Penny, Nickle, Dime and Quarter

Oh me oh my.

School is at my house this week. I am in my final countdown for hosting school. I have Thursday and then May 24 and 26. Normally, my friends, I would wax poetic about how I can't believe my little boy is done with 3yo preschool and going to 4yo preschool next year. And so on and so forth.

But people, I am tired. We started our little version of school last April. We absolutely took breaks, but still. In a typical schedule preschool they have 72 days of school. When we are done, we will have had 85. That's pretty good. But tiring.

Anyway, today we learned about Money. Nothing too fancy but my goal was to have them name the President on each of the four main coins, the name of the coin and it's value. We are going to fall a little short on that. I will be happy if by week's end we can name the coins. Well, C is actually very good at it. Nickle, Penny and Quarter he's got down. He has a little trouble with Franklin Roosevelt. But I hope to get the girls up to speed about the names of the coins.

We read The Coin Counting Book.

For math we did coin patterns. Again, C breezed through this one with no problem but the girls had trouble distinguishing between the three silver coins. 

I had assigned homework. I gave each kid a "dirty" penny to give a bath/wash with the dishes and try to clean it. Obviously soap and water doesn't work. So for science we tried to clean pennies with lots of different things: milk, water, vinegar/salt, ketchup, cocktail sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic lemon marinade and salsa. The kids were able to slather on the things they thought would work to get them clean. 

After some time we rinsed them off. Water, milk and Worcestershire were the only ones that didn't work. Vinegar/salt, ketchup and the marinade did the best. I should note that I think some of the pennies suffered from being in a condiment for too long and went past shiny and back to black. But the kids didn't care.

To have some gross motor play I set up a coin toss similar to lawn darts. They also had coin rubbing for craft and a coin filled sensory bin. I didn't take any pictures because I was busy keeping things under control. 

Thursday we have a fun day planned of coin stacking and sorting, painting banks (not piggy shaped because those were like $6 each and so I bought little boxes for $.99 and I am cutting slits in the top, reading a story about shopping, writing the names of the money, role playing with shopping and then we are going on a field trip to Burger King for sundaes and then playing in the play place. This will be awesome because Husband is going to be home to help me and then he is staying with M during the field trip. 

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day.

I am so thankful to be a mother to my babies.
I love my mom. She's great,

But today we had to say goodbye to The Good Wife and I don't feel emotionally prepared for it. How can it be over?

THAT was the end?

Happy Mother's Day to all of you. I'll be over here processing what just happened.

7QT: Random Roundups

Things are pretty good over here! Plus it's Friday!! So I am going to join Kelly for some QT this fine morning.

one. Wednesday we got word that C got moved up the waitlist for MORNING preschool! All of my concerns about rearranging nap and lunch and whether C would adjust to not being crabby in the afternoon are gone! Hooray! Best news ever.

two. My husband is super handy. A really long story short: we needed a new lighting fixture for our dining play room. I ordered one. My husband put it up last night and I am VERY happy.

three. Have you seen the puppet Great Clips commercial? Well I hate it. Because C find it terribly upsetting. First the puppet can't find his "family" and then he didn't get a haircut and a lollipop. He saw it once. And hasn't stopped talking about it since. With tears.

It came on again yesterday evening and we covered his eyes right away but still... super concerning. It does not matter that I have spent two days telling him the puppet found his family and got a haircut and a lollipop, the kid is convincd that the puppet is still sad. We've got all the empathy over here. He's always been super in tune with people, always a sympathy crier even as a baby.

four. The internet approaches. I had to ask them to move their truck yesterday so I could get C to school.

five. Then M and I stayed out the whole time. We went to the museum but it was super crowded and even though there is an entire area that is for under 4, kids don't read the signs and the caretakers/chaperones etc. apparently don't care. So we went to the park and we had a great time. She is such a good little climber.

They have  little rock wall on the equipment labeled ages 2-4. (I don't know why they label, it's pretty clear which age range each section is for.) Well she would just scramble right up then go down a slide then run around and do it all over again. But she did get tired out and I had to convince her to use the stairs a few times.

six. If I could wave a magic wand I would invent two things. First, an indoor play area for children of some sort that opens at 7:00. While I am not the earliest riser my kids are, and a lot of things don't open until 9:00 or 10:00. That's a lot of my kid's day right there. Especially when morning nap factored in we couldn't go anywhere because by the time things opened it was nap time. This is a solvable problem!

seven. Also, I would build an entire playground for preschoolers. In a perfect world playground developers would understand that little kids want to be big kids so a few dinky slides and a climber doesn't compare to the giant play area over there!

We love our park. (The play area is fenced in now. And there's swings at the red arrow.) And you better believe both my kids play on the "big kid" side anyway but I'd love a larger area for M especially who doesn't realize she's 12 feet in the air and could careen to her death anytime.

Okay. Have a great weekend friends!

Analysis of Song Lyrics: It's My Party

Here at our house, we do dance parties a lot. Daytime dance parties. Night dance parties with "stick glows" and flashlights. While we make lunch and dinner. They work for us as a mood booster.

We, of course, feel like every party is like Footloose. But it usually consists of spins, running around in circles, clapping and a little hip shaking.

Sometimes I make the playlists. Other times I use the ol' Amazon Prime Music playlists. Yesterday we listened to the "oldies dance party" list. One of my favorites, "It's My Party" was on there. This is one of my jams. Because of Sweatin' to the Oldies you know? Maybe you don't? Whatever.

But as I was dancing with my kiddos I just couldn't take it anymore. What a ridiculous situation! Her parents gave her a very nice party with lots of invited guests. The boy she had a crush on, shows up with his new girlfriend and she pouts like a baby because he didn't pick her!

I mean, okay, technically the sentiment is okay, it is your party and you can cry if you want to. But what a shame to miss out on a nice time with the other guests, who are playing your records and dancing, just because you didn't get the guy. Get it together and cry later.

We have no reason to believe that Johnny was in a relationship with the guest of honor prior to the party. While I am sure horrible men have existed since the beginning of time, it seems just as likely that he had no idea that she had a thing for him, but he'd been hoping to date Judy for a long time.

The real issue is if Judy and the birthday girl had been close friends. It is kind of a faux pas to announce your new relationship with the guests of honor's secret crush if you know perfectly well that it will ruin the party.

So either Judy is thoughtless and a little mean. Or the guest of honor is a brat who hasn't figured out how to control her emotions enough to put on a smile and have a good time at a party that surely has a lot of additional guests who love you. Either way, it's not Johnny's fault.

I just had to get that off my chest. You may now continue with your day.

Things Have Been Busy

Two weeks ago today I took the kids to my parent's house. In that time Husband and I went to Vegas. Husband came home. Husband left on a work retreat. The kids and I came home. Husband came home. The two of us went on a day trip and came back. And Husband went to Chicago for the James Beard Awards. He comes home today.

And thus ends the 2016 Spring Travel. 

Also, since I have been back in the Midwest from my trip it has been rainy and gloomy every single day. Today, the sun is out. And I think it is supposed to stay out! Which means the lawn has to be mowed, but also that the SUN is out.

And today we are back at school for our final 6 weeks!

In case you're wondering how I am feeling about today, it looks a little like this:

Only decidedly less Asian and stylish. 

Have a hip popping day yourself. 

But What If?

Hello! Happy Monday!

Yesterday I was able to have lunch with one of my college roommates and her husband. My best friend/C's Godmother who also lived with us came too but she doesn't live in Florida and I saw her on Saturday as well so she was less excited though no less important.

I am not a salesperson. I just am not. I got into Scentsy, not for the money, but for the "discount" on my own purchases because I love the product.

But I got past myself and offered her a catalog and a sample. She had time to look through it at the airport and now she wants a basket to smell before she buys.

That's amazing. I need to stop being so afraid of the word no. The only way for me to fail is to not even try. There is an incentive promotion going on right now, it started yesterday. I want it. And I am not going to be afraid of it.

Scentsy announced some new products today called the Indigo Collection. They will be released on Monday. But you can enter to win one of 100 sets of 6 bars and a warmer by clicking HERE!  No purchase necessary, just fill out the form and you're entered. You can even uncheck the box to not get signed up for the monthly newsletter.

You could win this PLUS a warmer!

Scentsy consultants are ineligible from entering so go ahead and try to win! I think it's pretty fun that they're doing this. I don't remember a giveaway quite like this before so that's kind of cool! Worth a shot at least!

I hope you all had a great weekend and you are experience less-gloomy weather than we are. It however is a great day here because we found out last night that the live walrus cam in Alaska is back on,

Makes Me Happy

I have a story to tell you. But you will need a little 3 part background information to really understand.

Part 1. Once upon a time, on St. Patrick's Day 2008, my husband's mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy and had good days and bad days until she passed away in January of 2010. My long-distance-fiance-at-the-time and I would sometimes meet halfway at his parent's home. One time I arrived and the whole family was upstairs in the loft watching a movie. I must have arrived not too long after they started watching.

It was a John Denver documentary. You should probably know that I didn't know anything about John Denver, that what little I did know was that I didn't like that "country boy" song. I also don't really like documentaries.

It was the longest two hours of my life. Watching and hearing songs about hawks with blood on their wings. Clip after clip of a man who really looks an awful lot like a muppet, sing and fly an airplane. The only distraction was an old school Fisher Price barn toy and a one year old who actually seemed to like John Denver.

Part 2. Once upon a time in the summer of 2009, I was presenting a paper at a conference in New York City. Very last minute Husband (who was still long-distance-fiance) found himself accompanying me on my trip. He had gotten me a ticket to see Shrek the Musical so I could see Sutton Foster perform. She is his favorite actress and thought I'd appreciate it. I do not care much for the movie but was pretty excited about the musical.

We were able to get a last minute ticket for him to see the show too. Not seated anywhere near me but he'd still be there. Before the show we walked by the theater and peeked in the lobby to check the notice board and everyone was on during the matinee. We went to dinner. And when we got back to the theater, Sutton was out and was going to be replaced. To say I was unhappy is an understatement. To add insult to injury, her replacement Haven Burton was terrible. She couldn't hit the notes. She had a major costume malfunction and she just wasn't Sutton.

Part 3. Sutton Foster has two albums of music and one of the songs she sings is an unbelievably beautiful version of "Sunshine on My Shoulders." Kind of as an homage to my MIL I have been singing this arrangement to C before bedtime since he was a baby. (As well as You Are My Sunshine.) Sutton loves that song because it reminds her of her childhood and 8-track tapes.

The actual story. So, sometime in the fall, Husband was lamenting that he wanted to see Sutton again. Since he saw her in Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway. And sure watching Bunheads is fun and Younger is great but that's not Sutton live. My little Google happy self looked up her tour dates right away and she was going to be in Des Moines. I mentioned it and he wanted to know where else she would be. Boston. Australia. New Jersey. And then Des Moines.

I bought the tickets for Husband for Christmas. Because I still wasn't over the whole, not seeing her thing. So it was kind of for me too.

Yesterday we drove to Des Moines, leaving our kiddos with C's Godmother. We parked, and walked around downtown in the rain. We had dinner. Got to the Civic Center. We waited for the house to open and we found our seats. The website had said that there wasn't a bad seat in the house and they weren't joking. We had cheap seats but it didn't matter even a little. I kept telling Husband I wouldn't believe Sutton was there until I heard the voice.

The symphony was playing with her and they started with the Anything Goes Overture. Then Sutton came out and I relaxed. She started singing and my grin went from ear to ear. But then, a few songs in, during the break between songs she asked for a show of hands of who remembered 8-track tapes. And I knew she was going to sing "my" song. I had hoped she would but she's been in a lot of shows and has a pretty big wheelhouse. She told the audience how she sings this song for her mom who passed away two years ago. Then there was the opening little trill of the piano and I lost it.

I was the girl in row Y, silently crying. I was so overcome with emotion. Finally seeing Sutton perform. Her singing the song for her mom. The song I sing for my little boy because his grandma he never met liked John Denver. The song with the very best message even if I still don't like John Denver. The song with lyrics I change from "high" to "smile" because how 70s? It was all the feels. And the tears kept coming.

The rest of the show was good. But those three minutes were magical. Hearing that arrangement live and with an entire symphony accompanying the powerhouse voice that is Sutton Foster was something I will never forget.

I am a rule follower and didn't take any pictures until curtain call.

It was the very best date night a girl could ask for. Tears and all.