This was so awesome! Our school entered a contest the NFL was having and WON. Not only did we win $10,000 for P.E. equipment and such, but Matthew was one of the 30 kids selected to have a one hour power hour with John Carlson of the Seattle Seahawks. He appears briefly near the end of the clip I provided when the kids are high-fiving John. I wasn't there so have no pics. but this clip ran on KOMO 4, and I thought our blog followers would enjoy it.
See how our school WON
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Our Weekend Fun
Grandpa and Nana came up to the Seattle area this weekend for a visit with us, and they couldn't have picked a better weekend weather-wise. It was gorgeous! We were treated to our very first trip up the Space Needle to have 'brunch', which was actually a three course meal at the Sky City Restaurant located atop the Space Needle. The views were gorgeous, the food was delicious, and the company was superb. The kids were highly entertained by the views, which was a good thing, because our lassez faire meal stretched out close to two hours. Ryan thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he found out he could order one item from each category, with the categories containing seafood, chowders, fancy deserts, steaks, etc. The kids loved that the restaurant rotated around, and YES, you can see and feel this happening. August thought it was fun to hold on to the wall as we slowly moved away from it. I made him let go before he bumped into the table behind it!
The kids also enjoyed riding the rides at the base of the Space Needle. We ended the day with swimming back at the hotel. Whirlwind, but oh-so-fun:-))
Soccer wraps up
August had a great second year of soccer, and a great time with Mike as coach! The season is now over, with our last game a week ago, followed by a trophees and ice cream at mix it up. It was a special for August, and fun to see Mike so proud of his soccer team! 
Go Cheetahs!!!
The Walk A Thon
The kids new school is big on the walk a thon as a form of fundraiser. In fact, it is their ONLY fundraiser of the school year. The teachers talk a lot with the kids about it, and they make it a fun team effort. The teachers all walk or run as well, and Matthew's teacher ran the entire time! August's teacher walked with several kids from her class around her at all times. Matthew had trained for nearly two weeks for this event, and was very excited for it. His class them was the Roubecek Rockin' Runners, and August's team was the Heinz' Heros (Superheros). In all, Matthew ran 25 laps, which equaled FIVE miles, and August walked 17 laps. Way to go, boys!! I loved being there to cheer you on, and could really feel the team spirit in the air!
I am beyond impressed with this new school and my boys teachers. This school works hard to keep parents involved, keeps a steady amount of homework coming in, keeps on top of parent signatures to assure parents are doing their part, has a well rounded program, and the kids are growing in leaps and bounds on the educational level. Yeah!!
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| Matthew with his class getting ready to run. |
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| August with one of his best friends, Aiden. |
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| August's teacher is knelt down on the ride side of the sign. This is the whole first grade class getting ready to run. |
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| Matthew's class and his teacher in front of the sign. |
I am beyond impressed with this new school and my boys teachers. This school works hard to keep parents involved, keeps a steady amount of homework coming in, keeps on top of parent signatures to assure parents are doing their part, has a well rounded program, and the kids are growing in leaps and bounds on the educational level. Yeah!!
Friday Night Schaal Family Fun
Friday night has become our night to do as we please, and Lord knows we are always more than ready for Friday by the time it rolls around. Since school has resumed, most Fridays have included dinner followed by a movie. Sometimes we bring food in, but more often I will make something that 1) I at least semi-enjoy making, and 2) the kids enjoy eating, or at least will eat with little complaining.
This past Friday I decided to replicate the pizza making that the girls did at Alyssa's party, since the boys were wishing that they could have done it, and I had them make pizza! They really enjoyed the pizza, and said it was way better than the pizza I make. Well, that's great:-)
Another thing I have discovered: Movie night is fun, but switching the location makes it even better! We borrowed 'Home Alone' from a neighbor and headed up to the loft to watch it. I will admit, even I thought it made the movie extra fun:-))) Reagan told me after the movie that she liked that boy in the movie, and she replicated his after shave scene when he puts his hands to his face and screams. She is so funny like that!
This past Friday I decided to replicate the pizza making that the girls did at Alyssa's party, since the boys were wishing that they could have done it, and I had them make pizza! They really enjoyed the pizza, and said it was way better than the pizza I make. Well, that's great:-)
Another thing I have discovered: Movie night is fun, but switching the location makes it even better! We borrowed 'Home Alone' from a neighbor and headed up to the loft to watch it. I will admit, even I thought it made the movie extra fun:-))) Reagan told me after the movie that she liked that boy in the movie, and she replicated his after shave scene when he puts his hands to his face and screams. She is so funny like that!
Reagan and her PILLOW PET
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| I got a pillow pet-a little lamb-and I sleep with it every night!! |
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| Time for my nap. Sweet dreams! |
Alyssa's 5th Birthday "cooking party"
This was the perfect party! Perfect size (5 kids total, plus Reagan), perfect amount of attending adults (me plus one PHENOMONAL helper mom), and lots of fun!
The party was planned like this:
The girls arrive and get to play in the playroom for a few minutes while we wait for everyone else, plus, I figure this might help them to feel more comfortable than if I were to just jump right in on party activities. This plan worked great!
I used last years disney music soundtrack as background music to set a fun girly party scene, and covered the table with a disney tablecloth and balloon centerpiece. As each girl arrived, I led them to the dining room table where an apron and personalized hot pink shirt awaits each of them, along with some fun kitchen utinsels (a spatula, lemon squeezer, pink ice cream scoop, scratch and sniff food stickers put in at the end of the party). They put these things on over their clothes and love this type of dress up. They really loved the fact that each shirt has "Chef 'name of child' written in glow paint on the front and when they all stand in the bathroom in the dark, they can see them glow. They did this SEVERAL times throughout the party!! It would suddenly grow quiet and we would discover all the girls standing in the dark bathroom. Funny:-)
Once everyone was geared up, we led them to the kitchen where my helper mom helped half the girls make homemade lemonade with their lemon squeezer utinsel in located in each of their aprons, while I helped the remaining girls make homemade pizza. I bought Trader Joes dough and sliced it into individual sized dough balls for them to roll out and shape, then provided the toppings and let them have at it. Once both stations were ready, we switched. When all the pizzas were made, I put them in the oven on a pizza stone-it fit 5 perfectly-and we played "pass the lemon" to the disney music. Once the music stopped, the person left holding the lemon would get a prize (prizes were food themed erasers, raspberry journals). I made sure each girl had a prize by the end of the game.
Once the pizzas were ready, they ate them! The party was from 11-1, so the girls were hungry and ready to eat. They had their lemonade as a drink. My helper mom cleaned the kitchen up throughout the party, which was awesome-thank you, Kimberly!!
After pizzas, we cleaned up and then brought out everything for the girls to make homemade ice cream sundeas. I found pink ice cream scoops (located in their aprons) for each of them at Michaels, and they pulled them out to scoop ice cream into bowls, which were pink and shaped like ice cream cones. They were allowed to make the sundeas how they liked, which as you can imagine, they LOVED.
After the ice cream came presents. Each girl got to hand their present to Alyssa and sit with her as she opened it.
It was a great party:-))
The party was planned like this:
The girls arrive and get to play in the playroom for a few minutes while we wait for everyone else, plus, I figure this might help them to feel more comfortable than if I were to just jump right in on party activities. This plan worked great!
I used last years disney music soundtrack as background music to set a fun girly party scene, and covered the table with a disney tablecloth and balloon centerpiece. As each girl arrived, I led them to the dining room table where an apron and personalized hot pink shirt awaits each of them, along with some fun kitchen utinsels (a spatula, lemon squeezer, pink ice cream scoop, scratch and sniff food stickers put in at the end of the party). They put these things on over their clothes and love this type of dress up. They really loved the fact that each shirt has "Chef 'name of child' written in glow paint on the front and when they all stand in the bathroom in the dark, they can see them glow. They did this SEVERAL times throughout the party!! It would suddenly grow quiet and we would discover all the girls standing in the dark bathroom. Funny:-)
Once everyone was geared up, we led them to the kitchen where my helper mom helped half the girls make homemade lemonade with their lemon squeezer utinsel in located in each of their aprons, while I helped the remaining girls make homemade pizza. I bought Trader Joes dough and sliced it into individual sized dough balls for them to roll out and shape, then provided the toppings and let them have at it. Once both stations were ready, we switched. When all the pizzas were made, I put them in the oven on a pizza stone-it fit 5 perfectly-and we played "pass the lemon" to the disney music. Once the music stopped, the person left holding the lemon would get a prize (prizes were food themed erasers, raspberry journals). I made sure each girl had a prize by the end of the game.
Once the pizzas were ready, they ate them! The party was from 11-1, so the girls were hungry and ready to eat. They had their lemonade as a drink. My helper mom cleaned the kitchen up throughout the party, which was awesome-thank you, Kimberly!!
After pizzas, we cleaned up and then brought out everything for the girls to make homemade ice cream sundeas. I found pink ice cream scoops (located in their aprons) for each of them at Michaels, and they pulled them out to scoop ice cream into bowls, which were pink and shaped like ice cream cones. They were allowed to make the sundeas how they liked, which as you can imagine, they LOVED.
After the ice cream came presents. Each girl got to hand their present to Alyssa and sit with her as she opened it.
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| The set up before the girls arrived. |
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| The kitchen all ready for the "chefs". Lemon station near the sink, pizza station in the rear. |
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| Fresh squeezed lemonade! |
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| Pass the lemon. The most challenging part about this game is getting the girls to actually PASS the lemon. They all want to hold onto it until the music stops so they can get the prize! |
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| Eating pizza. |
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| Patiently waiting to make sundeas. |
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| I made a "sample" sundae for Reagan, and to show the girls what to do. |
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