After Dick accidently cleaned his rifle in class

he had to flee the scene on his homemade wind vehicle, the BreezeMachine as he affectionately called it. (Sadly he never copyrighted it.)

But Principal Churchill & the Crossing Guard Brigade gave good chase in their Model T. Unfortunately many more souls were lost at the one stop sign in town when their post was abandoned. At what cost this pursuit?

The Brigade found Dick building his own school where he would be
free to bear arms.

Now Pablo enjoys his freedom at Dick’s K-5 Elementary Rifle Range
and Finishing School. He hopes one day his younger brother Doodles will, too.

Yes, these are the other three photos in the series on the kindergarten hall.
Apparently, Heather said there is a true story that gets told on tour. We’ve actually taken the tour twice, but both times had to leave because it was taking too long. We had to get back to work or the sitter. Anyway, if you know it, share it. Otherwise I’ll have to ask Mr. C myself someday.

Can you top it? Anything more curious hanging in your school? Except for the gun and the homemade bomb these are not that weird, I guess.

Parent Involvement Day

Voice of Culture Drum and Dance of the Diaspora performed for Pablo’s school on Parent Involvement Day. They got everyone moving with djembe drumming, traditional West African dance and singing.

Before you watch this video remember Pablo needs sponsors for his read-a-thon. Won’t you consider donating a few dollars to a quality public school that brings in performances like these? Please let me know if Pablo can count on you for at least 5 bucks. Thanks.

Mama, Doodles, and I also visited Pablo’s classroom and helped make “Guess How Much I Love You” art work based on the story book. Doodles fits right in and acts like one of the class.

Off to shovel again. More videos later.

Where the Wild Things Read

I loved Little League, but I hated going door to door to sell fundraising candy bars. I see many of you use the interwebs to hawk your Girl Scout wares, so why not try this for my son?

Pablo is trying to raise money for his school, Burroughs, by attempting to read 20 minutes a day in February. Would you be interested in pldeging two cents a minute to this new reader’s (5 yr old) cause? If Pablo reads 20 minutes a day X 28 days, you’d be pledging $11.20 total. Or you could donate maybe a flat $5 or $10?

Last year Burroughs students read for 1.5 million minutes and raised $90K. This year they are going for 1.6 million minutes. The Principal always does a big stunt if they make their goal. This year he may be eating a Stone Soup concoction which may include leftovers from the cafeteria and kids’ plates.

Enjoy a clip from today’s “Where the Wild Things Read Burroughs Read-a-Thon 2010” pep rally. It may remind you of The Royal Tenenbaums.

Please let me know if you’d like to pledge. You wouldn’t want poor Pablo to have to go out in the cold and talk to strangers, would you?

Thanks,

Jefe (dictated but not read by Pablo)

Cotton Candy, Apple Cider, or…?

Hark, the Herald Choir is Weird

Pablo sings in choir. He has since he was 3. He seems to like it enough. Enough to put up with it for the reward of root beer and pepperoni pizza. Papa John’s pizza is delivered and sold for a 1.50 a slice in the youth lounge/game room at our church.

Pablo: Dad, this pizza is better than what you make at home.

Jefe: Thanks, yeah, it’s pretty good.

Pablo: Yeah, I like it a lot better than our pizza.

Doodles doesn’t do choir. He tried. We so desperately wanted photos of him in the white robe with big red bow. Doodles would go to choir practice and then report back to me:

Doodles: I don’t like choir.

Jefe: Why not, buddy?

Doodles: It’s weird. All they do is sing all the time.

Well, he’s right. What could I say. That what choir is. So we tried to bribe him with the rewards of pizza and root beer in the youth lounge afterwards. The deliciousness was not enough to conquer the weirdness. We gave up fighting/forcing him.

Pablo sang in a Christmas service. I noticed Doodles doing this during the songs:

He was plugging his ears. Is the music that offensive to him? Were the other kids that out of tune? Perhaps there is a greater problem here. He likes a lot of music as you’ve read here. AC/DC, Queen, Raffi, Metric, The Beatles, John Williams. Lately he has been crooning along with Crosby. Not really singing with Bing, but he likes to hear it. What is it about singing or listening to children’s choir?

Another parent and I talked about the drop-out rate for many boys in choir around the Kindergarten age range. He said he thought more than a few of them come back when it’s time to go up to summer camp with the other kids. They want to renew bonds from nursery school. We’ll see.

For now, I think we’ll try indoor soccer, swim lessons and some ice skating and sledding.

Give thanks

At preschool, they list what the 3 and 4 year olds say they are thankful for. Doodles was thankful for his toys much like Pablo gave thanks for Clones last year.

I am thankful the school installed safety guards on the bathroom doors as Doodles had previously got his hand caught. It was pretty nasty. I almost passed out, too.

The four year olds were thankful for other things. Neither of our kids are represented on the long lists here, it’s just fun to read.

If you want presents, you gotta believe in the C.o.S. – Church of Santa.

And we’re thankful for good friends, food, beverages, and those who know how to share it.

Thanks for reading. I am especially thankful for comments, too.

Happy Thanksgiving. Take a moment to remember all you have and share with those that don’t.

Beachcombers & Bobcats

First kindergarten field trip was a convenient jaunt to the beach. The kids were in two groups, scooters and joggers. Pablo was a jogger, but we have since procured a scooter for him which he has taken to quite nicely.

The field trip was my first chance to volunteer at school. I’m also going to be reading in the classroom next month. It’ll be a good opportunity to experience Pablo’s day first hand as information is usually parceled out in brief missives at this point.

Jefe: How was school today?
Pablo: Awesome.
Jefe: What did you do?
Pablo: I don’t remember. I’m hungry.

As the day goes on, information trickles down to me. It’s been fun to share with other parents because only together can we really create the whole picture of the school experience. Here are some shots from Beachcomber’s Day. And then read on for Bobcats.

Pablo scooted to soccer. His team is the Bobcats in the all cat named league. Another bullet dodged as we could have been vegetables or something lame like that fruity tee-ball league.

Pablo was the only one without shin guards. D’OH! My bad? He seems fired up about the project though, which is a good start. Pee Wee Soccer at the YMCA a couple years ago was a lot of dandelion picking in the middle in the field. Still the snack and juice pouch at the end of the game seem a major draw for most of the 5 year-old-boys. It’s the 6-year-old soccer girls to watch out for as they have some serious skills.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Maybe it’s because of my moderator attire, but Pablo and Doodles love to wear a sport coat and tie and look handsome. They thrill to a white button down and navy blazer like Ted Knight in Caddyshack.

For their first day of Sunday School this year Pablo dressed like Angus Young of AC/DC. Sure he skipped the blazer and beanie this time, but it was pretty hot.

This was all unintentionally ironic to me as the boys have been loving this video and singing along lately.

Try walking into Sunday School with a 5-year-old using his huskiest, gruffest voice saying “Dirty Deeds and they’re done dirt cheap.”

Youtube user “niktom” creates cleverly amusing videos featuring Star Wars action figures and classic songs. It’s probably the main reason our boys liking a couple Queen songs, too.

Check out the videos Talent Night and Talent Night 2 with your kids if you’re interested. Our boys want to watch this stuff and Lego videos as much as anything. All this whilst I write a blog post in an adjacent window as we speak. Dirty Deeds? Yeah, but done dirt cheap.

Doodles’ First Day of Nursery School (Pre-K)

This pretty much sums it up better than I could. He was so excited, the first one there, running around the halls. Just loved it. Also, probably the tallest boy in his class. (yeah)

Cleanliness is next to Godliness, especially at Lutheran Nursery School.

There’s a section of the day where parents can observe the children’s outdoor play. My first time watching Doodles, he bolted from the door, grabbed a toy lawnmower and brought it up the playground equipment set. Probably to ride it down the slide. Two teachers converged, cornering him and taking it away. All this happened before I could shoot the video. But we parents had a good laugh at his valiant effort. In this photo you can see the lawnmower in the background but Doodles is in yellow/white in the middle.

After the first week of school he was so tired he ended up just napping on my office floor accidentally. I didn’t even know he was asleep at first.

So I had some free time and decorated his school bag for him:

When he woke up, I asked, but he said, “No mustache.”

Kindergarten = awesome

After the first day of kindergarten, Pablo was kind of quiet. He was very hungry and not very talkative. He seemed a little shocked or possibly overwhelmed. We tried to ask him about it and he didn’t say much. A little later in the day he came to my office.

Pablo: Dad, remember that story about the boy who was afraid of kindergarten, but after the first day he said it was awesome?

Jefe: Yes, I do.

Pablo: It was awesome for me, too, Dad.

Retelling this to Mama was the closest I came to welling up with a tear or two today.