Kate's first field trip (pumpkin patch)

The Kindergarten classes took a field trip out to the Schilter Family Farm on Wednesday the 13th. Kate was so excited about getting to ride a school bus for the first time. I figured I should document this momentous occasion, so I took Andy with me and drove down myself.

Andy and I beat the bus by about twenty minutes, so we had a while to wander around and look at things before Kate's class arrived.





Andy enjoyed seeing the animals, especially a family of kittens curled up together in a wheelbarrow. (Awwww!)






When the kids arrived they got to take a hayride around the farm in this tractor-and-wagon contraption.



We brought along Kate's pumpkin hat, but she didn't wear it very long. (It's a little too big.)








The kids got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. They have two fields there--one with bigger pumpkins, for families, and one with small pumpkins for school groups. Since they want the kids to be able to carry the pumpkin that they choose, they limit them to the small size. I'm not exactly sure how this size-segregation is achieved. Is that field planted with a variety that doesn't get as big? Are the pumpkins planted later so they don't grow as long? Do they actually sort the pumpkins after they've grown and strew them around the appropriate field? I suppose this could be. None of the pumpkins were still attached to the plants.



While Kate ate lunch with her class, Andy and I checked out this tractor.






"How do you turn this thing on?"

There were a few things that we didn't get to do, so we went back again on Saturday. It was SO CROWDED. Like Young's Jersey Dairy on a busy day, but worse. (And also very sunny, so not really good for pictures.) Kate really enjoyed the duckie races.

Purple Mountain

I've been trying to sneak in some painting time during Andy's nap. This is not easy, but I think I'm developing a system. Slow and steady!

Tot Lot

Yesterday (after the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference) we took the kids over to the Tot Lot for a while.






See how Andy's color-coordinated with the playground equipment? That was completely unintentional.







And Doug!

Crochet Overdress

We didn't make it to the fair this year. We were going to go on opening day, when you can get in free before noon, but Andy was feverish so we stayed home. But I did enter something again this year!



I crocheted this piece to go over this dress that I got for Kate. I cobbled together the pattern using two different Japanese patterns, and a row of the Irish roses that I learned back in high school.



(Here's the back.)




Since we didn't go to the fair I didn't know how I'd done, but my friend Becki let me know that I'd won a blue ribbon, and sent me a picture that she took with her phone.

I didn't include the red dress with the submission, since I didn't make that part, but they came up with something similar for the display!



Click here to see it on Kate!

The Dawnzer Lee Light

Kate has been listening to Ramona the Pest at bedtime. If you're familiar with this book, you'll remember how Ramona learns a song at school about "the dawnzer lee light." When I picked Kate up from school today she was very excited to tell me, "Mom! In music class we sang the dawnzer song!" Ha.

Andy at 21 months

I got some really cute pics this time! (In between Andy trying to push buttons on the camera, or put my lens cap back on.)




Andy is fascinated with letters--fridge magnets, signs, license plates--and likes to point to the letters one at a time and pretend he's reading them. He also loves anything with buttons to push, so lately he's been very interested in the computer keyboards. (Letters and buttons! Exciting!) Sometimes we open up a WordPad document and let him type away. 

 He's saying a few more words, like "ball" and "apple," and he's getting really good at "uh-oh!"



"Mmmmwah!"



"Lens cap?"

Bye-bye pillbugs!

We have released the pillbugs back into the wild, so they can get ready to do whatever it is that pillbugs do in the wintertime. When I say "back" this is not precisely accurate for many of them, since we had several litters (clutches?) of babies born in captivity. Hopefully they will know what to do outside!




Kate found a worm, too, and wanted to keep that for a while.

We enjoyed having the pillbugs with us for a few months--spraying them with water a few times a day to keep them from drying out, and feeding them things like lettuce, carrot peelings, and melon rinds. It was impressive how quickly they could devour a leaf of lettuce.

We had a few pieces of rotting wood that the pillbugs tunneled into. We thought it was cool the way they would pack into the grooves, so I got some pictures before we let them go. Don't click if you are disturbed by creepy-crawly things up close!

untitled

Doug went back to work today. The two weeks went by too quickly, and my painting outside plan didn't work out too well. I did manage to get a bit done. The weather has been pretty drippy. Kate and I have been enjoying finding slugs on the way to school in the mornings. We like to poke them and yell "Aaagh! My eye!" (Easily amused.) Now she wants a pet slug.

A friend mentioned that I should expect Kate to be more tired than usual, with her new school schedule. That does seem to be the case, but I'm also finding that I'm really tired. Getting to bed around 9:30 does not seem too early.

Somewhere in there we passed a milestone, too. I realized that we've been here for ten years now. Ten years since we drove out in our old green truck, Lukey, all the way from Newfoundland, and Doug began his adjunct faculty gig. We're on our third apartment now, all in the same zip code, and we've doubled the size of our family. It's been a good place for us to be.

Andy had some kind of intestinal trouble today which led to me doing laundry all day. Hopefully he's feeling better now!

Popcorn Popping

This cracks me up. (Even cuter is watching Andy watch the video.)

en plein air

I've been painting outside!



Finally got started on the model train backdrop. Doug goes back to work in two weeks, so I'm trying to get as much done as I can before then. I've set up shop on the back porch.



Getting a nicely blended sky across eighteen feet of plywood takes some work.



I don't think there's any way I could work on this in the house, with Andy running around and climbing on things and "helping." Painting outside is also not without its hazards, as I find myself flicking stray aphids off the boards, or scrambling to move everything when the sprinklers come on unexpectedly. (Yep, that happened. It was like some cruel joke. They never turn the sprinklers on during the day.)

After this I may relocate to Rebecca's basement and see how much I can get done on Saturdays. I'm also getting an MP3 player so I can listen to audiobooks while I paint.

Felt Snake

Look at this cute little snake that Doug and Kate made!  Kate drew the pattern and Doug put it together. Kate named it Slithery. Yet another reptile for the menagerie!



Poser! ("You too can win this snake!")



Kate was really hamming it up for the camera (which Hardly Ever Happens), so of course I had to take lots of pictures!

14 years

It's our anniversary! Larry Golden came over and got a quick picture for us (very quick--he only took three shots. The kids were less than enthused and it was starting to rain.)

Since it was also Labor Day, Kate was home from school. We went down to Lakewood for an Indian buffet lunch and then went and hung out at Borders for a while.

How time flies!  We've been feeling rather sentimental this past week, with Kate starting school.  (When we were getting her ready, the morning of her first day,  Doug put on the ABBA album with "Slipping Through My Fingers."  *sniff*)  Parenting is such an adventure.  I'm thankful to have a great partner for the journey!

First Day!

Kate decorated her lunch bag the night before. I packed her a lunch in the morning, and wrote her a little note (since she's reading so well!) "I love you! Have a great day!"



All ready to go, and so excited!



Doug picked out this wheeled backpack for Kate. He thought it would be easier.



Since Doug's home right now (between quarters) we made a family event of it and all walked to the school together!

We arrived a little bit early, so Kate got to play on the playground for a few minutes before going in.



Doug whipped up this tag for Kate's backpack while we were getting ready to go. He's so resourceful.

Doug stayed with Andy out on the playground while I went with Kate into her classroom.



Putting her things in her cubby.



She looks so grown up!



In front of each child's place was a sheet to color, with a teddy bear and the words "Welcome to Kindergarten!" Kate immediately turned hers over and started drawing a picture of Toothless the dragon on the back.



When we stopped by the classroom the previous evening, the things with Kate's name on them all said "Katherine." When we got there for school her teacher had changed them to say "Kate."



She had a good first day! I think she will like her class and her teacher, and she said she made friends with the girl who sits next to her.

When I picked Kate up at the end of the day, she said, "Let's go home and play school!" and that's what we did. I guess that was her way of processing everything. (We used to play school with her stuffed animals a lot, but it had been quite a while since she wanted to do that.)

She only ate a quarter of her peanut butter sandwich, so today I sent home hummus and lavash rolls. Maybe those will go over better. (They have lunch only two hours after school starts.) We had a little mishap yesterday because we neglected to tell Kate not to put her not-quite-empty juice box back into her backpack. Oops.

So now Kate's at school for her second day. Andy's napping, and the house is quiet.

Before School