knots & tablecloths; outdoor skills brought to use inside

The tablecloth on our kitchen table is a bit hard to describe. It is setup so that it doesn't hang over the edges of the table so little kids can't grab or pull it. The tablecloth is made of a sheet of clear plastic. The plastic is a little bit bigger than the tabletop, and I sewed a casing around the edge. Inside the casing is a ribbon. By pulling the ribbon tight on the underside of the table, I can tie the tablecloth to the table.

However, the ribbon gets loose and the kids play with the dangling ribbon. I wanted a better solution.

When we went camping last weekend, one of the guys in the group led a class on knot tying. Watching the ropes, I realized that I could use a bit of thin rope or cord to tie the tablecloth. Luckily, Wander has a nice stash of rope that I could peruse, and I picked a length of green polypropylene cord.

To get the cord through the casing, I planned to use the existing ribbon to pull the cord through. After some mistakes attaching the cord to the ribbon, Wander told me that I should use a knot. I remembered the sheet bend knot I learned at camp, because it is supposed to be good for attaching ropes of different thicknesses. Once the ribbon and cord were securely knotted together, it was easy to pull the cord through, and then use another knot to tie the ends.

Beating Up Guys

I attended a woman's two hour self-defense class this afternoon. It was hosted at the dance studio where Sparkle takes ballet. (A third party came in and taught the class at that location because the couple that owns the studio is a big believer in the class.)

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had fun. I wasn't even sure what to wear. Wander recommended shorts or sweats and sneakers. Instead I opted to wear my normal heels and dress. I figured that if anything happened that's what I'd be wearing, so I might as well learn thus attired.

The class had eight gals in it -- four girls who take dance at the studio, three moms of students, and one of the teachers. I noticed that when we separated into groups, the kids formed a group and the grown-ups formed the other.

The class got off to a slow start with some talking. Then came the fun part. We got to practice the basic philosophy of "release, stun, run." Basically if an assailant has you, first try to escape the grasp, then attack back, then run away. Oh, and yell and scream. First the teachers would describe way that an attacker might gray you - wrist grab, neck grab, on the ground, etc. Then we would practice on each other. Then we got to practice against guys -- the instructor and the owner of the dance studio. Then they turned out the lights and had us close our eyes and "attacked" us and had us defend ourselves. That was the fun part, although it was a bit unnerving to stand with eyes closed while the classmates were screaming and yelling. I used most of my waiting time thinking up stuff to yell, as yelling "no" got a bit boring.

I was a bit annoyed how the teachers always complemented the class. They always said that everyone did wonderful and how we were doing really well. However, I felt that I didn't do very well, and I was right. For amusement's sake, when I got home, I asked Wander to grab my wrist and I tried to get away. I failed miserably. I couldn't get free from him at all.

camping

Wander took us on a group camping trip over the long weekend. Wander took Friday off from work and we took Friday off from school. Wander spent the morning doing last minute packing, and I decided that I didn't have a book to bring and went on a last minute shopping trip with the girls to pick up a copy of "Learning Python."

Several snarls of traffic turned the five hour road trip into six hours. Thankfully Glitter slept most of the way. When we got there, Sparkle immediately commented about the smell - she hates the smell of cow. The ground was also littered with "cow pies" and I had to carry Sparkle out of the car to a relatively clean spot before she stopped whimpering. Fortunately, the cow pies became were forgotten as soon as the girls found other kids to play with. They were running through the fields as if there was nothing stinky and squishy in the way at all.


Here's some pictures of our campsite. I thought I took a picture of the entire setup, but I can't find it. We had three "buildings" - the main tent for sleeping, a potty tent, and a screened room. Our setup was by and large the most extensive of the group's (except for maybe the family with 10 kids). Some other people in the group had a hammock and not much else.



I got to learn how to make yeast bread from scratch in a dutch oven, and Glitter helped me kneed the dough.


It rained on Saturday and Sunday. At one point there were six kids in our tent trying to stay dry.


As for the next picture - it's a June bug being toasted on a Coleman lantern. You probably don't want to know why.


Trade blanket was really neat. Everyone brings things they are interested in trading to the site and sits in a big circle around the blanket. The first person places what he wants to trade on the blanket. If anyone is interested in it, he makes an offer by placing what he's willing to trade for it on the blanket. Several people can make offers, and then the original person chooses which trade, if any he wants. Don't be afraid to make an offer, and don't be insulted by any offer. It's a wonderful social opportunity, even for those who don't make any trades.


Here's Sparkle learning how to tie rope.


The kids loved playing in a make-shift hammock.



Just before leaving, some of the kids found this turtle.


Sorry for not writing more. It's all fading from my brain. I spent most of the time in the shade trying to not get too exhausted. Most of Saturday I was a lap for Glitter to sit in as she kept getting poked and scraped by the nature around us. By the end of the trip Sparkle's legs were a mass of welts from insect bites, but she was too busy running around with the other kids to care. There was so much more that happened, but Wander will also be blogging about it on his blog, and his writing is much more entertaining than mine. (He'll probably go into the gory details about the June bug.)

Ballet Photos

We missed photo day at the dance studio, so two weeks ago I took some pictures of Sparkle in her ballet costume at home. She just got home from ballet class, so her bun is a bit untidy, but I was too lazy to hair-spray it down.

Here are my two favorite poses.


Here is Sparkle doing a pose from her dance, and pretending to be "Marie in Fourth Position" in the Degas sculpture.


Then this past week was her last day of dance class, and we got to take pictures. The girls got to wear skirts to class as a special treat. The normal dance attire is a black leotard, pink tights, pink shoes, and no skirts.




We also got the DVD of the ballet/recital that day, and Sparkle was so excited to see herself. She kept bouncing around exclaiming "that's me!" We watched the DVD twice that night, with Sparkle and Glitter dancing along to all the parts.

I'm still peeved at my folks for never buying any of the videos of my recitals.

Adoptive Chinese Children Playgroup

We recently joined a new playgroup for young children adopted from China. We met at the local children's museum in the mall.

Glitter didn't get to go because she had preschool and I'm too lazy to pull her out.

Here's Sparkle doing her spelling before I'd let her go to the playgroup.


Here's a bunch of the girls in the museum pretending to be doctors. Can you tell who is Sparkle? Here's a hint - even if Sparkle weren't the oldest, she'd still be the tallest.


The mom organizing the playgroup is very enthusiastic. However, I don't have high hopes as it is a small group and almost half of the girls in the group will school age in the fall. Our previous Chinese playgroup fell apart when most of the kids started kindergarten. So, we'll just enjoy this playgroup as long as it's around.

bug jar

I discovered a new bug jar for Sparkle - an empty peanut butter jar.
I added it to the nature walk bag and we also took it camping.

It is plastic so it won't break.
It is transparent, so we can see the bugs.
It was free - and easy to replace as we eat more peanut butter.
It has a wide opening so inserting the bugs is easy.
It has high sides, so bugs don't jump out too easily.
It has a screw on lid that stays on securely.

Here's some rolly-polly's in the bottom of the jar.


And most importantly ....
It does *not* have air holes, so that she knows she must release the bugs.

Here's Sparkle releasing her horde of rolly polly's.

Overdue / blackberry picking

I am so overdue with some posts about family happenings. The two major events that I need to remember are blackberry picking with the homeschool group and our recent camping trip.

Two weeks ago our homeschooling group met at a member's farm to pick blackberries and make blackberry pies.

The girls got to pick blackberries, eating as many berries as they wanted along the way. The berries were giant juicy berries like what you get at a grocery store - not like the tiny berries we find growing wild in our neighborhood.


Then the kiddos crowded around the huge dining room table to make the pies. The mom had a great system for managing the group. She arranged the kiddos into clusters, with each cluster making a pie. They made one sample pie crust, with each kid getting to do some pouring and mixing. Then she brought out more pre-made crusts, and each cluster of kids got to pour in the berries and mix up the rest of the filling and toppings.



While the pies baked we had lunch, and then the kids played more.

Finally I had to tell the kids it was time to go home. I was afraid that if I stayed longer, I'd fall asleep in the car on the drive home. We even got to take home "our" blackberry pie to share with Daddy!

Success with Plan B!

After all the mischief at last week's concert, I was a bit leery of taking the girls to this week's concert. Once again it would be just the three of us as Wander was packing for the weekend's camping trip. However, there are only a few concerts each summer, and I had a new plan. We'd tried sitting at the front of the lawn. We'd tried sitting in the regular seats. This time we'd sit way at the top of the lawn far away from anyone.

It worked! Thank goodness too, as the theme for the program was "Dancing Beneath the Stars." Before the concert, the girls roamed the hill. I made the girls walk, but I saw lots of other kids running around and this time no-one seemed to telling kids to stop running. After the concert started, one of the blue shirts told a family next to us that the kids couldn't run around anymore, and I quickly reigned in my girls. However, as there was no-one behind us, they were free to dance in place. Sparkle even tried out some of the steps from her ballet performance.

Glitter was enraptured the few times there were dancers on the stage with the musicians. Sparkle was tickled by the "tails" on the coat of one of the male dancers (dancing Fred and Ginger style). A couple of times the conductor invited the audience to dance along, so I obliged. I had a tough time when Sparkle kept insisting on leading me in an underarm turn (she wanted me to twirl under her arm), but otherwise had a good time. It was a bit warm, but not too hot.

Pretend Swim Lessons

The girls started swim lessons earlier this month. So far they have had five half hour sessions and are just starting to get comfortable in the water. The swim instructor started them out in different classes based on their age, but last week I was able to get Sparkle switched into Glitter's class. Ability wise, it is a better fit for Sparkle, and it is much easier for me to have them in class at the same time.

An amusing off-shoot of them in the same class is that they now play pretend swim lessons. They build a "pool" by laying the blue blanket on the living room floor and build up walls of pillows around it. A special mound of pillows serves as the steps when the students sit while waiting their turn. Sparkle takes on the role of the swim instruction, and Glitter pretends to be Sparkle. Sparkle guides Glitter through the various activities -
- starfish = back float
- scoopers = arm movements
- kickers = kicking legs
- bubbles = blowing out with the mouth and nose under water
- superglide = front float
- monkey walk = holding onto the edge of the pool and scooting sideways
- jumpers = jumping into the pool from the side

It's good to see that the girls are learning and remember the various skills, even if they are having trouble actually performing them in lessons. Sparkle was also projecting some of her anxiety by telling Glitter to pretend that she was afraid to do jumpers, even though the girls normally love jumping off the sofa onto the floor.

Here is Sparkle pretending to be the teacher as Glitter sits on the "steps." The blue and white striped blanket is the pool. The pillows on the left are the edge of the pool.


Here is Glitter jumping into the "pool" as Sparkle waits to catch her. (She doesn't actually jump during real swim lessons.)

Super Why

My girls watch SuperWhy every morning. I got them in the habit of watching TV in the morning before breakfast to keep them out of my hair, as I an not an early riser. The choice of program is primarily dictated by the PBS broadcast schedule, but I also figure that it's helping Glitter learn her letters.

In general, I try to tune the show out because I think that they mangle classic storylines, and they show the same episodes over and over and over again. However I overhead that there would be SuperWhy storytimes at various local libraries and then yesterday when I was at our library, I saw a flyer for its SuperWhy storytime. I don't know why I pointed the flyer out to Sparkle, but point it out I did, and she instantly wanted to go and suddenly SuperWhy was her favorite #1 show, even though she often complains about it.

Glitter would be in preschool during the storytime, but and Sparkle was a bit old for the storytime, but she seemed really eager to go. I was lothe to spend an hour at the storytime, but after talking to the children's librarian, I figured out a gimic that would make it worth my while. During storytime, the librarian would read a picture book of the "Little Red Hen" story and then show that SuperWhy episode. I told Sparkle that I would take her if she did enough morning school before the storytime and if she gave me a "compare and contract" report on the different versions of the story.

Here's Sparkle doing school in the back of the car in the library parking lot before the library opened.



After storytime, I had Sparkle tell me 5 ways the two stories were the same, 5 ways they were different, and which version was her favorite. Here are her answers. I was proud of her for coming up with all the answers on her own, without any hints, although I did have to ask for clarification on some.

* 5 Ways the Versions are the Same *
1) All the animals said "Not I."
2) The Little Red Hen had to do all the work.
3) The Little Red Hen had to bake the bread.
4) Both versions had a duck, a cat, and a pig.
5) There was a hen in both versions of the story.

*5 Ways the Versions are Different *
1) SuperWhy (the character) wasn't in the book.
2) The Little Red Hen had chicks in the TV version.
3) The Little Red Hen had corn in the book version and no corn in the SuperWhy version. In the SuperWhy version, AlphaPig grew corn.
4) In the SuperWhy version, SuperWhy got the Little Red Hen's friends to help.
5) In the book, the Little Red Hen ate the bread all by herself.

*Her Favorite Version and Why *
"I like the SuperWhy version better because I watch the SuperWhy TV show every morning."

* Bonus Activity *
I did a little bonus activity at the end. I had been writing down Sparkle's answers on a piece of paper. I asked her to look at my handwriting and eventually coaxed it out of her that it was really slopply handwriting. I pointed out badly shaped letters, incorrect capitalization, and scribbled out letters. Then I explained that it was okay to not have beautiful handwriting when the main purpose was to get the ideas from her head onto paper. (For school I insist that Sparkle try to form beautiful letters, but so far she doesn't have to handwrite anything original, just dictation, copywork, and math.)

So, all in all, I'm glad I went, even though I had to slip out of the meeting room for the program because I couldn't stomach watching SuperWhy twice in one day.

cursive

Sparkle figured out how to read cursive. I didn't teach her. I guess it's part of her natural nack for English.

I've been writing letters to the girls as an activity for a Charlotte Mason book club. On a whim, this morning I decided to write a letter in cursive, just to see what would happen. It was a short letter:

" Dear Sparkle,
" Daddy will take us camping this Friday. We'll have a long trip.
" Love, Mom"

I figured that the opening and closing would be easy for Sparkle, as they are always the same words. I was surprised that she read the rest of the letter with only one short pause and no comments about the different handwriting.

I'm not ready to teach her to write cursive yet. I'm still working on getting her to write so that her hand won't smear her writing (she writes left handed).

Free Concert

After a full day of berry picking and pie making and general running around with our homeschool group, it was time for naps. I gave Sparkle special permission to take a nap, and told the girls that if all three of us got good naps, I'd take them to the free concert this evening. Sparkle obediently fell asleep in the car during the hour long drive home. It took Glitter a bit longer to fall asleep because she was in a chatty mood. I tried my darnedest to stay awake until we got home and mostly succeeded.

I conked out as soon as I unload the car and put Glitter in her bed. I saw Sparkle wandering around with a book before I reached complete unconsciousness. Sparkle was also up and about when Wander got home and hugged me awake. He was exceptionally wonderful and offered to make supper.

After eating, I gathered up the girls and headed to the pavilion. Wander had to prepare for a class he's teaching tomorrow, so he couldn't come with us.

I'm not sure if we had a good time or a bad time at the concert.

On the bad side: It felt like I spent two hours sh-ing the girls. We started out on the lawn, hoping some of our friends would join us, but we didn't see anyone. It wasn't crowded and Sparkle was having fun running around when a man with an official blue "staff" shirt told me to tell her that running wasn't allowed. Bummer. The girls started squirming around on the mat. I told them they'd have to be quiet once the music started. No such luck, something silly would cross Glitter's mind and she would start giggling and making faces and squirming against Sparkle. Sparkle would then tickle her and make funny faces in return. I'd separate them and they'd be quiet for a few minutes, but then they'd be right back at it. After intermission, I switched us to the regular seats, instead of the lawn, hoping that the formality of chairs would calm the girls down. No such luck. I felt really bad when the couple in front of us got up and left in the middle of the show because the girls were so obnoxious.

On the good side: The music was really good. The weather was perfect. Both girls had enough energy to walk the long path to and from the car. I wasn't loaded down with stuff - no purse or bag. I had to carry only the lightweight mat, and the girls carried their sippy cups and snack bags. The lawn was well cared for and there were no bugs. The girls enjoyed the music during the brief moments when they actually listened instead of played.

On the really good side: The very last song was Respighi's "Pines of Rome" and as soon as the first few bars were played, Sparkle recognized it from "Fantasia 2000." (She didn't know the name, but she recognized the music.) She sat enraptured and paid much more attention to that song than to any of the other music. She noted that the pictures were different from the whales in "Fantasia" and enjoyed describing some of the scenes to me on the walk back to the car.

Sigh. How can I get my children to shut up and keep their hands to themselves?

Being outside makes me tired

I didn't plan it, but we've pretty much skipped school this week.

Monday the girls were cranky and I wanted to get some cleaning done. We did go to the library and on our weekly nature walk. We watched some lizards and spiders while swinging on a swing. It was beastly humid and started to sprinkle so we raced back to the car.

Tuesday was a spur-of-the-moment nature trip to a local forest with the homeschool group. I left Glitter at school and took Sparkle to tromp in the woods. She enjoyed catching grasshoppers and running around with the other kids. (According to http://bugguide.net/node/view/3904 it is the juvenile or nymph form of the Lubber grasshopper.)



Wednesday I decided to go to the electronics superstore instead of doing school. I wanted to buy something to connect my computer to the tv. I was picturing doing memory work with the girls snuggling on the sofa and watching the TV instead of in front of the tiny computer screen. The sales associates were singularly unhelpful and mis-informed. One sales associate dreamed up her own ideas of how the cables worked, such as using an s-video cable to transmit audio. When I asked another sales associate about the return policy, she told me to read the back of the receipt which I didn't have as I hadn't purchased anything yet.

Thursday I dropped Glitter off at school and took Sparkle to a local park for a new playgroup. She was the oldest one there, as the other kids her age were in school. At first she didn't like it but after playing around for a bit she made friends. Then after picking up Glitter it was off to swim lessons. The girls had been having consecutive lessons, which meant that I spent the whole time with one bored girl or the other climbing all over me. I managed to get Sparkle switched to the same class as Glitter. Once again, Sparkle didn't like being lumped with younger kids. It didn't help that the younger kids were doing better than her. While I don't like that she is struggling to learn to swim, I think that it is good for her to see that being older doesn't automatically make her better - hard work makes a bigger difference.

Tomorrow is Friday, and we are scheduled to go berry picking.

Gardenia

Last week on our nature walk we saw a Gardenia plant covered with unopened flowers. I told the girls we should check it out when we came back to see if they bloomed. Then I charged Sparkle with the job of remembering and reminding us. (Telling the girls that it's their job to remember is one of my favorite tricks.)

Sure enough, yesterday Sparkle remembers that we were supposed to look at the Gardenia and it was in full bloom. Here is Glitter looking at the plant and pointing to an unopened flower. They smelled thick and perfume-y. Next week we'll have to go back and see what the plant looks like.


Side note: we went on a nature walk at a local forest today, and Sparkle noticed another Gardenia in bloom near the office. This girl has her daddy's talent for plants.

Floor Friend

Sparkle and Glitter made this "girl" out of toys around the house. The mouth and eyes are made of bean bags. The red lipstick is legos. The white lego on the pink pillow body is a belly button. If you look carefully can see white paper eyelashes. Various blankets and bandannas made the hair and skirt. Two wands serve as arms and hands. The legs and feet are paper cut to shape and taped together. You can't see it, but the feet actually have toes cut out and the feet are in dress-up shoes.

Lizards

We saw a lot of little lizards at last week's nature walk. Sparkle tried to catch them, but wasn't quite fast enough.

Sparkle's First Ballet

Sparkle had her first ballet recital last weekend. Her dance studio put on the ballet "Sleeping Beauty" specially adapted to include little kids.

Sparkle and nine other girls rehearsed every week all semester long for their few seconds of stage time. They were the youngest kiddos on stage - young enough that they looked cute when they wandered around the stage forgetting where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do.

Sparkle was excited about wearing makeup for the first time. She wasn't too keen on the base and mascara, but she loved the blush and lipstick. We arrived at the theatre at the same time as some of the other girls in Sparkle's group. The theatre is the auditorium of a local high school.


Here are all ten girls.


When it was time for Sparkle and co. to go onstage, some of the big girls led them down the hall to the wings backstage.


This was Glitter's first time to watch a ballet. She watched with silent attention, even though it was way past her bedtime. She was really excited to see her sister on stage, and when Sparkle didn't appear right away, Glitter asked where she was. At intermission, we fed Glitter some candy from the concession stand, which is starting to become a tradition for me.


Ballet really isn't Wander's thing. Before the only times I've been able to drag him to see a ballet has been at the outdoor stage where he can lay down and close his eyes and take a nap. So I wasn't expecting Wander to enjoy the show, although I told him that he was required to attend to show support for Sparkle. Surprisingly, Wander actually enjoyed the first half of the ballet (the part with Sparkle) and admitted that it wasn't as tortuous as he had expected. After the show, Wander was proud to present Sparkle with a special bouquet of flowers. He was one proud daddy.


After the last show (there were two performances) we got to keep the costume. Sparkle spent the entire following day wearing it.