Feed the family

     This past weekend, the girls got up before mama and baba. That is not so unusual. They also entertained themselves and let us sleep late. That part is very unusual. As in ~ it has never happened before ~ ever.
     Pooda has found her own food to eat since she was very young. This weekend was no exception. When I got up, the remains of her breakfast were on the counter - cold noodles, polish sausage and turkey pepperoni. Panda waits for someone to get breakfast for her.
     For some reason, Pooda feels we may forget to feed her. It could be true once in a while. We have a new whiteboard in the kitchen. I write chores on it. Baba & the girls do the chores without me nagging. Here is a recent list. Second entry written by hungry family member.

     Lots of things crammed into scheduled for the end of the school year. Our elementary school is no exception. Panda's class had a Folktale Festival. They made displays and worked on special projects. They studied geography while learning where the tale originated. They wrote a poem based upon the main character from the tale. Each child prepared a speech to answer questions during the festival. I am very impressed with the public speaking kids learn now. I don't remember doing any public speaking until junior high school.
     Panda chose Twelve Dancing Princesses for her fairy tale. She made a scrapbook as her special 'at home' project. (Almost every boy drew a 'wanted dead or alive' poster of the story's villan.) Baba sneaked away from the office to visit the festival with me. We left school early since the teacher said it was okay to take the students home when the festival concluded.

     Pooda's kindergarten Mandarin class went to a Chinese buffet restaurant. They invited the first grade to come along. I volunteered to chaperone. Just in case you have not gone to a restaurant with 40+ five, six, and seven year old kids, I will help you imagine it. Think of living the expression 'a dull roar'  in surround sound.
     The parents offered the food to the kids. There were two distinct types of eaters. The kids who tried everything, and the kids who ate steamed rice, chicken and jello. The 'tried everything' kids did a pretty good job of eating.  Pooda is sitting at the end of the table.

     To finish things up for this post, here are the girls being cute and (even better) not fighting with each other.

A hard place

     Here is another interesting article explaining what life can be like around here. I am working on a couple of posts to be published soon.
     And here is a video the girls love to watch. Over and over and over on the iPad. Now we all know the words.

The invisible woman

     Before we left for Seattle last month I figured out the steps to download a movie for Panda to watch. This week I am downloading music. Sunday afternoon I flaunted my new skills. Panda and Pooda were both excited to hear the music.
     Pooda asked, "Mommy, did you get the invisible woman song?", Huh? I paused for a moment, wondering what she meant. Then a lightbulb flashed. She was asking about "I am Woman" by Helen Reddy. 'I am invincible' is a line from the lyrics and Pooda thought it says invisible.
     Today I added a few songs from my own CD collection. My taste in music is eclectic, to say the least. Two of the CDs were not recognized by iTunes. It asked for permission to download the album information to iTunes database. Not sure if I should be proud or mortally embarrassed by this.

I've got pieces of April

     We had the carpet ripped out of the family room (basement). Underneath was a nice concrete floor and we had it sanded, stained and sealed. My failure to ask how long the job would take was a serious error on my part. I had the mistaken idea it would be a simple project lasting three days. It was not simple, nor did it last only three days. It was two dusty & dirty weeks of chaos. And our house does not have a fair share of chaos, so it was something we all enjoyed.  N~O~T ! !
    All in all, the finished product is great. I'm still trying to get the dust cleaned up but the furniture is back in place. Here is the finished product. You can see the girls wasted no time using the floor as a surface for art projects.

     The Girl Scouts have a dance each spring called  Me and My Guy. Here are my favorite girl scouts and their guys. J-Bear thought it was loud. Panda thought it was great. Pooda did not express an opinion. The guys were mum on the subject, too.

The sun was very bright and they made goofy faces.

     The last few days of April was the annual dietitian conference. I was basically not home for three days. It was such fun to see friends and colleagues. I learned a great deal of stuff, too. This three day adventure netted me 19.5 continuing ed credits. I am now done with the requirements for this term. The dietetic credentialing agency has given me the go ahead to start another five year cycle. Yippee! Cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die, I will not get so far behind this time.

And it's a morning in May

     We have been busy. It is my excuse and reason for not writing. ~ Sorry ~ I have logged on twice to write a post. Immediately upon doing so, my family would begin acting in such a manner I was forced to leave the computer without writing a single word.
     This past Thursday was a field trip with Panda's class. I joined the trip as a chaperone. It was a beautiful day and the park was full of activity. It is a park with wetlands and natural areas. Dogs are not allowed during this time of year because the birds are nesting. The kids had a scavenger hunt list and also a worksheet to complete. After the papers were completed, we drove across the street to another park for lunch and play time.

The four kids in Panda's group.

Turtles sunning in the park.

May 6 brought Panda's piano recital. She loves piano lessons and practiced faithfully for the recital.

She played  Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins.