Such a Good Day

Just a Tuesday but a Good Tuesday.  One of those days that just works from the time I wake up until I go to bed.  The weather has a lot to do with it, of course.  We're finally having REAL spring days where you can go out in short sleeves and not dread a little breeze.

I love mornings where I get up and don't have any place to be or anything that has to be done, and I can just drink my coffee and read or make lists and check them off or any of my little mundane pleasures.

Monday was a little busy and chaotic, so it was nice to get focused on packing.  Sometimes I think I would be better off waiting until the night before a trip to pack, because I make piles everywhere and forget what I've put in them.  You can't pack clothing until the night before, so they're hanging on the door knob of the closet.  I have faith it will all come together soon because it's just one more day.

So what did I do on this beautiful day?  I took no pictures, so it's just boring sentences.  I did have a few places to go but fun ones.  I have a friend Debbie who lives across the street from Emily and Ryan.  I have to admire her persistance in getting me out of the house.  The first year we just met briefly for front porch chats and got to know each other, but my time was so limited that I wasn't free to do grownup things.  She had me over for coffee and then bridge club, and I went over and kept her company for her garage sale one day.  I'm so selfish with my time that I don't want to give any up, but she's making me see that it's nice to get out and socialize with people other than my family.

Our outing yesterday was only two blocks for me - the Infusion Bar and Grill.  We were trying to think of a convenient place for lunch that wasn't crazy expensive.  I had been there with friends before, and then Millie and I went when they were here last.  So Debbie drove and I walked, and it was such a nice walk.  Snoqualmie Ridge is so peaceful during the mornings when people are at work or school and babies are napping.  You pretty much have the town to yourself.  Every day more and more trees are budding and bushes and flowers are coming into bloom.  Smells so nice, and the birds are happy and singing too, glad the winter is over.

I think there were only another couple of people there, and it was the perfect place to have an unhurried lunch.  Debbie and Steve are going to move when he retires, which is next year, but they're going to try to get their house ready to sell this year, so she's feeling pressured to get a painter and pick out paint colors and find a yard person to neaten up.  I remember those days, and it's kind of exciting and stressful at the same time.  I hope they stay in town after they sell the house, because I need someone to force me out in the world.

I can't think of half the things we talked about, but we have to catch each other up with many years of our lives, so we were hopping around from subject to subject, but it was a nice time.  She asked me to go with her to pick out paint colors in Issaquah, but I had school pickup so had to decline.  I think I would like to do that again.  It seems like half my life has been comparing paint chips and making those decisions.

I then went over to Emily's to take some things for her to exchange at Target and found her with a mound of clean clothes trying to decide what to take for the children.  The girls are already excited, but they are going to love having their backpacks to be responsible for.  Graysen got a wheeled suitcase for her birthday a few months ago, but I think they're going to check that since she will get tired of dragging it after a few minutes.  I left her in the midst of that and took a pair of her pants home to hem and then went to the library.  I saw this when I drove up, so I did take a few pictures yesterday.

I had one book on hold that I had requested several months ago.  I'm not sure how I knew about it.  It's Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott.  Since I didn't know if I would like it, I went to the paperback shelves and looked at those.  I don't usually find anything interesting there, but yesterday was different.  I came home with four in addition to my hardback!

I figured I should be able to find one interesting enough to take with me, but when I looked at them, I saw promise in every one of them.  So now I'll have to make a decision.  Because of weight, I'll probably only take 3 of the paperbacks.  Beach reading is the best!

My underseat bag is getting a little crowded.  I have a wheeled one that I'll gate check, but this is going to be our food and entertainment bag.

These are the surprises I got the girls for the trip, and they look so cute.  I didn't open them yet, but they picked them out on Amazon and got a peek at them yesterday.  Graysen saw this bag sitting out, looked into it, and brought it to me with big eyes.  Whats THIS, Mimi?

That and the pink iPad plus some animal crackers will be my contribution.  Emily and Ryan, I'm sure, will have more things to entertain them.  Katherine said she wanted to sit with me on the plane - in my lap.  I told her she would have her own seat (a very expensive seat), but she didn't look convinced.  I can think of worse things than holding her.  If she'll be fairly still.  Graysen is just wanting to look out the window.

I found some Airport Bingo cards for them.  I'm not sure how up-to-date or real-life they are, but I think we'll have fun looking for the things.

There are so many free prinatables online that I kind of got carried away.  They won't spend much time in the car, and who can see things from the back seat, but I found these also.

And a simpler version

Many years ago, our family plus my parents went to Disney World from Middle Georgia, and I made our own Bingo cards, one for all 7 of us.  Mama and Daddy talked about those Bingo cards for years, so I think they were a big hit.  Emily was not reading yet, so I drew pictures on hers, a simpler version of the one above.  I remember having McDonald's arches and road signs and animals but also people in certain colors or doing certain things.  Like laughing girl in a red shirt.  That was the one that got the most conversation, and I'm not sure anyone saw that.

I've got my notebook, and girls' journal and plenty of wet wipes and snacks.

The afternoon went well too.  Katherine came out not quite as covered with dirt today and said she mainly rode the "equipment" and showed me how neatly they had put them up on the playground when they finished.

Graysen was happy after school and wanted me to see the necklace Addison got for losing a tooth at school.  It was a plastic tooth with the real tooth inside rattling around inside it.  I'm afraid Graysen is not going to get one of those this year.  We walked home with the Jones family, and I noticed that one twin has both front teeth out and the other doesn't.  Their dad said it was because his brother accidentally kicked one tooth out, it got infected, and he lost it, and then the other tooth got infected and had to be pulled too.  Brothers!

We sat on the balcony with Layla, and the girls enjoyed a popsicle while I had another cup of coffee.  There are three little boys across the alley from us whom I think are home-schooled, and they were out playing.  Graysen and Katherine sat there like they were watching a movie and kept up a running commentary.  I love this age where they don't need me every second, and I can sit back and enjoy their conversations.  They went in later and pulled out the Candyland game all by themselves and started playing.  All went well until the end when they ended up fighting over it because no one likes to lose.

Emily called to say she was watering the garden and would pick them up soon, but I decided we would walk over and meet her.  Katherine surprised not one but two bunnies as she ran along ahead of us.  Graysen said the best thing in her whole life was cuddling a real bunny, Bluebell, at school.  Her whole life!

By the time I got home, I was pretty tried, but it was a busy and fun day.  Today is just getting to the grocery store and bringing in a few things to make sure Elise and Layla have enough food to keep them going for a week and find a few things for me to take on the plane.  We leave so early Friday that I'll have to have breakfast and lunch packed.

School Adventures

The school year is coming to an end soon, and I think it's been a great year.

Cascade View Elementary.  Wonderful school.  It looks kind of like a prison in this picture, especially with the upcoming downpour.  This is the path I take almost every afternoon to pick Graysen up, sometimes with Katherine and sometimes without, according to whether Elise is home to keep her.  She does not like that walk.  Sometimes in weather like this, I don't either!

Graysen has loved it from the beginning and goes in every day eager to see her friends and see what's happening.  As extra learning periods, she has music on Mondays, art on Tuesday, PE on Wednesdays, computers on Thursdays, and coding on Fridays.  I'm not sure I have those days correct, but they're all things she's very excited about.  I don't even know what coding is.  According to her teacher, PE is the one she excels in.  Not surprised.

She knew none of the boys and girls in her class the first day, but now they're all just like a bunch of puppies, tumbling around and hugging and laughing.  A couple of the boys, Nick and Carter, live nearby, and they've run into each other at the park a few times, and Shradda lives just across the street.  The twins and Madison and her sister live close to me, and we're going to work on getting them together at various times to play.  One friend of Graysen's, Harper, has a little sister in Katherine's class, Ellis, and their nanny and I are very interested in letting them play this summer.  I don't think Katherine and Graysen play at school, but they're both Paw Patrol freaks, so I think they will do just fine.  Wynn also has a little sister a little older than Katherine and live near them, so that's another potential playtime.

Mrs. Boyles is just Graysen's favorite person in the world (next to her mom and dad), and she can't have had a better fit as a teacher.  At the parent-teacher conferences, she has been very positive to Ryan and Emily about Graysen too.

She took an after-school art class on Tuesday also - clay.  She absolutely loved it and made some cute things.   I took these pictures at pick-up time the last day, and they were kind of crazy.

Acadia (named after the park in Maine, her dad said) is a first grader who went to Rooster Valley with Graysen and also dance class, so they know each other pretty well.

Last two projects.  The gnome house had baking instructions, but I don't know if it's been baked yet.

During April, we started getting announcements about the Kindergarten Musical.  I would ask Graysen every once in a while if they were practicing any songs, and she always looked blank.  Finally, the Monday before the Thursday night program, she told me walking home that they were going to have a play for parents but that she was pretty anxious about it.  I asked why, and she said, "I don't know what's going on."  She said it was no songs, just music.  She didn't talk about it any more until Thursday walking home when I asked her if they had to wear any costumes, and she said, "We need to wear things without writing to distract the parents."  And that she had a big bow that she could wear in her hair or around her neck like a tie or anywhere.  But still couldn't tell me or sing me any of the songs.

We didn't know what to expect, but I, of course, wouldn't miss it!  Emily also could get no information from her.  I was to walk up and meet them, and Emily texted me and told me they were saving me a seat.  We were about midway back and didn't have a good view (and Katherine was hopping back and forth on our laps), so I didn't take any good pictures.  They all marched out by class and were introduced, and everyone yelled and clapped.  Graysen was right in the middle on next-to-the-back row and did spot us.  I'm kinda glad she didn't decide to wear her bow on her head.  I'm not sure where hers is.

Just a short bad video that may or may not appear.

The little play was super cute though with lots of catchy songs.  I still have Stone Soup running through my head several times a day.  I'm not sure any of the kids knew all the words, but some of them knew enough of them to make it really cute.  They were very enthusiastic too!

It was such a good feeling sitting there being a part of it all and having Graysen run up and give me a big hug afterwards.  I realize how lucky I am to get these opportuities, and I just eat them up.  It was also interesting to me how many people I now know that waved or greeted me that I didn't have any idea of before this year.  There's something about standing around waiting for kids in the afternoons that force people to interact and enjoy one another.  Then when I walked home on that beautiful afternoon, I ran into two different people from the apartments walking their dogs and stopped and talked to them and then had a conversation with a young guy from NC who lives near me.  In one building, out of the 6 apartments, the South is represented in 3 of them - GA/AL, NC, and VA.  We graviate toward that accent, I guess.  

I just kept on walking through downtown and didn't really want to go in.  The air smelled so fresh, like fresh-cut grass and flowers, with a faint aroma of Uncle Si's Pizza coming through.  Such a nice safe place to walk.  The NC guy Ben says he walks across the Parkway to Safeway in the middle of the night if he wants to.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go out that late, or even cross the parkway on foot, for that matter.

Graysen "posing" in her not distracting to parents dress after the play.

Katherine and Rooster Valley.

This baby did not want to go to school this year.  Not that she hated the idea.  She had just rather stay home in her pajamas and do what she wanted to.  After a few hard mornings, though, she settled in to tolerating it.  And then actually enjoying it.  She's just like a sponge at this age, soaking up songs and stories and facts and loving crafts and snacks.

One thing Emily and I didn't exactly worry about but felt sad about was that when we picked her up in the afternoons, she was usully sitting by herself just watching the others play.  When we asked, she couldn't name another person except Porter, and he played with the boys, and James, another friend, who also played with the boys.  She said she just didn't want to play and didn't seem sad about it herself.

Then one day she discovered the DIRT PILE, and her life (and ours) has not been the same since.   She has had a friend named McKenna that is the only girl she knew by name, but this week, there have been 4 little girls who seem to compete as to how dirty they can get.  I took this picture Monday and shared it with the teacher, and we agree that they look like the old 40s pictures of migrant worker children from the depression

Especially in this version:

McKenna, the second from the right, had a birthday party yesterday, and Emily said all the girls were there (clean, hopefully) and that this picture had become famous after I showed it to their teachers.

She comes out covered in dirt and whatever snacks they've had that day and stops to empty her boots and make dirt puffs with her clothes.

She says this is toothpaste.  So I guess she started off like that this morning.  No questions.  Just go with the flow.  Those leggings could be inside out.  She wore her dress backwards one day, and no one noticed until I started thinking she looked like she was choking.

 One day when Elise wasn't home to keep her, Katherine had to go with me to kindergarten to pick up Gray.  I had scrubbed her face as much as she would allow, and she was already mad at having to go to the school.  The hands though.  And the clothes.  I feel like I need to explain her appearance, but I don't think anyone cares.  Like Emily says, "It's a farm school."

They not only have the new baby chicks but a couple of adorable ducks.

The big chickens.  They all have names, but I don't know them personally.

And a new pair of pygmy goats, Buttons and Bows, who are too cute for words.  They are so spoiled that every afternoon when the children go home and they have to go to their pen, they cry for them like babies.

Wheelbarrow riding.

Our resident pet, Layla, or whatever her name is this week, counts on being in the center of everything that's going on.

Elise found a video for the girls one day, and they were watching it, but Layla couldn't stand not being right with them.

She gave me a make-them-let-me-play look.

And kept on until she was right in the middle of them.

The Kindle Fire (or the pink iPad, as the girls call it) is probably their favorite thing ever and the cause of lots of squabbles (since there's just one and since their parents and I don't like a lot of screen time).  We have to set the timer for equal time, and it's been known to be withheld for not following the rules.  I came home one day to see this.  Layla pretending she had not been playing.

Hmmm.  It just happened to be right here in front of me.

And giving up on finding her videos of fish and birds.

One night when she kept crying at Elise's door (not allowed in there because of plant destroying), I called her to my bed and played a mouse video.  It kept her busy for a while, but then she kept pausing it, so I turned on cat purring sounds, and she curled up, took a bath, and went right to sleep.  Both of us.  

The trip to St. George's is coming up soon!  We leave Friday to fly to Tallahassee and will stay in Apalachiacola until the house is ready on Saturday.

Those steps!  I think I see my chair right up there on the right.  Good view of the beach and perfect for reading and drinking coffee.






We had such a good time here two years ago.  We'll be missing a few people this year though:  Keith, Sherry and David and Dina and Gaby.



Graysen remembered the TV where Aunt Kathy introduced them to Bubble Guppies.




This kitchen will not see the wonderful meals like the ones Dina and Gaby treated us to before.  I know for sure we won't be having fried plantains for breakfast or those decadent chocolate desserts or the Guatemalan coffee that was soooo good.  And we won't have the butternut whoopie pies Sherry and David brought.




This is my only blog entry from that trip.  I'm sorry I didn't write more or remember more, but it was a hard trip, and this upcoming one I'm having mixed emotions about too.

The girls are older and will be easier to travel with, I hope.  It's not fun for babies and little kids to have those 5-hour flights and about that long a drive to get back and forth to the airports.  They did great then, and Katherine celebrated her second birthday there.  This year she will be four!  They'll be able to get themselves back and forth down those stairs a little easier.  I'll just have to look the other way.


Lots to do between now and then.