Valentines Day 2012

Before I can begin my post on our wonderful trip to California, I want to fill in the first part of February, or more specifically, Valentines Day.

Our Valentines Day was fun in that the kids loved getting gifts and donuts in the morning, they all had fun parties in their class, and I was in charge of Alyssa's class party, and therefore in the class to execute the whole thing.  It was great and I loved being there! We made dinner fun by picking up a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. 

Some pics from the day:

Presents and Hostess Donuts await the kids in the morning.

I bought this fun game from Oriental Trading for Alyssa's class party.  It was a big hit, and it got double duty when I walked it across the hall  for August's class party that afternoon! When we brought it home after school, the Schaal kids had some fun with it in the living room.

Pin the Heart on the Bee.  Also a fun game in class and at home.

I can't remember what Alyssa was doing here...

On Friday the 17th, August's class held a "Fairytale Ball" that the parents were invited to attend.  It was sweet! The kids broke up into three groups and performed a well known fairytale for the audience.  August was a forest creature in his play, "Little Red Riding Hood".

August and his teacher, Miss Glenn. She was dressed like Cinderella. She could easily pass for a Disney Princess, she is so beautiful!

Alyssa wore her Princess Dress to the Ball;-)

Some refreshments! Reagan wore her Cinderella dress.

One more of August with Miss Glenn.

A Busy Week...two Birthdays!

This past week has been very busy!  Very filled with Birthdays!  Very filled with school projects and parent teacher conferences.  Very filled with Thanksgiving!  Very filled, and very busy!

August had a Birthday Party at our house last Friday night.  He had two friends over for three hours of playing, eating pizza and a Coldstone Ice cream Cake, watching movies and running around.  It was the party he wanted and a great way to celebrate turning EIGHT!

August also had a big heritage project and presentation due on Tuesday.  We chose to research the German portion of his heritage, since it is the one we seem to know the most about.  Plus, his name was from that side of his heritage, and Schaal also comes from there.  We made a clothespin doll, a map of the location and portion of his family tree, and prepared apple strudel for his classmates to sample.  His presentation was on Tuesday, and the girls and I enjoyed sitting in for it, and hearing some of the other kids present as well.  I feel he learned a lot from the project, and gained some public speaking experience.

Another Birthday party....
On Monday Matthew chose three friends to take to Sky High, which is an indoor trampoline jump zone, followed by pizza and cake at Round Table.  It was the perfect party to celebrate turning ELEVEN!! 

Happy Birthday to both my boys...I love you both so much!!

Two random unrelated things..

Deer in the neighbors backyard.  They had just jumped down from ours!

August wanted to show some Mt. Si High Wildcat spirit, and asked me to design a red and black striped hat with a pawprint.  Here it is, and he loves it!  He wore it all day yesterday:-)

It's a Wrap For Snoqualmie United

August wrapped up another soccer season with a pizza party at Uncle Si's.  The season flew by and I was not good at taking photos this season.  Here are some from our soccer party:

August's Soccer Jamboree 2011

August is in soccer again, although this year Mike wasn't able to coach.  August has had a lot of fun in practice, but we are ready for the games to begin!! Here are a couple pics. from the soccer jamboree last Saturday.

August decided he wasn't going to smile for me!

Go Team! I'm not sure what our team name is yet.

August and the Puppet Show

When we arrived home from Disneyland on a Wednesday, after getting up at 3:50 A.M. and going through the process of coming home, August apparantly still had energy to spare, because he shut himself in the playroom and spent hours, really, HOURS designing a "set" and puppets for a puppet show he wanted to put on for the family after dinner.  He also asked if I would record it; therefore, you get a glimpse of our cool (and FREE) after-dinner entertainment!:

Some Park Fun

On Saturday while Mike and Matthew were at baseball (at a field with no play structure!), and Ryan was at an airsoft war, I decided to get out for a while and take the remaining kids to the park!  The weather was threatening rain, and it sprinkled a bit, but that didn't stop us-we are Washingtonians, after all:-) I brought the camcorder with us and took this footage of August.  What's funny is that he had been waiting so patiently for me to film him, as I had been busy following Reagan around, and the second I stop following her to give him a minute of my time, she almost eats it!  You can see this in the background, and I didn't even notice!! I even tell her to "wait a minute" while she is dangling for her life-lol!  She isn't really in trouble, but I tell you, she is my one to watch....at least that's how I feel!  Check it out for yourself:-)

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!

Matthew with his class getting ready to run.

August with one of his best friends, Aiden.

August's teacher is knelt down on the ride side of the sign.  This is the whole first grade class getting ready to run.

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!!