Word Wall

Please read this as if you were Japanese and upside down. (Thus from the bottom right to the top left.) If that's too tricky, just trust Kev when he tells us that this says, "I love Princess Jasmine, Didi, Buzz Lightyear and Mommy and Daddy." That's right, he's making words. Nonsense words, but who cares!?!?

As an aside, please note how sparkly clean my tile looks. That's a first.

Cherub Cheek

Really, there are no words for the sweetness that is Kev.

When he grows up...

...he tells us he is going to be a zookeeper so he can feed the elephants. I'm not sure if he knows that the zookeepers also have to deal with what comes out the other end, but we can save that for a bit older.

Anyway, here's our little zookeeper practicing his zookeeping skills. From front to back, the big cat exhibit, the hippo exhibit, the Buzz Lightyear exhibit and the cast of the movie Aladdin exhibit. It would seem he's hoping to work for Disney, no?

Our Very Own Olympian - For Real This Time!

While the world was watching Whistler (<- mad alliteration skillz there, Amiya would be proud!), Amiya was reading her little heart out. The second grade ather school had a contest to encourage the kids to read. Simple enough - for every 15 books you read, you advance a medal level. 15 for bronze, 30 for silver, 45 for gold. After 45, no more medals (except if you are a Russian prima donna, then you are allowed to award yourself platinum), but you then are competing against your classmates for most books read.

In the period of 12 days of the competition, Amiya read 72 books. Some were chapter books and 5 chapters equalled one book, some were picture books. But all the chicky did was read. And read. And read some more. So much so that her blog about reading is on hiatus - no time to write, only time to read!

Because we are going to be out of town on the day of the awards ceremony, her teacher had her come up to class at the end of the day and announced in front of her entire class that Amiya read the most books and got a special award.

Amiya was very excited - she didn't think she had won.

Can you see the surprise on her face here? That's because not only did she get a certificate, but she also got a homework pass for one free assignment. That's right. One free assignment. That about made Amiya's day. Anything to get out of homework!

And finally, with her certificate by the classroom's Olympic poster. The medals aren't in yet, so she'll get hers when she's back, but really, that's just gravy when a homework coupon is in the equation, right?

Citizen of the Month

These pics are just eye candy for a proud Mommy.

Amiya was Citizen of the Month this month for her class. We're proud of her, but we'd be proud of her anyway. She's a good little kid.

Listening to the opening remarks and very happy to be there.
Getting her ribbon pinned on by the Principal.

Birthday, Part II: Princess Jasmine Proves Dream Do Come True

The day after Kev's party, we headed over to Disney. Because we were redeeming our Give a Day, Get a Day vouchers, we all got buttons to wear to make it known that we were volunteers. In addition, Kev got a birthday button - imagine the delight!

Our first stop, The Magic Carpet ride, of course!

After that, a short wait in line to see Princess Jasmine. Kev was beside himself in anticipation. But when the time came to go see PJ herself, overwhelmed with elation, Kev was unable to make eye contact or even muster the courage to walk forward. We helped, of course, while every grown-up around smiled at his antics.

Aladdin was a bit taken aback that Kev wasn't there for him - it would seem boys gravitate towards him, girls towards Jasmine. Anyway, once it all got sorted that Kev was there for Jasmine and Aladdin was just gravy, it was all good.

The standard pose.

Then, the surprise:

Oh.

Words cannot express.

But lipstick can!!!

We were not able to wash his face until several days later.

After being smooched by PJ, we ambled over to a store selling trinkets and dolls with PJ emblazoned upon them. Kev bought himself a PJ doll with a gift card a friend had given him for his birthday.

Since this day, PJ has rarely left his side.

An analogy to illustrate how strong the love is:

PJ:Kevalin :: Lamb:Mary

We've even been awoken in the middle of the night because PJ has escaped Kev's loving grasp.

We also got to see Woody and Jessie. Kev, hand on heart, is pining for his PJ, not taking an oath.

At the end of the day, two exhausted kiddos. We'd walked a lot, rode a lot, held hands a lot and laughed a lot. The walk to the car was excruciating for Kev and he fell asleep within two seconds of being on the road.

A great birthday for our little man! (And a great birthday for the rest of us, too!)

Birthday Part I

Somebody just turned 4. Can't even believe it. Weren't we just here?

Anyway, it was a Buzz Lightyear theme - although I have been informed that if he could have changed it, Princess Jasmine would beat out Buzz.

We had a very sweet party for Kev - a bounce house (his one request), a rocket craft, a Mr. Potato Head table and some army guys in a sand box. Very preschoolish and (with the exception of the bounce house) very inexpensive. The kids bounced, had lunch and bounced some more.

We have no more than 3 pictures of the party - that's the only thing that didn't turn out like I wanted - I forgot to take pictures!

So, here's the two that are worth sharing:

Our two little Space Rangers. Both in Toy Story attire - before the party, pre-bouncing.

Kev, with his cake. Again, pre-bouncing.

Here's what Kev's cake looked like up close and personal. Please don't mind the wonky fondant work on the left or the sloping cake. The moon's lack of gravity really messed with my perfect work. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The cake was made to be like a samoa Girl Scout cookie - and it tasted just like it. The grown-ups had this cake. Leftovers were sent packing - no need for those in our house!




These were the cupcakes for the kids. They were vanilla (from a box) with vanilla frosting (from a tub). That's what the kids like, so why stress over homemade? Plus cupcakes make easy work of feeding a million Space Rangers quickly.
These were the cookies in the goody bags. I have recently discovered flickr groups of cookie decorators - so the ideas are fresh and fabulous - these are based off of CeRae's design.

This is post-party. Things always get a little dicey post party, don't they?

The day of his actual birthday, Kev decorated his own little teeny-tiny cake so we could sing after dinner.


Opening his present from us - a Zambi elephant. Love at first sight!

Tomorrow: Birthday, Part II: Princess Jasmine proves Dreams Do Come True

Unofficial Science Fair

So, yesterday I told you how the science fair bug has bitten my little chicky and my rooster, too. So much so, in fact, that this past weekend they played science fair the entire day on Saturday. We were issued tickets (hair rubber bands) and could not attend if we misplaced them. We were given stern warnings about being on time - science waits for no parent. This was serious business.

Vinay and I arrived at the ticketing window with hair rubber bands in place. We were granted admission to the fair.

There was just one exhibit: a towering marble run. The hypothesis was unclear and the experimental methods murky. Thankfully no human or animal subjects were harmed in the conducting of said experiment.

Once the marble run was complete, it became clear that what was disguised as science, was truly just a desperate attempt to get us to attend yet another dance performance.
Here, Kev dancing in his usual 'walk-very-quickly' way. The music: Frosty the Snowman.

And then Primary Investigator Amiya, dancing around the marble run totem. Musical selection: Frosty the Snowman.

Somehow, I don't think this experiment is going to garner her a ribbon.

Official Science Fair

Amiya's teacher this year has been very strong in science - something that Vinay appreciates. The concepts that are being taught are not always concrete, but the students seem to have a good grasp of the abstract - not always easy with mixed ability levels, elementary school science supplies and an educational climate that focuses on testing the Rs instead of a broad-scope curriculum. So, in a nutshell, yeah for science and yeah for Amiya's teacher this year.

Amiya's class and her neighboring class conducted an experiment this year to determine which shape aluminum foil boat would hold the most weights - diamond, rectangle or triangle. The students went through the scientific method and then presented their results with text, graphs and graphics.

The work was strong enough to earn a spot in the regional science fair. So, off the Guptas went one Thursday evening to the Sun Dome at USF to check it out.

Here, our budding scientist in front of the class' display:


We had many conversations as we were walking around - Vinay's conversations with Amiya focused on the science used, the questions posed, the ideas probed. My conversations with Amiya focused on the presentations - this one has too many colors, this one is messy, this one is lined up nicely, this one is typed. Of the two topics, Amiya will struggle far more with presentation than she will with science. And since doing well at this event seems to mean a lot to Amiya, she's going to have to think about that.

Because her class did well enough to make it to regionals, they were all invited to the awards ceremony that evening. As a group, they went up on stage to get their class ribbon.

Somehow, Amiya led the charge and got to hold the ribbon while walking across the stage. I hop she didn't elbow her way in there - it's awfully hard to curb your enthusiasm when getting a big fancy ribbon.

So the science bug has bitten my chicky. And my little rooster, too. More on that tomorrow.

In the Spirit of the Olympic Games

I present to you, seven future Olympians.

These are the kids who came to our house for an Opening Ceremony party - we played Olympic bingo, colored shirts with the mascots, had an Olympics inspired meal and watched 14% of the Opening Ceremony. It'd be great if the cermony would start at the time NBC advertised it to start. However, as there was plenty of popcorn in the house, the kids weathered the delay nicely.

Please be prepared for the Olympics in 2022. You are seeing future medalists - there will surely be gold medals in giggling, laughing, running, creating havoc and inducing chaos.