Report Cards

My girls got their report cards today, I am so proud of them! As much as I have managed to screw up everything else in life, I feel like I have done at least one thing right in raising my kids - so far! I am so very proud of both my girls!!!

Alysa

Reading: A
Writing: B
Math: A
Science/Health: A
Social Studies: A

As far as Exceptional, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement - everything was Exceptional or Satisfactory.

Teacher Comments:

Alysa is an accomplished reader for 2nd grade. She approaches reading with a positive attitude and demonstrates a good understanding of what she reads. She is making good progress in her fluency, as well as comprehension. Alysa willingly participates in classroom discussions, gives her best effort on most assignments, and maintains a positive attitude toward school. She has show excellent understanding of math concepts. Keep up the good work!

Adalyn

Ady had two report cards - one for the Gifted And Talented Program (GATE) and one for her regular classroom.

GATE

In GATE, they don't get letter grades. They grade them Excellent, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement in 12 different areas - 6 in Life Skills and 6 in Thinking Skills. Ady had Excellent or Satisfactory in all areas.

Teacher Comments:

I am so proud of Adalyn for qualifying for the GATE program. She demonstrates excellent work habits and shows enthusiasm for learning.

Classroom:

Reading: A
Writing: A
Math: A
Science/Health: A
Social Studies: A

Everything evaluated as Exceptional, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement was graded as Exceptional.

Teacher Comments:

Adalyn is making exemplary progress. She is a responsible student and puts effort in her work. Adalyn participates in class, and it is evident through class discussion and written work that she comprehends the material. Adalyn is curious and enthusiastic about learning. Her writing is well organized, and she has begun expanding her ideas to be more descriptive and to include more details.

Adalyn works well independently and assumes a leadership role when working in a group. She is cooperative and helpful. It is a pleasure to work with such a conscientious, well - mannered student. Thanks for the help from home.

quote

I really, super, LOVE the following quote that my friend Kaylyn sent me:

"Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid. Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them."
- Anna Quindlen

Anyone who knows me at all, will know that I am very against banning books. In fact, I have gone to the extreme of choosing books to read off of the most frequently banned book list. In my opinion, these books really inspire people to THINK. More specifically, they inspire people to think outside of the nice, comfortable, little box that we are all suppose to fit in. I am proud to say that I have never, and will never fit inside that box.

I am also against censoring books from our children. We cannot shelter them from real life. And by attempting doing so, we are sending them the message that we don't really trust them, and we don't really believe that they are capable of thinking. Open and honest and constant dialog with our children is the ONLY way that we can show them who we really are - our beliefs, our morals, our values. I really believe that opening their eyes to the horrible things in our world and discussing it with them, will not encourage them to be bad people - it will encourage them not to be.

Book Review: Playing with the Enemy

Playing with the Enemy - Gary Moore -A

"Gene Moore was a country boy who could hit a baseball a country mile. He was so good that the Brooklyn Dodgers came calling. When Gene's baseball career was interrupted by WWII, he joined the U.S. Navy, and in 1944, he found himself on a top-secret mission: to guard German sailors captured from U-505, a submarine carrying an Enigma decoding machine. Stuck with guard duty, Gene taught the enemy how to play baseball. It would be a decision that irrevocably changed his life... and maybe our national pastime. Inspired by true events, Playing with the Enemy is the story of a young man's brush with destiny during an extraordinary time in our country's history."

This book is based on true events. The author, is the main character's son. For me, that made the story even more fun and interesting. I am not a fan of baseball, and war stories usually just confuse me. Even though this book was both, it was one of the best books that I have read.

The book itself, was very well written and easy to read. The story is amazing. Even though, I have never really played baseball, I found myself really identifying with, Gene, the main character. I felt as if I was standing in his shoes. During the book I cried, I laughed out loud, and by the time I read the last page, I was inspired.

Playing with the Enemy, made it to the top of the best seller list, shortly after being printed. This is pretty impressive considering that it is Gary W. Moore first novel. This book is definitely worth reading!

Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I love to dress up with the kids!

This year, Ady decided very early on that she wanted to be a High School Musical Cheerleader. She really loved the HSM costume that she saw in the Disney Store. I, however, was not about to pay $60 for a costume she will wear once. So I got on ebay. I got a the exact HSM cheerleader costume she wanted for $5 - including the shipping. You can't beat that!!!

Alysa was dead set on being the Corpse Bride for Halloween. She loves that movie! Well, of course, they don't sell an actual Corpse Bride costume, so we had to improvise. I had an old bride costume that was just her size, and a skeleton costume that didn't fit anyone in the Halloween box. So, we cut the bones out of the skeleton costume, and sewed them under some holes in the bride costume. She wore one of the skeleton gloves and slippers, so that half of her was skeleton and half was not, like in the movie. I thought it turned out pretty great! That was a pretty original idea she had!

Brylee has been obsessed with vampires, ever since she saw Twilight. So, of course, that is what she wanted to be. She wanted to be a "girl vampire" wearing a dress. There are alot of those costumes out there - but, of course, none of them were her size. After alot of searching online, we found a cheap one at Walmart that was exactly what she wanted. She had to wear her Sketchers with the costume because, her Sketchers make her run fast, and vampires are fast!

I decided that I wanted to dress as a 1920's flapper this year. And Brian dressed as a 1920's gangster.

My friend Kris came over, and we took the kids to the houses in our neighborhood. We started early, and it only took about an hour. Their Halloween baskets were completely full, though! Then, we just came home and hung out with our friends Kris and Mitch, and Adam and Dustann, handed out candy, and let the kids play and watch a Halloween movie. Nothing exciting, but it was fun!

Italian Festival

The day after the Bite of Las Vegas, we decided to go across town, to Henderson, to the Italian Festival.


We ate alot of really good italian food, and Ady and Aly participated in a Spagetti eating contest. We were just getting ready to head over to the grape stomping contest when Brylee starting complaining of a stomache ache. I felt her head, and she was burning up. So we headed home. We didn't get to stay for to long, but we had fun in the time we did have!

Bite of Las Vegas

On October 17th, our family and a bunch of our friends and their families went to the Bite of Las Vegas Food and Music Festival. I had bought my tickets about a month and a half in advance (for half price - only $4 a piece) and had been not-so-patiently waiting for what seemed like FOREVER!

The Bite of Las Vegas is a huge concert in the Desert Breeze park. Katherine McPhee, Parachute, Uncle Kracker, Blue October, and Train were playing. The girls and I were super excited to see Uncle Kracker and Train. We LOVE Uncle Kracker's song "Smile". Ady, Alysa, and Bry were all dying to hear Train's "Meet Virginia". I was really waiting to see Train's "Drops of Jupiter".

One of my favorite things about these outdoor concerts (Like the Bite of Las Vegas and the Petapalooza) is that there is no seating. We just bring a big blanket and sit on the grass. And there are a ton of free games for the kids, and food vendors that sell food for pretty cheap.

Unfortunately, Train did not end up playing because their lead singer was sick with the flu. Bry was really mad because she REALLY wanted to hear "Meet Virginia". She says that that song is about Grandma James. lol!

Even without Train, we still had ALOT of fun! Uncle Kracker was great!!! They had Blue October play last, in Train's slot (a local band, that was pretty good, played in Blue October's slot). That actually worked out better, because Blue October isn't a band I was dying to see. So we only stayed to hear "Hate Me", their one song that I really like, and then we left ahead of the traffic.

On the way out, we saw the cops asking some guy to leave. Well, he refused to go, so the cops tackled him down and arrested him. This all happened right in front of us, as we were walking out. The girls were freaking out. I thought it was a good learning experience for them. I asked them, "Did that look like fun? Do you want to be tackled to the ground and handcuffed by the cops?" They all yelled, "No!!!" at the same time. "Well, then you better not EVER break the law!" I told them. :) I can be such an evil mom sometimes! But in my opinion, all kids need a good healthy fear of being arrested to keep them out of trouble!

I have added some songs from Blue October, Uncle Kracker, and Train to my playlist on the sidebar of my blog, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the bands.

me and Brylee

Ady

Alysa and Brian

Scarlett and Kris

Dustann, Adam and Baby Ashton - Brian, Alysa, Ady

Showing off their face paint

Uncle Kracker

The Fab Four

One of the benefits of giving blood here in Vegas, is that they give you free show tickets for donating. Brian and I both went to give blood on Saturday the 26th of September and left with 4 free tickets to see The Fab Four - a Beatles impersonation group at the Planet Hollywood on the strip.

We decided that since the girls are such huge Beatles fans, that we would take them. I got online and bought one more ticket, and we headed over to the Planet Hollywood.

The show was awesome! Everything was live, so I was completely amazed at how much they sounded like the Beatles.

The girls LOVED it. They were singing along, and dancing in the aisle. It was so cute! It was all they could talk about for days. It was really right up there with Disneyland for them! The only complaint came from Brylee. She was super mad that they didn't sing, The Yellow Submarine, because that was her favorite song!

After the show, the girls wanted to go get their tickets signed by the band. The band members were all so cute with the girls! They told them that they saw them dancing in the audience, and they loved it. They asked them each what their favorite Beatles song was, and were really impressed that they each had a couple. They promised Bry that they would sing The Yellow Submarine the next time she came!

If you are a Beatles fan, and are ever in Vegas, I highly recommend that you go and check out The Fab Four!!!

waiting in line for the show

Tribute to John Lennon

Meeting "Paul" after the show