Minutia

Getting wood for the fire at camp

• Emily has not been sleeping well. She saw a fruit gusher's commercial that scared her. Of all things to scare a person! We have awoken to find her in our room, in the hall, in Tara's room and anywhere there is another person. Even Millie has been sleeping with her. Very carefully Jay and I have monitored and censored what our girls can see. And a flippin commercial does all the damage! Dang it!
  
  
• I am applying to many schools. But I'd really like a position in Akron. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!
  
  
• Tara still sleep walks. It is the weirdest thing. I guess when I was little I did the same thing. Even my mom slept walked as an adult. One time she woke up OUTSIDE in her pajamas. I know Tara is sleep walking when she walks in and sits down on my lap and begins to babble. Her eyes are open but there is this vacancy. It's so freaky. I just take her back to bed and tuck her back in. Once, my mom said I got up when I was about five, got dressed, got undressed and went back to bed all while sleeping! Now, if only I could figure out how to exercise while sleeping, I'd be all set!
  
  
• EWWWW- Tara and Emily just called me into Tara's room because she left a sucker on her dresser and it was covered with big black ants. It's times like these that I want to nominate someone else to be in charge to take care of stuff. I hate ants.

Having fun

Jay took the girls up to the IX center again this year right before camp. They had fun. Jay won them both stuffed animals. They named them Sweetie and Archie. They went last year, too. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day.

Camp

Camp- ah what do I say? It was not my thing. But the girls had fun, when they weren't fighting or complaining. They stayed up way too late each night and are a crabby mess now. I put them on the bus this morning wondering if they'll make it through the day. They went to bed at a normal time last night but are on one heck of a sleep deficit.

At camp, the latrine down the lane made for some interesting situations. The fire that kept refusing to light made even me cold and I never get cold. I had to rush home to wash bedding and rush back because of a "wee" problem with Tara and the sleeping bag. There were hikes in the muck, up hill both ways. I know that sounds just like a cliche, but it really was magically up hill both ways! The sound of my daughters fighting like cats and dogs at camp was irritating to everyone. They decided that this was the time to become enemies.

I could go on and on with my sunshine but I'll stop now. I know there were good parts. I just can't think of them right now.

New Easter dresses and shoes

They don't know what's good

The girls and I went to get a ham for Easter dinner.

"I hate ham," Emily says over and over in the parking lot.

Tara chimes in. "I hate ham, too."

I ask them to try a piece. Oh, not on your life mom! Just try a little piece.

"Ok, ham isn't terrible but I still hate it," says Emily through bites of ham.

"I hate it too!" Tara munches on a piece.

I put it in the trunk and get in the car.

Emily asks, "Can I have another piece?"

Tara responds, "Can I have some more, too?"

Hmmmm. Closet ham lovers. :)

Science teaching at Brownies

adorable girl doing my homemade crystal switchboard

eating rock candy and doing the switchboard

making the rock candy and using the microscope

Part of my college science class requires me to tutor a group of kiddos three times. So tonight I taught my daughters' brownie troop for the first tutoring. We learned about crystals. I made a crystal switchboard, brought in Emily's microscope to see salt and sugar magnified and we made rock candy. It was fun. Em and Tara liked that their mom was teaching. The brownie troop leader was concerned with counting cookie money so she welcomed the timing for my teaching.

I overestimated what the kids could do. I thought knot tieing wouldn't be too tough. None of the nine little girls could do it. But I had some WONDERFUL older Girls Scouts that stayed after their meeting to help me. I had them helping with the knots, ladeling sugar water into jars, labeling the jars with a label maker, and various other jobs. What complete sweet hearts they were. I hope Em and Tara grow up to be like those girls.

I wanted to show the finished product of the rock candy we made since the one they made has to sit for up to a couple of weeks to grow the crystals. So I went on a two hour hunt for rock candy. I went to IGA, nope. Dollar General, Hallmark, Rite Aid even Harrod's Chocolate- no luck. Then Jay came home from work for his break and suggested Cracker Barrel. Success! I cleaned them out of all their rock candy. The girls liked it.

But they really enjoyed the microscope, which I initially brought as an afterthought. They lined up to see the salt and sugar crystals at different lighting and magnification. It was fun to watch their little faces get excited. Even the troop leader came over for a looksy. :)

I was too busy to take many pictures but I got a few. You know me, can't go anywhere without picture documentation!

Anyway, it went well and now it's off to camp in a couple of weeks. This time I'm going as a parent helper. It should be fun, albeit a bit cold. :)

Good night my blog buddies. I hope you had a good day today, too.

Test anxiety in two generations

Three midterms in the last two days.... I think my brain might explode.

I also had two other classes. But I did get some good news. I got an 89% on my math midterm taken last week. I studied the most for that one. That class is a constant reminder of what I don't know about math. It gets draining. What I will do, is take my humiliations and learn from them.

Spring Break starts.... NOW. Although I have project after project and an HOUR presentation to give the week I get back, today I am just resting. Many people don't get completely restful days so I am grateful.

Tara just came home from school and told me that she had a math test today and didn't understand any of it. It's safe to say that I can empathize. She said she asked for help, but didn't understand her teacher's help and then went back to her seat and answered "no" on every problem. This is not typical of her. She's an excellent student. It must have been so frustrating to not know what the heck to do on a test even in the first grade.

Tara and I will lick our wounds this weekend and play webkinz. Retail therapy anyone? :)