December musings, part 1

It's the end of the holiday season...and I have started this blog about 50 times this month and still haven't finished and now it's almost the end of December and it's still not posted.  Oh, well.  I am now in the post-Christmas doldrums.   *sigh*  363 days until Christmas 2011.
Let's see, how did our month play out?  
*  We got a new kitten in WV over Thanksgiving (okay, technically that was still November, but it was close enough to December)  Initially her name was going to be Penelope, but then Julianna changed her mind and named her Holly. She's really cute. Tiny little thing, less than 2 lbs.  She is being tormented by Julianna (in love), tolerated by Emily, our other cat, and loved on by everyone else.  Perfect combination.

*  We went Christmas tree hunting.  Last year was the first year that we've ever had a live tree.  We went to a local tree farm, chose the one we wanted and cut it down (We won't go into how it was so cold and snowing and Julianna was woefully under dressed in her cute little leopard print ensemble and about froze to death and was not a happy camper by the end (okay, middle) of our little adventure while we had to hike up a large hill to get to the "good" trees.  In our minds it was a picture perfect, Hallmark type moment and we wanted to do it again this year (minus the frostbitten kid).  
We headed out (weather was cold, but not like last year) with Julianna all bundled up in her snowsuit on our quest for the right one.  We hiked back up the hill where we found last year's tree and the cupboard (or field) was bare -  stripped clean, except for some that would make Charlie Brown proud.  We wandered for a bit and found the one we wanted.  Julianna had a do a "test" on it.  It went like this, "Smells good, check. Not to prickly, check.  Big and round, check."  We all gave our thumbs up and Dad channeled his inner lumberjack and cut it down. 

Ain't she a beauty?  She is a big, for sure.  It's funny how they look smaller out in that wide open field amongst all their other evergreen friends.  (Sort of like when you go furniture shopping in those huge stores and pick out the perfect pieces and then are in a panic when they are delivered and you  actually have to fit them into your house.  We are talking hypothetically.  Not like that actually happened to anyone that might be writing this blog. As long as we are clear on the facts.)

We have a very traditional tree.  I love it. It is decorated with heirloom ornaments that commemorate special moments throughout our lives and handmade memories. My sister makes Julianna a new ornament every year and this year was her Rapunzel costume.  It's so cute.  My favorite ornament this year.

* We finished up the 2010 portion of our school year last week.  I need to sit down and go through the work we've done and see the progress that has been made.  I saw a writing sample of a friend's Kindergartner (who is in public school) and I realized that I need to get Julianna writing more.  Not that he was writing Shakespearean sonnets, but I'm not sure she could write much without me telling her how to spell it.  I've got to work most on instilling in her the confidence to at least try something without automatically fighting it.  Anyhoo, to end our school year we had a get together with our Youth Pastor's wife and their kids (She homeschools their oldest daughter, 1st grade.)  We were supposed to do it the last week we had school ( I was going to do some educational things - maybe a lapbook, writing activities, etc.), but they had a family medical emergency, so we postponed it a week.  We were out of the "school" mode by then, so we did crafty things (which involved copious amounts of sugar) and let the kids play.  Fun was had by all and it was great to fellowship with them.  We made sugar cone Christmas trees and Gingerbread houses from graham crackers...which meant lots of icing and candy both in the kids and all over my table and floor.  

*Last week we went to see a synchronized light display at a local family amusement park.  They were awesome.  They billed it as "the Bellagio display of lights" - for Maryland it probably was.  We really enjoyed them.  We also went to Boyds Bear Country in Gettysburg one Friday afternoon.  It was kind of sad (aside from the fact we had a run of joint) to see how much they have downgraded their displays and merchandise.  I know the company had financial issues, so I'm guessing that is why.  I used to collect the resin pieces and would have paid good money a few years ago to get a lot of the pieces they had there.  I guess the guy who started it all kept every first edition set numbered 1 - 10.  They are now selling his collection of first editions. I started to hyperventilate just a teeny bit when I walked into the room with all of them out.  Nirvana...if I was still collecting.  I was sorely tempted to start again, but I just don't display them and it makes no sense to keep them in a box. After I wrote the above, I received an email that Boyd's is closing their barn on January 4th.  I think we'll take a trip up tomorrow to say goodbye.  :*( 

 I better continue on another post.  My blog resolution for 2011 is to post more often with shorter entries.  I tend to get too wordy when I wait too long and then overload.  
Part 2 coming soon....

Grrr...

Dear Blogspot,

Why dost thou hate me?  Why dost thou insist on putting my pictures in places I do not want them?  Please play nicely so I can post a new entry.

Sincerely,
Frustrated user

I think I'm in trouble...

So, a recent conversation went like this. 
Setting:  in the car on the way to WV for Thanksgiving.  

Kid:  My Flat Stanley teacher is a mean bossy boots.


Me:  Why?  What did she want you to do?


Kid:  She kicked me out of class.


Me:  When?  Where did you have to go?  


Kid:  I had to sit outside on the sidewalk. 


Me:  You had to go outside on the sidewalk?  With who?


Kid:  No one.  I had to go by myself. 


Me:  You had to go outside on the sidewalk by yourself?  I don't think you are telling Mommy the truth because I know that they would never send you outside on the sidewalk by yourself.  It's in a parking lot.


Kid:  Well, I had to leave the classroom and sit in the hallway.  


Me:  Why?  What did you do?  


Kid:  I said that the other kid's Flat Stanley reports were boring and she made me go out of the class.  I helped another lady with curly hair stack up chairs.  


Me:  Why did you say the reports were boring?  


Kid:  Because they were and I didn't say I forgive them.  


Me:  Were you told to ask for forgiveness?


Kid:  Yes, but I didn't.  


Me:  Well, that it probably hurt the other student's feelings for you to say their report was boring.  You should have asked them and your teacher to forgive you for being rude.


Kid:  No way!  She's a mean bossy boots.


We went on to instruct her on how her behavior was disrespectful and rude and we didn't want to hear about that happening again and on how she could have better handled herself.

Fast forward to today after class.  

Me:  So, how did class go today?

Kid:  Well, I didn't get kicked out.

That's progress, I guess.  We appreciate all prayers and intercessions on our behalf. 

She's not as innocent as she looks.  :) 

Christmas is coming!

And I shall probably change the background of this blog many times before the big day!  Too many cute ones to commit to just one for the whole month.

Things I MUST do this week:
1.  Decorate
2.  Sit down and work on my gift list (This always scares the bajeebies out of me.  I usually think I'm waaaay further ahead than I really am.  : / )
3.   Organize the details of a cookie swap
4.  Oh, yeah, get back to teaching my kid.  (Better get off of here and figure out what all that might entail.)

27 days until Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're thankful...

We are headed to WV next week, so this week we went ahead and did our Thanksgiving lessons.  I rolled language arts/math into the Thanksgiving theme, but kept geography as is because, it just so happens, the country that was up for study was Great Britain.  How about that for coinkydink?  We didn't do as much for the country as we usually do since, well, it's not like we had a learn a new language (even though they sound better saying the same words than we do) and with other classes, etc. our time was limited.  We briefly discussed the royal family. I thought she'd be impressed with real Princes/Princess, etc. She wasn't. There wasn't much else to say:  born into the royal family, no real power, live in a fancy house, have lots of clothes and jewelry.  My apologies to the Queen.  Maybe the royal wedding next year will be more impressive.  I like the pomp and circumstance that surrounds it...and the dress.  Anyhoo, Happy Thanksgiving, my friends. Eat a slab of turkey for me (white meat only, unless you are vegetarian and then you can eat, well, I don't think I can be friends with a vegetarian. I call it PTDFS (post traumatic Daniel Fast syndrome).  Take your veggies, give me my coffee and we'll call it a day.
Our week in pictures:  

Crutches for her "broken leg" that she and Daddy created.  They are made up of hangers, curtain rods and bubble wrap.

Our Native American paper dolls.  They turned out cute!

Thanksgiving book.

Doesn't the scarecrow remind you of Bob Marley?  I can just hear him saying to the crows, "Shoo, Mon!"

This is a picture of the Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock.  That is an Indian friend waiting to meet them and a HUGE turkey standing beside him. 

Text bubbles are:  Girl pilgrim, "Hi!", boy pilgrim, "That's a big turkey!", Indian, "Thank you!  This is my pet, Tya Turkey."  I tried Tom Turkey as a name, but it wouldn't fly.  That's a boy's name, you know.

Things Julianna would take if she was traveling to a new world.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Technology Kid

As I start typing this post on one laptop, Julianna is "typing" on her sister's blog (Yes, she has an imaginary brother, John, and sister, Kate.  Whatever works.) on her Dad's laptop across the living room.  Got me thinking about how technologically advanced kids are nowadays.  Wonder what we were the great technological advances we had while growing up?  Cassette tapes?  What about those label makers that looked like guns that you had to dial the letter you wanted and then pull the trigger? Word processors and personal computers were available, but they were not nearly as much a part of our every day existence and you definitely couldn't carry one around with you.  How far technology has come in just the past *mumble, mumble* years since I was in high school.  Goodness, we get to laughing when we look at the old cell phones that we had just 10 years ago.  How did we hold those things to our ears without help?  We thought we were cooooool, too.  The speed at which technology evolves amazes me. 

Let's see, what can we talk about from last week?  We finished Asia and have now moved on to Europe.  The first country we studied was Russia. (I seem to only talk about Geography, but we are doing reading/math stuff every day too .  Lol).  We learned how to say hello (Dobrey Dyen), yes (dah), no (neyht) and grandmother (babushka) in Russian.  We prayed for the Moses family, a missionary family in Russia.  They are actually on deputation in the US at the moment, but she was kind enough to respond to our email (We email each family we are praying for, but most do not respond.  I don't think the UPCI website email works for the missionaries.) and asked us to pray for a couple specific requests they had.  I hope some of these families make it to CLC at some time.  I think Julianna would get a kick out of putting a real person with their picture and name.  We learned that in Russia, children go by three names:  their first name (girls all end with /a/), a nickname (variation of their first name) and then their patronymic name (which includes their father's first name), so Julianna's  would be Julianna, probably Julia for nickname and Julianna Mikelovna.   Adults add their last name.  We also looked at Faberge eggs online and talked about why they were created. (Wish I could find one of the original missing eggs at a yard sale. Can you imagine?  I wonder what they would be worth?)  We made our own version out of paper.  Of course, Julianna called it a Parmesan egg.  Lol.  Close enough. 

At Cedar Brook, the kids have geography class and they are doing Flat Stanley activities.  We have about 3 flat Stanley's already made.  Actually, none are Stanley.  Um, hello, Stanley is a BOY!  As if.  We have Flat Sadie, Twinkle Star and Jenna Helfer, complete with a "boot" on her foot. (Julianna's tribute to Jenna's bbroken toe.) We added Flat Rapunzel to the family this week.  She created her all by herself - complete with yarn hair.

We also made a candle holder covered with tissue paper.  We got the idea from the Highlights Magazine, High Five.  It turned out cute.  We put a battery operated tea light in it after it dried. 

 
 I might have to do more than one post per week.  I'm getting a little too gabby.  :)

Writer's Block

Okay, so I'm not exactly what you would consider a writer per se, but I still cannot think of anything interesting to blog about.  Blogs, as is their nature, tend to be so narcissistic and I feel goofy going on about our doings and we live such an exciting life here in Jefferson (NOT!), hence writer's block, but I digress.  Let's just talk about some of life's little discoveries that have been uncovered over the last couple weeks.

Discovery 1:  Magic Nuudles

I have a crafty kinda kid.  She loves to paint, draw, create things with pipe cleaners, wikisticks, etc. - she's never liked coloring books, though.  Not sure the psychoanalysis behind that, but I wish she did.  We went to Joann Fabrics this week to finish getting material for our costumes for the Harvest Party and we discovered these little gems:  magic nuudles (http://www.magicnuudles.com/).  They have probably been out for eons, but we are just being enlightened.  They look like packing peanuts in all different shades of color.  They are made from cornstarch and will stick to each other or other surfaces (windows, etc) with a little bit of water.  Too much water equals bad outcomes for the nuudle.  Julianna spent quite a while during the afternoon making her creations, which included Pastor Sean (which I'm sure is an original), flowers, rain cloud with raindrops and a couple of ninjas (Yes, you read that correctly.  I blame her father.)

 

Discovery 2:  Air Drying Clay Does Not Like Me

We studied Israel last week (Annoying side note:  There are far less resources for Israel than the other countries we have recently studied.  Not sure why. : / ) and for our craft project we did jewel inlaid pottery.  I got some of Crayola's air drying clay and this stuff has it out for me. Seriously.  This is the second time I've used it and both times have been unsuccessful. It molds nicely, looks lovely while drying and then it cracks or breaks apart.  I should go to Crayola's site and see what I'm doing wrong.  This is a picture of our work before it was no more. 

Discovery 3:  I LOVE the Holiday Season

Random information, but it's true.  I love everything thing about it:  food, lights, decorations, music, food,  parties, cards, traditions, food, presents, snow, Black Friday sales, lights synchronized with music...all of it.  I'm ready to start decorating now, but I will refrain until after Thanksgiving...I think.  I'm going to get my furniture rearranged for the placement of the tree...must be all feng shui, you now.  Kidding.  The local radio stations are going to start their 24/7 Christmas music on November 18th.  I love it!  Can't wait.

Discovery 4:  Coffee Gooooooooooood!

Not a discovery, but it never hurts to give it props.

Discovery 5:  I miss my camera

My camera had to go back to the manufacturer for repair.  I never realized how often I took pictures until it was gone.  Hopefully it will be back soon.  

Discovery 6:  Homemade Halloween Harvest Party costumes rock!

Julianna decided that she wanted to be Rapunzel for the harvest party at church. (That decision then switched to Cat in the Hat and then back to Rapunzel.)  I had an idea in my mind of how I wanted the costume to look.  I wanted to do a cardboard tower over her shoulders where she would look out the front window and her wig could hang out.  With some adjustments (which included a whole change in the way I made the wig) and lots of help from Dad, the finished product turned out really cute!  Our trunk theme stayed Cat and the Hat and my husband and I dressed up like Thing 1 and Thing 2...complete with blue wigs.  I'll spare you any pics of that.  I think next year I'm doing a Hillbilly Holler...taking it back to my roots, my friends.  lol  

Rapunzel

Looking like Christmas at Jessica's (http://diaryofahsmom.blogspot.com/) van.

Unfortunately, these two kids rubbed Tiffany (http://tlufkin.blogspot.com) the wrong way. 

Queen Raynie.  Love that girl. 

The evidence of a good time.  :) 

Must.slow.down

I'm tired.  I wake up tired.  Of course, I get up with the hubster at 4:00am (and Julianna got me up at 2:30am running a slight temperature, so by the time I got her meds given, cup of water, different pjs, etc. it was time to get up) so no matter what time you go to bed, at that time in the morning, you are still tired. That's why I NEED the one cup Keurig thingy.  Liquid motivation mid-morning and afternoon.  See how I can justify purchases?  It's on my list for Santa and I have been good this year, so he better listen.  Man, I think I need a new camera too.  Mine went kaflooey recently.  Tells me to "change the batteries" even when it has new ones in it.  Bossy thing!  I think it has a protection plan on it, so I should check into that.  Another thing to put on the list. Oh, and I think I'd like some type of iPod radio/speaker thing.  Gosh, I don't think I've been that good.  Bummer.  *sigh*  I'm tired.  Did I say that already?

Let's see.  What did we do last week?  What didn't we do is a better question! It was a busy, busy week.  Friday was the only day we did not have a class or field trip or errand or appointment.  I didn't get out of my jammies until it was time to get ready for the ladies tea that night.  Shameful, I know.  Good thing we never have drop in guests.

Monday -  Field trip day.  We went with Tiffany (http://tlufkin.blogspot.com/) and the gang to the pumpkin farm.  We had the run of the joint.  That's the way I like it.  I'm not a huge fan of crowds.  (So, why are we thinking of going to Disney? *shudder*) The activities offered there were enjoyed by all.  The kids were going down the slides/moon bounces forward, backward, on tummies and backs. I wish I would have thought to wear dark socks on Julianna (those white ones will never be the same) and I wish I had the ability to bottle an ounce energy they have. Mercy!  Julianna said her favorite part of the day was throwing hay onto Mom while on the hayride.  Gee, thanks, kid. 

Tuesday  -  Flu mist day.  Thankfully it wasn't a shot this year.  There was still much anxiety before the visit.  She thought they were going to give her a shot up her nose despite allllllll the explanations and online videos I showed her.  When it was over she said, "Was that it?  That was kinda lame." Sheesh.  We started our unit on India.  I found instructions on how to wrap a sari, so we took a sheet and improvised.  It was cute.  I want to start lapbook on Asia now that our study of the continent is almost complete (Israel this week (which has woefully much less resources than the other countires have so far) and next week we end it with Thailand. 

 Wednesday - Julianna had her afternoon class at our umbrella school.  Dad was off, so we dropped her off and spent 2 1/2 kid free hours for the first time in 4 years that didn't include paying for a babysitter to attend a church meeting or function.  Pathetic.  We need to do more date nights, but it just gets expensive when you add in babysitter fees, dinner, blah.  We went to Target.  Up side, got a couple of J's Christmas presents, so that was a good thing.  Maybe next time we'll go grocery shopping.  We're wild and crazy like that. 

Thursday - Every month we go to a nature class for homeschoolers through our local parks and recreation department at a county nature center, Fountain Rock, http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/index.aspx?NID=2934.  We love this park.  We've done two of Julianna's birthday parties there and have spent a portion of our savings in feeding the fish, ducks and turtles in the rock quarry pond.  This class was on Stream Ecology (I'm sure my non-tree hugger being would have exploded if I were in the class, so I sat out and chatted with my fellow homies, Tiffany and Jessica (http://diaryofahsmom.blogspot.com/).  The kids eventually made their way outside to get on their stream gear (i.e. wading boots) that were, well, poor fitting on all the kids.  I have visual proof.  They sure did look cute though.  When Julianna found out that they would be exploring the creek she said, "Mom, I told you I should have worn my bathing suit." Lol  Of course, she ended up getting her ginormous boots stuck in the "quick sand" and fell in the creek.  Bottom half got the brunt of it, but she had a blast anyway.  She learned about "prayfish" (crayfish) and something called a curlie.  I need to look that one up, but she had quite a description of them, so it must be a water creature of some kind. 

Xander sporting the newest fashion of the oversized sporting goods runway.

Chanel is hoping no one see her in this fetching garb.  Julianna had to have her boots folded WAY down and they were still veeeeery big.  lol

 

 

***Be warned:  Video sound is kind of loud b/c of wind.***

Friday - Jammies day.  We did get take out Indian for dinner to celebrate the completion of our romp through India.  Was lousy.  I hate spending money for bad food.  :/  I should have made it myself, but I was too lazy.  Next time I will. 

Yawwwwn. 

60 days until Christmas!!

Jus' Sayin'

A more substantial post is coming soon.  :) 

I love lists!

I am forever making lists...now if I stick to what's on them is another post, but they will be made.  Before going on a trip (especially vacation) or planning a party, the lists will be pages long, all categorized.  What can I say? I'm a list-y kinda gal.  That said, here is our week in list form. 


***  We studied Japan this week which included making "ormagami" and learning about the capital city, "Tonokyo" (pronounced like Pinocchio with a /t/.)  We pretty much mispronounced our way all over the country. 

Julianna in a kimono we found in her dress up box.  She looks zoned out, man.  Mama's crackin' the whip too hard on this poor homeschooler.  lol



Our "ormagami" family.  I made one large one (mom) doll, then we had to add one a little smaller (big sister), then triplet babies (2 girls and a boy), then another big one (dad) and finally another set of tiny triplets (another 2 girls and a boy.) 




These are some of Julianna's origami originals.  




***  We switched our math to Singapore Early Bird Kindergarten.  I think I'm going to like it.  The beginning covers very basic concepts, but it sticks with one concept per unit with a review at the end.  The textbook is much more colorful and the activities are much more varied.  So far, so good.

***  Not homeschool related, but I made a couple awesome desserts this weekend.  Oh.My.Goodness.  Slap your mama, good.  No lie.  One was a frosting appropriately titled, "That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had" and the other was apple dumplings that use a can of Mountain Dew in the mixture. I asked my hubster what he thought the Mt Dew did in the recipe.  His reply was, "Makes it happy."  Delicious, I'll tell you.   Ask nicely and I'll make you some. 


*** In science, we carved two of the pumpkins we got the week before.  While I cleaned the bazillion slimy seeds for roasting (which turned out quite yummy), Julianna made entries in her science journal.  She is very detail oriented when she is drawing.  She is quite observant overall and notices things that I totally miss.  It's always interesting to see what she comes up with. 

Before the pumpkin massacre began.  Poor things have no clue what's about to happen.





Julianna's reaction to pumpkin "guts"




Her narration says: "Today in science, we cut open pumpkins."


"We pulled out the seeds"


"We put the seeds in a yellow bowl."




*** Miscellaneous pics

A fall tree picture we made



Parachuting on the deck (Yes, that is a white garbage bag.  Why do you ask?)



 

Little Snippets of Happies

Happy #1: This week my honey bunches and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I don't have a picture to post because we got married before the digital age and I'm too lazy to scan one of in, so if you'd like to see us before we'd lost our minds, I have a tiny little wallet sized picture somewhere in my purse.

Happy #2: I'm enjoying our Geography studies. We are working our way through Asia, at the moment. ("Ni Hao" from China and "Ahn Neyong Ha Seyo" from South Korea.) A lot of the information is waaay over Julianna's head, but I try to do a lot of visual representations (for the different country characteristics: religion, money, capitol city, etc.) and crafts and that seems to keep her interested. One thing we do is look up a missionary for the area we are studying and we pray for them specifically during the week after our lesson and at bedtime. I've tried to contact the missionaries, but something is wrong with the email submission on the UPCI webpage, so I don't think the messages went through (Note to self: contact the web people to see what's up.) Next week we will go to Japan.

This is a paper doll we made. (Found a great site with tons of awesome printables for range of grades. This was from the Paper Dolls from Around the World section. Loving this site! http://www.education.com/worksheets/)
Ancient Kings in South Korea used to have very ornate crowns, so we made us one of those.

Can't you feel the joy emanating through your computer screens? Feel the love, people.

Our fairy doll with crutches, in honor of Pastor Sean. (She has nothing to do with South Korea - I'm sure she was made in China - I just wanted to put her somewhere.)


Happy #3: **Cue Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" or just hum the tune along with the angels singing whilst reading the next section** These are the newest members of our family. Aren't they just beautiful? (Bad angle on the shot, I know. My laundry room isn't big enough to get a shot that does them justice.) They are soooooo quiet and they play me a happy little tune when they are done with their work. The clothes have a fun little time in the washer and dryer, but are still confined to blue IKEA bags (Yes, those are my laundry baskets. Easier to carry and they are .59 cents.) for the next day...or so. (Ha! Who am I kidding? They are lucky to be put away within the week. Most of the time we dress out of the basket. Horrible habit, I know. I hate folding and putting away. Confession time finished.)


Happy #4: For the past couple days, we have had a monarch butterfly hanging around our butterfly bushes. She is just beautiful. It's the first one I have ever seen out in nature or rather the first one I've seen while actually looking for it. I'm thinking of setting up a MB rest stop in our yard by planting flowers/plants that they like. Apparently, they will stop during their migrations. They talked about doing that in a nature class Julianna took. Sounds cool to me! I'd love to have them around.


Happy # 5: Fall! I love Fall. I love all the homey Yankee Candle scents, any food item made with pumpkin : pumpkin pies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin dump cake, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin cheesecake - I love them all! - going to the pumpkin farm, changing of the leaves, cooler days and nights, FOOTBALL, baby! Love, love, love the Fall! Plus, it's one season closer to snow!

John, the pumpkin
You can run, Dude, but you can't hide.
Excessive much? Yes, that is 6 cans each of the large pumpkin and 13 small cans. We will have pumpkin desserts this fall!

Pumpkin Patch!
The one (of two) she picked out.
Our bounty

Scolding Milo, the calf, after he tried to take a nibble of her skirt.

Happy #6: Our groovy tie dye leaves on our fall tree. They turned out really cute. Hard to tell by the pictures, but it looks cool.

Dig it, man!


Julianna "climbing" the tree. Ha!


Unhappy of the week: Julianna's first trip to Urgent Care Friday evening for a gaping wound on her chin caused by hitting it on the side of the tub...actually it was just a little one, but since the cut was "open" her doctor's office said to go to ER in case sutures were needed. Luckily they weren't. She probably won't get to go to gymnastics on Monday, which she is bummed about. My only pics are on my phone and I can't figure out how to upload from there to here, so just take my word for it, she looked quite pitiful.

Geesh, I'm a chatty Cathy tonight, so if you are still reading, it's because you love me...I love you too!