Jeremy is an Angel!

With so much time spent watching Grace and her softball team, Jeremy was very excited when his league started up.  We chose to have him play t-ball with the City of Fresno again, and he was an Angel this year.  We have loved having him play on the same team as some of his close buddies, Levi and Luke, and Charlotte joined the team this year, too.  The season is only 6 weeks long, and both the practice and game take place on Saturday morning. The short (easy) season has been nice in the midst of everything else going on, but we can definitely tell that Jeremy is ready to be part of a league that is more competitive (or maybe I'm the one who's ready for that!).   

Open Houses

Grace's Open House

 It was fun to go see what Grace has been up to in her classroom.

Grace's "first" major project- a report about an ocean animal of her choosing- blue whales.  

She did a great job!

Jeremy's Open House

Jeremy's Year-End Performance was held the same night as his Open House.  His class sang 3 songs and much to my shock and delight, Jeremy actually sang!  YAY!

Following the performance, Jeremy was proud to show off his classroom.  They had been learning about how the body works, so everything on display revolved around that.

Jeremy with Miss Debbie

Jane's Open House

This year, my overall theme for the classroom was "Hollywood."  It has been fun trying to incorporate that into my room all year long. 

I didn't do a general theme for my class' Open House.  It was nice just to be able to showcase work that we've been doing.  By the way, my desks are not usually set up like that- it was just for our Open House.

 State Floats (on the desks in "parade formation" and State Brochures (hanging from the ceiling, accessible for parents to take down and read).  Each student chose a state to research about.  Rather than assigning a standard essay report, the kids still had to write informative paragraphs, but they were assembled into a brochure format.  This way, I was also able to tie in text features.  I've done State Floats for years and I LOVE seeing my kids' creativity!

 Tying together Science, Art, and S.S. standards. The kids had to illustrate their own version of an animal and plant cell.  In addition to labeling its parts, they had to define each part using an analogy or figurative language.  Finally, to tie this into S.S., I found a picture of each student's state animal and state flower.  I cut off half of the picture and they had to draw in the missing half.  Some of their artwork looked like the original- I was so impressed!

Odes Poetry using Figurative Language.  I let each student use my digital camera to take a picture of whatever they wrote about to display with their ode.  They loved that!

 Each day for several weeks, we learned about each of the 50 states.  Kids pretended to take "snapshots" of something that they might have seen on our pretend road trip and then wrote about each snapshot.

 I love teaching kids through simulations!  For this particular activity, the kids were divided into groups to learn about early settlements.  The simulation gave my class a glimpse into settlement daily life, relationships with the Native Americans, and in the process, they had to work together to build a paper version of what a settlement consisted of.

 Students chose a famous American to research about.  Then, they had to create a Facebook page as if they were that particular famous American. 

In this math activity, students got to imagine what their dream house would look like, while reinforcing their ability to determine perimeter, area, fractions, percents and decimals.

This activity incorporated figurative language with art.  The kids were supposed to create a visual image of a word, then come up with examples of figurative language that related to the word.

I think my favorite part of the whole night is when my kids actually arrive.  Each one is supposed to dress up as something representing their state, whether it's a famous person or a symbol.  Then, they get interviewed by another adult in the room.  This year's class came up with the BEST costumes! Love it!!!

Jason's Open House

Okay, I would love to post about Jason's Open House, but he didn't take any pictures.  It just isn't the same in middle school.  Out of his 165 students, only 25 came!

Open House is a time to celebrate hard work and student learning- a fun time was had at all of our Open Houses (ok, maybe not so much at Jason's, hahaha).

May Recap

Ok, so I guess you can tell that it has been SUPER busy since I haven't blogged since the first week of May.  There's no way I can do a blog post for each memory, so this is going to be a May Recap...

First Grizzlies Game of the Season:
We got tickets from my school's Wild About Reading program and invited the Wiens family to join us.  As usual, the girls read through most of the game, and the boys brought toys to play with.  Christa and I got a chance to chat, so pretty much, it was just Jason and Aaron who actually paid attention to the game (I can't even tell you who the Grizzlies played against, hahaha).

Hinds' Hospice Angel Babies' Walk/Run:
Our family has participated in this annual event for many years in memory of Caleb Wiens.  Jason has run the last few years but has been injured for the past few months.  Our kids also participated in the Kids' Races after the main walk was complete.  Jeremy came in the top 10 in his age group, and Grace finished with her friend, Violet, in the middle of their age group.

Crazy Week!
The Bomars invited us to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with them and the Wienses.  Always fun hanging out with friends!
Later in the week, Grace and I went to the Fresno County of Education's Young Author's Faire at the Fresno Convention Center.  My class submitted a book (it was a Top Selection), and Grace's class also submitted a book.  That was pretty neat, getting to see both of our books!
In the midst of the craziness, I decided to bake and decorate sugar cookies for Grace's softball teammates since it was their last week.  It was my first time decorating with hardening cookie icing- I am certain that I took way longer than what is normal, but I was so proud of how they turned out!
Grace's softball team's party was amazing- one of the coaches, Coach Tony, hosted a catered dinner and even had a bounce house, trampolines, snow cones, popcorn, and cotton candy for the girls.  Coach Larry made me teary eyed when he presented Grace's trophy- he has been her coach for 3 years and had the sweetest and most encouraging words for her!
We had to leave the party early because Grace's friend, Charlotte, had her ballet recital the same night.  It was a big deal since it was held at the Memorial Auditorium downtown.  She did a wonderful job and we were glad to be able to go show our support.  

Mother's Day:
I am so grateful that I have been blessed to have these two goofy kids in my life.  Truly, I am so thankful for the honor and privilege to be a mom, and more than that, a mom to these two amazing gifts...

Muffins with Mom:
So glad that our principal was supportive of me taking the morning off to go to Jeremy's Muffins with Mom at his preschool.

Small Group Reunion:
We used to be a part of a small group that met weekly.  We "did life" together for many years- they celebrated with us during our ups, prayed for us during our downs, and everything in between!  The Sieberts moved to Edmonton years ago, and our group eventually stopped meeting due to lack of time.  Well, the Sieberts came to visit in May and so our group got together.  It has grown quite a bit in the past few years with the addition of kids (minus the two McCreary boys, who weren't able to make it)!

Grace's Piano Recital:
Grace has been taking piano lessons from Christa for the past year and a half.  She had her first recital in May.  She only performed two short songs, but we know how much time and effort went into those songs.  Grace has been learning a life lesson, as she has had to balance her schoolwork, softball, and practice piano on a daily basis.  She did great!

 Grace and her piano teacher, aka Auntie Christa

Grandma came to show her support!

Fiddler on the Roof:

Jason and I have never been to Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater before.  A member of our church was part of the cast of "Fiddler on the Roof," and a group was organized to go show our support.  We LOVED it! The food was excellent, the show was hilarious (sadly, we didn't get to watch the end, so we still don't know how it turns out- we were unaware that our babysitter wasn't able to stay out late), and the company was wonderful (we got to catch up with friends, but we also met some new people).

(Sorry for the fuzzy pic! Here we are with the Bergs, who are the ones to first tell us about Roger Rocka's)

Arrested Development Marathon:

Jason absolutely loves the show, Arrested Development.  It was on T.V. for only 3 seasons and despite critical acclaim, never caught on with the general public.  Anyway, diehard fans like Jason have been anxiously waiting the release of Season 4 on Netflix, which happened to be on Memorial Day weekend.  We joined Jason and Jill, and Aaron and Christa for a viewing marathon at the Wiens' home, while the kids hung out at our house with a babysitter. Fun times!     

Hair:

We have a friend who donated her hair to Locks of Love last year.  I remember telling Grace about it, and she thought it was so neat to be able to donate hair to people who lost their hair due to cancer.  She decided that she wanted to do the same.  So, she's been growing it out.  It hasn't been easy- with such an active girl who often likes to leave her hair down, tears have definitely been shed as we've worked out tangles!  She wanted her hair to be a bit longer before it was cut, but with summer here, we convinced her just to cut it.  At first, we were going to donate it to Locks of Love, but decided to go with Pantene after my cousin suggested we look into it.  Grace was very proud and says she'd like to do it again.        

Now how was that for a busy May?!  I didn't even include Jeremy's t-ball or any of our Open Houses... Those will be in posts to come!

Krush 'Em!

I never thought that there would come a day when I would love watching baseball or softball... Well, if it involves my two kiddos, then yes, the day has come!  Grace has played for 3 seasons, and this past season has been the best!  She was a member of Team Krush.  It has been so fun watching her this year!

Early in the season, Grace was not very successful at hitting.  She was extremely frustrated and defeated.  Jason went out and got her a new bat, and all of a sudden, she started hitting every time she was up to bat.  When we asked her what had made the difference, she replied, "I got a new bat."  Her confidence and enjoyment of the game has increased with each game that she has played.  Coach Larry has always believed in our Grace, and this season, he made her one of the designated pitchers.  When she wasn't pitching, she regularly played shortstop.  She has loved it! 

 

 

This was Grace's last season in the 8-Under division.  Next year, it'll be a completely different ball game- there will be tryouts and a draft, and her coach has said he will not coach the next level, so she will be with a new coach.  Hope it'll still be as fun to watch- I can definitely see it becoming more nerve-wracking and intense...

Since Grace's games were two nights a week, our family didn't get home until 7:30pm most nights, and wolfing down dinners at 8pm was hard, especially when our kids' regular bedtimes are 8pm (Jeremy) and 8:15pm (Grace).  Added to our craziness is Jason coaching track at his school (after school every day), and once a week on different days, Grace's piano lessons, Jeremy's swimming lessons, and Jeremy's t-ball.  With the end of the season, our family is glad to return to a somewhat-normal routine!