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'Tis the season for non-stop, non-stopping.

This morning was my company's traditional family movie day. They open the theater before the public open time, allowing CH2MHill employees and their families to have the theater to ourselves. The company also springs for a drink and popcorn for everyone who goes. This year I took 5 of the kids (Ceana decided to stay home) to see "Arthur Christmas." It was a fun show; probably one I'll have to watch again to catch more of the jokes, understand more of the British accents, and I'd just enjoy it again. Probably something to add to the Netflix queue. :+)

I had every intention of working from home this afternoon, but as usual, other, more pressing things conspired against me.

We did get a short visit by the Relief Society President bearing leftovers from last night's ward party. Someone was thinking ahead and used containers that could go straight into the freezer. Also got a visit from one of our nurse friends who spent some time with all the kids as well as Rory. We got her iPhone set up to view and edit our public calendar which led her to exclaim, "I'm so excited!" Most normal people might not have that reaction to gaining access to a calendar whose sole purpose is to communicate service needs ... thank you J!

A long-time family friend brought a huge pan of her famous, authentic Spanish lasagna (at least we think it's authentic ... sure doesn't taste like anything from a box!). Too bad Ceana had already left for the dance, because her best friend from all the way back in Kindergarten was helping deliver the food. Fun to watch the kids grow up; they change so much, but still retain some of what I remember from their "little kid" stage.

The evening was capped off with me having a date! Ceana has been involved in the planning and decorations for tonight's Winter Ball, and Rory agreed to let me take her over to the dance floor a bit early to be able to see the decorations and take some pictures:

They had set up a movie projector where "It's A Wonderful Life" will be playing (without sound), had an old-time popcorn machine, were offering to take couples photos, and more. Basically, lots of things for the kids to do who didn't want to dance, but everything was right there in the gym so they could stay together. Some of the leaders came in "theme costumes" from the 30's and 40's, including one brother in a sailor uniform. The kids are going to have a blast!

Rory decided we should test out the photo spot and asked someone to take our picture. She got uber-brave and had photos taken without her head scarf, but she did mention she wanted to think things over before publishing those. 

On the way home we picked up the mail and found a stack of letters from my sister who is in England. The kids will have a blast opening up cards from Aunt C. on Christmas morning. The ORCA Parent Association board members also sent a thoughtful letter and some gift certificates to kid-friendly food places like Papa Murphy's, Subway and Roth's. Every day we are overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of people on our behalf.

While that 1-hour outing was good for Rory on many levels, she was really worn out by the time we got home. Hope maybe she sleeps better tonight because of it!

Still hanging in there ...

ORCA SPRING CELEBRATION I

Yesterday was our ORCA Spring Celebration. They chose a new place to hold it, it was smaller, but we found out they had the biggest turnout ever! It was so fabulous for the kids to get to meet their teachers and to be with so many other students and their families.
This is Caiden with his teacher. He has been so helpful and supportive of Caiden this year. We are hoping Caiden will have him again next year.
This amazing, funny lady has been Colton's teacher for the last 2 years. She has blessed our lives in so many ways, and she has been an angel for our family, and for Colton. She has become a good friend. We are pretty sure she will be Ky's kindergarten teacher next year. Lucky us we will get to keep her for one more year!

When we first arrived, Preston & Kaeli took the kids out to play and enjoy the small reprieve of dry weather. Kaeli did an awesome job with taking picts, and I cant wait to scrapbook them for the kids' books. Sabrina helped play with the little peeps too. I thought this was a great pict Kaeli got of Sabrina and Ky playing basketball.

This is what our weather looked like about every other 15 minutes. It was either very bright and sunny, or completely torrrential. It was often raining so hard that you could hardly see anything. When the sun came out everyone ran around trying to get to all of the activities. When the rain started, everyone scrambled to find some kind of shelter at the park. The wind picked up at the end and nearly blew away 2 of the booth awnings.

ORCA SPRING CELEBRATION II

This was the boys' favorite activity booth. They got a pretty good go of it before the torrential rain started up again. They made some awesome bubbles and Kaeli did an awesome job to capture them on Preston's camera.
This is Preston with the other members of the ORCAPA group. He has been talking with them and doing conference calls for months. This was the first time that all of them were together. I took picts on 6 different cameras to make sure to document this momentous occasion. The ORCAPA booth was very successful and the group talked to ALOT of parents, teachers, and even the new principal. They also handed out a lot of information that Preston and Anne Marie (in green) had put together to make people aware of the legislative process and where ORCA stands right now, and what bills are concerns at the state level. Preston was praised by so many people. I think it was a very successful day for the group, and a lot of validation for all of Preston's extra hard work. It was awesome to be there to see how happy he was in the work that he has been doing all year.

Part of our reason for being at Spring Celebration was because Sabrina and Kaeli were there to go through 8th grade graduation ceremony. It was so different from B&M schools. Personal, fun, cozy. It was very enjoyable for all who attended. I think there were maybe 2 dozen kids in the group. It is great being part of a small school family.

The theme for Spring Celebration was "Myth Busters" - this is one of the teachers who looks exactly like one of the hosts of the real show. Everyone was taking advantage of getting his picture :)

This is a pict of the girls with one of their favorite teachers.

School DAZE Is Here Again

Well, we started school on Tues. It has been a roller coaster ride for the last several days, but I think we are getting settled MUCH better than last year.

Both the girls still have 6 teachers each, plus advisors. Caiden has a new teacher this year who will be only the 2nd male teacher he has ever had, he is excited about that. Colton has his same teacher, but a whole special needs team that includes the new assistant principal. SO many new faces and names to get to know, but everyone we have been in contact with so far has been really great and supportive and has bent over backwards to help us, esp with all of Colton's medical needs this year. It is one of the big differences about ORCA vs our local schools that we really love.

This is a pict of the kids' school shelves - all nice and neat and tidy - for now....

The kids all got MONSTER size books this year.It is crazy how big and heavy they are. Probably REALLY good they are not toting them any further than their own desks here at home. Ceana is taking Honors English, American Government, Biology, Pre-Calculus, Latin II, Health/Fitness & Nutrition. Kaeli is taking Pre-Algebra, Language Arts (English), Social Studies, Art, EdTech, & Science. Caiden is taking similar courses. Colton is repeating 1st grade this year. We are hoping he will be able to work through courses more easily, even with his medical concerns, and be able to add his 2nd grade curriculum by last term.

The majority of Ceana's coursework is all done online. She is working completely independently and gets Preston's help to check her math and science at the end of each day. So far, she is really cranking on stuff and feels much more comfortable with her classes. She will stay plenty busy and is looking forward to also adding piano and job shadowing at our local vet clinic this year.

Kaeli is doing really well with classes already this year. She is finding that waking early and getting courses out of the way gives her plenty of free time in the afternoons, including voice lessons, and an hour bike ride each day that usually takes her to the library and erranding for herself. She is also working on goals to take better notes and make better study habits this year. All the kids are working on getting their own routine and rhythm and using their time more efficiently.

School DAZE Is Here Again II

As always, Kaeli has to "ham it up" when she discovered me trying to take picts....
Caiden has taken up residence at the bar in the dining room or the easel in the office. The table is currently occupied with all the stuff we de-junked from the office to clear new space for the kids...eventually we are going to get that space back to. For now, he is happy to perch on the stool and plug along. He is really doing well to stay on top of things this year. We have had a few tears about doing things the right way, like having adults check his exams BEFORE he submits them, and about learning to take good notes during the lesson so time to study for exams is used better. So far, though, he is right on track and keeping up with all his work. It is a huge improvement from me having to help him and get after him about everything last year....he is doing a great job.

Colton was using some of his school time to practice his reading. He has a few Dr Suess books that are his FAVES and he is getting really good at reading them. It is also good quiet time to keep him busy and not wanting to run around all over while we are in the healing process for his ear.

School time has become time for all 3 little kiddos. They look forward to watching all the fun movies, clips and doing assignments together. On this day they were watching an ORCA "BrainPop" - a short animated movie starring a girl named Annie and a funny robot named Mobie. The kids LOVE them and watch them over and over. It is fun to see Ky and Kels as excited and enthralled as Colton. They are a great supplement to the curriculum lessons.

In this bottom pict, the kids had already watched the movie once and Ky knew what was coming - Mobie holding his nose while flies buzzed around a pile of dirt where they had tried to make a plant grow by giving it milk vs water. The clip was about the process of the Scientific Method, Annie and Mobie had done a test to see if plants could grow healthy and strong by "drinking" milk like they did. The clip was really great and the kids had all the steps down of the entire process just by watching it 2x. Annie and Mobie make them laugh so the kids dont even realize how much they are learning by watching them. It is a great way for the kids to learn and enjoy their school time.

ORCA IS FUN

Caiden and I have been having lots of fun with his Social Studies this term. He has had lots of fun and interesting assignments and activities to do. He had this project awhile ago - but I realized I never posted it.
Caiden had to create and color 3 different maps of of the western region of the US - a resource map, a political map (states and capitals), and a climate map. We had a challenge looking up all the things about each of the states in our region, but it was a lot of fun too. Caiden was very proud of the work that he did and we are proud of him too.

KINDERGARTEN OR ART SCHOOL?

One of colton's lessons today focused on writing poems. Seems a big task to give kinder kiddos but we got through it. Colton's lesson have what are called "Brain Pops" - short videos with characters that tell about the day's lesson. Today both the little boys couldnt wait to watch Annie (girl) and Moby (a robot) tell about writing poems. They liked it so much we watched it TWICE!
After watching Annie and Moby tell about all the different kinds of poems Colton was assigned to write one of his own. He really liked the idea of a "shape" poem - where a poem is written on a cut out shape. They used the example of a horse in the video clip, so that is what Colton chose too. I wasnt too sure that he would understand how to write a poem - but he sure surprised me. He had really listened to the video and came up with this all on his own. I did the writing for him today as he did ALOT of writing on his own for his other assignments.
I will write here what the poem says since the pict isnt too clear. Pretty good for an almost 7 year old:

A horse says "Neigh, neigh." Giddiyap, giddiyap! Fast is fun! Yee Haw! Fast IS fun! Whoa, horsie. Walk. Stop. Let's go get an apple for our snack.

Colton's schedule seems to be filled with art projects that go with just about every lesson. We started a "homework wall" for the kids' projects thinking we would fill it up eventually - except that colton's projects just in the last 3 months have filled up one whole wall already! It has been fun to see his progress through his projects. His handwriting has really come along in the last month especially and he is getting much better with all of his fine motor skills in many areas. I am not sure where we are going to put colton's projects for the rest of the year. We may have to keep things up one quarter at a time and just do a big pict like this at the end of each term. Will have to figure out something soon.....

MAD SCIENTIST AT WORK

Ceana spent most of her Saturday working on science experiments for school. It has been interesting having her studying chemisty this year and challening to have to track down all of the materials she needs. We ended up having to special order something this week because even though it is a common chemical compound, it has been pulled off the market for the general public because it has been used in inappropriate ways....crazy.
Ceana made me promise to mention something funny that happened today while she was working. Caiden kept laughing at her and her goggles. She started to make faces at him with her goggles on and he replied "You are one MAD scientist!" She thought it was funny....

Ceana had several sets of experiments going all at once. Not sure what exactly she was supposed to learn, but it looked like it was interesting and she was having fun. One thing we all learned was how to clean up after using and combining the chemicals and natural ingredients.

In the pict above Ceana was watching the mixture she had put together literally BREATHE - it was really kind of freaky to watch the yeast mixture go up and down as if it was breathing. It kind of gave me the creeps, but she was fascinated. As much as she loves science and math, and has a natural gift with animals of all shapes and sizes, it is no wonder she is considering becoming a veternarian.

Thanksgiving Salad I

One of Colton's Social Studies assignments for school was to make a Thanksgiving salad. He has lots of fun assignments this month with the holiday coming. We are trying to get him finished in time to receive the 2nd set of his Kindergarten cirriculum early, so we are having fun and flying through all of his holiday assignments.
Here Colton has all of his ingredients ready to go. He was very excited to get to "cook" all by himself.
Colton loves using the nut chopper to "crunch things" - he did his best, though his arm strength isnt quite there yet. He tried hard and did a good job!

He added lots of nuts to the salad. Normally he doesnt like nuts at all, but he sure liked them in this salad.

One of Colton's favorite snacks is mandarin oranges - esp when I let him eat them right out of the can. This salad called for them, and boy was he excited! He had fun "sprinkling" in all of the chopped ingredients.

Thanksgiving Salad II

I have to admit, this is becoming a new favorite snack at our house. We had never even heard of craisins before a friend brought a yummy dinner with a salad that had craisins and nuts - now we are eating them lots! Thanx Allison for bringing such a yummy dinner and a yummy new snack to our house!
The tradition continues....I am notorious for snacking while cooking, so do my kiddos....who am I to fuss though, when the snack and meal are healthy! Colton really loves apples, so this was a fun salad for him to make with some of his favorite things!

Adding the last ingredient - yummy Cool Whip

Colton was SO excited that he made this salad pretty much all by himself. This pict doesnt show it very well, but it really is a pretty salad with all the colors

Thanksgiving Salad III

Colton couldnt wait to get his first taste of his homemade salad.
Colton never eats anything with a regular spoon - he always chooses a serving spoon - as you can see that bite is WAY more than he can fit in his mouth -

That never seems to hinder him at all though....

And he is always VERY proud of himself when he shoves it all in. Plus he was very proud and excited that he had made a salad all by himself!

We discovered that we liked the salad so much that it didnt last long at all. In fact, we are making another one today....it is fun that we have found something yummy and easy and mostly healthy. Here is the way easy recipe if you want to try some yourself -

Craisins (1/2 cup-ish), 2 cans mandarin oranges (drained), 2 chopped apples (we did 1 red and 1 green), chopped nuts (we used pecans, but anything would work), small container of Cool Whip. Combine all ingredients, serve immediately for best results. We did have some last overnight, but it got a little runny with the oranges diluting the cream - still way yummy, just didnt look as pretty. Enjoy! I know we will!