Fall 2010

Starting 1st grade, September

On September 7th I woke up and dressed for first grade for the very first time. At my new school, we have to wear uniform colors: navy, white, beige, and evergreen [right] every day but Fridays.

It was a special day because it lasted only till lunch, and families could come and stay all morning. So Mommy and Papa came with me. I met my teacher, Mrs. Cho. I found my desk with a welcome letter on it, and I packed it full of all my school supplies. I introduced myself to my 14 other classmates (only four of them girls), and they met me. I colored the title page of my journal notebook in which I will write an answer to a journal question each morning, and I made a scrap paper portrait of myself to pin on the wall. I explored the different corners and walls of the classroom, and Mrs. Cho read us a storybook about starting school.

It was a really good start to my school year, and I'm excited to be a first grader!

Missing teeth, September

A bit too early to ask Santa for my two front teeth, mine came out. The first was in September, after it had been wiggly for weeks! The next came out only a few weeks later. It's kind of hard to eat raw carrots or bite into an apple, but I'm the only kid in my class with a hole this big in the front of my mouth!

Bug Blast! September

This fall my class studied insects, so Mommy and Papa took me to the Bug Blast day at the Burke Museum. There were lots of different kinds of insects and spiders, both dead and alive. I looked through bug-eye glasses, watched water bugs swimming, and held a hissing cockroach. I even pet a tarantula [right]!

I also liked seeing all the dinosaur bones at the Burke. I could name all the different kinds.

Reading for charity, October

From October 8th through the 22nd—15 days—I read 24 books to make money for Pennies for Peace through a school funding-raising effort. Mommy and Papa helped me get pledges for contributions from Lynette A., Cameron, Scott and Suzy, Oma, Opa, Tante Monique, Tante Annemiek, and Tante Lianne. They were very generous: by reading more than my original commitment of 15 books (I guess I underestimated my capabilities), I raised $119 for the children of Afghanistan and Pakistan!

The reading was fun (Mommy has a great Halloween book collection, and I read mostly those [left]), and I was very proud of myself for my accomplishment.

Pumpkin farms and more, October

This year I did LOTS of fun things to celebrate fall and Halloween. Mommy and Papa took me to South 47 Farm; we didn't walk through the hay maze, but we did examine lots of pumpkins [right]. Of course, we didn't buy any because our own yard was a "pumpkin farm": we grew two big pumpkins from our compost pile. Then Papa left for Europe, but Mommy also took me to Remlinger Farms. I had a great time on lots of rides (the roller coaster was my favorite), I ate hot donuts with apple cider, I rode a pony, and I even climbed to the top of a 20-foot climbing wall [below]!

Besides the farms, Mom made sure I stayed busy before Halloween. We also went to two live shows: Rumplestiltskin at Molbak's and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at Studio East. And we toured through two haunted houses (both toned down for little kids): one at The Halloween Store and one at Jump Planet on Halloween day. That's a lot of Halloween fun!

School celebrations, October

My school did lots of fun things for Halloween.

On the Wednesday before Halloween, we had school Spirit Day. Everyone wore orange and black, even the teachers. That night, Mommy took me to the school Pumpkin Party. We brought our pumpkins from our yard, a big, round, orange one and a long, greenish-orange one that looked like a giant zucchini (but wasn't). I drew a face on the round one, but using the carving knives was too hard. So Mommy cut it out for me. Then she drew a skinny bat on the long pumpkin and carved that out, too. In the meantime, everyone ate pizza, and I ran around the cafeteria with lots of my friends. It was really fun!

The Friday before Halloween, everyone was allowed to wear their costume to school all day. I wore my wore my Neytiri costume, but not the makeup and hair. Another girl in my class was Neytiri, too, so we were twins. Mrs. Cho dressed as Madame Butterfly (the other first grade teachers were a Queen Bee and Lady Ladybug).

At 12:30, Mommy came to my class to help with the school party [left]. There were games in every classroom, and each class moved as a group from room to room to play the games and win treats and prizes. When we finally got back to our own classroom again, we had a party. We had fruit, cookies, Gogurt, and juice for a snack. Then we decorated pumpkins with jewels, pushpins, and yarn. Finally, Mrs. Cho read us a Halloween story. It was a really great school celebration!

Halloween, October

Mommy took me to Jump Planet on Halloween day. Besides jumping on the balloon toys, I had my face painted and walked through their Haunted House. It was toned down for little kids, but we still had to wear 3-D glasses, and there were lots of spooky rooms with creepy sights and sounds... It was really neat! Especially since there were people inside giving us candy!

Later in the afternoon we went to Scott's house, and I got to see Cameron for a while and play with Brennan. They liked my Neytiri costume.

Finally, after an early dinner, Mommy put all the finishing touches on my costume: makeup, ears, long braided wig. Neytiri is the Na'vi heroine from the movie Avatar, which I watched with Papa on my airplane trip to Holland. I like her because she's a warrior and not afraid of anything, plus she has long hair, and tail, and her world is really pretty.

We went to Max's house first to gather our group. Max was a vampire and had slicked back hair, fangs, and a red-lined cape. Then Joseph arrived; he was a Star Wars guy with a light saber. We started trick-or-treating—the night was dry and not too cold—and later Ella joined us. She was a gray kitty. When we got to Joseph's house, we all went inside, and Miss Trudy served us hot chocolate, cupcakes and cookies. As if we didn't already have enough sugar! It was a night full of treats!

Snow! November

Last year we didn't get any snow. This year, it snowed before Thanksgiving!!

I was so happy! Not only was I able to stay home two days from school, but I got to spend those days just playing in the snow. I went sledding with my friends [left] and made a big snowman. Cameron got stuck at our house instead of at college, so one of the days we all dressed up for skiing (it was clear and sunny, but the temperature was in the 20s) and went for a long walk to the sandwich shop.

I don't think there's anything better than a snow day!

Thanksgiving, November

We had two Thanksgivings this year. Thursday was a very quiet day. Mommy did some cooking, but we didn't have dinner at home. Instead, Mommy, Papa, and I went to the home of Karen, Mommy's step-sister, for a meal with lots of other people. Cameron wasn't there; he was with his dad. So unfortunately, the person closest in age to me was 24! Good thing Mom brought a DVD to watch! After dinner, Jeff and Kyle played music and everyone sang along.

Then on Sunday Mommy made a big dinner at home. Cameron was there all day, and Grandpa came for dinner along with Cameron's friend Taylor and Mr. Rob and Jolie. Mommy made the table really pretty and served turkey, wild rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheesy broccoli, pumpkin bread, and cranberry salad. (Mostly, I liked the pumpkin bread.)

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