six years old

Tim was very involved with the preparations for his party this year.  Along with coloring the bags and writing names on them, he also spent a lot of time examining every goody that went into each one.

birthday party

Tim turns six on Friday and celebrated his birthday with what he calls his 'science office friends' at school yesterday.  Three of his classmates are sons of my colleagues and all of them are science teachers.    Another science teacher who started this year has two sons that are also Tim's friends.  One is a year older than Tim and the other is a year younger.   The adults take turns collecting all five of them at the end of the day.   The science department is on the ground floor of the high school, beside a side entrance, so whichever adult has pick-up duty takes them to the science office to wait for the parents to collect them and take them home.

This is the first year that he seemed to actually enjoy being the center of attention and stood smiling by his cake for the entire "happy birthday" song.

All of the boys are fans of the video game called Minecraft, so when Tim requested it for the theme of his party, it was easy to agree.  Paul drew the creeper faces.  Tim colored them in and wrote the names of each boy on their bag.

I got my cake idea from Pinterest.   These are brownies cut into 1 inch squares.  The figures are plastic characters from the game.

A local company printed the banner.  Each triangle has his name and age on it.

They watched and listened to youtube videos of song parodies that have been set to Minecraft.

Tim is behind the humongous card.  Daniel is in the striped shirt and Jack is beside Daniel.  Ginger is Jack's mom (in the background).  Ginger teaches English and her husband Rich teaches physics.  They are from Texas.

Tim and Daniel.

Tim was happy with his party and Paul and I were pleased with how involved he got with the preparations: coloring the bags and choosing each toy/candy to put inside them.  Tonight, I'm making more brownies - no theme - for Tim to take for his whole class on Friday.  We'll celebrate his birthday with Luke this weekend as a family.  I've got some video to put on but technical difficulties mean it will have to wait for now.

trunk or treat

I expected to go without Halloween while we are in England as it wasn't much of holiday when we were here last.  Things have changed.  Pumpkins were for sale in all the grocery stores along with decorations, party favors, and specially packaged candy.  We had small groups of children trick or treating in our neighborhood.  None came to our flat, but most of the people living in our complex are retired, so it doesn't draw children celebrating this American party.  We didn't go out on the 31st because our school held a party for Halloween the next night, which was better for us since it was Friday with no school the next day.

I didn't even have to ask Tim to pose for this picture.  I think he likes Halloween as much I like it.

He had a mask that he wore for a good part of the night.  I remember mine from childhood.  It restricted my sight and got hot and humid very quickly.  I applaud him for wearing it so long.  He's the red Power Ranger.  The gold design on the front has small lights that flash.  I don't remember if I played in my Halloween costumes, but I know he'll get months, possibly years of play out of this.

The Halloween celebrations a school started with a parade of the Pre-K and Kindergarten children dressed in their costumes around the grounds.  I had to teach so I didn't get to see it, but I was told that Tim kept in Power Ranger character unless a camera was pointed at him in which case he would lift up his mask and pull a face.  Most of the rest of his day was spent eating cakes and playing games, I think.

After school, we walked to the pub for a quick bite before returning for the real event.  Parents had decorated the  trunks of their cars with skeletons, spider webs, monsters, witches, etc.  Some of them were themed, and all of them were impressive.  The kids went from car to car to get their candy.  After that, we went to the old gym where there were carnival games and bouncy castles.  We didn't go to the haunted house, put on by the high school drama department.  Apparently, it's terrifying.  The students get a grade from their drama teacher.

the farm show

Tim's class put on their first program of the year called The Farm Show.  This was the culmination of all the learning they have had thus far, starting with the Little Red Hen and included Johnny Appleseed and a trip to Garsons Farm, a local vegetable farm where they got to pick and keep a pumpkin.

The parents were invited, and I luckily didn't have a class, so I was able to attend and enjoy the performance and the pumpkin cake that they made the day before.  Tim served it to me.

This is Ruby and Jack welcoming the guests.

"All Around the Kitchen" is a new song for us.

This is the "glue dance" in which they are to pretend their feet are glued to the floor.

This is what we know about the farm.

This is what Tim knows about the farm.

It wouldn't be a farm show if we didn't have Old MacDonald.

This is Tim's class.  The woman behind Tim is his head teacher Mrs. Dunkley.  The woman on the right is Ms. Hylands who is with the class full time as Mrs. Dunkley's assistant.  There is usually a third adult with them.

On Tim's right is Jack.  His father and mother teach at the high school, and we are becoming friends.  Mom teaches English and Dad teaches science.  On Tim's left is Nathaniel, his nemesis.  Nathaniel has never been in school before, so he is learning a lot about group behavior.  Next to Nathaniel is Daniel.  His mother and I started work this year and got to know each other in all the new teacher meetings at the beginning of the year.  She teaches science and her husband teaches math at the middle school.  Tim and Daniel are current best friends.

Those are the major players in his class life right now, so I won't bother with the names of the others - not that I know all of them.  He has little to say about the girls.  Ruby is in the middle to Tim's far left.  Her mother and father teach at the school as well, but I don't know them other than to say hello and nod.