The Three Little Pigs Opera

Azia & Jenna have been working on this Three Little Pigs musical with the after-school program the last two weeks. Wendy Arlint organized the project and has been directing the kids. I asked Azia what her part was the day before the play and she didn't actually know, but it appeared she and Jenna were both building materials for the pig houses. Azia was straw and Jenna was brick.
The after school club kids did the play Friday afternoon for the rest of the elementary school. The whole things was put to music and all the kids were dancing and singing and even a few of the little kids has solos. It was pretty cute.

Cousins

The good thing about having so many cousins around is there is always someone to play with. Headstart parent-teacher conferences were today so none of those kids had school, but everyone else had to work (except me) so we (Christa, Zoran, Lex, Jack, Bryce, Iyezk, Maysa, Paisley, Ahni, & Lettie) spent the day playing outside, making sugar cookies (and decorating them with lots of sprinkles) and watching Bolt.

Spring Picnic at the Bison Range

Sunday we had our sort of annual welcome Spring picnic at the Bison Range after church. The weather was beautiful the day before, and although the predition was a 40% chance of rain (and even a chance of snow I think) for the hours we were there it was really nice--breezy sweatshirt weather with no rain at all. 

Everyone brought a little food which means we had an overflowing table full. Gwen and Todd had the fire going to cook burgers and hotdogs.

The older kids played softball and the younger ones played hide and seek (or some version of it-- Paisly turned everyone into a princess each time they found her).

After everyone ate we all did the walk around the pond with stops by all the flowing water to throw things in and measure the depth. No one fell in any deeper than their knees and we made it back to the picnic area with all 16 kids.



Lettie even found a caterpillar.

IEFA ... Azia should help me with my workshops

So Azia impressed me today. I continuously underestimate what kids know and understand.

I’ve been doing all this work preparing inservice for teachers trying to figure out authentic ways to integrate Indian Education for All. Tonight I had a DVD of an old 1970s film called "Unlearning Indian Stereotypes" playing on my computer while I was kind of doing other things and Azia came and sat beside me and wanted to watch it. It has elementary kids in NYC narrating and talking about different stereotypes they’ve had to deal with. Anyway, her response and comments really made me rethink how much young kids could really be working with these ideas.

I was kind of amazed by how much information she kept offering and connecting to what was happening in the film without any prompting from me. Information about other US tribes she knew about (Inuit, Osage, Choctaw…) different lodgings beyond teepees (longhouse,hogans…), historical events like The Long Walk and the Trail of Tears. Every point the kids on the video made, she wanted to talk about or had information or questions. Of course it was basic information, but there was quite a lot of awareness and some of the things she talked about I didn’t even know anything about. I asked her where she learned it and she told me her “NAS teacher knows a lot.”

Anyway when the kids in the DVD made some point like “some people think Indians wear these clothes” (referring to the Powwow regalia) she said, “But Mom, people do still wear those!” And of course she knows people do, but when I said she and her friends don’t wear their clothes like that everyday, she laughed and thought that would be pretty silly. I said something about how some movies only show Indians wearing those kind of clothes and only drumming and dancing and they didn’t even seem like real people. She then brought up Peter Pan as an example!

I know I didn’t know any of that kind of historical or cultural information when I was six. (I still don’t even know much now!) Every once in awhile I’m really amazed. I forget my kids are becoming real people and they have all this knowledge beyond (and different than) what just the things I’ve taught them.

Azia's writing again...online

So Azia got an email account today. Then she sent her first email.

This could get dangerous. If only she could find her computer. (She gets so busy creating things everything thing else gets buried and scattered in her wake.) Luckily none of her friends really spends time on the computer...next they might discover chatting...

Tap Out

Zoran was very upset when Lex took over his new Tap Out shirt from Auntie Mar. It was his favorite piece of clothing, but a bit too small. So, he got a new black one and Lex gets to join in his and Bryce's ultimate fighting. (That bloody nose is real...not even set up for the photo.)

Dancers

After cleaning up from their mud adventure and then pretending to clean Azia's room (where they really locked the door and just practiced doing headstands on the bed...I could hear their feet hitting the wall) they turned to dancing. They turned on Azia's playlist on my iPod and put on their matching ballet outfits and started their routines. They let the boys join them for a few songs, but that caused a bit of conflict since Zoran only wanted to box to the Rocky theme song.

They've got quite the moves.

Signs of Spring

Well I don't know much about what birds show up first or when flowers start to bloom, but this is always a sign that Spring is on its way around here-- my children start showing up at the door covered in mud. It doesn't help when half our yard is grass-less, just one giant mudhole.

Azia and Jenna spent most of today going from one destructive task to the next and this was somewhere in the middle of the day.

Israel's 2nd Place: Valley Qualifying Tournament

This weekend in Polson Israel won all his matches by pins until the championship--which was a pretty rough match. He lost by 15 points.

But, he took 2nd place in the 85 pound weight class so he goes on and has at least one more week of wrestling.

Bingo for Books

Every year the Mission Elementary School hosts a "Bingo for Books" evening where families come and play Bingo and every time you win you (or sometimes your whole table) gets a free book. Its very cool because lots of families go together and everyone usually ends up with 3-4 books.

Unless you lose all night. For some reason this year no one at our table won all night long. Israel got increasingly discouraged. (See photo sequence...) Lex got bored and fell asleep on top of the table, and Azia and Jenna drifted in & out between bingo, art projects and the concessions TAG was selling. Even Christina (with her 6 different bingo boards) didn't win.

Better luck for us next year.

My Kids Have Style

Today my kids were really lookin' good.

It was a day to have fixed hair for Zoran. He's very particular about his hair. Some days this means he doesn't want me to touch it. Even combing it is a huge battle. Other days he has a particular style in mind and wants it combed exactly to his specifications with the appropriate amount of product. He has always been a little OCD and this area is no exception.

Today he took quite a long time to get it fixed himself. I'm not exactly sure what he was doing in the bathroom for so long, but I'm pretty sure he used his shampoo as a sort of gel. He asked me if it looked just like some X-man guy (and of course I said yes although I had no idea who he was talking about), so that must have been his model.
























When Azia got home from school today, I realized this is what she had been wearing all day. A very cool stripped orange tank top over her long-sleeved shirt and her blue & grey plaid pants. I hadn't noticed this morning when she left with a sweatshirt over all the layers.

And I'm sure this look was very deliberate. She already takes 15 minutes or so every morning to pick out her outfits. Sometimes she'll take a few of my suggestions, but not often. Last year I picked out her outfits for her every morning and like 90% of the time she'd wear it. At the beginning of this year I'd still pick out clothes for her and then about half the time she'd come out wearing something else. Now, sometimes she'll let me pick out which jacket she'll wear or actually put on the shoes I grab for her if she's running late, but even that's unusual. She tolerates my suggestions to some degree, but it pretty clear I don't understand much about her style. She's very fond of layering, especially in the winter. She often has 2-3 shirts on. Skirts over jeans are also one of her signature looks. That one is probably partly my fault. She used to think it was weird but she'd always want to wear skirts when it was freezing outside, so we'd compromise and were something under them. She also likes scarves and stylish boots (with sunglasses and her fitted trench coat this is her "movie star" look). I really never know what to expect when she comes out of the bathroom in the morning.

And then there's Israel. If Zoran's OCD in his dressing, Israel's got some sort of manic depressive tendencies. It's all out or nothing. Either he'll spend the evening before picking out his outfit, ironing his tuxedo, shinning his shoes or completely assemling an Indian Jones look from what he can find in his closet OR he doesn't rememeber to get dressed at all and tries to leave in whatever he slept in. On these days he needs repetive prompting to brush his hair and teeth. If he does get dressed, it's likely to be in stinky, wrinkly, dirty T-shirts and sweats he found on his floor. I'm continously urging him to move away from the hobo look.

Meet Charlie McCarthy

So in the most recent feat in Israel’s quest to become the strangest kid I’ve ever met, he recently earned enough money to purchase a ventriloquist dummy.

He had been doing internet research for a few months. The cheapest ones he could find were $69.95 plus shipping, but eventually he found a used one that was in almost new condition on ebay. He eventually won it, a Charlie McCarthy circa 1995 for $43.00 with free shipping. After we paid for it he began setting his alarm early every morning to see if the package had arrived-- even though I repeatedly told him we’ve never before received deliveries before 7:00am-- and driving me crazy after school asking why it hadn’t arrived while he was at school. The shipping notification said 4-7 days, and of course it didn’t arrive til day 7.

But yesterday Charlie finally arrived and Israel has been developing his routine ever since. (So beware. You will probably be subjected to it shortly.) He is very impressed with his deal and what good shape the thing is in for being such an antique. I couldn’t figure out why he kept saying ol’ Charlie was so old. I had just thought it was a couple years old, but I guess when you were born in 1997, 1995 does seem like ancient times.

Israel was still one dollar short of the amount he needed to buy the doll when he was sure it would arrive. (I told him he would not take possession until he had paid in full.) But then he suspiciously got one from Azia. I asked why she had given it to him and he said he’d sold her an hour lesson on Karate or Kung Fu or any number of other things he in reality knows nothing about. So, I told Azia in addition to her lesson, she had also just purchased an hour of time to experiment with Charlie anytime after Israel had him for a full day.

So this evening she was very excited to cash in her hour. Charlie talked a bit (Azia’a a bit shy about trying it out), then hung out and had a tea party with a load of Care Bears, before Azia created a romantic dinner for him and one of her cabbage patch kids.

Israel Loves the MontCAST

Well I've spent the last few years complaining about how awful I think it is that we are having our kids do all this testing. I hate that they're cutting out all sorts of arts and even science and social studies so they have more time to get kids ready to pass these tests. (Often not even become more skilled at math or better readers, but more ready to pass the tests.)

And all along, apparently I'm opposing Israel's favorite weeks of the year.

As he was getting ready for school this morning, out of the blue he blurts out, "I'm in love with the MontCAST."

I asked him why and he said, "It's just so easy. I wish we did it every day. That's all you do all day long. There's no real work. There's no homework. And you have snacks."

"And it's all just basic stuff--stuff like all 5th graders should know. So you don't need to think a whole lot. It's like if Mr.Phillips just made a real easy test about stuff it doesn't really matter if we know or not."

So, this is what makes a good school day for a fifth-grader these days? No thinking. No challenges. Snacks.

Maybe it's worse than I thought.

वहत लैंगुएज इस थिस?

वो, थिस इस अ वैरी कूल फेअतुरे। ब्लॉगर अप्पार्स तो बे ट्रांस्लातिंग माय व्रितिंग इन्तो सम ओथेर लैंगुएज।

और मय्बे आईटी इस जुस्त क्रेअतिंग रंदोम मर्किंग्स। इ गेस इ वौल्दं'टी क्नोव थे डिफरेंस एइठेर वे।

तू बाद इ कैन'टी रीड एनी ऑफ़ थिस।

Mission Wrestling Tourney: Israel 3rd Place

February 27, 2009







Mission had it's wrestling tournament this weekend. The older kids wrestled Friday night. Despite getting there late, losing his shoes (he had to borrow Daij's) and the looonnng evening (I had the two little boys and Azia plus two friends to keep entertained and full of concession food in the crowded gym) Israel ended up doing well.

The only match he lost was his very first one--a close 3-5 match. Then he had to make his way through the losers bracket, winning 2 matches & then getting a bye to get into the constellation match. That final match was probably his easiest one. They seemed to get easier as the night went on instead of more difficult.

In the end, he took third place in his 85 pound weight class.