Tag: seattle

Back to (Remote) School

Today Ezra joined his older siblings for his first day at McGilvra (technically Gloria and Micah’s second day). Pandemic education is quite a different setup, but the kids got decked out in their spirit wear for the virtual all-school assembly, and they seem to be taking it impressively well. And at least they are all on the same schedule, we’ll see how juggling working and schooling from home goes (fingers crossed). Family goal for this year is to sustain the smiles through the year. Off we go!

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The Little Kitten

The kids had a play date this morning, where our friend told us that his daughter has been setting up a stand in front of their house for selling art to passersby.

She did a brisk business drafting personalized cards for mother’s day and this morning was working on some storybooks. This was a lot of fun for Gloria, who never tires of reading and writing.

IMG_6066Artists at work

Here’s the result, a short story about a kitten that makes a friend:

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Anime Self Portraits

Wednesday evening was a Vocal Concert at Gloria and Micah’s elementary school. Each class sang a few songs conducted by the music teacher. Following the concert we had the opportunity to view “The Art of Anime.”

Each year the students create self-portraits according to a theme. This year the students requested that the portraits be “anime-inspired” (last year’s theme was Picasso).  In preparation for the evening they made “galleries” for each class in different sections of the building. It was a fun Art Walk with an associated scavenger hunt, where we had to find Totoro amidst each gallery.

Of course my personal highlight was finding Gloria and Micah’s self portraits during my walk. Here they are:

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Player’s Gonna Play

While we had gotten to celebrate Gloria’s birthday with family earlier this week, today Gloria got to party with her friends at OmCulture. It was a fun-filled afternoon of gymnastics, dress-up, and ice cream cake!

As a special treat, Lauren also captured a classic video of Micah. Micah has always seemed to have a natural desire to dance. There are times that we’ll be listening to music or singing together and I’ll look over to see Micah’s hips moving subconsciously. This afternoon was another one of those moments, take a look for yourself:

IMG_3603Micah shakes it off


IMG_3543Taking a horseriding break from circus play

IMG_3560Our cute little Ezzysaurus

IMG_3591Roar!

IMG_3597Time to cut the cake. It’s good to be seven!

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Happy Birthday Gloria!

I can’t believe our first child turned seven this week. We celebrated both before and after camp today. In the morning we gave Gloria her gifts after breakfast, and I think we did ok since she looked at me with a big smile and said  “This was exactly what I wanted for my birthday. I don’t know how I could ever thank you enough!”

IMG_3444 Good morning birthday girl!

IMG_2963 Pancake breakfast

IMG_2978 Opening Micah’s gift of Boxcar Children

IMG_2971 And three more from Ezra

IMG_2972 Beanie Boos she expressed interest in the week before with Lauren

At camp her teachers had decorated her cubby, and then at Gloria’s request we had dinner out at Tutta Bella, home of pizza, meatballs, and gelato (who could ask for more?). Gloria seemed very happy today (and so grown up!).

IMG_2983 Pizza (and meatballs and beet salad) time!

IMG_2989Chocolate has been Gloria’s favorite Tutta Bella gelato choice for many years, often paired with a meatball and/or parmesan cheese

Bedtime Math Machine

As part of our bedtime routine, Gloria and I exchange our “favorite part of the day.” Tonight I told Gloria I was proud of how generous she is with her brothers, citing the example of when she gave most of her grape juice to Ezra tonight:

GLORIA: How full was Ezra’s glass?
ME: 3/4, or maybe more like 7/8.
GLORIA: Daddy, what’s an eighth?
ME: Half of a quarter.
GLORIA: So Ezra had 3.5 quarters.
ME: Yes! How did you determine that?
GLORIA: Well, to divide seven in half you take 3 and 3 and split the 1 in half, so then half of seven is 3 1/2, so 7/8 is 3.5 quarters.

I think it’s fair to say she gets the concept of fractions.

Such a Great Kid

Gloria’s Sunday school teacher sent us this end of year feedback on our daughter. I couldn’t be more proud of her:

Gloria is such a great kid. She is definitely the classroom cheerleader. She is the first person to say something kind to a fellow classmate, or encourage their work/answer. On one of the last few days, a fellow classmate was struggling with a project and she went and helped him immediately. It got to the point where she was helping about half the class, because her project was so much more advanced than everyone else’s and she wanted to help them catch up. It was so incredibly sweet and helpful! I have never heard a negative thing come out of her mouth. She is so warm and caring and it’s genuinely such a pleasure to see. If I decide to join in on a project that the kids are doing, she always wants me to sit with her so that we can work together. She loves helping out, and is always willing to clean up (even when it isn’t her mess). She was such a joy and a pleasure to have in class, and her constant sunny disposition was amazing!

Hug-o-war

As many of my friends and colleagues are aware, I am a huge fan of the techniques covered in How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. It seems that Micah’s been picking up on the theory that “when kids feel good, they do good.”

This morning I witnessed Micah deftly avoid a huge blow-up with his brother. Here is the scene:

Micah has just come upstairs, and both he and Ezra want to see Lauren.

EZRA: Don’t go into mommy’s room!
[Ezra puts himself squarely in the doorway to our bedroom and glares at Micah. Micah reddens and looks like he’s about to get violent when all of a sudden he cools down and turns to Ezra with a smile.]
MICAH: Ezra, can I have a hug?
EZRA (immediately): Yeah, I love hugs!
(The boys have a big embrace.)
MICAH: Ezra, can I come with you into mommy’s room?
EZRA: Yes! Now that you gave me a hug you can come into mommy’s room. Let’s go in together!