The Holiday Books

I always love unpacking the bin of holiday books each year (after wonderful Chad does the backbreaking work of hauling it down from the rafters in the garage).  I never, ever get tired of reading about snow and reindeer and excited children.  Clara opted out of listening to The Polar Express tonight, because she was working on some top secret Christmasy project, but Trevi (and Berbs) soaked it in.  On nights like this, I can hear the bell.

Christmas Shopping

Thanks to years of thoughtful students, I've amassed quite a collection of Christmas kitsch. Today, Trevi decided to (what else?) open a Christmas store, and sell the kitsch.  I suppose we should invite some kids over who still want to pick up something special for their teachers. Then again, things are pretty pricey in our living room.  A snow globe will set you back $70,000.  It's probably best if the kids put that money into gift cards instead.  :)

Thanks

Our annual trip to Ventura for Thanksgiving was loaded with family, food, and ocean.  We had such a relaxing time, and savored this lovely pause before the December TO DO lists come out.

The kids had hours of cousin time on the beach, and I couldn't seem to stop taking pictures.

Clara delighted in lots of bonding time with Stevie.

We got caught up with Gomma, Thanksgiving hostess with the mostest.

And the sunsets were spectacular, as always.

Driving home, we were amazed when this scene appeared through the windshield: 

A perfectly-placed Rest Area allowed us to get out and frolic (and pose) in the white stuff.  It was hilarious how the place was jammed with Thanksgiving road-trippers doing exactly the same thing.   We lowland California dwellers go pretty berserk around snow (I know, shame on me, with my Canadianness and all....). 

Countless things to be thankful for this year.  Beach and snow all in the same day is well up the list.

Play day

Today began an entire week of vacation!  Yahoo!  Let me start Thanksgiving by being thankful for all of the holidays we lucky teachers get.  :)

Instead of puttering away at projects around the house, we decided to take a real excursion and go check out the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  Since its grand re-opening in July, we've been kind of afraid to face the crowds there, but it was fairly manageable today.  As an added bonus, we got to do the exploring with some of our best buddies.

The new building was designed to be a model of environmental friendliness, so it's about the greenest structure you can imagine, and then some.  The roof is literally green.  It's a living roof, covered with native plants (and solar panels).  We loved the whole concept, and enjoyed hanging out on the roof, but couldn't get past the eerie similarity to the land where the Teletubbies live.

To cap off the day, we soaked up some super-rare SF sun in a fabulous playground in Golden Gate Park.  Check out the old-school concrete slides:

Child-centered days like this don't happen often enough.  We got to spend the afternoon watching the kids slide, laugh, and slide some more, after hours of searching for camouflaged insects and lizards.  I'm very thankful.   

Unpacking Christmas

I waited longer than usual to get out the Christmas stuff this year.  It took some serious restraint, but I let a full three weeks lapse between the composting of the jack-o-lanterns and the crooning of Bing.  

The kids (and Chad– although somewhat reluctantly) helped me deck a few halls. 

We'll be staying home at Christmas this year, so I have a few special projects in the works. Come to think of it, I'd better stop blogging and get to work...

Cozy

This afternoon, I discovered Bernie snuggled up like this (Trevor's doing, no doubt):

Not to be outdone by cats, Chad snuggled up later on with Thomas, Dora, and Mac:

Do I detect a bit of winter coming on????

Hoedown

Trevi's Kindergarten class put on a little square dance show today, for beaming parents with eight zillion pieces of video and photography equipment. I filmed and snapped away until my little HD cards could take no more.  What's not to like about a bunch of five-year-olds promenading their partners?  Oh my.  Cuteness galore.The sweetest thing about the day was that Clara was truly bummed that the hoedown was scheduled during school hours, so she couldn't come and watch.  She may call him an "annoying baby" and pinch him as he walks by, but she loves him.

Windows Shopping?

(We're actually a Mac family, but I couldn't resist the pun.)

The kids obviously need to start watching more TV, because they can't seem to think of anything they'd like for Christmas. Well, that's not entirely true– Clara wants an iphone, an ipod, a laptop, and pierced ears, and Trevi wants an RV and a "giant electromagnet"– but they aren't giving me anything realistic. We don't go overboard with Christmas gifts around here, but usually the kids have a couple of things they've been dreaming about for months. Not so this year. And, for some reason, not a single toy catalog has graced our mailbox yet.

So, I was forced to introduce Trevor to the world of online window shopping (Clara is already well-aware of the concept). A Santa list was whipped up in no time flat. Ant farm. Compass. Stamp kit. Now we're talking.

Trevor's Parent-Teacher Conference, by the way, was great. He makes his teacher laugh. She appreciates his out-of-the-box ways. Just as we had hoped she would. Way to go, Trevi!

A Weekend in the Capital

High Comp soccer puts some serious mileage on the car.  Over the past seven months, Clara has played in a dozen or so different cities at various distances from home.  This weekend, we wrapped up the season with the State Cup Tournament in Sacramento, complete with a two-night hotel stay.  Chad does a lot of traveling, so hotels are old hat to him, but the kids and I tend to get a bit giddy when we check out the room.  And it makes us do silly things like take pictures of ourselves in the mirror:

A bit of downtime between games allowed Rocky Raccoon (who had forgotten his book at home) to get in a bit of reading:

Trevor shared his reading material with the schlepped-along siblings at the tourney:

And later on, Trevi continued to read about Energy, even as he was running out of it:

The girls played hard, but, in the end, didn't advance to the finals next weekend in Manteca –yes, "Lard", I know–  (Yay for sleeping in next weekend and not falling behind on laundry!) Trophy or not, this was a championship season.  I won't be buying a Soccer Mom bumper sticker or anything, but (shhhhh) I definitely am one. 

Grade A

Clara has been aching to help me with my grading ever since she was old enough to resist the urge to eat paper.  This year, she is finally older than my current students, so I officially have a T.A! She relishes the job of applying stickers and drawing happy faces on a ton of stuff each week.

Trevi reaps the rewards of Clara's teacherness, too.  

She still wants to be a pro soccer player, though.

Bang a Gong

Did you know that the Tinkertoys lid can be a giant train gong, suspended by Cranky's powerful magnet?  Well, it can.  And a darn loud one, at that.

Proud

Sitting on the parent side of a Parent-Teacher Conference is a rare treat for me.  Clara has, historically, been a top notch, whole package sort of student, and she is continuing the trend this year.  We are so proud of her.  I think my favorite observation from her wonderful teacher was that when students comment on each others' work, Clara is very insightful, and finds a gem in every one of her classmates' efforts.  Her words are valued, and she chooses them carefully to make people feel good.  I love that.  Sweet girl.

And, in the funny department.....

We got a diagnostic reading report of an online comprehension test that Clara took.  You have to take these things with a grain of salt, because they are only one type of assessment, but the thing scored Clara as reading at an 8th Grade level.  So, the report printout lists recommendations for parents to help the child continue to grow in reading.  This is one of the recommendations:

"At this level, Clara needs to read widely in order to prepare for the reading challenges of high school."  

Ha ha.  High school.  Strokes the parent ego, but, like I said, big grains of salt are necessary. Rock salt, maybe.

Puppet Show

It was a teacher work day, so I was at school, actually getting paid to do my report cards, while the rest of the family had some adventures.  A trip to a local wildlife museum somehow inspired the kids to build a puppet theater and put on a show for us.  I don't pretend to understand the mental path that leads from wildlife museum to puppet show, but I'm sure there is some logical sequence that took them from seeing live owls to scribbling on stray socks and taping dish towels to a box.

Clara and Trevor's plotlines tend to be rather choatic, and most shows are very improvisational, usually degrading into wild dancing, high-pitched shrieking, or both.  Still, I suppose I should film some of these, just in case one of the kids becomes famous some day. Footage would also come in handy for teenage blackmailing and/or bribery.

Tropher

Here's Becks of the (distant) future with his very first trophy:

Coach Dan awarded Trevi "Most Consistent".  Chad and I chuckled at the euphemism.  We've put things like that on report cards a million times.  :)  Consistently a soccer prodigy?  Maybe not.  But, Trevi was consistently a joy to watch, and consistently enthusiastic, every moment of his first season as a soccer player.  We're so proud of you, Manny! 

Marathon Man

Chad has been in New York this weekend, running the marathon.  Yep, that's right.  26.2.  And he did it in 4:35:50.  Not bad for a 40-year-old guy with one foot.  The kids and I watched virtually (and proudly) as he ran through the various boroughs and drank gatorade.  Yay for you, honey! You are amazing!

Pictures to come.

A little more soccer

Trevi's soccer season ended yesterday, and he ran his heart out on the field.  I totally forgot to bring the video camera *slaps self on wrist*, but I took a few short clips with the regular camera.  Here you can see the boy wonder in action.  Be sure to watch out for some of his signature moves, like side-to-side head wagging, accidental ball-deflecting, and skip/galloping. Trev is green #19.

Clara had her fair share of field time this weekend, too, and I kept on taking pictures.  It's becoming an obsession, maybe.

Clara has a few weeks left of her season, and then six weeks to sleep in on weekends before the new season starts.  Trevi, on the other hand, will pursue other activities until August rolls around again.