Ben: Second Grade

How on earth am I the mother of a second grader? Next month he turns 9. I'm not even sure what to do with that.

This year got off to a rough start. He missed his first grade buddies, most of which were not in his new class. He missed his first grade teacher. Thankfully things have gotten better since Christmas, and he has gotten a chance to do some creative writing. Have I mentioned that Ben wants to be an author someday? He and his brother are currently writing a book together. I love my boys.

Ben's writing is still funny and creative, just like last year, so I thought I would share...

A Poem

A Short Story (I wouldn't read it if you have a weak stomach...)

(Btw, while he does tend to get air sick, he combined parts of a bunch of different flights into one story - except his dad never called him strange. Ben just thought that would be funny. The story is at the bottom if you can't make it out here.)

And quite possibly the best fractions assignment evah.

(For those of you who can't read it: "2/3 of the darth vaders have light sabers." Love it.)

And I love this boy.

The Crazy Airplane Ride

It was a strange day on an airplane. I was with my dad when he told me we were going on a plane. He took me to the air port. Unforchunatly we got to the air port early. I was bored. So I read a little. Then I got really bored. Then we talked a little. Then I got even more bored. Then I Played with my toys for a little bit, and I got SUPER BORED! Then I wached tv until we got on the plane. When I got on the plane I bored again so I played with my toys again. Then they put on a movie. the movie was called Kung Fu Panda. Then Then the gave me a sticker book to intertain me until lunch. When lunch was served, I ate everything exept the rice. I ate the bread, chicken, tomatos and corn. My dad argued me to eat my rice. Finally I decided to eat my rice. When I did I threw up all over the plane. It was a big mess! It was icky! I hated throwing up. It wasn't fun. My dad went to tell the workers on the plane. I got a big drink of water. I felt like I was going to pass out. My dad took me to the rest room while the workers on the plane cleaned up my throw up. I stayed in the rest room for a long time finally I went back to my seat then we arived at China my dad called me "Strange." now I will never eat rice again.

Portrait of a Lady

It's me. Can't you tell?

Personally, I think my 4 year old is brilliant and a budding artist.

(And I am really missing my old Adobe program where I could've actually merged the 2 scans together, but I haven't updated it since I got my not-so-new laptop. Oh, well.)

Sunday Snapshot: {Ben}

I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up. It seems like Ben should still be my sweet little toddler, learning to walk, but next week he will finish up the first grade.

This has been a year of changes for him. A year of growth. A year of creativity. He has had an amazing teacher who has worked hard to challenge him, which is a challenge in itself.

He has dreamed big dreams.
He writes me poems that melt my heart.
He writes funny short stories, inspired (ok, required) by his weekly spelling homework. *See bottom of post if you can't make out the words...*

In typical little boy fashion, his papers always come home crumpled like this:) He is also working on a new Star Wars story and a Captain Underpants comic book. It's hard to believe this is the same child who swore he could never do it the first time he had to write sentences for homework.

Occasionally he comes home with some.... interesting projects. Including this monster he created on Earth Day.

He was so proud, but thankfully understood when I explained that we would be recycling those water bottles and LJS box. As long as I took a picture first, of course.

He has grown from a sweet little baby, into a sweet almost-eight-year-old boy. I am so proud of who he is, and who he is becoming.

**For those of you having trouble reading the above stories:

• One day in Spring, in the month of march, a bug climbed up a tree to look for his missing gloves and saw some frogs drinking out of cups. When they were done, the frogs read books about trains. So the Bug turned around saw some birds in the tree, and said, "Have you seen my gloves?"
• Once I met a mean sheep with big feet. He said, "Maybe I should destroy Earth." I said, "I can see you want to destroy the planet, but you won't." Then he decided to be friends with me and invited me to eat pizza.

First Grade Art

Ben painted this at school. I am considering framing it:)

Of course I am not biased.

Wonderfully "Wicked"

I don't get out much.

It's true. If it isn't the grocery, library, church, or school, I probably haven't spent much time there in the past seven years.

Which is why I was so excited about using my long-held gift certificate to see a real, professional, with-other-adults play! Part of the reason the certificate was long-held was that it can be fairly difficult to leave the kids alone long enough for anything like this. Emotionally, it's all good. I'm talking logistically finding someone who can take the time out of their schedules and navigate our schedules. Not to mention finding a Saturday where Tim doesn't have to work.

But back to the point of this whole post. The other reason that I had waited was because I wanted to see something really good. I knew there were several small productions coming to town. I knew that there were some cool kids plays that would be showing at Christmas time. But I soooo wanted to have a grown-up day. And I hadn't been to a real theater in years.

In the end, I chose to purchase 2 tickets to see Wicked. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure what it was about. I knew it had something to do with the Wizard of Oz because my friend Maribeth had borrowed my old VHS copy to watch before her trip to New York last year. And I knew it was popular and critically acclaimed because I had seen members of the New York cast performing on various talk shows.

What I didn't know was that apparently people who love Wicked, really love Wicked. I don't think I have ever been in a theater with that much energy before. People were just so excited. Some of them even had emerald green gowns or witch hats. When the lights went down, the audience cheered before the first note was sung.

And it was great. I enjoyed the story, the music, the vocals ("Defying Gravity" has been in my head all weekend) and of course, the social and political commentary. And my date wasn't too bad either;)

Did I mention that the Wizard in this production was played by Larry from Three's Company? (Yes, I am aware that is a very sad little name-drop.)

Oh, and for those of you who are like me and don't know anything about Wicked, it is the back story on the various witches of Oz. It turns out that the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't really wicked, only misunderstood.



And who knew that the Not-So-Wicked Witch and Glinda were roommates?

Will: {Developing an Eye for Art}

I know that I have mentioned Will's developing artistic skills before, but it has been awhile after all. Since then, he has continued to impress us with his use of color and lines. I mean, it still is the work of a 5 year old, but it is impressive to me (who admits to being a wee bit biased).

I am also sure that most of you are aware that Will is ... my ... (how can I put this?) ... child who has taught me the most about parenting. Yes, that is a nice way to put it. Anyway, this past Wednesday he and I were having a ... disagreement. Yes, that is what it was. He insisted on screaming during soccer, and I insisted that wasn't in his best interest. And of course, I didn't lose my temper either. Of course not....

Afterwards, he and I both needed a cool off time. It was time for church, but we opted to take a walk around the neighboring college campus to collect ourselves. It just so happens that the campus has several modern art sculptures on the grounds. I don't know if Will had ever noticed them before or not, but he did on this day. The first one he noticed looks like a teeter-totter. He said, "What is that?" I asked him what he thought it was, and he said, "Well, it looks like a teeter-totter (remember not to pronounce your 'r's), but the kids here are too big for teeter-totters, so it must be a symbol of something." I smiled and said, "You're right. It is a piece of art that symbolizes something, although I'm not quite sure what." (Really, I have no idea. I never did well with modern art.)

Then he spotted another one. "That one looks like a sand castle!" So we talked about the different stones that were used in it. On and on he went. His goal was to find 5 sculptures on campus. (He is five, and thinks this is the perfect number, so everything must come in 5's.)

And today, we did actually get to go out on our date. Our first stop was the library (a place we both love). Right now there is a poster up of Hokusai's Great Wave. I don't know where he has seen it, but he immediately recognized that it was a famous painting and commented on it. He is such a visual guy.

Both days turned out to be such a good, sweet time for the two of us to be reminded that we do actually like each other a lot:) And I love hearing his insight into art. I sometimes joke that someday he will be drawing graphic novels, but I am only half joking. I want to encourage him, but I am not ready to close any doors for him right now. I am positive that whatever he decides to do, he will be amazing at it.

BTW, I wish I could take credit for Will's skills, but much of the credit must go to his teachers, Miss Carol and Miss Ginger, who were the first to recognize his talent and encourage him. I'm afraid my patience in the art department is lacking. (And now I must apologize to Miss Jane, my art teacher. Please forgive me.)

Sometimes Ben Makes Me Cry

This past weekend we went to our church's revival. Before it started, there was a concert where we heard a lot of wonderful praise music. Ben really doesn't like singing (even though his mommy loves to hear him sing). So we found him a notebook, an ink pen, and some coloring pencils. This is what Ben created.

At the top, it says "From Ben to God". It is a drawing of one of the stained glass windows in our church.

And then he wrote this poem:

Let me translate:

Poem About God

I love You

I Squeeze You

But most

I praise You.

Example -(In the first frame, Ben is saying "I love you God". In the second frame, God says "I am God" and they hold hands. Last (I think) they are hugging.)

(Honestly, I'm not sure what is written at the top.)

Anyway, there are always those people who are critical of the way kids behave in church. And while I want my kids to be respectful, I'm really not that interested in the opinions of others. The whole time he was sitting there, he didn't look like he was paying attention. He looked like he was goofing off. But in truth, he was worshipping. Like I said, sometimes he makes me cry.

Proud Mama

I have to take a minute here to brag on my boys. As many of you know, they are not perfect children, but they are awesome. The past couple weeks we have had several reasons to brag, so I thought I would share. (This is especially for you grandparents/aunts/uncles out there.)

I'll start with Will. When I picked him up at preschool one day last week, one of his teachers stepped outside with me to talk. Now, I've never had a "discipline" conversation with his teachers, but I know that he is familiar with the timeout chair there, so I was thinking maybe that was the subject of the day. Instead, she tells me that he is an incredibly creative child who has an amazing use of color in his artwork. Wow! She even told me that another teacher had commented on his butterfly in the classroom. Seriously, a month ago he would only color with the blue crayon, now he is the talented art student. Who knew?

Then yesterday, the dust build-up in my house was out of control, so I told Will he could help me dust. I meant this in a "mommy's little helper whose work I will go back and fix later" kind of way. I figured he would help for like 10 minutes and then go play. Apparently his second hidden talent is dusting, because he probably shaved thirty minutes off my furniture polishing. He would run a dust cloth over everything and then I would follow up with the polish. Then, he finished first, so he did all of the window sills (well, most anyway), and he dusted the air intake vent in the living room. It was covered in filth, and he ran that cloth across every single slat. It is spotless now. Unbelievable. The best part though was when I was bragging on him. He got the cutest grin on his face. It was his "see what a good boy I am" smile. So funny, especially if you know Will.
And have I mentioned that he loves to read too?

Now on to Ben. On Monday, Ben came home to tell me that he was the Star Student of his class this week. Apparently, he got the award because he worked very hard. He loves school and loves learning new things, so to be rewarded for this just made his whole week I think. He got a certificate and everything. He was so proud. He says that he is the line leader for the whole week, and on Monday he got to pick first at "choice time". He got to play on the computer all by himself, which to him was the best part of the whole deal.
Mimi has been here some this week, and I suggested that Ben read to her while I finished up something on the computer today. I hear him read all the time, but she hadn't heard him in several weeks, and she was amazed at how much he had improved. He learns new words all the time. It is so much fun right now. Except I have discovered a few drawbacks to this whole reading kid thing. For one thing, he can read menus now. Ordinarily I would consider this a good thing because it is less work for me, right? Except that now he knows EVERYTHING on the menu, including things that I normally leave off when I read it to him, like ice cream and potato chips and soft drinks. And he tells his brother. On the bright side, he can read the grocery list to me when we are shopping. Anyway, such a smart boy! I have two wonderful sons, and I am very proud of them both!!!

And for those of you wanting a Kate update, we got some photos today that I will try to load tomorrow. I am way sleepy right now, so check back in later.

Update on the family I told you about last week. They were supposed to leave China last night and arrive here today. Hopefully that went according to plan and they are home safe and sound. Read their blog for the whole story, but God has moved in a mighty way to bring that little girl home!