Califoregon Living

The boys and I did a little lesson on Chinese New Year.  A few weeks later, a local school had a Chinese New Year celebration.  A traveling group of Chinese college students were visiting from Beijing and shared their traditional music and dance.

The master and mistress of ceremonies.  The man spoke in Chinese and the woman translated in English…

They brought in a small orchestra and introduced all of the traditional instruments (none of which I can remember the names…)

Initially, we were seated on the ground floor, but the boys were having a hard time seeing anything.  We were able to move upstairs to an overhead walkway that allowed for an unobstructed view. We had to stand for the rest of the celebration, but it was worth it…

The highlight for the boys were the martial arts demonstrations.  It was a little different from what the boys are learning.  This style was more smooth and flowing, but with the same power and intensity.  This is a picture of board breaking…

More traditional music…

More dance…

More martial arts…

2012.  The Year of the Dragon…

I chose a piece of landscape art for the boys to copy, using watercolor.  It was harder to control the color than it looked!  I decided to sit with them an paint as well.  It was a fun project.

Mine…

Not sure which boy did which….

Volcanoes…

Underwater scene…

I decided to plan an activity packed Saturday.  After getting the boys up relatively early, I drove us out to the local country town of Penryn for a fundraiser book sale.  I gave each boy $5 to buy some books.  ‘A’ had his mind set on finding a ‘Sherlock Holmes’.  Now, this book sale took place in a barn, with tables set up end to end, and books lined up three rows deep.  That’s the extent of their organization.  To be that specific in finding a book was near impossible.  After looking for about 15 minutes and getting discouraged, I helped join him in the hunt and talked him into trying a different mystery that we found.

Here’s a few pictures of their find:

We then drove to the neighboring town of Loomis to meet my friend Eun, and three of her four kids (one was on a mission trip with their dad in India).  We enjoyed beverages and the lovely weather at The Flower Farm.  They have a bocce ball court and the boys had fun tossing the balls around.

Eun took her little ones home and I took ‘J’ with us for lunch and more fun…
Since we were still on the Daniel Fast, I took the boys to a vegetarian restaurant in Auburn, called PachaMama’s Organic Cafe .  The boys were thrilled to discover they had nachos (a raw, vegan version of nachos), so that is what we ordered.  The ‘nachos’ consist of blue corn chips, carrots, celery, and a ramekin of blended cashews and other ingredients that the boys swear, “tastes EXACTLY like nacho cheese!”  They devoured the plate and was excited to share their find with Dad.  (We ended up returning the next day with him for two more plates of ‘nachos’…)

After lunch, we attended a lecture on fossils, sponsored by the Place County Museums.  The lecture was a Scholastic presentation, geared to elementary kids, although many adults without children attended.

They brought some fossil examples.  This was a fun one.  It is actually a ‘pseudo-fossil’…a rock that looks like a fossil…

Checking out the Saber-toothed cat.  (We learned that there is no such thing as a Saber-toothed Tiger)

Lately, our house has fallen prey to a little ‘attitude’.  I decided to give us a little project that would help us become aware of our behavior.  This activity come from the ‘Plants Grown Up’ book:

We talked about how, when faced with issues or temptations that can lead us to respond in a manner that is less than appealing or appropriate, we can choose to either control or not control our spirit.

I made three charts that said, ‘Control My Spirit’, and ‘Not Control My Spirit’.  When we were faced with a situation and took control in how we responded, we placed a piece of pasta in the ‘Control My Spirit’ jar.  If we responded in anger, sarcasm, etc., we placed a piece of pasta in ‘Not Control My Spirit’.  We did this for a few days.  Here are the results of the first day:

Mom: Rule: 2 No Rule: 4

R: Rule: 5 Not Rule: 1

A: Rule:10 Not Rule: 1

It was a good exercise in thinking before responding.