Happy birthday, Aidan!

Yesterday was Aidan's ninth birthday and you can see by the smile on his face that it was a great birthday:


He received many presents and cards from near and far:


And had great fun tearing into all of them:




After a delicious dinner of homemade pizza, out came the cake:


Happy birthday, dear boy!

Open mouth, insert foot

On Tuesday, a letter came home from school informing us that a student in Aidan's class had head lice. No names were given but every child knew exactly who had it.

Here is the email message that I received today from Aidan's teacher:

"One of our students who left on Tuesday due to having lice, came back today. She came in a bit late after the other students were already settled in. From across the room, Aidan yelled to her, asking if she had gotten 'that lice situation all figured out.'

I immediately took him into the hallway and we discussed what happened. I truly believe this was an example of his impulsiveness, not necessarily him trying to be hurtful."

I will never, EVER tell Aidan that I laughed when I read what he said! Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. He was very upset about the whole incident, because he just wanted to find out if she was okay and it "came out all wrong." Yes, indeedy, it did. I think a future in the diplomatic corps is definitely at risk.

Field trip

Today was the third grade field trip to Beaver Lake Nature Center and I was allowed to tag along as a chaperone (no snickering, please). I was not on the starting roster of chaperones but a late substitution; one of the parents had a medical issue with their child yesterday and had to cancel.

The purpose of the field trip was to visit the maple sugarbush and see how maple syrup is made.

Pat, the friendly Beaver Lake intern, told the students what types of trees are tapped and how those trees are tapped:


Here they see and smell a vat of sap boiling down into syrup (that is Aidan's head almost in the middle of the photo):


Pat then challenged them to taste samples of maple syrup and commercial syrup, and then correctly identify the maple syrup:


I correctly identified the maple syrup; it was not as thick nor as sweet as the commercial syrup.

After eating lunch, the class went for a hike:


No students were lost in the woods, fell into the lake, or broke any bones so I guess it was a successful field trip!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And thanks to a mishap with the icing, I am now wearing a bit o' the green.

Aidan vs. the mountain

Our little winter sports enthusiast can now add downhill skiing to his list of outdoor activities. Last Saturday, James' employer sponsored a family ski outing at Labrador Mountain, a ski area south of Syracuse. James used to ski back in the day and while I tried downhill skiing once, I have no interest in ever trying it again. After all, I am the person who can walk across a completely level surface and still manage to trip/fall. So I went along for moral support only and was armed with a book and two knitting projects to help me while away the time.

Class did not start until noon, so James tried to teach Aidan some preliminary moves. Here he shows Aidan how to fall on his tookus:


Aidan spent a lot of time on his tookus that day.

At noon, James turned Aidan over to Shannon, a very patient and kind ski instructor. She soon had Aidan practicing how to use the tow rope, how to snowplow and how to turn. He did an excellent job of listening to her directions and not getting frustrated. After a quick lunch, he went back out to work with Shannon some more before she took him to the top of the mountain.

Here they are getting on the chair lift:


Shannon had some last minute advice for Aidan:


And here he is skiing, with Shannon leading and James following (and taking photos):


Hooray for Aidan! After thanking Shannon at the bottom of the mountain, he and James went on two more trips up and down. While the 40+ temps made it pleasant to be outdoors, it made for less than ideal conditions but at least I knew the slush would slow him down.

As we drove back home, he asked "Can we go again tomorrow?"

Go bananas for reading

I chaired the PARP program this year at Aidan’s school. PARP stands for Parents As Reading Partners but really includes all adults who play an important role in a child’s life, such as grandparents, guardians, and caregivers. The children are challenged to read with an adult for a specific number of minutes over a three week period and record those minutes.

The principal and I chose the theme of Reading Safari - Go Bananas for Reading! All during the three week program we had special activities that related to the theme, and we had guest readers from the community for each class. The students each received an animal-themed bookmark at the beginning and a treat each week - ice cream, popcorn (we called it "PARPcorn") and bananas.

The overall school goal was 93,000 minutes and I am proud to say that they read 170,000 minutes! Their reward for meeting the goal was a visit from the zoo at Wednesday's morning meeting; they saw two boa constrictors, two skinks and an owl. I had the best time watching the students’ faces as they saw the animals, and the rep from the zoo was amazing in the way she interacted with the students. When the owl pooped as she walked it around, she didn't miss a beat and talked about "what goes in, must come out". I think the owl scat may have been the highlight of the presentation for many of the students!

Prizes were awarded to the two top readers in each class plus one honorable mention chosen by the teacher. After the morning meeting, I distributed the prizes (books bags with lanyards and library card holders) and books for each student, chosen by the teachers but purchased by the PTA.

Several parents told me the next day how much their children liked the zoo presentation and this year's PARP program. Of course there was one woman who made a point to tell me that she didn't like the book her daughter received; there is always one, isn't there? I am relieved that it is now over, but I had fun coordinating it and working with both the principal and the school librarian.

Snow long

Our friend Cindy made this cheery snowman for us last year and he has been hanging around on our front door all winter. But after 167.2 inches of snow, what once seemed like a happy smile on his face now looks more and more like a smirk, or even a grimace.

Sorry, snowman, it is time for you to go to the basement.

As of yesterday, this winter ranks as the fifth snowiest winter since 1950. Everyone told us that last winter was pretty mild and unusual; now we know for ourselves just how easy last winter was. And last winter we lived in an apartment and did not have to shovel anything but our front walk. Now that we are homeowners, we have cleaned every inch of the white stuff ourselves. Who needs a gym membership when you can start the day with weight lifting and cardio, just from battling the snow?

On Saturday, the temperature reached 50 degrees and it was raining. Yesterday, we got hit with a winter storm. I knew it was going to be bad when I turned on The Weather Channel yesterday morning and Mike Siedel was reporting from downtown Syracuse. He was right; unofficial totals show that between 10 and 18 inches of snow fell in the past 24 hours in Onondaga County. And today is only the second day this winter that schools have closed.

But spring is coming. The Canada geese are returning; I hear their honks as they come in to land on the river. I know that a harsh winter is the price we pay for glorious springs, mild summers and spectacular falls. And I would rather shovel snow any day rather than experience tornadoes, hurricanes, wild fires or mud slides.

Update: This winter is now officially the fourth snowiest winter in the past 60 years; the most recent storm brought 13.4 inches of snow and the season's total is now an astounding 173.5 inches. Holy cats, that is a lot of snow.

Pyramids

by Aidan

tall
Big
pointed
Egyption
tombs
decaying bodies
Hyroglyphics
Long life
mummies buried
deep inside
Anciant treasure
Strong, sturdy
Pyramids

Note: Displayed here exactly as written by the poet, misspellings, irregular capitalization and all.