Alyssa's Beautiful Dress From Mississippi Goes to the Symphony

My dad brought Alyssa home a beautiful navy blue dress from Mississippi that my grandmother sent for her. I think he thought she would be wearing it as a "dressing up" dress. The minute I saw it, I knew she would have other plans for it, and want to wear it all the time!

 

Alyssa loved the dress when my dad gave it to her, and immediately thought of her field trip to the symphony three days later. I had to pin the dress a little in the back so it would fit snug, but she could not have been happier that I let her wear the fancy dress, it's probably the most formal dress she has ever had. Also, here is closer up picture of her new hair cut. They had to cut off quite a bit to get the full 10 inches for donation, and she was so pleased with her new look.

 
The symphony field trips are a big deal to the kids because they are told to "dress their best", and of course this is exciting for fourth grade girls! She must have gotten compliments on the dress all day, because she was smiling ear to ear when I picked her up from school. She said that her friends were calling her "Prom Queen," and Alyssa is very much the nine year old version of one of our favorite story characters, Fancy Nancy so I know she loved every moment of looking her "fanciest." Nani also sent with my dad a baseball glove for Emma, which she loves, and some books for all the girls. Alyssa has LOVED the book about friendship, it's filled with fancy poetry, which she reads with lots of enthusiasm! Emma has had The Arc in the Park in her backpack all week, so I know she has been reading it during quiet reading time, and all the girls love the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff!
THANK YOU, NANI! And to GRANDPA for bringing the gifts!

Rebekah's Birdie Nest

 

This fall, Rebekah started the 3 year old Rainbow club at church. They get these navy blue vests that she is wearing, to sew on their badges as they earn them. The evening that she was given her vest, she came running into my classroom saying, "Look, my teacher gave me a birdie nest!!" The vest was all folded up compactly, and wrapped in plastic. I laughed a little, then felt bad looking at her excited little eyes, knowing we were in store for some disappointment.

 
This past Wednesday as we were getting ready for church, I took out the vest, and she looked at me, very perplexed. "That is NOT a NEST!" I explained the mix-up to her, and she had a renewed sense of excitement about the prospect of earning badges, so I figured we were good. Later that night, while we were setting up my classroom I realized that we had left the vest in our car. I asked her if she wanted to go out with me to get it. She didn't even look up from the puzzle she was working on, she just said, "No, that's okay, I'm not wearing that thing."

Carving Pumpkins

 
Last Friday we carved pumpkins. We had to work on the table in the basement because it was rainy outside.

 
Emma's happy face pumpkin.

 

Emma and Alyssa playing with the slippery seeds. Emma dove right in to the slimy pumpkin mush, A wasn't as enthusiastic about getting messy. We also got haircuts for the upcoming school pics, I'll show more pics where the new do's are a little easier to see later.

 

Alyssa loves her "Cat" pumpkin, but it's pretty clear I need more work with the FunKin knives. The cat is missing her whiskers! I just couldn't get that part to work.

 

Showing the bowl of pumpkin seeds that we sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked.

 
Rebekah's flower on her pumpkin. She told me how pretty she thought it looked, but she was so busy playing on the exercise bike the whole time we were downstairs, she didn't want to help too much. She painted a pumpkin on Monday while the big girls were at school.

Missions Week

This week we celebrated missions at church...

 

On Wednesday night, the kids were excited to get all dressed up in an outfit from another country. Ka'iulani and Kamelelani are wearing dresses from Vietnam. The dress Em is wearing is one of the dresses Aunty Ku'ulei and her family gave to each of the girls.

 
Bekah with her cheese crackers in hand. Can't leave those behind.

 

I put three tiny buns in Emma's hair, one on each side in front, and one in the back. She loved it! I had to re-create the hairdo for school the following day.

 

Alyssa's nice long hair was braided to look like the girl from Vietnam that appeared on the screen when I google searched "hairstyles in Vietnam." I'm missing that beautiful, long hair already!

 

Alyssa's class won the Pizza Party for having the most children dress up for the missions theme. It was fun for all of them to dress up and celebrate!

 
Next Wednesday, I am preparing mochi (which is Japanese, but we enjoyed it in Hawaii when Dave's sister made it, and we have tried a few times to make it here at home) for Emma's class, then Ka'eo will bring it in and explain a little about where it comes from. Emma is excited to share with her class! It's a fun chance for any of the kids who are interested, to share a little bit about their heritage while they study their unit on International Missions.

Discovery World, October 2nd

A week ago, the girls didn't have school on Friday, so we decided to go to Discovery World.

 

Outside on Pier Wisconsin, the girls pose for a photo. The tan building behind them, to the left of the big white building, is where Dad works.

 

In the technology center, Emma and Rebekah play a machine operated tic tac toe game. It was fun, an arm of the machine reaches out and picks up a ball shaped marker, then drops it where you tell it to.

 

Here, Alyssa is using the computer in front of her to open and close the roof on the huge model of Miller Park that is hanging from the wall and ceiling.

 
A new addition since the last time we have been to Discovery World: lots of machines that vary in their complexity that the kids can handle and move all the parts around on them to get a better idea of how they work.

 

Funny look of concentration as she operates the flight simulator.

 

Emma laying in the bubble looking out at Milwaukee.

 

We have taken a picture like this everytime we've visited this museum since Rebekah was so little that she was laying down in the grass, not able to sit up on her own yet. The picture is always of them laying down, since that's how the first one was.

 
Emma's favorite thing at Discovery World ~ The Bed of Nails. Even when the place is crowded, she's willing to wait in line several times to have her turn on this.

 

If you can see her face in this photo it's easy to tell that it's clearly NOT Alyssa's favorite thing to do, but I guess because Emma is always so excited about it, she has to try it out on each visit too!

 

This exhibit is also relatively new. It's a model house that shows the different ways that energy is used in a home. Emma liked using this tool, I'm not sure what it is/what it does, but the thing in front of her is a cold panel (like at Stone Cold Creamery) and she was using the tool on it.

 

Rebekah near the windows, and the wall cut open to show the insulation inside.

 
Emma sitting in a cut out corner of the house.

 

Emma looking at the fish she named on her 4th birthday. He's the little yellow and black one, she calls him Hawkeye. We come back and check on him everytime we're here, and she can pick him out each time, without fail :-)

 

One of the stingrays in the touch tank. This one kept doing tricks, by going up to the surface and turning on it's side, making it look like it was waving half it's body at us. After seeing it flip all around like that and come up to the top of the water so bravely, none of the girls wanted to touch it.

 

Bekah nose to nose with a turtle who has buried himself in the rocks.

 

Ka'iulani and Kahiwa controlling the rainstorm in the Great Lakes exhibit.

 

Ka'iulani and Kamele on the floor, taking a rest :-)

 
Peeking in the window of the huge ship that hangs from Discovery World's ceiling.

 

Making banana bread in the ship's oven.

 

All 3 girls in the kitchen of the Challenger. Rebekah is looking up because all of a sudden one of her friends from church and his family turned the corner into the ship.

 
Making tea in the ship.

 

This is the same fountain the girls were playing in over the summer. I think they colored the water pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

 

Alyssa by the pink fountain.

 

The girls were so excited about the pink water, and I was too, to tell you the truth. It looked very pretty. They kept running laps around it. You can click on this one to see how happy Kamele is about the pretty pink water.

 
A and E running around.

 

A different view of the fountain, it extends quite a long way past the Art Museum. The girls always want to walk the whole length of it.

 

Splashing their hands through the pink water.

 

Bekah wanted to know why the water on her fingers didn't look nearly as pink as the water in the pool.

 
Leaping across. She's wearing new white leggings, and while it might not be clear in the photos, the water was an extremely deep shade of pink. I could just imagine her falling in the water, then no longer having white leggings. Fortunately, it wasn't a difficult jump.

Bible Quiz and Pumpkin Saturday

Last Saturday was Emma's first Bible Quiz of this year. The Pee Wee Quiz teams have 3 meets each fall and it's open to kids in kindergarten through 3rd grade.

 

Emma and her friend, Rachel, wearing their blue super girl capes. Their team chose the name "God's Superheroes." Emma scored 100% in this first meet. Last year, she improved with each meet, but even in the December meet, I think she had one or two errors, so this was her first perfect score. She has practiced a lot.

 

After the meet, my parents drove back home, but on their way out of the Kenosha area, they stopped at a pumpkin farm to get the girls some pumpkins. It was so nice of them to pick up pumpkins and drive all the way back to our house with them, especially since my dad was sick that day, and they still had a 2 hour drive back home after that. Thank You!!

 

The girls with their pumpkins. The chilly fall mornings are pretty much here to stay now. I love it, but at the same time, I don't. The girls asked to bring hats and gloves with them in their backpacks the other morning and it seems so early for that. At least they're staying warm!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Iowa Game in Happy Valley

Dave went to Penn State with some friends to see the Iowa v. Penn State game a couple of weeks ago. Below are a few pics from that weekend.

 
Spelling out IOWA twice, I think?

 
They ate at a restaurant that claims to have the world's largest hamburger. It weighed 25 pounds (that's like having Rebekah on a sesame bun). I think Dave said that 8 of them shared it, and he was the only one to finish his portion. He said it wasn't that good ~ too much relish, but he never wastes anything!!

 
Dave and Nate pose by the Paterno statue.

 
The Nittany Lion.

 
The game was a rainy mess, so Dave didn't even bring our camera out, which he was really disappointed about. But you can't beat a Hawkeye victory over then ranked #5 Penn State. I was shocked when they won, but Dave said he had been confident all along!


I took the girls to visit my parents that same weekend...

 
My parents live in a relatively rural area, but it's not that rural so we were surprised nonetheless to see this horse-drawn wagon going down their street. Alyssa made me run down the road after it to click a photo.

 
We went out shopping with my mom because A and E needed new gymnastics leos, and Rebekah some shoes (which, Mom, she won't leave the new ones on her feet, I don't know what I am going to do with this girl once the weather gets any colder) and we ate lunch at Red Robin. Such a fun place, we love the milkshakes, and of course, the Red Robin.

 
Rebekah and Grandma. Thank you very much for the leos, they are so cool and fit perfectly!!

Back at home...

 

Dad brought home lots of ice cream from the Penn State creamery. It's delicious! He brought home: cookie dough, cookies and cream, death by chocolate, peachy paterno, and a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with mint chip in the middle for me. Something for everyone, and our freezer is stocked! The girls love sampling all of them.

 
I asked Bekah how she liked the ice cream and this was the face she gave me.

 
Emma with chocolate ice cream running down her chin. :-)

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