Bits and Jots

Once upon a time, I wrote a blog, not well and definitely not often, but I tried to maintain a chronicle of what was going on in our lives.  Having kids who have school and social lives, plus working full-time, has just about drained my batteries for blogging - and life has just been sort of normal:  no surgeries, relatively few doctors' appointments, no traveling.

But every now and then there is a pang of guilt and today was one of those days.

I now have most Fridays off, which I am loving, loving, loving.  Not that I am actually accomplishing much, but sometimes it's not about how much I get done.

I've gone to a Friday Souper Sew and a The Sew Must Go On at Olde City Quilts, so I am still trying to sew and quilt.  I am also starting a Saturday Sampler at Pennington Quilt Works.  It's $30 for the starting package and then if the month's square is finished by the next Saturday Sampler meeting, the next square is free.  If it's not finished, the next square costs $6.

This morning I went to Ying Hua International School, Thea's alma mater for Pre-K through grade 1, to talk to the preschool class about nursing.  Though it wasn't much of a talk, it was more of a hands-on, let's try out the stethoscope and bandage up the classroom's stuffed animals.  The class was just so cute: there was the jump-right-in-with-boundless-enthusiasm kid, the shy-guy who has to warm up to what's going on, but once he does, he figures out how to disassemble the oto-ophthalmoscope, the little girl who has some mad bandaging skills and does it perfectly the first time.  I don't think they learned all that much about nursing, but I think they had fun.

Meanwhile, the kids are taking skating classes on Saturday mornings.  Thea's taking another trip through Alpha 2 during the next session; Micah is going back on the ice mostly to hang out with his friend, Benjamin.

Thea is in her second year of  Brownies, accumulating a few more patches and badges for me to sew on, selling cookies - it's her one chance to hang out with girls her own age.  We've been having friends from school over: Tommy, Jeffrey, Adam, for Wii dates.  We're lucky because Adam comes conveniently packaged with Veronica, who is in Kindergarten with Micah - and they live right up Krebs Road from us.  How lucky is that?  Thea just finished up her stint on Rainbow Patrol, which is her school's version of safety patrol, keeping kindergarteners from running in the halls.  The Third Grade Chorus is getting ready for the Spring Concert, chorus day is one day we have not problem getting Thea off to school; she already singing most of the spring program.

Micah is a chatterbox, much too much at times. Still needs a lot of working on patience, waiting and taking turns in conversation.  He's starting to read, which is a skill that also seems to require more patience than he is capable of.  Micah has a "I just want to do it, dammit" attitude, which just mesh with patiently trying to put the sounds that letters make into words.  After ice skating, it will be time to decide whether it's Spring Soccer or something else for him.

The 100th day of school has come and gone.  I've got to look up how this tradition came into being, it was not on the school calendar at Lewisdale Elementary School in the mid- to late 1960s.  There was an assembly at school, which Thea found to be too loud.  If the school year is about 180 days long, why would the 100th day be more of a cause for celebration than the 90th day or wherever the half way point falls?

Time to cut and sew. . . .