Backing up a bit...

Big Sister went on her first solo sleepover to Grandma and Grandpa's house over in Yakima. See Grandma Sharon's post over on their blog.

They had driven over to our side of the mountains to watch Sis perform in her play "The Princess Plays". There were two acts - in the first she played one of the Princess Court, and One o'clock, and in the second she was one of the Royal Soldiers. Cute play, but not her favorite - it was a large cast, and most of the characters weren't particularly well-developed. Next year she plans to try a musical.

Here she is as a soldier...


...and here's one of both kids on the afternoon of her first performance:

They don't look at all related, do they?

Catch-up post

It was a busy week - this is a long post!

Monday night, Big Sister had a Cookie Rally to attend. One of the other Junior girl scout troops was hosting the rally, where different stations were set up for the girls to participate in a variety of activities to get excited for site sales. They role-played selling cookies to difficult customers, decorated signs for their tables, learned about the history of girl scout cookie sales, and sampled actual cookies. And earned a badge and patch. Only one other girl from Sister's troop attended (most have sold cookies before and earned the badge), but the two of them enjoyed doing the activities together.

Tuesday was our annual Valentine's party with our homeschool group. This has become a favorite with all the kids. I didn't realize just what a favorite it was until I neglected to RSVP, and then had Big Sister telling me about how "all of her friends" were going to be there. Fortunately I was able to get her on the list, and she was right: all her friends were there (except for our friends that are off exploring Mexico). There were around 45 kids in attendance, and they delivered valentines, made crafts, and ate treats from the potluck. Like the chaos of a class party, but doubled, LOL!

Friends drove Big Sister to the party so that I could pick Little Brother up after school. We headed across town to get Sister from the party, then loaded us back into the van. The kids scarfed down lunch I had packed because we were on our way to The Dentist! Nothing like going to the dentist immediately following a sugar-laden valentine's party. Actually, the hygenists had nothing but great compliments for Sister and her dental care, and Brother looked good, too. We do now have an official referral for Sister to see an orthodontist, so I need to get hopping on that.

Wednesday was Sister's last dress rehearsal before their first performance in drama. I was not responsible for the carpool this week because I was scheduled to volunteer in Brother's class. I go during "centers", where the kids rotate through in their assigned groups and do whatever it is their teacher wants them to work on. This particular week there was: a center for decorating valentine's boxes (thankfully I wasn't the parent in charge of that); another for completing a patterns worksheet (doing AB and ABC color patterns - that's where I was); Independent Work Folder (where the kids go get their folder, and work through their worksheets independently until they're all done (with an adult at the table to provide guidance, since they're each working at a different pace and requiring different help); and the last was some parent-led game on the carpet. Depending on the activity, it can get pretty challenging to help six 5-6 year olds complete a task without messing it up.

Inevitably I'll have:
1). one kid who knows what they're doing and finishes in under three minutes,
2). another that wants to talk about what they ate for breakfast, what toy they received for Christmas two years ago, and what they're going to do afterschool today - and somehow can't seem to get started on the activity (usually my son),
3 and 4). are sitting too close to each other, and are both annoyed about the lack of personal workspace, but haven't realized they can solve the problem by sliding their chairs apart four inches. They are both trying to complete their individual tasks, and have cut out all their shapes to glue down, but the pieces have now all intermingled and they're fighting/whining over whose is whose. By this time, half the pieces have scattered on the floor under the table.
5). another that thinks they know what they're supposed to do, then quietly works ahead and glues everything down in the wrong place while I am...
6). helping the child that really doesn't understand how to make a pattern, and is requring my direct assistance.
At about this point the teacher will walk by, smile, and make a comment about how this is "like homeschooling, times 5". I can't help but agree. It's frustrating, fun, and interesting, all at the same time.

Thursday night was Sister's first performance in front of a large audience. She played the parts of Yingtai, the red parrot, and a puppeteer in "Seagirl: A Chinese Folktale". During their dress rehearsal they did get to perform in front of a kindergarten class from a local private school, but this was their first run with a ticket-holding audience. We invited some of Sister's friends and their moms to come see the show, and afterwards the girls asked for her autograph, and then hoisted her up on their shoulders (or tried to - they carried her down the hallway). The play was great - the cast had the roles down well, and worked together seamlessly.

Friday I took Sister back to Studio East to watch the musical "Willy Wonka" that her friends were performing in. Another great show, with fun costumes, and some very talented kids.

On Saturday, Grammy came up on the train from Portland. She was in town for the Sunday matinee performance of Seagirl... and to pick-up her girl scout cookies... and to watch the kids so that Hubby and I could go out. It was a gorgeous day, so he and I went mountain biking together for about an hour - something we haven't done in years. Usually he goes out alone, or we go out with the kids as a family, but it's different riding together at an adult pace. I was pleased with how I did out there, and it was fun to do an activity that we always used to do as a couple before kids. The trails were muddy and snowy, and we'd gotten covered in a lot of mud splatter, so we came home to change before going out for dinner. We headed to McMenamins, a place we used to frequent when we were in college down in Eugene and Corvallis (we get started on good microbrews early out here in the northwest, lol). Good food and drink, and (taking advantage of our childless evening) we sat on the grown-up side of the restaurant!

Sunday was a little crazy. Our troop's cookies were set to be delivered at the same time that Big Sister was in her play. We worked out the logistics of making sure other adult volunteers from the troop could be here to sort cookies and leave me with the remainders (our overstock for site sales). After the play, we came home to 60 cases of cookies stacked along our living room wall. This is going to be a long month.

The final performace went well. Big Sister handled some slight costume issues with ease. Her headpiece slipped off while she was in the part of Yingtai and she casually caught it and slid it back on, continuing her dialogue, never missing a beat. Later the boa/belt that cinched up her red parrot costume kept coming untied and falling off, but she didn't let it phase her. She really enjoys acting and being on stage, and I'll be curious to see where this interest takes her. Afterward we all went out for ice cream with Grammy, Auntie Zebra, and cousin J. Nice way to wrap-up a great weekend.

We weren't allowed to take pictures with flash during the performances, but I did get a few photos. I'm hoping to get more from one of the parents who was taking shots with a better camera, and actually has some photography skills. Another parent is creating dvds, which I also plan to get ahold of. For now, here are some pictures...

Yingtai - Seagirl's friend...

Red Parrot - part of a trio of annoying birds...

Most of the cast. There were only 10 kids in the class...

Signing autographs...

With flowers after the Sunday performance...

It's spring, and you know what that means...

This is traditionally the time of year when I start getting antsy and thinking about other ways to homeschool. Why do I do that??? At least it has become a predictable pattern, and if I can just keep myself in check for the next month or so, this will pass with little damage to our bank account, LOL! (Note to self: do not go here or here and start browsing around). Homeschooling has given me so much, not the least of which has been an opportunity for introspection on some of my own unique challenges - the most glaring being that I find it nearly impossible to stick to something long enough to finish it. I hope this is strictly a personal shortcoming, and not a genetic trait which I may have passed onto my children.

There has been some talk in my local homeschool group recently about the possibility of starting up some kind of co-op. This had me thinking back to our year-long Africa study with our friends back in CA. I found the link to my write up about it on my old website http://dolphinvalleyacademy.tripod.com/id3.html I've been looking back longingly, but I think that time away from the experience is what makes my heart grow fonder. While the kids absolutely had a blast with it, the amount of time the parent puts into it makes it pretty exhausting. I learned a LOT while doing the research for each of the topics we studied, but I don't know if I have it in me to plan something again in that much depth for a single year. That's definitely an area where a traditional classroom teacher is set - you can plan a year out, and then be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor as you reuse it again, year after year.

N. and I went to the play "Little Women" yesterday afternoon. This play was based on Alcott's life growing up with her sisters, and her early career. They had a pretty small cast made up almost entirely of teens, and they were quite talented. N. really enjoyed it, and was so involved in the storyline that she cried after Beth died. Afterwards she was telling me how great the actors were - that they were so good you forgot they were just acting. We haven't read the story "Little Women", so I think we'll be doing that soon. Today N. took an audition basics class to learn about what to expect at an audition, and how to prepare, should she decide to pursue this any further. ;P

Hubby and I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary on Saturday. Well, "celebrated" isn't really accurate, since we had so much going on that day that we didn't get to do anything special just for us. We hosted an egg hunt with my sister and my nephew, and then the kids had a bday party to go to that night. B. enjoyed a bike ride while we were gone. Well, "enjoyed" isn't particularly accurate, since he crashed and burned, bending his chain crank (? - I'm sure I have this part name incorrect, LOL) at a 90 degree angle. He scraped himself off the ground and found a rock to hammer it back into a more rideable shape, and finished his ride back to the car. I love that - just picked a rock off the ground and repaired his bike. Did I mention that I bought him a book called the "Outdoor Book for Adventurous Boys of all ages"? Sounded like it would be right up his alley.

2 kids with a cold, plus 1 mom with a cold equals...

A really pitiful lot, we are! I literally felt the cold coming on somewhere between the library and the grocery store. My eyes started to ache, my throat got scratchy, and nose began to run. Nice. It's not bad enough to put us out of commission, but just bad enough to feel kinda bleh.

Under the pressure of "making adequate monthly progress" (belonging to the virtual academy, even part-time is starting to grow old) our school day went on as normal. N. and I played a fun game together for her spelling review. I can't take credit for it - it was listed under today's activities. It's basically tic-tac-toe, but in order to be able to write your "x" or "o", you have to spell a spelling word out loud. We had the words on little squares of paper and tossed them into a small grab bag. One person would reach in and then read the word for the other person to spell. It was great - reinforced the reading of the words for N., and made the spelling part more fun. She says she'd like to do that again sometime.

I found out today that next year the drama class that N. is currently in will be open for 5-9 year olds. This presents a dilemma. I'd really wanted A. to take this class next fall, but he made it clear that he doesn't want to do it alone (and this year the class was described as being for K-3rd, so I figured N. wouldn't do it again). Now that N. can take it with him, I'm not sure I want to hold her back. If we do sign her up for it, should I also sign her up for the production class for the 8-12 year olds (which was my plan originally)? She was actually excited when I mentioned the possiblity of her taking the class with her brother. There aren't many activities that they get to do together like this - usually he's too young, or she's too old. Oh, the drama classes are at Studio East in Kirkland. I'll run it by hubby and see what he thinks (his usual response is something along the lines of "Whatever you think is best, dear", LOL).