Science Fair

Tomorrow is the science fair at school and after the kickoff presentation where Jack had a chance to ride on a hovercraft, he decided he wanted to build his own. Yikes! I found a great website that had different levels of projects designed around building a hovercraft and finding out how they work. We successfully built a mini hovercraft out of a CD, a valve, and a balloon and it worked as intended by creating an air cushion to reduce the friction, allowing it to freely glide. It was a fun, easy project and I think he learned a lot. He has aspirations of building a "real" hovercraft that he can ride on. I think we may need Papa to help with that one!

Little artists

Elizabeth has been taking weekly art classes at a local studio all year and she absolutely LOVES it. It is fun watching her explore her creativity and her love for art has blossomed. Jack joined her for a class on Monday where they made robots out of recyclable materials. My favorite part of Jack's robot is how he made glasses using Q-tips and the cardboard from tape rolls. I just love watching how his brain works!

A second grader

I can't believe he is now a second grader! I like to compare the first to the last day of school pictures each year. The school year went so fast. He learned so much and is now a confident reader and a rocket math pro.  His favorite subject in school was math and he loved playing soccer at recess with his buddies. He kept his teacher, Mrs. Gray, on her toes with all his questions!

First day of First Grade

Now a second grader!

First 5K

Jack joined the running club after school this year to train for the Cellcom 5K in May. We ran the race together, the first 5K for each of us. I let him choose the pace we ran as I hoped to take it a little slower since I was running the half marathon the next day. It was a very warm day and he did a great job considering the heat. I think if I pushed him he could have ran even faster than his 28:33 time. He wasn't even winded when we finished. I'm so proud of him and hope to run many more races with him.

Early in the morning-ready to race!

Stretching!

He did it!

Playing Catch Up

Phew, this summer has been busy and is flying by. I type this while listening to one of my neighbor's fireworks shows (I both LOVE that WI is a legal state to buy fireworks and HATE that WI is a legal state to buy fireworks!). Anyway, I will try to play catch up for my lack of updates the last few  months. I would be a really bad mommy if I didn't include Elizabeth's 4 year old birthday pictures from last November (yikes, I am bad!).
We had a wonderful time celebrating our very loveable, yet sassy, princess Elizabeth!

Four! Dressed in her favorite color, pink!

She wanted all her favorites for her birthday dinner including, mac 'n cheese, blueberries, sweet pickles and fruit snacks!

Yummy cupcakes!

She's ready to open!

She was so excited to finally get a pillow pet

A princess dress for princess Elizabeth

 

Dance Recital

Elizabeth had her first dance recital in May. She did a great job remembering her routine, and wasn't afraid to be on stage in front of a large crowd in a huge theater. She loved her year of dance and asked me almost every day "if today is a dance class day?".

Science Fair

Jack participated in the school science fair last week by entering an interest project about how islands (both volcanic and coral) are formed. He learned a lot and he did a wonderful job presenting the material and mastering a very difficult topic. I was so proud to watch him! He is truly interested in the "how" and "why" of how things work so this project suited him perfectly. A couple of pictures of my little scientist (makes his retired scientist mama proud!).