Quicker than an Eye

Morgan's growing up so fast my head is sometimes spinning.  Case in point:
Last week during her sports physical, I quickly noticed Morgan was failing her eye test.  It was a quick test but I knew from some of the summer photos from Grandma's that something was amiss.  This morning's eye exam confirmed our suspicions.  Morgan is far-sighted.  Her prescription is light, that is, her eyesight is not poor.  But a pair of glasses will make a heck of a difference in some of her larger classrooms.
Woody and I plopped Ingrid, Erik, and Annika about 20 feet away to watch Despicable Me at Sam's Club and started to look for Morgan's first pair of glasses.  Calmly, I realized this was not going to be a quick morning.  Morgan tried on more than several pair to get to just the right one.  While her first choice was not our first choice, I think she looks great.  We'll pick up her glasses in about a week.  In the meantime, I'll let her teachers know on Monday that up front seating may help for note taking this week.

Meet Hestia

Hestia, Goddess of Home and Hearth.  Morgan is winding up her month long class study on Greek Mythology today.  Her class is having a wax museum of Greek Mythology characters.  There will be a entire room of togas and dresses as the Dunham Dragon classroom is transformed into Olympus.  Morgan, as many of you know, has been soaking up Greek Mythology literature for the last three years and has been dubbed, "class expert".  She's enjoying the title.  Her costume is from a bridesmaids dress that I cut down and added gold hems, redoing the sleeves and adding the sashes.  She looks fantastic.  And, as a VERY NICE mom, I took down one panel of curtains to take out the curtain rod so as to give her a fire-staff to carry as a prop.  Can't wait to see her later today in class!

Winter Orchestra Concert

Emo, Harmony, Ingrid and I attended Morgan's orchestra concert this evening at Jacobson Elementary.  It was a great performance.  I am mostly amazed at the difference between the fifth graders - performing in the first concert together and the sixth graders.  It seems the entire group leaps exponentially in talent between the two grades.  Everything sounds much better with the older students.   Morgan did a fantastic job and looked beautiful on stage.

Orchestra Festival

Today was the Chandler District Elementary Orchestra Solo and Ensemble Festival held after school at the Chandler Center for the Arts on the Chandler High School campus.  It was a near chaos scene registering so many kids in the district, but finally Morgan had her turn before the judges.  Her first set of music was left on her desk at school.  Morgan had to improvise and use what she had or forfeit her participation.  She stressed some and in turn had a bloody nose in line right before her turn.  All conditions were resolved and Morgan turned a stressor into a success with a blue ribbon.  Way to go!

Book Reports

Book reports are getting fancier and fancier as the school year progresses.  No more is it a form with title, author, publisher, plot, characters and overall impression.  Now it's a sandwich, a diorama, a mural with text or in this month's case - a kite!

Morgan read Obert Skye's Pillage for this month's book report.  She used the home theater projector to trace part of the cover and make a 3D effect kite.  The tails contain the typed information about the book, according to the sent-home rubric.  Looks great, doesn't it?

Skating Around Central Park

Last night I skated around New York's Central Park.  Not too bad for being in the Valley of the Sun.

Morgan's assignment was to create a game based on a book she read in lieu of a book report.  Morgan chose to read, Roller Skates, by Ruth Sawyer.  It's a Newbery Honor book, one that I had when I was her age.

The main character of the book, Lucindia, is a 11 year old girl at the turn of the 20th century.

Morgan's game is a cross between Monopoly and Uncle Wiggly.

Nice Work Morgan!

A Bowl of Cereal Seems Innocent Enough...

Yeah.  Not even close!

This is one of those blog entries where I fulfill my commitment to telling our family story like it is - take the good with the bad.

This morning started out like any other Monday morning.  The alarm went off, we began waking children.  I started a shower, the kids picked out their clothes.  I dry off, they start breakfast with Dad.  Dad begins to make school lunches, I check to make sure the kids get their teeth brushed.

Somewhere in the mix above, Woody stepped into the garage and I was still dressing.  I heard a yell and then Morgan ran towards me in the hallway.

A few minutes earlier, Morgan taunted Annika by telling her if she left her bowl of frosted mini shredded wheats to go to the bathroom, when she got back, her cereal would look like this [  ].  [Morgan shows Annika a frosted natural mini wheat from Mom's Best cereals with the frosting bit off, leaving the shredded wheat.

Annika didn't like the teasing, but rather than choosing a clever retort, or better (!), just ignoring her...she responded with an OVER THE TOP reaction that I never would have guessed.  Annika didn't even wait for mouth to finish chewing before responding.  She just spit a mouthful of shredded wheat at Morgan's face and hair.

That's why Morgan came running towards me in the hall - milk dripping off her face and her hair full of shredded wheat bits.  It was a quick call to make - that cereal wasn't coming out without a shower.  Now, if you know Morgan very well like we do, she doesn't like wavering from her morning routine. Neither do we.  So somewhere with twenty minutes before we leave the house, we have to get Morgan cleaned up and find a new shirt.

As parents, we fixed the immediate problem and solved the underlying discontent with some scolding and punishment.  We'll get over it.  And now that the kids are in bed and more than twelve hours have passed since our discordant morning, we're quietly laughing at it all.

SOOO...  Have a good laugh at our expense this morning.  And watch for flying shredded wheat!

 P.S. To Annika and Morgan:  When you read this as you get older, think of it from our point of view...

Young Violinist in Concert

Morgan performed in her first orchestra concert this evening at her school.  She was all smiles in her dress and heels and headband.  She told us she was a bundle of nerves on the inside, despite her smile.  The fifith grade orchestra played six songs, including Jingle Bells, Old McDonald and Up on the Housetop.

We scrambled this evening to get everyone ready and in the right places.  Annika had her last soccer practice which overlapped the concert.  Erik needed to get to our babysitter's house.  Woody shuffled kids to the appropriate places while I went with Morgan and Ingrid to save seats at the school.

We called Grandma before the concert and offered to call back to her speakerphone when the fifth graders started playing.  It was a little muffled from a cell phone, but they still enjoyed Morgan's concert.

Way to go Morgan!!