Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Picture from Austin's Land Olympics

Here is a picture from today. It's Austin & his buddy Austin Woodworth.

I will post more photos & info tomorrow. I promised I would get this photo uploaded.

Austin's Artwork for his 6th Grade Year

Austin brought home all of his artwork from the past year.

Enjoy his talent as we have.

Soft-head sculpture of his father



"A Loud Noise"


"Orangutan"


"Peace + Dog = Randy Jackson"

"Two-Headed Blue Polka Dot Dog"


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Austin's Castle Project

Austin had to construct a castle for his 6th grade Social Studies Class. He wasn’t really sure why he had to do it because he isn’t studying castle in his class. I surmised that he had to do it because of the Medieval Fairewell they have for the 6th graders at the Intermediate School.

We started collecting boxes from various snacks (granola bars, Pringles, etc.) and waited for the papers to come home from school giving the requirements for constructing his castle.

I was actually pretty excited about the prospect of a project. This would be the first one this year. There would be some restrictions like no kits, can not be any larger than 18” x 24” and it had to be to school by May 21st.

So we (Jerry, Austin & I) started brainstorming - which usually ended up with Austin in tears. Austin had his ideas of how the castle should be built, but he basically just wanted it to be done & didn’t care how well it was constructed or, for that matter, how it looked.

I was most concerned about how pretty it looked. You know me, everything had to LOOK perfect. I had no clue about structural integrity or logistics of how it was to be constructed, it had to look good.

Thank goodness for Jerry, our voice of reason. He knew how it had to be constructed and he & Austin did all of the design work. Jerry also helped with hot gluing, painting & overall project completion.

I knew that we need a couple different tones of grey paint, black paint, brown paint, craft sticks & felt. See, I am the exterior designer. Jerry is the contractor & Austin is the slave labor.

Austin needed to make sure that the following element were included in his castle: Moat, Gatehouse, Drawbridge, Portcullis, Towers, Turret, Wall walk, Outside Wall, Keep, Bailey & Flags. All of these items had to clearly labeled & were worth two points each.

Also worth two points each were: Name is displayed, Project shows effort, Directions were followed (materials, size, etc.) & castle is constructed well. Altogether, the project was worth 30 points.




We worked on the project for four days. Painting, cutting, taping, gluing, painting. Finally at about 7:00 pm on Tuesday, May 20th, we were done with the castle.

Austin took the castle to school on the bus. He said he had seen other students castles and he thought his was pretty good,

We waited anxiously each day to find out what we, er….Austin got on his castle. He came home on Friday carrying his castle and stated hat he had got a “C”. But before I could freak out and rant and rave, he got that devilish smile on is face and said “No, I got 30 out of 30 - A+.

I was so pleased that he had stuck it out through his parents rigorous demands & did his best on a project & was reaping the rewards.

Aidan's First Grade Field Day

On Tuesday, May 13, then had Aidan’s Field Day at Brecknock. It was a gorgeous day. The sun shone all day long.

The first event was the dash. Aidan started out strong, but about 10 yards before the finish line his feet got tangled up and he tumbled head over heels and then made a spectacular recovery to capture the yellow ribbon (3rd place).




The next race was the sack race and Aidan was doing really well and it looked like he was going to get second place when the boy in first place fell down & Aidan ended winning a blue ribbon for first place.


They also competed in the bean bag toss as their last individual competition and then the entire class competed against the other first grade classes in the treasure hunt, the t-shirt relay and the rubber chicken relay.



As a group they played parachute games and then were done for the day.



When they went inside, they went to the carpet in their classroom & handed out the individual awards and Mrs. Moyer took pictures of the individual groups. Then Mrs. Moyer went around the circle & asked each child what their favorite part of the day was and why it was their favorite part. When she got to Aidan, he told her that his favorite thing from the day was the sack race. I thought he would say it was his favorite thing because he got first place. I mean what boy doesn’t like to win a race. She said “Aidan, why was the sack race your favorite thing?” He replied “Because I like to jump in the sack!” I don’t know how she does it. Mrs. Moyer kept a straight face and went on to the next child. I happened to be in the classroom adjusting water bottle lids so they didn’t pop off & had to stifle a giggle.

We had a great day & can’t wait for Austin’s Land Olympics on May 28!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Aidan's Birthday & Mother's Day

Well, since I last did an update, a lot has happened in the Ebersole residence.

I guess it would be best to have multiple posts so I can put up a lot of pictures.

Aidan had his 8th birthday which was celebrated at Pop-Pop & Mom-Mom’s house. Saba & Shamma were there along with Jason, Dad, Mom & Austin.
We had so much fun watching Aidan open all of his presents & enjoying the good company.

Here are a couple of pictures of Aidan opening his presents. I thought the ones of him opening the books from Aunt Tricia were priceless.



The kid LOVES books. He loves to be read to & to read to you. And he is really good at reading. I love listening to him read & when he raises his voice when there is a question mark at the end of the sentence. His likes chapter books & is not satisfied when you read a chapter or two. I guess I should be glad that I have raised one child who loves to read.
Aidan with the Iron Man Rapid Fire Nerf Gun that Saba & Shamma got for him.
The lacrosse stick that his father & I got for him.


Birthday cake time!
We had our traditional run to Sonic with Saba & Shamma after we watched the boys lacrosse game at Brecknock. The Ebersole's LOVE lacrosse and we figured it would be good for Shamma & Saba to watch a live game since both Austin and Aidan want to play next year.
Here are Saba & Shamma enjoying the oustide dining in Morgantown.


It was Mother’s Day the day after Aidan’s birthday & I was lucky enough to get to spend it with my Mother!! What I didn’t understand was that my parents got ME a Mother’s Day card & present. I got a BEAUTIFUL salmon colored azalea bush from Dad & Mom & from my husband & sons I got a cell phone. The boys also got me a bouquet of flowers while they were at Wal-Mart with Dad & Mom. They were lovely. They said they wanted the bunch with the purple in it because they knew that purple was my favorite color.

Mom really liked the red, white & blue hanging basket we made for her & she loved the garden stones the boys made her with their footprints.

I had such a wonderful time with my parents. I'm sure the boys had a great time with them too. They actually got to spend the night with them at the hotel both Friday & Saturday night. They love to go & swim in the pool & play the games in the game room.



I love this picture of them firing the Nerf Guns at Shamma and Saba in the background laughing at them. If you look really close at the second picture you can see the bullets in mid-air.
Another successful time with Saba & Shamma!
Next posts: Field Day & Austin's Artwork & Castle

Monday, May 12, 2008

Where do I start??

The beginning I guess!

We had an action packed several days. This first post will be about Aidan's first grade show & the Art Show from last Thursday, May 8.

First and foremost, I must mention that Austin's Land Olympics were rained out on Thursday. He was very disappointed, as were the rest of us. Saba & Shamma had come down to see the Land Olympics festivities & when they got rained out, Austin was sure that it happened to purposely inconvenience him.


So, the next school event on Thursday was Aidan's first grade show.


We got to school around 6:20 (we had to be there by 6:30) so we could get good seats. We (Shamma, Jerry & I) got front row!

I knew the theme of the show & knew the kids were wearing red, white & blue, but everything else was a surprise. Oh wait, also knew something about a salute to veterans because Aidan had asked me earlier if Saba was in the Army. I said yes & then he said that during the show, they were going to ask all the veterans to stand. Saba told Aidan he wasn't going to stand & Aidan looked a little bewildered, but then he said he would.

Well, let me just say that I will remember this show for as long as I live. The first scene was "Fifty Nifty United States" The students from four of the first grade classes at Brecknock began to sing "Fifty Nifty United States, from the thirteen original colonies" and then they named all 50 states in ALPHABETICAL ORDER!

I was so proud of all of them! What an amazing accomplishment!



Aidan had a speaking part in Scene 5: "Rocky Top". His line was "While we are down in the south, let's visit Tennessee!"



He delivered his line perfectly! He spoke very clearly & held the microphone away from his mouth.



The last scene was Scene 9: "God Bless America". Mrs. Hart announced that they wanted honor each branch of the service and then announced each branch of the service starting with the Army. You could see Aidan watching Saba & I'm pretty sure that if Saba wouldn't have stood up, Aidan would have marched right down off that stage & made him stand up. Then all the children said "We salute you!" and they saluted and then sang "God Bless America".


Look closely...They are lined up like the flag!


Well, I had tears running down my face. It was just one of those moments. I was so proud of all of them & to have my Mom & Dad there... AWESOME! I know it meant a lot to them too.


Then it was off the Governor Mifflin Senior High School for the Charlotte Kohl Memorial Art Show. Austin has a piece of his artwork chosen to be apart of this very prestigious art exhibit.

Here is Austin with his soft head sculpture that was modeled after his father.

And here is a close up of his artwork. Austin is a very good artist & I hope he will pursue this talent he has in the future.


After we walked around the art show, we went to Mohnton Navy Yard for a late supper.


It was a terrific day!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

So much in common!

I never would have guessed that Austin & Aidan would have so much in common with Charlie.

Here are Austin & Aidan with Mommy in front of the flower bed:

And here they are - NOT enjoying being alone in the flowers:

Okay Aunt Maggie -don't freak! We were just having fun!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Sister of a smart person & proud of it!

This week we got a special piece of mail:

My sister Patricia (or Aunt Trish-ka-bob) will graduate on Saturday, May 17, 2008 from Mercyhurst College with a Master of Science in Special Education.



Now, I pose this question...does this make her like He-Man - a Master of the Universe? Will she be defending Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRo0HCQM9uo

I personally think she is more like She-Ra - He-Man's twin sister. I'm pretty sure she dresses like this to teach.

That sword can be very intimidating to children. I'm sure she doesn't have any behavior problems.

In all honesty, we are so proud of Tricia & all the hard work she has put in to making this happen. She is a hard worker & very determined. Wherever she decides to go & teach, they will be lucky to have her.