Scrapbooking, the old-fashioned way

Our friend Pete brought over his scrapbook from 1986 (?), when he was in Odyssey of the Mind, for Campbell to see. This inspired Campbell to create his own scrapbook of his OM adventures.

I bought scrapbooks for my kids over a year ago, but they had never done anything with them. I am so excited that they are now inspired to work on them!

Helene began with her Halloween party at school:

Campbell started his with the OM Regional Tournament:

Hopefully they will keep it up and document their school awards, parties, etc., from here on out.

Odyssey of the Mind

Here is video of Campbell's Odyssey of the Mind regional competition. It is in two parts (because I am a poor videographer). :)

The competition was in Littleton on March 6. Cam's team got 4th place out of 14 teams competing in their problem and division. They will be advancing to the state competition in April. I am so proud of them. The kids do all of the planning on their own. They are not allowed to receive outside help.

Here was the assignment:

Problem 5: Food Court
Divisions I, II, III & IV
The problem is to create and present a humorous performance where a food item is accused of being unhealthy and must defend itself among its food peers. All characters are food items and will include "the accused," "the accuser," a jury that is not portrayed by team members, and additional team-created characters. The jury will reveal its decision to the audience.
Cost limit: $125 USD.

Tooth Fairy Visits Helene

Helene has had a slightly loose tooth for an entire year. She wiggled it from time to time, but it hung on for dear life. Finally, her permanent tooth popped up behind the baby one. The baby one got looser but still was not falling out. On March 8, John tied some floss around it and got it out after a few attempts. Helene was thrilled to have it out. She is already seven years old, and most of her friends lost their first tooth when they were 6.

Helene told us she wasn't sure if she believed in the tooth fairy or not. So she left a note under her pillow with the tooth. It read, "What do you look like?" The tooth fairy left her this note in response, along with a dollar.

Goodbye Kç

Back in August of 1995, John got me a kitten at the Houston SPCA for my 22nd birthday. We were engaged, and I had just moved to Houston to do my student teaching. I was moving into an apartment to live by myself (no roommates, no family) for the first and only time in my life. John brought me this precious little calico to keep me company. We named her Kç. (The "ç" is a letter in the Albanian, Kurdish, French, and several other alphabets, called a "cedilla". I had taken a linguistics class in college, and being the nerds that we are, we named our first pet after something from a textbook. Pronounce it in Spanish and you'll get our goofiness.)

This is a page from one of our photo albums, entitled "Memories of Our First Year Together".

Top Left: on the apartment balcony

Top Right: on the dashboard of the car (she used to enjoy car rides)

Bottom Left: on the aquarium in our first apartment together

Bottom Right: smelling John's breath (she loved to do that, especially right after a burp)

This is what she looked like at first - tiny thing!:

Here she is on top of our saltwater aquarium, a perfect expression of "cattitude" on her face.

And here is Kç (Christmas of 2006) at her top weight of 16 pounds. I think this picture sums up her personality perfectly.
Kç went into severe renal failure this week and we had to end her suffering today. She was old and hasn't been perfectly healthy or happy the past couple of years, so I know it's for the best, but we will miss her. She has been a part of our lives for our entire marriage.

Campbell's First Piano Recital

Campbell has taken formal piano lessons since December '09. Before that, he had taken an after-school program called "Piano Wizard," which is like Guitar Hero for the keyboard. And he has always been good at picking out tunes.

His recital was yesterday, and we were so proud of him. The first video is Campbell; the second is his friend, Isaac, and the last is their piano teacher, Chase (playing a piece he composed himself).

Guitar

Just before Christmas, our family was having a discussion about scales on the piano and chords on the guitar. John pulled out his guitar for the first time in a long while, and Helene showed a keen interest in learning more about it.

John looked up some guitar tablature and was showing the kids how to read it.
Campbell headed to the piano to find the same chords there. He has been taking lessons for a couple of months now and is thriving. He has a natural talent for piano, and he loves it. I have never had to ask him to practice. He just gravitates towards the piano several times a day and works on a little bit of his assignment each time. Campbell has his father's ear for music along with his mother's ability to sight read music - nice combination.
Helene turned 7 this past weekend, and her big gift from us was a guitar and lessons. She is so excited! Her first lesson was on Tuesday. I was pleased to see her intense focus (her eyes and focus were on her teacher or her guitar the entire time) and even more thrilled that she had her guitar out on the way home in order to show me what she had learned because she was so excited about it. Helene's teacher said she was picking things up very quickly. It is so nice to see the kids enjoy what they are learning.

Helene's Birthday Party

I uploaded the pictures for this entry right after Helene's party, but I just realized that I had failed to write anything or publish it.

So, the short version is that Helene turned 7 in January and had a Polly Pocket themed birthday party. 6 girls were present, including the birthday girl. It was probably the smallest and most low-key party we've ever had, and it went really well.

The girls played with some of Helene's new toys.

Those who arrived first were put to work decorating!
They did some crafts.
They made their own bagel pizzas.
There was gift opening.
Helene wanted ALL of her Polly Pockets on the cake together.

And there was some singing. I don't know who initiated this, but its inappropriateness cracked me up.