Midterm Conferences

Annika and Ingrid had a half day of school today.  Chandler School District scheduled mid term elementary school conferences two weeks earlier in the year than last year.  The idea was to get to the parents sooner to intervene if there are any problems.  Junior High conferences were last week; they had a full day of school today.

I worked early today in order to be home in time for conferences.  In fact, I was ready *yesterday*.  The date was marked down wrong on the home calendar which I copied to my work calendar and scheduled meetings to end early.  I came home, we got ready and Annika asked why we were going to the school.  "My conference is TOMORROW, Mom".  I rearranged my afternoon today and the Chung gang, minus Morgan, locked the house and walked to school conferences.

The kiddos were excited for the break from the Chung Family Nintendo DS rule that does not allow DS play during the school week.  We broke our rule to allow both parents the opportunity to attend conferences.  I.e. electronic babysitters.  And they worked beautifully.  Better stated, our kids behaved perfectly.

Ingrid's conference was first.  Her teacher gushed about how cute Ingrid is, what a great personality she has and that she is definitely fitting in at her new school.  Yeah!  Her grades are doing well - Meets Standards.  We were asked to work on sight words to reinforce her reading skills.  Also, as her teacher told us, Ingrid has the tiniest handwriting.  This make legibility a problem.  We will be working at home on this.

Annika is also doing well at school.  This is the year that letter grades are introduced.  Annika obsesses over this, perhaps to a fault.  We will try to get her to relax and takes things slower.  Math, Language Arts and Reading are all A's with a B in Science.

We celebrated the end of midterm, conferences and electronic babysitting with Barro's Pizza and lemonade.

Tumbleweed

We've been members of our city's rec center, named Tumbleweed Recreation Center, for about two months now.  And our favorite part?  Family racquetball.  Woody, Annika, Morgan and I have had  great times on the court while Ingrid and Erik live it up in the Treehouse kid center.  We even have a racquetball kit in the car with all of our stuff neatly stored.

In addition to racquetball, Woody and I have enjoyed the treadmills and other equipment while Morgan loves the indoor track.  She has a great running form and is very excited to joint the Junior High cross country team in October.  I think she's found her niche.  Annika is not old enough to be on the second floor and spends her time in the teen room.

It's no Dan Abram, but we certainly enjoy the short distance to the center and the amenities.  Next month Morgan and Annika will start tennis lessons.

Fun times!

Saturday Night Science

This really isn't Saturday night science; more like Saturday afternoon.  After seeing our kids mope around the house in what must be the gazilionth day of heat, Woody said enough and declared it Science Museum day for the Chung household.

We piled into the car and headed to Phoenix, only to sit and wait to get into the parking garage.  Hmmmm. We didn't know what was going on until we entered the renovated science museum lobby.  It looked like all of Phoenix was there!  With their kids!  What we found out was that it was Intel and Honeywell Days at the Arizona Science Center  Intel and Honeywell offered a free day at the Science Center for their employees.  On top of that, it was the first day of the Lego exhibit - open only to members.  And, it was the second to last week of the Math Fun exhibit.  Whew!

It was pointless turning back so we made our way through the member line and asked to renew our membership that lapsed.  Were we still in the computer?  Yes, but it wasn't a couple years ago like we thought.  It was SIX years ago!  What????  I think we're getting our museums mixed up.  On that note, throughout our visit, Erik kept asking about the Shark movie and the trains.  He had the Arizona Science Museum mixed out with the NAT, the National Museum of Science of San Diego County.  We kept laughing that we may be "over-museuming" our kids.  On second thought, no, we're not.  This is what families do together.  Once again, a membership for the Chung Family is cheaper than two visits to the Arizona Science Center.  So we renewed.

With tickets in hand and member wristbands in place, we took off for the Lego Gallery.  There were impressive lego sculptures, including a full sized race car, a building section, a DUPLO car building and racing play area and a computer creation center.  Even though it was full of people, the kids really enjoyed it.

We continued on to the Math exhibit, which was free for members,  and worked our way through the rest of the three story museum.  There is so much to do, and with so many people, there was some waiting time.  We still had a grand time and spent close to four hours in the museum, without going to the IMAX theatre.  We'll save that for another time.

That's Ingrid's eye that is shown in the lens of the giant "telescope"

Happy Birthday Annika

My sweet Annika is nine years old today.   We celebrated quietly with our family today, building the excitement during the day until after school.  Annika asked to take jelly beans to her classmates today, carefully pouring cups of flavored beans during reading time.  It was a nice snack.

I had junior high conferences for Morgan today.  We finally decided to open gifts first and then make dinner.  After conferences, I would return home for cake and singing.

Annika was very excited to open her gifts, hoping most for a Razor scooter, similar (BUT NOT THE SAME PINK ONE MOM) as her sister received the week before.  So, in Chung fashion, we attempted to conceal the gift by changing the size of the box.  We went one step further and removed the scooter from the box and replaced it with calcium supplements.  The look of disappointment was priceless.  The scooter was eventually found in the pantry and the smile returned to Annika's face.  The sling shot is to take camping and was something Annika wanted.  She also received several books, a book light and a air brush marker set.  Happy Girl.

We enjoyed a small Chips-Ahoy birthday cake.  The frosting was a little thick and ended up more of a play item than edible treat.  A little silliness ensued and Annika and Erik both sported cake frosting faces.  It's all fun right before bath time!

Tooth Fairy Demands

Found under Annika's pillow:

"Dear Toothfairy,
Tomorrow is my birthday, I hope I get something special than just money. Love Annika.

P.S. I don't want any Playmobile, either.
P.S.S. I pulled my own tooth out
P.S.S.S Can I have a picture of you? I have been curious.
P.S.S.S.S Please respond in the circled area on this letter."

Charlie's Back for a Pre-Birthday Visit

Annika is "a little" over her Charlie fascination.  It's been a couple of years since we've seen a praying mantis in our yard.  Of course, out of politeness, we invite all visiting praying mantes in for a visit before letting them loose in our yard.  It's not as funny as when Annika was three and kept a praying mantis, dubbed "Charlie" by her, on her head while playing with her toys.

Annika acquiesced and allowed us to take pictures of her with Charlie on her head and leg, this time with a big smile - showing off the lost tooth from earlier in the day.

Preschool Update

Yes, he finally likes it!  Our smart, sweet boy.

Chung Family Contest

What's Erik eating?

P.S.  It's not this.

No Words

60 year old antique matchbox car in the hands of a three year old versus 8 month old 64" plasma TV.  The truck won.  It's been a sad afternoon at the Chung house.  Erik was watching an exciting Wii boxing match between Annika and Ingrid (who had the Wii remotes firmly in hand with straps attached).  Erik got a little excited and let go of the little metal truck imitating one of Annika's moves.  The fatal "punch" felt like slow motion.  I was talking to my dad on the phone when it happened.  It really didn't quite register for a few seconds as the TV went blank.  I quickly said goodbye to see what happened up close, all the while saying to myself, it can't be cracked.  Sure enough, it's done.  So sad.

Perhaps it was the tiredness of the weekend, or the past two hours we spent in the kitchen prepping vegetables to be used in stir fry dinner and others to be frozen for future meals, but Woody and I were rather quiet about the TV.  We put it in perspective later on this evening - somewhere, two parents just like us are spending the day hearing devastating news about their child, be it illness or even death and coming to grips with that.  We merely have a broken TV  -  and a healthy family.  We'll count our blessings and worry less.

Saturday Night Science

This Saturday's science project didn't need a lot of mom and dad help.  Morgan brought down two kits she got in Minnesota from Grandma and Grandpa.  The first kit is a crystal "mining" kit.  Nine crystals are buried in plaster and need to be excavated with a small chisel and brush.

The kids set to work immediately with Morgan carefully supervising.  The plaster creates quite a bit of dust.  Thankfully we have leftover trays from catering events that work great to corral our science activities.

By bedtime the Chung kiddos "unearthed" one crystal and proclaimed the activity "fun"!  Now it's off to Pinterest to find something exciting for next Saturday.

All About Blood

OK - this is fancy teaching.  Check out the red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma candy that Ingrid put together at school today.  It's a fantastic visual diagram.  Ingrid has been going on and on about the body and its functions.  She's really getting into the 1st grade life science curriculum.  Last week she described the digestive system "That's how the cookie crumbles" in *perfect* detail.  This week is all about circulation and hematology.  Next up: respiratory system.  Breathe well, 1st graders!

The Birthday Girl Celebrates with Family

It was a quiet family birthday for Ingrid today.  After homework, the Chung gang waited until I came home from work.  Ingrid was asked what she wanted for dinner.  After a vague description, she grew tired of our puzzled looks and drew a curved rectangle on the white board saying they were yellow and you eat them with meatballs.  Finally, we figured out she meant spätzle with gravy.  I wasn't quite up for the task after work and without half the ingredients.  Second choice:  Peter Piper Pizza.  We arrived and found many of Ingrid's former preschool classmates there for a school fundraiser.  How lucky for Ingrid to see friends Ella, Lexi and Victoria on her birthday.
We had a lot of fun and turned in all of the tickets we had collected for the last six months - Ingrid got a Hello Kitty stuffed animal and a ribbon twirler.  Erik got binoculars, Morgan got a boomerang and Annika got a miniature pool table complete with rack and cue sticks.
We came home to sing happy birthday with cake and open presents and take funny pictures.