kids start a new school

School started Sept. 8th. For the first time Kestrel and Cooper are taking a bus to school. They are settling in to school well, enjoying the bus and making new friends. A few pictures from their first day:

Kestrel when she just got off the bus after school the first day. Her bus came a few minutes early that first day, so I didn't have time for a picture before school. Kestrel and Cooper take different buses.

Cooper after he got off the bus.

Cooper watching his bus come down the street before school. He was getting tired of me taking his picture!

In front of our house before we headed to the bus stop (which was 3 houses away, but now the bus driver will stop in front of our house).

songs from the heart

Cooper's Kindergarten Music Program was last night. The program was titled "Songs From the Heart" and had a Valentine's Day theme. Cooper's big part was singing "You Are My Sunshine" with just a few other kids. It was so cute!

Cooper is in back in the middle, with all the hair.

Cooper with his buddy Ethan on the stage after the show

Kestrel, Olivia, Cooper, Ethan and Elliot. Olivia, Ethan and Elliot are siblings. They are all great friends.
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Here is a short video clip of Cooper singing "You Are My Sunshine":

owl play

Today Cooper's kindergarten class had their first performance for parents. They've been studying owls in school and put on two short plays about owls, "Owl Babies" and "Good Night Owl". It seems like just the other day I sat on the same stage watching Kestrel in the same plays with her kindergarten class. Was it three years ago?? This time Kestrel got to sit with me watching Cooper.
Cooper was a sparrow in "Good Night Owl" (but they all wore owl masks). Here are a couple pictures of him up on the stage and a very short video singing a Hoot Owl song at the end.

a pair of performers

Have I mentioned our children are fearless? This afternoon the kid's school had an open house to celebrate it's 10 year birthday. They asked for interested students to come and play an instrument or showcase any other talent. Both Kestrel and Cooper wanted to play the piano at the event. They each picked out a song they wanted to play and practiced it over and over the past few days. They were both very proud to be performing. Neither one of them were nervous.

Here are a couple of very short clips of each of them playing this afternoon. I took the video on my phone, and it will only do about 30 seconds, so their songs are cut off. Remember that Cooper just started lessons in the spring, and Kestrel started in the summer.

Kestrel playing "Go For The Gold" (above). She's proud of this song because its the last song in her first lesson book.

Cooper playing "Star Quest". This is his favorite song in his lesson book.

kindergartener

Cooper had his first day of kindergarten Friday. He had a great day! When we arrived he proudly showed Miss Winters that he tied his own shoes. When I picked him up he said "I didn't have to go to the principal's office the whole day!" And he proudly showed me the stamp he got on his hand for "good choices." He can't wait to go back, which won't be until Tuesday.

Before we left for school, in front of our house (above).

On the way to school, with the school in the background (on the left).

Walking towards school.
Sitting in his seat in the classroom. By this time he was definitely ready for me to leave.

And here are a couple of pictures of Kestrel on Friday, which was her first full day of third grade.

Kestrel with her friends Madison, Amy and Ashley before school.

tying talent

Yesterday, shortly after arriving home from our trip, we had our kindergarten conference with Cooper's teacher. He has Miss Winters, who was Kestrel's teacher, and we all just love her! During the conference she asked Cooper if he could tie his shoes. When he said not yet, she told him his homework was to learn to tie his shoes.

This morning I took Cooper out to buy new school shoes. At first he said he wanted shoes with straps because he couldn't tie. So right there in the store I showed him how to tie his shoes. He picked it up right away, and was so proud of himself he insisted he had to get tying shoes. He also really wanted Sketchers, which I said he could have, but these days finding Sketchers that tie is not very easy. After going to two stores we finally found some in his size. He kept saying he couldn't wait for Kestrel to come home so he could show her his "tying talent!" Which he did, right after she got home. Both Kestrel and Amy watched him tie and gave him lots of praise.

I was going to take a picture of him tying his shoes, but he asked me to take a video instead. So here it is:

third grade!

Back to school this morning! Kestrel started third grade today. She couldn't wait to get back to school. Her third grade teacher is Ms. Petry, who is new to her school but has been teaching for many years. Just a short day today, but she'll have a full day tomorrow. As far as I know it went well today, but she hasn't told me much as she's been playing non-stop with her friend Amy since she came home.

On her way into school with her new messenger bag.

Stay tuned, Cooper starts Kindergarten tomorrow!

a culmination

Cooper's class had their "Project Culmination Event" yesterday. Their class studied communication this semester, so they showed us all the things they were doing related to communication. Cooper's small project group focused on "communication without talking". Here he is with his group, performing "This Little Piggy" in sign language.


One of Cooper's classmates had an end-of-the-school-year party after school today (their last day of school is Monday). Here is Cooper with several friends riding a Barbie jeep. Sitting next to him in the jeep is his good buddy Elise.

everyone loves a cake walk

Kestrel's school had it's annual carnival today. There were pizza, smoothies, balloons, inflatables, and lots of games and prizes, all indoors in the school. One of the most popular games each year is the cake walk. Last time we went Kestrel tried and tried but never won a cake. This time she tried and tried and tried, and finally won a cake! Yay! She was smart and picked one of the few cakes left that looked homemade.

Here she is hoping they call number 4. It was a couple more tries before she won.

Kestrel and Cooper both had their faces painted. Kestrel's kindergarten teacher (and hopefully Cooper's teacher next year) painted both of them. Kestrel asked for a puppy, and Cooper asked for the statue of Liberty (he was trying to challenge her).

art show

Cooper's school had their annual art show fundraiser Thursday evening. All four of us went to see Cooper's art hanging in the hallways. Cooper just loves showing us around and showing off his work.

This paining is titled "Night Prairie".

This yarn sculpture is called "The Scribble".

goin' buggy

The 2nd grade at Kestrel's school performed their music program last night, titled "Goin' Buggy". It was very cute and was all about bugs demanding respect. They had studied bugs in science all first quarter. Kestrel was Little Miss Muffet. The way she described it, she was the only bad guy in the show. The rest of the kids were various bugs. Kestrel did a great job with her lines.

Here is a very short clip I took while she was saying her lines. I missed the beginning, but at least you get to hear her famous "eeek".

butterfly

The 2nd grade is finishing up their insect unit, and they have a tradition that the kids get their faces painted as butterflies. They asked for a few parents to come in to help with the face painting, so I volunteered. Kestrel wanted to be the first face I painted. I think I got a little better with practice, but Kestrel seemed to like her butterfly.

bee happy

Kestrel's family project for school was to create a 3-dimensional bug and list three interesting facts about it. She decided she wanted to make a bee. She designed it and made most of it herself. I helped putting some of it together. It sure is a happy bee. She's holding her three bee facts.

"bee facts" by Kestrel (as she wrote them):
*Bees are helpful, they make candles so you can see in the dark, they pollinate flowers to make the world beautiful and honey so we can eat something sweet.
*They live with a big group of bees.
*What makes a bee an insect is they have a head, thorax and an abdomen. They have six legs.

I know I haven't updated this blog in the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of what we've been up to.

Tomorrow morning (actually in just a few hours) I leave for my long anticipated trip to St. Pete, FL with my girlfriends.

Cooper at the children's museum in Bloomington (OK - actually Normal) on Tuesday. I needed to get a number of errands done and I bribed him with a trip to the museum if he cooperated. He loves museums!

Kestrel watching Cooper's T-ball game a couple of weeks ago.

Cooper batting at his last T-ball practice a couple weeks ago.

A couple of weeks ago I had to take my car to the dealership in Danville (long story) and Cooper came with me. He kept asking if we could go to a museum when we were there. I guess to him, going out of town often means going to a museum. I kept trying to explain that I didn't think there were any museums in Danville, but he kept begging, "try to find one, mommy, try!" Well, I happened to drive by a small building with a sign that said "Vermillion County Museum" out front, so we stopped. It was just a little museum with historical artifacts from Vermillion County, but Cooper was thrilled. The woman working in the museum seemed surprised we were there, but friendly. Here he is above with an old saddle in the museum.Cooper is standing in front of a mastodon skull in the museum. Its hard to tell from here, but it was huge.

Recently Kestrel's school had "Back To School Night". Her class sang some songs about bugs for the parents (they are studying insects). I know the picture is hard to see because the sun was shining right at me through the window, but I wanted to put it in because it makes me smile. Notice Kestrel is standing out in front of everyone? That wasn't planned. She just wanted to stand front and center, but the rest of the class all shied towards the back. That's our girl!

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll think about you while I'm sunning on the gulf coast...

kestrel's family

Kestrel started school last week. 2nd grade! Her first homework is to put together an album page with pictures of her family and friends. They are putting them together in a class album. She's been taking pictures of Cooper, Huxley, Sparkle Toe (her hermit crab), and tonight she took this picture of all of us (minus herself). I think its a great picture! I only wish Kestrel were in it.

Speaking of school, Kestrel is loving it so far this year (the three and a half days she's been there). She has Mrs. Ellis for a teacher, and and thinks she is sooo nice. Her good friend Amy is also in her class, and she told me that she and Amy decided that each year is better than the last.

we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...and the museum, too

Kestrel's class had a field trip to a zoo and children's museum about an hour drive from here. I went along as a chaperone, and because Kestrel begged me not to make her take the hot steaming bus with no air conditioning where they aren't allowed to talk or bring anything to do! So, she got to drive in my car, and we had a good time with her school friends visiting the zoo, playing in the playground, eating lunch and exploring the museum. It sure was hot, though!

learning about music

Yesterday Cooper's school invited parents in for their music project culminating event. Cooper had been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks as the class prepared. All week he kept talking about it, and he sounded so cute every time he'd say "culminating event". The parents were invited in to see what all the kids had done related to the project. We were treated to a video of the kids in each of their individual project groups, including Cooper's "musical performers" small group performing in the "Rainbow Rose Rock Band". Cooper played the guitar. The kids had also made a variety of frozen treats to share with parents: Popsicles, watermelon and strawberry slush's.

Cooper with Amanda (definitely one of his favorite teachers), and his head teacher Gillian (whom he loves as well, of course). Everyday when we walk in, Cooper always calls out loudly "Amaaanda!" (Then he often calls out "Elise!" or "Mia!" - two of his good friends in school, and also members of the Rainbow Rose Rock Band). We're sad Gillian won't be back next year as she's having another baby.

ocean morning

Thursday I went into Kestrel's classroom in the morning to see their ocean habitat. The first graders have been studying animal habitats and her class focused on the ocean. They invited parents in Thursday to see the decorated classrooms and all of the dioramas the kids made featuring the animals they learned about. Ask Kestrel about the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, and she'll be happy to tell you all about it.

art show

This one is titled "It's A Rainbow"

This one is titled "A Painted Painting"

Friday night we attended a student art show at Cooper's school. The pictures above are the two pieces of art Cooper had in the show. The children's art was displayed on the walls in the hallways, and they were showing videos of the children making some of their art projects. They are studying music for their current project, and Cooper was excited to show us some of the instruments they had in the classroom ("A real saxophone!"). There was also a pizza fundraiser (they were selling pizza by the plate) but by the time we went to get our pizza they had run out. That was OK though, we just went home and ordered pizza and ate while watching our movie for our weekly Family Movie Night.

circus!

The entire first grade at Kestrel's school performed in a circus this afternoon! They've been planning this circus for months. All the kids got to perform. The kids were either ringmasters, clowns, animals, animal trainers, horseback riders, acrobats, jugglers or tight-rope walkers. Kestrel was a juggler (which was what she really hoped for) and juggled scarves. She's been excited about this circus since they started planning it. They all did a great job and it was so cute to watch them. They performed for parents today, and kids were handing out popcorn as we walked in. Yesterday they performed for the rest of the school. This is one of the things I love about Kestrel's school. They often do these special projects or performances that bring together a number of different classes and teachers all working together to to make it happen. Kestrel always seems most interested in school when there is something special such as this going on.