Brrrrmidji Polar Days

Several weekends ago Bemidji held it's annual Polar Days with lots of outdoor/snowy/cold events lined up. Dennis took part in the 5K Polar Challenge. It looks cold, but it was actually pretty nice about 20 degrees, no sun though and the wind was blowing! There were about 120 participants and they're off:

This is what the kids did while we waited the 20 minutes for dad to cross the finish line:

There he is. He came in 10th place. Time 22:52. He got first place in the 40-49 year olds! Not bad considering how icy it was.

Then we went over to watch the polar plunge. The polar plunge is where half-crazy people jump in the freezing cold water for fun. Usually it's for a cause or they're with an organization, but it's crazy to watch. First of all they are half naked. Second, they are standing on ice waiting to jump in the water (I was cold and could hardly have my hands out of my mittens long enough to take these pictues.) Third, they are jumping into freezing cold water. I took pictures of these girls because they are the Bemidji Roller Derby team, the girl in the red tights is a teacher at Schoolcraft. Here she is pumping herself up!

The big jump:

The race for the stairs... It's amazing to see everyone come up out of the water. They are in pure survival mode. Some people, after being in the water for only about 30 seconds came out totally confused and obviously in shock. It was wild to see.

Maybe next year, you'll see us all jump in the lake... or maybe we'll just wait until summer!

A Celebration: Eli, Food For Thought

Last week, Eli and the first grade crews had their "Food For Thought" celebration. They spent the first semester looking at food: why we eat what we eat, where we get our food from and why, my plate (the new food pyramid) and nutrition, parts of plants and how they grow, and why people from other countries and cultures eat what they eat. They had 4 field work (not to be confused with field trips. The kids go to work and learn--as you'll see) days: 1 to a local berry farm, 1 to a dairy farm, and 1 to a local restaurant and the farmers market and 1 to the German Village Bakery. At the berry farm, the farmer said that he really needed help marketing his berries to the public and asked the first graders to help him. They, of course, said that they would help him but they weren't sure how. So, they did a ton of research and decided that they should build a website to help him sell his goods and they included a lot of other local farmers as well.

The students made self-portraits like those from Arcimboldo

Eli shows us how they began the process of designing their website.

I included this picture because this was one of my favorite parts. They looked at a book called "The Hungry Planet" that shows images of what families around the globe eat in one week and how much they spend. The kids had to find the countries on the map, evaluate if the food listed is fresh or processed and if they are getting all of the food groups, and think about why people eat what they do beside just "it tastes yummy." and compare if what they eat is similar or different to we eat.  It was interesting what they discovered!

The French Teacher was there with a bunch of French words and phrases that they learned during the food expedition. It was all about different kids of food, where to shop, etc.

Here Sadie is exploring the web-site that the students built.

Without further ado, click here to go and view the website that they created. As you will see. There was a lot of time put into the creation of this website and the kids were so proud of all of their hard work. Make sure to watch the videos!!

10 Years!!

 How did it happen that 10 years have gone by already? Dennis and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on December 28 by going on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise. We had fun and did things that we normally wouldn't do (participate in a Michael Jackson dance-off), but I have to say that we are not cruise people. It was a nice and romantic way to spend out anniversary. We got to spend a lot of time together and reconnect which is always good! We spent our excursion day in Nassau going paddle boarding and snorkeling. We walked the beach and found shells and explored the island a little bit.On board we ate and ate and ate, danced, slept, relaxed, played games, went to comedy shows and other performances and just enjoyed each others company.

Our ship!

Dennis had to wrestle this crazy pirate!

The view coming into Nassau.

On the way our to paddleboard. It was cold!

On board!

My handsome husband of 10 years!

Christmas 2012

I know I've said this before but I'm horrible at taking pictures. Most are blurry, but besides that I just don't capture what I want and I put the camera down too much. I guess I just want to feel like I'm participating instead of taking pictures. So, here is what I captured. It's better than nothing.
This picture cracks me up. I should have had the kids wash their faces before I took the picture but they were way too excited. I had already forced them to sit through church (at 6:30 BTW, so Dennis could join us as he worked all day). Then through our now traditional Christmas Eve tacos and tamales, as seen on their faces. They were at their wits end and could barely contain themselves by the time present opening came. There was no way I was going to get them to wipe their faces. 

I think both of these pictures explain how they feel. The kids pretty much got one present: iPods. Then they got things to go with their iPods: a blue tooth speaker, itunes cards, cases, etc. Because iPods are soooo tiny I did the whole really big box with a present inside a present inside a present inside a present thing. They were confused at first but thought is was funny too.

They love them. They really love the messaging and facetime features, so if you have an apple let us know your email and the kids will message you!

Christmas Day, Grandma and Grandpa came as well as Uncle Darren, Talia, Reed and Anissa. They opened more presents. It's a good thing Sadie knows how to count by 5s!

Santa brought Eli a Giants jersey and helmet and a real football, his size. Just like he requested.

Anissa loved all of the paper and boxes. Reed didn't sit still long enough for me to get a picture of him.

Two cousins shoved in a small box. Doesn't get any better than that!

It was a fun day and because I had most of the meal done by the time everyone arrived I felt like I got to participate more this year. It was a fun and relaxing Christmas filled with laughter and smiles.

School Christmas Party

I love the day before Christmas break! I love the holiday spirit and buzz that's in the air. I love the parties. I love the excitement and energy in the kids. Dennis and I both had the day off so we spent the afternoon attending classroom parties and we had a blast! Sadie's class just finished their celebration so they were in definite relaxing mode after all of their hard work. They had a pajama party and watched movies. Here they all are camped out and watching The Grinch--the cartoon one, not the Jim Carrey one.You should have seen how many snacks their were, it was amazing!

Eli's class went sledding and skating. Eli (and most of the boys) chose sledding. Most of the girls chose skating. Hmmm... Anyways, here's Eli and some friends.

Pulling a friend is a lot of work!

The "halls" at Schoolcraft:

After sledding the kids came in and warmed up with cookies and hot chocolate. They cuddled up with a good book and their reading buddies until it was time to go home.

When school let out, we immediately piled into the car and headed to Napoleon to see Grandma and Grandpa. They were both already in their jammies so they cuddled with a blanket and had a lot of screen time on the way!!

Christmas E-Card 2012

A free newsletter design by Smilebox

A Celebration: Sadie

Sadie and Eli go to a charter school called Schoolcraft Learning Community that is located in the French Village of Concordia Language Villages. Their school is an expeditionary learning school which basically means that there is an an "expedition" that each crew is on which is theme/project based that encompasses state standards as well as follows expeditionary "design principles."
Sadie's crew, being kindergarteners, had the theme: Knowing Where We're Going--What it means to be a Schoolcrafter. They spent their expedition time figuring out where all of the buildings are, who all of the teachers and staff are, what makes Schoolcraft unique, and they learned all 10 design principles and what they mean. At the end of the expedition they have a "Celebration of Learning" in which they share all of their work and learning with parents and students.
Last night was Sadie's celebration and she was so proud of all the work that she has done. Here's just a small sampling.
In art class, they worked very very hard drawing self-portraits:

They used a technology tool called comic life to make an All About Me scrapbook page:

There was a list of all of the design principles and Sadie told us all about each one and why they are important. This one is service and compassion:

She said that "The Natural World" design principle is her favorite design principle because taking care of our world is very important. The earth doesn't need us, but we need it:

These are jars that they keep in their classroom. Every time they read a book or see something that has to do with a design principle they add a rock to the jar:

This book is a take-off of "If I Ran the Zoo" by Dr. Seuss and it is based on the design principle "The having of wonderful ideas". Sadie's animal is a elephantgiraff. "It ets levs and met."

This is a picture of a video that the kids made. They took short videos of each staff member so they could get to know them all a little bit better. The kids also made and recorded skits demonstrating each design principle.

Here is Sadie and her teacher AnnaMae.



Thank you Schoolcraft for being such an amazing place to learn!!

Visiting Santa!!

While in Fargo over Thanksgiving we went to Santa's Village to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. I'm thinking that this will be the last year that Eli believes as he's already asking questions like "Is it you who puts the presents under the tree for Santa?". Neither of them were thrilled about sitting on Santas lap, but they did tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Sadie wants a remote control puppy that you can walk. Eli wants a real football in his size and a Giants football helmet and jersey. He's a big Eli Manning fan--imagine that!

After visiting with Santa the kids decorated cookies with Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus loves telling jokes so she and Sadie got along very well as Sadie is ALWAYS telling jokes.

The kids also made an ornament, went on a wagon ride, and wrote letters to Santa. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon!

 

On the way out, we stopped in the barn and visited the reindeer. They were frisky little guys who were chasing each other and butting antlers!! It as a great way to start the holiday season. Thanks, grandma, for taking us!!

Fall Piano Recital 2012

After Sadie's birthday party, we quickly cleaned up and headed to Eli and Sadie's piano recital. It's amazing how nervous I get at these things so I imagine that they are nervous wrecks! Actually, Sadie seems to take it all in stride and Eli seems to get super-nervous but seems calmer with each recital. A bithday party + a piano recital + grandma and grandpa coming to stay the night = a very crazy, but fun day!!! Enjoy!

Sadie Turns 6!

On Saturday, we hosted Sadie's 6th birthday party at our house. She wanted a rainbow/fairy theme so we invited a ton of girls and decided to do crafts. Sounded like a fun party to me!! Well, fun and maybe a little bit crazy. We invited 13 kids and some parents and grandparents too not to mention Eli and Sadie and me and Dennis! I was beginning to wonder what we were thinking, but it all turned out great. The kids were so sweet and I can see why Sadie just had to invite them all.

First, we made these rainbow ribbon wands!

Sweet Clara!



Auntie Talia and Anissa

Grandma made the cake once again. Sadie requested a rainbow with some pink somewhere so that is what she got (the cake was pink)! This one is the cake for her actual birthday on Sunday.

All of the girls!

And the boys too!

Sadie and her cousin Anissa!

Zoe enjoying cake!

Look! Dennis and I are in the same picture! That never happens.

We also made flower fairies!

The fairies! 

Opening the presents! She did not get one toy, only crafts and clothes! I think her friends know her well. Is she really already at the age where she's out-grown toys?!? I can't believe how fast the time goes and that my sweet Sadie-girl is six. It's been a great ride with this girl who makes me laugh. Here's to a life-time of laughs. Happy Birthday.