We're busy around here, as always, and have lots of activities currently keeping us running. It's been warm and sunny a lot, which is nice. Here are the kids with their Disneyland lollipops just hanging out in the backyard. And here are a few more pictures of our everyday activities lately.
Anna and her science fair project. Anna came home with her science fair assignment a month or so ago - 20 pages of directions about how to do the science fair project. There were lots of rules. There were rules like you couldn't use a white board (unless you got a white board waiver), your title lettering could not be hand lettered, you could not use tape or staples, you could not use plant specimens of any kind etc. It was weird. Anna chose to use apples and she was required to have a physical display other than her display board but was not allowed to bring any apples. When we saw the other kid's science fair projects we saw that many many kids did not follow all those exhaustive rules, including kids who won prizes. Anna followed all the rules and ended up getting 4 out of 4 on her project so she was happy. It was lots of work. I don't like that there were so many weird rules and I don't know where all those rules come from. That doesn't make science enjoyable for the kids.
Grant, in kindergarten, won this prize at school for knowing the plural of "vertex." We had talked about it the day before at home because his homework (about shapes) involved finding a vertex. I was impressed that he remembered the word "vertices" and even knew how to pronounce it. Way to go Grant!
Matthew provided tech support to my dad and his Webelos den via Skype while they worked on coding a game in scratch. Scratch is a fun way to learn some coding for kids (and other beginners) developed by MIT and Matthew has lots of experience with it. Anna actually does too. The other kids watched as Matthew demonstrated some of his games for the Webelos.
Daylight savings time took some adjustment for most of us. Some people just weren't getting the sleep they needed and/or were waking up grumpy in the morning. Some mornings I feel this way too. I think we're pretty much adjusted now.
We've had some beautiful warm weather and spent lots of time outside lately
Grant at the park
Today at the park he literally ran laps for most of the time, with a few detours down the slide. When we got home he went straight to bed. Love it!
Emma loves the park and hates the sand. She wants me to carry her over all the sand. I hate it. John wants me to carry him too and he's heavy! Maybe we won't go to the sandy park anymore. :)
Matthew is in choir at school and they had their spring performance. You can see him in the front left here with the navy polo shirt. I think he has enjoyed being in the choir.
Emma had her first (much needed) haircut. She has fine, wispy little hair and it gets frizzy a lot. Here she is at the haircut place with me.
Emma was a little nervous about the haircut experience.
Poor Emma!
Here she is after. I had them cut it all to chin length just to even it all out.
They trimmed her bangs up too. She looks different, but still cute.
John getting ready for his first soccer practice. He was excited. He and Grant are on the same soccer team but Grant came down with a stomach bug and couldn't go to his first soccer practice. Poor Grant. I'm remembering Grant's first almost soccer experience. He was quite a bit younger then. This year is going better so far.
Anna is playing soccer too. After a season where they went 1-6-1 (one win, six losses, one tie) in the fall Anna was happy when her team won their first game 6-0 this past weekend. After the 6th goal the coach pulled all the girls aside and told them to just practice passing and stop scoring goals so they wouldn't run the score up anymore. Their team is off to a good start. Anna played goalie the second half, although I think she makes a great midfielder too. For some reason they had a small goal, not sure if it was a mistake for the first week or they will have tiny goals each time for spring soccer. We'll see.
Here are John and Grant and some teammates during their game. For their age group they play 4 on the field at a time and no goalie. So they could rotate in the whole bench at once. They were pretty cute. Their team is co-ed.
Emma thought she should be playing soccer too so we kicked a ball around on the sidelines. She also got in line to get socks and shin guards after she saw me put them on Grant and John. We just happened to have some extras her size.
After lots of sunny warm days we got a little more rain
Anna and Matthew went right out to play in it
As previously mentioned, Grant got a stomach bug and then Emma got it. Poor Emma. She is still recovering. We all got some stomach bug (all of us but Anna) just a few weeks ago. I did not want this one to run through the whole family too. Grant got it first, then Emma and now Matthew is exhibiting signs. I hope he just gets better and no one else gets it. Poor Emma.
Emma feeling kind of better! These two love taking baths.
I had to fill out a bunch of medical paperwork for the family recently and we had to weigh all the kids. When John (age 4 1/2) weighed in half a pound heavier than Grant (age almost 6) Grant was VERY upset. He threw a shoe and then went to pout in a corner about it. He then demanded a re-weigh and gloated profusely when he weighed in half a pound heavier that time. So they essentially weigh the same although Grant is a year and a half older and several inches taller. Don't mention it to Grant though.
Matthew and his Raspberry Pi robot. We got this robot kit to go with the Raspberry Pi (hand sized customizable computer). Matthew is in a Raspberry Pi group through school. Matthew just got it all assembled and can enter the commands for the robot to drive around a little. And Anna was "helping" him. He's having fun with it. More adventures to come!!
