Riley and Avery

Well, Rudi didn't get out of bed in time to go to Denver, so we'll go next Saturday. We were planning on going to the science museum today, but it s free day, meaning that all Colorado residents get in free today. It's always a zoo on free days. We get in free any day because we have military IDs, so we can go anytime. It was probably for the best.

We ARE going roller skating tomorrow, though, so I'll take pictures there for sure. I hope that Riley likes it because I would like her to have her 6th birthday party there. It's $125 for up to 13 guests and 2 hours of skating plus a cake and ice cream. AND they throw in a free pair of $60 skates for the birthday child. Riley's been bugging me for skates, so I thought that would be perfect, and the price can't be beat. Fingers crossed! The skating place is really close to our house, so we plan on walking if it's not raining.

Swim lessons start tomorrow at 4:45. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully Riley won't freak out because she's in a higher level now. And hopefully Avery won't be bored in the same level once again.

Well, not really my next, since I'm sure I'll be working on something while waiting for my order to arrive, but I'm all sorts of excited!

Here's the dress pattern that I ordered:

How darling is that? And, it includes all sizes from 6mos to 8 years. That's hard to find in a pattern, trust me!

Here are the fabrics that I ordered for a dress for Riley:
For the skirt:

For the apron:

For the bodice:

For the sleeves:

Have you gone blind yet? I know it'll be a busy dress, but I'm hoping it'll come together in the final product. Like delightfully gaudy. Riley leans towards the gaudy anyway. I thought it was feminine without being too girly. Perfect for Riley. Avery? Well, I can get her any old girly fabric anywhere. She's predictable.

Oh, gotta go. Avery wants to look at pictures from her birthday. We're going to Denver today, so I should have pics later...

Back from the school picnic. I'm far too exhausted to blog much, but here are some pictures:




Avery with a funny expression. She requests the weirdest pictures sometimes!





Riley and her best friend Caoimhe. Her mom and I exchanged information so we can get the two amigos together over the summer.

Miss Meredith does face painting for birthday parties and does an awesome job!

So yesterday was Riley's last day of school. I took pictures of her to compare with the first day of school:



Look how much bigger and more mature she's gotten! I can't believe that she is going to Kindergarten next year! (and that's the face you get from children when you make them look into the sun for a photo!)

And here's a picture of Avery in her favorite pose. Yes, she's been wearing that same outfit since I finished that skirt!



We have the school potluck picnic today at Bear Creek Park, which will be a lot of fun. We just have to stop by the store and pick something up. I intended to make banana bread last night, but Avery was still up at midnight, and I fell asleep with her, finally. So it's store-bought for us today. Eh, who cares?

I have to continue going through the girls clothes in the garage. Riley can go through so many outfits in one day, it's amazing. She goes out of play, comes back wet and/or dirty, requests a wardrobe change, and disappears outside, only to reappear wet and/or dirty. It appears that we will have a couple days of hot sunny weather before four more days of rain. I need to dig up more short-sleeve shirts for Riley. And some shorts. Avery's no big deal, since she wears and keeps clean the same clothes day after day. I think I'm going to try to find a halter top pattern for her so that I can make her some shirts. Or maybe some plain shirts and paint on a stencil of her choice. I have more dye left for tie-dye, but tie-dye doesn't go well with the skirts that she exclusively wears. The shirt she was wearing in the pictures above is clean, but a well-used hand-me-down and a little stained.

I'll blog again later with pictures from the picnic!

I'm not a failure afterall! Who knew? All the bean plants came up (four) and I had to pull two (the tap roots were like 8 inches long!). The radishes are still growing strong. I'll plant another crop shortly before leaving for MD so that whoever watches our house can have some. The carrots just came up, they look like little blades of grass. I have no idea how I'll thin them. Guess I'll wait a while for them to get bigger so my clumsy fingers don't pull them all out by accident. I'm not confident that many carrots will come up since the squirrels dug around in there pretty well. We'll take what we can get! One cantaloupe plant is just peeking through. I had to look very closely to see it. All four cucumber plants are in, and I am supposed to pull two, but am waiting to see which ones are strongest. They're fine for now.

I think we're the only people in the neighborhood growing stuff. The garden is of great interest to the neighborhood children. In fact, we had an incident a few days ago. Riley was playing in our house with Matthew and I noticed that something dug in our garden again. Matthew said that when he was in the toy room, he looked out the window and saw a boy in a green sweater digging in the garden. Like an idiot, I believe the little liar (Matthew lies ALL THE TIME!) and get myself all worked up. He and Riley go around the neighborhood on their bikes looking for the offending green-sweater-clad boy. Later that night I'm putting he girls to bed and the first thing I notice when entering the toy room is that the blinds are closed (as they usually are since the sun rises through that window and I like to steal as many extra minutes in the morning as possible). Then I realized that it is impossible for a child of Matthew's height to see down into the garden from that window. And, afterall, why wouldn't he have said something as soon as he "saw" a kid digging in our garden? Why did he wait until later to say something? Ugh, lying children drive me crazy. But at the end of the day, I still feel sorry for him. In a family with 5 children 6 and under, I'm sure lying is his way of getting much-needed attention.

I made homemade granola this morning. I WILL get the girls to eat healthier if it kills me (and it might!)! Plus, Rudi saw the cardiologist last week and was told that he should weigh a maximum of 170 pounds, so he needs to lose 43 pounds. I have visions of my children eating fresh berries layered with yogurt with granola on top. Yeah, we'll see. It was fun and easy to make and smelled fabulous while baking. Yum. It was a rather strange recipe. I never realized all the stuff that goes into granola (oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, coconut, dried fruit, almonds, honey). I actually went to Whole Foods for the ingredients because, believe it or not, buying from the bulk section of Whole Foods is much cheaper than buying from a grocery store. MUCH cheaper. And blackberries were on sale there for 99 cents (where is the cents symbol on modern keyboards? I miss it!)

Update: Riley is eating my "vision" right now and loves it! Score! We'll see what Rudi thinks when he wakes up.

I've been sewing like a madwoman lately. I've made, I think, two skirts for each of the girls, and some for Abby and Veronica too. I'm working on ones for Riley and Abby now. It's fun. Although I think I'm addicted. I especially spend way too much time on eQuilter.com looking at fabrics and adding to my wish list. I'm silly. Perhaps I'll get a few after the 1st of the month. I'll have to pare down the list, of course!

So, what's up with the rain? We are in COLORADO for heaven's sake!! It has been thundering and raining everyday for a while and will continue to do so everyday until June 2nd according to the weather channel. Yippee. The girls take every opportunity to play outside, rain or no rain. I shouldn't complain, though, since it's amazing how much better the garden grows after natural rainfall. And we do need the moisture. But, seriously, every day? Sheesh.

Riley's last day of school is on Wednesday, and then we have a potluck picnic on Thursday. It's scheduled to rain. That'll be a barrel of fun. I'm doing the calligraphy for the Kindergartner's diplomas again this year.

Well, I'm done. I'll try to take and upload pictures of the skirts later.

I forgot to include this in my last post...Rudi was surfing the internets and visiting numerous sites, adding things to the shopping cart and then moving to another site and adding things to the shopping chart, and so on. Finally, he stops at Amazon.com and puts a book in the shopping cart. When he views the shopping cart at Amazon, he's all sorts of mad that EVERYTHING isn't in there. He though that Amazon had a universal shopping cart. It was funny, but I managed not to laugh at him. But now I laugh...

Oh, and Riley has a skirt too now. I finished it just in time for her to wear it to school today. I still have to take a picture.

This is the skirt I made for Avery. Riley's is in the works. This was Avery's modeling pose! The skirt was quite easy to make and I was able to use some scraps of fabrics that I never thought I'd be able to use. The only significant amount of fabric I needed was for the waistband and the bottom hem, and even that wasn't much. She loves it and wore it all day. Until it got a drop of water on it and had to change.

Riley officially has TWO loose teeth. The two on the bottom. Now she is nagging me about when they'll fall out and wants to eat nothing but carrots and apples to ensure that she doesn't have to wait too long. Searching the internet, it varies wildly when teeth fall out after becoming loose. Some say a couple weeks, some say 6 months. I hope it's sooner than later. And wouldn't beach pictures with a toothless grin be cute? I can't believe that she is old enough to have loose teeth!

That's all. Radishes are in. Coming up like gangbusters. And no squirrels have dug in the garden since my application of hot chili powder. Fingers crossed!

So, I've been going through my boxes of clothes (okay, I've gone through ONE box, don't judge me!) from last summer and times before. I am fairly certain that I can find a home for everything that we can't use. Riley was at school and Avery and I were putting clothes in piles for people. She's say, this is for Veronica...this is for the girl baby...this is for the boy baby (Sarah's babies). The funny thing was, some of the most flowery stuff she designated as for the boy baby.

Anyway, there was a lot of stuff in there that Avery could still fit, or stuff that Riley could no longer fit that was ripe for Avery. All I heard was this:
"I don't like stripes."
"I'm not a fan of dots."
"I like this light blue, but it has stripes."
"I don't like sea turtles."
"This shirt is a pretty color but it doesn't have a picture on it."
"I don't like the waist of that skirt."
"These are bothering me."
"These are too stiff and I don't like it."
"These feel funny"
"This is too big."
I dont' like this, I don't like that, etc.

At this rate, she'll be naked all summer. My solution? Let her go through my fabric stash and I'll make her some skirts. I also am going to get some white t-shirts and camisoles and we'll dye them (or tie-dye some) and paint some stencils on. Right now, she has been wearing the same tie-dye shirt and skirt for days now. Luckily, she is such a clothes horse that she keeps them clean. As it stands, I have two acceptable skirts for her and nothing else will do.

So, swim lessons are over. Riley has been passed on to level 2. Avery was passed to pro 2, but I had a conversation with her teacher and we agreed that another session in pro 1 might be beneficial to her. Which is good, because I had already registered her for pro 1 again. She meets all the qualifications for moving on to pro 2, but she runs hot and cold. What she is willing to do one week, she will not do the next. She will go underwater. Sometimes. I think she just needs to get used to it a bit more. She just isn't consistent enough, I think, to enjoy pro 2. I think it would terrify her. She is only 3 afterall. I want swimming lessons to be fun. It's not like we're training her for the Olympics or anything :)

Hmmm...what else? My school is over, which is great. The summer session starts June 1st. I'm taking Environmental Science and Integrated Math for Teachers, whatever that is. I saved a few hundred dollars by buying my books on Amazon. They are in really good condition too, so I hope to make some money when I sell them back!

I went to the seminar thingy in Denver for the Teacher Education Program at University of Denver. It appears to be a really good program. Essentially, I would be licensed withing 18 months of entering the program. I would then only have a few more classes to take to finish up my masters. However, the program is very rigid and no online classes are offered. I could not start from here, but would have to wait until we move to Denver. I also would have to take summer classes, and again there are no online classes, so I would be unable to leave Colorado for 18 months. Classes have to be taken in a specific order and in conjunction with specific classes. Now I don't know what to do.

There is an alternate teacher certification here, too. Essentially, you just go in and start teaching. You are assigned a mentor, etc. and after a year, you get your teacher certification. This option is not free, costing from a few to several thousands of dollars. However, when I start with the mentor, I would be paid right off the bat, as a first year teacher. So, if I had to pay $5000 to get the license and employ the mentor, at least I'll be making $34,000/year at the same time. So in the end, it doesn't *really* cost anything. Sure, the master's licensure program would cost about $12,000, but I wouldn't be making any money in the process of getting the teaching license. I'm starting to think that this is the better option. I think I could do some substitute teaching next school year, so that it's not all new to me and I can get used to elementary classroom dynamics, and then pursue the alternate licensure when we move to Denver. I could also, of course, take evening courses to earn my masters while teaching. They have online master's degree options for those who are not seeking a teaching license at the same time, so I could take courses online and it wouldn't interfere with my summer travels. Thoughts?

Oh, yeah, and any money raked in while substitute teaching would go directly to getting my teeth fixed. Score, right? And I'll also be receiving a salary (and dental benefits?) much sooner than if I went through the University for my license. Sure, it would take me just a bit longer to complete my master's, but not all that much longer. There's also a very good chance that if I'm already teaching, I would get a stipend from the school system to complete my master's. Again, thoughts?

So, we replanted our garden, which was fun (not). It looks a lot better and the soil is much better. Hopefully we'll get something. The darn squirrels have been digging through our flower pots, so hopefully there are some seeds left to sprout. The marigolds have sprouted. The squirrels have attacked our strawberry plant, plucking a few small green fruits off and deciding that they didn't taste good at all. We'll have to think of something to keep the squirrels off. I have heard of boiling a ton of garlic cloves with several jalapeno peppers, straining it, and spraying it on the plants. Squirrels hate the smell and it doesn't damage the plants. We'll see, because apparently the smell even offends skunks and the box is just outside of our window. We may be quite offended by the smell too!

Oh, I'm done...this got really long.

Nothing interesting here, just recording when seeds should sprout!

Cucumbers:
planted 5/12
emerge 5/17-5/22
harvest 7/14-ish

Money Plant:
planted 5/4
emerge 5/18-5/24

Purple Haze Carrots:
planted 5/13
emerge 5/22-6/6
harvest 8/7-ish

Cantaloupe:
planted 5/12
emerge 5/17-5/22
harvest 7/30-ish

Radishes
planted 5/12
emerge 5/17-5/22
harvest 6/5-ish

We were hoping that going to the zoo on Saturday instead of Sunday for Mother's Day would mean a less-crowded zoo. It was still crowded, but not too bad. It also was the first nice weekend in recent memory (rain last weekend and snow the previous weekend) so I think that impacted the crowds as well. We had forgotten how big a "regular" zoo was, we were so used to our nice little mountain zoo. We saw, maybe, a quarter or a third of the zoo. It was nice to walk a nice, level zoo. The mountain zoo here can really get tough, because, well, it's on a mountain.

We tried to get in the animals that we wouldn't see at our zoo, but the girls were upset that you can't feed the giraffes at the Denver Zoo. The sea lion and seal show was cool. At the age of 32, I finally know the difference between a seal and a sea lion. The ones that look like sea lions are seals and the ones that look like seals are sea lions, that's what I figure. I thought the slick and sleek ones were seals, but they're sea lions. The ones with claws are not sea lions, but seals. Whatever.

Once again, we had "fun" with Riley in the gift shop. I never would have thought that I would hear "Even though these are only $4 (a collection of miniature poison dart frogs), I will just buy them and lose them. A total waste of money!" Ah, allowance, I love you! However, she is so darn indecisive when she's spending her own money! Oh, my goodness, we were in the gift shop forever! At the end of an exhausting day, deprived of coffee, I'm in no mood to handle her indecisiveness. I sure hope it gets better!

The weather was totally wrong yesterday. The Weather Channel said high of 59, so we wore long sleeves and jackets (except Avery, who is determined to wear her favorite shirt regardless of the weather) but is was sunny and warm, but not too hot. Really, a perfect day for the zoo.

I ordered a new pair of sandals. I can't wait for them to come in the mail! Yippee! I actually went to REI to look at them and try them on because they had them on sale. Of course, they were out of my size. So I tried on a non-sale version to get my size, hoping that I could order the sale ones from REI.com. However, I found them on another site for 60% off (actually, I think it was more than %60, but whatever). Dude, they're regularly $95!! I could never pay that much for shoes (or anything) but that doesn't mean I don't still want the product. Everyone raves about these shoes, so hopefully they'll live up to the praise. Here they are, Chaco X/2 Unaweep sandals. Hopefully they'll be here on Monday! Plus, the woman in REI (a customer) was also shopping for Chacos and she said that she already has a pair and she wore them for 5 years before the sole wore out, so she sent them back to Chaco and they re-soled them for free. Sweet. I'm tough on my shoes. I'm not the type of person who gets tired of my shoes and wants new ones just because. I get attached to my shoes and would wear one pair for the rest of my life if they would last, so I don't mind plunking down a few extra dollars.

That's what's nice about having a set amount of spending money each month. I am actually spending money on myself for once. I never used to do that! In a weird way, spending money on myself actually saves us money. Weird how things work. I used to satisfy my spending cravings by buying things for the house (a coat rack, a table cloth, etc.) and on the kids (puzzles, book, computer software, etc.) but now that I can spend on myself, I do, and stop spending on other things. Plus, with the girls getting allowance, I rarely spend money on them, except for clothes and some educational stuff. No toys. So I can buy myself that pair of shoes I really crave without guilt. It's nice, for once, to not feel guilty for spending money on myself, because I have to spend money on myself. The budget says so!

Did I just write more about my new shoes than about the zoo? Nearly :) I'll add more to the zoo section...

I am starting to doubt our garden's ability to grow. I think the dirt is too dense for dry Colorado. The top layer is so hard. I think I'll mix in the good potting soil I have in the garage. I don't have enough to replace the hard dirt, but a good mixing with quality soil should do it. At least that's what everyone is saying. I wanted to give the garden a few more days. We planted on the 4th, so I think 6 days is enough for something to sprout. Nothing. Perhaps it'll be a Mother's Day project around here.

Oh, I almost forgot! We looked at the Congress Park neighborhood and loved it! It's an "older" neighborhood, with tree-lined narrow streets. Really lovely. We hope to find something there next summer. We also saw a community garden that really piqued my interest. Riley loved it too, and Avery didn't care. The zoo, however, may be a case of too-close-to-drive and too-far-to-walk, since it's nestled within City Park, depending on where in Congress Park we move. It would be perfect for a family bike ride once Avery can pedal a bike. Or I could get one of those thingies that go behind a bike.

Ugh. I have to go back to Denver next week (Tuesday) for an informational meeting at Denver University for their master's program in teaching. I am so not ready to make that long drive again. There is another meeting at the end of this month, but since Fall registration has already started at PPCC, I want to go to the meeting earlier so I can change my classes if DU has different course requirements. Waiting until May 28th would be cutting it close. So off I go on the 12th. Yay. Although it will be nice to make the drive alone without two fighting kids in the backseat and Riley's incessant questions.

We have no plans today. I said that I just wanted a nice quiet day at home, cleaning. I think this means that Rudi sleeps in (he's still sleeping at 12:30pm) and I get to clean. I think we ran Rudi ragged yesterday :)

So I finally got the garden box fully constructed and Rudi helped me haul it to the back patio. Then I had to haul 19 bags of dirt to the backyard. I made a couple trips before before a light bulb went off in my head and I decided to pile four bags at a time onto the stroller and push it back there. The landscape guys were real interested in my comings and goings. They must have thought I was mad.

The girls had fun leveling the dirt with a snow shovel (yes, we're really prepared around here, stroller and snow shovel). Riley's idea was to use popsicle sticks to label the plants. The flowers were all planted in pots and the veggies in the box, leaving room for the soon-to-come green beans and tomatoes. I am not overly-optimistic, as this is our first full-on attempt at gardening. The girls would be satisfied with just about anything, I think. They don't have high expectations of me either, I suppose. The earliest emergence we'll have is 5-10 days, so we're in limbo until then. And I'll have to deal with impatient children. At least the strawberry plant is already blossoming, so we'll see how that turns out. We have a lot of squirrels around here, so I'm not even certain we'll get to the berries first! We'll put up a good fight though!

And Rudi is back to thinking I'm crazy ! :)