She's on her own

Today is daughter's class field trip to the zoo. Husband and I thought we would make a day out of it and meet the class there and have some fun.

Einey had other plans. She told us all weekend how she doesn't want us to meet them there. And this morning, before heading into school she asks "are you going to the zoo?". "no you didn't want me to, remember?" "Good". Most of me is glad she wants this independence, glad I don't have to make the millionth trip to zoo, and glad she is going to have fun. The other little part of me is sad that she doesn't want me to go. Doesn't want to share this with us.

But I know she's going to have a blast. Plus, we brought her a disposable camera so that she can take her own pictures, her own memories of this fun time.

She is growing up to fast!

What have I gotten myself into...

I am a sucker for being involved.

Kids need baked goods for school - sure no problem
Homemade birthday invitations - Of Course
Dinner for a friend who has a new baby - What time?
Classroom Help - I'm there
Homemade Halloween Costumes - Well duh
Holiday Goodies- Baked and delivered in a basket by Dec. 24th

So it comes as no surprise that I am up to my eyeballs in stuff for daughter's Kinderbration- their end of the year celebration. There is 9 more days until the event. The theme: Kindergarten Kingdom. I have just finished designing the program for the event and am currently printing over 60 of the suckers. They are, of course, printed on 8.5x14 paper so they can be rolled as scrolls, like any good royal proclamation. So next up is rolling and tying them with ribbon.

After than, I need to work on the banner. Which hopefully makes it here tomorrow with the express shipping I paid. I shouldn't fear, Oriental Trading hasn't let me down yet. Once that comes in, I need to cut it to size, sketch "Kindergarten Kingdom" on it, and draw (i.e. make husband draw) castles on both sides. Add a few wishing stars, paint and glitter and it should be all set. Maybe some ribbon if I have any extra trailing from the sides.

Thankfully, I am not baking for the event, but I do have to go in and help set up early.

Oh crap, printer jam, I knew that would happen. Only 42 printed, thats why I start early. I still have time to fix it.

After that, it's time to plan for Meenie's birthday party. I have the plan in mind, just need to start working on the invitations....

Photo Hunt Saturday - Colorful

This week's photo hunt theme is colorful. Looking back through my pictures, I definitely have many pictures that fit the theme, from flowers, to kids to fireworks. But this picture below is one that I think best represents this week's theme. It was taken last summer at a local park which also has an aviary. The tail was colorful in it's brilliant blue and green, purple and gold. The body was the same brilliant blue.



I apologize for not visiting the last few weeks, I have been very busy.

Photo Hunt Saturday - Cooked/ing

This week's theme is cooked/ing. I don't tend to take pictures of food, so I thought I would have to skip this week. But then I found this picture of a roasted marsh mellow. Last summer, we would fire up the fire pit and roast marsh mellow under the moonlight. I would then sandwich mine between graham crackers and chocolate bars, while Husband chose to eat his gooey confection off the skewer. S'more's, yum!

Not her mother's daughter...

Einey proved today how unlike me she is. I have always hated public speaking, tending to be introverted. As I've matured, I've become more outgoing. Husband has for as long as I've known him, been extroverted.

So today, daughter's class was doing the Assention Mass at school. (ok, I'll admit, I wasn't sure what it was, only that it's a Holy Day of Obligation). I sent daughter to school in one of her nicest dresses and made my way to her "school-church" at the appropriate time. The kindergarteners started off by walking into church singing. Then Mass started as normal. At the Responsorial Psalm section, daughter and two other's walked up to the podium to do reading. The first two kids spoke fast and quietly. They were very hard to understand. I expected the same from daughter. Then we heard a nice, strong, articulte little voice! She was simply amazing. I was so proud of her! I never knew she could speak like that. Now I'm not sure if it is because she is so small, that you could only see her head over the top of the podium (and thus she wasn't speaking right into the mic) or if she is jsu tgood at public speaking. Whatever it was, I ma soo proud of her. Mass continued with the kids bringing up gifts for the local pregnancy center and singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children". The last thing the kindergarteners did was a small skit about the Assention of Jesus Christ.

Planted

I have been spending alot of time in my gardens lately. So much, that I think my hands are going to be dirt colored forever. The girls and I are sporting pretty good tans despite the amount of sunblock applied. A few dozen freeze pops have been consumed. Clementis and Diantus. Sunflowers and Gladioli. Dahlia's and a butterfly mix. Moonflowers and Morning Glories, just to name a few. And of course, I finally got both my Lilac Bush and my Bleeding Heart Bush (actually, my MIL brought me one for mothers day and I brought a pack of 3 bulbs). SO those are in the ground as well.

Today I finally put the sunflowers we started months ago into the ground to form our Sunflower House. I have them staked into the ground, so hopefully they'll survive, I'm not the best at starting things indoors. Just to be on the safe side, I threw some extra seeds down. I have one more wall to plant, but I need to move some wood out of the way first.

And I think (I can't be sure because I didn't see) Meenie planted some Mammoth Sunflowers directly under the swing set. I hope not for our sake. I have thought of planting some morning glories next to the legs on the swing set, but I don't know how much it will climb.

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a relaxing Mother's Day! I got to sleep in, while Husband tended to the kids and washed the leftover dishes. Then I was made a very nice breakfast of French Toast. We spent the morning at church and then came back for lunch where we had grilled sandwiches. While the younger girls were napping, Husband took Einey to the grocery store and I got to relax on my deck swing in the sun. I think I slept for most of the hour and a half they were gone (or at least quiet). I didn't even have to help put the dishes away!

After lunch, we took the girls to one of our favorite local playgrounds to do some Letterboxing. This is our new favorite family activity! If you follow the above link, you can find clues for hundreds of letterboxes. Inside the letterbox, you will find a logbook, stamp and generally ink and a pen. You need to bring your own stamp and logbook as well. When you find a box, you stamp their logbook with your stamp and use their stamp to stamp your book. The girls really enjoy looking for the each clue and finding the boxes. We usually write the date, stamp name and location in our books so we know where we've been.

Prince Hill Park

We went searching for five boxes on Mother's Day. We found all five and a Hitch-hiker stamp. This is a stamp that if you find, you take it with you and drop it in another box. This one hails from Washington State via Texas. We haven't decided where we are going to drop it yet. We need to go back and find one more box. The last box gave hints for a bonus box, but sadly, we didn't know exactly what a poplar tree looked like and it was getting late. So it's going to be back to the park in search of a poplar tree one day.


This was our second time letterboxing. The first was about a month ago and we found all four boxes on that trip.

The fun thing is, both places we looked were local playgrounds where we spend hundreds of hours a year. They weren't in the playground area, but the one's we found on Mother's Day, we must have walked past hundreds of times! We were just never looking! The first time, we found trails we didn't even know existed!


All in all, Letterboxing is a great way to spend time exploring the great outdoors. It is also a great learning activity for kids. They need to count paces, read a compass (on some), identify types of plants and learn to appreciate nature. Plus deciphering some clues is pretty difficult as well!

That's how I spent Mother's Day. How was yours?

Photo Hunt Saturday - Five

This week's theme is five. Five just happens to be the number Meenie got on her soccer jersey this year. Here she is following the ball into the goal!

There are just some reasons that motherhood isn't a man's job...

Reason #6,785 that the Tooth Fairy shouldn't be male

When the "Tooth Fairy" is helping to deal with a sick kid, but is told by her assistant that it's all taken care of, assume that you need to still do the job. Don't wait until your daughter wakes up in the morning crying because the tooth fairy forgot to visit her again (the first night was just forgot). Don't assume that his "it's taken care of" means he did the job. All that mens is he put the tooth box under her pillow before she fell asleep.

Reason #6,797 that the Tooth Fairy shouldn't be male

What do you do when you can't find any one's to slip under the pillow? Put a ten under there of course! After all our debating and talking to friends to find out what was an acceptable amount, because we thought $5 was too much for a tooth, what happens? She gets ten. And of course, she knew right away what it was. I was quite shocked when I heard the squeals of "Woah, what the... The Tooth Fairy left me ten dollars. " Of course, he could have just asked for a few ones (we had to make up for missing two nights).

Reason #6,856 that the Tooth Fairy shouldn't be male

The whole Tooth Fairy deal is the Tooth Fairy takes unwanted baby teeth to build her castle. In return, she leaves a little something for the child. It's a good thing I found the baby tooth still nestled in the bottom of the box instead of Einey, or I am sure she would have completely lost her faith in the Tooth Fairy.

Some jobs should just be left to Mom! Needless to say, we made alot of mistakes this go-round with the Tooth Fairy, but hopefully next time will be better!

Photo Hunt Saturday - Childhood

This week's theme is childhood. Childhood is the age of innocence. Of running barefoot through the grass. Stopping to smell the flowers. When time stands still and you are free to be yourself.