C11's Birthday

So, the birtday was officially the 4th and then activities on the 5th. And here it is days later.

C11 wanted cheesecake for her birthday, and she wanted to make it herself. Unfortunately, because she gets out of school so late (she gets back home around 4) she didn't have time to do it, so I made it instead. I can MAKE cheesecake, but I've only made a few, and I'm not a master. I put the cake in the oven for the minimum amount of time ... which was too long. It did some major cracking. Luckily C11 and M11 decided to decorate it with the blueberries and strawberries I'd bought and it looked fabulous. It wasn't fabulous, but it was edible. A little overcooked, especially around the edges.

We had C11's best friend, M11, and her family over for dinner. Mac & Cheese made especially by TCR46. Made three ways, actually, to accommodate everybody on the birthday: PLAIN mac & cheese for Q9 (which means ... plain pasta), unbaked mac & cheese for C11 (the cheese sauce, but not baked in the oven) and all baked and crispy awesome for everybody else.

Presents. You'll notice she got 1) books; 2) gift cards to book stores; and 3) a lovely picture in a frame from M11. She was supremely happy with it all!!! Oh, and some dresses, also deemed wonderful.

M11 stayed overnight and the next day C11, M11, and I went to Climbzone. I KNOW. AWESOME. I love that place. Q9 was put out, but she can go another time.

Anyway, some climbing highlights.

This is C11 & M11 climbing a wall; look how awesome they are!

And C11 got more than halfway up the tetris wall (this is a tough wall) and was very proud of herself.

Happy 11th, sweetie! Hard to believe it has been 11 years and hard to believe we've only known you for 11 years. XXOO.

Safety patrol

Q9 came home last week to tell us that the PE teacher called her (and a bunch of other children) out and told them they'd be safety patrol.

Told, or asked??? I don't know.

Q9 is in charge of a kindergarten class. The kids are "fun size" in the words of a classmate of C11's (yes, it IS C11's birthday, but no photos yet, so just hang on, stop getting ahead of yourself!!!

Anyway, Q9 came home today after her first day in charge of the fun sized kids, all decked out in her safety gear! She helps them in the building in the morning, and out in the afternoon. Maybe with snack, too. Love love love it. I'm so pleased she got chosen, because she is really quite compassionate and caring and conscientious. All around safety patrol material.

Ear Piercing Day

The girls have wanted to get the ears pierced for a little while, so a little under a month ago I said if they could brush their teeth two times a day for two weeks straight without being reminded I'd let them. It was about being responsible enough to take care of their ears. I was certain C10 could do it, because she has been very good about self-medicating for warts and ringworm in the past without having to be reminded. But Q9 hadn't had that sort of experience. So a chart went up in the bathroom and we started.

We had a couple of setbacks: One Saturday morning they forgot to brush and one Sunday evening. Both times I just added three extra days, because, yes, the weekend IS different, and even adults forget to brush their teeth sometimes.

So, the smiley faces and checkmarks added up, and pretty soon 20 days passed by and Saturday the 29th was the 20th day ... so instead of waiting until Sunday, we took the free day to get ears pierced.

We went to a tatoo parlour to get the piercing done. When I was 11 or 12 I went to a mall shop with my grandmother and got it done ... but I kept reading how unsanitary it was, and yes, I do recall having a few infections. So I long ago decided that we'd go to a professional to get their ears pierced. And I have to say, they were methodical, and sterile, and totally within compliance with the law. We had to bring a photo ID and an original birth certificate and a parent with ID. I called and the woman who answered the phone checked with the piercer to see if he would do children that young (even with all the ID and parents! Because, the piercer told me when we were there, ears and faces continue to grow and they want to make sure the piercing stays aligned with where they put it. So I guess they wouldn't do infants).

As you can see both girls were excited at this point, thrilled to get their passports out (The only photo ID we had for our kids).

But by the time we got to The Tatooery, both girls had gotten a little nervous, and neither wanted to be the first to get her ears pierced. But C10 stepped up as the older sister and did it. She balked HARD at getting photos taken, though. But I managed to get two in the chair.

 

And although she moaned a bit about the PAiN, the PAIN! after it was done she said it wasn't that bad. And let me take another picture.

Then Q9 was up. We had to hang in the waiting room for a bit while our piercer sterilized the area again and got out new needles and sterile tools for Q9. Nerves set in, but we eventually got back to the piercer again, and Q9 hit the chair.

She let me take pictures, and they are priceless. But, just to be fair, nary a whimper crossed her lips. She was scared, but stoic.

But the end result? 4 pierced ears between the two girls. And C46 checked his ear and he CAN still wear an earring, the hole IS still open. Girls have been washing their ears (3x/day, charts up on the wall!) and no sign of any infection yet. Fingers crossed.). Both girls are excited to go to school and show off their new accessories.

First days of school

C10 Started on Monday the 24th, Q9 on Tuesday the 25th.  Here's the pics!!

More stuff we did .... Part 2 of 2

And here is the rest of the stuff ... ok, just some additional stuff.

We had an outdoor fire (no pictures) and played wiffle ball. Q9 and I camped out ... we brought out about 1,000 pillow, a feather bed, and blankies. It was lovely.

Here is the tent:

And here is Q9 faking being asleep so we could get a picture:

We played "Meee in the buck-et" which involved a very sing-songy rendition of "Meee in the buck-et!" and various people in buckets. Including me. But nobody thought to take a picture of me in the bucket, so, so sorry! But since inventing the "Me in the bucket" game I have to say it has come up a few more times ... because it is just fun to sit in a bucket.

And ... some other stuff we did this August Part 1 of 2

We did a few other things this August. I didn't take any photos of the Newseum, but that was fun, and we did this "be a TV news reporter" but I can't find the videos. So, here is some of the other stuff

Six Flags America

We barely got any photos of this, just because we were busy on rides. C10, Q9 and I went with K9 and her brother H12. We did rides and the water park. I lost the kids a few times. Q9 got kicked on the waterslide by another (very apologetic) patron. C10 waited in the wrong line for funnel cake and had to get in a second line after that. I rode the Mind Eraser roller coaster (a dangley coaster) and swear I got a little concussion it was so rough. I won't be doing that again. We rode a giant  tube waterslide. We got soaked on a log-flume type ride, especially the two folks who DIDN'T ride the flume ride and stood on the bridge over the ride. Q9 got, I quote, "kicked in the face by the water."

Next:

We also took the dog around town. To the fountain, although there are no pictures of here here, she is at my feet, and was tortured a bit by girls dragging her into the fountain.

We took her to the duckpond. Here she is being carried around against her will.

We took her to the Aroboretum. She did enjoy this.

We did things inside, like make playdough and play some weird games.

Fort Building Day

I told them they had to stay outside and build a fort. It was trash day, so I suggested scrounging around the neighborhood for supplies.

Here they are collecting bamboo. They convinced the trash collectors to let them have it.

 

They also collected old chairs and a broken picnic table umbrella.

I think collecting supplies was the best part of the endeavor. The end result was .... nothing build. They propped up the umbrella and called it a fort. I called foul and didn't let them into the house until 2 pm.