Today's Art

Here's what CJ drew today. I believe it is her house, grass and flowers and she is climbing on a ladder to a slide next to the big tree.

Hi Friend

A couple of little girls moved in to the house across the street. One older and one younger than CJ. They always call out "Hi Friend" when CJ is outside. She went across the other night and played dolls on a blanket with them. Then one night we thought she was just on the porch, but apparently she'd gone down to the sidewalk to talk to them across the street.

Tonight she just headed out to the porch to do some drawing and stay out of the rain. She is starting to get more independent.

Masterpieces

CJ and Mama usually try to do something interesting on Tuesdays since we have no standing obligation. Today we hit an art studio we've been meaning to try for some time. You basically buy a package of paper and then you can use their studio, smock and supplies to create. No time limit. CJ and Mama pretty much had the place to ourselves as CJ created the following masterpieces.

A chalk drawing:

(The pink mess was Mama's fault. We tried to do a rubbing of a stencil and it didn't come out as expected with the chalk.)

An acrylic painting - it was her idea to do the hand print painting:

Her first canvas painting:

(We were running out of time at this point and after painting the whole background as the specialist had suggested, she found the best way to add other colors was with dots.)

When we left, it was POURING. We did our best to get the pieces back in a bag and to the car without damaging them too much.

It was fun, but not so great that we'll be rushing back again soon.

Satellite TV

Little B's wound looked like it was healing, but after two seconds without her Elizabethan collar, she had it open again. So she's been stuck in the big cone for the rest of the day. It sure didn't seem to bother her as she rested on the living room couch during the Blazer game. She had the best seat in the house and the rest of us just had to make sure we could see past the satellite dish.

Math Girl

A few weeks ago we went to check out a kindergarten and the teacher was smart enough to have some crayons and paper out to entertain the kids that might come with their parents. CJ planted herself at that table and drew tons of pictures for Mama, including this one. If you look closely, you'll see that she numbered from 1 to 22 around the edge. She later added the self-portrait.

Lately she has also gotten in to doing math. She loves to add on her fingers and give you the answers. But, she hates when you look at her fingers. We'll have to try subtraction soon.

Happy Birthday Cousin B

Sorry we aren't going to make it up to celebrate with you. But Little B came home from the vet with an open wound (apparently an infected sebaceous cyst - don't worry, we aren't going to post the close-up pic):

And CJ came home from school whiny and ended up taking back to back naps, waking just long enough to whine some more and eat a snack. CJ never takes naps any longer so this isn't a good sign.

When Daddy got home we decided that this isn't the best time for a trip. Hopefully you have a good birthday and we'll see you soon.

He's Back

Mr. Squirrel is back. We put out a different bird feeder and he (or they) keep chewing the string so the whole thing falls on the ground and provides a sunflower seed buffet. Daddy's fixed it and put it back up so we'll see how long it lasts.

Lucky #7?

Well, after all is said and done, we are hoping that 7 might be a lucky number. We did not end up with any of our choices from the school district transfer lottery application and have been "assigned" to the local neighborhood school. We also applied to many of the local charter schools and have received waiting list numbers of 100+; 70; 22; and 7. If we are lucky, CJ might get a spot. But further research indicates that 7 might not be a low enough number to actually get a place in the kindergarten class.

So, after 3 months of looking, we are almost out of options. We do have one more lottery application out there and we should know about that in the next few weeks. It's always been our favorite school, but it is very small and the odds are not great. We are also considering the school where CJ attended puppet camp over spring break as an option. Remember when I said we weren't considering private school...

Sweet Tweets

Mama doesn't text, isn't on Facebook and is not a Tweeter. But she does have a bookmark for the bakery's tweets. They not only tell you the soup of the day, but it seems like they give something away once a week. We've already been gifted a scone and a loaf of bread. Not bad!

Go Blazers

Back in the day, Mama and Daddy had tickets to the Blazer Games. But now that most of them are past our bedtime (well past CJ's bedtime) we tend to watch a lot on TV and occasionally listen on the radio. CJ has caught a bit of Blazer fever and likes to snuggle a bit before bed while watching a few minutes of the game. She asks which team is which and tracks the scores and how many points the difference is. She's figured out when to start chanting "Defense" and when to say "Go Blazers". We are hoping they give us a lot to cheer about during the playoffs.

The Sun, The Sun

The sun has been gracing us with its presence lately so we are trying to take advantage. Friday night CJ was excited to ride the Skuut bike over to the local gelato store for a cone. Today was warm enough for tank tops and sunscreen.

And both yesterday and today we've been trying to give her some opportunities to ride her little red bike without training wheels. The neighbors who lent us the Skuut gave us the idea of heading over to a field with a soft turf surface for practice runs. So CJ's been riding over there (with Daddy's help) and then doing a few laps while he holds on.
He's been able to let go for a few short periods and she has been doing fine. We have a ways to go, but she's making progress and seems to be enjoying it.

Little Gymnast

Today was Camera Day at Gymnastics.

Here CJ is warming up (and hamming it up for the camera)

Jumping on the trampoline:

And just looking cute, waiting her turn:

It's a nice opportunity to get in to the gym and see what CJ is doing. Usually parents are relegated to the waiting room and can peek through a small window. She claims to like gymnastics even more than ballet.

Ready for the Tomatoes

The area that we had planted tomatoes for the last two years just doesn't seem to be getting enough sun any longer. Between the house next door and a tall hedge, it gets some morning sun, but not a full day's worth and we decided we needed to find a better spot for this year's tomatoes (we'll still use the older bed, but will try to find something that likes a little more shade). So Daddy spent some time yesterday prepping the area and today we made a quick trip to the rock store and then headed out to the farm store to pick up another stock tank. They only had one in the size we wanted and it was fairly beaten up, but since they told us we could have a nice discount and we knew we could hide the dent against the porch wall, we took it. Now we just need to wait for a little more consistently warm weather and then we can do some planting.

Garden Party

Today was the annual planting party at CJ's preschool. We were lucky that the sun decided to show itself for the event. CJ helped poke some peas into the garden bed and we also planted sunflowers, marigolds, poppies and some other flowers in a small area near the garden gate. There was also time for the kids to make their own seed pots for future planting, a snack, swinging and playing. Watering the plants is always a highlight.

Messy Monkeys

A local art studio hosts a Messy Monkeys class once a week. Since CJ didn't have school today, we decided to check it out. She made tissue paper flowers, decorated a "vase" for them, played with some play dough and made a magnet out of it and even painted in just over an hour.

Here she is showing off some of her work:

Face Your Fears

It had been a while since our awful roller skating trial and CJ seemed up for giving it another shot so we decided to do so today. Mama made sure the rental counter knew CJ was a beginner and they tightened down the wheels appropriately. CJ had fun and after the lesson and milk and cookies snack, she did a few laps around the rink (at a very slow pace). She even let Mama get a pair of skates for a quick lap or two. Much better than our first try at this and not a bad way to spend a rainy morning.

Easter Bonnet

Here's CJ with her "Easter Bonnet". A summer hat we picked up a few weeks ago. And yes, we were at OMSI for a little while today.

Happy Easter

CJ woke up and found a treasure map on her door. Daddy said he'd helped the Easter Bunny with it and he helped her navigate it. She wasn't too into the idea at first, but after finding a few things and getting a little sugar into her body, she warmed up to it!

(Oh why doesn't Iphoto have an easy collage option like Picasa does?)

Big Girls

CJ spent most of the day with a 7-year old big girl (the daughter of Daddy's co-worker). She had a blast. The 7-year old was very sweet to her and CJ listened and watched her and learned how to play fashion games on a Nintendo. They were in the back of the car together whispering like teenagers and CJ couldn't have cared less about Mama and Daddy. The girl may have even convinced her to change her favorite color away from pink to green. We'll see. CJ can't wait to see her again.

Jelly Bean Lane

An egg hunt at a neighborhood park.

Posing before the hunt:

Admiring her treasures:

There are separate areas for under 4, 4-6 year olds and 7 and up. We think the whole hunt lasts about 2 minutes after they say go. The field was pretty muddy, but at least the skies were dry.

Not So Lucky

Today Mama ran to pick CJ up from school again. I saw a black cloud and wore my raincoat, but wondered why as it was sunny and I was overheated by the time I got to her school. The kids played out front for a while, but the wind started to pick up so we headed home. Just as we left, the skies dumped. It was mostly a pelting hail, mixed with rain. Not very fun, but we weren't sure if it would stop so we kept going. Good thing we don't live that far from school. CJ stayed dry under the stroller rain shield, but Mama got soaked.