Writing Celebration

Everyday, Lexi's class has something they call Writer's Workshop. They take time to write and illustrate a story. They are encouraged to write their own words (gibberish or not) and also to tell their teachers about the story. On Friday, October 3 all the parents and family members & friends were invited to a writing celebration in their classroom. Each child had gathered all their stories from the first month of school and had *published* a book. They took turns standing in front of the class to read the title of their book and the dedication (Lexi dedicated her book to me!) and then a couple of their stories. It was a Spanish day and Lexi was able to say a few things, but she is obviously more comfortable speaking in English, so most of her presentation was in English. We weren't able to bring the book home (they are currently displayed in the hallway of school), so I snapped a picture of each and every story. I'll only post a few here.
(That's Ramon, the assistant teacher, and Cindy, the head teacher, with Lexi).

(This is when I was at a Pepsi Fest and I found a dandy lion that was so big.)

(I saw Ramon on the slide and I wanted to go on the monkey bars with Luciana.)



(Un sol brillante. Un poquito de luna y muchas flores.)


(We went to Costco on a Sunday and my daddy was smiling and Ella just laughed. My mom was holding Ella but then she decided she (Ella) was going to walk).
**We did NOT, in fact, go to Costco on a Sunday.**

(Aliens trying to get out of the water.)

(I have to draw lots of clouds, rain and umbrellas. I went to C-Town with my family. Here's the sidewalk. I made the sidewalk."

Then I noticed a bulletin board in the classroom with my Corduroy right in the center! The kids had all made their own little Corduroys and now have a whole board devoted to him. Cute!

Read for the Record Report

On Thursday, October 2, 2008, I headed over to Lexi's class at school to particpate in Read For The Record. I read the class Corduroy and I have never seen 18 4-year-olds so quiet and attentive! After we read the story we talked about all the new things Corduroy had done and seen while he was searching for his button. He climbed a *mountain* (aka the escalator), he entered a *palace* (aka the home section of the department store), he slept in a bed, he made a friend, and he found a real home. Then the kids each got a little button (made out of paper) and got to draw a picture of something they have always wanted to do or be or somewhere they've always wanted to go. I admit, it was a tough concept for some of the kids to grasp- coming up with something they've "always wanted to do." But it was fine. When they had finished decorating their buttons we gathered on the carpet again and I had each one stand in front and tell his/her classmates what they had drawn- what hopes & dreams they have, if you will. I drew that big Corduroy beforehand, and then each child taped their button to Corduroy's overalls.

At one point during the activity I called on "Lexi". Not just one, but two or three of the other kids yelled out, "Her name is ALEXIS." I guess she's Alexis at school. Wonder if she'll always want to be called that?

From left to right: Back row: Khianna, Kyrsa, Alma, Dorian, Edu, Alexis, me, Gianna, Justin, Amiel and Luciana
Front row: John, Alejandro, Danny, ??, Victoria and Elyse

Ella loves to sit in the little seats at the little tables in Lexi's class- here she is ready to draw:

100 Bottles of Beer

This happened back at the end of July but I completely forgot to blog about it! Occasionally we get together with some friends and barbecue on the roof of Columbia U's medical student housing. It's always fun. This year, a family with 2 little girls moved into the 'hood and Lexi and Ella seem to play well together. During this particular bbq, they were off playing by themselves for a long time. Eventually, an adult went to check on them and found this scene. They had scrounged up a whole slew of empty beer bottles from the trash cans (from the previous night's big bash???) and had been picking some flowers from the surrounding planters. I pose the question: Young and innocent or foreshadowing of the times that lie ahead?!

Happy Rosh Hashanah!

During Rosh Hashanah public schools are not in session here in NYC. And thanks to our neighbor & another friend, we came into 5 tickets for the Museum of Natural History. Technically, the museum is a "Pay What You Wish" museum, so we just donate $1/person and tour some of the galleries before heading home. But if you pay full price for a full-fledged ticket you are able to see the special exhibits going on, the IMAX movie and go to the Planetarium. Both Matt & Lexi were home and we met up with Allie & Zac for a day at the museum. We saw the special Horse exhibit, the Lizards Alive! exhibit (my favorite was hands-down the chameleon), the IMAX movie about ancient sea creatures, and the planetarium movie "Cosmic Collisions." Lexi and Ella spent a little time in the Discovery Room, and of course you can't go to the Museum of Natural History without seeing some Dinosaurs.... I think Lexi would tell you that this is her favorite museum.

Eating apples with Allie & Zac in the dinosaur room

While waiting for the train after our museum trip, Ella spontaneously put her fingers in her ears as an express train went whizzing by. She must have picked that up from Lexi!

SwingTime

This is some video of Ella swinging her right arm as she walks or runs around. Sometimes she'll wind up before taking any steps at all. And it's always just her right arm while she holds the left arm steady. We took this video at the Museum of Natural History.

Mishap at the Museum

While sitting on this bench, Ella would yell out to Lexi and then tap the bench right next to her, indicating that she wanted big sis to come and sit next to her. Lexi would come running over and sit down and Ella would greet her with a nice big hug. It was really cute. So I reached for the camera to take a little video of this game, and this is what I caught:


After soothing Ella, she didn't want to play her little game with Lexi anymore.

The Central Park Zoo

Ella & I went to the Central Park Zoo with some new friends Morgan, Asher & Sayre (introduced to us by Michal). This was the first time Ella and I have taken a little trip like this without Alexis. We were really lucky to see the polar bears during one of their active periods. One of them was swimming back and forth in the pool- we got a good look from above and then scrambled down to the glass viewing area to watch him turn around and push off the glass. I mean, they look huge from a distance, but when you are right next to the window as his enormous paw pushes off you can really see how large they are! We also spent some time in the penguin house (but those photos came out too dark), at the sea lion pool and the children's zoo.

Ella & Asher watching the polar bear swim

Another 5K Anyone?

I got a flyer in the mail for a 5K (benefiting the Hoboken Univ Medical Center) on the Waterfront Lawn of Pier A in Hoboken. Starts at 9 AM on Saturday, October 11. Anyone want to do it? We can register here.

Free Ice Cream

Who doesn't love free ice cream? Tonight from 5-8 PM you can get free ice cream at ColdStone Creamery. They're accepting donations for the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Read For The Record

Do you remember reading this charming story of little Corduroy bear? I love it and so does my daughter. Well, now you can share the excitement and joy of reading with children who haven't discovered it. Jumpstart's Read for the Record is a campaign designed to bring attention to the importance of early education. By encouraging hundreds of thousands of children and adults to read the same book on the same day, Jumpstart aims to break a world record and to make early education a national priority.

Children and adults will read together at events nationwide on October 2, in schools, libraries, stores, hotels, playgrounds, offices, and homes.

If you go to their site, you can purchase books that will be donated to kids in need. You can create a book drive. You can also build your own reading event, or participate in one that is happening near you. You can also just register to Read that day with your own children. Join in!

I'm going to talk to Lexi's teacher about it today and hopefully will be able to spend some time in her classroom on October 2 sharing the joy of reading.

Death Cab For Cutie

October 6th at Radio City Music Hall.... and we'll be there!

Chili Cook-Off

Last night we had a ward Chili Cook-off. Last time I entered this contest, I got second place with a vegetarian chili that we like around our house. This time, I tried a meat recipe and was pleased with the results (and thanks to Megan for reminding me to season with salt...Oops!) I was really hoping for first place and that $50 gift certificate to Dinosaur BBQ, but I had to settle for third and a package of yellow cornmeal. Apparently I lost points because one of the judges thought it was too thick (but he's from the Domincan Republic, so I wasn't really offended by that- any Texan would agree that it was the perfect consistency for chili). I also lost a few points for flavor- and I would have to agree with that. I wish there had been a bit more tomato-ey flavor in there. The beef & beans and spices were represented well, though, I think. I did get the most points for appearance at least. Better luck next year.

The Judges: The guy in the middle is a professional chef... talk about tough judging!

Ella spent a large portion of time sitting and walking on these bales of hay. She helped make a huge mess by pulling apart the bales, too. Apologies to the clean-up crew.

The cook-off was followed by a rousing evening of square-dancing. Nothing quite like a hoe-down in the city! Here's little Ella trying to dance along (warning: it's a bit shaky):

My Heart Will Go On....

Last week, my mother was approached by a co-worker of hers offering her two tickets to the Celine Dion concert in NYC at Madison Square Garden (her first time in NYC in 10 years!) Mom called me and asked if I wanted to go, and although I'm not a die-hard Celine fan, but I know and love many of her songs and heard she puts on a great show. So I was excited about the chance to see her. My mother forwarded me the email with the tickets and we looked up the venue map to locate our seats and were ecstatic when we realized we were on the floor. In the fourth row. It was awesome. I have never been that close at any concert I have ever been to (and the number of concerts I've been to can be numbered on 2 hands).


At one point in the middle of Because You Loved Me, Ms. Dion stopped and told us a story about a girl Charice that she had met through Oprah a few weeks before. Here's the story. Then, Ms. Dion told us Charice was there and invited her up on stage. Celine gave her some advice to get over the nerves ("Just pretend all these people are your family and that you are singing in your living room") to which the whole arena cheered. Then they dedicated the song to Charice's mother. Celine sang one line and then Charice took over and "blew the roof off of Madison Square Garden" (Celine's words). I took some video footage, but during most of the song they had their backs to us, so you can see better footage of the song here. Charice's voice is absolutely incredible. And it's even better in person.

Of course, what's a Celine Dion concert without that song from Titanic, My Heart Will Go On? She sang that has her final encore of the evening. Here's some footage of that, if you're interested.


Montel Williams was less than 20 feet from us. (That's his wife's head just above the "76" and he's on her right side).
And we saw her husband/manager as we were leaving the arena:

Thanks to the lady from Pepsi who gifted us the tickets! It was fabulous.

Hermanita

This is Kari. She was one of my companions on my mission in Spain. I LOVE HER. And she was in New York last week with her husband to catch a Yankees game during the final season at the original Yankee Stadium (and see some other stuff, too). We got to meet up with them for dinner at Celeste and then cupcakes at Magnolia (in their new Upper West Side location). It was so fun to just chat and catch each other up on the past 6 years of our lives. Thank you, Kari, for getting in touch with me and for making some time to get together! And special thanks to Rebecca for reconnecting us!

PepFest

Grandma's cool job at Pepsi provided us another day of entertainment! Last weekend, we attended the employee PEPFest and enjoyed lots of good food, music, shows, jumpy houses, face painting, BINGO playing (I didn't win), a ride down a Super Slide (which even Ella joined in), and a chance to meet Harry from PBS's CyberChase.

Nuestra Senora

Our local market, C-Town, definitely caters to the Latin American crowd around here. It's hard for me to find things like basil there, but if I need a plantain (I don't), there's always an abundance. Lately, L has been drawn to the egg machines- you know, the ones by the checkout stands that you stick a quarter in, turn the handle and out pops this little plastic egg with some magical prize inside. The other day, I got a quarter in change and so I indulged her. The prize? A little Catholic virgin statue! She said, "Mom, what's this?" I was laughing so hard and answered, "It's a virgin statue!" Stupid mommy didn't think about the tumble of questions that would follow... Thankfully, I was able to nip them in the bud by answering her "What's a virgin?" with a simple, "a righteous lady." Thanks to those picture scripture books and primary, she knows what that means. And that was the end of the conversation.

Later that evening, after dinner, Matt walked into the kitchen and saw this:
The virgin's very own Rameumptom!

Hello, this is Matt for the first time. 4 years, 1 post. I'm prolific. A while back I was tagged (I have been desperately seeking this affirmation of popularity for months/years- but until now have never received it. I promise not to cry if you don't). The tag simplyasked what I was reading at present. There is a long story that makes this request funny but I will give the short version. Despite being the only third grader to now the concept of espionage (when tested for the gifted and talented program- I didn't get in) I had a reading ''problem" that required some attention. Fast forward 15 or so years: I am at BYU and practically failing out of school, so the academic office suggests getting tested. Result: (paraphrased) "you tested with the verbal IQ of a genius, you just read really slow. We don't know why. Try a speed reading class, take less courses and we'll see how you do."

In other words, reading is hard. I like reading new things but unless I have huge chunks of quiet time reading is totally ineffective for me. This more than likely explains my penchant for staying up way to late...no one can bother me then. It also drives Kendra crazy when I read over her shoulder and she has enough time to take a short nap before I catch up.

Anyway, lately I have been knocking out a few books at the same time, two of which I started a long time ago and finally finished. I think that is a habit of slow readers, helps us stay sane.
The first one took almost two years and two full California vacations: Michaelanglo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King. I really enjoyed this book but I have a feeling that hardcore historians would sneer at King from their pedestals of scholarly __________ (add your adjective here, I couldn't think of one). We take for granted that artists like Michaelanglo were craftsman, architects, designers, paint grinders and whatever else they needed to be to get the job done. Learning about the Popes of that generation helped me understand a little better how we have survived the vast majority of our presidents over the last 50 years.

The second book I read was the terrific graphic novel Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. What a wonderful, heartwrenching, terrifying, and informative book this sparsely drawn biography is. Want to learn the short history of why modern day Iran is literally ready to explode, read this book and Persepolis II (the movie is also great). It is also a touching family memoir. Just don't give it too your 8 year old. I am hoping to read it this year with my sophomores and try to open some eyes.

Lastly, while reading Persepolis I finished Eclipse. Yes, that is right, I have now read the first three of the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series. What can I say, everyone needs a book now and then, that doesn't require a ton of thought...especially folks with slow readers syndrome. I admit, I like the angle at which she reinvents the mythology of vampires and werewolves. I just wish I didn't have to hear so much about Edward's body of stone, like a Greek statue (seriously did the editors not count how many times she uses the same statue reference and tell her to find something else), or his amber eyes (oooh), touseled hair (must fight nausea)...on and on. We get it, your writing for 17 old girls, but tone it down. I just hope the movies have more action.

Up next, Ambroise's study of Crazy Horse and Custer. That one will probably take two more years, so until then tag me about music...

Changes??

So, I'm thinking about having a public blog again. Blogger limits you to 100 subscribers, and we're dangerously close to that number. I'm sure not all those people read us regularly, but maybe they would if we were public and they could put us on their Google Reader? (I'd like to think so...) I started this blog 4 years ago for a very few select people, but my readership has grown and that's exciting. I've found lots of friends via blog links on mutual friends' blogs, and wonder if I'm missing out on reconnecting with old friends because we're private and they don't know we're *out there*.

But, if we do go public again, I don't want to use our last name (or any names) at all and will probably just resort to our first initials when writing. I am thinking of just starting a new blog with a new domain name, but I'm creatively-challenged in the come-up-with-a-clever-name way. So who can help me? Suggestions? Anyone? There might be something in it for you, too, if I like the name you suggest.

EDITED TO ADD: So I just decided to go public again. I sort of hated the thought of not having the past 4 years of archived blogs inaccessible to new (and more frequent) readers. I went public largely because of my mugging and since she probably knows my name (because of the court case), I was nervous about her or her peeps stalking me etc. I may go back through and replace our names with our initials, but that could take forever, and really, I'm trying not to be too paranoid.

Photo Session

Recently, a friend of ours took some photos of the girls. I just love how they turned out! I envy anyone who has any sort of photographic talent, and I have been so lucky to cross paths with some amazingly talented photographers. Melissa blogs about it here.