Book Parade 2013

I know my posts have been few and far between lately.  It's just that sometimes (many times, actually) I go through the day and well, it's just.... routine.  Mundane.  Stuff like walking back and forth, back and forth to the school to drop off or pick up kids.  Laundry, sweeping the floor, cooking and cleaning up.  Nothing blog-worthy.

But every once in a while, something 'out of the norm' happens.  Like Book Parade Day at the Primary school.  Every year the kids' school has 2 weeks where they focus on reading.  There is a reading competition and activities for each class to participate in.  My kids all love to read, so having to read every day for a week isn't a big deal to them.  I was really proud of Justin, especially.  He read 30-45 minutes each day for the week.  I've been so impressed with his reading abilities!  He taught himself how to read last summer, and with almost no assistance from Matt or I has basically brought himself up to a reading level that passes up all the books that are used in his Kindergarten classroom!  A month or so ago, his teacher was testing the Kindergarteners on sight words, and Justin knew all but 1 of the 240+ words!  But I digress.....

So, the culmination of the 2 weeks of reading and book activities ends with the Book Parade.  The kids come up with a book character that they want to dress up as, and after lunch there is a parade and some other special events for all the kids to participate in.  Now, coming up with costumes for everyone COULD be a major ordeal.  Thankfully, for the 1-2 Book Parades we've actually been a part of now, my kids have come up with costumes that can be made from their big box of dress-up clothes (Thanks so much to the Grandma's who have supplied this box over the years!!!!!).

Kaitlyn, our animal enthusiast, was trying to come up with a book character that was an animal.  Well, she wanted to be a cheetah.  But we couldn't think of any cheetah book character.  Then I got the bright idea of Dr. Doolittle.  At first she was a little hesitant because she didn't want to dress up as a man.  But she quickly got inspired and collected stuffed animals to go along with her costume.

Dr. Doolittle and (her) menagerie

Kaitlyn (back, middle left) with her class

Nathan wanted to be a pirate.  He dressed up as the pirate dog from "Mice of the Westing Wind".  We were going to paint a dog nose and whiskers on him, but we decided not to at the end.  He made a (cute) ferocious pirate.

"Grrrrrr"

Nathan with his class

 Justin dressed up as Darth Vader.  Here he is in the parade, and with all his class.