[day 352... dec 18]

Cory had this sudden idea of making a "Little School book" over the weekend, so he wanted me to take pictures all around the school to include in his book. I thought we might do it after school today because it's just a half day (until 11:30, actually).

But on second thought, I realized that the boys would be all excited when I picked them up, hungry for lunch, loaded up with things to bring home over break - and that it would be an exceptionally bad time to traipse around campus taking photos of this and that.

So I walked around after dropping Cory off and took pictures of this and that, and we'll see if they're the places and things he had in mind. This was one of the photos: his classroom and the Meadows Extended Day room (on the left next door).

[day 351... dec 17]

Niall's class has been busy getting ready for their holiday class party which features a bunch of different traditions and activities. Today they made lanterns (as part of Chinese New Year, I think?) and Niall copied Chinese words onto his for authenticity. I think they say something like "Hope" and "Happy" but...can't quite remember.

I love how Alice and the kids talked about all the different ways their families celebrate this time of year, and then incorporated those many traditions and fun activities into the classroom. Plans for tomorrow's half day of school include making Christmas cookies, pulling "crackers" (a British tradition at Christmas), eating Chinese dumplings and other treats, lighting a Menorah, and a bunch of other things. Niall can't wait!

[day 350... dec 16]

I rarely go to malls these days - so unlike my early years back in Washington when I visited Alderwood all the time, and then Bellevue Square frequently when Tynor was young.

But it was fun to see Bell Square the other day, all decked out for Christmas, including reindeer "flying" across the center square. You can't see it in this photo, of course, but the reindeer move up and down a bit as they ostensibly pull Santa in his sleigh. Santa himself is off to the left out of view, chatting with children on his lap while they get their photos taken.

Very festive and Christmasy. Fun to visit...once in awhile. :-)

[day 349... dec 15]

Today was Open Mike at PSCS! I decided to take the day off from work so I could come to Open Mike and see Tynor's bands perform, and also run some errands and do a bit of Christmas shopping.

Several other student groups performed before the bands, including a violin solo and some "slam poetry," which was pretty striking.

Then the "other" band (not Tynor's :-) played, and finally Tynor's group was up.

This was Tynor's first time playing bass in performance so he was a little nervous (he's only been playing for something like a couple of weeks!), but he did great - even on the solos. After two songs, including one that the band had composed themselves, they switched around and Tynor played drums while Tristan moved to vocals. They played a German song that was actually pretty cool.

True confessions: I was a little afraid that I might wish I had earplugs for both band sets. But I actually enjoyed all but one song. Kind of amazing! Also enjoy watching Tynor play in any case.

[day 348... dec 14]

Melinda put together this collection of grad tags featuring each PSCS student who has graduated in recent years. It's fun to look through the tags and see each graduating class and remember all those fine kids.

The painting is a self-portrait by Megan Shore, '07.

I just like the combination of the grad tags and Megan's painting, and also what they symbolize about the school in a variety of ways.

[day 347... dec 13]

My Stacy Julian Christmas Advent mini-scrapbook *almost* finished. I was stapling the tabs in place, ran out of staples in my mini-stapler, tried to re-fill it and...it just crumbled into pieces. Yikes - cheap, or what? :-(

But I'm so tickled with how the album is coming together. Just love all the festive Christmas papers and the variety of Xmas photos inside. I've only written one of the "memories" yet, but look forward to jotting down some more soon. Then it will be a fun keepsake that we can bring out with the other Christmas things each year and enjoy looking and reading through.