Ethan's Awsome Book Report Video

Here is the Youtube link to the video of Ethan's awesome book report (it was so long that it wouldn't attach it blogger so I put it on youtube).  The sound isn't very good so you have to turn it up really high.  I missed the beginning few seconds but got the rest of it. 

http://youtu.be/8kxf9ZDht18

The Best Book Report EVER!!

Ethan had another book report to do and he wanted to do something different.  The book was "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."  Ethan has been doing power points for his other reports so he wanted to do something different.  He came up with the idea to pretend to be the characters from the book.  So we had a lab coat and safety goggles left over from his birthday party, I made a bow tie and a screen and he made a script.  He practiced what he would say (with a British accent) and how to he would present it.  We got out Bryan's overcoat from his mission and I bought a cheap-o top hat at the party store.  Ethan wanted to make a potion to take so he could change from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde.  I got Sprite and divided it into 3 beakers.  I then put food coloring in each.  I put a small cube of dry ice in a small container and he was set.

The ingredients for the potion:

When it was time for the book report, I took everything up to the school.  I had made a screen from PVC pipe and a sheet so he could change from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde.  And then I let him take over.  It was such a great idea and he did so well.  He wasn't nervous and made everyone laugh.  One kid even said, "This is so cool!"  Ethan was on cloud 9.

Mowing the Lawn

Ethan really enjoys mowing my parents lawn because they have a self-propelled lawn mower....and they pay him to do it.  He is getting really good at it and thinks he wants to start a local lawn mowing business some time. 

He was really happy last week when our push mower died.  Since we have to get a new one he is lobbying for us to get a self-propelled one so he can mow our lawn.  Fine with me but he better not expect to be paid!

Rough Soccer Day

Courtney was not happy at last week's soccer game.  Her team wasn't doing so well and she wasn't happy to be there.  She did dribble the soccer ball really well!

Another one

I found another one that Ethan said his teacher showed them and I wanted to share it.  Keep watching it because there are different animals.

http://youtu.be/MkQwJOLfr1k

Hilarious!

I found it!  Ethan's teacher showed us the most hilarious video from youtube when we went to Back to School Night.  Bryan and Ethan tried to find it later but couldn't figure out what video it was.  But this morning I found it.  So here is the link:

http://youtu.be/nGeKSiCQkPw

Yearbook

Ethan made the yearbook staff!! 

He wasn't interested in being on yearbook last year but this year he wanted to do it.  He brought home the form, filled it out all by himself, took it back the next day and then had to wait because the application deadline was still 8 days away!  He was a bit excited.

On Wednesday, I had carpool pickup.  His best friend got in the car and told me that Ethan had opened his yearbook letter and he wasn't supposed to until he got home.  I asked Ethan about it and he said it only said to open it after school, which he had done.  He was just too anxious to see if he had made it and he had!!  He was so happy because his best friend (the one who waited until he got home to open his letter) also made it as did another friend in his class.

He now has yearbook meeting every Monday after school and he can't wait for it to begin.  He wants to be the yearbook photographer but I think each student is responsible for a page in the yearbook.  They can, however, take photos for their page and use them.  So I am going to sign him up for Community Education photography classes sometime so he can learn a bit more about taking photos.

Yeah!  A boy after my own heart. 

Field Trip to Zion

The fifth grade teachers won the field trip lottery!  They got funding, not only to take the kids to Zion for a ranger-led field trip, but they got busses to take them!  That is amazing because the gas prices keep going up and the School District has become pretty strict about field trip gas allotment.

I signed up to go along as a chaperone (Ethan actually signed me up at SEPs) so I was all set to go.  I made myself a lunch, filled our camel backs with water, ran to Subway to get Ethan a seafood sensation (but the seafood was frozen, ugh!, so he got a ham and pickle sandwich) and then met up with everyone in time to get on the bus.  Ethan wasn't really excited about the 90 minute bus ride to Zion because it was LOUD!  I had forgotten how loud bus trips could be when the girls are singing and the boys are spraying water out the open bus windows so they can watch it whip back in the bus a few windows back and soak the people on the seat.  (Actually, that was funny because I remember doing it but those getting soaked weren't as humored as the boys were.)

There was road construction we had to wait in also so it was a long bus ride.  But when we got to Zions, they split the classes into 4 groups with a ranger ahead of each group.  The rangers asked how many were there for the first time and I was surprised that so many kids hadn't ever been to Zions before.  I was glad they were able to go.  We all went a different direction and the ranger basically taught the entire 5th grade geology core curriculum in 4 hours.  It was great.  The kids got to play erosion games, got to go hiking (which I am proud to report was a highlight for Ethan and he was one of the few who didn't complain at all), ate lunch on the trail and saw some cool scenery.  I love Zions because it is so beautiful.

Ethan kept telling his friends how much he loves nature and being outside.  He told them the only thing that would make the field trip better would be if they were camping too.  Not many of them shared that thought but they did well.

I didn't know that electronics were not to be taken on the field trip so I sent Ethan with the camera.  His teacher said it was okay so he spent the day taking pictures.  It was funny because it got everyone's minds off of the hike because they were all trying to find the "perfect picture" for Ethan to take.  I kept hearing "Ethan, take a picture of this!"  It was fun to watch.

The bus ride back was just as long and noisy.  Ethan sat with his friends on the way back, which I was glad of, and had a lot of fun.  I napped, hahaha!  We got back late and I was the carpool driver home so Courtney and the other boy had to wait about 15 minutes but they were fine.

Great field trip!!

Here are just a few photos.  Ethan took hundreds.

Under the waterfall at the Upper Emerald Pools;

 The front of the water fall:

 A blue tailed striped lizard:

 A cool shot of the river:

 Some peaks:

 Ethan on the bus:

 Ethan at the water fall getting cooled off:

Sharing a Room

Growing up, I had to share a room with my sister for a while.  I don't remember having feelings one way or the other about sharing but I do remember having a hard time the first few nights I slept in a bedroom all by myself.  Our kids have been lucky and haven't had to share a room, which makes it a novelty.

I re-arranged Ethan's room last week and Courtney decided that she just had to sleep UNDER his bed.  He has a captains bed with storage under it.  She wanted to be a "monster under the bed."  I told her that she could because I figured she wouldn't make it all night under there.  Well, she did sleep all night on the floor under Ethan's bed and they both claimed to have the "best sleep ever!"  Now Courtney wants to share a room with Ethan.

But it passed quickly and she is fine in her room but she did say that she may want to sleep in there on weekends.  He is so laid back that he said he didn't care.  Funny kids!

Ethan's Tooth

I think it may be impossible for Ethan to sit in a dark room, watch a movie and not pull out a tooth.  He came home from school with yet another little "tooth fairy" envelope holding a molar.  He said he was watching a movie in school for something and realized he had a tooth that was "a little bit loose."  Well, at the end of the movie he had loosened the tooth and pulled it out.  I hope he stops when he doesn't have any more to loose!!

Rodeo and Parade

The Lion's Club Rodeo was last week.  The rodeo clown and some cowboys usually go around to all the schools drumming up business and getting the kids excited to attend the rodeo.  Last year, Ethan went with his best friend, so we haven't ever been as a family.  It doesn't start until 8 p.m., which is way late for us.

Last Wednesday, the clown and cowboy were at the elementary school and Ethan was chosen to race.  He had to run around barrels, rope a fake cow and ride a bucking bronco.  He won!  So they gave him free tickets to Thursday night's rodeo.  This was Family Night so kids were free with a paying adult and he won 2 adult tickets.  So we decided to try it...we were all free, so why not?!

It seemed to take FOREVER until it was time to go but the rodeo was pretty fun.  We didn't stay awfully long because the kids got tired and...it was free, so we could leave any time without guilt.

Saturday was the Lion's Club Rodeo Children's Parade.  Courtney's dance group is always in the parade and they always ride bikes...except for Courtney who is terrified that someone will crash into her.  So she rides in the truck and cheers. 

Pink Jaguars

Bryan is coaching Courtney's soccer team again.  They are the Pink Jaguars.  There are 6 little girls on the team and Courtney is the oldest.  Because of her birthday, she is always playing with girls a grade younger than she is.  It's okay but this year you can really tell a difference between her skills and the other girls.  Some of them have never played before.  But she is having fun and that's what matters.

Courtney is sitting down tying her shoe in this photo.  I'll try and get better ones soon.

Pine Valley Camp

We love camping and we haven't done as much of it this season as I would have liked.  Our last camp out of the year was at Pine Valley.  They have developed this camp area SO MUCH over the last few years and it is really nice!  What used to just be a wilderness area on the other side of the lake is now a bunch of camp sites with trails, nice pit bathrooms and benches.  It is really nice.

We set up camp, got dinner going and then went for a walk down to the lake.  We hadn't brought our fishing stuff, which was okay because my license is expired and Bryan doesn't have any desire to get one.  Ethan tried to get a photo of fish jumping (because they were really jumping!) but he couldn't get one.  The fishermen there also weren't having any luck catching anything.

It was so nice up there and a lot cooler than St. George.  In fact, we didn't bring warm enough clothes for sleeping in but it turned out okay.  Ethan didn't want to leave because he loves the peacefulness and Courtney wasn't too excited to go either because she is an outdoor kid.  It was a good end to the camping season!

Goofy Ethan with goofy Courtney behind him:

 Ethan still being goofy!

 Part of the lake:

 Courtney:

 Ethan gave Courtney a shoulder ride back to camp from the lake because she was "exhausted!"  He just didn't want to listen to her cry and we weren't going to carry her.  It was hard but he made it all the way back to camp with her on his shoulders pulling his head back.  It was pretty funny to watch.

Rocket Test

Last week we got a really early morning phone call from my dad.  I'm talking 6 a.m. early.  He was out of his walk and saw something in the sky.  He said, "I just saw something fall from space."  I thought, "Oh no, he is sleep walking or something."  But when I went outside, he was right!

The streaks in the bottom right of the photo are from a rocket test from New Mexico that lit up the sky.  Crazy!  It was a lot better looking in real life, but the photo still is cool.

Here is the article from the newspaper the next day.

http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012309130006&nclick_check=1

Flooding

September 11th wasn't a good day around here.  We woke up early to a cloudy sky which began to pour on us around 5:30 a.m. and it didn't stop!  It rained more that day than it had all last year combined.

Here is what happens when the Santa Clara area gets rain it isn't expecting:

Our house isn't near here, so we weren't flooded out.  But what happened was a dike broke.  Most people (myself included) had no idea it was a dike.  I thought it was just a walkway between the junior high and high schools to the Santa Clara City Park.  The people below the dike didn't know it was there either because no one had flood insurance.

I had been in town (that's a small town phrase for you) and it was raining really hard on my way back.  I was a bit afraid that I wouldn't get home because a lof of the roads were flooded out.  But there was still one road that I could use to get home.  It was crazy. 

This was the road I found that wasn't flooded, although it was flooded later on:

I was home for about 30 minutes when I heard an alarm go on.  It was a buzzing that I had never heard before.  I went outside and the sound disappeared.  I realized the sound was coming from our basement.  I ran downstairs and the sump pump alarm was going off and there was about 1 inch of water in our basement.  Ugh!!

I tried calling Bryan on his cell phone but he was in a meeting and not answering.  So I called our builder to find out what to do.  He told me that we weren't the only ones in the neighborhood that were flooding.  I asked him how to get the sound to go off and he said he would have the plumbing people call me (who happen to know Bryan).  A few minutes later they called and walked me through turning off the alarm and resetting the pump. 

Our basement is unfinished so we just have a hole in the cement where we will eventually put a toilet.  The water was draining (thank heavens!) down the drain but the pump should automatically turn on and pump the water out.  But it wasn't working and so the alarm went on.  After testing it a few times, over the phone with the man, he decided that we need someone to look at it.

Meanwhile, I called my parents to see if I could use their wet/dry vac and to get some help since I still hadn't heard from Bryan.  They were in Zion looking at the rain (ugh, retired people NEVER stay home, hahaha).  But they left to come back to help me vacuume up the water.

Bryan eventually noticed on his phone that I had called and came home to help with the clean up.  I was using our carpet cleaner to try and get some water out, but it was slow.  I was glad when my parents showed up with their vac.

It took about 5 hours but we got it all cleaned up.  I am glad that we didn't have our basement finished or it would have been a much bigger deal.  I also keep almost everything in big tupperware totes so we didn't have a lot of damage.  And it was a blessing to find out about the sump pump before we finished anything in the basement.  So it worked out for us but it wasn't the way I wanted to spend my day!

Our rug draining in the garage:

 The water in Courtney's play room:

 This is the window well that caused the flood.  Our drainspout is right outside of this on the corner of our house.  I put an extra pipe on the end of the drain spout to run the water to the lawn in case we had a lot of rain but it had somehow made a trench back to the window well.  Maybe the well was down hill from where I had put the pipe, I don't know.  So that's why the water filled up the window well and it came in the basement.  Crazy!

 The water didn't get into the farthest west bedroom or the food storage room.  So we did have some dry spots.

Cute Kids!

Christmas came early to our house.  Bryan and I got cell phones...oh...I am probably not supposed to say that Bryan got a cell phone because he has RESISTED for so long and hates being tied down to a cell phon!  But he needed one because he left the phone the firm gave him in his car and fried it.  So...he needed a new one....not that he used it all that much and ....not that he uses it much now but, you know....

So I had to get a new photo to put on my wallpaper.  Here it is:

Don't you love all the holes in Courtney's mouth?  Hilarious!!

Webelos Night Camp

Ethan had a night camp for Webelos.  They didn't actually camp but it was held at night so it wasn't a "day camp" but a "night camp."  Bryan went as a leader but he ended up helping with a station so he only saw Ethan a few times.

He got to shoot a bow and arrow:

 Set up a tent using knots (yea!!  This passed off his Outdoorsman requirement he was lacking!):

 And showing off his survival bracelet that he tied himself:

They had a great time and got home really late and smelling like campfire!  And, Courtney and I had a "girls night" so it was a win-win for everyone!

Book Report #2

Ethan did his second book report last night and this morning.  I think he just wants to get me off his back and get a Subway seafood sensation out of the deal.  He made a powerpoint presentation again but then he made a stop motion video to go along with it.  I don't remember the name of the book he read but here is the video he made that is a scene from the book.  We put it in the presentation and then saved everything on a thumb drive.  I can't wait to hear how it went at school when he gets home!
We made this video this morning before school (between piano practicing and scripture reading and eating breakfast...it was a crazy morning.  I was the camera person until I made a suggestion that made Ethan mad, then I was fired and he did it all by himself.  The video I helped with is on the "cutting room floor" i.e. he deleted all the pictures because he was mad at me.  So this video is all his creation.  I think he did a great job!

Pears

A woman brought down a truck load of pears from :up north" for people to buy for bottling.  I had ordered 2-30 pound cases and my parents ordered 1-30 pound case.  They picked them up for us last week and then we decided to use Labor Day to bottle them.

It was quite the process, but we finihsed my parents box and one of my boxes before noon (at least they were ready to process but weren't completely finished yet).  It was a mess but we now have 26 quarts and 51 pints of pears!

For FHE the kids and Bryan helped me finish the other box.  We pulled the TV out into the living room and watched Harry Potter while Ethan peeled pears, Bryan cut them and Courtney put them in the Vitamin C water (so they wouldn't go brown).  I loaded them in the jars and put them in the water bath to process.  It was actually a lot of fun!

Fiesta Fun!

I spent all morning on Labor Day bottle pears with my parents (more on that to come) and the kitchen was a sticky mess.  We decided to take the kids for some fun before doing a work FHE and finishing up the pears.  We had free coupons for Fiesta Fun so we decided to go there and then out to an early dinner.

It was a hot day.  We started by going miniature golfing.  We all cheat because, with the exception of Bryan, we aren't any good at golfing.  Ethan tries but Courtney doesn't really get the "hold the club this way" thing and I just don't have the patience.  We did really well though...for the first 10 holes before the kids got grumpy and were really sweaty.  So we called it a game and walked to the last hole where we dropped our balls in.

Ethan after getting his ball from the hole:

Courtney putting:

Ethan taking a break in some shade:

Courtney fishing a ball out of the pond:

We had free tickets to the bumper boats so Courtney and Ethan took a swim.  Ethan had been on them before but Courtney hadn't ever been on the bumper boats and she was tall enough to go by herself!  They were drenched by the time they finished but that cooled them off.

Ethan had brought some of his money so he got tokens for the arcade.  Being a nice brother, he shared them with Courtney.  She likes the motorcycle games but she doesn't lean far enough from side to side to drive well.  Ethan thought he would help her so he stood behind her and pulled on the bike to help her out.  She obviously didn't know who was doing it because she kept yelling "Stop it Dad!!"  It was hilarious because it was Ethan the entire time.  But it shows who is usually the tease in the family.  She ended up in 4th place!

Book Report #1

We do not believe in bribbing our children with money....food, now that's a totally different story!  Ethan has to do 6 book reports during his 5th grade year.  He LOVES to read so reading the book isn't a problem.  The problem comes when he has to sit down and do a project to present to his class.  I think he has it easy because he doesn't have to write anything up, he just has to do a powerpoint presentation, a movie, a poster, a drawing or something else to present before the class.  His teacher said it should take no more than 60 minutes to do the project.

But yet, he doesn't like doing it.  He would rather just read the books.  So, being the anti-bribbing parents that we are...at least with money...we told Ethan that we would make his favorite dinner if he would do his book report and present it for the class.  It took him 30 minutes to make a powerpoint presentation which he presented the next day at school (and got maximum points).  I ran to the store and bought steak and shrimp and we ate like kings! 

He was pretty happy with how that turned out and had a great time with his presentation.  He was nervous that everyone would think it was dumb, but they loved it and he said he was "really cool."  I hope the rest go a bit easier, but they probably won't.  He said that he wants a seafood sensation foot long from Subway for his next reward.  Oh no!

Raingutter Regata

The August pack meeting was the Raingutter Regata.  Ethan had been working hard, with the help of his Webelos leaders, and he finished up a few more badgets and earned his Webelos Badge.  He was excited because he has a goal of getting his Arrow of Light soon.  His best friend got his this month and it was really cool to watch so now Ethan really wants his.  He has enough badges done he just has to wait for the 6 months that are required to be "active" in his den.

I got to paint his face with a blue "W" to symbolize the Webelos badge.

After the badges and awards were given out, the Raingutter Regata began.  Bryan was in charge of the bracket so he got to tell each scout when it was his turn to race.  Ethan had to race his best friend and his boat was a little hammered when all the racing was over, but he got 4th!!  His tissue paper sail didn't hold up to all the water but it looked cool in the end.

 The "Ghost Ship":

 Then everyone hopped in the pool and had a great time swimming.  It's nice that we have so many pools in the neighborhood because you can use one of them for the regata and just have fun without going very far or paying money.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Ethan and his friends:

 Courtney going down the slide and landing in a packed pool!!

Courtney's Lost Tooth

Bryan's work party for the families was on Friday.  They always hold this at Veyo Pool and the kids LOVE IT!!  They catch crawdads and get prizes for how large their crawdads are.  Then we eat dinner, catered by Cafe Rio.  After dinner, there is a game of BINGO where the kids win great prizes.  After the games and prizes are gone, and ice cream has been eaten, we swim.

This year, after Courtney had eaten her dinner and was waiting for the games to begin, she decided to eat the mint that was rolled up with her plastic fork and spoon.  She bit into it and then had a very surprised look on her face.  She spit it out and yelled, "Mom, my tooth just came out!"  Yup, it did!!

She was so excited that she told everyone what had happened.  I gave her some tissue to stop the blood and then took her tooth and put it in an empty water bottle for safe keeping.  Ethan was kind of bummed that he wasn't the one to pull her tooth out but he was happy that it wasn't "pulled out" really.   It was king of knocked out by the chewing of the mint.  He was okay after that.

Here is her new smile!

First Day of School

Here are the neigobhrood kids the day before school began getting snow cones.  They were ready to start school but wanting to enjoy every last moment!

On August 15th, the kids started school! Courtney was VERY excited and Ethan was VERY nervous. You can tell from the picture that he wasn't quite awake and ready to go when it was time to leave for the first da

The week before had been an open house where we found out who their new teachers would be.  Ethan got Ms. Fletcher and Courtney got Mrs. Thomas.  Those were the teachers I had wanted them to get, so we were all pretty happy.  Ethan has 2 friends from our neighborhood in his class and Courtney has friends from her previous classes with her this year.  I think it's going to be a great year!

We don't have the bus anymore, so we have had to figure out carpooling.  It hasn't been too bad but there area always a few snags.  The kids will ride their bikes when the weather cools off and they aren't sweaty messes when they get home.