Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Award Day--Last Day of School

Well..

It is official--the kids are out of school. I have some pictures I would love to share with you of my wonderful treasures...my kidlets.



Ryan's 5th grade class getting their completion of Elementary School Awards.

Ryan told me before he left for school--I don't think I'm going to get any awards. Yeah...right!
 
Certification of Completion of 5th grade


Reading Excellence Award

Mark Twain Reading Achievement. Ryan read 12 Mark Twain nominated books for 2012 to get this award. His favorite is The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein.

Click the link to learn more about this distinction:
http://www.maslonline.org/?page=1112RAWinner

Ryan and his 5th grade teacher Mrs. B.

Madilyn is not to be outdone in reading excellence. She got the Reading Circle Certificate for 2nd graders. Presented by the Missouri State Teachers Association and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Jacey also qualified for her grade level Reading Circle Certificate. Also presented by the Missouri State Teachers Association and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Family Tree Fact

Have you ever wondered about your family tree?

I have.

I kept watching those commericals put on television by Ancestry.com, and I wondered if it could be so easy. What did I find? Well, I found that it is expensive. However, Ancestry.com does offer a free trial membership. I decided to take advantage of it. I found a cousin that I previously didn't even know existed. He had some information about my family and Ellis Island and when they immigrated to the United States. I was amazed that we could track our family tree (on my father's side) back so far, and then I realized it really wasn't that long ago. My family hasn't really been in the United States for that long--only a couple of generations.

My great, great, grandfather was a little boy when his family made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean on a ship called the Kroonland. William (Wilhelm) Ivanick (spelled Iwanck in the ship’s manifest) and family sailed from Antwerp on September 6, 1902 and arrived in New York on Sept.ember 15 on the ship Kroonland.. Family members included wife Julia and 5 children Anna, Julianna, Karl (Leo), Wilhelmina (Minnie) and Irma. William's occupation is listed as "Miner." Their nationality is shown as "Lower Austian."

www.ellisisland.org For more information about finding your own family. 

Weight 12,760 gross tons; 600 (bp) feet long; 60 feet wide, two funnels, four masts.
Steam tripple expansion engines, twin screw. Service speed 17 knots.
Accommodation 1,537 passengers, 343 first class, 194 second class,
1,000 third class. Laid up in 1926; scrapped in Italy in 1927.

Picture and Information courtesy of Ellis Island Historical Records


http://www.searlecanada.org/volturno/volturno78.html


Friday, May 24, 2013

It's a kindergarten graduation day!



Jacey got up in front of her class and told everyone what she wanted to do when she grew up. She said she wants to be a cook. A restaurant needs to have good food. Her teacher asked what she was going to serve. She said "Everything!" This was news to me. She had always told me that she wanted to be a firefighter.
 
Jacey's Class!



Feeding our faces at the Kindergarten Parent Picnic in the playground.



I asked her what her favorite thing about the playground is--this is what she said she loved.








Apparently Jacey is very into hanging off of things. Preferably upside down !


A proud Mom and her treasure, Jacey!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Plan For This Summer

"I'm bored!"
As a Mom, is there any more annoying phrase to hear twenty times a day from each kid? I have four kids...
The way I combat the I'm bored summer blues is to plan ahead. After a long family brainstorming session we have made a list of 100 things that we would like to do as a family this year. I hope that we can get them all accomplished, but if we can't there is always next summer.
  1. Start a family blog.
  2. Have dad make us a logo for our family blog in Adobe Illustrator.
  3. Go swimming every day.
  4. Have a Yu-gi-oh! family tournament.
  5. Write a script and act out a movie
  6. Chose a summer theme song for each family member.
  7. Visit the St. Louis Art Museum.
  8. Visit Missouri History Museum.
  9. Go camping.
  10. Visit the St. Louis Zoo.
  11. Visit the St. Louis Science Center and Planetarium.
  12. Exercise daily as a family.
  13. Go for a long bike ride or nature walk.
  14. Go fishing.
  15. Enroll in summer reading program at the public library.
  16. Make sidewalk art with chalk.
  17. Have a backyard campout with S'mores.
  18. Have our own family photoshoot.
  19. Have a movie marathon weekend--Star Wars
  20. Have a movie marathon weekend--Super Heros
  21. Have a movie marathon weekend--Harry Potter
  22. Have a movie marathon weekend--Disney
  23. Play Wizard Tag
  24. Have a board game party.
  25. Plan a half birthday for Madilyn and Jacey (slumber party)
  26. Plan summer birthday party for Lexi (Theme: Alice in Wonderland)
  27. Plan summer birthday party for Ryan
  28. Go to a drive-in movie.
  29. Visit the grandparents
  30. Play restaurant and have kids serve the parents.
  31. Watch a baseball game.
  32. Have a graduation party for Mom!
  33. Have our own version of Cup Cake Wars!
  34. Bake a pie from scratch
  35. Fly kites
  36. Go to Old Settlers in mom's hometown.
  37. Go to Festival of Little Hills in dad's hometown.
  38. Go on a float trip in Steelville.
  39. Go to Butterfly House
  40. Brainstorm up a new annual family tradition. Family vote. Best idea wins.
  41. Make a new board game
  42. Make up a new kind of tag game.
  43. Water gun/water balloon war!
  44. Start a new family collection
  45. Karaoke night
  46. Lazy video game day--pajamas and combed hair optional...
  47. Pick berries
  48. Decorate T-shirts
  49. Each one of us make a dish from a different country
  50. Visit the recycling center
  51. Play at a new park
  52. Make play dough
  53. Make homemade icecream
  54. Watch the Frog Princess and go outside and catch fireflies.
  55. Blow up a bottle of diet coke with mentos and then watch Wreck it Ralph
  56. Teach Lexi how to drive
  57. Have family spelling bee
  58. Learn definition to new word and then drive someone crazy using it over and over
  59. Play volleyball together as a family.
  60. Play HORSE or basketball together as family
  61. Wash the cars by hand
  62. Make compost pile
  63. Learn CPR together
  64. Learn first aid
  65. Go bowling
  66. Go skating
  67. Research the family tree
  68. Do a family puzzle
  69. Visit Hannibal, MO.
  70. Go to Meremac Caverns
  71. Transform an something with chalkboard paint.
  72. Go to the beach
  73. Build a sandcastle
  74. Talk like a pirate all day. Arrrggh!
  75. Take in a show at the Muny.
  76. Learn a new dance
  77. Make homemade root beer and then make root beer floats
  78. Learn to play poker--using M&M's instead of chips
  79. Do math worksheet and flashcards to be ready when school starts
  80. Any topping ever imagined sundae/bananna split night
  81. Homemade icecream sandwiches and popsicles
  82. Make homemade lemonade
  83. Go on a road trip to a different state
  84. Go to Grant's farm/Petting zoo
  85. Get up early and watch the sun come up in the east
  86. Write a letter to someone you love and mail it
  87. Fancy tea party with finger sandwiches and biscuts (cookies)
  88. Go to water park like Raging Rivers
  89. 3-legged race and pillow case relay races in backyard
  90. Scavenger hunt
  91. Riddle contest
  92. Make candles
  93. Visit St. Louis Children's Aquarium
  94. Dip our own candles
  95. Make soap
  96. Go see an air show
  97. Learn to make birthday cake pancakes and serve them for everyone's birthday this summer.
  98. Grow home grown tomatoes and work in mom's garden.
  99. Fly kites
  100. Have a day watching old black and white movies.