Subtraction again

Now they call it "regrouping," but we called it "carrying."

Walk on Sunday

The kids were home watching the Kids Choice Awards on Nickelodeon, but Roxy and I had a very nice walk in the park, with sunshine and milder temperatures. There are a bunch of these wooden bridges throughout the park.

Beaver Lake

In the afternoon, we went to Beaver Lake for the maple syrup demonstration, but also had lots of fun poking the ice at the edge of the lake and admiring the view.

Karate Tournament

Here are pictures of Caleb at his first karate tournament. First he did "forms" which is a demonstration of a set of moves (kicks, blocks & punches), which is the top left photo. He won 5th place in this activity (there were 8 participants) and he was really proud (top right photo). Then he participated in sparring (he's on the right in the bottom left photo). He ended up paired with the child who won (who was both older and a belt level above him), so needless to say, the match didn't last long. But the kid was so gracious and told Caleb that he landed several punches.

Matt helped out with the tournament all day, and then participated in black belt sparring (he's on the left in the bottom right photo). He was also paired with the ultimate champ, but made a valiant effort, and got a bloody nose for his trouble.

Zoo BD party

Alana went to a really fun BD party at the zoo for our friend Jack who was turning 4. Here she is in a zebra mask that she colored, and eating ice cream cake.

Nobody is in the mood for this!

Spring fever

Alana has had a nasty cold all week and tonight I thought Caleb had succumbed. At first I thought he was developing her cold, but he threw up after a light dinner. Later he settled down to sleep and he doesn't have a fever, so I suspect it may be food poisoning rather than a virus. Silver lining - no asthma symptoms have emerged, which is always my fear whenever he gets sick.

Where we fell

It's only 48 hours later and the area where we fell through the ice is now flowing (though ice still covers over half the water . . . THIN ice!)

Sorting

Caleb has been working on this concept for over a week - his understanding is impressive.

Disaster!

Holy cow! We had a bit of an adventure today. Caleb was off school so I took the day off and Alana stayed home too. Caleb went to the see Horton Hears a Who with his friend Jake, and then Jake stayed at our house to play the Wii. The sun came out in the afternoon, so we took Roxy for a walk in the park, as we often do. We walked out on an area of ice in the marshy part of the park, Caleb and Jake were further out than Alana and I. Next thing I know, Jake and Caleb fell through the ice into about 2 feet of water. I had no idea the water was that deep. I ran over to help them out, and promptly fell through myself. It was scary, and it was damn cold, but it wasn't deep enough to really be a problem. I pulled myself out and helped the boys out, and we hurried back to the car. I threw all the clothes into the washer, and a mug of hot chocolate put everyone right. It was a very good lesson about thin ice in the spring, and it's better to learn it in 2 feet of water than in, say, 8 feet!

Caleb asked me that evening if I had taken a picture. Of course I hadn't (!) - I'm just glad that my cell phone, which was in my pocket, survived the soaking (hurrah for Samsung!) His comment got me thinking, so I went back on Tuesday and snapped a shot of the area.

Volunteering

I've been thinking about this for years and found out rather by accident that one of the members of our synagogue, Lorraine Scher, arranges volunteers for a local outreach center on Christmas Day and Easter Day. We missed Christmas, but were able to help on Easter. Matt, Caleb, Alana and I went to the Samaritan Center at 1 o'clock and got ready to serve lunch at 1:30. We helped serve 135 people - Caleb passed out the rolls and Alana passed out the butter (until she got tired and then Caleb did both). I was handing out the silverware. After the customers were served, we got to eat ourselves - a delicious Southwest casserole. I forgot to take a picture of Matt, who spent the time cleaning trays. Caleb was especially excited about helping and said he felt really good about it! I was thrilled with the way things went and we will plan to help there (or somewhere else) at Christmas.

Walk in the park

We had a fun walk in the park today. This photo is Alana standing behind some tree branches, holding up her bird.

First day of spring

Ha! It's snowing here. Typical - spring arrives pretty late this far north.

Caleb at book fair

For some reason (that's not entirely clear to me), Caleb's principal dressed up as a sumo wrestler for the literacy night at the school tonight. Last year he dressed up as Elvis and sang a song - I guess it's just fun for the kids to see him acting silly.



By the by, the local ABC news affiliate (Channel 9) covered the event:

http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=B0E31287-8D01-4F6F-BE9D-7576D127CEA2&gsa=true

Caleb's St Patrick's Day story

You don't get the full impact of the picture in black and white, but Caleb's story is adorable

Alana's St Patrick's Day picture

The scanner only does black and white, but even if you don't get the full impact of the picture, it's exciting to see that Alana wrote her full name!

Caleb's latest math triumph

I can't believe that my son is 7 years old and he's doing division! And I love his adorable baby birds!

Purim carnival

Larry was off today, so that is always a bonus. After Purim celebrations at our synagogue (Caleb got to make some Hamentaschen, and Mommy helped Alana make a megillah), we went to the community center for their Purim carnival.

I got a pretty good shot of Alana climbing up the bouncy slide and a very bad picture of Caleb throwing a ball into a large bottle (he made the shot!)

After Caleb turned in his tickets for a prize, we went to "Esther's Cafe" for hotdogs and chips and cotton candy.

Caleb's Purim picture

From Sunday school this morning - Vashti is kicked out of the kingdom.

Saturday Funday

Kids had a blast in the snowy park (the one right behind our house), at the easter egg hunt sponsored by the rec department. They were limited to 4 eggs each, and the eggs weren't very well hidden, so it didn't take long. They each got a bag of candy when they turned in the eggs. A very nice event.

Then we took Roxy for a walk and saw some prints in the snow that might be a raccoon.

Then we went downtown to watch a little of the Saint Patrick's Day parade. We each got a green necklace from the News 10 Now van, and we saw some dancers, bagpipers, bands, some long stretch limos and a guy dressed up as a knight (I think he was a HS mascot).

Then we dropped Matt off at the optician to have his contacts fitted. Caleb went off with his friend Phillip to Chuck E. Cheese for a couple hours. We topped off the day with a homemade seafood feast - salmon on the grill, clams for Caleb, and calamari. YUM!

Cloud

This morning I saw this weird, beautiful cloud, covering half the sky and then ending abruptly in blue sky.

Alana's rainbow

Unfortunately, the scanner only produces black and white, which doesn't do this adorable picture justice.

Caleb's word play worksheet

Social studies worksheet

Caleb's latest social studies unit blew me away even more than the last one - this one has questions about American "heroes" like Cesar Chavez, Chief Joseph, and Susan B Anthony! And about American AND European government. The test is next week.

Math worksheet

Welcome cousin Emma

Larry's cousin Ellen and her husband Rob welcomed the cutest little peanut into the world on March 5th - Emma Marie Johnston. She was 7 lbs, 7 oz when she was born 5 days ago.

Bunny visit

It was freaking cold last night and this morning (in the teens) but the dusting of snow on the driveway showed that our resident bunny had come through.

Snowy walk

We got a good 8 inches of snow on Saturday night and the park was incredibly beautiful this morning - this photo doesn't do it justice. Roxy and I had a lovely walk, but even she had had enough after about 40 minutes.

Caleb's "Question Box"

Caleb's egg story

Sledding

The sun was behind us, so these photos didn't come out very clearly, but it was such a perfect day - there was plenty of snow, but the weather was mild.

Alana was completely delighted when I told her she could slide down on her snow pants, without the sled. She did this many times, giggling every time.

Snowy walk

It was snowing in the morning, but then the sun came out and we all took a wonderful walk in the very snowy woods.