backing up

I am going to back up and go through March as it unfolded around here.  You will find posts on their actual dates... so you have to go back to March 1st to begin.  March 1st was a very busy day, too.

So, grab some tea and Girl Scout cookies (thankfully, the cookie sale has ended and my duties as Troop Cookie manager - much more P.C. than the old "Cookie Mom" title, eh? - are almost over for this year.  I will still have to hand out the recognition prizes to the girls who sold many boxes of cookies) and catch up with us!  

the green egg debacle... aka... Happy St Patrick's Day!

They asked for these.  They did.  Really.

 At least they drank the green milk.

 'tis a much happier lassie after a second breakfast of waffles!

 Of course, they were tardy because of it.  That goes on your permanent record, you know.

I have a friend here who make the most adorable lunches for her kids.  I am not that mom.  As a matter of fact, I am "Can't You Buy Lunch Today?"  Mom.  But, I did get crafty with a food coloring marker just this once.  She loved it!

 I went into school for a mini St Pat's party with the class.  Green popcorn snack and a craft project where they painted Pet Blarney Stone rocks.

Well - I redeemed myself with dinner!  Carl & I are the only ones who like corned beef so we had an awesome dinner!!!

 Gretchen was just happy with the green noodles I made her!  (she didn't eat the cooked carrots, but boy don't they look pretty on the plate?)  And, both requested "no green milk, please."  Ha ha ha!

this post brought to you by the letter C

cars.
cardinals.
computers.
cookies.

10 thousand matchbox cars still find their way into play time around here a lot.

At school, they held a fundraiser with the kids.  You could decorate a cardinal and if you brought in $1 to donate to Relay For Life, they would hang your creation in the hallway.

 Carl's is the one on top.  He painted it all by himself first.  Then he cut the yarn.  He worked the glue gun.  I placed the yarn in the hot glue for him, but he placed the pom poms in the glue by himself.  About halfway through, he declared, "Hey! This is a lot more fun than I thought it would be!"  We decided his looked like spaghetti and meatballs covered in sauce.
Gretchen's is the lower glittery bird.  Lots of glue and lots of glitter.  We still are finding red glitter everywhere.  The nest concept was all her idea as well.  She gathered twigs and I helped her bundle them together to add in the eggs she painted.  

 I was able to get a shot of the computer room at school just because.  They love their computer teacher and class.

 Ah St Patrick's Day treat!  I sent 8+ dozen in for the teacher's lounge and they were gone by lunch time!  These oatmeal roll outs are the best cookies ever!

 Even Carl "I don't like sweets and cookies" liked them!!!  Lew's coffee pot crowd got a few dozen and a couple dozen got mailed home as well.  I made 4 batches and can't wait to make more!  I try to vary my RAB (random acts of baking) that go to the teacher's lounge, but they loved these so much, I will make more for Easter.

There random March photos of the letter C.

Fraction Families

These were hanging outside the kids' classroom this month.  I took pictures of everyone's because they were so cute!  I have other school work to take pictures of and share later - including biographies and other cute stuff!

Here are Carl & Gretchen's Fraction Families.

Gretchen's fraction family:
3/6 of my family are girls
3/6 of my family are boys
2/6 of my family have curly hair
2/6 of my family are cats
4/6 of my family are twins
2/6 of my family are children

Carl's fraction family:
2/6 of my family are kitty cats
3/6 of my family are boys
2/6 of my family are children
2/6 of my family are adults

my visitor

OK.  I love baking.  I do not love cooking.  I tried to make some homemade soup - which smelled delicious.  Broth, chicken, veggies... simmering away nicely.  Well, we have a new stove and we have noticed it runs hotter than you would expect.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.  Well, this soup turned on me in a flash.  All of a sudden, I smelled burning and sure enough - it was ruined.  So, I grabbed the hot, smoking pot and raced it out onto the back deck so the fire alarm wouldn't go off.  It did not, by the way.

So, I come back inside, spittin' and sputterin' about no lunch and my burned pot and such and I looked down.  There was a LIZARD!  In my KITCHEN.  Damn thing must have sneaked in while I had the door open to get outside.  Lizards never come inside when Lew is home.  I grabbed a cup, screamed and started chasing him.  He ran under the table, then over to the wall, then under the toy shelf - OK, now it was getting bad because he could disappear and not be found over there.  At this point, I abandoned the cup and dumped out a toy container instead.  Still trying to trap him inside, I shook the shelf to spook him out. Well, he emerged and headed to the laundry basket of clean clothes.  In he hopped and I cheered, hoping I could race the whole basket outside.  Nope, he jumped back out and back to the kitchen table pedestal. At this point, I thought I could just direct him to the door and open it, but he hung a left and got behind my sewing machine case.  (you can see it on the floor next to Gretchen in the St Patrick's Day photo of her outfit)  That case is white and my container was white - so I held it up and he climbed up the case and right into the container for me!  I slapped on the lid and raced him outside.  I let him crawl out onto a shrub branch and then thought - "Oh!  I should have taken his picture in the container.  Oh well."  We were both out of breath and pretty darn nervous.  I did still have time to go inside and grab the camera before he moved at all.  He needed to catch his breath - his rib cage was going in and out like crazy.  I snapped a shot and then he scurried off to blog about his horrific morning running around on the floor of some cat hair filled kitchen.

I went inside to immediately rewash that entire basket of clean clothes contaminated by lizard feet.

bike riding

So, apparently, it is true.  You don't forget how to ride a bike.  In fact, you grow over the winter and then your bike fits even better and you take right off with no help at all!   We did a couple days at the school track because it is nice and flat and you can see the entire 1/4 mile circle.   But, we quickly progressed to going to a local park that has a 1/2 mile loop.  They love it!  A couple hills, a little bit of independence...  bike riding has been a great weekend activity for us!

pictures remember - no blog is complete without pictures.  

 riding back to the van.....

 .... Carl decided to keep going and circle all around the front of the school and the bus loop, too.

 Ah yes - Bradford Pear season.  It only lasts a few days.

 They have all turned to green leaves since taking these pictures.

 riding at the park

 Here comes Carl!

We ran into some good friends riding there, too!

Molly & Angus are teenagers!!

Happy 13th Birthday to my first set of twins!!

 Wait - grab the candles and treats!  OK... second family photo...

 Gretchen made this awesome card for them!

 Instead of pumpkin  muffins for Molly (since she had too many pancake muffins this morning) we got a can of turkey cat food and the baby food peas for Angus.  Both cats loved the wet cat food.  Angus is a bit miffed to learn that other cats actually eat this delicacy daily.  Here is Molly after the party - still licking her lips!!!

 Hmmm... cat nip toys.  Cool!

 He quickly headed to the couch for a nap, though.  I managed to snap a picture before he fell asleep.  Birthdays are hard work, huh, Angus?

Luna and me

I took the morning to go to the aquarium by myself to see Miss Luna in her new home.  She has been at the aquarium for years in her own enclosure.  She had water, but no friends - and she had her favorite heat lamp!

Well, now that she has gotten bigger, they have moved her out of her lonely enclosure and given her a new home with 3 friends!  She now lives in a much deeper tank with 3 green alligators!

They monitored her entrance into this new area very closely and all 4 alligators are getting along swimmingly.  In the wild, there could be a chance where an albino alligator would not be accepted by the others, but here, she is the biggest - and they 3 smaller green gators have taken to her just fine.  The volunteers were telling me about her first days in her new digs.  She actually had to learn how to swim!  She showed off a little for me, too.

I have taken many pictures of her over the years, but never this close!

Here is an older shot I have of her.  This was in a local museum's exhibit with my camera club recently.
Miss Luna

Isn't she the prettiest thing?