boy eat so much food! No wonder he never eats at home, he was putting it away like I had never seen before. Then we met David for lunch at Red Robin, and he ate that too. I guess we're getting to that boy age where they can just put it away like no one's business.

Build A Bear Field Trip

Regan's class went to Build A Bear Workshop on a field trip, and on a nature walk. Something about studying real/fake animals, fossils and stuff. They got a bear, they each got to put a heart in it, and have a turn stuffing him and "bathing" him. They will take turns bringing him home and writing stories about what they do with the bear. The class picked the name "David" (go figure) and then we went to the park on a nature walk. It was a nice day, if a bit windy, and I subbed in her class for the day and at one point I heard Regan tell her friend, "I don't have to listen to her, she's my MOM!"

Riley's Class Party

And finally, Riley's class party! We ordered pizza and had more cookies, cupcakes, snacks, etc. Riley's Valentine's were so hilarious, the boys really liked them, and it was a nice balance to all the candy. It was a piece of beef jerky taped on some camouflage paper, and it said, "I'd say Happy Valentine's Day, but I'm feeling...JERKY!" They loved it! I decorated some hand sanitizer bottles for the teachers that I found from another website, they turned out cute! And finally, the boys ran outside to play football, and I got a picture of Riley even though he's getting to the point where he doesn't like me to take pictures of him anymore.

Regan's Class Party

Today was Regan's class party, and it was a mad rush since I was subbing, but the class I was subbing for had an off period after lunch, so I ran to Regan's class to help with her party. I'm so used to being there for all of that, I can't give it up! I skipped lunch and partied with them. It was fun. I forgot my camera in the rush, but used my phone, and surprisingly, it takes decent pics, so here's Regan decorating her heart cookie, and her friend Kai with his icing lips. I think I have a picture of Kai at every party with icing lips.

Nature Center

Just when I thought I was warming up from the weekend, Riley had a study trip to the Nature Center, mostly outside, and of course, another frozen day and I will never get over this cold this way! But, it was a great trip, they had an inflatable planetarium, where they learned about different constellations and where they are in the sky, and how to find them, and some of the Greek mythology about them. They learned about the planets, the sizes, and used different size balls to show how big they are in relation to one another. Riley had a yellow softball which I believe was Jupiter, and his "girlfriend" Annie had Pluto which was a tiny BB.

Then they walked off steps to see how far the planets would be from the sun if the sun was a yellow balloon. There were beads or nuts in various sizes to represent the different planets. We only got a few planets in before we were almost off the Nature Center property! It was a pretty neat lesson that the kids really enjoyed and seeing how small some of the planets were really blew them away.

They got to learn how a star is made, and our "guide" was really good, he made it fun, and made it easy to understand, even for a non-science person like me! Then we got to walk around the Nature Center and see the animals outside, the coyotes are Riley's favorite, and have snack before heading back to school for King Cake.

Since we're heading to New Orleans next month, we had King Cake parties in both the kids classes to share with them some of the culture of Mardi Gras! Riley's friend George, and Regan's friend Frankie got the baby in the cake, and they all enjoyed it, and can't wait till next month when we come back with TONS of Mardi Gras beads!

Science Fair

Have a few minutes to post, been extremely busy lately, but wanted to share pictures of our science fair project, we got great remarks on it by the judges! And all the kids really liked it. I was subbing in 2/3 and when I told that class what we did, they had tons of questions, and they talked about making one at home and wanted to try some of the food themselves, so I think we picked a good experiment. Ours was Solar Cooking, we made a Pizza Box Oven, and made s'mores, and I have pictures of Regan helping me set it all up.

I also have pictures of Regan's class project, they grew plants in several types of soil, playground sand, potting soil, gravel, etc, to see which one grew the best, and of course, potting soil was the best. Each kid in her class made their own graph and they had a nice colorful presentation board. I didn't get any pictures of Riley's class project because once we got to the Science Fair, he took off with his friends, and I never found out which one his class did.

Culture Fair

Regan's class had a Culture Fair today. Their portable has 4 classrooms, so each class presented a different culture, and the kids rotated to each room. One of Regan's friends, Case, his grandparents have been to each of the 7 continents, so they came and gave a slide presentation to the kids of their travels, and taught them how to say hello in several languages.

Regan's class was Australia, and her teacher talked about her travels there, showed them a "digiridoo," boomerang, played native music, and talked about the native animals, the Aborigine's, and we all tried to talk like an Australian, "G'Day" "Crikey" and all that.

Then it was on to Sweden where they learned about some of their customs which to be honest, I was too busy helping with the craft to pay any attention. They made "Crowns of Light" and all I know was it required a lot of glue and a lot of parent attention!


Then to China, the teacher went there recently and had several of her souvenirs there to show the kids, so it was fun to reminisce. She passed out fortune cookies to all the kids and let them see the silk scarves, bamboo, and compared the differences in our money and writing.

Next stop, Senegal, West Africa, where the kids learned a native African dance and got to play a drum, and saw some pretty African beads made from recycled paper. They got to make their own beaded rings on pipe cleaners also.


I love that they are learning at such a young age about different cultures, and languages and that everyone is different, but yet so much the same.

School Parties

Since I'm the room mom for both kids, I got to plan the parties for both classes. Talk about FUN! Regan's class had a pajama/breakfast party, so the parents brought fruit, bagels, muffins, etc. and we all ate breakfast and then had some craft time where we made ornaments with their pictures inside, Christmas cards for the parents, and a few other crafts. Then they got to get their blankie or stuffed animal and watch Polar Express.

When the movie started, I booked it to the pizza place to grab pizza's for Riley's class (and I need to remember in the future that just because MY 10 year old doesn't eat much, certainly doesn't mean OTHER 10 year olds don't eat much!) and they decorated cookies, made some ornaments and cards, and then went outside to play in the freezing cold that we happened to be having that day. Then early release and Christmas break is ON!

Regan's party was much more chaotic (being that they were K-1) so I didn't get any pictures of her in her new SpongeBob Christmas jammies, but I did get some of Riley at his party.

Old Settler's Park

Regan's class went on a field trip to Old Settler's Park to study nature. They've been learning about soil and seeds, and so after our picnic lunch, they each got a sock to wear over their shoe to see if they picked up anything interesting on our nature walk, and they each got a baggie to collect different items, nature items. Some of the fun was deciding if an item was nature, or man made. Another fun thing was using Porta-Potties for the first time, since the bathrooms there had been burned down, or struck by lightning or something, so that was interesting.

We did find lots of interesting things on our nature walk, lots of acorns, feather from the ducks and geese, different types of leaves, rocks, and even some honeycomb! And what started out as a nice, hot day at the park, 80 degrees, sweaty kids, turned into a windy cold front as we left, the kids were nearly getting blown away, crazy Texas weather!

The Unity Tree

Unity Tree

Tonight was the kid's school play, The Unity Tree, which was about cats and dogs and basically a "why can't we all just get along" message. It was very cute, the kids all did a great job. Regan didn't like the song that her class sang, so she wasn't all into it, but she got up there and participated, which was good. Each class was either cats or dogs, and both my kids were lucky enough to be dogs, but then Regan had to take it a step further and be a "pink poodle". I told her she might be the only one there, and sure enough, my girl rocked it. She was saying as we walked in with her hands in the air, (High School Musical-style) "I look FAB-U-LOUS!" Shaking her tail all the way. She's so funny.

Riley just wanted to be a brown chihuahua, but didn't want to wear the paper ears, and sorry to say his sister got all my hard work, after that, I lost inspiration, so he got knee socks on a headband, but I guess it was fine since he wore his bright orange cap over them anyway! But the 4th graders had a dance off, and it was so cute, and he actually danced in it, I was surprised. He's normally too shy to do something like that, but it wasn't like it was break dancing or anything, it was pretty tame. The "cats" did the electric slide, and they were so cute! (I think they won the dance off).

But it was a really cute play, they did a great job. And, the best part, Book Fair is officially OVER! I just have to spend one more day packing it all up.

Another Crazy Week

This has been another crazy busy week for me, I hate getting behind in blogging, but hopefully you'll understand!

Book Fair is going on at the school now, and I'm the chairperson, because I absolutely LOVE Book Fair!! So, that required setting up Book Fair over the Thanksgiving Break, and I'm such a softie, I didn't want to ask anyone to help me cause it was the break and I didn't want anyone to have to take time off their break to come up to the school, so I was up there by myself (David did have to come get some heavy boxes, and move some shelves around) and of course, the kids were there to ahem, "help".

Monday morning dawns and guess what? No Book Fair volunteer! I was scheduled to sub all week, I had volunteers scheduled to work almost every shift and about half of them didn't show up, great! So, it just turned into mass chaos and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off all week. Thankfully, Monday and Tuesday, I was subbing for the ACE teacher, which is a lot of back and forth, so I was able to check in on the Book Fair often.

Wednesday and Thursday I was the Pre-K assistant/office assistant which is helping out the Pre-K teacher when they go from place to place (the Pre-K tends to wander) and then helping out in the office so the other office staff can have lunch, and just get stuff done, which this week had a lot of stuff to get done, so we were so busy, both days we worked through lunch.

Thursday night was an Art Show/Science Fair planning meeting, with Book Fair running also, so I just stayed at the school from 7:30 in the morning till about 7:30 that night, it was super busy and we sold a ton of stuff so that was nice, but I was exhausted, and thankfully, when it was over, we went to dinner with Mimi and Papa and I didn't have to worry about going home to cook dinner!

Friday, I worked all morning in Pre-K, those little guys are SO cute. Makes me miss my old days in Hong Kong as a Pre-K teacher, but not too much. They sure make me laugh though, they are so adorable, and just so tiny. We had a great time, and of course, back to Book Fair for me, to straighten up, and this time, I only had to stay till 2, which worked out well becuase I had to run to Walmart and the Dollar Store to get the stuff to make Regan's Pink Poodle Costume, get home and make it, and get back to the school by 6! Don't forget to breathe...

The Week in Review

Monday-I subbed in Regan's class, and that was interesting. She thought it would be a fun, free-for-all day for her and her friends, and didn't appreciate it that I made her call me Ms. Denise just like the other kids. It's so fun getting to know your kids friends though, on a different level. There are some crafty little ones there. Overall, a pretty fun day and we mostly enjoyed it, after we got used to the new rules. Then, school was out and it was rush to gymnastics.

Tuesday-I subbed for some of Regan's best friends in 2/3. It wasn't bad, but the teacher was there and got sick and wanted to leave, so he was like, just do anything, I want to go home! So, with no clear plans, it made it a little more challenging, but still they're more independent than the K/1 class so no complaints there. After school it was rush to Brownies to learn about manners.

Wednesday-Surprise, I didn't have to sub today, but where did I spend the day? At the school. Getting ready for Book Fair and eating the holiday lunch with Regan and her friends. One of Regan's friends was sad that her dad couldn't come for lunch, so David and I invited her to sit with us, we had a nice big party going at our table! Here is Tyreella, Regan, Raquel and Irving:


After school we had church, David and I had a class to take to get ready for a class we were taking over the weekend, and it was Riley's night to work in ACTION, he got to work with the 2 year olds, and I think he likes working with the older kids better, the 3, 4 and 5 year olds.

Thursday-Subbed again, this time all over the place, those teachers are dropping like flies!! I started out as the Pre-K assistant and ended up in K/1 and that was one wild class. I did manage to take my lunch break at the same time as Riley's and ran up to his campus to meet him and David and Mimi for his Holiday lunch. It was a crazy day, after school Regan and I grabbed some take n bake pizza's and picked Riley up from gymnastics and I was never so happy to just sit on my couch and watch Survivor!

Friday-Subbed again, middle school remedial math. Sorry kids, I wasn't much help there. Math is just SO not my thing and man, middle school!! I might as well have been looking at Greek Orthodox text or something. I graduated and that all left my brain. Regan had a playdate with some friends after school, and we had a nice cold front come in, so Riley and I met David for some nice hot Pho, Vietnamese Soup.

On Saturday, David and I had our class at church, from 9-3, and the kids had fun having a free day there. The class was great, it was men/women seperate, so that was nice, and good to meet new people there (we've only been going for 3 years now!) And then we went home and crashed.

Sunday, after church, we went home, took another nap, then went back to church to see Tristan and Merissa get baptized. It was nice to be there to stand in as part of their family in such an important step in their life.

So, as you can see, that's why I haven't blogged this week. Buzy, busy, busy. I didn't even get a picture of Riley's lunch, I ran in, swallowed some mystery meat, and ran out. But this week is vacation and I intend to take things very slowly and enjoy every minute of it!