23 February 2014

 Our elementary school performed the play "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" this week.  The school doesn't have any kind of budget for that sort of activity so the entire production was sponsored by the PTO.  It was a huge play with about a third of the school participating.  Helen and Gibson were part of the set design crew and Becky sewed squirrel costumes.  Our family went to see the play on Wednesday night.  Seventeen kids from our ward were in the play and we made a candy bouquet for each of them.  Becky thought the bouquets looked pretty and colorful together so she took a photo.

 Sofi is still working on her Personal Progress goal: 10 Dates--10 Dishes.  (Becky just made that name up.)  This week she learned how to make homemade pizza from our local pizza guru.

 Cheryl's pizza tastes as good as the best pizza you can buy and is head and shoulders above most pizza.  Sofi has eaten plenty of homemade pizza at home, but she learned all the tricks and tips from Cheryl that make her pizza fabulous.  They had a pretty good time together, too.  Sofi is now halfway finished with her project.  She is having so much fun, she is considering extending it.  All of Sofi's cooking dates have been very generous with their time and knowledge. 

 Gibson started cello lessons this week.  He has been asking to learn to play the cello for about a year.  Taking on another music lesson is a little daunting.  This makes 6 music teachers for our family with at least one lesson every day, Monday through Friday.  On the other hand, each of our children have thrived as they've learned to play their different instruments.  Our home has been enriched with good music and we have made new friends and have discovered a rich musical culture in our community.  Gib looks forward to practicing every day.  His cello is ¼ size.  

Sofi competed again this year on her school's varsity Brain Bowl team.  About 20 teams competed and her school finished in the middle of the pack.  Brain Bowl is a game show style trivia contest with the teams buzzing in to answer geography, history, literature, culture, math and science questions.

 Abe built some cool Lego sculptures Sunday morning and Helen photographed them artistically.

This sculpture looks like it belongs in MoMA.

 Helen has a bright future in photography.  This photo of Becky chopping vegetables looks like it is from a food blog.

 Sofi did not win the school election a few weeks ago.  A benefit of running for office, though, was that she was invited to help plan her school's upcoming Spirit Week.  The committee picked a dress up theme for each day.  Sofi and Joey made colorful posters to advertise three of the dress up days.  Other people made posters for Tuesday and Thursday.  The week will begin with Macklemore Monday.  Macklemore sings a song about shopping at a thrift store.

 Wednesday is Feb-U- Hairy.  The idea is to come with crazy hair.

 Friday is Red Carpet Day and everyone will dress up in fancy clothes.  Sofi is excited for the week ahead.  I'm sure we'll have some fantastic outfits to post next Sunday.

Our other event to anticipate is the championship round of Battle of the Books at the elementary school. Students who want to participate read the same 16 books.  They form teams of 4 students and "battle" each other by answering very specific questions about the books.  About 90 kids from the school participated.  Two teams from each grade have advanced to the championship round.  The school champion will go on to regionals and compete against other schools.  Both Abe and Helen's teams made it to the championships.  It is very likely that they will battle each other.  Oh, we're nervous!  The photo is from Helen's last battle.  Her teammates are Kona, Laurenne and Sophie.  

16 February 2014

Helen got her braces off on Monday!  Her teeth are straight with plenty of space for her permanent teeth to grow in.  Helen gets a break from braces for a few years before she starts phase II.

 Abe made lots of paper mustaches for Valentines' Day.

 Here are the Valentines he made for his class: "I mustache you to be my Valentine."

Helen gave her classmates rubber band bracelets.  She needed 28 bracelets so we all helped.  

Gibson gave his class store bought Valentines with pictures from the movie Turbo.

 Gibson got a Russian tortoise this week.  Her name is Lily and she is about 8 inches long.

 Brandan and Gibson have been learning about turtles and gathering supplies for a turtle since July.  Lily lives in an aquarium filled with sand in Gibson's room.  Brandan and Gib built a play yard outside for her to use in warmer weather.  She eats hay and fresh vegetables.  Lily is a desert tortoise, but she likes to take warm baths.

 We all think Lily is cute.  

9 February 2014

Abe was recognized as the Student of the Year from his school by the Rotary Club.  He was chosen by the teachers at his school and was honored at the Rotary Club's regular luncheon.

 Brandan and Becky were also invited to attend.  Abe received a framed certificate and his name was engraved on a plaque that hangs in the school.

 Abe's principal also attended the luncheon.  She wrote a very nice introduction about Abe for the Rotary Club.

 Brandan has been playing futsal, a kind of indoor soccer, this winter.  His team is on the older end for the league, but they are holding their own.  Brandan feels his soccer skills are rusty, but he's having a good time and has avoided injuries so far.

 Helen enjoyed our "Chopped" activity from a couple of weeks ago very much so she asked Becky to give her 2 ingredients to make a dish from.  Becky told her carrots and raisins and Helen made a lovely design from the food and then drizzled the plate with honey.

2 February 2014

Sofi went to our friend Nancy's house to learn a new recipe this week.  Nancy is a creative cook and wouldn't tell Sofi what they were cooking ahead of time.  It was a surprise.

It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  They made Israeli carrots, curried cabbage and strawberry shortcake.  All of the food was delicious.

Sofi's Chinese class has been preparing for Chinese New Year for the past month.  Her teacher gave her a Chinese instrument called a hulusi and asked Sofi to learn how to play it.  The instrument makes two tones at the same time and drones a little like bagpipes.  The teacher's idea was that Sofi could accompany her class while they sang Chinese songs for the school.  When it came time to perform, however, Sofi was much louder than the singers so they sang without accompaniment. 

Another local high school has 67 Chinese exchange students and they planned a large Chinese New Year celebration to showcase Chinese culture for their host families.  The ESL teacher invited us to attend.  We enjoyed some activities, a kung fu demonstration and a yummy dinner.  Sofi and Abe learned how to play Chinese chess.

 Helen and Gibson made paper cuts.  Chinese paper cuts are similar to paper snowflakes, but a lot more ornate.

 Here is Gibson's paper cut.

Here is Helen's.

This candy bar made us laugh.  In our family, you might have to move the dividing line to the left to accurately reflect the distribution of chocolate.

 Brandan finished the metal snowflake that he and Helen have been working on.  It was fairly tricky to make so this snowflake will remain unique.

 The solution Helen mixed last week grew some beautiful crystals.