Pennies for Peace

The school district and local college worked together to bring Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, to Bend. The schools and community have been collecting pennies for Pennies for Peace for a few weeks. 20 kids from each school were invited to attend an assembly with Greg Mortenson. Ellie was lucky enough to be chosen (probably because I helped with the campaign at her school). I went with her as a chaperone on the field trip. The schools raised $52,000 with more money coming in from the community tonight. That sum is amazing. It is enough to build and staff a school in Afganistan. I was even lucky enough to shake Greg's hand since I was sitting on the end of a row near the door he entered through. Greg told the students that the kids in Pakistan and Afganistan take off their shoes before entering the school to show respect. He then had all of us take off our shoes to show respect for the school we were in. It was a short and sweet presentation with mostly questions to the kids to get them thinking. I was glad to be able to go though and am anxious to watch his lecture tonight. (Tickets to his lecture sold out in under in hour but they are going to be filming it and showing it on OnDemand).

Caden's Valentine Party

Caden had his school Valentine Party today. I brought frosting and cookies for them to decorate. They also played some fun games and made love bugs. The highlight was exchanging valentines. He got quite a haul, pencils, candy, stickers and of course sweet valentines from all his classmates.

Maxwell's 3rd Birthday

Max turned 3 on January 30th. He has gotten so big. He wanted to celebrate by going to his favorite place, Sun Mountain Fun Center. We bowled, ate pizza, and played games. He loved every minute of it. We got Max a Wii fit for his birthday. It is so fun. He loves to play the Wii and is actually pretty good. Max is really starting to communicate and speaks in full sentences, which is great because he was so behind when he turned 2. A lot of his frustration is gone now that he can communicate. Max loves to laugh and play and jump. Happy Birthday Maxwell!

Book Club

I am loving the book club I am in. I joined at the end of the summer and it has been great. We have read some amazing books. We meet once a month to discuss the book and eat yummy food that somehow relates to the book. February's book was my choice, Shanghai Girls. I really enjoyed the book but some found it depressing. Instead of hosting at my house we met at a Chinese restaurant which was really fun. I printed off a Chinese Astrology Calendar so everyone could look up their sign and we all read about our personality traits. I was born in the year of the snake. It was interesting and fun to read and some of us were right on with our sign. Next month is The Help, also a fabulous book! If anyone is interested in joining let me know.

Other titles we have read:

The Book Thief

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (and yes, we did have potato peel pie)

The Lost Symbol

A Thousand Splendid Suns

The Chosen by Chain Potok

Pinewood Derby

No, Caden is not old enough for scouts yet but after the Cubscout Pinewood Derby the stake hosted a Geezer Derby. Ryan and Caden had a great time working on a car for the big race. Their car came in 4th overall. Caden was thrilled to watch the car come down the track. Fun times!

Caden's School

Each month this year Caden's preschool is focusing on a different country. January was Japan and I got to go in for a day and do some fun activities. I made candy sushi out of rice krispie treats and fruit rollups. I also taught the kids some simple orgami. I also showed the kids some items and pictures from Japan that my parents had sent me when they lived there. It was fun and the kids seemed to enjoy it. You can check out more pics at Caden's school blog: http://shiningstarsclass.blogspot.com/