Luckily

Luckily C42 is coming home today. This was a nice short trip, but Q5 takes it hard. She was the last one outside waving goodbye, and she demanded extra hugs as C42 scraped the ice from the windshields of our cars. This evening she was crying "I want daddy!" but knowing she couldn't have him she was at first willing to take teddy puppy, one of his stuffed animals. Then she rejected teddy puppy and said she wanted something that C42 had given her. I tried different stuffies until we came to one that he could have given her (I was doing this in the dark). Then she cried an moaned some more.

She's asleep now, but it reminded me that she took a photo of him before he left Monday morning.

Asparagus

Last week C7 drew a bunch of asparagus, and when I saw the picture I thought, I want to embroider that on a tea towel.

So on Saturday I did. It looks GREAT!

Thinking Day

Q5 has enthusiastically taken to Daisies. She has a great troop leader and great troop. Saturday was "Thinking Day" I don't know exactly what it is because I sent C42 with Q5 and two of her Daisy friends. One thing they did at thinking day was a parade and sing a song. Get through the song to watch the baby duck song, because it is cute.

Swim lessons finanle

Well, neither girl passed into the next level of swimming lessons, but I think that is fine, they are not QUITE ready to do it. They both are on the verge of moving up but need more practice. Both of them are also fine with it. Disappointed a little bit, but they aren't upset since they learned I took beginners and advanced beginners about 10 times.

But here are their dives. Well, C7's dive, and Q5's pencil jump.









Not sure if we'll do swimming lessons for the next session as Q5 is going to do track. And C7 will do swim team over the summer.

Independence

The girls are taking a walk around the block in the rain, with rain jackets and umbrellas. Alone, without me or Carter. Getting so big and independent. Neither girl would do it alone, I think, but together they can handle it. In fact, they are back already.

Here's a photo of them on the street behind us. OK, that looks like fuzzy girls behind some branches.

Terps

A week ago Sunday we went to a women's basketball game at UMD. It was a great game, a nail biter. Q5 enjoyed the first half quite a bit with the dancing and noise and hoopla. C7 hated that, but she enjoyed the 2nd half -- where the terps were winning but lost their lead, gained it, lost it and ultimately lost the game -- quite a bit. And they both enjoyed the ice cream.

We were way high up in the stands, but that didn't matter, we had a great time. and where we parked ... we were practically the first ones out of the parking garage, no waiting at all. All those years at graduation have taught me how to park sensibly at an event at the Comcast Center.

Hmmm

I just looked out the back window only to see two girls jumping on the trampoline in their underwear. Aside from the fact that it is 45 degrees out, what exactly do they think they are doing??

President's Day

C42 took the girls bowling in honor of President's Day.

Girl Scout Cookies

This is girl scout cookie delivery time in our area, and Q5 just got her load of cookies in. Yes, much of the work is done by parents, but we attempted to make it as much of a girl thing as we could.

First we sorted our cookies into piles of cookie types. I'm not sure why she is pointing to the purple boxes of cookies, I think those were Samoas and Q5 didn't even like that cookie.




Then I gave her a slip with every order on it, and the customer's name. She gathered the boxes of cookies, stacked them, taped the order slip on it, and wrote a tiny "Thank you, From: Q5" on a heart-shaped Post-it note and stuck it on top.





I tied a ribbon around the stacks and Q5 tied the bow. At which point she told me she was so good at tying bows because she gets to practice at school. Tying other kids shoes. So I guess it doesn't matter that she has Velcro shoes.






Then we put them in a pile and they are ready for delivery!

2nd annual talent show!

This is what you've been waiting for, right? Talent show night!





C7 has been practicing her dog facts for weeks, having given up the facts about Pearl Harbor. (Even though she and C42 had developed a full PowerPoint to go with that presentation.). Honestly, Pearl Harbor was a drag, anyway, right? Dog facts give you many more opportunities for cuteness. The most difficult thing was learning the order of them, and remembering what came next but we reordered the facts and put them in a sensible order and thought of some mnemonic devices to help her remember what came next. For example, the number 8 looks like two dog noses kissing, and fact number eight was that dogs' nose prints are unique, like fingerprints. Not all were that good, but in the end they all worked.

Do you remember last year? C7 was billed as the "Human Almanac?" This year her billing was the "Human Encyclopedia." How is she going to top this?





C7 was the last act before the break, after the Hula Girls and a number of singers. It is a long video, so watch at your own risk. I was nervous for her the whole time, but she didn't fidget (much), didn't lift up her skirt (much) and really did stay on point.





Did you notice her scarf? Dogs. She was wearing it loose earlier, and I attempted to get her to wear it tidy, and she refused. But she thought twice and wore it all neat when she eventually got on stage.

What you missed here is that after the curtains closed and Ms. H. was talking C7 popped back out to ask if the kids from the first half could come out now. The answer was no and she got shooed back in.

Coordination

Believe me, I'm as surprised as you.





**Update** 12 seconds into the talent show and I know why she suddenly is into the hula hoop! First act was the Hula Girls. Honestly, they were AWESOME.

A dusting of snow

We woke up to snow on Sunday morning. Just a dusting, but it was enough to entice children outside. Nice to have it actually, and it has lasted through the day withouth melting. Or at least in the shadow of our house. it is good to have a cold snap again just to remind us that it isn't quite spring yet.

Piggie!

Tonight's conversation

Me: Q5, do you want to learn how to ride a bike?
Q5: I know how to ride a bike.
Me: ...
C7: I want to learn how to ride a bike.
Me: Really?!? Then we could bike to the bakery and get a treat.
C7: And we could bike to .... [I can't remember what she said. But that is because I was still stunned that she said she wanted to learn how to bike.]
Me: OK, so we'll go get bikes this spring!
Q5: I have a bike! A Barbie bike!
Me: Mmm.

So, THRILLED!

We started last week with the best of intentions.

But Thursday night we realized these weren't going to make it to you in time. So here they are, reproduced in all their glory. The originals will come eventually! But be assured that the girls have been thinking of you.

Let's start with C7's.

This is the front




This is the inside of the card




and this is the back.





and Q5's cards.

A horse



and these were truly lovely watercolors before they ran and dried. I especially loved the blue one