Andrew's field trip

The second grade classes at Andrew's school went on a field trip last week.  It was actually the second part to an assembly they had at school.  An organization that rehabilitates injured animals came to his school and told them about animals that they rescue and how they treat them.  They brought actual animals that the kids learned about.  For this field trip we traveled to a park in Morgan  Hill to learn about the animal habitats and their surroundings.  We went on a school bus and it has been a really long time since I have been on one.  The seats are tiny!  It was also very bouncy, luckily it wasn't very far.  Andrew's teacher split the kids up with the various chaperones.  I had Andrew and two kids named Josh.  The first part of the field trip was the kids doing observations about what they saw around them.  They had to draw pictures and write down adjectives to describe what they saw. So we set off to do some observing.

There were several streams in the area and the kids went exploring.  They quickly forgot about their observations. 

But we got back on track and they started looking for animals.  Well, I think they were expecting to see large animals, but we saw things like ants, ground squirrels, and birds.

When one group would find something cool they would yell out and any other group would come running.  Here they are looking at an ant hill.

Then the kids had lunch and waiting for the other group to return with the tour guide.

For some reason I didn't get any pictures of the actual tour, but it was really interesting.  She taught the kids about the different trees and animals in the area.  We learned that there are not blue jays in California.  The bird that looks like a blue jay is actually a scrub jay.  We went on a nature hike and luckily the kids avoided the poison oak.  All of the kids seemed to really enjoy getting outside and exploring the world around them.

The whole baseball game

This year I haven't been able to watch one of Andrew's entire baseball games.  Grant isn't interested in sitting that long so I am often chasing him around.  This past weekend was his last game and Danny's parents were in town so Jan offered to watch Claire and Grant while Ron and I went to the game.  It was a really great game!  Andrew got two good hits and made a great play at third base.  Here he is up to bat.

Then talking with coach dad about when to swing.

Running to first and then second base.

Then another team mate got a good hit and Andrew was able to run....

...home to score.

Here he is kneeling down when another player got hurt.

Talking to Grandpa Kiehn between innings.

On first base after his second hit.

The other team managed to tie up the score in the top of the last inning.  Lucily we were the home team so we got to bat last.  One of our players hit the ball and we were able to score a run.  It was a really exciting win.

We are going to play this team again in the first round of the playoffs, so hopefully we will win again.  I can really tell that Andrew's skills have improved throughout this season.

Andrew's birthday

This year we decided to do something different for Andrew's birthday.  He isn't having a party, so we did a few other special things.  First, we decided to take him to a special dinner.  We went to Kyoto Palace (similar to Benihana) where they cook the food right in front of you on a large griddle.  We thought that Andrew and Claire would really like this.  Danny's parents were in town so they joined us along with my parents.  Grant stayed home with a babysitter.

After taking our orders the chef started making the fried rice.  If you look closely you can see that he made the shape of a chicken out of the eggs.

Andrew ordered steak and Claire got chicken while the adults got a combination of items.

Believe it or not, this was the child's portion!

Then the chef made a volcano out of onions.  Andrew and Claire loved this.

They sang to Andrew and brought him a piece of cheesecake. Traditional Japanese, right?

Then on Sunday night, Andrew got to pick what we ate for dinner (steak, potatoes and corn).  Then we had a lovely round of Happy Birthday and we all enjoyed chocolate cake.

For his birthday he really wanted a new Sharks jersey.

His big present was tickets to a day game for the San Francisco Giants with Danny.  It is the week after school gets out and he is really excited.  It is hard to believe he is already 8 years old and will be baptized soon.

Back to school night

Last Thursday night Andrew's school had back to school night.  Andrew had lots of things to show us in his classroom.  The first thing was a book that he has been working on.  His teacher had them pick a topic and write a small book about it.  They had to do a title page, table of contents, etc.  His was called "All about Lizards".  It looked like most of the kids had chosen animals as topics. 

In their classroom they have a rotating bulletin board that showcases some of their best work.  Andrew's was a good paragraph he had written and an activity learning about the parts of a book.

Here is a picture of Andrew at his desk.  He likes the fact that they get to move to different desks periodically and sit by different people.

A picture of the whiteboard at the front of the class.  I think this is something he would like to look back at.  I think that it will be interesting to him later on.

A project for Earth day.

He loves the accelerated reading program where they get to read a book and then take an online quiz where they answer questions about the book.  They get to move up levels as they pass the quizzes.

Andrew and his teacher Mr. Barnhart.  He likes his teacher a lot, especially because he talks baseball with him.  He always asks him about his games and how he did.  We also got to see all of the science fair projects on display in the cafeteria.  Andrew was really interested in looking at what everyone else did.

Our first beach trip of the season

Last Saturday a friend called and wanted to know if we were interested in going to the beach.  Andrew had a lesson and a game, so he wouldn't be able to go.  I was going to be home with Claire and Grant all day anyway so we decided to go.  I promised Andrew that we would go a few more times in the summer when he could go.  It was supposed to be hot in San Jose so that usually means that there will be a lot of traffic going over the hill, so we left relatively early.  We knew that it would be coldish when we got there, but it was supposed to be in the high 70's at the beach, but not so much!  It was overcast and cold the whole time.  I was in such a hurry that he left without long sleeves.  Luckily we borrowed a blanket and had towels to put around us.  That said, Claire and Grant still had a great time.  I think this picture must have been taken the one time the sun came out.

Grant loved using the shovel to move the sand around, but when he started flinging it we had to take the shovel away.

Claire really wanted to go down to the water even though it was cold.

She ran around in the surf and got wet mostly because she tripped and fell, but she didn't seem to mind that it was probably only 55 degrees.

Grant wasn't too interested in the water.  He thought it was too cold and started running the other direction.

Then one of the Dads that was there started finding sand crabs and putting them in a bucket.  Grant thought this was very interesting.  This is his friend Corbin and his mom Andrea.  They are about 3 weeks apart in age.

Checking out the crabs in the bucket.

Grant took a tumble in a beach chair and luckily someone had a band aid.  He did not mind the sand on his face, hands or food.

A lovely picture of all of us.  As we drove home I was watching the outside temperature gauge in the car.  It went from 55 degrees at the beach to 85 at our house.  Amazing!  I can't wait to get back to the beach this summer.  The sand somehow entertains the kids.

Mother's Day

Last Friday Claire's preschool hosted a Mother's Day lunch.  Claire was SO excited about this.  She kept telling me that WE get to make the food for you.  Every day she wanted to know how many more days it would be until the party.  She brought home this invite and hung it on the fridge so that we wouldn't forget about it.

When we got to the school each child led their parent to their designated spot at the table.

Waiting for us there was a place mat that Claire had colored and...

a description of me by Claire.  Here is what hers said:
Name: Ali
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Age: 20
Weight: 20 lbs
Height: 30"
Favorite food: Smoothies
My favorite thing to do: Go to work (yikes!)
I love her because: she had pretty eyes.

Not too bad!  Ahhhh, to be 20 lbs again!

Then the kids got up and sang a couple of songs with hand motions.  It was so sweet.  I didn't get very good pictures, but I was trying to take a picture and record it on my phone at the same time.

Then each child brought out a flower in a pot that they had planted.  They were so excited!

Then they served us lunch, that yes, they had made.  Mrs. Beesley helped them, but they made everything.

Then on Sunday, I got more cards and love.  Grant colored a card at church and I tried to get him to pose with it, but he wouldn't.  He kept taking it from me and throwing it on the ground.  Hopefully because he just wanted to play.

Andrew gave me a card that he made at school.

Andrew's card also had some fill in the blank items:

Name: Ali

She is special because: She is very nice and a good cook

I like it when my mom: is nice and peaceful (hmmmm!)

I think she's best at: making projects

I like to make her smile by: when I give her a special present

My Mom is pretty as a rose

My mom is smart!  She even knows hard food recipes

I'd like to tell my Mom...that I love her. 

So sweet!

Danny's brother Todd came to town Sunday afternoon.  The kids thought he was a human jungle gym.  He even brought them a fun present.  They got to Skype with their cousins in Texas which is always fun.