our valentines this year

carsyn... (we found these pop rocks online!)

 luke... (his class is studying birds right now- the pencils have birds on them as well)  :)

 reagan... ("we" made bracelets- school colors for boys, and fun spring colors for girls)

2nd grade chapel

Today Luke's second grade class hosted chapel.  They told about God's redemptive story from the book of Genesis.  It was sweet.

the magic what?!

Today I chaperoned the 1st grade trip to the symphony.  We had the pleasure of seeing The Magic Flute.  If you are like me, then you might be thinking, "Hmmm... I have never heard this story."

Well, here is my version (after seeing the symphony)....

A prince from a faraway land  is chased by a dragon.  Three ladies come and slay the dragon and save the prince.  They tell him that their "feminist valor" saved him and he is indebted to their queen.

In waltzes the queen, shows the prince a picture of her daughter and tells him he must save her from the evil lord who took her away.  The prince immediately falls in love with her (on the spot- without ever meeting her!)  He agrees to save the beautiful princess.  The queen gives him a magic flute in case he needs help.  His sidekick (the queen's bird catcher) comes along too.

The two friends get separated and the sidekick finds the princess and tells her about the prince.  She falls madly in love with him before she even meets him (I know, right?!)

The three meet up in the forest.  The prince finally meets the princess and they agree to their love.  The lord comes and says the prince must prove himself worthy of the princess by agreeing to a test.  He is SO in-love that he agrees and heads off on his quest.

Meanwhile the queen sweeps in and tells the princess that the "lord" is pure evil and she (the princess) must kill him.  The queen gives her a dagger to get the job done.

The princess starts weeping and finds the prince to tell him all about it.  The prince refuses to talk to her (because it is part of the quest).  The princess is SO distressed she attempts to kill herself with the dagger (areyoukiddingme?!)  Before she is successful the lord swoops in and saves her and declares the prince worthy.

And they lived happily ever after...

That about sums it up.  It was very surprising.  Mostly because we took 6 and 7 year olds to see this show.

Now I must say that it is the symphony- the music was AMAZING!  The characters sang most of the words so the kids had no idea what was going on.  Well, except for the part when the princess raised the dagger to kill herself!

Thankfully, Reagan couldn't tell me the story.  All she knew was there was a prince and a dragon and lots of beautiful music.

Best news I heard all day....

chalkboard

I added a chalkboard above my stove.  I love the pop of red against the blue wall.  It will be fun to write  dinner plans, reminders or a little love note...

happy birthday mr. president

Around here we think President Reagan is a big deal.  Not only was he a great president (of my era) he is part of the reason we have a Reagan in our family.  He died the year our Reagan was born.  Maybe, just maybe, she will be president.

Anyway...


Today is Ronald Reagan's birthday.  We decided to celebrate by eating Jelly Belly jelly beans, his favorite....

Here are some fun facts about the President and this unusual treat...

Reagan started eating jelly beans when he gave up smoking in the early 1960's. On his first day as governor of California, candymaker Henry Rowland gave Reagan a big jar of jelly beans, which Reagan put on the Cabinet Room table. That was the beginning of a long tradition of passing out jelly beans during Cabinet meetings. "We can hardly start a meeting or make a decision without passing around the jar of jelly beans," he told Rowland.

Reagan also once said that, "You can tell a lot about a fella's character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful." Sometime later he remarked, "Some political figures have endured in history as lions or conquerors or something equally impressive. It's a little frightening to think California history might record us as jelly beans."


When Reagan was elected President in 1980, Henry Rowland told reporters, "There will be jelly beans in the White House, that's all I can say." True to form, Reagan kept a crystal jar full of his favorite jelly beans (Jelly Belly's) for Cabinet meetings and encouraged his department chiefs to eat them when they needed energy.


Guests at Reagans 1980 inaugural parties consumed 40 million jelly beans --- almost equalling the number of votes he received in the election.  (info from here.)


oh and....


 President Reagan’s favorite Jelly Belly flavor was licorice.

clean

This week the kids tae kwon do studio was running a "clean room" contest.  I am fairly fond of the prize too (a new uniform- which each of my growing kids need) so I put them to work today.  We didn't take it lightly either.  I pulled e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g out and they cleaned it up.  Nothing went untouched.  It was fabulous.  Good thing it was a dreary rainy day- there was nothing better to do anyway.


You will notice a few things as you glance thru these pictures:
1. Carsyn and Luke share a (small) room- they LOVE it!
2. Birds are an important part of our life.

 And then you'll notice that...
1. Reagan is alone in a very LARGE room and she loves it!
2. There s a crib in her room- she reads in it people.  It's for no other reason!

So nice and clean!  For now....

unbroken

This week I decided to jump into the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  I have been wanting to read it for some time but waited until I could give it my full attention.  I had heard it was no "beach read."

If you haven't heard of Unbroken, it is the life story of Louis Zamperini. An Olympic runner turned WWII soldier.  

Here is a brief summary-
In late May 1943, the B-24 plane carrying the 26-year-old Zamperini went down over the Pacific. For 49 days Zamperini and his pilot managed to survive on a 2 man raft.  No food or water, sharks jumping at them every day, daytime blistering heat and cold temps at night.   They were carried 2,000 miles across the ocean into enemy territory.  They were caught and held in a series of Japanese prison camps.  For the next two years Zamperini underwent a whole host of unthinkable tortures.  He survived but in his post-war life he came unravelled.  At the breaking point he was pulled from the depths.  It is an amazing story of redemption.


This book goes into great detail about the life of this brave soldier.  It is shocking and upsetting and revolting and eye opening and amazing.  This story gives you a peek into what soldiers, including my grandfather, had to go through during WWII.    


There are not enough words to describe my thankfulness for the brave men and women who fight for our safety and security.


You must read this book.