This week Jed was

He worked on his poster over

the weekend including helping

to choose the photos, write the captions

pick the stickers, and then decorate it.

Monday morning he carefully walks the

poster to school taking care to keep it hidden

from anyone who might see it

Even walking into the classroom he slightly bends

the corners to keep his teacher from seeing it before

The Big Reveal

sitting in front of his class and teacher using a pointer

to explain the photos and read the captions

Each day this week he gets to bring in a share

to show his class. Today it was a lego army

jeep and army men from Toy Story.

Friday, the final day, he brings in Harriet & Jack.

In the middle of the week he takes a miscalculated

jump onto the planter box and ends up falling on his face.

Here he is a few days later after the bruise above his

eye and the scrape on his cheek have faded a bit.

Just another part of Jed's big week!

They Like to Move it, Move It

Every spring in a fundraising effort La Madera holds its Jog-a-thon. We used to do read-a-thons when I was younger, and the concept is the same. The kids get pledges for how many laps they will run, and earn more money for more laps. It's usually an exciting morning for the kids, and its always good for me to see them out trying their best and accelerating their heart rates.

Two weeks ago was La Madera's annual jog-a-thon. There are four sessions throughout the morning so that the whole school isn't running at the same time, and kindergartners aren't getting trampled by sixth graders.

Jed's class was the first that morning to run - their "theme" was Olympics and they chose to all wear a version of red, white and blue.

group photo before the running starts

the D.J. emcee leads everyone in some stretches and warm-ups

the kids stop and get their card hole-punched after each lap

by volunteers to count up the number of laps they run

Jed and other first graders and kindergarteners

Jed in action - running and getting his card punched

cooling down afterwards with friends and fruit pops

You have, no doubt, by this point realized that something is

seriously up with Jed's hair. He and Henry have been growing

it out for most of the school year, and Pete and I were of the

opinion that it was time for a haircut.

The boys wanted to wait for Crazy Hair Spirit Day

at our school to shave mohawks in, but

then decided to do it for the jog-a-thon.

Their hair was too long to make it stand up in a mohawk,

and they didn't want to cut the

remaining hair after we shaved the rest.

SO, the result was a long

floppy strip of hair from the front to the back.

It turned out looking way more redneck than So Cal,

and we all pretty much hated it.

But it was fun for this day, and it was gone by the next one.

Next up, Harriet and Jack

their class decided to wear bandanas as their underlying theme

water table and warm-ups

Jack running in the red bandana

a quick look at quick Jack coming around the track

I was helping to man the water table and those kids kept us busy!

Here's Harriet getting a quick drink

I did manage to get a video of her running, drinking, and getting her card stamped

Last to run was Henry

Henry (and his hair) stretching to warm up

Somehow I managed to not get any video of Henry

as I was taking my turn punching the kids cards as they

came around each time. I did get this action shot however.

Henry's class wore red

Henry getting his water and popsicle

(and next to him is a photo of a kid

at the school who wears his hair in

a mohawk - either down and loose

or strait up and spikey - every day)

one day was enough for us.

Crazy Hair Day

JACK

HARRIET

our cute friend Corianne

HENRY

JED

mom at the school whose

hair was actually not as crazy today

Looking Over My Favorite Clover(s)

On this St. Patrick's Day I give you an

ODE TO A CLOVER

This is my long suffering, most forgiving shamrock.

I have been raising and nuturing

it since before any of my children were born.

I got it as an offshoot from my mom's plant which

I believe she got from her

gardening next-door-neighbor extraordinaire Kay.

So it's like always having a part of my mom with me.

Grandma Ann took good care of it for us when we moved

to Thailand for three years, and it now lives out its days

contentedly in our part sun/part shade courtyard.

As mentioned before it receives no special treatment,

and some times it looks better than other times.

Every night it closes up its flowers and lowers its

droopy leaves, but every morning it is there to

greet us with open arms when we wake up.

Also there to greet us this St. Patrick's Day morning:

(the milk is green, can't you tell?)

Shamrocks

(my "Irish" twins and my fraternal twins)

Harriet's shamrock socks

The spirit of St. Patrick -

Jack with his red hair, freckles, and green tongue

Bonus video:

The kids were playing out front after I made them

pose by the shamrock - Jack performs on the pogo stick

notice how "green" our neighborhood is! especially because

it's trash day!

Green was also "the" color at the elementary school today:

Harriet hangs with her crowd

while Jack shoots some hoops

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Twins

Playing in the fountain this afternoon at the Irvine Spectrum

Can you Haiku?

Harriet and her whiteboard strike again