The Kooks

So I found these little gems on my camera the other day.  This must have been when the only CD we had in the van for awhile was The Kooks.

End of the School Year

Eden has finished her first year of Spanish Immersion!  Today her school had a little graduation ceremony for the kindergartners and each received a medal.  She's done a great job, going from a little girl who insisted, after the first week of school, "Spanish just isn't for me, Mama!" to one who translated what her teacher said for me this morning.  Wow.

 

This is the card Eden made for her teacher.  She did it entirely by herself without any help from me or Nathan.  It says, "Eden H.  Grasias a todo de mis profesoras.  Grasias por un bueno amiga y un bueno profesora."

 

 

Z took a standardized test a few weeks ago and we just received an email from the principal last week that he scored "Advanced" on the math portion of the test!  That qualified him to take another test today.  If he passes this test he'll be invited into a special math class next year where he'll do 5th and 6th grade math instead of just 5th.  Whatever score he gets on today's test, we are so proud of him!

 

And, in other accomplishments . . .

 

Stensland Family Farm

On Saturday we went to Stensland Family Farm, which is a local dairy farm.  They have an icecream shop in Sioux Falls which is fantastic!  We had a great time at the farm, seeing all the cows, feeding some calves, and finding out how robots are changing the dairy industry.  The cows are all milked by a robot.  Whenever a cow feels ready to be milked, she steps into a specific area which activates the robot.  The cow is trained to position herself correctly, and the robot cleans her teats, then hooks up the milking machine, milks her, disconnects, and then she steps out.  The whole thing takes 5-7 minutes.  We saw it happen from start to finish.  Amazing.

Eden watches the milking robot.  You can see the container filling with milk behind the glass window.

Sampling the icecream.

Our own little cow.

Quote of the Day

Last night we were watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie.  Z, upon seeing one of the characters whom he thought looked a little strange, said, "What's wrong with his face?  Is he French?"

Happy Mother's Day!

A lot has happened in the last month!  Here's a very quick update.

 

Z had an orchestra concert and did great.  He really loves being in the orchestra!

 

Z is super hard to see in this video, but he's two heads over from the blond kid in the front towards the right of the screen.

 

Eden had a birthday and turned 6!  There will be more pictures and videos on this soon.

 

 

 

 

Z applied to be on student council next year.  He did a great job filling out the application form!

 

 

 

We've had some fun with our new friends the Rai family.  They are an immigrant family from Nepal who just moved to Sioux Falls last October.

 

 

 

 

We celebrated Easter and had a wonderful time.  Here's Eden in her Easter finery.  More pictures and videos on Easter soon, too.

 

 

 

 

And the biggest news -- we moved!  We've been enjoying the new place and our eager for more warm and beautiful days!

 



 

 

 

 

Spring Weather

Spring weather calls for a little spring fun.  One of our favorites is to turn sidewalk chalk into sidewalk paint!  (Crush it into a powder with a rock and mix with water.)