Autumn Kickoff

Today was Autumn Kickoff at Gillian's school. It is basically a field day where the kids get to participate in a series of events. Every year has a theme and this year it was about working with disabilities. I was able to sneak out of the office for a couple of hours to watch Gillian and her classmates.

I think she was excited to see me!

I missed the first two events, but I did get to see Gillian working as a team with her friend.

 

The next event was stacking giant cups. But the tricky part was that the kids couldn't talk. Gillian did awesome. It must have been hard for her to not talk!

The next event was my favorite and all the kids did so well. They had to go through an obstacle course with one hand behind their back.

 

Gillian was a good sport, listened to instructions and was supportitive of her classmates. 

The party

Today we had John's 7th birthday party. John had been talking about his party for months (and months). But today was the day. We decided to have an old school party. I came up with a few Lego games and prizes and we invited all of his classmates. 

As the kids arrived today, we sent them outside to play on the playground. They played nicely until it was time to start the games. Our first game was pin the head on the Lego man. Aunt Betty tied the blindfold on the kids while I handed them their own Lego head. The kids were pretty excited about this simple game and I think they did a great job. 

 

Our next game was a relay race. I had a bucket of Legos at one end and the object was for the kids to move all the Legos to the empty bucket. The kids decided to go boys against girls. Now this made the teams very uneven, but the boys didn't mind. They thought that since there was only four of them they would win. Well the girls were very organized and they won! The boys said "They cheated!" 

Our next game was knocking down a stack of yellow cups, that looked like Lego faces!

This was a lot of fun. Some kids had no problems hitting down all the cups. But others had a hard time even getting the ball near the table. 

Our fourth game was like skeeball, but with Legos. I guess I didn't get any pictures of this game. But I made rings and the kids had to throw a dupleo (big Legos) into the rings. Each ring had a different value. The easiest ring was 5 points, the next 10 and the center smallest ring was 20. John went first and scored 75 points! Everyone else followed behind. 

Daddy ran out to get pizza. So while we were waiting, Aunt Betty had all the kids guess the number of Lego Mini Figures we put in a jar. 

While the kids were guessing the number of minifigs, I was giving out prizes for all the other games. The kids guesses were all over the place, 102, 71, 37. But miss Isabel guessed 55 and she was the closest. There were 52 in the jar!

We are lunch and had cake. And then it was time to do the piñata. John wanted a piñata with pull stings instead of using a stick. That makes me feel a little safer. Anyway, John went first and nothing. A couple kids went after him and nothing. Then Izzy went. She had a hard time grasping one string and ended up pulling them all. The trap door opened and all the candy fell out. The kids went nuts. Grabbing everything they could get. They filled up their goodie bags with candy and then went to play again. 

After everyone was gone, I asked John "Thumbs up or thumbs down?" He smiled and said "Thumbs up!" I'll take that!

Duck, duck, goose

Daddy went to pick the kids up from school today. He found Gillian in the big room with all of her fiends. They were all sitting in a circle playing "Duck, Duck, Goose." Daddy watched them play from the hallway thru the window on the door. He watched as a little boy tapped Gillian on her head and said "Goose!" Gillian got up right away and chased him. He was just a little bit faster and sat down before she could tag him. Gillian then walked around the circle tapping her friends on their heads and saying "Duck, duck, duck." Daddy knew that she was headed right to Dorlisa. He was right. Gillian reached Dorlisa and said "Goose!" He decided to walk in the door while she was distracted running from Dorlisa. That didn't work. Because Gillian saw Daddy right away and went running to him. She ran super fast and wiped out. She hit the floor with her outstretched arms. Daddy consoled her. One of the teachers suggested that Gillian have another turn. While Gillian walked around the circle Daddy whispered to the teachers "She's just going to pick Dorlisa again." Again Daddy was right. She reached Dorlisa and said "Goose!" And went running around the circle until she got back to Dorlisa's spot and she sat down.