Author's Party

Ben had written a book, actually everyone in his class did, and they invited special people in to hear them read their books at their Authors Party. We had cookies and hot cocoa. I video taped Ben with my camera reading his book, however, he was very soft spoken that day, (Seriously, Ben was soft spoken that day, really, I'm telling the truth :O) ) so, you can't hear him read his book, but you can see him.

The next post talks about the Medieval Feast, and they were all in costume that day. This party took place on that day, which explains Ben's unusual, dirty attire.

Medieval Feast

One of the fun things I am learning with PACT Charter school is some of the traditions they do that aid in the learning process for the kids. One of these is the Medieval Feast. They do this every other year so each child has a turn to experience both parts of this Feast.

After spending a week or so learning about this time period, it ends with this big feast that puts it all into perspective in a fun way. This is for grades 1st- 4th. Each classroom picks a Lord and Lady to represent them. And for all the 1st-4th, a King and Queen are picked--thru a drawing. Everyone else, well you become a Knight, lady in waiting, jester, priest, merchant or the lowly surfs. Come the day of the feast, everyone dresses their part.

The actual feast doesn't begin until 12:30, after High School has finished their lunches. Since majority of the elementary eats between 10:15 and 11:30, they have the kids eat a big snack that day before the actual feast. This is where there are two parts to participate in. The 1st and 2nd grades get a "special" snack/feast put on for them while the 3rd and 4th just bring a snack to eat on in their classrooms.

This snack/feast for the smaller ones is really fun and interesting. This is where they really learn about the social "classes."


So, here is the spread for these little ones........mmmmm......it was fresh fruits, cheeses, veggies, breads and jellies




My job for the day was to prepare the veggie/fruit face tray that is presented to the Lords and Ladies before the feast can begin..... not bad eh???



So, here starts the head table for the Lords and Ladies. First to be seated are the Knights, then the Ladies in Waiting.....



....then the Jesters, then the Priests, then the Merchants, and then the surfs....which was of course little Ben. (See him closest to the camera looking at you?) So, this is all the 1st and 2nd grade, sitting, waiting to be served.



Oh, but here is the interesting part. They have to serve each other, by class. Poor Ben, that meant he was served last.

So, here we start with the Knights serving the Lords....


The Lady's in Waiting serving the Ladies.....

The Ladies in Waiting serving the Knights....

The Jesters serving the Ladies in Waiting.....

The Priests serving the Jesters.....

The Merchants serving the Priests.....

And of course, the Surfs get the leftovers, and they serve themselves.....but we gave in there, and the mommies and teachers served the surfs....they were so patient, and hungry :o)

This is Ben's teacher, Mrs. Klismith

So, on to the next part, the Medieval Feast for all..........

This would be the second time a child would get to participate in the feast. As a 3rd or 4th grader, but you just didn't get to do the snack/feast part this time. Ben will get to do this one more time, in 4 th grade. The feast lasts for about an hour, with several courses being served, Jesters performing and other entertainment by the kids all thru out.

Here is the procession of everyone coming in for the feast into the cafetorium....

The King and Queen, and Lords and Ladies sit at the head of the table...everyone else is down below.

Here is Jacque searching for people to bob for apples--one of the entertaining activities they did during these feasts long ago....

This is Ben performing his "part"....they were acting out for the court being greedy, then sharing. So, no Ben wasn't being naughty and running around...... :o)

Ben enjoying his beef stew in a bread bowl--no napkins or silverware allowed--there was no such thing back then anyway!

Jacque wasn't too thrilled with the idea of no napkins....she loved the food.....just didn't want to be so messy!

A new beginning.....

Well, in February, it became official, all 3 children are now in PACT Charter School! Ben started there in Kindergarten last year, then Wil got his call right before school started this year for 8th grade, and Jacque, well she got her call in the middle of 4th grade. She knew it was always a possibility so there really wasn't a problem--I think it was more her mother than her!

PACT called on Friday, and said there was an opening. The problem was, Jacque's old school had no school the next Monday or Tuesday, and PACT was ready for her to start on Tuesday. So, that meant that that day, Friday, was her last day at Rum River Elementary. I decided I needed to go up to school and tell her that so she would have a chance to say good-bye to all her friends. So, below are pictures of her and all her friends on her last day......








Jacque and Mrs. Schanzen--her main teacher. In 4th and 5th grade, Rum River has those classrooms have 1 teacher for 3-4 classes they specialize in, and swap with another room half way thru the day for their other teacher that specializes in the other courses. She always started the day off with Mrs. Schanzen, and at 12:30, she would go to......



Mr. Moore's room next door. All his class would go to Mrs. Schanzen's room and Jacque's class would come to his. He taught Science, Math and Social Studies. It worked pretty well, something new and I think a way to get kids prepared for middle school in 6th grade and the constant change of classes and teachers.



So, good-bye to our classroom at Rum River.....



Hello to PACT Charter! Guess I didn't get close enough to read her name, but that is her new locker--no more sharing!!

And welcome to Mrs. Maki's room! This is Kathryn Perra, a good friend we already knew and happens to be in her classroom as well, helping Jacque settle in.

This turned out to be a great transition. Just 2 weeks later at conferences her teacher told me it's as if Jacque's always been there. She really likes her new school......but not as much as Mom and Dad like them all being there together now!!

AWANA Grand Prix

In February, our AWANA group hosted their annual Grand Prix. It is for AWANA children 3rd-6th grade, then there is an open class for older children and adults to race in. Last year was Jacque's first year to compete. She did quite well...1 st place in speed!

Her and Den planned and created the car. It is quite interesting to see the block they start with and what it ends up being. They lose me though with the 5 oz. limit and when they start adding lead balls for weight and the graphite for the wheels..... at least they know what they are doing!

So, this year, Jacque wanted to go more for design. She decided on a snake. So, they worked on her creation for a few weeks out in the shop, and off we went to the races! They always give 1st place for Speed and 1st place for Design. You can't win in both categories. Which is good....we weren't winning all our heats for speed.

(My pictures always come out dark in this auditorium, so get your eye's close up to the screen and look! )

Jacque at the races with her car--we had to take the tongue out for racing.

The race track...there is a large screen behind that shows the heats and times at the end, and who is on board to race in the next heat. If you can see, at the finish line, that little black thing that goes over the track (I'm sure it has a name, you can see how tech savvy I am!) It has a sensor that times the cars as they run under it, and instantly places them in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th--then the times and places are listed up on the screen. Pretty nifty I have to say.

Here are the cars that were racing. This actually was about half the number we had last year....bummer.

Jacque placing her car on the track.

Ready, Set and Go!!!

A better look at Jacque's car, resting between races. That's another cute creation next to hers as well.

This one had to be added. It was quite clever. I thought for sure it would win 1 st for design. When it raced though, it was very slow, and the flag kept coming off. Oops!

Another one of my AWANA girls with her entry. You can't tell from the picture, but the details and the curves on this corvette were incredible. She came too late, so could only compete in the open class--which only races, no awards given out.

And guess what! Jacque won first place for design!! One of the things they look for is the sheen, and thanks to her daddy's extensive workshop :o) hers was the only one with a high gloss sheen finish--way to go guy's!! So, I think that helped to give her an edge in that category, not to mention those smooth curves on the snake!!! Way to go Jacque!!!

I have to say, this was a good year for the girls----Both first place in speed and in design were won by girls in my T&T group!!! Oh yeah, they rocked!!

Merry Christmas!--Yes, I know, it was 2 1/2 months ago....

Boy, when we go home for Christmas, it's a whirlwind of celebrating, eating, trying to see everyone, eating, catching up on family news, eating .... did I mention eating? By the way, all this means driving, driving, driving, and more driving. When we get back home to Minnesota, we are exhausted....but the great memories and fun we had always outweighs the 1,000+ mile trip. So, I'm posting a few highlights of our trip home.... Enjoy!


Yes, a little boy's dream come true....sorry to say, they weren't all his. On Christmas Eve, all of Den's family gets together and we open presents together. That's 5 families---22 family members + significant others that are starting to join the family :o) But, a little boy can still dream can't he?????



All the "kids" in Den's family with Santa--of course the night doesn't begin until after communion at church, and then Santa always arrives to deliver the first gifts. A tradition that has been going on for years...way before I even entered the family 15 years ago!


The girls with Den's mom and dad, aka--memaw and papa.



My mom and dad, aka Grandma Beep-Beep and Granpa Bruce, at my grandmothers house for Christmas dinner.





Jeff (my brother) and Jeanna and their kids--Jeffrey, Joseph, Joshua, Hannah, Sarah, and Jeremiah.

My uncle Roger and Rhonda with their children. Since I typed out Jeff's kids names, guess I need to do it here as well--so here goes my memory test!!----Zachary, Rebecca, Anna, Emily, Luke, Isaac, Samuel, ...o.k., I've already asked for help on two names here at home, now I need to make a call out to Dad for the rest.....hold on.....Olivia and the newest addition Cora Abigail, born on Nov 11, 2008. Thanks Dad!!! By the way, I completely failed the memory test. :o)

And here we are, Den and I with Wil, Jacque and Ben. It's so much easier coming up with 3 names ! :o)


O.k.--so did you count--18, yes that is 18 children between Jeff, Roger and I. Grandma has 11 grandchildren (Roger's children plus me and Jeff) and 9 great grandchildren. What a house full, but what fun we have!!!!

I know it's March...But Happy Birthday Jacque!!

So, as I'm continuing to "catch up" on how far behind I got, there are still a few things I want to get in here to catch you up on. So, on December 16, 2008, Jacque turned 10! Just wanted to share a few pics of her on her birthday. We had AWANA that night, so it was a late night celebration after we came home. Luckily, the AWANA christmas party was that night as well, so we had a lot of extra fun that night anyway!


Jacque insisted on Christmas Bells for her cake--I think it was all the blue that she liked the most :o)



Jacque and Buster

Happy Birthday Jacque!!

Since we don't live close to home and have "family" birthday parties, we wanted to figure out a way to celebrate each of the kids "special day" by doing something as a family--but the catch is it is a total surprise to the kids. Den and I plan something, and we just pack the kids up and tell them we're going. Sometimes it's something big, like a sleepover at a hotel, and sometimes it's not so big. But it's always something fun that will create a family memory.

Welllllll, Jacque was turning 10 on Dec. 16, 2008--which happened to be a Tuesday night, and we knew we would be at church at AWANA, so we planned something special for her the Friday before.

She has been asking to get her ears pierced for the past 2 years, of course when she first asked, her reason was because "everyone else had theirs pierced." Well, that wasn't the reason we needed. So, she has been waiting patiently--sometimes not so patiently :o)--but we knew at 10, she was ready for all the right reasons. So, the plan has been made......we would go get her ears pierced, at Wal-mart, of course. We also decided to take the kids to a Japanese steak house in downtown Minneapolis after that, followed by ice-skating at an outdoor rink in downtown St. Paul.

Of course it started with the usually complaining--by none other than Wil :o) LOL--he can't stand surprises. And as we walked thru Wal-mart, Ben was grumbling--"....is THIS our surprise????" Mind you all this is for Jacque, but the boys seemed a little caught up in how we were putting them out....oh the joys of children :o)..... as we came up on jewelry, I stopped and turned to Jacque and asked if she wanted to get her ears pierced----she just about grinned ear to ear.

The lady the pierced her ears, asked if each brother would hold her hand during each piercing--so when you see the pictures below, the boys weren't just being sympathetic on their own, there was a little prodding...LOL I do think though that they weren't too fond of the actual piercing gun!

Well, the rest of the evening went wonderfully--dinner was fabulous, we always love Japanese steak houses. And the skating was fun--fun for me and Ben to watch, and fun for Den, Wil and Jacque to skate :o) Ben wasn't too interested in skating, and that sounded just fine to me--seems how I'm the only adult that would be hugging the wall as she goes around, not even moving for other children :o) , I preferred to watch from the sidelines with Ben.

So, below is the saga.......

Before we get our ears pierced :o)

Ben's turn to hold Jacque's hand

Wil's turn now.....I'm actually impressed he held her hand, in public at that!!

After--not a tear, not a sniffle, just beautiful!




Dinner at the Japanese steak house--we we're stuffed!

The two proud "bystanders" :o)

Jacque was ready to skate--in her new jacket and hat she got for her birthday!

The outdoor rink....... (can you see the one with no skates..aka-Ben, in the background hanging over the side???)

Another cute pic of the kids... (see Ben again? He was having just as much fun off the ice as they were on the ice :o)

Den, Jacque and Wil on about the 10th lap around

The three musketeers coming around for their final lap....(Ben is finally flat on his feet, momentarily :o)

Across the street was a huge tree--they say it is taller than the one in NY, it's fuzzy, but the kids are at the base of tree to the right.

Ever wonder what it took to light these things up?? I had to look....there were 4 plates of plug-in's, you can only see one side...it was a big box of them around the base of the tree. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Trying to get a Christmas card picture...not quite, but it's still cute. What a great end to a great evening of fun....we all went home and slept well.