Stars of the Week

The past week or so has been full of shining stars!

First star up is Billy! He was the star of the week in his Kindergarten class, which meant he brought to school several Lego Creations, photos, books and several other "keepsakes" Bill has been collecting. He spent the week as the center of attention and even had his Dad come to school and read his favorite books! To say Bill has a favorite would not really do justice to his love of books. The kid goes to the library about once a week and checks out about a dozen books brings them home and make anyone who is around read to him. He is very close to reading himself and when that happens we will never see Bill again. A few highlights of Billy - he likes:legos, hot wheels, black olives, brocoli, green beans, gymnastics and swimming.


It is hard to believe that Nikki came home 2 years ago but alas it was Nikki's Gotcha Day. She was well taken care of by the kids but Kay especially was attentive to Nikki's needs. So much so she spent a couple of hours searching the Internet for dogie cake recipes, I kid you not. After relentlessly looking she came up with a recipe, and thank God we had all the ingredients and made a bundt cake for Nikki. Nikki for her part torn into the cake with gusto and looked at Kay like she was some kind of cake god or something. Nikki has settled into her role as pillow, make up practice doll, friend and companion.

The next star of the week rose above Kay. She made her Star of the Week poster showcasing her artistic skills while also featuring her stubbornness about rules thus coloring outside of the lines. A few highlights of her poster: tochuring my brothers, cooking, gymnastics, korean food, the color green and Nikki. Then Kay brought the poster, her Hanbok, gymnastic trophy and several other items to create her Star of the Week corner at school (we had to talk her out of bringing a suitcase with 1/2 her room). This year the "Star" was given the option of reading one of their favorite books to the class and Kay chose BI BIM BOP, a the story of a young girl and her love of rice. really the story is about how to make this Korean recipe which is a rice dish. Kay's teacher pulled me aside on Friday, after she Kay read the story, and told me Kay was very confident and handled the story and question and answer session with ease.

Jimmy finally did his Mascot presentation. For those of you who havent heard the mascot saga, it goes basically as... In November they had to sign a contract on a personal research project. It had to be something they could present to class and couldnt be anything they already knew something about (and absolutely NO written reports). The research project needs to be completed by 3/18 and needless to say, months for a 3rd grader is a really long time to keep sustained interest. He chose mascots and began his research with gusto. The issue, once he learned everything he wanted to know, he promptly lost interest in his project and didnt want to present. It took quite a bit of cajoling but he finally put together a jeopardy game about mascots (5 categories, about ... being.. crunch...viktor the viking and goldie). He presented this week at school and it was a wild success. Whew! I'm glad my (I mean Jimmy's) mascot project is over!

Pre Valentines from Kay or otherwise known as passive agressive Valentines

Kay decided the other day that we all needed to have a Valentines card, homemade from Kay. She also made special containers and filled them with the candy that she had hidden in several crevices around the house (many of which had been hidden for AGES! I think I recognized some Easter candy in the mix).

Here is what the cards said:
Dear Jimmy you are a nice brother.
I know he be's mean sometimes but that doesn't mean I don't love him. But I also like playing football with him and wrestling.
Love; Billy for Jimmy

Dear Billy I think sometimes I call you Bunku but I still love you.
Love :Kay
For: Billy

Dear Mom and Dad: Even though you sometimes yell at me I still love you
Love Kay
For: Mom and Dad

She created separate card for Mom and Dad that each said we are a nice Mom and a nice Dad, however the cards were addressed to Tom and Tracy.

The other day Kay came home from school obsessed with having marshmellows to the point that she was completely crazy. Now giving the kids marshmallows is not a big deal however, we did not have any which completely drove her over the top. She then put herself on a time out and came off her time out and slipped this card onto my lap:

Sorry Dad,
Dear Dad, I am sorry can you forgive me I hope you can. Love Kay
ps: I love you I am sorry about the marshmallows thing.

Kay is very much her own guiding light.

Thank god she loves us inspite of our faults. We love her too:)

Sports Update

Basketball is in full swing here and Jimmy and the Wildcats ( get your head in the game) are off and running. To quote Jimmy "Dad never before in my life has any team started off 2 and 0!".

The third graders were in for a rude awakening that cold January evening when they wandered into Davis Gymnasium to meet their new coach - Bernie. Jimmy was upset that Dad was not coaching again this year and did not want to play for someone he did not know. By the end of the first practice Coach Bernie had the boys towing the line and following basketball protocol to the point that Jimmy said " Dad Bernie is great- he really pushes us, it is awesome, last year the coach was way to easy on us", Hey... that was me!

Practice and enthusiasm have payed off and the Wildcats are 2-0, while it has not been pretty, a win is a win. Jimmy and his team mates have racked up 64 points on offense and only allowed 39 points on defense. This past Saturday it was a real nail bitter with the Wildcats pulling out in the last 10 seconds winning 32-31 crazy. All parents were nervous wrecks - what the heck are we going to be like in high school?!

Here is the last 3 minutes of the game - you will need to watch both videos to see the ending!:
(small technical issue - give us a few days to sort out and check back for the highlights:))



In other exciting sporting news - GO PACK!! Big hugs to all my packer fan compariots and my condolensces to the "other" team:)

Happy Ground Hogs Day!!

Our dear friend Jim is a MAJOR Ground Hogs Day fan. He celebrates this above the ranks of Christmas, Thanksgiving and the other winter holidays. (Actually this says more for his distain for those holidays than it does for his love of the hog). In fact, he's always said that if he had kids, he'd raise them to believe that Ground Hogs Day is THE event of the year. (the therapy bills have been blatantly underforecast for such a mindset. Can you imagine kids going to school, wondering what all the fuss is about around Christmas and wondering why there isnt more comericialism around Ground Hogs Day?)

Needless to say, we indulge this quirk of Jim's and celebrate with him. Plus, who can argue that spring is right around the corner when we've experienced the snowiest winter in 25 years?! We all need a sprig of hope:)

How do you celebrate? Watch "Ground Hogs Day" (Angelas favorite movie) and get ready to cheer for the Packers...

So, here's the official media wire on this holiest of days....


PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - The world's most famous groundhog predicted an early spring Wednesday, but wasn't willing to go out on a limb to forecast whether the nearby Pittsburgh Steelers will win Sunday's Super Bowl.
Punxsutawney Phil emerged just after dawn on Groundhog Day to make his 125th annual weather forecast in front of a smaller-than-usual crowd who braved muddy, icy conditions to hear his handlers reveal that he had not seen his shadow.
Including Wednesday's forecast, Phil has seen his shadow 98 times and hasn't seen it just 16 times since 1887, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle, which runs the event. There are no records for the remaining years, though the group has never failed to issue a forecast.
Two years ago, Phil's forecast also acknowledged the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl XLIII win the night before. This year, Sunday's game was mentioned in the forecast but no winner was predicted between the Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, who meet in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV.
"The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl," Mike Johnson, vice president of the Inner Circle, said just before the forecast was read, drawing cheers from the clearly partisan crowd gathered on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in this borough of about 6,100 residents some 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
The Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in a German superstition that says if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2, the Christian holiday of Candlemas, winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.
In reality, Pennsylvania's prophetic rodent doesn't see much of anything. The result is actually decided in advance by 14 members of the Inner Circle, who don tuxedos and top hats for the event.
The celebration usually draws 10,000 to 15,000 spectators when it falls on a weekday, Groundhog club spokesman Luke Webber said. The area was under a winter weather warning and while heavier snows and sleet never materialized, rain falling in about 35-degree temperatures made for a below-average crowd, said Webber, who offered no specific estimate.