On Babies...

Yesterday I had to wait for the customer service person at the bank and while we were waiting a lovely little 8 month old girl occupied the chair next to us. She was standing supporting her own wait and babbling (or at that age vocalizing might be the term) and I was warning her mother that J was like that at an early age as well and now never stops talking.

As I was in with the CSR filling out a form for my lost debit card, the girls stayed in the lobby. I was out and we were on our way talking about babies.

J: The baby had the tiniest little hands.
S: and tiny fingernails
J: Oh yeah - the tiniest fingernails and hands and the fingernails were so tiny and just perfect tiny little fingernails
S: I wouldn't want a baby...you have to feed them every day...and they pee and they poop...disgusting
J: what I think is the best about the little babies is their organs.
Mom: what?
J: Yeah, their organs...as tiny as they are you know their organs have to be really really tiny in their bodies.
S: The only good thing abouut them is that you can dress them in a lot of outfits...

Once again, the glimpse into how my very different girls view the world.

"The Zoo Disaster"

Not my disaster, mind you, this is the title of J's essay that just won the 2nd grade's representation in her elementary school's Writer's Hall of Fame.

The Zoo Disaster

by J

Tomorrow we are going to a field trip to the zoo. So, me and my class tried to make this day go fast. Today we're going to the zoo. We got stuck in the lion's cage. Tion, the lion, tried to eat us. Luckily Ms. McClendon had her cellphone. She tried to call the zoo police, but we were too late, the lion ate Ms. McClendon's cell phone and then burped. We all ran corner to corner, but suddenly Tion's ("King of the Jungle") wife came out, and she hadn't eaten for six weeks. She pictured us as yummy delicious steaks. We tried to get out, but we couldn't. The police came over and asked, "How did you get into the lion's cage?" We saide, "We wanted a closer look, so we fell in. Ms McClendon just tried to help and she fell in too." The police got us out, but when he opened the cage so we could get out, he got eaten and we got ran over. The whole entire zoo was in peril. The lions became the rulers of the entire zoo. Nobody liked how they ruled. They ate all the zebras, beat up the giraffes, and treated the people like savages. Somebody finally called animal control. We finally went home.

The End

I LOVE a Food Drive!

Second grader J came home from school today with her normal weekly newsletter. As is frequently seen this time of year, there was a blurb about their annual food drive. I had recently rearranged some cabinets and I had found some things I knew we would not use that I set aside to donate.

As I am bagging up the whole wheat pasta (too sweet), the B&B pickles (that isn't the right kind...) and a couple of other items, I start to tell J that I want her to take this to school, "J, your school is having a food drive-"

"Great!!! I LOVE a food drive! Last year La's mom sent six packages of noodles and I got them all!"

??!!! I flashed back to a year ago when J came home with noodles saying that La had given them to her..."because I love them and her mom didn't want them"

I explained what a food drive really was and in her trademark J response, the head bobs and I hear the "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

....I guess I owe the food drive 6 extra packages of noodles.

Kids say...

I miss my blog...my best way to record adorable children moments is here. So, I am back...

One of the conversations from the car...

J: I would like to go to a mind reader

M: Really, why?

J: so they could tell me my future

M: Mind readers tell you what you are thinking, fortune tellers tell your future

J: Then I want to go to a fortune teller.

J: how can someone read your mind...(pause) I would not want someone doing that, I've got a lot of personal stuff going on up there...

The Museum Experience

My kids both went on a field trip this week to the Martin Luther King Jr Museum…they both went to the same place but they went in different groups/different days because of how daycare splits them up and they went on VERY different outings…

(overheard)
J: S, how did you like the museum?
S: Boring…a museum – just stuff to look at…
J: I know, but for the historic part, how did you like it?
S: Everything was really gray
J: But is was so historic! The gravestone that said Free at Last…the white man who marched with them and got beat up…what did you think of all that?
S: All you did was walk…there wasn’t even anything we got to buy!
J: Lacey took money and she bought a water bottle… (at this point J realized she couldn’t pull S into her experience so she crossed over to S’s…)

S Coordinates Fabric

Today we went to a nearby quilt shop hunting a fabric that I need a 2 1/2" strip of to make the current 'design wall' quilt a size that better shows off the pattern...we didn't find it but the girls each picked out fabric for new pillowcases -just for them.

J picked out Basketball Players and Basketball trim - not surprising as we are a mere week away from the oh-so-anticipated basketball camp. We got enough fabric to make one case for J and one for her friend T who she'll be accompanying to the camp.

The bigger surprise was S. S zeroed in on a fabric that had lots of teeny tiny squares in appealing colors and then started pointing at bolts to pull off and lay next to her chosen fabric as she matched colors. (She laid them on the floor which made me cringe but the shop owner just laughed at how the 5 year old found a way to get the bird's eye view she needed.) None of the fabrics she selected were from the same line or even same manufacturer...she truly coordinated them! Topped it off with an accent from my stash and below you see a (blurry) pillowcase totally designed by my little fashion diva...and her tomboy sister's one too, of course.

I have said for a while that S was born for fashion design and today was another step in that direction.

Pillowcases for smiles...

For a little over a year, I have been involved with ConKerr Cancer...A case for smiles.

Born from a mom of a cancer stricken teen, this organization blew into national recognition through Martha Stewart's show recognizing Cindy Kerr for her efforts. After cheering up her son's hospital room with new pillowcases whenever he went into the hospital, Cindy expanded to the ward...other wards...recruited helpers...expanded to other hospitals...and now, with (at least) 83 chapters in the US, Canada and South Africa, kids everywhere are getting a little bit of fun and color added to their hospital rooms. I think everyone can be cheered with a personality filled colorful pillowcase when they are feeling crappy and I love the novelty fabrics so this charity effort is tailor made for me.

You can find a local chapter to support or our own Georgia chapter if you like...

I made a few more cases this week (seen above) and here is my fabric update...

as of June 7 :

Fabric usage goal – 66.66
Fabric Added This Week – 4 yards (YIKES!) border fabric on project and 1/2 price irrestible kid wizard fabric for pillowcases.
Fabric Added May 2009 to Date – 6.83 yards
Fabric Used This Week – 10.69 yards
Fabric Used May 2009 to Date – 31.44 yards
Net Usage - 24.61
Left on goal - 42.05 (about 6 yds each month...)