Greek Day

Chase's 6th grade class has been studying Greek Mythology for the past few weeks, and this past week they held a Greek day at school.  They were encouraged to dress up for the day's festivities.  Chase chose to dress as he favorite God, Zeus.

 His teacher's also dressed as Greek Goddesses.

The morning started with an Agora(Greek Bizarre).  Each student had a shop that they set up for shop 4th, 5th, and 6th graders to come and spend their drachmas (Greek currency).  Chase had both a game, and also a guessing jar full of Aphrodite's kiss (Hershey kisses).  They opened their shops to 4th graders first.  Guess which 4th grader was one of his first customers?

She really wanted to win that jar of kisses!

It was fun seeing how some of the kids really got into their shops and the ideas they came up with. 

Some didn't really get the Greek theme...but they were enthusiastic :)

Limited on time and money, it was fun watching the shoppers deciding on what to spend their money on.

Chase's game was called Zeus's lighting drop.  The idea was to drop at least 2 of these lightning bolts into the jar, holding them from eye level.  If you got 2 you won a piece of gold (chocolate).

It looks so easy...which keeps you trying again and again.

Even Chase's teacher couldn't pass up the chance to try to win.

It wasn't long before there was a long line of kids who all wanted to try their hand at this game.

All of the upper grades got to shop and each shop keeper tried to make the most drachmas.  At the end of the fair the teacher's collected their money to be counted and find out who made the most ...we still haven't heard who won.  After the market closed they continued the fun acting out Greek plays, and held some Olympic games.  I left for a bit to go home and make some food for their Greek Feast.  I made some Greek Kabobs (cherry tomato, sliced cucumber, olive, and a cube of Feta cheese).

I returned later to enjoy the feast.  Anyone who wanted to bring a potluck item was encouraged to do so.   They had a huge spread of Greek foods...grapes, olives, meats, cheese, Greek yogurt, and even wine...just kidding we had sparkling grape juice.

It was such a fun day for all of them, and what a fun way to finish up their chapter on Greek Mythology.

Tricky Traps

The night before St. Patrick's day I was out with friends and I came home to find the kids had left a trap for that sneaky leprechaun who has evaded being caught for years at our house.  Funny the kids hadn't even mentioned a trap this year so I though they had forgot.

Not only did that leprechaun steal their gold, he left quite the surprise in the morning.  No one was getting into the bathroom very easy.

He also left quite the trail all over our house.

along with some gold coins and surprises.

He even left a note taunting them to try again next year.

We put on our lucky pinch proof clothes and headed off to school.

They both got a lucky lunch packed with plenty of green.

We also made a little something for our teacher's...I got a little lazy this year with my creativity.

I also made sure Matt had a little surprise he could enjoy at work.

Sadi's class all made leprechaun traps at school the day before to try and catch that little guy.  She couldn't wait to see if she had built a lucky trap.  She didn't catch him there either...but she did get a little gold chocolate.  Matt thought it was weird her class wasn't able to have a Valentine's party but they could make leprechaun traps?

I did have a fun dinner planned for that evening but I was so tired after getting home late from sports that it just didn't happen.  We did have a fun sugar free dessert to end the night.  Hopefully we will have better luck next year catching that tricky leprechaun!

Let's get ready to rumble....

The day after I returned from Houston Chase joined the middle school wrestling team.  The team had actually started practicing weeks before when I was out of town.  They were having a last call at his school and he really wanted to join.  He only got 2 practises in before their first scrimmage against 2 other schools.  I could just about feel his nerves from the crowd.

He did really well, and actually had a pin after just a few matches.

In the past few weeks we have been at practice 3 nights a week, and weekends have consisted of traveling to different schools in northern Nevada for competitions.  Chase travels with the team and some of those mornings have started at 4:30 a.m. and they go all day long.

I think each meet is a little nerve racking and the nerves were still obviously there.  I could see it on his face as he watched other match ups.

Although I have been at every practice and at each meet I'm still unsure at times just how all the points are awarded.  It has been really fun watching Chase learn and get better and more confident each week.

 

 

This last weekend Matt stayed home to take Sadi to a party and so I was alone in the stands all day.  I watched all of his match's and once he was all done competing I decided to cut out a few minutes early.  Turns out someone in one of the other brackets dropped and Chase had a last minute match, and I missed it!

I was SO BUMMED neither Matt or I were there to see him win!  Luckily his coach filmed it for me.  I felt horrible I missed this champion moment!

What made me feel EVEN WORSE was that because it was the championship duels to go to state they also had an award ceremony and gave out medals, and this boy took 5th place!  So proud of his hard work.

 I have been so impressed with his whole team and how well they have all done.

This weekend his team is off to the State competition.  Although Chase will not be competing, he will be going along to support his teammates.  We made a little treat for the team to wish them all good luck.  Matt and Kelsey could not tell what it was (guess they hadn't been to as many practises as me) because all the wrestlers knew it was their team wrestling mat. 

I can't say I'm sad that the ridiculously early mornings have come to an end, but watching our little Ali from the stands is something that I will miss.

Pi Day!

Chase's 6th grade class had a competition to memorize the most numbers of Pi for Pi day.  Chase worked really hard to win.  He actually memorized 58 numbers!  He was crushed when he came home to tell me he was beat...with a bit of cheating by the winner.  I felt so bad for this kid that there was no way we weren't getting him a pie....and ice cream.

I mean who else can memorize this many numbers: 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974.....that I say deserves a pie!

A Wacky Day

We did celebrate Dr. Seuss day this year, but as I sit here mid March I cannot remember what it was we did that day?  I know there was green eggs and ham for breakfast...

and I know we made little treats for the teacher's,

after that, it's a bit blurry.  I know Matt was out of town and Chase had sports that night....anything else we did there are no pictures to back it up.  Guess it was a wacky kind of day.