Happy (Chinese) New Year!

We celebrated the Lunar New Year on Saturday. That is what the Chinese New Year is...the lunar (ours is the calender, I guess) Billy told us all about it!

To celebrate, we ate dinner with chopsticks (which the boys now say they want to do with each meal), had fortune cookies (of which Jessie tried to steal from everyone!) and played Chinese checkers. I am not even sure why anyone else still agrees to play me, since I am undefeated and the undisputed champ!

Then we read what our zodiac signs were, and it was very funny! Some of the descriptions were right on.....and some were completely wrong. Billy's was the most close, and I hope mine was the most off.

Billy - Horse (proud, leader, argumentative and bull headed!)
JJ - Roster (clean, neat, vain, concerned about outward appearance, popular)
Mickey - Tiger (Maniacal, mean, organized, punctual)
Minnie - Pig (lazy, fat, slovenly....but well liked!)


We even did Jessie....she is a rabbit. We will have to wait until next year to see if the description fully matches her personality!

Oh nooooo....

The Mothman has been sighted in Virginia!

Pinewood Derby

The best night of the year for Cub Scouts.

Both boys made it to the winners bracket before being eliminated (and luckily they never had to race!) And great fun was had by all.

Plus, don't they just look so handsome in their uniforms?

A new adventure....

Snowboarding. We live so close to the mountains, we thought it would be important for the boys to have exposure to snow sports....they have chosen Snowboarding. Billy is in his second year of lessons....and JJ just his first. They are both picking it up pretty quickly...and are having a great time learning!

Apparently in this weeks lesson, they will 'graduate' from the bunny slopes and take the lifts up the mountain. Stay tuned for that report!

The Christmas Jar 2011

Last year at SSES, we attended a talk given by an author of the book, The Christmas Jar. The premises of the book is to collect loose change throughout the year and give it to someone or something in need. The story really resonated with us, and so we have brought that tradition home with us and made it our own. We have found that we collect enough change to donate 2x's per year....so we have a Christmas Jar....and an Easter Jar.

We spend some time discussing some worthy recipients for the Christmas Jar 2011(and yes, we are about a month behind on the donation...but better late than never!)and the boys finally settled on The Wounded Warrior Project. When the money in the jar was all counted, it totaled $32.26 and off the donation went. Although not a huge amount of money, we do hope it will make a difference to some brave soldier and perhaps his/her family somewhere.

Sickly

We have had a lot of sickness in the family lately....JJ is home from school today, Billy missed last week. And, it is compounded by a dog who thinks it is her mission to make sure everyone in the house stays up with her all night.

But, it is hard to stay mad at her when she consoles poor JJ in this manner....along with his beloved Teddy!

WAW!

This stand for 'What a Week'!

We first found out that the boys did really well in their Reflections Art competition at the district level. In the dancing entry, Billy placed 3rd in the district, and JJ was 2nd in their respective age groups. And get this.....JJ place FIRST in the district (that is all the city and county school combined) for his 'My Menagerie' book! Which means his entry goes onto the state level to compete. We are proud of that accomplishment as a result....but mostly proud of how much work he put into the effort. For his age, he could have drawn the pictures and had someone else type the words....but not our JJ....he wrote every word, and drew every picture in the 13 page book. Now he wants to publish it!

Now to brag on Billy....to try out for the school play this year for a role outside the chorus, everyone had to sing a solo song in front of teachers and other peers trying out for roles. Again, being as proud of the process....we were so glad Billy was brave enough to audition.....but get this, he got one of the roles.....The play is named The Prince and the Penguin, and Billy will STAR as General Patton Penguin!! He is so excited because he is going through a major military phase right now....and hopes he can dress up in camo for the part! Although we do not have the full script yet, Billy will have a number of lines in the play....and likely a few solo snippets!

Mickey and Minnie are not sure where the boys get these artistic talents...but in this case, the apples are falling pretty far from the tree!