Thanksgiving Test

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Miscellaneous Monday

• Today is Veteran's Day.  We are ever indebted and grateful to those who serve or have served.  Thank you.
• I had a long day at the hospital today with several documents reviewed and vetted, taking nearly all day before they were cleared for internal publication.
• No school for the kiddos today.
• Woody planned on working on the library shelves today.  That didn't happen.
• Ashley spent the night.
• Annika and Ashley played with classmate Kami who came over at 2 PM.
• Ashley went home at 5 PM.
• Kami went to dinner with us after claiming ramen noodles as the sole food she eats.
• Kami truly loves noodles and nothing else.
• Kami told us she eats tacos on Tuesdays because they are $1.00 at a local restaurant on Tuesdays only.  Annika asked Kami if the tacos taste good.  Kami said her dad thinks they're "damn good" and that's why they have to eat them on Tuesdays only.
• Kami said she's part Chinese, that's why she likes rice and noodles.
• Kami's parents say she's not Chinese, but had a Chinese babysitter when she was little.
• Kami is a very funny house guest.
• Morgan was working on Civil War trading cards for Social Studies this evening.
• Woody made the kids an "Internet Cafe" this morning.
• We are now growing seedless Red Flame grapes in addition to Thompson grapes in the backyard.
• That's all I've got.

Santan School Carnival

A perfect night for a perfect carnival.  That sums up what I can say about Santan K-8 school carnival - Western Round-up.  A fun evening with the family (despite lingering colds for two kiddos).   We followed neighborhood advice and pre-purchased our tickets for booths and wristbands for rides and bounce houses and headed out at about 5:15.  And, as we continue to say with glee each time there's an event at the school; our car was left parked in the garage.  No fighting for parking!

We strolled in and took in all the sights and sounds.  Actually, we could hear the sounds from our house.  The P.A. system played popular mingled with announcements.

Annika met up with Kami, Kami, and Ashley and we let them have their independence from us for the evening.  Morgan found her girls and was off - only to show up on occasion to see what we were doing (and vice versa).  Woody, Ingrid, Erik and I went to the slides and bounce houses and rides.  The train was a hit, so was the Toy Story Bounce house.

The weather actually cooperated.  We were expecting winds and cold with possible rain.  While it was cooler and the clouds looked ominous; we indeed had fantastic evening weather.  Couldn't have asked for better.

Independence

Our son is beginning to push autonomy and independence into his daily life.   Take today - Erik, like many boys, waits until the ABSOLUTE LAST second before announcing he needs to use the bathroom.  We've grown accustomed to dropping everything and running with him to the bathroom  to make sure he make's it.  Makes, sense, of course.

But now, he insists on shutting the door and allowing himself the dignity of pulling up his pants and washing his hands.  Of course, we are right nearby in case he happens to forget a step.

This afternoon, we tried to tell him he got it not quite right, but he wanted to hear non of that...

Math Problem

Annika is working on fractions in math right now: writing fraction equations, equivalent fractions, simplifying like terms, adding mixed fractions, etc.  They're using manipulatives - fraction tiles - to help illustrate the problems.

Here's the assignment.

Create a sketch card (draw on graph paper) with tasks and write the equation to answer the following question.

"Use 24 total (equal sized) tiles and use the denominators, 2,3,4,6,8 and 12.  You need to be sure that the fractions add up to 24/24ths or 1 whole"

We'll write the answer tomorrow.

Happy solving.

Election 2012

Elections are educational, no matter what your political leanings.  History, Geography and Math all rolled into one night.  Add art, too, considering how well you can stay in the lines of the U.S. states while coloring the electorate.

After Annika and Ingrid came home from school, we dashed to Sam's club and picked up meat, cheese, vegetables and grapes for dinner.  Added to existing crackers, apples, pretzels and chips and salsa, we had a party.

Similar to the 2008 presidential election family party (click here), we set up the bulletin boards and downloaded outline maps of the U.S. for the kids to follow along with the election coverage.

And similar to 2008, we were disappointed in the federal results, but local and state results matched our political stand.  We will continue to work hard for ourselves and use our voices and voting capabilities to make the changes we think will push this great country forward.

What I can't imagine is that the next presidential election will have my youngest child in first grade, my oldest child in eleventh grade and a whole new electoral map!

Santan Cross Country Team Wins!

We had the great pleasure of watching Morgan's first Cross Country meet today which was hosted by Santan Junior High.   Even a greater pleasure was the fact that the cross country running course runs right by the gate to our neighborhood.

After the fun day date with Woody, we collected the girls and Erik, grabbed our camping chairs and the wagon, and walked the few steps to the park.  We set up under a shade tree and had a great view of the teams running right past us, around the park and back in front of us before continuing the course along the school boundary.

Morgan had a great stride and finished in the middle of the pack of 7th grade girls.  She had a very good stride and felt great about her finish.  The girls started first and the boys cheered them on as they made their way along the 2.5 mile course.

We all liked our first meet.  After all the girls cross back from the park to the school, we packed up our camping chairs and made our way home (a one minute walk).

Ingrid plans on bringing pom poms next time - cheering her big sister to run her best!

Congratulations, Morgan.