Another field day

Q7's field day.

Down to Magruder Park for field day. Today was K & 1st grade, so lots of kids. There are four K classes and four 1st grade classes, and they are all stuffed. Lots of kids. Q7 was on the yellow team, so we had to run out and get a yellow t-shirt for her on Thursday night. She paired it with a too-small pair of purple shorts and a pair of pink and white fur-topped knee-high socks. And mary-janes. So she looked spectacular. Actually, this first photo is spectacular. M7 is very photogenic. I took a few of her for her mom ... and all of them were great. Q7 got somewhat washed out in the sun. But look at that smile on her.

Chasing the soccer ball. Q7 kept telling it it was a bad soccer ball and had to go to detention because, as she said, "whenever I tried to kick it straight it flew in the reeeeaaally  wrong direction."

Sack race! She did not fall. But she looks very determined..

Tire roll. Q7 said "It was also very very naughty" ... in that it couldn't stay straight. Video to the right.

Balancing the ball on the tennis racquet. After this game we did the egg race ... but they had only TWO eggs left by the time we got there. And none by the time we left.

I spent the day spritzing kids with water, taking them to the bathroom, keeping them in-line, and generally hanging around.

Happy Mother's Day

And a big thanks to the children and C43 for remembering me. C43 bought me a new kitchen scale at my request (because the last one pooped out after too many batches of bread). And the girls made me lots of stuff ... Paper flowers in vases, cards, poems. They filled their books with puzzles for me. A couple of years ago we bought two small books for them to write/draw in whenever there was a holiday like Mother's day or my birthday. Q7 and I have also corresponded in it. So pictures and drawings are in one place. And Q7 insisted that C43 make me a scrambled egg (yum) which he did, with toast. And Q7 ate all of the toast.

Then we took a picture! Well, this is actually the 2nd. I was wearing glasses for the first and the girls suggested I take them off so I look like me.

You lost what?

We lost Q7's nightgown that I made her. I have no idea how or where. Obviously, or we'd have it now, right? So I had to make her another. Which I did. Although I didn't have any pillowcases that were old enough/ not tattered enough to use. So I just used fabric I had. And it looks more like a dress than a night gown, but what the heck.

So, of course I had to make C8 another nightgown. This one looks more nightgowny. I got to use an old bedsheet for this one, so it has a lovely little sheer stripe at the bottom.

And, waaaay back in January or February when C8 had lice I threw away her hot pack, and made her a new one a month or two ago. So of course I had to make Q7 one. C8's is the patchwork one, Q7's is the owl one. Both are slip-covered, and you can wash those babies up so they are not so gross. Although I'm realizing now I forgot to put in lavender with the rice. Oh, well. They are particularly good because they are sectioned and just the right size. Our last ones were too big and floppy (C8s and Q7s) and too small (mine). Now we only have mine to make left ...

All the fabrics came from the last project I did, the fabric alphabet I made for S1, fabric donated from friends and neighbors. That fabric alphabet was a good project. I should make up tutorials for these projects because they are quick and so satisfying to complete!

I missed April entirely

Here's the April round up.


Right after those photos of the jump roping girls? It snowed.

We drove to Massachusetts for Easter, and Q6 dressed up in the car with some fun Easter junk that she got in a basket. C8 refused to wear the mask, of course.

Q6 had her birthday and became Q7. We did much better this year than last year ... cookies on sticks for school, family party, and a girl party at Chillum Splash Pool. I sent the invites out on Friday for a Sunday party. Said no gifts, please, spent 2 hours swimming, 45 minutes playing and eating cupcakes (no frosting, just baked on sparkly sugar,and it was perfect).

More updates for May soon.

Yesterday v Today

In like a lion, out like a lamb? Well ... I'm not so sure, this year. We've been able to count the lamb days on one hand, this month. Yesterday was one of them. The girls were out, jumping rope, enjoying the warmish weather. It was a perfect March day ... cool enough to need a coat when you walk out the door, but warm enough to shuck that coat when you start moving.

TODAY! The tulips and hyacinth are blooming and covered with snow. The Harry Lauder's walking stick is distinguished with a layer of snow on the curls. It is a heavy, wet snow, so we are lucky we haven't lost power. The girls have a two hour delay for school ... it should still be snowing as we walk to school in a half an hour.

Fangs

We've had a bit of a fascination with fangs, fanged animals, blood, and vampires lately. I think it started with this book: Animal Monsters, by David Taylor.

I think Q6 has been reading it at library time in school, and she came home asking me if there was a blood disease that causes people to want to drink blood, and about REAL vampire. It took us a while to figure that out, but we came up with prophyria, and then when I finally saw the above book we looked up the section she'd been reading and found out we were right.

And so she's been putting almond slivers in her mouth and acting all scary. Vampires who eat their own teeth!

Talent show: New talent

Springtime is talent show time!

As you recall, C8 did the talent show in first grade as the human almanac, and in second grade talking about dogs (after a brief flirtation with Pearl Harbor). This year she decided to play the piano.

I was a little skeptical since she's only taken piano since September, and there were two other girls who were also doing piano who had been taking piano lessons since 2011. And I didn't want C8 to get shown up. But of course that didn't matter, what mattered was that C8 wanted to do the talent show, and she had a goal, and a piece in mind: Für Elise. Well, aim high. And she did great.


And last night, February 15, was the show. Here she is. Again, a bit long.

Q6 sat on my lap the whole time, and when the kindergarten student did her piece on the piano, she sat with her back full at the audience, so she couldn't see us at all. I think this gave Q a little encouragement, because at that moment she said, "Maybe I can do a piece next year, too." and since then she's been thinking about it. I'm going to encourage her to sing and play, because that is what she does at home.