Christmas Partying Down Under

"He comes from a land down under, where women glow and men plunder..." Each Christmas Parkview Elementary students learn about another country and spend their Christmas party celebrating in the style of the country they studied.  For second grade, our country was Australia, and what better way to learn about a country most of us will never have a chance to visit than to invite a real live Australian to speak to the class?  Lucky for us, one of our second grade parents is from Australia, and he was kind enough to take the time out of his schedule to come visit with all three classes to help us learn more about his native land. He even brought Chupa Chups for all the kids, which I did not realize were an authentic Australian candy...

This particular parent happens to be former LSU and  NFL football player Brad Wing, so as you can imagine the kids were mesmerized by what he had to say, especially the boys. Because of Covid restrictions, poor Brad had to wear his mask the entire time, but he took it in stride...  

He had a really cute teaching assistant who has visited Australia...

And while I was at school for the party I had to snap a photo of my favorite 2nd grader...

A huge thanks to Brad for being such an awesome guest speaker for the kids.  Seriously, I think he may have a future in guest speaker engagements.  He was super well-prepared and so sweet with the kids...

*Disclaimer: in spite of the song lyrics posted above, I have never witnessed Brad actually plunder anything.  
 

Cille's Dare Graduation

"In 5th grade we take DARE!"  Say that in your best Regina George voice.  Drug Abuse Resistance Education is a proud tradition in our family, and I have to say that for me, it was very effective, although I guess I could also attribute being clean and sober to being a tee-totaling Baptist, but whatever.  Fun fact, the deputy who taught me DARE as a child went on to be the Parish Sheriff for many years.  Thanks, Officer Ken Bailey, wherever you are.  But, I digress, back to Cille, who had Officer Amy as her DARE Officer and really enjoyed the program...

Way to go, Cille!  Now, make sure you never do drugs because drugs are bad, mmmmmkay? 

Corinne's Birthday Wonderland

Corinne chose Alice in Wonderland as her party theme this year, and I really felt like she pulled that one out of thin air.  We had not watched Alice in a while, nor read the book or anything, but after she made the suggestion, I realized that this could be a very fun and easy theme.  After the Covid snafu we had to reschedule the party, but we managed to find a free Saturday and the big kids helped me decorate...

Corinne had an adorable Alice dress for the party...

Lots of her sweet friends were able to join us, so she was thrilled...

Emi was a natural at croquet.  She clearly inherited her mother's athleticism...

Corinne's school bestie...

Stella is always willing to handle party entertainment...

This was my most elaborate birthday party decoration ever, so I had to take a photo...

Happy un-Birthday, Corinne!  Sorry your party was late!  We love you! 
 

Eagle of the Month!

Since Watts started school, his ambition has always been to be chosen as "Eagle of the Month."  His older sisters were chosen a few times, and it really lit a fire in him to earn the honor.  All through first grade he tried and tried, but just when he started making some real progress, Covid happened and for several months there were no Eagles of the Month.   Fast forward to second grade, and his teacher Mrs. Bergeson noticed his hard work and improvement. Daddy and I were so proud of his perseverance...

Watts was very excited...

And his favorite librarian Mr. E was there to congratulate him.  These are two of the sweetest kids in the world...

 

Indian Shirts

Ahhhh, Covid.  Ruiner of lives and canceller of plans.  One of our favorite, if most culturally insensitive, Parkview traditions is the making and wearing of "Indian shirts" in kindergarten.  The extra large white t-shirts are lovingly tea dyed, cut, and beaded by the parents, then painted at school by the room moms and the kindergarteners.  They all choose an Indian name to be emblazoned on the back and worn with pride at the class Thanksgiving feast.  The TK kids dress as turkeys, which is generally pretty accurate for that group.  Then the shirts are tucked away with care into mom's closet to wait patiently for senior year, when they are pulled back out and reworn,  sometimes in quite the spandex-y fashion thanks to the growth that the students have experienced in the interim 12 years.  It is all very sweet and the type of thing that brings tears to the eyes of parents and laughter to the faces of children as they watch their friend the middle linebacker try to stretch his tiny t-shirt over his not tiny grown up self...

Corinne goes down in the record books as the only child in our family who actually helped bead her own Indian shirt...

She helped paint her shirt on pajama day at school during homecoming week...

So why the extensive backyard photo shoot with all the siblings, you might be wondering? Well, the day before Corinne's 6th birthday party, we asked a certain family member to test for Covid due to a recent exposure.  That test came back positive...as did the test that we had Stella take just as a precaution since we were planning to host guests the next day.  Stella had shown no symptoms whatsoever with the exception of one minor headache, but what 12 year old doesn't have an occasional headache?  Well, surprise, surprise.  We were all placed on quarantine, ruining Corinne's birthday party plans and causing her to miss her big kindergarten Thanksgiving feast, which is literally the social event of the entire kindergarten year at Parkview...we were all devastated for the poor little squaw.  To make it up to her, we dug out all the Indian shirts and put on our war paint for these photos...

Stella's Indian name was "Raining Star"...

Corinne chose "Pretty Maiden," for obvious reasons and because Corinne means Maiden...

Watts' Indian name was just "Eagle."  I tried to talk him out of it, but that's what he chose.  He's a man of few words. To see how his shirt fit in kindergarten, click here.  

Cille's was "Shining Light."  To see Shining Light in kindergarten, click here.

Cille clearly didn't get this pose...

Before we know it, Stella will be wearing this shirt again!