Reader Extraordinaire

I received this picture from Spencer's teacher, Bethany, today with the following note:

Erik and Kelly,

Spencer has taken 20 book tests so far this year! What a great reader!

Ms. Bethany

Fall Yumminess

Sydney making pumpkin muffins at school

A Budding Musician

Kindergarten Graduate

Wow! Where does the time go? Spencer just graduated from kindergarten! It seems like he was just born! He's really excited about elementary school. I guess he hasn't figured out that means more work! But I'm looking forward to re-learning some things with him. He actually has a summer reading list for 1st grade! Nothing specific, just to read 10 books during the summer. It should not be a big deal for him! Other than the stubbornness factor! He's been reading pretty well since he was 4. Here are some pictures from the graduation ceremony.

Classic Spencer behavior here!



Looking through his backpack with an amazing teacher, LeNet, whom we will miss dearly. Although, Sydney should have her when she gets to preschool.

I also wanted to share these 2 short videos with you. The first video shows LeNet's class performing their version of The Carpenters' "Sing."

The second video shows LeNet's class receiving their diplomas. They each also received a really cool gift, a very nice hardback edition of Scholastic's First Dictionary.

A proud parent moment. Sniff, Sniff...

Spencer's School Work, Volume 2

I was very proud of this map Spencer drew at school and want to share it with you. It is a map based on a video game that he loves, The Sims 2: Castaway. Basically the concept is this, you create your crew, from 1 to 6 people and your boat is shipwrecked during a storm. You wash up on a deserted island and have to survive and find your other crewmates. Not only did he draw a cool map, he labeled the islands! Check it out!

Now keep in mind that all of these words are spelled phonetically. I'll translate for you:

1. shipwreck island
2. airplane island
3. volcano island
4. crystal island

raft
canoe
forge

He later told me he used the dictionary in his classroom to look up how to spell 'canoe'. I'm not certain I could do that when I was 5! Go Spencer!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Welcome to our home office/greenhouse...

Our little plants are just waiting to grow.....outside in the garden with more sun....but alas, the weather keeps doing weird things here! Yesterday was beautiful, highs in the 60s, we wore shorts to the park. Today it's 45 degrees! And they're calling for snow tomorrow! But, hopefully, we can finally move our plants outside and get going on our gardening!

Adinkra Pillow Update

Well, International Night has come and gone. And the kids' pillows turned out great! The pillow project has inspired me to get more creative. I've decided to learn to sew and ultimately make quilts and bags. I'm really excited about it! Check out the kids' pillows!

Here, Jemila, a member of our host family, is showing Lily and Shreena how to use the adinkra stamps on their pillows.

Bella stamping her pillow. In Ghana, the adinkra stamps are hand carved out of a gourd called calabash.

Looks like Ashton is having a lot of fun here!

Scout stamping her pillow...

The finished products! Aren't they great? The kids will have these forever to remind them of their studies of Ghana!

For a few more International Night pictures, please visit this link.

Our First Vegetable Sprouted!

Congratulations! It's a .....tomato! We were unsure at first if our veggie was broccoli or tomato. Spencer and Erik planted the seeds and they planted half of the tray with broccoli and half with tomato. Erik said the tray got switched around in transit to it's sunny office window before he had a chance to label them! But after some of our other veggies had sprouted, in comparing them, we are now pretty sure it's tomato! My excitement about the garden is growing! Can't wait to plant the veggies outside in the lovely plant bed Erik has built for us.
Seen above, protected by our Jedi knight, Spencer.
And here, you can see Sydney helping water some herbs! It's a family affair!

Adventures in Fabric Dyeing

I volunteered to help with the class art project for International Night. We came up with this really great art project! The kids are going to decorate pillowcases with traditional Adinkra symbols from Ghana, the country they are learning about. Adinkra are visual symbols originally created by the Akan of Ghana and the Gyaman of Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa, that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adinkra are used on fabric, walls, pottery, woodcarvings, and logos. Fabric adinkra are often made by woodcut sign writing as well as screen printing. They can also be used to communicate evocative messages that represent parts of their life or those around them. For more on Adinkra, visit this link.

So I found these great 12 inch square pillowcases with zippers! No sewing required! But they were a dull natural canvas color. We thought it would be a good idea to dye them the colors of the Ghanian flag, which are red, yellow, and green. I've never dyed fabric before, but with the help of Karen, my wonderful mother-in-law, I dyed a dozen pillowcases red yesterday! And they look great! I'm really excited about how they're going to look after the kids decorate them!

Sydney's 2!

I know I'm a little late with this, but our baby girl turned 2 in January! She had a lot of fun playing with her buddy, Stella, from school! and she got a really cool red retro play kitchen for her birthday! She has really enjoyed playing with it and cooking stuff for us! You can check out more pictures from her birthday here.