One of the more popular attractions is the Cake Walk, and they asked those who had any baking skills to donate a cake for the cake walk (they also had a bake sale - but I only have so much time and had to pick one or the other). If you remember the butterfly cake from Kaira's 4th birthday, I decided to make that cake again. It was a huge hit then... and was again now. We went by the cake walk at about 3:20 to see if we could see ours on display, and were told that it was already gone! Apparently it was in pretty high demand. Kaira had a blast helping me decorate it - she helped put the candy on the cake. I had to do the frosting part though. So to give her something to do while I frosted the big cake, I baked a little mini-cake for her to be able to decorate (it was desert that night!). So first pictures of Kaira decorating her little cake, and then of the big butterfly cake...
First she had to put on a layer of chocolate frosting over the entire thing (and part of the plate too!)
And of course, the big butterfly cake - covered in candy!! (Tootsie Rolls, Skittles, M&M's, Gumdrops, Mike & Ikes... oh boy!)
And now on to different rides, games and booths that we went to at the Fall Carnival...
Instead of having to buy tickets for each of the rides (which you could do if you wanted), you could choose to buy an armband instead which gave unlimited access to most of the games, rides, etc. It was a cool sparkly silver band with holographic stars on it... Kaira thought it was pretty cool and is showing it off here.
Cookie Art
This was a booth were you got to decorate a cookie... and then eat it!
Kaira decorating her cookie... and the final product...
Dunk Tank
Different teachers from the school volunteered (or were volunteered) to sit in the dunk tank... Of course Kaira wanted a chance at getting to dunk Mrs. Hight.
Kaira throwing the ball (it took a few tries, but she finally got her)... Mrs. Hight sitting up in the dunk tank... Right after Kaira hit the target (notice the dunk tank chair has dropped, and you can kinda see Mrs. Hight through the window in the water).
T-Ball Game
This game looked like one of the inflatable castles or something, but was actually a t-ball set up. They had a t-ball floating in mid-air (suspended on air being shot out the little cone, if you can see it in the picture) - very cool.
Train
There was a train to ride - it was pulled by a 4-wheeler and each of the cars looked like cows
Slide & Waterballoons
One of the many inflatable attractions (there was a big slide, a bouncy obstacle course, etc) - Kaira going down one of the slides... The second picture is of the Waterballoon Toss they had. On her first try, Kaira didn't duck down low enough when she shot it off, and it hit the backboard and sprayed her. She had it figured out by the second try though
Rocking Climbing!
I wasn't sure if Kaira was big enough to be able to do this one, but I should have known better than to question her climbing skills (she's always been a monkey!). It was a pretty tall wall - probably about two stories high, and she got about half way up - not to shabby.
Basketball Toss
Shooting the basketball (she insisted on using the purple LSU basketball)
Cotton Candy
Kaira eating cotton candy, and a random picture of her posing (this was actually taken right after she dunked her teacher in the dunk tank - she was very excited)
Kinder Art
They had a tent full of items for the silent auction (and later other stuff for a live auction as well). Some of the prizes included artwork that the kids had made. Each class had a canvas that was made as a group effort with the help of the art teacher. The first picture is the display of some of these canvases, and the second is of the one that Kaira's class did. In the upper left corner, she helped make the snake. (It would have been fun to bid on it, but the bidding started at $75 and only went up from there! I didn't see the final sale price, but they were all sold).
Plant Potters
Another item up for auction were decorated planters from each classroom with flowers in them. This is the one for Kaira's class.
Mini Golf
A game at one of the booths...
Pony Ride
By the playground, they had a petting zoo set up, as well as an area for pony rides. I forgot to take pictures of her petting the goats, but caught her on the pony ride and petting one of the ponies in the petting zoo.
Kaira's class made green eggs at school one day, so the following weekend when I was making breakfast, she asked if we could make blue eggs. And then she wanted blue pancakes to go with it. After that we ended up making a whole bunch of different color pancakes.
Playhouse update
The playhouse is slowly but surely coming together. All four walls are finally up, the windows (plexiglass) are in, the roof is done... and we finally got the first coat of paint on it. There is still more to be done, like putting a door on it, but it's starting to look pretty good.
Baton Rouge Trip
I took Kaira down to Baton Rouge the weekend before her birthday so that she could celebrate with her Dad and with her best friend, Lokei. These first couple of pictures are just her and Lokei goofing around at Lokei's house.
We all went to Celebration Station where we played mini golf...
And played some games inside... like air hockey, skeeball, and a car racing simulator game.
After Celebration Station, we went out to dinner, and did cake and presents (from Daddy and Lokei) after eating...
Of course the best part of a present tends to be the wrapping paper and ribbons! The second picture is Lokei's present to Kaira - which she wrapped herself. In case you can't tell, those are MANY strips of painters tape across the back of the present to hold the wrapping paper on. It took forever to get this one open! Too funny.
Class Party
Kaira got to have a party for her birthday at school, and brought cupcakes for that...
The 'Real' Birthday
On Kaira's actual birthday (the 17th), she didn't have school because it was Parent/Teacher conference day. So she got lucky and got to stay home with "Mia" (my mom, who was in visiting) while I went to school. I only had a half day, so after getting home, we packed up a picnic to take to the park.
I also packed up one of her birthday presents in the back of the car and surprised her with it when we got there - her new bike!
Also, while at the park, Kaira and Mia went on what Kaira called a 'hike', walking around the park, stepping on a trail of rocks, etc.
That night, upon her request, we went out to dinner at 'the peanut place' (the steak place that lets you throw the peanut shells on the floor). She loves the peanuts and steak, so seemed like a good idea. The pictures are of her shelling peanuts, her with her steak, and eating the little mini-bucket dessert she picked out. The servers also came over in a big group to sing Happy Birthday to her, and she kept her head down and pretended they weren't there the whole time, which gave them a big laugh.
We opened one present at the restaurant, and the rest when we got home...
Lego cars! She loved them, put them together first thing chance she got when we got home (from Mia)
One of the gifts she got was a new metal Slinky. Mia thought that maybe the original metal slinky might work better than the new plastic ones, since we didn't have much luck getting them down the stairs. Sadly, we didn't have much better luck with the metal one, but definitely had fun trying.
Kaira dressed herself in the morning and picked out some of the new clothes she'd gotten from Grammy.
Cat in the Hat Party
Making a Pinata
Kaira decided that she wanted to have a Cat in the Hat themed birthday party (it's her favorite book at the moment). She wanted a pinata, but since we couldn't find a Cat pinata, I decided to make one. She helped me paint part of it. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the final product, so the only pictures I have are these of it in the works, and the ones later when it's getting whacked to pieces. Oh well.
Silly Games
Silly games at the birthday party...
Thing 1 and Thing 2 relay races - the kids split up into two teams and each had to put on the Thing 1/2 t-shirt and pick up toys and put them back out (making a mess like in the book). First team to finish wins!
Follow the Cat (like follow the leader) - Whoever was wearing the Cat's striped hat got to be the leader. I started as the 'Cat' and the each of the kids got to take turns.
Birthday Cake
It was Cat in the Hat, of course. This was one of the trickier cakes I've had to figure out how to make. It ended up coming out pretty good though, and Kaira was definitely a fan, which is all that really matters.
(More) Presents
Friends
These are some of her friends that came to her party (Connor managed to slip out before we took the group picture, so he's not in this one). They are mostly her friends from her class at school.
October Art Gallery
The first picture of the little shirt is actually a little project the teacher did with each of the kids on the get-to-know-you day before school started. She took a picture of each of the kids and asked them a little about themselves. They were all hanging in the classroom for a while and just got sent home recently. The second picture is a drawing of 'Me and mommy grocery shopping'. The third picture is of her "Hairy Harry" - a project they did at school during H week. They got to color their cups and plant grass seeds, then watch them grow over the next couple of weeks. Hairy Harry is now living at home with us and has been continuing to grow, much to Kaira's delight. And the last one is popcorn art from "P" week (yes, it does say LSU on there... no, it's not my fault! She's somehow picked that up from her friends at school, and she's also picked up on the fact that mommy goes to LSU).
A random picture from school... this is her hook in the hallway outside her classroom where she hangs her tote bag and lunchbox everyday.
The Hungry Thing
Kaira's class collectively 'wrote' a story - called "The Hungry Thing". They each got to illustrate a page. They have been taking turns getting to take the Hungry Thing home with them to read at home with their family. We got the pleasure of taking the Hungry Thing into our house a few weeks ago, and I forgot to post the picture, so here they are. Click on the picture to see the rest of the book...
School Stuff
Kaira's class at school has been learning a lot of new things. In the past few weeks, they have been working on pattern and using charts & graphs. With patterns, they have learned to be able to identify things like an 'AB' pattern, or an 'AAB', etc. And they have been filling in charts for all kinds of things - the number of boys vs. girls in the class, how many like apples vs. oranges, that sort of thing. They even made green eggs and ham at school one day and then did a chart of who liked green eggs and ham and who didn't.
Each week, they have also been learning about a different state, and one notable feature from that state... the Golden Gate Bridge in California, The Alamo in Texas. They somehow also manage to make it match with the letter of the week - the Golden Gate bridge was during "G" week. They do an art project for each place like Niagra Falls or the Painted Desert (sand art!), and then they color the state on a map... so each week a new state is added on for them to find and color. Here's an example of a couple of the projects (The Alamo & Niagra Falls), and one of the maps they did recently (they've also learned to label the map with N, S, E, and W appropriately).
They've also been learning some science stuff that I was surprised to see being taught so young, like acids & bases and kinetic motion. They got to set up the experiments in class and then do a worksheet on them. For example, with the kinetic motion one, they set up two ramps of varying height and watched how fast/far a ball released at the top would go (sounds a little like some experiments I did in physics class!). Pretty impressive that they are teaching it, and that the kids are catching on to the concepts, so young.
Popcorn Words!
Another big thing they have been doing is learning what they call Popcorn Words. They are high frequency words that tend to "pop" up in stories a lot (the, is, and...) They have been trying to learn about 5 new words a week, though they had a little trouble one week and got held up, because the teacher wants mastery of the words before adding new ones. They play fun games (such as popping up like popcorn while a story is being read when a Popcorn word "pops" up), and color them on worksheets (they use their yellow crayon to highlight - or "butter" - the popcorn words). So far they are up to about 15 words.
Kaira's class Halloween party
They each got a bag to decorate, and then had snacks and goodies!
Our pumpkins...
Kaira wanted to stick with the witch theme, so we did a witch pumpkin, and of course every good witch has to have a cat, so we did a small cat to go with it.
Pumpkin Patch
Kaira posing for pictures in the pumpkin patch.
She's a Witch!
Kaira posing in her witch costume before we went Trick or Treating. The last two are of her trying to be a 'mean witch'.
The Boardwalk
At the Boardwalk downtown, they set up a big Trick or Treating affair where the kids could walk around from shop to shop and trick or treat. The whole area is just foot paths (no cars, have to park in a nearby parking garage) so it was a fun and safe way go get candy and see all of the other kids (and adults!) and costumes. And there were some activities and things to do too.
Pumpkin Shine
One of the events in town for Halloween is called the Pumpkin Shine, which is set up at our favorite park in town. The park has a 1/2 mile jogging trail through it and for Halloween, they line the whole trail with pumpkins decorated by different kids and classroom from different schools throughout town. And then at dusk, they light all the candles inside and you can walk down the pumpkin-lighted trail. I took pictures of some of our favorite pumpkins, but limited the ones I'm posting because there were literally hundreds of pumpkins. (Click on the picture below to see the rest - didn't want to clutter up this page with too many pictures).
Halloween Artwork
Some of Kaira's Halloween projects from school...
Random Pictures
Here are a couple of other random pictures from the month. A couple of Kaira sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch, of her walking in the park, and playing around in the front yard one day.
Karen's Stuff
Sushi Night!
I am a member of an Asian appreciation club at school - yes, I know I'm not Asian, but I joined for the food! :) Actually, most of the members are non-Asians (I think who also joined for the food - they have the best food-related activities throughout the year). Our first official event was Sushi Night. They brought in a sushi chef from a local restaurant to teach us how to make our own. He gave a demonstration, and then we got to give it a shot. The pics are of the sushi chef doing his thing, and then the sushi that I made... not too bad for a first-timer! I think they came out pretty good. And then, of course, we got to eat everything we made when we were done. Mmmm.
And me in scrubs one day on the way back from Gross Lab. You can't tell in the picture, but I somehow managed to get formaldehyde goo in my hair that day... oh the joys of lab.
One of our favorite teachers, Dr. Davis, gave his last lecture of the semester on Halloween day. He is known, among other things, for his awesome ponytail and mustache. Some of the students came dressed up as 'Famous Mustaches' (Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck, Chuck Norris, and the last one was "South-of-the-Border Dr. Davis"). They gave a little presentation on mustaches, and then presented him with the 2008 Mustache of the Year award. The trophy was a running trophy that they glued a mustache onto (spray painted gold to match the rest of the trophy!) Dr. Davis got a pretty big kick out of it.
Me dressed up in my costume on the way to our class Halloween party.
Official Test 2 scores are posted and I actually did better than on the last test. However, the class as a whole must have done a lot better because my class ranking actually slipped down a tiny bit (still in the top half, and that's all I care for now). I actually managed an amazing 94% on the written anatomy test (class rank of 19 out of 118 on that one!!), and an A on the biochem test as well... the rest were all B's. But no rest for the weary, Test 3 is supposed to be the hardest. It has all the excruciating detail about glycolysis, the Kreb's cycle, etc - an 11 lecture series just on what your body can do with glucose (woohoo!) not to mention a bunch of stuff on lipid & amino acid metabolism, genetics and we just started immunology as well. I'm already up to my eyeballs in stuff to study. So yeah... wish me luck!
