Wednesday, November 5, 2008

the anatomy of a princess

Yesterday was our very first parent-teacher conference for Kiernan. I was eager to go & hear about how she's doing in class & with the other students. She's always been very personable, but still, you never know.

We didn't learn anything too surprising, it was all very generic:
"She's a very sweet girl blah blah blah, get's along well with others, blah blah, gets all of her work done, blah blah." The usual.

Then we got to her samples of work; Letters-good, numbers-good, comprehention-good, and finally her storytelling skills. For this they drew pictures & added a word or two. The teacher had 4-5 samples of her work. So she asked a question & the kids would journal about it, for example:
What do you want to be when you grow up? *picture of a princess*
Who is you favorite tv charachter? *picture of a princess*
Find something in our classroom & write about it. *picture of a princess*
It's free writing today, write about anything you like. *picture of a princess*

You see where I'm going with this right?

Well, while I do wish that Kiernan could find other areas of interest I don't have a problem with all of the princesses, per se. I have more of a problem with the pictures themselves. First, let me say that Mike was at this meeting also, watching the clock the whole time as far as I could tell, but there nonetheless. As the "princess" pictures flip by I am begininng to see a recurring theme...they are all ANATOMICALLY CORRECT! They are all girls, so I'm sure you can imagine which part of the anatomy I'm talking about.
Here let me attempt to give you an example (they are essentially elaborate stick figures, by the way) try this:

...(:
/OO\
.../\

Do you get what I mean?!?!?
EVERY PICTURE!!!! I was dying & trying NOT to look at Mike because I knew he'd loose it.
My question is...where did this come from??? She certainly wasn't imitating me. *i wish* Is that how she see's the princesses? Does she notice all cleveage? Do you need those to be a princess?

Is it possible for something to be hilarious & terrifying all at the same time?

All I can say is... mortifying. No one said a word during the meeting about "them" but I was dying to ask if other kids do that? Maybe she learned it in class? But I was a little afraid that she would be the only one. Well, here's hoping that she grows out of this phase. SOON.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Halloween II

I forgot to mention earlier that I convinced my sister to join out little Star Wars theme for Halloween. So here they are, oldest to youngest are: Jordyn as Padme, Jacob as Han Solo, Evan as Luke Skywalker, Kiernan as Princess Leia, and Lukie as Darth Vadar!

I have to say, the funnest part of the evening was watching Luke, he made a fab Darth! He loved Halloween, the candy especially! Can you tell by his face?
Leia was a bit worse for the wear by the end of the evening, but it was all in the name of fun.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Eeanie Meanie Halloweenie

What a great Halloween we had this year! Alot of activities to keep up with though. As I was walking the kids into the school Friday holding 2 carved pumpkins, a cupcake carrier, my camera, Kiernans backpack and car keyes I remember thinking "Did my Mom do this?". I seriously can't remember. We do all of these things for the kids & in the end I don't think they remember? Now if we DIDN'T do it I know they'd remember that!

Well, here's a glimpse into a few of our Halloween festivities...enjoy!

I really hope you can tell who they are! I made Kiernans & most of Jakes. No one knew who Jake was (Han Solo) unless he was with Kiernan, then it would click. He was disappointed when people would ask who he was so I finally told him to stand by his sister all day & he'd be fine. It worked.

He had a really cool holster that you can't see in the pic...the clothes were pretty close.


Recognize the pose? Mike had her do that when I wasn't looking. It's genius...my favorite pic of the day!
Kiernan & her best friend Abbi. They were darling!

Pumpkin Carving 101

Every year my parents host a pumkin carving contest at their house. The family, friends, and neighbors come by to share yummy soups & other fall foods, then we all get carving. My parents set up the kitchen for food and the garage for carving. All of the carving supplies are provided by them, all you need is to bring a pumpkin!

This year it was a little smaller party than normal because of my dads knee surgery, but we still had a fun time. In the end all of the pumpkins are lined up and everybody votes on two kids winners & two adult winners...there are even real prizes provided by my parents! This year Kiernan won a gift certificate to target...she was thrilled.

The concentration is heavy & it actually gets quiet because everyone is hard at work.
Auntie Michelle had strong focus, I guss that's why she's one of the winners.
I sat at the kids table. All I can say is thank goodness for kid proof carving knives! I thought I was going to loose an eye. Evan especially got into it with a "power knife", the dang thing ran on a battery to saw back & forth!
The final products...
Kiernan
Jacob
Shelby