Movin' on Mondays!

For her 7th birthday Katy asked for and received gymnastics lessons. She goes with her good friend Kate every Monday evening. This week she focused on kartwheels on the floor beam and backwards rolls. Here's a peek at her rolls. She does an excellent job of staying on the line while tumbling.

Surprise, Surprise!

Sydney discovered the camcorder function on my camera a couple of months ago on a trip to Hot Springs. I was downloading pictures a couple of weeks ago and when the thumbnails appeared on the screen I thought to myself, I don't remember taking a picture of the den floor...

Sydney had left me a little surprise. When she talks about painting, she's talking about Wes letting the girls paint the back of the house on the patio. The Red Day she's referring to is the Just Say No To Drugs campaign at school. Sydney took 1st place in her class from kindergarten through 2nd grade. This year we had our Alexander afternoon at the dentist scheduled and she wasn't there for the competition, but trust me she was red from her headband to her socks!

Chick Magnet

While out shopping the other day Zach says to Wes:

"You should get a sweater vest - they're chick magnets."

Wes is taken aback for a moment and asks, why they are chick magnets. Zach explains that at the moment he (Zach) seems to be repelling the women and since he doesn't own a sweater vest, this MUST be the reason... I love Zach's humor. During the last 12 months he has really developed a good sense of humor and can crack jokes about and poke fun at himself. He has joined a youth basketball league and practices are underway. Games start 12/3 - Go GRIZZLIES! His social advancement (talking) during school is not popular with the teachers. We received an email from the Geography teacher about him putting his head down in class and napping. His grade in that class??? - 99 average. It's tough to come down on him hard with a grade like that.

The Big Muffin Pow Wow!

Several nights ago at dinner, the question was asked: "What is a Pow Wow?"

Wes' response: "It's where a bunch of girls sit around together and one girl punches another girls and says 'Pow'. The girls who is hit obviously yells "Ow!"

Hence, Powow!

A busy night at the Alexander house. Sydney is participating in a Brownie Pow Wow event this coming weekend where she will learn about indian customs, habitats, and food. To get ready, she decorated an Indian vest made from a brown pillowcase. Katy couldn't stand to be left out. Good thing pillowcases are sold in pairs!

After decorating their outfits, the girls made muffins for tomorrow's breakfast - blueberry cheesecake and strawberry. YUM!!

Open House at FES!!

Tonight was Open House at Farmington for Katy and Sydney. First we stopped by the cafeteria for some yummy BBQ. Mmmmm! The girls were not as excited as Wes about the menu, so when they finished pushing the meat around on their plates, Wes was happy to finish their dinners for them. Then it was off to the classrooms....

First we stopped by Sydney's class. Ms. Crockett proudly demonstrated the clickers and smartboard. We also watched a video of Sydney's speech while she was running for "Governor". She didn't win the election, but had a fantastic platform of: support for senior citizens, picking up the trash, and providing more crosswalks! We were able to bring home her diorama of a yak in its habitat and her worm habitat (yep - a couple of worms in a cup of dirt with a hole at the top). I hope the worms stay put today, as we had to leave them in the house since it was so cold this morning....Here is a picture of Sydney's desk. We couldn't believe it was so clean and organized. Then Ms. Crockett told us she made the kids clean out their desks today. Figured I'd better get a picture of this while it lasted.

Then we visited Ms. Cooper's 2nd grade class with Katy. We had to take a quiz of Katy's favorite things (color, friend, restaurant, book). Seriously, book???? This kid reads a book every three days. I can't keep up with what she's read!!! Katy will be grading our quiz tomorrow and let us know how we did when we get home. From her class we got to bring home the green-haired monster (sock filled with soil and grass seed).

After the classroom jaunts, it was time to head for the gym to the raffle and silent auction. Each girl had 25 raffle tickets. Sydney spread hers out between the music basket, girls sports basket, and the Nintendo DS drawing. Katy picked the girls sports basket, Ipod Nano, and Nintendo DS. I think the girls sports basket got maybe 3 or 4 tickets and the rest were shared between the Nano and DS boxes.

We're keeping our fingers crossed!!!!