A Bear and an Insect

Today we went to the Civic Center to watch a children's performance by Lightwire Theater.  Ethan and Everett liked it so much, they put on a show of their own tonight.  It was awesome, and Ethan created his costume all on his own!

Ev as a Bear

I can't help but laugh at the face Ethan is making in this photo!!

Bugs in motion!

Behind the scenes... Everett didn't last long with the costume, it was close to bedtime and he didn't like being away
 from Mom in the dark, so I made him a silly hat but he refused to wear it (at least he held it for the photo).

I have a video I will try and link, I uploaded it to Facebook but don't really know how to get it here, so I will do my best.

Library Reading Program

For the month of February, our local library has had a reading incentive program for school age kids.  Ethan turned in his reading log today and got to pick out a free book to take home!

The Magic Tree House bookS have been some of his favorite books to read lately.  They mix non-fiction science and history with an adventure story involving a brother and sister.  Although he would prefer to read non-fiction, he does enjoy these books, and I like them because we can do small unit studies over the facts that he funds out.

Great job Ethan!  Thank you Pleasant Hill Library!

Basketball-er

2013 K-1st Grade Upward Snow Leopards

This is Ethan's first year playing basketball for Upward Sports and he is really enjoying it!  Today he told me that basketball is his new favorite sport (this past fall you might recall that football was his favorite), but then he corrected himself and said that he is sure when football season comes around again, he will think it is his favorite.  Funny kid.

His has practice once a week and games every Saturday; the whole event is pretty impressive.  They have an announcer with music, score board, cheerleaders with a few half-time cheers and he has even had to shoot a few free throws in a few of his games.  The refs are somewhat lenient and will often give a warning before calling traveling or double-dribble, but you can tell the kids are really learning how a real game works.



Ethan, shooting a free throw

The games are actually fun to watch, and we all can't get over how great he is doing!  He is a real hustler out there on the court and isn't afraid to play defense!  He even will sit on the sidelines and shout to his teammates who is open and what to do!  It is a lot of fun to watch.

This past game he scored 8 baskets, with almost every shot he attempted going in.  His team, the Snow Leopards, are doing a great job, but have learned a few times what it feels like to loose a game, which I feel is a valuable lesson that sometimes gets missed at this age.

Go Snow Leopards!!

Vrooming to a Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day and although we didn't really do too much to celebrate, we did make a stop at the thrift store on our way home from Ethan's enrichment classes and found a bike for Everett!!

$5 was the price and I was so excited to find such a great deal!  It is practically brand new!  The retail price on this bike is close to $100, so at $5 I couldn't pass it up!  This is a balance bike, so it is different from a regular bike as it doesn't have pedals and the child doesn't use training wheels.  The idea is that the child learns to balance before pedaling.  I don't know how well it will work, but he thinks it is AWESOME, so that is what matters!

I'm doing it!!

It was a beautiful sunshine filled day so we took it for a spin when Derrick got home.  It is going to take him a few times to figure it out, but already, after about 15 minutes, he was starting to get the hang of it and balanced while he coasted short distances.

Pretty soon he will be zooming around the cul-de-sac with the rest of the neighbor kids!