Chef George and Spencer

Chef George Kruse and Spencer planning for

Spencer's cooking lesson/birthday dinner

I'm looking forward to the meal prepared by these two - pear, walnut and blue cheese salad with champagne viniagrette, duck l'orange, baked chicken, mashed sweet and golden potatoes, sugar snap peas, and bananas flambe with homemade ice cream. Spencer will get to cook in BCC's commercial kitchen and with the restaurant closed that day, we'll have the place all to ourselves. Fun!! I love birthdays!

Happy Birthday Grant!

Grant had a great 7th birthday and celebrated with friends William, Joel, Oliver, Nathan, Nicole and brother Spencer. His big gifts were some Wii games and controllers and a little exercise bike he wanted!? The birthday money from Aunts and Grandparents went to the bank where he is enjoying watching his money grow!

Spencer's Speech for the School Board

Funding for the gifted enrichment program is in jeopardy in this county. This is the speech Spencer wrote (with mom's help) and was looking forward to delivering on Tuesday. Just before we left the house, we got a call from the principal to let us know funding was restored and that we did not need to go to the school board meeting. His delivery would have been priceless - Spencer in his bow-tie, speaking very seriously, great emphasis on important points. He's a heck of a speaker! He wanted the board members to know what a gifted kid was like and that without good support, he may not flourish.

School board meeting, February 2, 2009

My name is Spencer Martin and I am in the third grade and in the gifted program at Harding Avenue Elementary School. I want to be an astrophysicist and eventually get my PhD. I am interested in LEGO Mindstorms, programming, mathematics, geology, and quantum theory. My favorite book is the Universe in a Nutshell by Steven Hawking.

I can’t wait to get to school each morning. A big reason that I love school is the gifted program and the support I get from my teachers. The work we do is challenging and inspiring.

We meet in our gifted pullout groups once a week for an hour. Right now we are working in pairs on a project. It is called Athenian Secret and it involves solving complex mathematical puzzles to unlock a secret code. We have to spend a lot of time on each puzzle and we make many mistakes on our way to the solution but we learn a lot this way. We share our discoveries and learn from each other too. When I succeed, I feel so good and so confident. I don’t get that feeling from regular school work. While I enjoy all my classmates, I’m glad for the time in the gifted program when I really can just be myself. It’s just one hour a week, but I think about the ideas and puzzles all week long.

If I am going to be a successful scientist and solve important problems, I need to be challenged now. My brain is like a muscle that needs to be worked and we each work at different rates. I can’t get enough of learning and have been reading science books since I could read.

When I was 6 I won a talent show by giving a lesson about geology. Last year I made a video of a lesson on string theory. I have programmed a multivariable game with LEGO mindstorms. Now I am beginning a new project in school on renewable energy. Can you imagine if I didn’t have regular time in the gifted program?

Please do not cut funding for the gifted program. Kids like me need a place to go each week to be challenged and to grow. And we need to encourage future scientists who can solve the many problems facing our world.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

A family of many talents!

Animal Kingdom

Here's some cute pictures from the animal kingdom. Munchie, who is around 18 and I think getting senile, has taken to eating Trixie's food. The dog wasn't real happy about sharing her food initially, but now she tolerates it (barely). She whimpers and wonders why I don't do something before she settles in to make sure that Munchie just doesn't eat TOO much!



This is a dog who loves her toys. She's been voted the messiest member of the household as she leaves toys strewn about and we can't seem to get her trained to clean them up!

Tennis Camp

My camera doesn't take good indoor pictures, but here are photos of the boys at the Thompson-Woods Holiday Tennis Camp at VT. They worked their little butts off for two hours pretty much non-stop. Small groups played on each of the six courts with each of the six pros. It was a great experience for them.

Grant's forehand

Spencer preparing to serve.

A nice suprise

The kids and I had breakfast with our friend Chuck who works with them on chess, and me on life! Chuck is well-read and has an ability to analyze life and its trappings in a philosophical and objective way--but with a healthy dose of humility. At breakfast he presented us each with a book from his collection, carefully selected and totally appropriate:

For me: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
For Spencer: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman (himself!)
For Grant: How to Calculate Quickly by Henry Sticker

He explained why each book was important for us and we left anxious to get reading! This was just the neatest thing.

I have a lot of reading to do! Jake lent me several running books that I've started on as well. And I am in the middle of several other books with the kids.