A dinner out

We concluded Sunil's actual birthday with a dinner at Macaroni Grill. We even indulged in chocolate cake (which I ate with the fudge sundae that came with his kid's meal). At least I did get up and go work out this morning.

Weekend birthday

In keeping with Sunil's birthday tradition we took him to a Frisco Roughriders game. This year we extended the game to be a whole weekend event. It should have started with his Friday night T-ball game but there was some rain.


Saturday we spent the night at the hotel next to the ball park. We spent a few hours in the pool, hot tub and sauna. Then went to a kid-friendly pizza place for dinner, cartoons and arcade games. The folks took the kids back to the hotel while Sid and I went bar hopping (sort of). We really spent our time wandering outside in the cool evening air enjoying the fountains and the ponds up in Frisco. We eventaully stopped for a drink and some live music at an Irish pub before walking back to the Hotel.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a cooked to order breakfast at the hotel, spent some time in the pool, and walked across the street to the game. The rain held off. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and AA baseball is a treat. One of the highlights was the removal of the tarp from the field. When they folded it over it looked like it was raining underneath.

Six years old!!!

Sunil woke up to breakfast in bed today in honor of his birthday. His meal of choice was Grammylyn's cinnamon french toast and chocolate milk. From there we moved in to gift opening: a "Cars" clock and lamp, a Roughriders team t-shirt and a DVD. After that we measured his height on his seahorse. I don't actually translate the marks into an English measurement but he is nearly two inches taller than last year.

The picture is pretty crummy, but it was all I could get this morning.

The transformation begins

Sheela spent six months deciding how to redecorate her room. SHe has decided to paint the walls teal (with help from Grammylyn and GrandpaJohn). She asked her Dad to build her a shelf for her trophies and a frame for her full length mirror. The shelf and the mirror she will adorn with a mosaic in teal, cobalt, orange (really it's red) and white glass tiles and mirror chips. She will paint a faux mosaic around the arched window. Her she is edging the mirror in a bright white. The teal walls were completed later in the day and look beautiful (but I don't have a picture). The furniture is in and the shelves and trophy shelf built. If we get enough rain to cancel practice tonight she can paint the shelf and the mirror frame. Tomorrow she can start to apply the tiles. Then we will tackle the paint around the window.

Kids Club Opens today

This summer they have combined all of the clubs (one from each of the 13 elementary schools) into a single location -- one of the middle schools in the area. Because the groups have been combined the kids will get to play with their friends from other schools (some that they've known since pre-school some from their sports teams and some that are siblings of their siblings sports teams).

I took the kids to visit last night and we were given the grand tour by Miss Maggie. Miss Maggie knows Sunil well as she was a student teacher in his Kindergarten class. The kids also were greeted by name by at least a dozen of the other "teachers". The teachers all appear to be less than 25 years old and super high energy.

The theme of the year is "decades". Each of their different rooms was reminiscent of a different decade (or era). The cafeteria is a 50's diner where they will eat their lunches. There are movies playing in the 70's drive-in movie theater. There is a room with just dinosaurs (and volcanoes). There were rooms with just toy cars, rooms with just Lego building blocks, rooms with just dolls, rooms with just pet shop pets (yuck), rooms with video games, rooms with art projects, music rooms, gym activities, etc.

The school is across the parking lot from the city pool (outdoor) and the kids will get to swim once or twice each week. Today Sunil and the little kids will have access to the bounce house. Sheela and the bigger kids will get their turn on Friday. Each week there will be at least one field trip off campus to go see a movie, go to the park or go to the one of the gymnastic gyms, etc.

Last Day

Today is the last day of school for my kids. The Allen school district, like almost all of the others around here, have already made up their snow days and are ready to set the kids free. The kids, I might add, are equally ready to be free. There is one school district that didn't plan their schedule correctly and still has to call the kids back the Tuesday, after the holiday weekend and high school graduation ceremonies, to get that legally required 180th day on the books.

The Allstar Kickball Team

Sheela was elected to the third grade Allstar team at the end of the annual kickball tournament. Her class team placed first this year. She thought that meant she'd get to play against the teachers but that honor is reserved for the winner of the 5th grade/6th grade championship game. This gives her a nice distance goal towards which to strive.

The home stretch..

May is always our most challenging month. We cram in too much and then follow that up with the school cramming in a little bit extra and quickly we are overwhelmed. But we've almost finished the month and I don't think we've dropped the ball on anything yet. I have Dr's appointment today (the last of my laser treatments!). Tomorrow night I've having MY Girl's Night Out. Thursday the Sharmas leave for NOLA. Thursday is also the last day of school. Friday Sid will stay home with the kids. Friday night Mom and John arrive and Sunil has a t-ball game. Saturday is the Plano Pacers Jr Sprint (we may or may not bother with that). Saturday we will stay at the Embassy Suites by the ballpark. Sunday we will go to the ball game. Monday is a holiday. Monday night is the Kids' club open house (at the middle school.) Tuesday Summer Kids Club begins. Wednesday Sunil turns six. Thursday we hit the end of the month! First one there wins.

Here are a few photographs....

Sunil finally collected his talent show t-shirt. His was initially misplaced and it took a week to track it down. The show was great and I was very proud of all the kids.

The new sleeveless jerseys were a big hit as the temperatures were in the upper 80s... at least until the storm hit.

Kindergarten Spring Sing

Sunil's grade level musical performance will be this evening but first they get to put on a concert for the whole school today as a practice event. The real deal will be tonight.

The end may be near....

but it might be a good thing. Sheela is considering hanging up her cleats. She hasn't made the final decision yet, but she is exploring other activities that she might like to try instead of soccer. The current list includes: piano lessons, art classes, softball and basketball. This week alone we've also been given fliers on Track, swimming, dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, fencing and martial arts. Of course, she still has a small sided tournament this weekend and she wants to play in the second indoor summer season (it will also be small sided games).

DI rides again

Sunil's Destination Imagination team gave a repeat performance of their DI skit (with an added introduction explaining their team challenge and the DI concept) at last night's talent show. It was very well received and I'm pleased to say that the microphones were actually working during their entire skit. Not every group was that lucky. My favorite acts this year (aside from the DI team) were a stand-up comic "What is brown and sticky........ a stick" and a third grader playing the guitar and singing "Folsum Prison" (yes, he wore a black shirt).

The kid is perfect..

TAKS scores came out again. Sheela's math score was perfect just like her reading score. She amazes me.

Soccer Rich weekend

In contrast to last weekend this weekend we have both a tournament and a regular season game. Sheela ended up only playing three of the four scheduled 4 v 4 games today. The last one was delayed due to rain and her teammates had other plans. This worked for me too.

Sid took me out to an elegant dinner at our favorite chop house. Sid's sister and his mom went out too and left Grandpa to sit for all four kids. They seem to have lived.

Soccer-free weekend

We had an honest to goodness "soccer-free weekend". Sheela chose to play in only two of the Spring tournaments and this weekend was the one she skipped. She'll be both pleased and bummed to find that her team won (and by penalty kicks at the end of regular play). She has a fair amount of team pride, but I know she'll be jealous of their trophies.

The next two tournaments are small sided teams. I don't know how the coach will divide the girls up but they will be playing against each other instead of together as a team. The first on is 4 v 4 so it will probably be three teams of five. The second tournament will be 3 v3 so four teams of four.

Sheela went to an ice skating birthday party followed by a sleepover. Sunil had a friend come to stay the night with him. I managed to spend some time reading and to get the laundry done. It's not glamorous but it's us.

Windy

We had some storm last night. I wasn't actually here to appreciate it. I went out for girl's night out with the birthday girls. By the time I got home everyone was sound asleep. I wasn't even out late. Apparently when the power goes out, and stays out, there isn't much to keep them entertained. The drive home was a challenge because the traffic lights were out and there were trees down across some of the roads. A bunch of the newly planted trees down Exchange pulled up, many of the largest pear tree limbs broke off. The pears bloom beautifully in the Spring but they tend to horde water which makes the branches heavy. The wind was too much for them. A few of the tractor trailers parked at the construction sites blew over too.

I missed it all happily tiling my mosaic picture frame and chatting with the girls. We topped the evening off with an excellent dinner at Cantina Laredo.