Summer had her third grade concert at school tonight. I was really impressed! This year they incorporated harmony/parts and really started to sound more like a choir. It's fun to see how they grow....what a difference from kindergarten!
Summer was so excited about her two "extra" roles. The first was playing the bass xylophone along with one of their songs they sung in another language. I'll include two videos. The first video was sent to me by a teacher during the third graders' performance for students during the school day, and is taken from a better angle. The second video is longer, but farther away.
The other was being part of the "orphan dance" for a song from Oliver.
All the kids did great and it was a fun concert! They had quite a few songs so I won't include all of them, but here are a few clips from some of my favorite songs they did.
You did a fantastic job, Summer! Love,
Your adoring fans :)
Summer signed up to be on Southview's Destination Imagination Team this year, which is a group of students who worked together after school to complete a service project, create a theater production fulfilling certain requirements to perform on competition day, and compete in an Instant Challenge, which is an unknown challenge given to the group on competition day, and graded not only on how they creatively and successfully complete a building or theatrical challenge, but also how they work together as a group. We were beyond excited that Grandpa K agreed to coach Summer's team, and he put in hours upon hours both with the kids during after school practices as well as outside of school. All the kids had a total blast and we are so grateful for the memories Summer was able to make with Grandpa. The team did great, and came in 5th out of 12 in their division, which was especially great considering all participants were young, first time DI team member! Unfortunately, after all his hard work, Grandpa came down with a horrible stomach bug and flu the day before the competition, so I attempted to fill Grandpa's large shoes along with another mom, who also helped Grandpa coach. It was so fun to see the team's hard work pay off! I took a video of their performance and will include it below along with some pictures.
This should be Grandpa wearing my shirt....!
Most presentations were done with kids acting out a skit. Summer's group chose to take a creative different approach, and used an old overhead projector from the school and created shadow puppets to act out their skit. Three of the team members were in charge of moving the characters and the other three were in charge of the voices. They really worked so seamlessly as a team, thanks to Grandpa's great coaching.
Summer's DI team, one of two teams Southview sent to the competition.
Here is a video of the team's presentation. It had to meet many requirements, including
being less than 8 minute long including any set up the team needed to do
Including their team service project (selling cookies at southview's bingo night to raise money to buy seedlings for fruit tree farmers in Africa
Including some sort of "escape" story
Including three "clues"
Including two team choice elements highlighting their skills as a team
Enjoy!
Tour Guide
Summer was chosen (along with three other students) to give a tour of Southview to the Superintendent when she visited the school. She was super excited to meet "THE Superintendent"!
Field Trip
Summer's class went on a field trip to the zoo! I was so sad to miss chaperoning, due to Larkyn being sick, but Summer was thrilled to be in a group with some of her closest friends!
Colton
Colton loved making his "box" project and creating something out of a box. He chose to make a rocket ship for his cars.
Colton loves science! One of his favorite parts of the week is "Mystery Doug" when some phenomenon or how something works is explained. He even got to have a guy come into his classroom and do experiments!
Colton had a fun Valentine's party and enjoys his friends at school!
Larkyn
Larkyn is still enjoying preschool at home with Mommy and has recently learned to count to 100 all by herself, and how to form her numbers correctly (sometimes they are still backwards ;), but they are getting better!) She is also continuing to grow in reading and getting quicker at sounding out words.
She is currently our little note writer and artist. If she is not playing dolls or magnatiles, or dressing up to "put on a dance show", you will most likely find her at the kitchen table with markers, scissors and a huge stack of paper on hand, writing and creating (often in a leotard)!
She is into making animals right now, but cutting corners off the paper and taping them on to make ears.
As mentioned above, she spends most of her free time either writing, drawing, or creating something....or....
Making something out of magnatiles (like our shoes?!)
Playing dolls
Snuggling with Mom
Or dancing. She LIVES in this leotard, and changes into it daily to perform any number of dances....by herself....
while mom attempts to learn guitar or Summer plays piano....
To the radio or CD....
Or...(her favorite if Summer is home and willing!)...with her big sister Summer <3 td="">
A highlight of her week is going to have lunch with her siblings at school on Tuesdays after dance class with Ms. Daria....
and then going to the library to play the computer with Grandma and Grandpa while Mommy volunteers in 3rd and 1st grade at Southview :).
Wrapping up February:
I should probably also note that the kids have had multiple days off of school for both cold and snow....
(My snowblowing and outdoor attire...when windchills are WAAAAAAY below zero!)
and so its been REALLY fun to have NO SCHOOL many days these past two months. The kids get really creative composing songs and dances, creating birthday parties for the stuffed animals, playing in the snow, and doing all sorts of projects. I love having them home.
Cheers to March....and hopefully spring....though the 10 day forcast doesn't show temps going above 10 degrees.....
(*Picture from our walk to school this morning....around 0 degrees....Bode (Paul's parent's dog) pictured as we are currently dog-sitting while they are in AZ!).
We had a lot of special outings and dates the last two months, because we gave the kids (and requested from extended family members for the kids) a lot of experience gifts this year for Christmas in place of "stuff gifts"! We are so grateful that so many of our family members decided to gift us in this way! Here are some pictures of many of these dates/outings, along with some other fun stuff we have been up to. Our experience gifts will continue almost all the way to next Christmas, as we still have Aunt Nancy and Uncle Paul's Christmas gift (Mall of America wristbands) we will use in March and Grandma and Grandpa T's gift of a waterpark stay in Duluth (planned for next fall!). Experiences truly are such a fun and memorable gift, and we are so grateful!
Grandma K gifted the girls a mall date and lunch at the American Girl Store at Mall of America!
While at the Mall, the girls had a blast using the Claire's gift cards from Gee Gee Sandy!
While we girls were at the mall, Colton was gifted an outing with Grandpa K to the Works Museum! What fun for those two engineering minded boys to have a chance to learn together!
Grandma and Grandpa K gifted Paul and me a date certificate to go climbing at Vertical Endeavors!
Meanwhile, the kids had a blast going out for shakes and to see Mr. Poppers Penguins at the Children's Theater, their combined Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa K!
The kids had so much fun with their experience gift from Uncle Ty and Auntie Sarah - gift cards to wild Rumpus Bookstore in Minneapolis, a bookstore full of character and live wild animals! Not only did it quickly pass a cold snowy Minnesota Saturday exploring the many books, but the kids each got to pick one to take home!
Thank you, family, for all the creative and thoughtful gifts! We truly enjoyed each one!
Paul and I also made each of our kids' main Christmas gift as an experience gift as well.
For Summer, our mystery lover, we chose to gift her a date to an Escape Room! She had been wanting to try one for a while! We went out to lunch before, and we SURPRISED her with her best friend who moved to Tennessee joining us for lunch :).
Larkyn's gift was tickets for her and I to go see The Biggest Little House, a play put on specifically for preschoolers at the Children's Theater! Complete with a 1-on-1 lunch date afterwards :).
Colton's gift was tickets to go to Monster Jam with Daddy, a giant Monster Truck Show, complete with giant pizza and Sprite!
In addition to the gifted experiences, here are a few other things we have been up to this past month.
Ice Skating!
We got the kids ice skates this year, and the kids and I have made quite a few trips to the local outdoor community center skating rink after school when the weather isn't TOO cold. The girls started with pushing folding chairs around the rink and just trying to stay up.... both of them were "cautious" learners. Colton powered through a zillion spills on the ice to find his balance and loved every minute of sliding around, often bringing a hockey stick and puck and endlessly asking Mom to play with him ;)....I am proud of ALL three of them persevering through lots of spills, and its been really fun to see all three of them love and look forward to the days we can go skating together! Apparently the outdoor rinks all closed around here this past weekend, which made us all sad, so we made a trip to an indoor rink where I captured these videos...
Curling
Paul and I went curling with a group of about 40 people from our church. It was SUPER fun and a was great chance to connect with people.
Video:
Daddy Daughter Dance
It was Summer's turn for Daddy to take her to the Daddy Daughter Dance. They went out to dinner at Chik-Fil-A before, and it just so happened to be Daddy-Daughter night there too!
Summer and I had fun getting her ready...nails painted, hair in "waterfall braid curls, dangly earrings, heels, and sequin dress (thanks Grandma T!)
Water Park
We enjoyed a fun Saturday away (for a few hours!) from the freezing cold outside, at a local indoor water park! It was SO fun! The family tube ride was by far the favorite! Both older kids are now above 48" and can ride anything. Little Larkyn was so brave and went down the huge body slides all by herself! Colton decided he wanted to try surfing, so he and I waited in the looooong line, and both gave it a whirl. I was so amazed at his bravery, staying in the long line even though he was probably the youngest kid to give it a try, and the only other kid trying it ended up in tears before him! It was really fun! And challenging! Our time was up so quickly, and we both want to try again if given the chance! I'll include a few videos of our attempts ;).
Superbowl
Paul always outdoes himself in preparing a feast of delicious meat and snacks for the Superbowl each year. This year, Uncle Eric, Auntie Kristin, and the cousins joined us!!!
Teddy has matching shoes to Colton and Uncle Paul!
Paw Patrol Live and Chinese New Moon Celebration
Six months ago I got tickets for Larkyn and I to see Paw Patrol Live when it came to Minneapolis! It was a fun date for the two of us!
Daddy and the big kids drove downtown with us and went to an international event downtown where they got to make and try international foods, watch a Chinese new year celebration (complete with the man-acted out dragon!), and much more!
Girls Night
The girls and I had a fun night in while Daddy and Colton were at Monster Jam watching the gymnastics American Girl movie, complete with snacks for their dolls!
Valentine's Day
We celebrated as a family with a red meal of food coloring tinted spaghetti, homemade meatballs, and lots of red fruits and veggies. Paul and I went out on a date the following week, where I got all you can eat shrimp and Paul got ribs! Then we went to an Escape Room, just the two of us. It was really fun to work as a team to solve the puzzles, and was a super fun Valentine's date!
Larkyn spent almost the entire Valentines Day making Valentines projects!
She decided she wanted to make everyone Valentines hats, complete with stickers that reflected things each person liked. I especially liked that she put a picture of "Prince Charming" on Daddy's hat :)
Among the many crafts she made, these were my favorite...hearts made from baking soda reacting with food coloring colored vinegar.
Date Night!!!
A huge thank you for the sweet cards and gifts that Grandparents sent for Valentine's Day to love on our kiddos <3 .="" are="" blessed="" nbsp="" p="" truly="" we="">
