6 Days Before First Grade

 

Really, we just made a card and attached it to a purchased item, so it was quick and easy to do today's task!  Leiden wielded the glue stick, and I tied the ribbon. 

 

Get it?  :)  Hopefully they like rootbeer!  (She has two teachers this year.) 

Como Zoo

We took off to the zoo, again, today.  We wanted one last trip before school starts and the weather was perfect today.  Not too hot, cloudy, and a bit of a breeze.  Perfect.  Our friends Layton and Isabelle came with us.

The bison came right up, about 10 feet or so away from us.  Mac's question:  "Can we pet him?"  No. 

Every time we come here to the zoo, the tiger is sitting in this very spot.  When the girls are all grown up, I'll have 20 pictures taken right here.  Today he actually got up and climbed down his little rock mountain while we watched. 

Mimi was with us, too, just stuck in the stroller.  We didn't have one for a bit at the beginning of the trip, and she would stay with me for a minute, and then wander away.  I feel bad having to restrain her when she desperately wants to walk with the big girls, but it's not safe.  Maybe we'll go when it's just me and her. 

We had a picnic lunch and went on a ride before we headed home.  A great trip out!

7 Days Before First Grade

Copied this one from last year...I can only reinvent the wheel so many times. 

Just after the wash...she's funny at a salon.  The lady kept asking her questions, and she would answer, but so quietly the lady couldn't even hear her.  She just sits there quietly, watching. 

The lady dried it strangely, so it wouldn't stay parted, but it's pretty short again!  She doesn't like me doing her hair every day, so it's good for her to have a style that doesn't require a lot. 

8 Days Before First Grade

 

Leiden very carefully placing papers on the posterboard. 

She came up with the things she needed to do, morning and evening, but she wanted me to write on the final product.  This will be laminated and a dry erase marker velcro-ed to the top of it.  Each day she can mark off what she's done and hopefully I will not have to nag.  That's the idea! 

9 Days Before First Grade

 

I was originally going to write up a scavenger hunt, but then wisdom prevailed, and I ended up having her do a cryptogram puzzle to figure out the location of the loot.

 

And boy, did it seem like her supply list was long!  But she's got the back to school bug, and thinks that all this new stuff is awesomely exciting.  Personally, so do I!

10 Days Before First Grade

 

It's always a little frightening to let a 6 year old pick an outfit, but I was determined to try and let her truly pick what she wanted.  Last year I tried to guide her too much, and while she would wear what we got her, it wasn't her favorite.  (I think this year's choice will be!)  I had scoped out Old Navy online, and they had a coupon current, so we headed there.

She found a really cute little outfit, that will work through the winter with the addition of a long sleeve and leggings.  We'll do the reveal in 10 days! 

I am enjoying the opportunity to spend time with Leiden all alone, and be able to help her continue to be excited about school starting.

Sidewalk Paint

Online I found a recipe to make sidewalk paint.  I thought the kids would have fun doing that, and figured it was something Mimi could do, too.  So I mixed it up.  Equal parts cornstarch and water.  Add food coloring.

Mimi has literally never painted.  I cannot fathom the mess she would make, but she truly proved me quite wrong.  She was very contained, and only made a mess at the end.  Strapped into her seat and closely supervised, she'd be fine painting at the table. 

Both Mac and Leiden wanted to paint the bricks on our walkway.  Mac was prepared with her sunglasses. 

 

This paint, which is not really paint, only works so well.  The color is super diluted, and since I put in too much cornstarch, it was not quite the consistency it should have been.  The kids did not seem to mind.

Especially after Mimi got out the big guns and really started having fun! 

She eventually dumped all three colors, and the girls played in it for a while.  Cleanup was super easy--just broke out the hose and sprayed it all off into the grass.  Mimi really only had dirty hands and a little bit of the stuff on her dress.  That did not stop her from getting entirely soaked when I was trying to clean up the ground!  I finally gave up and sprayed the water so she could run through it. 

11 Days Before First Grade

 

I think she liked the painting of her own hand the best. 

 

This will be cut down to a good size and put in the box where last years is.  She is loving the countdown, so far! 

12 Days Before First Grade!

We're back, folks!  It's that time of year again, and there are only 12 days until first grade starts!  Leiden was so excited when she saw the little card.  "Mommy, it's just like last year!"

 

She read the card, and immediately got to work on making her chain. 

Evidently I had miscounted the number of paper strips I gave her, so she quickly ripped one off, and was set to count down the last 12 days of summer! 

We went to the park today, and Mimi had a great time climbing around.  I had to sprint to stop her from walking in front of swinging swings twice, but she actually stopped on her own both times.  I cannot wait until that little bit of safety awareness clicks!  She was pretty funny.  She hung out, literally, for 10 minutes in this little 'house' section of the playground with a little boy from the ward.  At first I thought she wanted to eat his snack, but she never even went for it.  She just sat there, occasionally smiling at him, and sucking her thumb.

The tomatoes are turning red at an alarming rate.  And the beefsteak tomatoes?  They are almost the size of Leiden's head.  I'm going to make spaghetti sauce tomorrow. 

Friends

It was a pretty hot afternoon, so we hauled the pool out and some friends came over.

Then, tonight, Leiden got to go with her friend, Lucy, to a Twins game!  Brad and Leiden went with Lucy and her dad, and the girls got to have all kinds of snacks and treats, and attempt to watch a whole baseball game.  We're trying to squeeze in some friend time whenever we can because school starts in just a couple weeks! 

Puzzles

Leiden has been working on this puzzle with Brad and I for several days, now.  I had kind of forgotten how fun they can be--quite addicting, really.  With Brad's help, we placed the last piece tonight, right before bed.  We'll have to find another one.  Leiden has always been very good with puzzles, and it's a skill we should encourage.

Butterflies

Our butterfly pavilion did marvelously well--we got 9/10 live butterflies.  Even the packaging says to only expect 5-6.  Finally the time has come to release them into the great outdoors.

They weren't quite sure what to do with their newfound freedom--for just a minute they stayed there, even though it was open. 

Mimi was very interested in the proceedings.

Then a gust of wind came and swirled them around the pavilion a bit, and off they went!  Leiden and Mac both instinctively waved at them as they fluttered off.

 

Mimi was less sure that this was what we wanted to have happen. 

Mac kind of wandered off, while the other two kept an eye on the two stubbornly refusing to leave. 

 

One of these two was one that came out of its chrysalis missing a wing and a leg on his right side.  S/He will probably not last long in the wild, but it gave us an opportunity to talk about it a bit.  The tenth caterpillar had made a chrysalis, but it got knocked around pretty good, and ended up falling off the little paper slip they form on, and then the pavilion got flung about in the wind while we ran an errand.  Sorry, little guy.  What a fun adventure for us!