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Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Mother's Day Weekend Dance Recital
It's that time of year again...Mother's Day Weekend activities here in town. This includes something that we had begun to participate in about three years ago now...the dance recital. It is this weekend that Allison's dance studio holds their annual dance recital. For the last two years, Allison has danced on Sunday afternoon, but this year she is dancing on Saturday night. Hopefully I will have some footage later.
She looks so grown up...:)
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Friday, May 6, 2011
Allison's Gathering of the Talents Award
I'm so proud of my girl. Allison's school participates in a competition called "Gathering of the Talents" sponsored by Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska. Students from Lutheran schools from a 4- or 5-state surrounding area compete in divisions such as Creative Writing, Art, Dance, Singing, Dance, etc. There were approximately 1,600 or so total entries by students. Allison's school had approximately 36 entries. The work and performances are judged and given a blue, pink or yellow standing. The blues are then judged again, and the top are given purple awards...kinda like highly distinguished award.
All of the entries are purely voluntary and I believe worked on or completed out of the school setting for the most part. I know, for example, some of the art projects were done in school, but for the most part this is an out of school, independent entry process. I entered Allison in the Creative Writing and the Art categories. Basically, she needed to dictate a story to me, and I had to type it for her, and then for the art it was basically just to draw a picture. When they get older they can do 3-D art projects, as well as participate in dance and music.
Below I have pasted Allison's Creative Writing story. She 'wrote' the entire thing by herself. I did not lead her or prompt her on any of the content. I then just typed up the content. For several days prior we talked about beginning, middle, and end, story structure, having her keep in mind the books and stories that we read here at home, how they are structured, etc. Otherwise, she wrote her own story.
Allison received one of three purple awards received by students at Allison's school. Elizabeth L. received the other two, one for her Creative Writing and one for her art project. This is the photo that was the town newspaper. I am so very proud of Allison!
Emily, Henry, & the Catnippers
Allison Dierking
Kindergarten
Good Shepherd Lutheran School
Marysville, KS
Short Story
Emily, Henry, & the Catnippers
Once there was a girl named Emily, and she had a pet cat. They went to the park once, and they flew a kite. Emily flew a kite, and the cat flew a kite. Then one day the park was closed because of a big storm. The cat and Emily were sad because the park was closed.
One day they met a boy named Henry. He had a pet cat, too. Emily and her cat and the other boy decided to go to Emily’s house to fly a kite. But it became cloudy and it began to rain. So the boy and Emily had to go inside to play. They didn’t know what to play inside. But then the sun came out, and the cats ran outside.
“No!” said the boy and the girl. But then the cats ran to the park, and they got caught by some catnippers. The catnippers took them to a cage and locked them up.
Emily decided it was time for them to go outside, too, and find the cats. The searched every building in town but they couldn’t find the cats.
Then they saw another building and they had to check there. A man at the door said, “Get out! This is our apartment!”
Emily and Henry said, “You’re mean, mister, and what’s your name?”
“My name is Mr. Grumpy Pants, and I want you to leave.”
“But we are looking for two orange cats.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?”
“Because you kept saying no.”
“Well, we have two orange cats. Why don’t you come inside and look for them?”
“Sarah! Kit Kat!” said Emily and Henry. The catnippers didn’t know what was going on but then a bunch of cats arrived at the door and they all scratched the catnippers and the catnippers ran away.
Henry went home and took his cat Kit Kat. Emily and her cat went to the park and flew their kites.
The End
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Allison, the Baker
Monday evening Allison and I were invited to attend the Mother-Daughter Salad Supper at our church. The Evening Circle always sponsors the evening just prior to Mother's Day weekend. In addition to the carry in salad supper, the committee puts on some sort of entertainment/program. This year's program was put on by one of the members, Sandy Swart. Sandy is the church secretary, but she is primarily a cake decorator. She does lovely cakes, very ornate; she is very talented. Instead of decorating cakes, however, she showed some different ideas for making, decorating, and using cupcakes. Cupcakes are pretty 'hot' now.
Allison has enjoyed making cupcakes in the past anyway, and has made them here at home and also with her two grandmas. So, it should have come as no surprise that Tuesday morning when she came down from bed, she asked me if we could make cupcakes, and "decorate them like the lady at church last night did."
She is becoming quite a talented little baker. I had no idea that she could crack her own raw eggs and do a really good job at getting no shells in the batter. She pretty much has a good handle on how to measure the water and the vegetable oil in for a cake mix, beginning to understand well 1 1/4 vs. 1/4 c.
For her demonstration, Sandy had little demonstration bowls of different decorative items to use when making different characters or designs on the top of the cupcakes. Our kitchen counters were filled with cereal bowls of little confections that Allison searched for in our kitchen, including full size graham crackers (which ultimately she did not use).
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Monday, May 2, 2011
Teacher Appreciation Gift
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, with Tuesday being the actual Teacher Appreciation Day, I guess. I had made this 'Letter Flower" arrangement a few weeks ago, and wasn't sure when to give it to Allison's teacher. This seemed like a good occasion.
I used the "Speaking of School' Cricut cartridge, and cut out all 26 letters of the alphabet. Then I inked all the edges with a light brown ink pad and highlighted all lined details with a microtip black pen; the shapes were mounted on black cardstock. Each letter was glued to a craft dowel rod, and strips of different colored tulle were tied to the rods to mimic leaves. The dowels were stuck in a cube shaped floral foam and put in a regular garden style clay flower pot. I added a wide purple ribbon and tied a decorative bow for added zip.
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Osama Bin Laden is Dead
Almost 10 years ago, when the events surrounding September 11, 2001, occurred, fear pretty much spread across the country. Even though I was 1,500 or so miles away from Ground Zero in New York City, or the Pentagon in Washington, DC, or a field in Pennsylvania, there was a sense of paralyzing fear for a period of time. There was so much unknown. The biggest unknown was....why? We knew the who...the where..the when...but the why was so hard to understand. They way of life for the individuals who hijacked and flew those planes full of people to their deaths is impossible to imagine. Their disregard for the greatest gift of all...that of life...is unfathomable to me.
Last night, the United States Marine special ops brought down the head kingpin of Al-Quida...Osama Bin Laden is dead, killed in his 'sprawling compound' in Pakistan.
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Friday, April 29, 2011
Royal Wedding of the 21st Century
I am not a Royal watching junkie. Honestly I am not. However, it is still an event worth documenting. Princess Diana's oldest son Prince William married his long-time love, Kate Middleton, Friday, April 29, 2011. I didn't get up in the middle of the night to watch the festivities, but caught different clips throughout the morning. Beautiful wedding gown. Cute little kids. :)
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