Superheroes

We went to a birthday party where the mom had hired a face painting service. The kids had a lot of fun. They made me promise to post these pictures for the world to see. I thought it was a fair deal in exchange for them washing the stuff off so we could make it to church tomorrow.

The Newest Hancock

Meet Dragon!

The unexpected advantage of Japanese

(Ryan and Sean 2005)

When I put Ryan in the dual language school, I was informed that each student had to also choose a third language. I put Ryan in French because I have a wonderful friend who speaks French and is teaching it to her kids. When I told Nate, however, he made me request a transfer. "French," he asserted, "Is a dying language. Put Ryan in something more useful." Honestly, I was just delighted that he was showing any interest in Ryan's schooling. He generally just leaves it up to me. So, I switched Ryan into Japanese. I didn't think it mattered much. I had high hopes that my kids would be able to learn Spanish. But, I really didn't think there was much chance they would pick up a third language in elementary school.

I have been proud of how well both Ryan and Sean are doing in Japanese. But, there has been a huge unexpected benefit that has nothing to do with the language.

Last year Ryan excelled in every subject except one: handwriting. He struggles with fine motor skills. He always has. He did all the exercises, but just couldn't seem to get his handwriting up to even that of the other kids in his class. This year, however, he started bringing home papers that looked like this:



The teacher wrote the Japanese word in our alphabet, followed by it's English translation. Ryan's job was to write the word in Chinese characters. (The teacher informed me that the Japanese use the Chinese alphabet.) The point is that he has been doing one of these worksheets every night. The example I posted is a completed one from a couple weeks ago. Not bad, eh! His handwriting has improved dramatically. Tonight, I commented on how well he was doing and he just beamed up at me before replying, "Ms. Willis says I write like an adult."

Who would have thought Japanese class could be so good for handwriting?

Good Job, Ryan.

In other news, Sean Pest is being tested for GT this week. He was one of three his teacher recommended from his kinder class. Sorry if my writing is always so self indulgent, but I suppose that's really the definition of blogging. I sure love bragging about my kids. Heavenly Father has blessed me beyond description.

Happy Valentine's Day

To all the people I love:

I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I appreciate all you do and I am thankful to Heavenly Father for the chance I be had to be a part of your life. Of course, I loved you yesterday and I will love you tomorrow. But yesterday I was doing laundry and dishes and tomorrow I’ll be buying groceries. It’s not that I don’t want you to know that I love you every day. I am grateful to have a day set aside to remember and celebrate all the people I love.

I feel like I have been surrounded by a barrage of people telling me what a horrible, commercialized holiday Valentine’s Day is. Ironically, the most frequently cited argument for this contention is that we should show our love everyday, not just on holidays. It seems like the people who feel this way ought to love Valentine’s Day the most. After all, it’s the people who think about Jesus everyday that love to celebrate his birth at Christmas. I pray in gratitude every night for my beautiful children. That is why I am so glad they have a birthday once a year where I can set aside the everyday struggles and simply celebrate their births. I am disturbed by all the people who think being ornery and feeling pestered by a holiday meant to honor the people we love is a better expression of love then being excited at the opportunity to set aside the mundane. I was even more disturbed to open up foxnews.com this morning and find a story about why everyone hates this holiday. Valentine’s Day is not about flowers and chocolates. Think about it as an opportunity to reflect on all the people who wish they had someone to celebrate with, rather than feeling bothered that you’re expected to say “I love you.” Remember how lucky and blessed you are to have love. And remember, as always, that I love you.

Fan Mail

Okay, not really, but it still made my day. This girl was in my primary class in Illinois. Her dad asked me to send her a signed copy of my book. :)

Poetry

I try to spend a little time reading with my kids individually each day. For Christmas, Grandma Hancock gave Ryan a Shel Silverstein poem book that had belonged to Nate when he was a kid. So, for the past month, we've been reading poetry for reading time. Today, Ryan finished the book. He was very excited. I told him that I like to write poetry and read him my "Dancing Leaves" poem. He declared that it was time for him to write a poem. I sat him down at the computer and told him to tell me when he was done. This is the end result and, I kid you not, the only thing I helped with was the punctuation. Even the selection of the line breaks was all Ry. He also chose the picture he wanted to go on the page with his work. Not bad for a 6-year-old. What a cute kid. :)

Why ?
By: N. Ryan Hancock

Why can you see and I
can’t? Why can you feel
and I can’t? Why can you
taste and I can’t? Why can
you hear and I can’t. Why
can you smell and I can’t?
What’s that?
Oh! You say that I can
hear and see and feel and
taste and smell.
Silly me.



Pretty good, eh? I wanted to call it "Anthem of a Recovering Liberal," But Ryan entitled it, "Why?"


Post update: When Nate read this article he commented, "That sure is a cute picture of Quentin." HA! I had to tell him that the picture is an old one of Ryan. hehehe.

Happy, Happy Birthday

As most of you know, Chloe and Quentin are two years and one day apart. So, last week we celebrated both a two-year-old and a four-year-old birthday. Since I am not as cool as some of my friends (who make two fancy cakes when celebrating two birthdays on the same day-you know who you are), Quentin celebrated two years of turkey-ness with a delicious, pink, princess castle. It turned out okay. The directions specify to use a pound cake for stability, but I wanted carrot. It may have been leaning, but it was delectable. Here's some pictures from the festivities.

Please leave a comment about what a great mom I am, how adorable my kids are, or the like.