Spring Piano Recital 2011

Off to School

Even though my kids are older,

getting them to cooperate for a group photo is still a chore.

At least Emily was willing to smile.

This year, Peter and Emily are in the same class.

Emily is in 7th grade, and Peter is in 4th.

Laura started 2nd grade today.

Everyone had a good first day!

The beginning of summer...

is not off to the best start.

The kids got out of school last Thursday. Friday, after being told he couldn't play on the computer or Wii anymore (as he'd already done so for over 2 hours), my son announced, "I'm bored." Before I even had a chance to respond, he said, "And, no, I don't want to read a book, or practice piano, or do a chore." Boy - he knows me well. That was the exact response I was going to give!

Today, Emily and Peter went bike riding with friends who live across the street. My mom and I were planting Laura's birthday garden - which Laura was so excited about but didn't really want to help with - that I didn't realize how long the kids had been outside. without. sunscreen. Emily got quite the sunburn.

For dinner tonight, I decided to make potato soup, since I had an entire gallon of milk that expired yesterday to use up (problem #1). I burned the bacon (problem #2). As Emily talked to me, I poured in twice as much flour as I needed to make the roux (problem #3). Thankfully, I had another cube of butter to throw in and the meal tasted just fine (I threw out half of the roux before I added in the milk).

I tried to relax with the kids and watch a "watch instantly" movie from Netflix. We had seen half of the movie when it stopped "streaming." I tried everything my non-technical brain could think of in order to fix it, but no go. We'll have to try again tomorrow.

To top off the night, someone's car alarm has been going off for the past TWO and a HALF HOURS! I called the non-emergency police line fifty minutes ago, so maybe they won't be too busy and will be able to come out and get the alarm to stop.

I'm going to go to sleep with my fingers crossed and my prayers said and hope that things go better tomorrow!

P.S. As I went to export the above photos, I discovered that all of the pictures Emily and I took of the last day of school did not upload. And, of course, we had hit "delete originals," so I have very little hope that the pictures are still on the memory card. URG! Maybe I should go to bed right now, before anything else can go wrong.

*** I promise that my next post will be happy and without a single complaint. ***

*** However, you might have to wait till December for me to be able to do that. ***

Why do these things always happen to her?

As some of you may know, Emily has been struggling with vertigo for almost a year and a half now. We started taking her to doctors around the time school started. By this Friday, she will have had 7 doctors appointments in 14 days. She's sick of doctors - and so are we!

On top of this, her ears (which she got pierced in December with her best friend) started oozing a yellow pus the other night. So, today after her neurologist appointment, Shad took her to a "piercing studio" to have her ears looked at.

Emily has had problems with one of her pierced ears since December. In trying to figure out how to best help her, Shad has been asking some of his coworkers for advice, as surprisingly many of them have piercings (and not just in their ears).

Emily was creeped out by the "piercing artist" who looked at her ears this afternoon. She said the holes in his ears were big enough that Laura could put her hand through them (I just do not understand how people can think that looks attractive).

He took one look at her ears and said the tissue was so damaged that she needed to take the earrings out and let the holes close up and then try again in the fall. Emily had gotten her ears pierced at Claire's in the mall, like every other girl I've ever met. The family across the street from us has three daughters, and all three had their ears pierced at Claire's without any problems. But not Emily - oh no! Everything has to be difficult for that girl.

We took the earrings out as soon as Shad dropped her off, and thankfully her ears already look a lot better.

Gingerbread Houses

The kids' piano teacher invited us over for a Gingerbread House party. Peter and Laura had been begging me to make gingerbread houses, and this gave them what they wanted, without my having to put forth a lot of effort. The kids had a blast making houses out of graham crackers and then covering them with candy.

Of course, we all know that the best thing about making gingerbread houses is eating all of the candy off of them!

Eight Weeks Later

We just finished our 8th week of school, and we're all still alive, though sometimes it doesn't feel that way.

Emily started off the year working for 4 weeks on a science powerpoint presentation about Scientific Method, Science and Society, and Science and Ethics. She partnered with her friend Rylee, and they put inordinate amounts of time putting together an amazing presentation. Ms. Heather had told them that she wanted them to "set the bar" for the rest of the class's science presentations. Well - they did! After 4 weeks of 20 hours of homeschooling a week, the science project was done, and the girls received Advanced marks.

Peter and Laura are doing well in their class, too. Laura's reading is taking off. She's in chapter books now and loving it. Peter is flying through the division unit and is already in the Personal Commenting reading group (usually a 4th grade unit).

I'm holding on by the skin of my teeth. I teach 12 hours a week, but my work week is about 48 to 52 hours a week. I am learning to appreciate our teachers even more than I already did. You pretty much have to give up your life to be a teacher at Family School. I've decided that that is NOT something I want to do. I'm halfway through with my long-term substituting assignment, and I'm really, really, really looking forward to getting back to normal life in December!

On a lighter note: Laura informed me that she does not like the desert. I agree with her, but her reasoning is rather unique. She doesn't like the desert, because if she didn't live in the desert she wouldn't have to put on lotion after her shower.

First Day of School

Thursday was the first day of school and Family School finally has its own beautiful building. It's an amazing facility.

Emily is back with her beloved teacher Ms. Heather

(she taught Emily from 1st through 3rd grade),

and Peter and Laura are in Ms. Chantel's class.

I'm not normally in our first day of school pictures, but this year I will be a long-term substitute for one of the Family School teachers while she's on maternity leave. The baby is due in two weeks, but we're not sure she'll wait that long. I'll be teaching for 3 months, and at this moment, I'm scared to death and

wondering why I ever agreed to be her sub.

Harry Potter 6

The movie came out today and, much to my Emily's and Peter's delight (Laura was out on a date with Ba and Nana Gail), we went and saw the first showing this morning.


We bought our tickets a few days ago online and arrived 30 minutes before the movie started. We were very lucky to find 4 seats all together in the second to last row, otherwise we would have had to sit in one of the first 3 rows (which would have killed my neck). I had originally just wanted Shad to take Emily and Peter, because I am never happy with how much of the book gets left out of the movie. Shad insisted that I had to go, so I did. The movie was fine, but during the entire drive home the four of us listed scenes that had been left out of the movie. 

Will wonders never cease?!

I just got home from book club and received the nicest surprise. Shad works graveyard and so Emily was in charge. All night I kept waiting for the phone to ring, expecting Emily to call because the younger two weren't behaving (it hadn't been their best day). Happily, though, there were no calls. When I got home I discovered that Emily and Laura had finished folding the laundry I hadn't gotten to yet, and the kids had tidied up the house! Emily was able to report that everyone behaved and all had gone well. I am so grateful!

Last Day of School

I don't know how it happened, but the school year has ended. The kids had a fun last day of school...

launching water balloons,

hanging with friends,

reflecting on the year gone by,

displaying great reading ability,

getting awards (Emily received an award
for being an inspiration to the class),

signing yearbooks,

and being adored by a classmate's little sister.

Peter and Laura with their teacher, Paula.

Emily with Rita and Dorian, the student teacher who worked with the class for the last half of the year. This photo is taken after Emily's
end-of-year class performance last week.

(Yes, I know - I'm behind in my efforts to keep people posted about events in our life.
So sue me.)

A Goal Achieved

For about two years, Emily has been growing out her hair so that she could donate it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients.

It was finally long enough, so I made an appointment with my hairdresser 

( I wasn't going to trust such a massive cut to just anybody).

The first cut

Meagan dried Emily's hair, so that she could 

straighten it and touch up the cut.

We all agreed that an afro is not Emily's style.

Then Meagan straightened Emily's hair, making Emily look fabulous and a lot older than I like to see. 

It's weird to see Emily with straight hair. I kept thinking it was my sister in my living room, when I'd just see the back of Emily's head.

Doesn't she look great?!

I'll have to post some other pictures when it's curly again.

First Flight

After surprising the kids, we hopped into the car and headed to the airport. Here are the kids looking out the window at our tiny plane - there were only 3 seats total in each row on that plane, meaning there were 2 seats together, the aisle, and then one seat all by itself. I had to duck my head so as not to hit the emergency exit sign as I walked down the aisle.

Emily has been on a plane once before, but she doesn't remember it because she was only 18 months old. None of the other kids have ever flown on an airplane, so they were excited and a little nervous too.

The window seat was the coveted one amongst the kids. 

Personally I prefer an aisle seat so that I can stretch my legs out.

Our seats were the very last 6 on the plane, so when everyone else had disembarked the kids were able to hang out with the pilot in the cockpit.

For some reason the exposure on this picture was horrible, 

so I tried to fix it as best as I could.

We flew to Houston where we were met at the gate by my dad (on the right) and stepmom. Then my brother, his wife, and son arrived (they're the ones, to the right of Julie, bending down to greet baby April whom they had never met before). My sister and her hubbie and baby were the next to show up (they live right there in Houston). 

And of course, the fact that we were all there was NOT a surprise to Julie! I need to teach my brother-in-law how to keep secrets - my kids didn't know anything about the trip until I told them 15 minutes before we left! I think the only surprise was Julie's friend and old college roommate showing up. That's Liz - the one on the left holding the cup in her hand.

We all got to fly together to Orlando. Our seats were all together, except for Chris's seat. He got bumped up to first class - poor soul! Of course then he got to take the baby with him, which worked out great.  (Though I guess I'll have to stop calling her "the baby" soon; she's 14 months old already.)

Surprise!!!

We had kept our trip to Orlando for my sister's birthday a secret from our kids. We woke them up around 5:00 a.m. Thursday morning and told them to come downstairs. Then we revealed the surprise. 

Did you notice that Peter and Laura were about to cry about the idea of going on a plane? It wasn't until we told them where the plane would be taking us that they decided a trip would be fun.

Next Stop...Carnegie Hall!

Emily and Peter played in a piano recital Friday.

Before the recital began, Shad tried to get a nice picture of Emily and Peter together by the piano. Here you can see the process involved in finally getting that one great photo!

Emily was the first to perform and she told us that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get nervous when she performs. 

Boy - that's such a tough problem to have. 

This video is of Emily's first piece "Theme from Swan Lake."

This next video is Emily playing "My Favorite Things" 

from The Sound of Music.

Peter played next. This video is of him playing

 "Theme from Symphony No. 5" by Beethoven.

Peter's second piece was "The Rainbow Connection" 

from The Muppet Movie.

Peter and Emily did a great job! 

Their teacher was pleased and so were we!

While the Parents are Away, the Kids will Play

I had an appreciation dinner to attend tonight for my volunteer work with AYSO soccer. My friend Leah watched our kids so that Shad and I could both go to the dinner. 

My kids and her kids are great friends. Leah and I met when Emily and Mitchell were 6 months old. Our kids have pretty much grown up together, so when they get together they have a lot of fun OR they fight a lot. Tonight,  it was a lot of fun.

I stole some pictures off of Leah's blog, but you'll have to go check hers out to see a video of the kids doing the "light saber limbo"!

Thanks Leah for helping our whole family to enjoy a night out!

Emily's 11th Birthday --- FINALLY!

Yesterday, after giving myself a pat on the back, I looked at my daughter Emily's blog. I then had to take back that pat on the back. Apparently, I don't do anything right as a mom.

Well, today I am going to try and rectify things by FINALLY posting pictures from Emily's 11th birthday last November.

Emily likes to wear socks while she sleeps. She complained once that all I ever bought her were boring socks. After that, I have tried to find more interesting socks for her. 

These look like mittens, but they are actually socks. 

Emily loves to read (just in case you're one of the 3 people out there who were not already aware of this fact). She was very happy to receive "If You're Reading This, It's Already Too Late." (Sorry - I still don't know the html code to underline book titles.)

Laura knows a picture is being taken.

Someone - I think it was my brother - made Laura's day by getting Emily a stuffed cat for her American Girl doll. (From Laura's expression, you'd think the present was for her.)

Birthday cake was a few days late, so that 

Omi and Grandma Gloria could both join us.

Emily was very considerate of Omi's chocolate allergy 

and asked for a strawberry cake.

Emily may think I'm a bad mom, but here's another piece of evidence that I'm not all that awful: I went to THREE grocery stores before I finally found strawberry frosting and strawberry cake mix.

Art and Poetry

Every year, Family School puts on a huge school event. Each class spends at least a month working on art and poetry to display.

Here are the things the kids had out for Art and Poetry last night.

Emily's framed weaving

Emily arranged this poem on the paper so that its layout matched the subject of the poem. 

See if you can figure out what she was trying to show.

Cooking, Celebration by Emily Solis

Cooking dinner

Aromas, amazing

Carrots being chopped

Cooking, calming

Water boiling

Basil, brightening

Meat being chopped

Cooking, chaos

Bacon popping while cooking

Dicing, diverting

Cake being frosted

Cooking, concentration

Oven beeping

Mixing, masterful

Cookies being cut

Cooking, collaboration

Bread being thinly sliced

Fruit, filling

Vegetables being popped into soup

Cooking, celebration

(Did you figure out that the shape of the poem mimics aromas wafting up from a pot?)

Emily's vase with origami bamboo. 

The chinese character means friendship.

Emily's paper lantern with Sumi-E painting

Spring Joy  by Emily Solis

Butterflies caressing

Blossoms flowing

Fingers brushing

Against my cheek

My attitude meek

Attempting to climb the peak

Jumping the creek

Smiles sweet

Emily's nesting dolls

Emily's owl

A casting of Emily's hand, holding a book she made to represent something that she holds dear and wants to "protect" for the future

Hands  by Emily Solis

With this hand I will teach

The world the supreme knowledge

With this hand I will pull along

Minds till they soar with glee

With this hand I will inspire

The wisdom in their minds

With this hand I will

Teach the child to read

With this hand I will write

To the world and you

With this hand I will lend

My mind to another through words

With this hand I will pull

The strings of their minds

With this hand I will

Teach the child to write

With this hand I will give

The knowledge I have

With this hand I will drive

Their minds to wisdom

With this hand I will give them intelligence

With this hand a whole new world

With this hand knowledge will flourish

With this hand, 

I will change the world

But I am not the

Only One

Emily's freehand drawing of the mouse from one of her favorite childhood books, "The Little Mouse, The Big, Hungry Bear and The Red, Ripe Strawberry" (I know you're supposed to underline book titles, but I can't figure out how to do that in my blog.)

Peter's blue truck with the rooster in the back, 

made with cray pas (oil pastels)

Peter's "Arms Up" figure

I'm Leaping for...

by Peter Solis

I'm bounding for 3rd grade. 

I'm extending for division.

I'm ascending for perfection.

I will know that I have made it when I have passed multiplication, passed 2nd grade,

and worked real hard on school.

The children painted with watercolors to imitate 

a master (Dee Sanchez)

Peter's is on top, Laura's is on the bottom

Laura's papier mache teapot

Laura's teapot poem 

(a spin off of the children's song "I'm a little teapot")

The Tremendous Teapot

I'm a tremendous teapot,

Pink and blue.

Here is my handle.

Here is my bow.

When I get all smoky,

Puffy and gray,

Pour my tea out

And have a good day!

Peter's papier mache teapot

The Immense Teapot by Peter Solis

I'm an immense teapot, bright and great.

Here is my lamp.

Here is my spout.

When I get all steamy, hear me say,

"Come and pour me before you fly away!"

Laura's cray pas of a horse

Laura's arms up figure

Arms Up  by Laura Solis

I am standing up for making my lunch.

I am bending to my toys.

I am cheering to go to Putt Putt.

I am dancing for joy.

I am laughing because of Peter.

I know when I have made it when I can play with my brother.

Each class works on a collaborative piece to auction off as a fundraiser for the FTO (like PTA, but for the entire family). Peter's and Laura's class drew bugs on a bookshelf for the auction. 

(I bid on the shelf, but lost out at the very end. 

Someone waited until we left and then outbid me!)

Here is Laura's bed bug.

Peter's butterfly on the bookshelf

This year Peter and Laura had to do an art inquiry (sort of like a science fair project, but doesn't have to be about science). They investigated patterns in the use of colors in religious vs. 

non-religious stained glass windows. 

They each had to produce an art piece 

at the end of their inquiry.

Laura represented the religious side with this 

"stained glass window" of a lion and a lamb

Peter's window represented the non-religious 

windows they investigated

Not sure what the name of this art piece is. 

Peter suggested "Haiku hanger." 

Each paper has a haiku on it. 

This is Laura's.

One of Laura's haikus:

Horse in the forest

searching for food

green, green grass

This is Peter's haiku hanger

One of Peter's haikus:

Books are so awesome

I like to read Percy Jackson

Do you like books, too?

This year the parents got to start an art project 

that the children finished. 

I folded these origami ornament/books. 

The kids wrote an Ode to their favorite thing and put it inside with a picture of them with that favorite thing.

Are you surprised that Laura picked her blankie? (Maybe her teacher didn't think Laura's belly button would make an appropriate picture.)

Ode to Blankey by Laura Solis

Ode to Blankey, you are my favorite.

I take you everywhere I go.

Splashed with pink flowers,

Comfy on my bee-boo,

Cuddly, nice, and warm.

Perhaps Laura was following in Peter's footsteps. 

Everyone knows that Peter loves that blankie!

Ode to "Blankey" by Peter Solis

Blankey, I've loved you, since I was born.

The second I saw you I felt sunny inside,

As a dog in front of the sun.

And you made me smile for a while.

Blankey, you're so awesome.

You are so delicate and so good.

Ode to the BLANKEY

You are as soft as a lion's fur coat.

I adore you, Blankey.

Ode to the Blankey.

I admire you my silky and pulpy Blankey.

One of the parents came in and taught the children how to make prints. 

This one is Laura's. 

(I don't have a picture of Peter's because they made so many prints that he couldn't remember which one he actually picked to display.)

Laura's clay origami crane ornament

Peter's clay origami crane ornament