100 (Mostly Wonderful, right?) Days- Part II

(thanks, Dad, for your sweet and encouraging words! You make a great principal and teachers aide (that's where the grading comes in). We couldn't do it without you.)

Well, here it is again: another 100th day celebration. We've had some pretty colorful ones through the years and they seem to be getting bigger. You know, there's a great difference between 100 of somethings. Take, for instance, 100 pieces of popped popcorn- that's not very much. I could probably eat that in one handful. Or 100 Cheerios, or M & M's? I am noticing these are all food items, perhaps that's the problem. But what about 100 books (did you make it, Jodi? : ) ), or 100 words, even, or.... well, what about 100 days? I asked my kids if they thought that was a long time and received varying answers, mostly affirmative. I, on the other hand, can hardly believe 100 days of this year are behind us already. All too soon, I will have to graduate each child up to another year! Well, at any rate, 100 days of learning have passed and this is how we chose to celebrate this year:

We rushed through school in the morning, making sure to end a bit early. Had a quick lunch, then the fun began. Thanks to my dear friend, Jodi, for the terrific idea of providing ten different snacks, the kids began counting out ten of every one of them and filling little bags (all except Kenan, who independently chose a much bigger one)  for their own individual snack mixes. This was my contribution.

In addition,
Jared brought 100 nails. (actually 99 nails and another tool used with the nails that I can't remember the name of- not a hammer)
Marcus brought 100 pages of guitar music.
Faith and Lily added to my snack options, providing the Cheerios, M&M's and chocolate chips.
Kenan provided a list of 100 words he can say. (It took us all morning to compile that one)

 After we filled up our snack bags, we headed into the living room to read 100 pages! We finished two read aloud books, Grandmas' Attic being a huge favorite! We laughed and laughed. We had 59 pages left in that one and it took us one hour. Then we dug into our other one: Sergeant York and the Great War. We read until we finished that one, which was about 1 hour and 15 minutes later. We added up the pages to see how much we had left to our 100 page goal, all a little weary, the littler kids VERY full of snacks by now, and me, a little sore in the throat. Amazingly, we had had 41 pages left, which added up to exactly....100! We had to laugh (with some relief) at that one! We were ready to move onto something else, which is rather interesting to note, because I had always thought we'd be a family who could read outloud together all day. We've never tried it since, unfortunately, I am not that spontaneous, but now I know that two hours is about the limit in one shot.

notice Kenan's bag
and yes, he and Lily are still in their pj's, which is a leftover tradition from the past the older children have grown out of already

Since we spent much of our afternoon reading, and had to be gone by early evening, Dad furthered our celebration by bringing home supper. Wow, thanks, Dad- I would never have had supper ready in time and I would never have asked you to bring it home! He then served dessert, 100 cal snacks, of course! (he's much better than us at watching those calories)

Now, one last thing: we look forward to more celebrating on Saturday when we get to join our cousins for (nearly) 100 minutes of... ice skating!!

Great job, kids- we are on the downhill now....and guess what, gardening is just around the corner ; )  which makes me think of 100 hours spent weeding... now that's a lot. -Kara


Education is less about filling a bucket and more about lighting a fire.