Sunday, March 16, 2008
Spring Break
Pierce and Anna are both on Spring break from school. Anna got out a day earlier than Pierce, but they both been off since Thursday. While Nora's at work, they're staying with Nora's Mom (her Dad is busy at the tax office).
So far, there's no major adventures to report. Their cousins have also been staying with Grandma and they love spending time with them. So they're pretty happy. The last couple of days they took their scooters and spent a lot of time in the nice weather. Course, yesterday it snowed (yeah, that's Kansas weather).
I've completed both my PMI audit and my PMP Prep refresher course at the local community college -so its time to schedule my PMP exam. Wish me luck, I'm planning on scheduling to take it in the next couple of weeks.
Regarding the proton pack effort, I've created 3 complete mold pulls with varying success. One I've painted and temporarily mounted to a motherboard. The process of removing the styrene pulls from the mold tends to tear them, so I have to repair them, and the repairs are not very strong. It ripped again while I was mounting it to the motherboard (sigh). Next time I buy styrene I'll go with a thicker gauge and hopefully have fewer problems.
-Eric (Dad)
So far, there's no major adventures to report. Their cousins have also been staying with Grandma and they love spending time with them. So they're pretty happy. The last couple of days they took their scooters and spent a lot of time in the nice weather. Course, yesterday it snowed (yeah, that's Kansas weather).
I've completed both my PMI audit and my PMP Prep refresher course at the local community college -so its time to schedule my PMP exam. Wish me luck, I'm planning on scheduling to take it in the next couple of weeks.
Regarding the proton pack effort, I've created 3 complete mold pulls with varying success. One I've painted and temporarily mounted to a motherboard. The process of removing the styrene pulls from the mold tends to tear them, so I have to repair them, and the repairs are not very strong. It ripped again while I was mounting it to the motherboard (sigh). Next time I buy styrene I'll go with a thicker gauge and hopefully have fewer problems.
-Eric (Dad)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Bikes and Soccer
On Tuesday night Pierce had is cub scout den meeting. Anna and I had an opportunity to spend some Daddy/Daughter time together. She decided she'd like to ride her bike to the park. Anna's been riding a two-wheeler with training wheels since last summer. A couple of months ago Pierce got a new bike and she got his, much bigger bike (her knees were hitting the handle bars of her last bike).
While Anna enjoys bike riding, she's usually needed a fair amount of assistance. She may need a little push to get going; assistance with staying on the sidewalk; or just a little parental support. Some time of the last few months a switch inside her must have flipped; she was a bike riding machine. Fast, slow, up hill, down hill; you name it, she did it. She even liked slamming on the brakes and making skid marks on the sidewalk.
Pierce started soccer yesterday (Wednesday). He was very excited to return to his old team. Most of the guys from last fall have returned. He's no longer the youngest kid on the team, which should help with his focus and concentration (at least in principal). Based on the leap forward in Anna's interest and proficiency in biking, I thought I might see similar progress in Pierce over last season. Seems that's not the case. Pierce had a lot of fun at the practice, but he still tends to stand back and let other kids play the game. It'll be interesting to see if that changes over the next few months.
-Eric (Dad)
While Anna enjoys bike riding, she's usually needed a fair amount of assistance. She may need a little push to get going; assistance with staying on the sidewalk; or just a little parental support. Some time of the last few months a switch inside her must have flipped; she was a bike riding machine. Fast, slow, up hill, down hill; you name it, she did it. She even liked slamming on the brakes and making skid marks on the sidewalk.
Pierce started soccer yesterday (Wednesday). He was very excited to return to his old team. Most of the guys from last fall have returned. He's no longer the youngest kid on the team, which should help with his focus and concentration (at least in principal). Based on the leap forward in Anna's interest and proficiency in biking, I thought I might see similar progress in Pierce over last season. Seems that's not the case. Pierce had a lot of fun at the practice, but he still tends to stand back and let other kids play the game. It'll be interesting to see if that changes over the next few months.
-Eric (Dad)
Monday, March 10, 2008
E-I-E-I-Oops
Walnut Grove had a 1st grade musical last Thursday. All the 1st grade classes have been practicing madly for the last month in preparation. Pierce has continually reminded me not to travel on Thursday, March 6 because he has a show.
Coincidentally, I had another Watch Dog day at his school (I helped out for the day), and got to watch one of their rehearsals. It was hilarious: kids missing lines, facing in the wrong direction, not speaking into the mike. I wouldn't change a thing.
Their music teacher has the patience of a saint and really spent a lot of time and effort choreograpying the show. But the night of the show, the kids were 100% improved over the version that I saw.
The show consisted of about 5 songs revolving around the barnyard and opened with a version of E-I-E-I-O. Pierce had the first lines of the performance: "Hi, I'm Old McDonald and I'm a farmer -can't you tell?". His lines came immediately after the 1st song and Pierce didn't know he was supposed to wait for the applause to stop before he spoke, so I don't think anyone heard him.
Most of the 75 1st graders were dressed as farm animals; Pierce was dressed like a farmer with a plaid shirt, jeans, cowboy hat, and kerchief poking from his pocket. Between songs the kids told (scripted) jokes and every kid had at least a couple of lines in the show.
Anna and the other kids in the audience were encouraged to sit on the floor in front of the stage. From the first note, Anna appeared totally enraptured by the whole performance. Afterwards, when we asked her how she liked it her comment was:
"One of the kids was dressed like a dog -I sure would like a costume like that!"
-Eric (Dad)
Coincidentally, I had another Watch Dog day at his school (I helped out for the day), and got to watch one of their rehearsals. It was hilarious: kids missing lines, facing in the wrong direction, not speaking into the mike. I wouldn't change a thing.
Their music teacher has the patience of a saint and really spent a lot of time and effort choreograpying the show. But the night of the show, the kids were 100% improved over the version that I saw.
The show consisted of about 5 songs revolving around the barnyard and opened with a version of E-I-E-I-O. Pierce had the first lines of the performance: "Hi, I'm Old McDonald and I'm a farmer -can't you tell?". His lines came immediately after the 1st song and Pierce didn't know he was supposed to wait for the applause to stop before he spoke, so I don't think anyone heard him.
Most of the 75 1st graders were dressed as farm animals; Pierce was dressed like a farmer with a plaid shirt, jeans, cowboy hat, and kerchief poking from his pocket. Between songs the kids told (scripted) jokes and every kid had at least a couple of lines in the show.
Anna and the other kids in the audience were encouraged to sit on the floor in front of the stage. From the first note, Anna appeared totally enraptured by the whole performance. Afterwards, when we asked her how she liked it her comment was:
"One of the kids was dressed like a dog -I sure would like a costume like that!"
-Eric (Dad)
Fun Fair
Pierce's school, Walnut Grove, had a fun fair last Saturday. A couple of weeks ago, one of the Moms from Pierce's tiger scout pack (who's one of the event organizers) asked for help. The Moms spent a lot of time working on decorations and games. The Dads were asked to build a pirate ship.
Myself and two other Dads worked on the boat. I guess I came to the party with more experience, so I designed the look and structure of the pirate ship. While the two other Dads built the support frame, I cut out the actual ship. By the end of the 6-hour effort, we had a pirate ship with multiple levels to stand on, a captain's wheel, two masts, cannons, and waves built like a pontoon to support the ship. Then we turned the boat back over to the Moms for painting.
Or so I thought. On Tuesday, our family went back over to work on the boat some more. Nora and I did the majority of the painting, with assistance from Anna and several of the tiger scouts. Anna painted the cannons and some of the ships "copper" decorations. The boys helped me paint the waves. Nora laid down the base coat for the ship, then I painted details like the boards and trim. It was fun to do a project with her.
The pirate ship, complete with kid pirates, was located in the main foyer of the school and was one of the first things you saw as you came into the fun fair. The fair features multiple games, a silent auction, a moon bounce, prizes and food. Pierce came home with a "Build your own robot" kit, and Anna came home with a kit for making stuffed animals. Unfortunately, I had my management class on Saturday, so was only able to join the family at the fair for about an hour. But Nora and the kids spent all 4 hours there, along with Nora's Mom. It sounds like they had a great time.
Nora made several pieces of jewelry to contribute to the fun fair and, at the time that I was there, hers were the only pieces getting bids (cool!). We finished the day with a trip to IHOP for dinner -this month they're serving Green Eggs and Ham.
-Eric (Dad)
Myself and two other Dads worked on the boat. I guess I came to the party with more experience, so I designed the look and structure of the pirate ship. While the two other Dads built the support frame, I cut out the actual ship. By the end of the 6-hour effort, we had a pirate ship with multiple levels to stand on, a captain's wheel, two masts, cannons, and waves built like a pontoon to support the ship. Then we turned the boat back over to the Moms for painting.
Or so I thought. On Tuesday, our family went back over to work on the boat some more. Nora and I did the majority of the painting, with assistance from Anna and several of the tiger scouts. Anna painted the cannons and some of the ships "copper" decorations. The boys helped me paint the waves. Nora laid down the base coat for the ship, then I painted details like the boards and trim. It was fun to do a project with her.
The pirate ship, complete with kid pirates, was located in the main foyer of the school and was one of the first things you saw as you came into the fun fair. The fair features multiple games, a silent auction, a moon bounce, prizes and food. Pierce came home with a "Build your own robot" kit, and Anna came home with a kit for making stuffed animals. Unfortunately, I had my management class on Saturday, so was only able to join the family at the fair for about an hour. But Nora and the kids spent all 4 hours there, along with Nora's Mom. It sounds like they had a great time.
Nora made several pieces of jewelry to contribute to the fun fair and, at the time that I was there, hers were the only pieces getting bids (cool!). We finished the day with a trip to IHOP for dinner -this month they're serving Green Eggs and Ham.
-Eric (Dad)
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]