Christmas Day

As the day progressed, we all converged to my sister's house for Christmas dinner. Another feast and another 5 pounds, no doubt...*sigh.* Time for those new year's resolutions again, I think.

It's always difficult to get the kids to eat at other people's houses because there is so much going on and/or the food may be a little different than they are  used to or they are just too excited to talk and play with their cousins, but the added incentive of more Christmas gifts and dessert after dinner is usually a pretty good incentive.

We actually managed to leave at a decent time from all the festivities this time. Although Caitlyn is not sick anymore and I am getting better, Emily and Christian are now sick as the cold cycles through our household. So much to share this holiday season, I wish the sicknesses was not shared quite so freely.

Christmas Morning

As per our usual tradition, Auntie Marian comes over for dinner on Christmas Eve. We had a sumptuous dinner of french onion soup, prime rib, sweet potatoes and corn. Auntie Marian played games and did crafts with the girls while we prepared dinner. We stayed up way too late finishing presents, filling stockings, and talking.

Come Christmas morning, mostly everyone is up and ready to go pretty early still. Grandpa Caldwell, gave the girls an Amazon gift card for Christmas this year, so we promptly ordered them real sleeping bags since they really needed them and they were on sale. They got here just in time for Christmas! Now they don't have to freeze their little butts off in princess and other play sleeping bags meant only for sleep overs when we go camping. The girls were so excited. Caitlyn found an extra surprise in her sleeping bag.

We all got lots of things we wanted and some we even needed! The living room looked like a bomb hit it afterwards.

We celebrate with our traditional belgian waffle breakfast and then we clean up to prepare for the next event! It's pretty exhausting given that we never quite get enough sleep the night before. This year, we had the added benefit of also being sick, so that certainly didn't help!

Caldwell Christmas

We went down to San Diego on Saturday to celebrate Christmas with Christian's family. We had decided early on that we would not do quite so much with presents for everybody this year. We decided that we would take the kids to do something fun and special instead. We decided to take them ice skating. Which actually presented some real problems. It was so crowded that we couldn't park any where. Plus, there were tons of people on the ice. To make matters worse, the people that run the ice rink are a bunch of morons....but we won't get into too much of that here. It mostly worked out in the end (mostly thanks to Uncle Mike), but it wasn't that good of an experience for all the adults who went. The kids don't know any better. They just wanted to get out on the ice...which they almost didn't get to do. But I digress...the kids did really great. It was difficult. They fell a lot. It hurt, but they got right back up and tried again.

Christian went out on the ice with the girls. I don't know how to ice skate and would not be of much help to the kids, so I decided to take pictures instead. It was really difficult to take pictures. There wasn't very much light. It was crowded, everybody was moving pretty fast and every once and a while, they were turn the lights down more and have their disco lights on but I managed to get a few for posterity.

It still ended too soon for the kids. With all the problems that we ran into, they really only got about 45 minutes out on the ice.

We returned to the family's house afterwards to work on dinner. We handed out a few presents.

The kids worked on gingerbread houses. Aunt Erin made real gingerbread for their houses this year!

They made some ornaments and other crafts with their Aunt Danielle.

The kids had a long fun filled day. Plus they got to play together which is always a treat since they don't get to see each other very often.

A special thank you to Christian's family who made the day so special for the girls. We love you.

Christmas Spirit

I've been trying really hard to keep the Christmas Spirit around here despite all the stress the season brings...or despite the stress we put on ourselves during this season. I usually have all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. Some years I have even gotten it done by Halloween so that I don't have that hanging over me and so I don't have to go out there with all the other stressed out and desperate Christmas shoppers.

This year, Thanksgiving came and went and I did not even begin. But reality hit and I got to work and I got it all taken care of eventually. I even got my Christmas projects done as well. Most of the presents are even wrapped and ready to go.

And yet, I am still struggling and that is because ever since the girls took off for nearly a week and a half for Thanksgiving, I have been fighting with them everyday to do their homework and get their chores done. They just can't get back into the groove of things. It has been two and a half weeks since we have been back in school and it is still the same thing. In another week and a half, they will be off for another two weeks. I am not looking forward to the new year. They may be the death of me.

And then you add the constant whining and complaining about the simple things they are supposed to do everyday and fighting. Throw in the constant excuses of why they aren't or don't want to do what they are supposed to be doing. It's enough to drive anyone mad.

I want to just cancel Christmas for them...stick with the real purpose of Christmas. One of these years, I may just do it. They may drive me to do it! I know they are just kids and are excited about Christmas, but what happened to trying not to be "naughty" because Santa knows who is naughty or nice? Mom and Dad certainly knows, and yet it seems to mean nothing to them.

I just have to try to relax, take a deep breath (all after fighting with them for usually nearly an hour to go to bed) and try to find the silver lining in the clouds...or rainbow.

Christmas Tree

Last year, we did our first stop motion video which featured our Christmas tree. It was really fun and turned out really cute, so we thought we would give it another shot.

As I had mentioned, we decorated with homemade ornaments this year, so we had salt dough ornaments and paper chains. Our friend Marian had strung thousands of tiny beads and glued them onto  foam balls one year for us. And we made popcorn chains that literally took hours to make. Christian had to make two huge batches of popcorn for us and we had to eat all the pieces that broke along the way  (we wouldn't want to waste, you know). The girls were so good about doing it and had lots of fun, even through pricking their fingers on the needles and everything. I guess the all you can eat popcorn helped a bit as well. This was also the kids chance to put up all their collected ornaments made from school and church.

Blogger only lets you insert little thumb size videos so they are hard to really see, so this year, Christian loaded it on Youtube so if you want a better look, you can click on the link and see a larger version of it. I love these videos. They are so fun!

Ward Christmas Party

Tonight was our ward's Christmas Party. We had dinner, then the Primary children sang a couple of songs.

All the girls get to dress up like angels. Most the boys are shepherds. Except for the oldest boy and girl are actually Mary and Joseph and the next eldest boys are the wise men. We even had a couple of nursery age kids that got to be miscellaneous animals. It's pretty cute, but we spend more time getting the costumes washed and matched and sorted than they do wearing them!

Plus Santa always drops by to talk to the kids. They seemed pretty excited about seeing Santa again but when it was time to see him, both of them were acting pretty shy. Neither of the girls would sit on Santa's lap anymore. I guess the days of cute pictures with Santa are pretty much over. Christian still managed to get a couple of nice shots of Santa talking to each of the girls.

Developing Talents

I've been teaching Emily how to crochet to help her develop talents to fulfill one of her Faith in God requirements. She has been slowly plugging away at it and is almost done with her second project. Her first project was a scarf and hat that came in a kit with a crochet hook that we got her for Christmas last year, but the project was obviously meant for a smaller child as the scarf is quite small. She has not gotten to the hat yet and I am afraid that it will also be small. Meanwhile, Caitlyn wanted to try her hand at it as well. She's a little younger and it takes a bit of patience and developing some of those fine motor skills for her fingers but we thought we would let her try.

She is actually quite creative and has the patience put the work into somewhat difficult things. Her Aunt Danielle and Uncle Mark got her a JoAnn's gift card for her last birthday. I barely took her towards the end of summer to go pick something out. She got some shells and beads and things, but she also picked out this friendship bracelet maker. I was a bit skeptical because Emily had gotten a different one for a Christmas a year and a half ago and has been a bit frustrated with it, but this one looked easier, so we though we would give it a try.

Caitlyn has done some amazing things with it. She is on her 6th bracelet! I am truly amazed at her creations. I love her watching her pick out color combinations and seeing the things she creates (and her friends and sister loves receiving them).

And wouldn't you know it, she just finished her first crochet project too. She made this scarf for her teacher for Christmas with her teacher's favorite colors.

We are so very proud of her!

Speaking of talents, we were having some people over our house for a meeting and I used it as an excuse to get my talented husband to mount and hang some of his photographs. We had them hanging at our Fig Street house but took many of the most precious ones down to have them remounted so that they would not get ruined but never had the time to really do it and so they sat in a box these many years.

They are the last of his real photographs made from real negatives on real photographic paper. We have since found many advantages to digital photography and the latest and greatest functions of Photoshop and now Lightroom. In many ways, modern digital photography allows us to do things we were never able to do in film, but they have yet to replicate the warm and feeling you get in looking at a real proper photographic print.

Also, our talented friends came by this weekend to sing Christmas carols to us. We appreciate them so much for sharing their talents with us. Best of all, when we can capture them on video, they bring the spirit of Christmas back to us any time when we are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. What a great gift!

Awards

On Monday, when we returned from Thanksgiving break, Emily had her award ceremony for the first trimester. Although she skipped 4th grade at the beginning of the year, she still managed to make honor roll. She also got perfect attendance and a citizenship award. 

We are so very proud of the hard work she has put in this year. She is becoming more responsible as well and it is so gratifying to see her grow up.

They started a new program at school this year. All the kids who got awards, also received a medal and they get to earn pins to add to their lanyard all year long. Caitlyn was so excited about it that she woke up extra early the next morning so that she can go to her award ceremony!

Caitlyn received high honors, perfect attendance, as well as, citizenship. This is actually the first time she has gotten citizenship. I have been talking to her all last year about trying to work her way up to this award. It is not that she misbehaves in class, it's participating and answering questions and things like that that usually kills her. She is starting to come out of her shell a bit and it really shows. We are so proud of her!

Caitlyn's ceremony was first thing in the morning, so Christian actually got to come see her award ceremony before work, but mostly he came to help me because I have had so much trouble taking pictures in the dark room with all the kids moving about. So you will notice that Caitlyn's pictures look significantly better than the ones I took the day before at Emily's ceremony (which is barely useable). Hopefully, I will be able to take them better on my own next time!!!

Thanksgiving and other matters

After we got back from our camping trip, we had to put away all our gear, download and organize all our pictures and do loads and loads of laundry. As soon as I started to get a handle on the laundry, dishes seemed to appear everywhere as we prepared for Thanksgiving.

This year, my mom went on a trip to China, so she was not home for the holidays. My sister couldn't get together for dinner as she was spending it with her in-laws. She wanted to do lunch but it was too hectic for me to make it so early. And quite frankly, we were sick of traveling in the car at this point. We opted to stay home this year for Thanksgiving. A quiet evening at home was just the ticket after our big adventure.

My sister, my brother and their respective families got together for lunch to have Thanksgiving with my father. Since my brother and his family had no plans in the evening, we invited them to drop by to have dinner with us. We prepared a simple Thanksgiving dinner...turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower and Christian's famous wild rice and onion bread. Oh, and I made some pumpkin pie too. My brother brought a few sides as well, along with some fresh apple cider from his trip to Glen Oaks. So, in the end, we had quite a bit of food.

The girls helped Christian grind spices for the turkey brine. Plus they helped clean up the house...which was a big help. Unfortunately, we ran a little late and so when dinner was ready, we just set to it and I forgot to take pictures.

After Thanksgiving, it was more dishes...but since we had Thanksgiving at home this year, we had plenty of leftovers and didn't have to do real cooking until the end of the week. So, meanwhile, we broke out all the Christmas supplies and put up our tree. We decided upon making a tree decorated with only homemade ornaments (except the lights, obviously). The girls had a lot of fun making paper chains and stringing popcorn. I thought the tree might end up a little sparse, but we had more than I remembered in our stockpile and it filled up nicely.

Once the tree was done, we took our annual Christmas picture for our Christmas cards...a Herculean task. It is always a great trial of patience for everyone involved. When we were done, we took advantage of the campus being empty on Saturday and took the girls for a bike ride around campus. They love riding around the empty campus. It's a bit difficult to ride around the neighborhood because of all the cars and hills. They especially love going to the performing arts building, also known as the hideous ugly purple building. The girls have also dubbed it as the "death star."

On Sunday, we had the missionaries over for dinner right after church. They brought a guest with them. We were expecting 3, but only one made it so I made quite a bit of food which means, you got it...more dishes! Plus we are preparing for the primary Christmas program, so I brought home a big bag of nativity costumes to wash...which means, yes...more laundry. Lovely.

Vacation

Since we didn't get to do much for our anniversary, we decided to take off and get away for a while. We decided on a winter camping trip to the desert. Of course, a freak cold spell rolls in just as we set our plans into motion, but we were determined. I ran out and got the girls some thermal underwear and thicker socks, packed up and hoped for the best. We did alter our plans a little in where we were going to actually camp. Some places we considered were definitely colder than others.

Day 1:  Panamint Valley

It was beautiful, but cold and windy. We were a bit worried. Ominous black clouds were on one side of us and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We had a difficult time setting up our tent. The ground was so parched though, we could not drive any stakes into the ground because it was too hard. We had to bungee the tent down to some boulders and throw our gear inside to keep it from flying up and across the valley like a kite.

We ate our dinner inside our car. Luckily we prepared something that we didn't have to heat up. I don't think we could have cooked anything out in that wind. We also had some hot water in our thermos still to warm us up.

In the end, as long as you were not standing in the wind, it really wasn't that cold. We were quite comfortable in our tent. And the wind died down as the night progressed. By the morning, all was still.

However, because we fared so well, we decided to alter our plans again and attempt some of the things that we considered before.

Day 2 (part 1):  Darwin Falls

We headed out of Panamint Valley and headed up to the Alabama Hills. On the way, we decided to make a detour and took the girls to see Darwin Falls. We had never been there and would normally avoid places like that because they are usually overly crowded.

We got lucky and there were only a few scattered groups heading out as we were heading in and got the falls to ourselves for about half an hour before we headed back down the trail. The girls collected different colored rocks on our hike in. It was about a mile or so from the trail head. Emily got to climb a bunch of boulders along the way. We got to the fall and was able to stop and have a snack while enjoying the view before heading back.

As we drove away from the trail head, several waves of cars were heading in. I'm pretty sure they ran out of parking spaces shortly after leaving. We were very fortunate to have had the place basically to ourselves!

We continued on our way to the Alabama Hills...stopping for a quick lunch at a pleasant little spot a little off the road. The kids got to stretch their legs and get some air. We were doing a lot of driving and they were doing really well.

Day 2 (part 2): Alabama Hills

The sun was already starting to set as we arrived in the Alabama Hills. We had a hard time finding a camping spot as they all seem to be taken. We finally found a nice spot for ourselves where there were not anybody else very close by. We still heard some idiots screaming and playing loud music in the middle of the night but as they were at least a mile and a half down the road, it wasn't too bad.

The kids had just enough daylight to run around and climb boulders around the campsite while Christian set up our tent again. We had enough shelter in this area to set up our stove and get a hot meal. Plus, it was a lot less windy here. The night wasn't too bad, but it was noticeably colder. Caitlyn woke me up several times to snuggle up closer to get a bit warmer. We definitely need to invest in real sleeping bags for the kids.

Day 3 (part 1): Alabama Hills

One of the best things about waking up in the mornings when you are out camping is the view. It was such a gorgeous morning. We decided to dawdle a little and let the kids run around and do some more climbing. I snapped these pictures of the girls next to our campsite.

We stopped by on the way to our honeymoon in June Lake and took a picture not too far from this spot some fifteen years ago.

Day 3 (part 2): Eureka Dunes

Eureka was the ultimately the destination we wanted to get to on this trip. But as it is higher, it was also sure to be colder. We were also unsure of the camping situation. A lot of people go out to the desert this time of year. It is the busiest time of year for Death Valley.

The girls had heard our stories of how we went to Eureka 10 to 15 years ago. While we were making out way to the top of the highest dunes, we saw an F-18 flying nearby. We made a sprint to the top and nearly killed ourselves. But it was worth it because we could see the F-18 flying below us and so close that we could see the pilot waving to us from his cockpit. He did all kinds of flips and tricks around the dunes. It was the height of our trip.

We told the girls that we might be able to see one because they fly out of China Lake to practice there sometimes but that it was not a sure thing...only if they were very lucky like us! Caitlyn said that she was pretty sure she would get to see one since she feels that she is a pretty lucky girl. Guess what we saw as we got our of our car?

It flew by and did a spin. The girls were so so excited. We headed up the dunes and hoped that they would come back. We only made it up to the top of one of the lower of the big dunes. Christian and I were struggling a bit. It was a lot harder than we remembered. The girls were having a blast though...especially Emily. She is such a little trooper. She wanted very badly to make it to the top of the biggest dune. I think she could have made it too...but it was not in the cards for Christian and I. I am not sure that we will ever make it to the top again. We really felt our age on that dune. We were also constricted by time. We still needed to find a camping spot. We stopped to have a snack on the top of the dune and saw many cars come into the valley. It didn't look to good for us.

We sat for a while, waiting to see if the F-18 would come again, but no such luck. We kept hearing them flying around but they did not come back to the dunes. We headed down as the pressure of a place to camp was weighing down on us. Halfway down, two F-18 did another fly by.

They were still farther off, but we were more level to where they were. We were less lucky in finding a campsite though. All the cars we saw pull in had taken what was left of the existing campsites. So unless we wanted to camp next to someone else, we were out of luck. And we certainly didn't want to camp next to anyone. We decided to head to the backside of the dunes to try our luck on the 4x4 trail. As we were leaving the area, another F-18 flew right over our heads. We could see his exhaust nearly right in front of us. I'm sure he did it to scare us or something but it was pretty awesome. I was not nearly fast enough to capture that on my camera!

We didn't have much luck on the 4x4 trail. At some point, we just had to stop and turn around. There was just not enough clearance for our vehicle. It's more of a jeep trail. We were too wide and didn't have enough ground clearance. We weighed our options and decided to just go home. We had a good trip and were planning to leave in the morning anyway. Caitlyn loves all the adventures during the day, but come night, she really would rather sleep in her own nice warm, soft and cozy bed. She has always been that way.  Emily was a bit disappointed. She'll take her adventures over comfort most days. Although, for Caitlyn, it isn't just about comfort. She has always been that way. Even when she was little and it got late and dark at Disneyland, she would worry about where she was going to sleep. If she was away from home, she could only sleep if she was on top of daddy or snuggled up with mom.

We headed home, opting to grab dinner at McDonalds in town on our way out to save some time and to make up to Emily for leaving a little early. We got back without any trouble. Both the girls were pretty happy to get a bath/shower and to use a flushing toilet (as were we). We find that we are always more thankful for the little things when you have to do without for a while!

Our Anniversary

Fifteen years ago today, we got married at the Citrus State Historical park.

Last night, we let the girls stay up late watching a movie with us. We thought they would sleep in and let us have a late lazy morning. But since there is no school today, they got up before 7:am. Christian and I still tried to keep the kids busy so that we could spend a late morning together, it didn't work out quite as we had hoped.

In the end, we got up to have breakfast together, then we had to get ready to go to school. We had parent-teacher conferences all morning. We came home to have a quick lunch before Christian had to take off to work.

We had a quick dinner as soon as he got back. I made some fresh bread with some of Christian's new sour dough starter. And we had some shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta (shrimps were courtesy of our sponsor, the Marian Lui foundation). Thanks Marian, they were deliciously garlicky!

Then Christian and I went our separate ways. I had to go to a Stake Auxiliary meeting and Christian took the girls to meet up with the missionaries for some social with new investigators.

There's something wrong with this picture...can't quite put my finger on it....just something not quite right about it...hmmm.

Christian's Birthday

Christian's birthday was on Friday. The girl's got up to get ready for school. Before they left, they made their little offerings of love. Of course, Christian had to leave for work shortly thereafter. We had a quiet evening at home, as Christian hates going out anyway. Emily baked him the Swedish visiting cake. It turned out really well.

We went down to San Diego on Saturday to spend time with his family. I made a Boston Cream cake to share with his family. We had some crazy stop and go traffic in the first half hour or so. The drivers all around us were insane and homicidal. The cake slid around a bit and got a little lopsided by the time we arrived, but the girls did not get car sick and no one crashed into us this time, so I guess we had a pretty good trip.

We hung out with Christian's family, had pizza and played some games. The girls got to play with their cousins. We had not been to visit since the Spring and that other ill fated trip on our way home from S.D. I guess the girls have recovered from their ordeal, but my car will never be the same.

Happy Birthday

ENDEAVOURS.

And, even should misfortunes come,
-I, here wha sit, hae met wi' some,
An's thankfu' for them yet,
They gie the wit of age to youth;
They let us ken oursel';
They mak' us see the naked truth,
The real guid and ill.
Tho' losses, and crosses,
Be lessons right severe,
There's wit there, ye'll get there,
Ye'll find nae other where.


BURNS

Halloween Night

I took the kids to our ward's trunk-or-treat after dinner. Emily stuck with her sorceress costume while Caitlyn went to plan C, which was the Betsy Ross costume she originally wanted to go to the Halloween party in over the weekend. The only house we stopped by to trick-or-treat was our immediate neighbor's house. Christian stayed home to hand out candy for the handful of kids that might find their way up our street.

There were cars that just handed out candy but there were also lots of them that were set up for carnival type games.

There were several fishing type games, ring toss, an electronic duck shooting game (Caitlyn did extraordinarily well at that one), pumpkin bowling, eating donuts on a string (no hands), tossing bean bags into buckets and other targets. I can't even remember them all.

True to the carnival nature of some of the games, the girls tossed ping pong balls into little cups of water with fish and won some little feeder fishes. Lots of the parents didn't know what to do with them though and they tried to give them away or return them.

Emily and Caitlyn wasn't sure what to do with them either but wanted to keep them. Luckily, we still had an old tank in the garage that I dusted off for their new home.  We'll see if they live or not.

The mean mom that I am, I only let them go to each car once instead of letting them make their rounds through the parking lot over and over like some of their friends until the candy ran out. There was plenty of candy already. There is no reason to get an insane amount. They came home and sorted through their loot to see what they got.

We only got a few more trick-or-treaters when we got home. So, still not a whole lot. We thought there might be more this year since some families moved in at the end of the block, but we got our usual handful and that was it. The girls got to pick one candy each to have that night (plus Christian and I demanded a tribute from each of the girls...which we really didn't need to eat, but it was Halloween, what's a person to do?)

After the girls went to bed, Christian and I donned our Halloween costumes and took a few snapshots for posterity.

I found these Venetian masks at Target and put together some clothing for a masquerade. I actually sewed Christian's cape. I'm not that great at sewing but I figured a costume might be the way to go to practice since it doesn't really need to be perfect and it's worn in the dark anyway. A hooded black cape is versatile and can be used for any number of costumes in the future anyway.

The great thing about these outfits is that masks are not really allowed at most of the functions we go to and so we just wore them on our heads. We were just wearing normal clothes for the most part but we could still say that we are dressed up!

Halloween Day

Emily decided to go as a sorceress to school. Caitlyn went as a witch. Of course, everyone just thought Emily was a witch too. The kids had their usual Halloween party and costume parade around the school in the afternoon.

I liked Caitlyn's party this year. They really didn't do a lot of candy. They had more of an indoor "campout." They made a makeshift fire pit with construction paper. They sat around the campfire and told silly or spooky stories. Each of the kids had worked on writing on story draft this week and they practiced telling the story to their family as part of their homework. Then they took turns telling their stories in class around the campfire. They made star diagrams of the big dipper and put them up on the ceiling so that they could lay back and watch the stars. Then they were supposed to start their party with smores and apple cider. We ended up saving the apple juice for another day though, as we got heaps of juice boxes and things from other parents for the party. Plus they had healthy snacks like cheese sticks and carrots. Of course, they got chips and things too but for the most part, it was not the sugar fest that is normally at these parties.

As I was volunteering in Caitlyn's class, I missed the beginning of Emily's party. But they just passed out goodies and ate them. There was no shortage of sugar flowing at their party though. They tried to introduce something healthy like celery sticks but that didn't go very well. Who would want celery sticks when they had cookies smothered with frosting, chips, juice boxes and handfuls of candy?

The parade itself seemed a bit more chaotic than usual. Most of the little kids didn't even seem as cute as they normally do. Their costumes just aren't as innocent and cute any more. Too many of society's corrupt ideas have influenced even the costumes of the kindergarteners. It's very sad. They did ban the parents from dressing up this year, which I was really happy about, but that didn't really stop a few parents from doing it anyway, and of course, a couple of them could not help showing off their inner skank even at their children's school events. I had to admit though, that it was a little toned down from the previous year. I suppose we have to be happy with what we can get...

Pumpkin Carving

We seemed to be so busy this week, we had to do the pumpkin carving in shifts. One day to design and hallow it out, and another to do the actual carving. And there was a couple of days in between them that we couldn't even work on it. Luckily it didn't start molding or anything meanwhile.

Emily wanted and owl and Caitlyn did a kitty cat head. You can tell that the girls picked out the designs this year. Plus, they managed to do it mostly on their own. Christian helped transfer their designs on their pumpkins and helped cut the tops open. Emily pretty much did the rest herself and Caitlyn needed a little help with the eyes and one of the ears which got  a little tweaked.

We were so busy, that I had kind of thought to just skip it this year, but the girls would have been so disappointed. We managed to get it done eventually though and now we get to enjoy the roasted pumpkin seeds too!

Halloween Party

We went to our friends' annual Halloween party on Saturday. We got to visit with some old friends which is always nice. Christian and I dressed up in Venetian masquerade outfits, but as usual, we didn't seem to ever get a chance to take a picture of us in them.

Emily went as a princess. Caitlyn was going to go as Betsy Ross but at the last minute, ditched it in lieu of a butterfly. I don't know how that happened exactly. We stayed too late and ate too many sweets, but other than that, we had a good time!

Legoland

On Thursday, all the second graders got to go to Legoland. Christian and I are never happy about this trip as it takes the kids 2 hours away. Plus, the education value of such a trip is a bit questionable. There are so many other places they could go that is a bit more local that is more educational. But as Emily got to go, we could not help but let Caitlyn go as well. The good thing about this trip is that they actually made room on the buses for chaperones. When Emily went, they expected us to drive ourselves down to San Diego to meet them. I don't see how you can be much of a chaperone, if you don't even go together!

But I digress, I did chaperone Caitlyn's group to Legoland. It was fun for the brief time that we were there. We literally spent more time on the bus than at Legoland itself. It's a bit frustrating when you take all the effort to go all the way, only to have to leave again shortly after.

We started off with a little presentation on building from Legoland. The kids learned about gravity and friction and things of that nature. Then they got to pair up and build racecars. Then they got to try them out and see if they worked and see how fast they moved against other teams. They could then, make adjustments or rebuild according to need.

The kids had a blast. Caitlyn's first race car managed to make it to the finish line, but it was slow. They made some changes and it seemed to get worse. After the second change, it wouldn't even get down the ramp. They decided to take it apart and rebuild from ground zero. They managed to made a smaller car that was a lot faster. They won about half the races against other kids. Then they ran out of time and had to disassemble the cars for the next group of kids.

We had lunch and had some time to take a tour of some of the amazing lego structures and ride a couple of rides.

We had a fairly large class so that made it even harder to herd them around the park and through lines. We really only got to see the beginning of the park before it was time to head back.

But we got home more or less on time with no incidences and the kids had a great time so all is well.

STEP Conference

Emily had her first field trip this year, which was to the STEP (Science and Technology Education Partnership) at Bourn's Inc., which was conveniently, right down the road.

They started off with a science show. They mostly focused on magnetism, electricity and expanding gases.

Then the kids were rotated through 3 different exhibit rooms...all with interactive technology exhibits.

The kids had a lot of fun (and hopefully they learned something). There were kids from 4th through 8th grades in attendance. It was pretty crowded. It was still over a hundred degrees out (even though it is October) so the outdoor exhibits were not quite so fun. Looking at the sun through a telescope when it is beating down over your head, isn't that pleasant. Plus, my sinus' were working over time. I couldn't wait to get home to get an antihistamine!

Emily update: Emily seems to be adjusting well to her new class. Her teacher says that she fits right in so I think we made a good choice in the end to accelerate her to the fifth grade. We decided in the end, to hold off on the extracurricular activities though to make sure that she adjusts well. And if she wants to participate in more extracurricular activities, she will have to learn to be more efficient with her time to show that she can do it.

Art Night

The Cake That Emily Made

Emily had a bunch of ideas of desserts she wanted to make for my birthday, but they all involved a lot of help from Dad who was already doing a lot (and sick). So we decided that she can make a Swedish Visiting Cake, which is super fast and easy.

She read the recipe, gathered the ingredients and mixed them together all by herself (more or less). Dad helped her take it in and out of the oven.

It turned out pretty good. She was really excited and proud...and so were we.

School Update

At long last, everything is all settled. It's been a rough first month of school. Emily's situation got far worst before it got better. Before the math schedule may have been off by about 30 minutes but a week or two after, they had changed the time that the fifth graders did their math. In the end, Emily had to cut her lunch time short and miss a recess in order to go to math. She was running around and no one really was accountable for where she was and when. It was really disorganized and by the end of it, I was about to pop a blood vessel and storm back to school to raise hell.

But I digress, Emily advanced out of fourth grade and into the fifth grade. They had her test out of it by taking a series of CST comparable tests. It took her all of last week to get through it all. We met with her teacher and the principal on Tuesday afternoon and set things in motion. The school is in a complete state of flux because of the redrawing of school boundaries at the end of the last school term. So we ended up losing two teachers and they had to reorganize most of the classes because of this (of course we are about two students away from getting one of the teachers back...or more likely, a new teacher since the two teachers who are leaving are already set up in other schools). Everyone got shifted today, including Emily. She started her first day in her new class today.

Of course, they call this afternoon to set up an impromptu meeting tonight for us to meet the new teacher and go over certain things. Apparently, all the 5th and 6th graders are being issued netbooks this year. So, isn't that great? We have all this technology at our 9 year old's disposal....of course, we would be liable for $400 if anything were to happen to it. But, no worries, you can pay $50 for insurance and an extra $25 deductible if anything were to happen. Let's just say that we opted to leave the laptop at school for her use there. She has access to a computer already at home. We realize that we are only delaying the inevitable but we'll cross that path when we come to it.

Christian and I have been sick for nearly two weeks now, but Christian had plans for my birthday dinner tonight. We had to put it on the back burner so that we could make it to the meeting. The rustic bread he started last night and has been working on on and off all day got over-proofed and deflated a bit before going into the oven. He was not too happy.

But everything turned out great. We love Emily's new teacher. I think it is going to work out really well. She doesn't have to run around anymore and can have a normal schedule with the rest of the kids. Plus, her new teacher is also involved in the programs that her previous teacher was implementing that we thought would really be beneficial for Emily. Emily is happy and we are happy.

The only problem now is that all these changes has opened up new possibilities for her (i.e. robotics club and band class)...only she can't have it all. We already have too many activities going on after school. She has piano practice 3 times a week. She still has Polynesian dance lessons once a week. Plus  time for FHE every week and Activity days a couple times a month. So she has to choose. Learning a new instrument and getting to go to band class during school twice a week or joining the robotics club after school twice a week. We are mostly leaving the choice up to her. She's finding it difficult to make the decision.

Plus, the bread was still fabulous! I requested a dinner of my favorite comfort foods from my husband. Bread and my favorite noodle soup, Soupe Villagease. Mmmmm....

...so good.

Back to School

The girls went back to school this week. It's been a super crazy week so far. We've been trying to get back to a normal schedule and routine.

Caitlyn started second grade. She got her math teacher last year as her teacher this year, so we were super excited about that. Apparently, she is one of the most sought after teachers in the school. We were guaranteed a spot in her class since she is the GATE teacher for 2nd grade. I've been volunteering in her class all week, so I've been spending a lot of time at their school too. Plus, Emily can't ride the bus this year because buses are only available to kids K-3 if your house is only 1.25 miles from the school, so Christian has been walking them to school and I have been picking them up.

Emily started fourth grade this year. We did not get the greatest first impression of her new teacher this year. In fact, I spoke to the principal on the first day of school about our concerns. She is implementing a couple of new programs in her class which I really like. I think that Emily would really benefit from them if she is able to pull it off.

However, since Emily already took 4th grade math last year, she needs to go to a 5th grade classroom for math. The problem is is that her teacher didn't really believe us that she is that advanced in math....even though it is noted in her files. She spoke to her math teacher last year and was still skeptical. She thinks that there are still possibly holes in her knowledge and that SHE teaches it more thoroughly (more in-depth). That's nice and all but I am not going to have Emily twiddle her thumbs and lose a year of math because there are one or two things her previous teacher may not have covered.

Plus, on the first day of school, she told us that she "strategically" placed her so that Emily could help HER. That's when Christian and I about lost it. Our daughter is at school to learn...not to be the unpaid teacher's aid (that's when I decided to pull the principal in for a brief meeting).

Finally, Thursday morning, she gives Emily a test of some sort. And although Emily missed a problem or two, she is finally satisfied that Emily does not need to take fourth grade math again and allows her to go to another classroom for math. Coincidentally, her math teacher last year for 4th grade math is now a 5th grade teacher....and she happily accepts Emily back to her classroom. Emily's current teacher may have also gotten some pressure from the principal to find some solution.

The problem now though, is that the 5th graders do not have math at the same time as the 4th graders. She believes that Emily will miss out on a lot if she leaves the classroom and when she comes back, she will either be doing double the math or will have to just go work on the computer in the corner of the class or something.

Back to school night was on Thursday. And we met with all of the girls' teachers. Emily's math teacher believes that the solution could be simple. That is, to move her to the 5th grade completely. She is not only able to do math at a level above her class, but is able to get advanced scores on her tests as well. She reads above her grade level and towards the end of the year, her third grade teacher spoke to her fourth grade math teacher about having Emily join them for English as well.

Even her current teacher admits that fourth grade is kind of a transition grade. They do a lot of review of the 3rd grade skills....so, it would not be that difficult for Emily to just skip a grade.

Now, we had thought that this might be a good solution before, but was wary of doing it. There is the social impact for us to consider. But now that Emily is older and it is only a matter of time for her to learn certain aspects of the facts of life, we will only be delaying the inevitable. Why not just tackle it? She has a good foundation at home and at church. We think that it will not be that big of a problem.

So, that is where we stand at this point. We have requested a meeting with her teachers (past and present) and the principal to discuss the matter and see how we might proceed from here. Emily seems to like the idea and is willing to put the extra effort to make it happen. Saying and doing is two different things though. We will look into it and see what happens.

The good news (at least for Christian and myself) is that the principal suggested that we get an exception for Emily to ride the bus since their bus is not filled and since her sister is qualified to ride the bus still. Christian and I went on what seemed like a wild goose chase to track down the proper forms and find the transportation office. But in the end, we received permission for Emily to ride the bus with her sister. We have not exactly broken it to the kids yet. They hate the bus because there are a lot of mean kids on it, but a lot of those kids are not on the bus any more and they are the last stop to be picked up and the first to get dropped off...which means, they are really only on the bus for all of 5 to 7 minutes (okay, 10 minutes tops if they take longer to load the bus), so waah, cry me a river. It beats having Christian walk an extra mile to drop them off in the mornings in the heat or rain when he already walks a mile and a half to work every day.

They get the good news on Tuesday morning....shhhhh!