day 31... something beautiful

Rainbows are beautiful.  The cool thing about summer is that you can see them so much more often.  It was 90* today so after school, we played out back in the hose.  We also spent some time and elbow grease cleaning our plastic baby pool to bring to the kids' class picnic tomorrow (the teacher asked for 2 - I think she has a game in mind).  So, all you have to do is stand in the right spot and you can create a rainbow with your hose!  Beautiful!

Running through the rainbow

These pretzels are their "teacher pointers" that they play with outside with the chalk board in their slide house.

and, back to the theme.....  isn't she beautiful???  That's my baby!

day 30... your personality

I was going to take a picture of an blanket that Nanny crocheted... one with those black bordered flowers she made and then forgot how to make!...  because it would embody both creativity and family, but then today I had to run out and buy 36 small gifts to drop off at school.  Each child was asked to bring in something little for each of the 18 kids in class.  I forgot all about this and had to scramble around this morning buying items.  So, there is part of my personality...  I work better under pressure.  bwahhahaha!!  How is that for a spin on "I procrastinate"???  I know 99% of you are nodding in agreement with me.  Y'all work better under pressure, too, don't y'all? (pronounced:  dough-chall)

We love going into Old Navy to spend only 1 quarter on a big bouncy ball.  We have been known to make a special trip to buy only 1 of those.  I knew that would make a fun gift for each child so I grabbed a roll of quarters at the credit union before hitting Old Navy this morning.  I did actually end up buying a couple sale items, too... including a pair of Minnie Mouse pants for myself and some cute flag leggings as well as an Angry Birds tee shirt for Gretchen.  If you know me, I rarely buy clothes off a real rack in a real store.  Ah ha - more of my personality:  thrifty.  I love our Goodwill and ebay for clothing!

But, I had so much fun plunking 20 quarters into that big gumball machine and turning the crank each time to see what ball popped out!  (I bought 20 so I could keep the cool yellow one for Carl at home... and then, I needed to buy 20, not 19.  I don't know what that says about my personality:  compulsive?  At least I was able to stop at 20 ... I had a whole roll of quarters, remember...  and I didn't feel the need to keep going until I got the pink ball even though I really wanted that one for Gretchen.  Ah, add restraint or limited will power to my list of traits.)

As a gift from Carl, I bought 18 Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.  You think you can just waltz up to the rack of Hot Wheels and pick the first 18 they have?  Well, not me.  I had to wade through the rows.  Then move over and check out the Matchbox cars, too.  I finally filled my cart with a combo of the 2 brands and a mix of classic hot rods, community helper vehicles and beachy looking jeeps.  While I was still deciding if I had picked the perfect 18 (well, 19... I bought one 73 Firebird for us to keep because it was too cool)  a guy walked by my cart and did a double take.  In his awesome surfer dude voice he asked, "That is so cool!  Are you having a birthday party?  That is so cool!"   He even pointed it out to his friend who had walked by already.  I told him I was buying them for my son's classmates for the end of the year and he approved.  I think I made his day.

So, the picture above of the brightly colored balls shows a good deal of my personality.  I only wish I had a big coffee can and an enclosed sun porch so I could shake the can and release the balls to bounce all over the place!  I may or may not have bounced the group on the table and watched them roll off and bounce on the floor before bagging them up to bring to school to give the teacher.   And, one may or may not still be missing.  Good thing I bought 20, eh?  I kept the yellow one up front there for Carl and the lost one as well.

Add this final trait to my list:  plans ahead well sometimes just plain lucky!

day 29... a number

a number... 2012

We are making these for all the kids' teachers for the end of the year.  We need 18!  We've got 4 molds and keep buying the cement mix at AC Moore using 40% off coupons.  So, each homemade gift truly costs about $2.  The kids are really great at making them, too.  By the time they graduate from elementary school, their principal and the other teachers they'll have each year (music, art, PE, computer, library) will have a regular sidewalk made by us.

day 28... the weather today

It was humid.  Can you tell?

day 27... something sweet

Also from the berry farm.  Sorry, since I am basically catching up, I am using some photos from the same day for what should have been separate days. You will survive this breaking of the rules.  As we all say around here: Build a bridge and get over it."  Yes, my 6 year olds say that.  Since they do not swear, a little sarcasm may seep into their language from time to time.

Ice cream for breakfast!!

Here is another sweet shot from the ice cream breakfast...
Happy Memorial Day weekend!

day 26... 12 o'clock

At noon on May 26th, we were picking up drive through lunch.

Kids waiting....

Gretchen has fallen in love with Arby's roast beef sandwiches!

We stopped at Burger King for Carl, too.  Both fast food joints are in the same corner area.  Both also needed an extra 2 cents.  One bill's change was 52 cents and the other's was 77 cents....  so, by giving up 2 cents for each, I got more quarters for my car.  You can never have enough quarters in your car.

day 25... unusual

This was unusual before I took this photo.  Carl eating blueberries.  However, during this moment... he discovered how yummy blueberries truly are.  He did not put another berry into his bucket.  he ate everyone he picked.  He even tried to take them out of my bucket, but I wouldn't let him.  "If you want berries, pick your own!"

A worker came by and joked with him that she should have weighed him before he headed out into the field.

"I like the light blue ones best."

day 24... something new

refer to yesterday's photo.  We just bought a new tablet to play on.

Or to look up photos of old technology and try to show some irony between the old and the new.

day 23... technology

derailed!

I got derailed with my creativity challenge.  You know, once you miss one deadline, the rest aren't as vital.

But, I will try to get back on track and finish the 30 days.

day 22... pink

This azalea is in bloom in my yard right now.  I love azaleas!  Especially when they don't check the calendar and stay in bloom late.  This bush is not one of the encore kind.  Those do bloom more than once a year.  We have those out back.  This is just a happy bush by the side of the house.

But, I may have to come back later and add something else if Gretchen decides to help me with a different  pink picture.  She knows it is the theme for today.  And, she knows pink!

day 21... where you stand

OK.  This is "where I was standing with my kids, but then we decided to take some fun pictures with the remote."  Technically, it is "where I stand".  Just not physically standing in this photo.

I was going to shoot the "vote No on Amendment 1" sign on a neighbor's lawn, because that is also where I stand.  Sadly, it was not where the majority of North Carolinians stand.

Someone dictating my creativity for 30 days is getting old.

day 20... something you can't live without

OK.  This is probably supposed to bring to mind something deep and meaningful.

Here's my take.

My garbage disposal.  Seriously, I cannot live without it.

The kids love love love peppers.  So, as a treat, I bought a bag of the colored sweet ones at Costco last week.  Holy cow!  I am Mother of the Year!!!   Anyway, I cut up the remaining 3 tonight for dinner... and that is how come I have such pretty stuff to chop up down my sink drain.

day 19... a favorite place (and this month's family photo)

Today, we got up and hit 3 garage sales (Carl is totally hooked.  He thinks they are play dates!  First was a classmate's house, the next 2 had toys they could play with.  One lady gave him a tiny green car.  See, play date.)

Then, we headed out for our day at another truck event for kids.  We went to one earlier this spring (they even interviewed Gretchen & I at that one and we were on the news that night.  Carl was too busy having fun and was off sitting in some truck at the time so he wasn't with us.)   What these events have are many community helpers and other local businesses that are trucks come and all park together and allow kids to climb up into their ambulances, cop cars, cranes, tow trucks, helicopters, limos, work trucks, buses, .....   Heaven for Carl.  It has caused problems for us since then, though.  He now thinks any time I take him anywhere that vehicles are available for him to sit in.  And, he helps himself.  At another thing we went to, one surfing guy let Carl sit in his Jeep.  He even told Carl if he ever sees this Jeep (with the surfing business logo on it) that Carl is welcome to climb up and have fun!  Little does this guy know what he gave permission to!

So, when I heard of this event a few beach towns away from us, I put it on the calendar!!  Luckily, the rain held out and we headed out for the day.  Now, the cool part that I did not tell the kids ahead of time was that we were taking the ferry to get over there!  We've never done that.  It was so cool!  It was 4 miles on the ferry and it took about 30 minutes on the water.  We all enjoyed it.  The kids really had a ball.  This summer, we may just come down to ride it round trip.  They had a lounge area so we could go without our car if we want to.  Actually, once they load everyone, they let you out of your car.

OK - back to the theme.  A favorite place.  Since we were so busy going to the garage sales and the truck event... I didn't have time to get overly creative.  But, I can say, that although I loved my Volvo station wagon, (and even more so my Volvo 240.  Oh how I loved that car!!!!!  I wish it had not had New England rust.  I would love to be driving it still!!!)   I do love my minivan.  You might even say, it is one of my favorite places!

How is that for a stretch???
on the way over....

but, I also liked this shot of it on the ride back after our day of climbing in and out of various fire trucks and police cars.  Or as Carl would say "The Ford F450 (fire dept pick up truck) and the Ford E450 (police van) and the Ford Crown Victoria (police car) or the Walmart truck (tractor trailer.... the driver had 1 million miles with Walmart, and over 3 million miles of driving in his 36 year career... so far!  Nice guy - he was so patient with Carl returning 75 times to climb up into his cab.)"

We even had someone take our May family photo for us.  A lady form Georgia who was one of several Harley Davidson riders who were on the ferry, too.  I returned the favor for her.  Hope the shots I took came out nicely.

day 18... something you made

Well, I tossed a bunch of things onto the couch that I have made.  Knitted sweaters, sewn dresses, stuffed animals, cat blankets, hats, Christmas dolls, jumpers, glass paperweights - even the chair I stained and finished. Then, I had Carl & Gretchen put on pajama pants I made and sweatshirts I decorated and had them sit along with the loot.  Of course, there are tons of things I didn't grab, but let's be honest - I am too lazy to have to put everything back after.

And those shots look horrible.  Snap-shotty pose as well as poor quality.  I am not a big fan of that lens, but none of the others opened wide enough to include the things I had grabbed.

So, instead, you get these 2 things I made.

I had to turn it black and white because there were so many competing colors in their clothes and the background.  

Maybe someday I'll make a collage (or a whole photo book) of photos of things I have crafted.   In my free time I should be able to pull that off.

day 17... snack

We headed to the Children's Museum after school today for the art and story class.  And for some after-school snack.  They love popcorn no matter where we are!!

Carl finished off the bag after he dropped off his passengers.   I think he told me the bus was going to North Dakota.  We made good time - that's for sure!

One more photo...  their school does both fall photos and spring photos.  Last fall, I bought the official very first school photos.  That was before I knew they'd be taking spring ones, too.  Well, I would have bought the fall ones anyway because they are the traditional school portrait background ones.  So, these spring, non-traditional background ones were just an extra fundraiser.  They also took a class photo on the risers in the auditorium.  Those you had to pre-order.  I pre-ordered 2 of those, but I wasn't sure I needed the individual shots. Then once I got them back, they weren't that good.  (both needed haircuts and the individuals were not good natural smiles coupled with too much hair)  But, the pose the photographer took of them together was cute.  So, I did buy a CD of that one pose.  I dressed them alike (golf shirt and matching dress) because I love to I wanted them to stand out as twins in the group shot.  I knew A&A would be dressed identically and I wanted their classmates to look back and easily pick out the other set of twins, too.  

spring 2012 kindergarten photos.  

day 16... what you're reading

What have I been reading?  Well, believe it or not, reading is not everyone's idea of a fun hobby. I prefer to be crafty or musical or to be taking photographs than to curl up with a book.  So, the things I read are news articles, blogs, children's books out loud and homework.

Here are 2 extra homework projects the kids did yesterday.  I had a camera club meeting, so Lew took the kids out to dinner alone.  Before they left, I had him do their extra homework with them.  That was Carl's inspiration.  Every night they do an extra homework assignment so they can move their behavior clip up one notch in the morning at school.  The bonus is that they earn an extra penny for this which means when they can shop in the classroom store (a 10 cent box or a 20 cent box) they have earned 5 extra pennies per week.  Money is a motivator even in kindergarten.  And think about it - people at work are rewarded for doing their work well and for going above and beyond.  So, they are learning that lesson early.

Anyway, I figure some of you are going to say "I can't read the stories" (click on the photo and it will get bigger) so here they are:

Gretchen's
On saturday I learned how to tie my shoes!  This is how to make a starer knot ferst you cross the laces to make an X as shown.

Carl's
I like to go to golden coral.  I like the cheese.  I am hugry now.  I love golden corall.


As you can see, there were pictures drawn above the stories, but I cut those off for the collage.  The underlined words are one the kids thought they misspelled.  They compose these all by themselves with no spelling help.  We alternate between these stories, some math problems and practicing a book to read to the entire class for extra homework each night.  They both really love reading to the whole class.  I only let them do that one time per week because several other kids do the same and it is not fair to hog all the days.

day 15... love

I love blueberries!

I went to pick some this morning after dropping the kids off at school.  I was the first person there.  The gate was still closed and I had to wait for someone to come open up.  I picked last week, but there were not many. I got less than 1/4 of my bucket filled that day.  Then, last Saturday we tried to go as a family, but when we arrived, the sign said the fields had been picked clean and they would not be picking blueberries again until Tuesday.  We had also tried to go to our t-ball practice Saturday at noon and no one else showed up.  Saturday was kind of a bust.

But, this morning, there were only a few early birds picking.  And there were a lot more berries to pick.  Still, the guy said they are only picking every 3 days for now.  So, not again until Friday.  I asked him if there would still be berries on the bushes at 3:00 so I could bring the kids after school.  They were bummed out that they were missing the morning session.  The worker said no, most likely the rows would be picked clean by about 12:30 or 1:00. Since they are picking again Friday morning, Friday afternoon will be out as well as Saturday.  Once it gets really hot, they will have enough to pick daily.  Then Carl will be able to pick.  He doesn't eat them, just picks.

It rained last night, so the bushes and berries were covered in droplets.

Here is a small section of the berry farm.  Those are strawberry rows in the front and blueberries behind.  the blackberries are more off to the left and a ton of strawberry rows continue to the right.

I picked more than I intended, but they were so good!  This bucket cost me $7 when they weighed it.  that is a lot cheaper than if you buy the ones they have already picked.

As of now, I have no plans other than to eat these!

This was my other thought for "love".  

day 14... grass

day 13... mom... and the story of My Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I got to sleep in... until Carl came rushing in all excited, "Do you like the card I made you?"  I thought he would have had one in his hand, but he did not.  I was just supposed to know what he was talking about.  I had been sound asleep, but after the cute wake up kid, I knew it was time to get up.  So, I showered and decided which Mother's Day shirt to put on (2007 version with footprint fish and hand print star fish on it), did my hair and headed to the kitchen.  By now, it was almost 10:00.   The first thing I was greeted with was Gretchen showing me her finger.  Look, it's green.  Yes, yes it is.  I said, "We have to go to urgent care."  Lew said, "How about the pediatrician tomorrow?"  (Why is it he always wants to second guess my judgement?  I am always right on this stuff.... besides, urgent care takes our insurance and the co-pay is the same as the pediatrician and you get in faster and they have toys in their waiting room.  Honestly, I prefer it to our pediatrician.)  No, it needed to be drained today, not 30 hours from now.  You agree with me.  Not a question - I did not say, "You agree with me, right?"    No, check it out.  You agree it needed to be seen as soon as possible.

The kids needed baths, so they had fast showers and we headed out to urgent care.  Lew & Carl dropped us off and went to Home Depot and Kohl's without us.  Gretchen and I signed in and played with the biggest beads on wires thing we have ever seen.  Yeah, we both plunked ourselves down to rearrange the colored beads together.

I was preparing her for the fact that the doctor was going to want to get the infected germs out of her finger and might use a needle or a knife.  She was OK with it until the nurse mentioned we may have to move to the trauma room and that might be scary.  So, that term got her a little nervous, but didn't need to.  The trauma room was simply closer to the nurse's station and had a curtain for a wall instead of a self contained exam room.  No trauma at all.  We had also learned from the doctor that they would spray it with the same numbing spray they use on my arm for phlebotomies.  I love that stuff!  So, I assured Gretchen, she wouldn't feel a thing.  The nurse sprayed her finger in a trial run and she saw how cold it got.  Then, when the doctor came back, the nurse sprayed again and Gretchen looked away.  He then used a scalpel to cut a small slit in her finger and drain it.  As he poked her finger, I asked her, "Can you feel the coldness still?" and she said "Yes", but made no mention of feeling anything else.  He was surprised at how much drained out of there and asked the nurse for a culture kit.  By this point, he was done... so I asked Gretchen, "Do you know it is over?"  and she had no clue!  She then turned to look and relaxed.  The doctor said they'll send out the culture just to be sure they have given us the correct antibiotic for the infection.  (returning to add:  it was a staph infection.  So, good thing we got treatment quickly.)  Gretchen said her finger felt better already.  It sure was a lot smaller.  They gave her a bandaid but even said she might not even need to bother with one.  So, she has a prescription to take for the next 7 days.  It's purple and is very sweet.  No problem!

The boys had texted us that they were in the grocery store across the parking lot, so we walked over when we were done.  We headed home for lunch - with a treat for Miss Gretchen - Pringles!  She was psyched!! 

After lunch, I got to open my presents.  I got 2 really cool bird feeders and my own Webkinz puppy to play with.  We took our time finding the perfect spots to hang the feeders.  We decided to use some hooks that are on the house for hanging baskets rather than find branches in trees that would hopefully be sturdy enough.  I hope the birds like them!  

Gretchen stopped to water the flowers...

Have you seen my necklaces from an art project at school?   Gretchen's is the blue hand and Carl's is the red one. 

My stepping stones found new homes.  

That next tooth is s close!!!  It'll be popped out all too soon!  It's sad when the gappy smiles disappear.

Gretchen and I decided that going out to eat would be the best idea.  I was going to ask for a pizza nad make a blueberry crisp, but after the morning's excitement, relaxing and not having dishes to do sounded pretty good.  We picked a favorite place that all of us like!  And decided on the favorite yogurt sundae bar for dessert.  Perfect choices!!!  Mmmmm!!!  Well, at the restaurant - a mongolian restaurant where you go through a raw salad/meat bar and build your own bowl - Gretchen likes the green sweet peppers.  She doesn't like them cooked, so we get a small bowl of those for her.  Well, a jalapeno pepper must have jumped in there somehow, because when I was up at the bar building my bowl, she came running up saying her throat was burning!  (She had not taken her new prescription yet... not a reaction to that)  Of course, they have no milk, so I offered her diet soda, but before she could sip it - she puked right on the floor!!    So, I grabbed the napkins off our table and had it cleaned up in 26 seconds.  I asked the waitress for a rag I could wipe the floor with and in probably less than a minute, there was no evidence at all.  Gretchen took the soda and then took Carl's water and claimed they helped her.  She was fine.  And we decided her best plan was to wait for the frozen yogurt and not finish those green peppers!  

Dessert was fine.  No one tossed any cookies.  After we finished our sundaes, we did head out to the sidewalk to play some corn hole... so there was bean bag tossing going on.  But, that was fun!  We headed for home, they did their extra homework for tomorrow and we read several books before turning out the lights and saying goodnight.  They were giggling when we left them in there, but it quieted down quickly.  

Happy Mother's Day!   This was easily, the most colorful one I have had yet!!