Tuesday, November 17, 2009

October Highlights

Here they are:

Jared won the Thinker of the Year award at school, we celebrated with an award ceremony and reception with the other recipients. Here he is receiving his award.
And a close-up. Great work, Jared!

Asian Dynasty Days at School: The fantastic Korean dancers that performed for us.
Jared and Justin binding there Chinese Characters books.
Grace and her friend trying out some Origami.
And, Justin taking part in a reader's theater of an old chinese folk tale.

Jared and Grace are taking part in a Cotillion program this fall. They finished off the first half of the session with a Sock Hop where they got to practice their Swing skills!

And of course, Halloween... Justin dressed up as a Zombie and so we embarked on a little stage make-up fun for the full effect. Here are a few shots of the process.
First, the liquid latex.
Next, toilet paper and more liquid latex for the sagging skin effect and gapping wound.
Then, the make-up.
After a little more blending , we had a great looking zombie!

Jared sported the Michael Jackson look.
Madeline went with a literary character, Katarina from The Taming of the Shrew.
and Grace, along with her friend, Kirsten, were Rock Stars.
And since we were hosting a party, we decided to get in on the fun, as well. I was a tree and Jon was a tree hugger. His idea... pretty cute, huh! (His shirt says, "Unrepentant Tree Hugger")
Well, that is it for October... stay tuned as I am hoping to get around to pics from November while on break this next week!

Monday, November 16, 2009

September Highlights

The girl's birthdays are like bookends to our September each year. We celebrated Madeline's 15th birthday while we were in Catalina for Labor Day weekend. We forgot the candles for the cake, so we improvised with the chicken candle that was in the house we rented...We then enjoyed a delicious cake, chocolate cake with a whipped ganache filling and ganache frosting. Thanks to my wonderful cake baker, Jon, for all his labor on this one! It was all the more challenging because we weren't in our own kitchen.
We enjoyed our first field trip of the year with a visit to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Air and Space Museum. We planned the trip for a Monday so that Madeline could join us. We all had a great time and learned several new things about this remarkable man. Here are the kids with a portable bridge built from simple notched logs. Ideal for troops to carry and assemble while traveling. I had no idea that Da Vinci had created so many military tools! He truly was a Renaissance Man.
And we finished off the month, celebrating Grace's 12th birthday with the traditional sleep over. They had a scavenger hunt, decorated totes, painted nails, and played lots of games. Here are a couple pics of the fun!
showing off their totes...
... and playing the nail painting game
Check back soon for October highlight!