Mateo's Planet Presentation

For several weeks, Mateo has been at home rapping about the solar system and today we got to see a little more about what all of the kids in his 4th grade class have been learning about the planets. Mateo was assigned Venus.

Mateo's partner was Bryson and I have got to mention that their project looked a bit bare compared to others. Apparently, when Mateo was sick from school for 2 days, Bryson didn't really work on the project, so needless to say they were a little behind. I do have to give them credit - while their 3-dimensional component could have been a little more engaging their Power Point , presentation with accompanying music (as you can see there were headphones) "Night Begins to Shine" from Teen Titans Go, was informative and quite creative.

Best of all the Rap/Poetry at the end of the presentation. Check out their stage names.

"Play Drizzle...I'm Out!"

MLV Celebrate Milla's 4th Birthday on Mother's Day

Today was a really cool day because the Laine, Gonzalez and Shroff kids (all 9) got together to help celebrate Milla's  4th birthday.  Of course because there are lots of different plans going on today (golf, soccer, Mother's Day celebration) we made it a breakfast celebration. It is rare that we can get all of the kids together, but when we do it's lots of fun for everyone.

Quite comfortable in their surroundings, Lucia kicks off her shoes and she, Alma and Shyam (the middles) invade the kids' bedroom and help with blowing up party ballloons.

After the kids get in some playtime, we force them to sit and eat a little of the breakfast spread.

Chocolate croissant anyone?

The littles - Little Shroff (aka Annika) enjoyed the breakfast treats also.

Lucia sitting next to Little Gonzalez (aka Valentina) enjoying some juice.

And now for the celebration of the Littlest Laine - aka Milla

Happy 4th Birthday Milla!

After breakfast cupcakes the kids got to "horsing around" again...

...and of course there was a petite pinata with more sweet treats. Everyone got a swing, but Mateo managed to bust it open.

After all of that, the Middles and Bigs went out to play and the two littlest of Littles stayed in and got in some bonding time. 

"Oh Yeah" it's also Mother's Day so later we went our with Aba, Abu and Tia Lola to celebrate at a local churrasceria. The meat kept on coming and it was delicious. A very good day.

Happy Mother's Day!

Lucia at Jungle Book

A few weeks ago, Eddie took Mateo to see the Jungle Book after school and ever since Lucia (and I) have wanted a chance to go on a girl date and see the movie as well. Today we finally managed to carve out some time and it was worth it.

"It's SHOWTIME!!"

Mateo Team Chess Tournament

Mateo has been going to chess tournaments for a couple of years, but this year is different because Elysian actually has a team now that can compete against other school teams.  Today Elysian Charter School did very well.

2 Junior Champs - Ryan (who got 1st) and Mateo (4th place) ended up winning 2nd place for the Team 

The rest of the team (Evan, Adrian and Evan) had solid wins as Future Champs

Lucia Gets "Taken to Work"

Today is "Take Your Child to Work Day" and for the first time in it's history, OXO decided to participate. I didn't want to go overboard on this first one, so I had to pick one kid this time around and the lucky winner, who got to miss school...

...Lucia ! She decided to bring piggy along with her because Oona was also going to be there (and Oona loves pigs)

Before the formal activities of the day got started, Lucia enjoyed an art project in the OXO kitchen

And look who showed up Oona with her business pig

One of the first activities for the kids was prepping their cake balls. Very cool activity brought to you by Amy & Benat. (Note- next to Lucia is her other good buddy Amelia from school and ski trip)

After they formed their cake balls, it was time for lunch where the kids had pizza and made fortune tellers

After a yummy lunch - onto engineering where Noah walked them through the engineering process and worked with them on their very own sleep machines.

After Engineering a mini-break to finish decorating their cake pops

Next meeting was in copywriting where they had to write a story about their day which was then followed by...

...their very own step-and-repeat made by our extremely talented art department.

"Fahhncy" Girls - Amelia, Oona and Lucia

Lucia also made friends with Maddie and they had a great time coloring

Later in the day, Lucia showed me the results of the sleep machine. You can see the machine required beds, some books and some Zzzzzs.

The day ended with a kids photo shoot and a proclamation of "what I want to be when I grow up"

Apparently Lucia is ready to take the stage.

All of the OXO kids had a great time and so did I.

Well done.

At the end of the day when we were walking home, Lucia said to me "Mommy, now I see why you are so tired when you come home - that's a long day"

Finally!

MLV Spring is Coming

This year's seasons have been completely out of whack. Winter was unseasonably warm and Spring has been bi-polar, so who knows what Summer has in store for us, but today we caught a little glimpse of spring and it was magical.

Lucia couldn't resist making a wish when she found this dandelion in our balcony garden.

And Miss Valentina was ready to turn in her Winter cap for this slick Spring fedora. 

"This is what cool looks like"

Lucia's Travel Tryout

Relatively ordinary Sunday, but it was also a try-out day. Lucia has been taking soccer since she was a pre-schooler, but it has always been kiddie instruction. Last Fall she decided to do the local Recreation league and recently she decided she wanted to  try out for the travel team. Her brother's tryout was last week and today it was her turn. We aren't really sure if she is as passionate about soccer as he is, but think it will be good for her to join a team.

Lucia is dressed and ready to go. Today she means business!

While Lucia went to tryout, V and Mateo stayed in until...

...later when Mateo went to a super fun birthday party for Colin and Gavin. Video Game truck and playing in the park. Pretty nice combo!