Quick 5

Hearing birds chirp outside my window in the dark makes it much easier to get up before 6:00 each day.

1.  Because who doesn't sleep with three different Minnies?

2.  I didn't get any pictures (mom fail, I guess) but Alaina's Liberty Day program was SO CUTE.  The first graders did amazing on their songs and all their lines.  Their lines were complicated and technical, since much of it came from actual documents surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and they did such a great job.  I found myself getting choked up as I listened to them, because I'm not sure that we realize what a big deal it was back then to do what they did.  I mean, we know but we don't KNOW.  The fact that those men were fully aware that they were signing their death warrant, but they were going to do it anyway, even if it all tanked.  Anyway, it was cute.

3.  This has been a lovely Spring Break.  It's been mostly life as usual with naps and errands, but minus the rushing to get to school and the interruption of pick up.  I feel all kinds of pressure to make school breaks amazing, but then I think that I don't remember spring break when I was in first grade, and neither will Alaina, so let's not spend tons of money and time on things she won't remember, and just enjoy an easy home life week.

4.  I would bore you if I took pictures of Joya every day now that I've given her full creative control over her wardrobe, but let's just say it's going exactly how I thought it would.  And the neat part about it has been to see her personality shine through.  The girl has not touched a pair of jeans all week, instead solely focusing on her skirts and leggings.  I'm fighting back Mommy Guilt at the idea that I've been suppressing that her whole life.  I mean, I wear jeans every day, so I just figured she would too.  So much for forcing her into my box.

5.  And just because the girls are cute:

So long March!  You weren't terrible this year!

Quick 5

Today is the first day of spring, and I see buds on the trees.  I'm not getting my hopes up, though.  We have our best winter weather in spring.

1.  Alaina wrote the sweetest note to her teacher.  I suppose it's really up to Mrs. Casassa to say whether it's sweet or not, but I thought it was so precious:

Her love language just might be words of encouragement, because I in no way prompted her to do this.

2.  In other writing news, here is Alaina's report on John Adams.  Today is Liberty Day, the culmination of all the work first grade has done studying the Revolutionary War.  There will be a play with songs, and a food fair, where the kids get to sample foods that are best known from the 13 original colonies. 

3.  Our leprechaun made an appearance on Tuesday.  At first we thought he missed us, because we didn't see anything awry.  But then when I poured the milk into the girls' cereal bowls, this happened:

The milk was white when it came out, and green in the bowl.  Joya took quite a bit of convincing that she could actually eat it, but she finally agreed. 

4.  My washing machine has become my arch nemesis.  I'm grateful for it; we didn't pay a dime for it (I think.)  I believe we got it from my parents when they moved out of their house and we were still living there.  It looks nice and all.  But lately it has been moodier than a 7th grade girl.  As in, IT will decide whether it will or will not spin during the spin cycle.  So it's a crap shoot whether or not I'll have to redo the spin cycle when I go to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer.  It takes about 5 minutes to do the spin cycle, so that really messes up my time table.  Then the other day I went to start the machine, and it wouldn't turn on until I moved the knobs a certain number of times.  What is the magic number? I don't know.  It won't tell me.  Anyway, I try to tell myself that it will be okay.  At least it isn't as bad as the Heck's.  (You know, from The Middle?  Their washing machine involves duct tape every time they use it.) 

5.  I feel like I have to apologize to the month of March.  I've never liked it.  It moves slower than molassas.  Every March lasts approximately four years.  But this year it has flown by.  Next week is Spring Break already, and then March will be over.  Who knew?  (Of course, one fast March out of 32 does NOT erase the years of torture.  Maybe I'll forgive March, but withhold trust until it proves itself trustworthy.  That's healthy, right?)

May your Spring be full of warmth and green and absent of snow and cold.

Quick 5

That time of year when you feel the hope of spring, but try to brace yourself for another wallop of snow.

1.  I think we fared the time change rather easily.  I actually like the spring forward time change better than the fall back one because it's easier for me to convince the girls to do things earlier than it is to convince them to wait an hour to do it later.  Also I decided to take advantage of the time change and change Bria's bedtime.  Until now she's been in bed for the night by 6:30.  But honestly, for the past year, she's played and talked until 7:30 or 8:00.  So with the extra light I decided to move her bedtime to 7:00.  Not a huge difference maybe, but that extra half hour of having to deal with her seems like a lot.  But it may be a good thing, because it's an extra half hour for her to run around and get energy out.  I don't know if she's just tired from having to wake up "early" or if she really IS tiring herself out better, but she did seem to fall asleep faster this week. 

2.  Alaina completed her Liberty Day diorama:

It says "John Adams was the first President to live in the White House. - Alaina Kimble"

Next Friday is Liberty Day, and her class will do a little play with a couple of songs.  Then they'll get to go around to different colonies to sample foods from that colony.  And all their projects will be on display.  Alaina did a research paper on John Adams and I can't wait to see it.  She did the whole thing at school, typing it up in Technology and everything.

3.  The whole school/parent/student thing has gotten so complicated.  Back in my day we did our own projects.  I think.  And I really wanted her to do her own too.  But how much are we supposed to be involved?  I don't know!  So I did help her with her diorama.  She created each element, and I helped guide her on how to assemble it. (Except for the bushes; those were my idea, but then she carried it out.) My biggest fear right now is overparenting.  I don't want to cross the line into doing something for her that she really could do herself, even if it looks like a first grader did it.  But I also want to help. 

4.  Bria hit a milestone yesterday: her First Time Playing In The Toilet.  Lee found her waving around wet toilet paper.  She had given a teddy bear and a large Minnie Mouse a good dunking.  There was quite a bit of water on the floor.  And Joya was distraught that Minnie had to endure such a traumatic event.  Oh toddlers.

5.  There is a website that I found that has changed my life.  It's called Plan to Eat and it's a meal planning website.  The beauty is that you can import practically any recipe you find on Pinterest, then when you put a recipe in your planner it will MAKE A SHOPPING LIST FOR YOU.  That was the worst part of planning.  Not only do you have to come up with meals, but you have to come up with the list to go along with it, praying you don't miss an ingredient.  It's so much easier just to have all the ingredients put into the list, then to delete the ones you know you have.  It's a beautiful thing.  It IS a subscription based thing, and you all know how I feel about spending money.  But I spent money on this.  Just thought I'd share the love.

Last week of winter, people!  Soak it up!

Quick 5

Spring forward, people.

1.  I'm starting to think that maybe one day our house will be illness free again.  Last week I went to the Little Clinic in King Soopers.  It was a wonderful experience.  I knew I probably had a sinus infection, and my doctor's office is pretty tricky to get into on short notice.  But The Little Clinic is a walk in deal.  No appointment.  No one was there when I went, so I was seen right away.  I saw a lovely nurse practitioner and an RN in training.  I got my meds and went on my way.  AND it was cheaper than if I had gone to my doctor's office.  A visit for most things at the little clinic is $85, which will run through my insurance.  It would have been well over $100 at my GP.  If you ever know you have something and just need confirmation and maybe some meds, go to the Little Clinic.  No need to monkey around with a doctor's office, getting there 15 minutes before your appointment like they ask you to, and being seen 45 minutes after your appointment because that's how doctors' offices roll.

2.  Alaina is sporting a new pair of specs.  She picked them out all by herself again.  I'm learning that her tastes and my tastes do not exactly match up, and that's okay. 

3.  Last Saturday I took Joya to Happy Hearts, the preschool event at our church.  The sad news for me was it started at 9:00am.  This is sad because Joya gets up at 6:30, and I had to hear "Can we go? Can we go? Can we go?" for almost two hours before we could go.  I asked them to please make the start time 7:00am next year, but I don't think they're going to do that.  Anyway, we had fun.  We ate pancakes and sausage and did crafts and played games and jumped in the bouncy house and watched a puppet show.  It was nice to just have some Mommy/Joya time too.  Next year Bria will come with us.

 4. Alaina had a birthday party on Saturday afternoon.  It was held at a karate studio, and she had the time of her life.  She learned to jab and cross and block and kick.  She had pizza and cake and ice cream. It was probably one of the coolest birthday parties ever.  She would LOVE to take karate lessons, but I'm not sure of the whole It Costs Money Every Month thing, plus the Two Sessions Each Week thing.  Maybe someday. (P.S. Sorry the pics are terrible quality, but you get the idea.)

 5.  We finally got to celebrate Bria's birthday.  She is feeling fine and there was no debilitating weather.  Grammy and Grandad and Uncle Nick and Aunt Jamie and Naomi and Oliver and Elli came over and we ate pizza and cupcakes.  For days afterward, though, Bria asked, "Grammy go bye bye?" "Omi go bye bye?" repeatedly.  She apparently loved having company over.

 Peace out!