Field Day!

Henry recently had Field Day at school.  There was much anticipation, and in the end, a good time was had by all.  I appreciated that the kids all had fun, and the events weren't overly competitive.  They were much more focused on participating and having fun than on winning anything.  There was lots of water activities, and while the kids at first shirked the thought of getting wet, in the end, they loved it.  Here is our photo recap:

First, they had free play on the basketball court.

Next was the first water activity.  It involved wringing a wet sponge on the person in line behind you.  The second round included the chance to dump a glass of water on the person in line behind you.  The goal was to be the wettest team in the end.

Next was the classic game of "tug of war".  First, it was Henry's class against another class.  Henry's class got womped.  So Henry's teacher and I jumped in for the next round and helped their team to win.  Next, they switched up in boys against the girls.  Again, girls womped the boys.  So again, teacher and I jumped on and saved some face for the boys.  (Can I just say that my arms were sore all weekend because of this!)

Next was a game of chase with the waist flags.  Last man standing with his flags in-tact, won.  Henry tied in one round for first.

Next up, another water activity.  This one involved passing a full bucket with holes in the bottom over the heads of the team until it reached the end of the line and the remaining water was dumped into a bucket.  In theory, the first team to fill their bucket won.  In Henry's case, he ended up at the end of the line with some of his buddies.  Very little of the water left in the holey bucket ended up getting poured in the team bucket.  

This was some kind of obstacle course.  There was really no goal and no winners.  The kids just took turns rolling a tire back and forth, and running a styrofoam cylinder across while jumping hurdles.  It did burn off a lot of energy.

On to the Bounce Houses.  There were about 5 bounce houses and inflatable slides set up.  Even Henry's teacher got in on the action.

Next, it was scooter racing in the cafeteria.  This looked like so much fun I wanted to try (but I didn't).

This was followed by a few games of dodge ball in the school gym.

SNOW CONES!

The kids got to jump rope or play with hula hoops.  Henry's jump roping skills are on fire!

The final event was another that involved water.  The kids had to wrap a towel around their back, run to the pool, dip the towel in, and wrap it around their back again.  They then ran to the next kid who repeated those steps.  In the end, the kids were all a giggling, sopping mess.

From there, they went to the side of the school and had a picnic lunch.

All in all, a great time was had by all.  Even Nana and Papa stopped by to watch some of the activities.

Multi-Cultural Day

Today was multi-cultural day at Henry's school. The kids were encouraged to dress in clothing of their "native" country. The kids who "dressed" then got to walk in a parade in front of the parents and the kids that didn't "dress".

Henry marched proudly (if a bit shyly)in his Russian shirt.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died so these were the only 2 shots I got. I also feel funny about posting pictures of other people's kids, hence the green splotches on their faces.

But the parade was amazing. Henry's school is very diverse and some of the kids wore wonderful and beautiful cultural costumes. We were constantly pointing to different ones that caught our eyes.

Of course, the "American" kids dressed as cowboys and baseball players. It was a fun event to participate in. There were also some programs for the kids that I didn't get to stay and watch. I'm anxious to hear Henry's description of them.

"My Mom"

Henry recently brought home a little book that he made for me and about me at school.  It is so endearing and insightful to his thoughts about me.  I'll share the content with you, but rest assured that the actual book contains many things that needed to be read and interpreted for me.  We're really going to try and focus on handwriting and spelling over the summer!

Also, each page is decorated with "lovely" pictures of me, us, our house, and us playing football.

"My mom was born in IL. Now my mom sits at a computer. My mom loves me. My mom's hair is brown and gray. She is fun and the boss of the house."

"My mom's job is to clean the house and help me. She is sweet and cool. She is pretty. She has 2 jobs. She reads nice, she has nice shoes, nice clothes, nice attitude and nice love. I love mom."

"My mom's favorite thing is snuggling with me, and reading and kissing me and being loving. I like it, too. And my mom loves my family and loves her family. Her favorite movie is Survivor and Iron Man. She loves me."

"In bed, she lets me play on the computer. She loves me and I love her and I love the earth and take care of my mom and everywhere around. I like that."

"My mom loves everything about me and my family and the earth. When I am sad, she helps me and my family and the earth and my tree. I love my mom and my trees and the earth."

I think they worked on each of the worksheets on different days. You can see that this project overlapped a little bit with earth day and arbor day, with all the earth-loving and tree-loving.

I love how much he knows he is loved. I love that he thinks I am the boss of the house. I hate that he knows my hair is gray. I love that he knows my favorite things involve loving him. My favorite movie is NOT Iron Man, but I did go to see it during this project, so it made it into the story.

I'm glad that he mentioned all the ways that I am nice and comforting to him, and that the book wasn't about me yelling at him.

This is definitely something to treasure (and something to bring out and embarrass him with when he brings home his first girlfriend!).