Shopping at JC Penney

Today, we went shopping for new clothes and spent a leisurely holiday. Max had a video game, and I told him to find a quiet, out-of-the-way-of-shoppers place to play it. He did:

Of course, this was after I had to yell at them a few times for playing in the clothes racks. I remember doing that myself as a kid--those things are really irresistible.

Craft-mania!

Summer is finally here, and the kids are learning new crafts at camp and at home. Max learned how to make a lanyard (then lost it), and now he's learning how to knit. As his request, I'm giving him some lessons and I'll get him some yarn once he's ready to begin a project. Here are some pics of him getting started:

And Jordan has really taken to weaving potholders. She's now able to make an entire one by herself, as well as crochet the edge loops closed. She's also discovered (via the loom directions) that she can make several and combine them to make something new. She's made a sleeping bag for her baby (image forthcoming) and is now working on a purse.

This potholder is part of her (future) purse, and is of her own design:


And here's the second one she'll need for her purse--she's trying a new weaving technique on this one:

Baby Birds

A few weeks ago, our neighbor discovered a robin's nest in a small evergreen tree between our yards. The kids and I peeked in every few days, and got to see the baby robins, much to the chagrin of Mama and Daddy Robin, who cackled loudly at us every time we got too close.

Their bodies are mostly in the nest, but you can see their little beaks peeking out. A couple of times we interrupted them in the midst of a feeding, and it was really cool to see their mouths open, waiting for chewed-up worms.



So, I came home from a meeting this week and went to check on the babies. To my surprise, there was a strange bird sitting on the branch next to the next, and one of the same birds INSIDE the next. Mama and Daddy were chirping away, and I thought the nest had been destroyed by these new "predator" birds. Mind you, they looked pretty small to be predators, but what do I really know about birds?

One of the strange birds jumped from the tree on to the grass, having some trouble flying. I assumed (again, clueless me) that the strange bird had been attacked my Mama and Daddy and was injured. Just then, Mom & Dad Robin came swooping out of the sky, right at my head. They literally chased me back into the house, and every time I tried to open the door and peek out they were right there, again.

Thanks to Wikipedia, I was able to identify the strange bird I saw near (and in the nest): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Immature_Robin.jpg.

That's right--"immature robin". They were the babies! They were a lot bigger than I expected--they were really jammed into that small nest.

(My favorite sentence from this entry: "The adult Robin gives alarm calls and dive-bombs predators, including domestic cats, dogs and humans that come near the young birds." I am living proof of that...)

So, now the kids are very happy that the robins are learning to fly somewhere amongst the many trees in our backyard, even if we can't really see them anymore. I only wish I had gotten a picture of the babies leaving the next for the first time...

Teddy Bear Picnic

Here are some pictures of Jordan's teddy bear picnic from mid-May. She was very excited to lead the parade:


And she also liked getting her face made up like a teddy bear:

As always, they had lots of dessert. Here's proof that there were some chocolate cupcakes:

Max's First Spelling Bee

This past Saturday, Max competed in his first spelling bee. It was a very low-key, community-wide spelling bee that took place on the MSU campus. Here we are in the lobby of the Kellogg Center, waiting for it to start.

Max competed in the first grade group, and his first word was "puppy". He stepped up to the mic and said,

"Puppy. P-U-P-Y. Puppy."

"Incorrect."

Max was the first child to go out, and he walked over to the table to get his certificate and goodie bag without looking upset at all.

After a few more children spelled words incorrectly, the organizers realized they had made an error. For the first graders, they were supposed to also read a sentence containing the word. So, all children who were already out were called back in. Max had a second chance!

On his second try, he received the word "cookie". He replied:

"Cookie. C-O-C-K-I-E. Cookie."

So close...

I am SO proud of him. I really thought he would be upset after missing his words so early, but he was great! He was clearly a little disappointed, but rebounded nicely. We had lunch with some friends from Houston, and went for ice cream after. :)

Ironically, one of the children who was disqualified early for misspelling ended up winning the first grade division (turns out, Stephen works with her dad). Also, the kids in third and fourth place were twin brothers! Very cool.

Unfortunately, we were seated pretty far back and this was the best picture we got:


He wore that #3 all day, and then put it on his jammies and slept with it on all night.

Jordan also sat quietly for the 30 minutes of the first-grade round, so I'm proud of her too!

Best. Picture. Ever.