Happy 100th Birthday Arizona!!

Eli had his 3rd grade music program today. It was called "Arizona Centennial Celebration". 

Apologies for the poor photos..I took them on my video camera. :P

The 3rd graders performed music all about Arizona and her history. They had a guest speaker, Gilbert's former Mayor Dale Hollack, who spoke to the children about the history of the town they live in and had a slide show of Gilbert "Then" and "Now". The kids went crazy over seeing the changes our town has gone through over the years. It was pretty neat! :) 

Not only did Eli get to perform, Walker was asked to be apart of the band that accompanied the program. He was on percussion, playing some mad cow bell action!! :D 

Since it was like a family affair, I thought I'd throw in a picture of Alayna too! :P

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Birthday Arizona! 

Rome 'Was' Built in a Day!!

Walker has been studying Rome in school and they had a big final project due this week. They were given a list of buildings they could make and he chose The Circus Maximus! 

I admit this week was really crazy and we unfortunately procrastinated. We were up late finishing this the night before it was due. I do NOT recommend trying to build Rome in a day..but just know that it can be done! LOL!!

For each structure the students made, there was a list of things that had to be included for their grade. The center barrier or spina had pillars at each end around which charioteers had to maneuver around carefully. The pillars or spires towards the Arch of Titus were called Meta Prima. The ones near the Starting Gate were called Meta Secunda.

Chariot Racer.

Although most Roman charioteers (called aurigae or agitatores) began their careers as slaves, those who were successful soon accumulated enough money to buy their freedom.

Egg Lap Marker.

This was used to keep track of the laps the racers completed. As they finished each lap an egg would drop down. 

 On the other end of the track they had dolphin markers count the laps as well. The dolphins would tilt forward as each lap was completed.

Apollo. 

The Royal Seating....pretty self explanatory. :P

The Arch of Titus.

The Starting Gates.

Another part of the requirement was to make the building curved and to show the bleacher seating used in the original structure.

Outside of the Circus Maximus.

One kid happy to have it finished on time!!! :P LOL!

Prince Alarming

Walker was in his very 1st play for Drama Club!! He was so excited and worked very hard for several months, once a week after school,  before the BIG night! :)

All the plays were based off of different fairy tales. The play was called "Fractured Fairy Tale". Walker's vignette was called "Slurping Beauty". It's loosely based off of "Sleeping Beauty".

 The story goes that the Princess a.k.a. Slurping Beauty, had never had soup before because the Wicked Fairy had put a spell on her that would cause her to slurp if she ate it. But one day the cook brought her soup by accident and she LOVED it. She begged her father the King to allow her to have soup again. He worried, because he thought no one would ever love his daughter if they heard her slurp her soup, but couldn't bare to deprive his daughter from something she enjoyed so much. So, he allowed his daughter and the kingdom to have soup once more. As suitors came to meet the Princess they would hear her slurp her soup and leave because of her poor manners.

That is until... Prince Alarming came for lunch one afternoon. He would tell the Princess his funny jokes and laugh in an 'alarming', almost donkey like way, and she enjoyed her time with him. She would slurp her soup and he didn't mind at all...and they lived.....
Happily Ever After!!! :) 

Ya that's right...my boy got the girl!!! LOL! :P

Walker at 11 Year Old Over-Night Camp

Welcome to my first guest post.  My name is Jared, and I will be guiding you through the fun world of an 11-year-old's scout camp.  Unfortunately, our illustrious host, Vanessa, was unable to join us, so it is left to me to be your eyes and ears.  Please excuse me from her usual quality of photographs and wit.

Walker was very excited for his first of many scouting overnighters.  This is about the age when I decided that it wasn't really for me, so I'm kind of excited to experience it all as well.

Over the weekend, we camped in a big park a few miles from our house.  We arrived at 3 or 4pm, and after setting up our tent, the first activity that was up was horseback riding.

After the horseback riding, there wasn't much else planned for the evening.  We had some hot dogs and miscellaneous snacks before heading over to the opening ceremonies.  Then the boys ran around like maniacs for a couple of hours before hittin the sack.  Walker is blessed with an awesome father, so he went to sleep after a little playtime on the ole Galaxy Tab 10.1.  The rough life.

The next morning, we work up, ate, and started the activity circuit that has been laid out.  First up was archery.

You can't see it very well, but there are a LOT of arrows behind the targets :P

Next up was a small fire building challenge where they had to build a fire tall enough to burn through the string.  They were allowed one match which quickly went out.  This took a bit of time.

Next.... hunting with stones!

Walker went with a side arm rock skipping technique that was a bit interesting. It ended up working rather well. I think he had the most "kills". 

And javelins!

And darts!

If you haven't gathered, this was all supposed to be Native American themed.  Naturally tee-pees must be erected with proper lashings, etc.

And torn down...

They also made medicine bags which I failed to get a picture of the final product.

A Cheyenne (?) woman spoke to them all about their culture.

The "camp out" culminated in the building of man-powered catapults with which to hurl bags of flour at your opposition.

Things quickly broke down into a full on battlefield.  The fog of war caused much friendly fire.  It really did look cool in real life.  It felt epic :P

The lashings held, but the pole couldn't handle the stress.  And that about did it.  Luckily Walker will be 12 before the end of the summer, so he will be able to go to scout camp this summer.  Here's looking forward to it!