Circling...waiting for landing....

June 1

I can hardly believe that yet again here we are on the verge of summer and all that it means: Twirly-Whirly is wrapping First Grade while her RT brother (that's Resident Teenager btw) is on the cusp of graduation from high school! I know that before I can fully realize it *she* will be the one graduating! 

I am so glad we can only really take it one day at a time...with apologies to the Doctor should he stumble across this entry, I am happy with that. My brain is full enough without adding differing/parallel etc time streams to the mix.

This past week saw us halfway through letter W..we did the Alphabet Path/Flower Fairy story and we were due to do Beatrix Potter W (Tale of Pig Robinson) but she found some story/dictation paper and was off writing her own lesson today, a crossover story of Wind in the Willows and Peter Pan. 

She has been practicing her violin all week as we anticipate her very first concert tomorrow night. She has a second one on July 4th. She has also been rehearsing for two choir shows as well...one on the 10th of this month and the other on July 1. 

At least we'll have a break from ballet this summer tho that is 'replaced' by swim lessons almost every weekday of July! Speaking of ballet tho, we were yet again treated to another superb performance by the South Bay Ballet (via Friendship Circle as well as the SBB Outreach Program). This year it was Cinderella and TW opted to make it a Girls Night Out so we invited her HearthKeepers friend and her mom to join us. Her friend also dances ballet so it was really fun for the girls. Her friend even saw one of *her* former dance classmates in the show!

 After the show there were chances for the children to take pictures with the dancers. This one is my fave:

It took her a while to work up the nerve to approach both Cinderella and The Prince, but doesn't she look like she ought to be their daughter? I am not the only one who liked it as a professional photographer there asked if he could take one of the three of them too. Who knows? Maybe she'll be in a newspaper article? I am fairly certain that one day it will be her turn to pose with aspiring little girls! ;)

That's it for this entry. I will be glad to get the last 2 weeks of June free(ish) to work up the beginnings of 2nd grade, which will be knocking at my door soon enough!

 

Detoured...

PLayed taxi to RT (resident teenager), got an adjustment, retrieved fave pair of boots (now fixed) from mall, had lunch at mall, headed to Wilderness park to meet friends, messed around for an hour when they finally showed up, came home solo to meet Boo-man's bus so Twirly could play longer with friends, now uploading videos and then will upload pics....busy day...who knows...maybe we'll get to our lessons Monday! ;)

Performance Artist and Beginner Swimmer

After ballet class sometimes we visit the local little art museum. The latest gallery showings feature modern sculpture. The gal at the desk asked how old she was and I replied "Six and a half." The lady then said, "It's all sculptures this time and she probably won't understand them." I laughed and said, "She often creates sculptures herself that *I* don't understand!" I mean, really, it's modern art...very abstract...I am certain there are mady adults who don't get it...lol.

Anyway, we were cruising through the larger room and as we got the back there was a piece of what I can only describe as video sculpture. It was a series of doors on film. The funny part was that as you passed by your shadow fell across the movie images. Now if it weren't for the fact that an adult's shadow (even mine) was too tall for the doors I would have thought it was intentional rather than just because the arrangement allowed for plugging in the equipment. But then the Twirly-whirly came by and stood in front of the door and her shadow *did* fit. The first door was one of two in a hallway. I told her she looked like Alice in the hallway and she started walking toward the door (away from the projector) and appeared to shrink by comparison to the door to where she could stand and knock on it and as it was a movie this door (almost as if on cue) opened to a drk room and she was able to make her shadow appear to enter the room and disappear inside!

More fun was the 3rd door....I remembered to film it by that point (I sometimes forget that my phone can take pics and vids). 

Today was also her first ever swim lesson. She has hopes of surfing one day. She is very random in response even to things she wants to do though. When we told her we signed her up around a month or so ago, she screamed "I don't want to get in the water!!!" I was a bit concerned how it would all go today. She was afraid and sat on the pool steps and cried alot but still did everything the instructor asked her to do so i think once the newness of it wears off she'll do fine...at least I hope so....we just signed her up for the whole of July for more lessons (not to mention keeping cool!)

MayDay!!! Mayday!!!

Yes...it means both! And as I type this entry, I have that subtle awful feeling of deja vu...that I have typed it before...hmmmm....but am too lazy to check. It applies anyway. The past month(schoolyear) has that feeling not gone off the way I wanted. I had so many project ideas at the start! But Life and other people's lives got in the way...sigh....

I hope to do those projects in the next year since  the Twirly-Whirly will be really starting schooling this year as she'll finally be that magic number 7, the Biblical number of completion. She'll have completed her true "pre"schooling ala Waldorf. She'll literally be a whole new girl (every 7 years every cell in your body has been replaced by new ones)...we could even say she has regenerated! She would like that as she continues to wait for The Doctor to come get her!

Next year, there will be far fewer outside activities during the weekday school hours. We'll be doing Classical Conversations every Monday morning and have a parkday each Friday afternoon. Twice a month we'll have a Hearth Keepers meeting, and once a month we'll do the Madrona Marsh Homeschool Class. (She will have aged-out of FFMM.)

Ballet classes will be moving to Saturdays after ViP soccer. She'll be starting Beginning 4H as well one Sat a month. We'll return to violin on Sundays too.

That will leave plenty of time during the week for not just academics but artistic and culinary endeavors! Bread machine, dehydrator, pressure cooker...all beckoning as is the sewing machine....fun stuff...


More later....

Ready or not....

Ready or Not...here I blog!

 If I don't do it now, I fear I will end up even more behind. Note to self: next school year I will have to make a specific day for journaling etc!

Here's some of what has gone on since last entry:

The Peter Rabbit Garden is underway nicely. There are already some shoots coming up! The Fairy Garden strawberry plant continues to produce berries too even tho it is almost 4 years old! No more rabbits lately, but we have got raccoons under the house! I can hear them scratching under the bathtub! Twirly finds it rather disconcerting, but then she saw one in the yard and is not so worried now. I saw one staring in at us from the back sliding glass door the other night as well! It was as big as our large cat, Bonnie, who seemed none too keen to chase it off! We had made plans to catch them and release them into Madrona Marsh until today when Ms Cindy told us they eat the baby ducklings! Now not sure what to do.

We were at the marsh today. It's supposed to rain tonight, but that didn't stop the weather from getting harsh at the marsh...Humid!!! and I am sure I got a sunburn. We learned about frogs and wolf spiders in the classroom and even got to see a tadpole and a baby spider who fell off its mother's back. Wolf Spiders carry their babes on top. They are the only spiders who care for their young! Out in the marsh, there were duck young to be seen as well as frogs and more spiders and diving beetles etc. We even witnessed an altercation of sorts when a mom duck wandered into another's territory. The male nipped her butt and came back with some feathers in his mouth. The intruder's male was not around at the time to defend her so she and her babes waddled of asap.

We went to the Circus Gatti at the Shrine Auditorium two weeks ago (I am behind on uploading pics). We had a great time! All the performing was done on a stage instead of in a ring like Circus Vargas, but we could see really well and they even had elephants! The kids had a fun time in the midway too...ate a lot of cotton candy and popcorn. Twirly did almost every ride they had. The Boo-man settled for trampolines and a mini-Ferris wheel. It was all courtesy of The Friendship Circle. At least admission was! It was still a pretty penny but worth it IMO.

We have Awana tonight. Twirly has already completed her book. :) Boo will finish tonight. That's one big thing off the list! We can just cruise to the end of next month!

Twirly is very busy these days. She is not only in the God Kids Choir with all its commitments, but she is signed up for a Violin Concert at a local auditorium via Palos Verdes Strings. This will be her first concert! :)) Added incentive: Talking Princess Celestia! lol...upon completion of course.

I wanted to write more. but there are still uploads of photos and videos to attend to and time is closing to be ready for Awana too. Cross your fingers I'll get more done soon!

March Lions

lol....you know the old saying about March? In like a lion, out like a lamb? well, weather-wise it was more like in like a lamb that mid-month morphed into the lion...good thing leprechauns don't mind the wet! I bet he really enjoyed the nip of whiskey and the shamrock cookies she left out for him. She is already anxious about getting her new shoes on Easter Sunday 3 weeks from now!

We had some mind-blowing weather this past week...the little pot of wildflowers the Twirly planted at a FFMM got pelted by hail last Saturday (St Pat's day), as did the latest pot of daffies also destined for the fairy garden. I am hopeful they will be okay. We'll be planting them soon. Already planted some new tomato and pumpkin plants and we're preparing for the Peter Rabbit Garden in the front yard (pics soon). 

Speaking of the Rabbit, tonight is Ostara eve! Twirly is happy that they'll be hunting eggs in the front yard tomorrow, instead of like last year when it was storming so the hunt was held in the parlor! We tried out the herb egg decoration 'recipe' from our Earthschooling curriculum. Came out very nice! Made with shaved crayons and herbs and flower petals....now to figure out how to get the wax off the spoon! and note to self: next time do not mix the shavings together.

And speaking of lions: we just finished family bedtime storytime reading of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The Twirly-Whirly loved it and can't wait to have more adventures with Aslan and the children. It was so exciting as she actually anticipated events in the plot! And she totally got that Aslan was just like Jesus...she's 6. The first time I read the series (thank you again, former bro-in-law for the awesome boxed set for an Xmas so long ago now) I was in my early 20's, a new Xian, and I missed it completely! Just thought it was a great series! D'oh! Head too full of grown-up stuff, I imagine. That's why we need to come to Him like children, I guess. They see some things so much more clearly. 

and also speaking of lions and the Lion of Judah...her choir is preparing to do a June show, the theme of which is God's creation etc (to put it briefly cus it's late and I'm wearing out now), and tonight she auditioned for the part of one of the 2 lions, with some roars and fierceness and all! Really cute! (pics and a vid taken).

Well, more fun tomorrow (after the Boo-man's doctor appt)...heading off to the park to play with friends...will be taking along her violin so she can practice with her friend, A, who is also in the violin class. That is also my plan for Friday (if it doesn't rain again) as some of our fellow Friday park friends are also in the violin class.

Ending this entry now..it's almost 11pm...if I don't get to bed soon that Rabbit may pass us by and I'll have a lot of 'splainin' to do!

Time for Tea cus I am Toast! :-

Missed Friday Fun at Madrona Marsh today owing to an overlong trip to the dentist for The Teenager...oy...missed getting breakfast at home and the Twirly ate half of the snack I took to the dentist so I got a headache that going to the chiro helped with some. Between dropping Gamer off at school and hitting the chiro, I managed to swing by Kids Double Time and get The Boo-man another pair of shorts plus Perry the Platypus swim trunks and two swimsuits for Twirly-Whirly...score! Later tonight we have ballet dress rehearsal at 530 and actual show at 7. First time on a big stage! The same stage she saw Sleeping Beauty danced by the South Bay Ballet!! Lessons planned will have to be re-ordered for next week (where's the whiteout???) I'm toast right now and she's also been invited to a b'day party tomorrow from 11-3: Tutus, tiaras, and tea! no boys allowed....wondering what to do with the Boo that long....