Last Day of School!

This morning is the last day of school for the boys! There is all kinds of stuff going on today so this entry will be short but J has had some fun the last few days at school. First of all, he decided what he wants to be when he grows up...

His class has also been having lots of outside time, picnics and ice cream parties. Here they are yesterday enjoying a cold treat!

And although Jonathan did not want to take pictures today, I got to take a selfie with my favorite person at Pembroke--Ms. Kasey! She was sporting her "summer" shades...

Chris had his awards ceremony today where he was recognized for serving on Safety Patrol and also received a Spanish award for scholarship, respect and willingness to speak Spanish even outside of the classroom!

Christopher is also very excited to start playing the clarinet this summer! He will begin lessons in June to prepare for the band which starts in fifth grade. He will continue piano as well but Mackenzie is on a break for the summer because she just had her second baby!

Best Buds

In January, a new boy named Rooney joined Jonathan's preschool class. Kind of right off the bat, the two of them became best buds, bonding over Legos and superheroes. Rooney's mom sent me these pictures from drop off one day and told me they were talking about playing superheroes at recess that day. Look how excited they are!

Can't wait for these boys to play together this summer!

Friends

The abundance of rain and moderate temperatures this spring has been fantastic for the greens in our garden! I've been making salads, kale chips and, most recently, kale smoothies (never fear--with mango and banana too). This morning I went out to pick my kale for the smoothie and found a friend while I was washing off the leaves. He also happens to be a J-shaped friend so Jonathan will be happy when he hears about this. I put him, and his small leaf, back outside to enjoy the window of sunshine we are having today.

And here is our little Irish hurling player...

Apparently he plays for county Kerry!

Snake!

Jonathan didn't even tell me about this until we checked the day's pictures but Mrs. Thomas, one of the teachers in the Early Childhood building, brought her pet snake in to share with the kids. Apparently, Jonathan was not afraid!

Poetry Slam

Christopher's class has been working for a couple months on a poetry unit. They've written countless poems, studied different forms and techniques, and read a lot of examples of poetry. Today, they presented a selection of their poems at the Westport Coffee House. It was great to hear the poetry of the kids and to see them get up on stage a present their work. Here are Christopher's selected poems...

The first poem is called "My Story" and followed a form where they had to fill in different "answers" to questions about things in their lives...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n08gRneglc&feature=youtu.be

This next poem is an acrostic called "Hope..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxYcusrSsME&feature=youtu.be

This one is called "The Reason" and is a cinquain about loss. Yes we have a deep child but all the kids had to write about loss...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-pT2EZDeI4&feature=youtu.be

Christopher's class is participating in the KC Writing Project, which is a program that connects students from different Kansas City neighborhoods. It pairs students as "pen pals" where they write to each other about their different experiences. They also learn a lot about the racial divides that exist in our city and they learn and discuss topics like race, bias, prejudice and other important issues. Most importantly, though, they learn about the similarities we all have as human beings. This poem is a series of haikus reflecting on these discussions...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1WBwtUCCM&feature=youtu.be

"The Neighborhood" also reflects on the KC Writing project and is another acrostic that Chris chose to read...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Mj3jNtTQQ&feature=youtu.be

Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy birthday to Daddy! We don't know how you keep turning 25 every year but we are constantly amazed! Daddy and I went out for a nice dinner last night and we will celebrate more today. Jonathan is looking forward to going to Chuy's and having his mystery birthday treat tonight!

Yesterday was a very rainy day so we did a lot of inside stuff. Chris helped me make a "braised kale with cranberries and pine nuts" recipe with kale from our garden...

He has been doing a lot of physical therapy exercises to get his leg and foot strong again and yesterday he put on his hard shoes for the first time to see how it feels. He's not able to dance full speed or do jumps but there was some trebling going on!

Field Trips

For this school year, Christopher was part of the safety patrol, aka the kids who open the car doors in the morning and make sure kids get into school safely. Yesterday, as a special treat for the safety patrollers, Chris and his friends got to go to a Royals game in the afternoon. It was a great time for everyone (except the Royals, who are apparently awful this year) and Chris had a lot to share when he got back. The picture above is with some of the safety patrol kids and Christopher's friend James (in the suit) who got to be "Vice Principal for the Day" with Dr. D!

Today, I got to be a chaperone on Jonathan's class field trip to Buca di Beppo! They have been studying food this year and we got a tour of the kitchen and then the kids got to eat a huge Italian lunch, complete with cannoli! It was a fun morning with the Plaza Room...

Mother's Day and Other Fun

I know, this is a picture of Daddy on Mother's Day but it was a little tricky to get a good picture of J and I because he was flopping and moving all over the place! Anyway, the boys gave me a lovely Mother's Day including getting to stay in bed until after the sun came up and breakfast prepared not by me. They also took me out to dinner at Cafe Gratitude and I was able to escape to a coffee shop with a book for an hour or so. We also had a nice brunch at our house with Grammy in the morning so all the moms were covered!

On Saturday (which was quite rainy), we went downtown to the Airline History Museum. Chris has been there a bunch but it was Jonthan's first time...

Also, Chris is seen below modeling one of the new polo shirts sent by Grandma Jan. Thank you!

And this morning, we had a baby shower for Mrs. Marklewitz! All the kids brought in books for the baby (Jonathan brought The Little Engine That Could) and signed them. The kids got to play a couple games and had snacks too. It was a fun way to celebrate!

Mother's Day Gifts

This morning, I dropped Jonathan off in his classroom and was surprised by these beautiful gifts from him!

I love that my favorite food just happens to also be Jonathan's favorite food!!

State Fair

Today was a fourth grade tradition--State Fair! The fourth graders each studied one state in depth and created a presentation that also included a commercial about why you should visit their state. Chris studied Arizona and did a great job presenting it to us and everyone else who visited his booth. Sadly, no one chose the great state of New Jersey, a fact I brought up to Christopher's teacher. I was all ready to congratulate the student and tell them they chose the best state in the country but no one was ready to tackle the challenge.

These Boots Were Made For Walking

Kind of...

And yesterday, when we went to pick up Chris from a friend's birthday party at a downtown arcade, Daddy showed off a bit of his Street Fighter moves that he remembers from his childhood...

Picture Day!

We went down to the Crossroads (aka--Mommy and Daddy and Kasey's old stomping grounds) for our "every few years" pictures with Mike and Julie! The boys got decked out in buttons and jeans and the morning was beautiful. We'll share when we get them!

PJs and Food

Jonathan is debuting his new summer pajamas, courtesy of Grandma Jan! This pair is Snoopy atop a bomb pop (or as J pointed out, the French flag). Of course, he had to throw in a couple more poses...

Exciting news! We picked our first batch of lettuce tonight and made a yummy salad. I prepared the lettuce and my sous chef (aka-Christopher) chopped up the veggies to top it off. Here is the before and after...

Cooking in our house is sometimes a team effort and I've been trying all kinds of new vegan recipes and testing them out on the family. Here is a South American dish known as arepas (like a baked corn meal) topped with Brian's Cuban beans and fried plantains and also a side of roasted broccoli...

Tonight we tried Chef Chloe's vegan eggplant parm with cashew mozzerella and it was delish...

Our garden salad was the side for that one! And this past weekend, we went to the annual Seder at the Groden's house and I brought these potato kugel "muffins" to share.

This is becoming a food blog! Never fear, mostly we'll be updating you on the kids but now that the garden is starting to come alive, I plan on sharing more recipes!