Parades, Parties and Countries!

On Friday we went to the Veteran's Day Parade in Mesa on Friday with my mom...
And lots and lots of our friends!
While we were there, Lynnae informed us that it was 11:11am on 11/11/11 and told us to take a picture (best idea ever Lynnae!)so we could remember what we were doing at such a cool time! So, this is what Stanton and Noelle were doing, watching the parade with friends.
And this is what Mommy and Winston were doing, right behind them.
I LOVE parades, and so do my kids!
They especially love when they throw candy and hand out flags. Noelle had been a pretty good sport about getting passed up by the candy everytime, watching every other kid, including Stanton, got some, but finally she couldn't handle it and she started to cry.
I know that kids can't always have what they want, but when she cries quietly, without throwing a tantrum, over something that she is sincerely sad about, it breaks my heart.
It all sounds a little ridiculous and indulgent now, but I always remember how in my Toddler Development class my teacher said (I'm paraphrasing) that to a 3 year old, anxiously awaiting candy and being the only one not getting it is equivalent to an adult getting passed by for a big promotion cause that's what's important to them in their world.
Anyway, I made a vow to Noelle that I would get her a piece of candy before that parade was over, and I was determined to get her one!
I had to drag her by the hand and sprint into the middle of the parade route, around the marching band and cars full of senior citizens, with a handful of kids and following me, thinking it was safe to do the same (when in reality it probably wasn't) to get that very tiny Tootsie Pop, but I got it. And boy, she was happy!
On Saturday we went to The Pottery barn Kids Princess Tea Party and Superhero Party. Noelle and Hannah made headbands out of coffee cilters and cupcake wrappers and listened to stories while drinking juice and eating cookies. Noelle was the only one to ask for seconds on both. That's my girl!
Stanton was the only boy at the Superhero Party, but he still had lots of fun with the very spirited guy who worked there, making a cape, reading Superhero stories and eating Spider Man fruit snacks!
And Winston had a fun time taking things off of the shelves and being held by Daddy.
Yesterday was "Report Day!"
About a month ago we closed our eyes and spun the globe and picked a country to do a "report" on. Stanton landed on Mynmar, but the library didn't have a single book about it, so he defaulted to India. Noelle landed on Australia. Winston got Zimbabwe. I got Mexico and Daddy got China.
So for the last 4 weeks we have been reading about our countries (which reminds me that means my books are a week overdue) and drawing pictures and writing about them, just a little here and there.
Last night was the "due date" for our reports, so for dinner we feasted on food from all of our countires.
It was probably the grossest feast I have ever had!
We had take-out Tiki Chicken, Kheer and Naan from India. That was pretty good, but the goodness pretty much stops there. (Excpet my chips and salsa from Mexico were tasty too.)
From China we had Dim Sum that I got from Meekong Plaza for our main course and something with Chinese letters that were illegible to me, for dessert.
Robert, who is the least picky eater I have ever met (aside from Stanton, who actually kind of liked it) said it tasted like a terrarium and that he was sure one of the ingredients was turtle poop. I couldn't stop laughing because it was such an accurate description.
Then from Australia we made Lamingtons, which turned out nicely, but I think they sound a lot better than they taste. It's pound cake with strawberry jam and whip cream in the middle covered in frosting and coconut.
From Zimbabwe I made papaya candy cause it was the only thing I coould find that they ate besides curdled milk and cornmeal porridge. The taste wasn't awful, but it almost pulled out everyone's fillings. In fact, I've brushed my teeth twice since then, and I think there is still some stuck in one of my molars.
We also made heri covert from France since Grandma said our dinner prayer in French and told us about French stuff.
Then, to end "Report Day," Grandpa said our bedtime prayer in Spanish, and Stanton and noelle both asked if we could do new reports tomorrow. I told them maybe in a couple of months from now when I've recovered from all of the grueling research.
If, I were giving out grades, I would give Robert an A+++++ because not only did he write the kids' names in Chinese, but he pulled up a video of the people singing the Chinese National Anthem and he built the Great Wall of China out of Legos! Serioulsy, he out did himself!
Stanton did India, and he insisted on doing almost everything himself, all 6 pages! (Page 3 is my favorite, with the Taj Mahal, which he kept pronouncing as Taj Ma Hell.)
He picked the parts I read to him that he liked the most and copied the hard words out of the book and sounded the easier ones out on his own, which is how he ended up spelling peacock in a very funny way. Who knew it was India's National Bird????
He really liked learning about the villages made of dung and dedicated a whole page to them!
My favorite part about his report was when I told him that sometimes people in india have a red dot on their forehead, and I asked him if he wanted one, and he said, "No, I can't have one because it would cover up my Harry Potter scar, and then I wouldn't know when Voldemort was coming!"
I forgot he was still pretending to be Harry.
Noelle insisted on doing her report first, before her cover, because she did not want to make the same mistake as "Fancy Nancy," who spent so much time decorating her cover that she only wrote one sentence in her report, which left her feeling "crestfallen" when she went to read it to the class. (I love Fancy Nancy books!)
So Noelle spent lots of time making 3 pages front and back coloring their fruit, their flag and drawing every animal Australia has to offer, including numbats, which I didn't know existed until now. She also drew a very cute Sydney Opera House and The Great Barrier Reef with 50 Nemos in it.
She and Stanton both did such a great job!!! A+++++'s for them too, if i were giving out grades, which I'm not!
I helped Winston a little with his (: which didn't leave me too much time for my own, which is why I didn't come up with a more Mexican food item for our feast.
I give myself a B-, which totally stinks cause I LOVE doing reports on stuff, (especially countries, which I think are super interesting, even though I am terrible at guessing people's nationalities)and I could have done much better if I'd had more time!
However, I did learn that the colors on Mexico's flag symbolize independence, duty and religion. I also learned that the colors on Zimbabwe's flag represent the blood spilled during their fight for liberation. Yikes!
After all the countries we learned about though, Winston still likes America the best. Me too!

It turned out to be a really, really fun activity! I loved to see them interested in different places and people and to see their art work. And it was so fun trying gross food together as a family that we all wanted to (Noelle and I did) spit out in our napkin.
I don't ever want to forget it! That's why I love blogging, so I can remember every detail!
(And maybe, just maybe "Report Day" will show Robert how good I would be at home schooling our kids, since I am having panic attacks about Stanton going to Kindergarten 9 months from now.)