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.