Costume Parade

This is the first year the kids have been able to dress up for Halloween at school.

 Jack Skellington {mask and makeup not allowed}

The 6th graders actually provide the valet service for the school pick-up and drop-off.  It is considered a real honor to be a valet.  The kids do such a great job!

6th graders are considered "too old" for the costume parade, but all the younger grades participate.

Courtney's princess-ly patience was being tried, as she was sandwiched between two butterflies. 

These wings keep smackin' me in the face!

New School

The kiddos started school today. A little early, but we're excited to try the year-round school schedule. Miss Courtney--still can't believe she's a 2nd grader!
Xanderman is in his last year of grade school. Hard to believe!

Annie Jr.

Grade School Musical!
Courtney was so excited to try out for the school's 1st ever musical.
For tryouts, she memorized an entire page of orphan's lines.
She memorized the song, and we sang it until we were all sick of it.
She walked into tryouts.
{I witnessed it, since I was the pianist}

Director: Hi, is your name is Courtney?
Courtney: {Stares at her feet}
D: You're Courtney, right?
C: {Tries to make her head and shoulders disappear into her neck}
D: Did you memorize your lines?
C: {Shakes head no}
D: Well, then did you bring your paper?
C: {Shakes head no}
You get the gist.

She was scared to death, poor thing.
She did NOT want to be in the play.
After a few days of coaxing from her teacher and classmates, she relented, and became an orphan.

Here is a video clip of her debut.

The show turned out great. The kids were so cute, the scenery was a-mazing {done by the Jr. High Art department}, and Courtney overcame her fear.

She LOVED being on stage.

Seriously, isn't she stunning? {even as a heavily makeup-ed, ratty orphan}?
Getting ready to rehearse "Its a Hard-Knock Life"
At the end, she got to change from rags to riches for the celebration & finale at the Warbucks mansion.Sweet girl, we are SO proud of you! You lit up that stage!

Besties! Courtney has so many friends--she is truly going to be sad to leave all her "BFFs."
I told her she'll have lots of pen pals.

Behind the Scenes

Months--yes, MONTHS of preparation. Anyone who has ever been in a play can attest to the rigorous schedule of rehearsals. This was no exception.

Members of the cast--chillin' before their first of 3 performances.

The green room--hangin' with some of the orphans. Annie actually had her hair professionally dyed!
Lilly, Rooster, Grace & Miss Hannigan--3 of which were siblings in real life.
I LOVED the vintage hair styles & clothing. So glam!
The Make-up Ladies, doin' their thang.

This is where I got to work--HAIR.

Chi like the wind, my pretties!

The Last of Legacy

We have had such a fantastic school year!
{minus Courtney's head wound & Xander missing his Pathway friends}
This unique school is going to be one of the things we miss most about AZ. I can't take any credit for these darling teacher gifts. This is one of my new favorite websites. They have the cutest ideas & lots of adorable free downloads.
LOVE the new pretzel M&Ms.
Ohhhhh, Mrs. Mangum! We are gonna miss her! Such a great teacher for this age group--the kids know she cares so much about them. She is set to be the new Vice Principal, and we wish her all the best.
Ms. Wechter is also such a talented teacher. She has a gift. Courtney has learned so much this year--she already knows multiplication, how to tell time, and some complicated parts of speech. All in 1st grade!

Miss Sweden

For school, Courtney had to fill out a family tree, and find out where some of her ancestors are from. Then she was assigned a country to present a report about.

The 1st graders then had a Cultural Fair, sharing some interesting facts they learned about their country. It was fun! The kids toured around, collecting stamps in their passports.On St. Lucia's day, the daughters dress up all in white & wear a wreath with lighted candles atop, delivering warm buns & coffee {hot chocolate:}.

We improvised and shared Swedish fish.

Michelangelos

Today in Alexander's class, I taught an art lesson about Michelangelo and his paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The kids were totally surprised when I told them to get under their desks and draw their masterpieces on a paper taped underneath it. It was a hoot, and gave them a new appreciation for art!

Should I Weight?

Xander Man's Science Fair project was chosen as one of the top 3 in his class. He did a great job on it and he & Darren had fun experimenting with weight placement on a Pinewood Derby car.I hope this new "I-don't-want-my-picture-taken-you're-embarrassing-me-Mom" phase gets over soon!

Budding Artist

I had to take Courtney to a Pediatric Allergist the other day. He was a FANTASTIC doctor, and asked Courtney what she wanted to be when she grew up. She told him, "An artist." That's a new one. She's wanted to be a "ballerina mommy" for years.

Today she had a school project too make a rainbow using only the primary colors.
She donned her apron and went to town! It was like magic mixing and making new colors!

I ken spel ril gud.

Do any of you have to pull teeth to get your child to practice their spelling words like I do? Spelling was never a challenge for me {you're talking to the Frontier Elementary Spelling Bee champ 2 years in a row:} but boy, does my boy hate it! A friend told me about this website, http://www.spellingcity.com/. It has changed this daily drudgery into something Alexander looks forward to! Simply enter your spelling words, and the rest is like playing video games. We love it!

Yum... Cereal

Alexander's latest book report assignment was in quite a unique form. He had to make a cereal based on a book he'd read. He's pulling quite the face in this pic:) For the ingredients {listed on the side} he had to write characters, on the other side, the plot, and on the back, an activity {he did a word search}. Cute idea, but man was it a challenge. He stayed up until midnight the night before to finish it.