Thu, 13 May 2010
Another busy week
Last week was cinco de Mayo and Bryan's Spanish teacher celebrated by assigning a cooking project so that the class could have a party. Last year Bryan made mole, which was rather difficult and not real popular, so this year he decided to go for a dessert. He made alfajores, a cookie from Argentina. They were filled with dulce de leche. They were fun to make, but I think they were a little dry.
Thomas' school project for the week was an extension of a unit in JET on inventing. Each student had to actually invent something. They couldn't make anything that already existed. So Thomas made a prototype of an"air bed." This is a bed with a fan underneath and nozzles of air that you can aim at yourself when you are sleeping. He had to design it, do research, apply for a patent, build a prototype, and present the idea to the class.
Melody had another choir concert,
and then on Friday she had Medieval Day at school. She wore a costume that we borrowed from a friend of mine, and had a fun day. Tomorrow I get to go with the seventh grade to the local Renaissance Fair.
Bryan had his last track meet of the season. He ran the 800 meter. He hasn't run the hurdles since he hurt his arm. He's talking about staying in shape this summer and then running cross-country in the fall, so that would be something new for him.
We had pretty nice weather for the week and Marc took a day off and we went to the zoo together. We had a fun time even though there were a lot of school kids having end of the year activities at the zoo.
I love the zoo! Let's see…last weekend was also Mother's Day. I had to work, but came home to cards and presents, and flowers. Nice huh? Melody and Thomas also cooked dinner and I didn't have to. I always enjoy food that I didn't have to cook!
This week, we've had two big events so far. Wednesday was Bryan's seventeenth birthday! How did he get to be so old? His requested birthday dinner this year was BBQ chicken kabobs and couscous. His ice cream cake was lemon and vanilla. That was a first. I'm calling the cake "The Blob" because I rushed when putting it together and the whole think slumped into a big yellow blob. It sure tasted good though. I made lemon pie filling for the top.
Bryan's presents look pretty tiny, but we did manage to get a guitar into one of those little boxes…
And the other big event this week was Thomas' Fifth Grade Review, a singing and dancing extravaganza that celebrates the end of elementary school. Thomas had a dancing part and the whole fifth grade has been practicing a lot for this. They did a great job. Thomas will remember being in this show for a long time.
Wow, next year, I'll have two kids in middle school!
Tue, 04 May 2010
sunshine and musicSince it is the last month of school, there are a lot of end of the year concerts, shows, parties, projects, field trips, etc. This week was no exception. Thomas had an orchestra concert. It was fun to listen to his fifth grade group, but also fun to see the progression of improvement through sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. I hope Thomas will stick with this. He sounds pretty good already. The orchestra teacher does a great job. Thomas will have him next year also at the middle school.
Thomas' musical skills are very good. I must question his reading skills though. On the night of the piano recital,he wanted to have a friend over. I asked him to go and double check the flyer for the exact time of the recital. "Is it at 6 or 7?" I trustingly ask. Now, in retrospect I should have known better, but I am a trusting soul, and I guess too lazy to walk to the other room to see the flyer for myself. Thomas got to have a friend over and as we sat down to dinner at 6:00 (in plenty of time to arrive early for the recital at 7:00) Marc's Palm beeped, indicating that he was supposed to be somewhere. Yes, it was the recital, which started at 6! So, a beautiful dinner wasted, we got to the recital at 6:20, in time for Melody and Thomas to do their parts, but the evening was not as fun as we'd planned! Here are Melody and Thomas with their teacher, who is smiling even though we came late.
Thomas' orchestra teacher (who also teaches orchestra at the middle school) and the choir teacher were in charge of the musical that Melody was in at the middle school. She was a choir member for "School House Rock Live" It had all kinds of good music in it, things I remember form the old television show, and many I don't remember. Remember "Conjunction, junction, what's your function?" It was very well done. All did an excellent job with some very difficult music. It was fun to watch. Melody is on the risers, upper left. It must have been a fun play to be in, and besides, they've had TWO cast parties now. Go figure.
I titled this sunshine and music, because I was thinking of the beautiful sunshine we've had the last couple of days, but last week was actually rainy. Bryan got to go to Six Flags for Physics Day on Friday and they probably had the nicest weather of the whole week. They had thunderstorms predicted, but I don't think it ever rained. They even had sunshine most of the day. I think he had a fun day there. Otherwise, he's been pretty busy also. We've all just been counting down until school is over, but haven't gotten too far at making summer plans.
Jan Dill Hall St. Peters, Missouri
Page created: 09 November 2008
Page modified: 31 December 2009
