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Thu, 13 May 2010

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!