Vineyard Elementary Carnival 2012

 Carnival Preparations:

 Jaden Kenny and Sean made a cake for the cake auction

The masterpiece: 

Face Paint: 

Games: 

Liv got a fancy up-do 

Baby Blues

Reading Books

Egg Drop Soup

Actually, it was just an Egg Drop.  But I have a hard time saying Egg Drop without thinking about Egg Drop Soup...and I'm not sure why, because I don't even like Egg Drop Soup.  Anyway, this post is about Sean and science and not about my like or dislike of Chinese appetizers.

6th Graders at our school have the assignment to create (at home) a safe haven for raw eggs.  The teachers/administrators then take the creations on the roof and drop them.  The students then retrieve their packages and determine the fate of said egg.

It is hilarious to watch and listen to the kids' reactions. Every time a package hit the ground, the parents (who were standing behind the students) had a pretty good idea of how the egg fared based on the sounds that came from the students. Some of the packages left no doubt whatsoever that the egg was no longer in tact...because you could see the contents blasted all over the place (those ones elicited a united chorus of "OHHH!!!"). There must have been a suggestion online about placing the raw egg in a jar of peanut butter. To my knowledge, none of the eggs placed in peanut butter made it. Which is not only a waste of perfectly good peanut butter, it also makes a big mess.




All of the packages lined up

Whose is it?

Sean's turn

That is more of a throw than a drop...

Is it going to make it?



Sean starts disassembling...(Outer layer was a gallon size bag filled with marshmallows)

Next layer was egg carton pieces secured with duct tape

Final layer...pieces of foam mattress secured with more duct tape and some rubber bands

The suspense is building...

Did it make it?



Yes.  Yes it did.  (Welcome to our picture, Tim)

Grandma Moses

Grandma meets Alex for the first time

Many have heard of Grandma Moses.  Not everyone has the privilege of actually having a real Grandma Moses.  My kids are pretty lucky.  Darin's mom is one of a kind.  At Darin's 20 year High School reunion, almost every person that he re-connected with asked, "How's your mom?"  We have lots of fun stories to share about her.  One time Sean was telling jokes and he began one that, in my opinion, was better shared with peers (or not at all) and not with grandparents.  I stopped him mid-joke and told him he may not want to share that joke with Grandma.  Grandma Moses winked at him and whispered, "It's o.k.  You can tell me later."

Another classic:  Mary Ellen is fiercely loyal to her children.  She loves them dearly and mama bear comes out when they are in danger.  As a young boy Darin's brother, Don, was being teased by a neighbor boy.  Don was riding his tricycle and the neighbor boy was throwing rocks at him. Mary Ellen was having none of it.  After comforting Don she told him to go back out and ride his tricycle and assured him that "mom will take care of it".  She then hid behind the car and waited for the neighbor boy to strike.  While his arm was up and he was getting ready to throw a rock, she jumped out from behind the car and said, "You'd better not throw that rock.  I turn into a witch at night and I look for little boys that throw rocks at other kids and I break their arms." They didn't have a problem after that.

Her eyesight is going.  It is devastating to her.  It is very hard for her not to be able to be independent.  Because she can't see well, she needs help to get places.  For a while, I was
 her ride.  Every Wednesday I would pick her up to run errands.  During those rides we became very close.  She told me about her childhood, her first love, her early married years, the talents she has developed over the years (including art, music, storytelling, the ability to put lipstick on without the aid of a mirror, etc.), the gratitude she has for her posterity, her highs and her lows.  Those car rides are treasured memories for me.  Because she recently moved a little farther away, and because we are still settling into life with a newborn I haven't been her ride for a while.  I miss it.  Phone visits have been taking the place of face to face visits.  Hopefully soon we will settle in to a new schedule that includes regular visits again.

No shopping trip is complete without Grandma buying a treat for the kids.  Every time I tell her that it isn't necessary she insists, saying, "How else are they going to remember me?"  And while treats and Arctic Circle do remind us of Grandma, her legacy will include much more than that.  I hope we still have many years to add memories to our vault.

Plumb Tuckered Out

I'm actually not sure what that phrase means, but when I saw these photos that's the phrase that came to mind.  To be honest, I don't even remember what we did that made everyone so tired.  But it was probably a lot of fun.  Probably.

Buddies

Butterfly Coma

Sometimes when Alex is really sad we can calm him down by swaddling him tightly and bouncing  him gently.  He is such a good natured baby that it doesn't happen often, but I'm grateful we've discovered how to make him happy when it does.  The other day Alex was swaddled and I was bouncing with him.

Warren: "He looks like he's in a butterfly coma."
Me (chuckling): "Do you mean 'cocoon'?
Warren (also chuckling): "Oh, yeah. Cocoon."
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