Donate blood

I donated blood today after a hiatus of four years. I guess that having young children does that to a person. I didn't have an appointment, so it was a long wait. Sparkle and Glitter did a decent job of waiting. There was a station set up with coloring books and crayons, but the kids got bored of that rather quickly. They had some cookies sat with me. Then they went outside for a bit. We also took quite a few trips to the bathroom and the water fountain. I found that getting a drink of water was a good way to pass the time and hopefully thin out my blood enough that it would flow easily.

I requested an outside bed so that Sparkle and Glitter could be next to me while I donated. They pulled up chairs, and Sparkle held my hand the whole time. She was surprised by how cold my hand was. I asked the phlobotomist to show the girls how big the needle was. Glitter decided that it was about as bit as one of her darning needles (only hollow). Sparkle said that I scrunched up my face when I was poked. I still really dislike that part. At least I didn't clot and started flowing well from the beginning. All those trips to the water fountain really helped. The girls were surprised at how dark the blood was - almost black in the baggie.

The girls learned some tidbits of information. They wondered how much blood would be taken. I told them one pint. The girls then showed off their co-op memory work, remembering that one pint is the same as two cups or 16 ounces. The girls also found out that one has to be at least sixteen years old (with parental consent) to donate blood. Then they got to figure out how many years it would be before they could donate. After seeing the needle, Glitter decided that she didn't want to donate, even when she was old enough.

After getting cookies and juice, I drove us home. I was disappointed that there were not raspberry shortbread cookies. Those are my favorite after-donating cookies. This is a really poorly organized bit of writing, but I don't care. It's my thoughts recorded, and that's about all I'm capable of now.

Apparently after I got home, I wandered aimlessly around the house for a while and then lay down on the sofa and fell asleep for three hours. At least that's what Sparkle says. I am quite disappointed that no laundry got done while I was asleep. The kids forgot and had to do it when I woke up and reminded them. On the other hand, Sparkle did make lunch.

Science Fair 2013

I first heard about this science fair back in January. It was the last day of late registration for the workshop about the science fair. I emailed the co-ordinator and the next day drove over to her house to hand-deliver the registration forms for the workshop. Although the workshop was really too long for the kids, I got excited about the idea of doing science fair projects. I also volunteered Wander as a judge. Glitter picked a topic from the list of ideas right away and we immediately picked out books on our next library visit. Sparkle had a harder time thinking of a topic. Nothing seemed to interest her.

We worked on the science fair projects off and on for the rest of January, February, and into March. Then as soon as PSIA was over, I realized that we were behind schedule and needed to kick it up if we wanted to finish in time. The week before the science fair, I canceled all other school (except memory work and piano practice) to devote more time on the project. Who would have imagined that hand-creating titles, typing, copying, and gluing would take so much time? The Thursday before the fair, Sparkle was up past midnight gluing because she didn't want to miss park day on Friday. The night before the fair I was emailing the co-ordinator to reclassify Sparkle's project and arrange for early judging because Sparkle had a dance rehearsal.

The day of the fair we all had to get up early to drive to the campus where the fair was held. I helped the girls check in and get set-up. Wander went off with the judges for their orientation. The girls were among the first judged. I waited right outside the door, chatting with another mom about how we were there just in case a kid had a last-minute crying melt-down. Glitter was the first one out, and she was beaming. A few minutes later Sparkle appeared. A bit later we were having lunch in the car on the way to Sparkle's dance rehearsal. Then after her rehearsal, we dashed back to the fair to get the results.

In this particular science fair the students are first scored independently from each other. Everyone who gets 90+ points gets first place. Everyone with 80+ points is second place. As the students aren't compared with each other for these places, almost everyone gets a first or second place ribbon. Then each grade division has awards for grand champion, reserve champion, best display, best interview, and most creative.

Glitter was in the second of two K-2nd grade divisions and she scored enough points for second place and won best display for her division. Sparkle was in the 3-4 grade division, and she got enough points for first place and won most original for her division.

 

 

PSIA 2013

This was our second year participating in the academic contest that is PSIA. It's 19 different academic tests fro grades 1-8. This year Sparkle got ribbons in Math (6th place) and Music Memory (2nd place). Glitter was also old enough to participate, and I signed her up for Creative Writing. She didn't place in that, but due to another family dropping out she was able to compete in Math and Music Memory. She got 3rd place in Math out of three kids, but she was competing a grade level ahead. She also got 4th in Music Memory, competing two grade levels ahead.

Sparkle was happy to add her 2nd place medal to her collection of medals, but will be unable to go to the State meet because it is the same day as her dance recital.

We had a wonderful team this year, and the other families did a wonderful job of watching my kids when I was busy fulfilling my required volunteer hours. I didn't get a group picture because I was too floored by finding out how well the girls did think straight.

We celebrated by going out to eat, and we even let the girls have sodas at the buffet.

 

Science Stuff

Photos from two Science Museum Days and two Nature Center classes.

Look Ma! Take a picture of me by the giant shark mouth. Does it look like it's eating me?

Oooh, what's in here? I want a closer look.

Um. I'm not so sure about digging through owl puke.

Beautiful big girl, with and without snake.

Beautiful Little Bit. With a cup of newly planted of seeds.

 

Piano Workshop

I took Sparkle and Glitter to a Suzuki piano workshop. It was two days full of music. Wander decided to go on an adventure that weekend, so it was just me and the girls.

In some ways the weekend was really stressful. I had to drive across town to and unfamiliar destination during rush how. I hate driving. I hate rush hour traffic. I got lost and turned around and couldn't find the hotel. It was late and I was so glad that I decided to come the night before rather than the morning of the workshop. Then on the day of the workshop I got turned around trying to find the college and was late arriving. The first class started okay because we were in the same room together. It was the Master Class with a Master Teacher, and Glitter totally lost it halfway through the class. The teacher didn't realize that Glitter didn't know the whole song, and asked Glitter to keep going. Glitter tried and did a wonderful job, but it was too overwhelming and she didn't think to simply say that she couldn't do it.

After that first class, the girls were in totally different classes for the rest of the day. I had to dart between kids and classrooms to get them where they needed to be, and some classes ran long. A couple of times I found one of my kids on the verge of tears because I didn't make it to the door as soon as her class finished and she wasn't sure where to go.

On the other hand, the workshop was a wonderful experience for the kids. They got to see all these other kids who worked hard a learning to play piano. They got to see kids of all ages who were just starting out, who where at their level, and who where above their level. All of us agreed that our favorite part of the workshop was the chamber music class. The kids got to play a song along with a violin and a cello. They learned how to communicate with the other players. They got to hear their songs enriched by the other instruments.

My second favorite class was Orff. The kids got to play on xylophones. At first Glitter was placed in a class with much older kids and it was too hard for her, but she plugged on. The second day I swapped her to Sparkle's class (with permission from the teacher), and it was a much better fit. I think that I liked both of these classes so much because they featured making music with other people. Most of piano playing is a solitary experience, yet there is much to be learned and enjoyed when making music with others.

The kids also liked the theory class. Af first they didn't think they would like it because they don't like their theory workbooks. But the theory class was really simple and mostly involved playing games. Sparkle's class was simple enough that Glitter could follow along easily.

Their other class was Eurythmetics. It was another fun class. Shoes off. Walking in rhythm. Hands and feet moving in time to the metronome. Lots of giggling. Sparkle's class even had balls bouncing around in time to the beat.

 

Oh, Sparkle also found and petted a nesting duck. How does the girl do that?