Cute Things They Say on a Sick Day, The Almost-9-year-old Version

Waiting for her mom to finish blog posting to make her some lunch:

"I'm going to digest myself pretty soon."  --Wynne, age 9

Ride My Harley?

"Ride My Harley" was the working title of Cy's group's National History Day documentary.  Funny how none of the 4 boys (Andrew, Will, Jaydon, and Cy) are very interested in Harleys or motorcycles, but they did find the topic interesting enough to spend a few months researching and creating a documentary about it.  This company has some interesting roots and a positive legacy in our state and around the world, turns out....and the boys' work was good enough to qualify for ALTERNATE to the NHD STATE competition next month! (I've posted the video from Youtube in another post.)

Great job, guys!

All of those after-school hours (yuck!) were worth it, right?

I'm personally very proud of my son for all of his work with research, writing, and audio. ;) Sorry I yelled at you;)

The Legacy Of Harley Davidson (Cy's group's NHD documentary)

Twin Hams Turn Twelve!

March Madness means basketball games, brackets, and two birds in our house having a birthday!

They've been really busy the past few months on their National History Day project, an exhibit honoring the Leadership and Legacy of Vince Lombardi!

Even the Bears Fan helped a little bit :)

planning the timeline (each yard line marked 5 years of Lombardi's life)

 This is the project that won at the local contest and took them to Regionals!  Way to go, girls!!

 As their library teacher, I helped all of the 6th graders with the research process and with developing their thesis.  Shae and Paige had a GREAT thesis, if I do say so myself;)  This is (in my opinion) the most important part of the whole project because it drives your research and how you present the information that you find.

 Right after the local contest, we had about 15 girls over (the entire 6th grade girl contingent) over to our house for a Saturday afternoon.  The girls wanted to share a big cookie cake and ice cream with their friends!

Happy 12th Birthday, Paige and Shae!
Unbelievable.  Now you can sit in the front seat of the car!

 Their friends were too generous.  I mean, the girls received more gifts than I can remember! Shoes! clothes! stationery! drawing pads! giant unicorns!

 The month concluded with a trip to the NHD regional competition in UW-LaCrosse.  Bonus:  we got a tour of the physical education/training building by their cousin Kaycie! (thanks honey!) And we got out of school for a day :)  We took 9 entries (4 exhibits, 4 documentaries, and 1 performance) and competed among 399 students with 250 entries.  I know the girls were very disappointed not to qualify for state (they only take THREE exhibits....out of UMPTEEN entries), but they were asked to display their work at the LaCrosse Public Library, which is a big honor.  I'm just so proud of all of the kids - and especially our twin hams for all of the extra hours (on weekends, nights) they put into their research projects.

 There were a lot of amazing student entries.  Lombardi held its own with the best of them!

See? a crowd favorite :)

Happy Birthday, Paige!

Happy Birthday, Shae!

We're proud of your hard work at school and the enthusiasm you bring to learning!!

Love, Mom and Dad

An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.--Proverbs 18:15

Cute Things They Say, 3rd Grade Edition

So our niece Megan's husband Jeff is a 2nd grade teacher in Potosi now, and he gets to see Wynne frequently (since they're both "in elementary school" together).  Jeff grew up near Chicago and was a child actor.    Wynne's teacher was telling her class about how Mr. Wiseman was in "Home Alone", and Wynne (having seen the shack that Jeff's renting in Platteville as Megan and him do the long-distance relationship between Platteville-Sun Prairie) says,
"Even though he has millions of dollars, he lives in a bad house."

I don't what's more amusing- - does Wynne think that teachers make millions of dollars? Or that a child actor in his 30s would be a millionaire?  Either way you look at it, it's pretty funny. (especially in Scott Walker's "I'll Never Vote for Right to Work" State!!)

Wintertime Projects

The winter is long.  The schoolwork is demanding.  There's hardly any time to update photos and this blog!  But once in a while, things actually get done! (especially when Mark does them;)

First winter project:  remodel Cy's room.  Mark and Cy took down his bed (he was too big for it), tore the barnboard off of the walls, textured the walls, painted, trimmed, and moved Ally's bed into Cy's room.

 It looks so much more spacious and clean now!

Great job, guys!

 The end of January is Mark's birthday....sorry I have no idea why this picture uploaded sideways.

 Happy Birthday to you, Dad/Mark!  Also to Mickey a few days later!  Terrible Two.  And how.

 Next winter project:  make a bed/shelf unit for Ally.  Ally designed it and Mark made it.  They both painted and moved things around in her room.  Isn't it fantastic?

 I can't believe almost a month has passed since Valentine's Day...we had a great one!  Mark and I spent the night before at dinner and a show with my mom, sisters, brother, and their spouses.  Then it was time for our annual fancy dinner.  Always a crowd favorite!  The kids are getting bigger around the table!

 March brings school, music, forensics projects.  Ally just had her subdistrict speaking contest and will be competing in the 4-minute at conference next weekend; in a few days she will be in the conference honors band.  Wynne just had fun dressing up for Dr. Seuss week (especially Red Carpet day, fancy dress!).  The twins just finished up basketball, and now Paige and Wynne are rehearsing for the school musical next month.  Meanwhile, Cy and the twins are putting the finishing touches on their National History Day projects.  Paige and Shae are doing an exhibit on Vince Lombardi for this year's theme "Leadership and Legacy".  Is that a Bears fan I see helping them????

Stay tuned for contest results!!The writer of this just spent about 8 hours organizing the schedule, judges forms, contacts, etc. ..................
Never a dull moment, especially as winter drones on and we are itching for spring!!!
We know it's coming :)

Blessed are those who have not seen Him and yet believe. --John 20:29