Our Week Turned Into Our Month

I started a post on March 3, got distracted, and never finished it.  So I have a bit of catching up to do.  

We got a couple of new St. Patrick books this year.  This one rhymes, and I read it to my younger students.  I wrote my own read aloud for the older kids.  

Josiah had covid again, and Hannah was sick, so I tested her, but fortunately, she didn't catch it.  Just some garden variety bug.  

Continuing to utilize our public library on a weekly basis.  We used to go on Saturdays, but more and more we end up going after school on Thursday or Friday.  

Speaking of reading, I got up for a minute, and when I came back, Grumman had commandeered my spot!  

There was a concert at school.  Hannah played a couple of piano pieces.  

And both girls sang.  

My 6th graders are clamoring to do book talks, because every 3 book talks earns them a duck.  

Going through the car wash by myself is still one of my favorite things.  

I know snapdragons are supposed to be an annual, but no one told mine.  They last about 3-4 years for me here.  These guys are volunteers that sprang up across the path from where I planted them.  I need to get a couple more plants this year.  I have a big blank spot in my planter.  

Annaliese came for a visit and took the girls to Target.  Hannah came home with a grown up pair of scissors, among other things.  She wanted a sheath for them, so we made one from duct tape.  

And the, "really mom?" teenager look.  

A sweet little book I read my students.  It's about a dog that rescues a little duckling in a storm, and their friendship that develops.  

The nice, clean, before picture.

My mom gave me some neon cardstock.  So I decided we'd use that to practice our cutting skills, and I bought some neon paint to add flowers to them.  (I tried the paint on black paper. but the results were disappointing.)

And the kindergarten neon vases.  

I got a British Monarchy Family Tree poster for my birthday.  Being a big history geek, I've been adding a few post its here and there, where there's not enough detail.  

Spring has sprung in the library.  My big kids helped me with this month's bulletin board butterflies, so we talked a bit about the butterfly life cycle.  

Easter books are out.

The middle school and high school students went to a cooking class field trip.  

They made fried rice.

The finished butterflies (watercolor on coffee filters, with pipe cleaners) and bulletin board.

Hannah is holding the books in place to they don't topple over.  

This week is standardized testing at school, so I only have preschool, K and 1st grade classes coming to the library.  And next week is spring break.  Looking forward to it!  

February Happenings

The days are getting away from me again.  It feels like not much is happening, but I do have a bunch of photos to share.  

One of the pastors sent me this picture of Jack, lounging in the library during youth.  I love that he's snuggling a Bible.  (The fact that his shoes are on the ottoman cover I made, not so much.)  

The quest to find a good book to read for St. Patrick's Day has been frustrating.  I'm half tempted to write my own and call it St. Patrick Without All The Blarney.  I've found a "close enough" book, though.  

Oh Grumman.  A cat rescue I follow recently posted, "Describe your cat in one word."  I replied, "Entitled."  He's such a character.

As is little Fiona, of course.  

I pulled out my leftover ducks from last school year, and my 6th graders are tripping over themselves to do book talks to earn ducks.  

Bri sent the girls t-shirts.  (Hannah's other shirt has a red panda enjoying boba.)

Katie's other shirt has a dragon.

She's a little harder to photograph.

Barely controlled chaos abounds.

Parents of adult children:  If you send your child a package via Amazon, you can get a picture of their far away doorstep.  :sigh:  I've done this a few times now, and it's a small comfort to me to get a glimpse of where they live.  

Purple makes me happy, so I bought some purple carnations at the grocery store.  Only Grumman went nuts over the greenery packed with them, so I had to keep them where he couldn't get to them.  Which ended up being in my shower.  :sigh:  

More books

A couple of valentines from my kindergarteners.

Josiah had a birthday.  

There's a saying among Air Force mamas:  Find a dime, your airman's fine.  Silly, but some consolation when they're so far away.  I changed from my "day after Thanksgiving to day after Valentine's" purse to my purple "rest of the year" purse, and I found a dime.  

We recently read the Aboriginal myth, Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail so I had a little Australia display set up.  I also changed out the biographies on display for Black History Month.  

Speaking of displays, I love the $5 stuffed animal book characters at Kohl's.  They make the picture book section more inviting, I think.  

Last time I shared the "in progress" picture.  This is the completed February bulletin board.  The 3rd graders made the koalas.  Kindergarten did my December gingerbread men, 1st-2nd did my January snowmen, 3rd did the koalas, I'm thinking maybe 4th-5th can do butterflies for my spring bulletin board next time.  

The girls were off for President's Day and I took them with me to Target.  Katie:  "I feel so weird, touching a mannikin!"  

"You are so weird, touching a mannikin."  

Hannah's a little on the odd side, too, as she discovered that the sign swung back & forth, and couldn't leave it alone long enough to check sizes with me.  

We stopped at a garden store to check for snapdragons, and I think I must have been getting hungry, because I felt a kinship with this $200 purple dragon.  Maybe I'm a little strange, myself.  

Josiah hard boiled some eggs recently.

And Hannah made a very tasty tortilla soup.

My bunting is a bit wonky, but I wanted to throw up some FACTS about St. Patrick to counteract the leprechaun/pot o'gold fluff around the holiday.  (Did you know he was never formally canonized by the Catholic church?)

One of the teachers asked for photos of students with pets for the yearbook, so Hannah nabbed Grumman for a picture.  

We had a tiny bit of SNOW one day.  It doesn't snow here.  I totally would have missed it if I hadn't been at school pickup.  

One of my friends from homeschool co op days long ago bought this book for our library.  Great book!  I'm excited to share it with my students.