The Man on the Roof

I have a man who likes things clean...including the gutters. I respect that in a man, but I'm very uncomfortable with his insistence on getting on the roof to do it. I have nightmares of him crashing to an untimely death, so I insist that he take his cell phone up there with him and only do it when I'm home.

Here's the ascent. Can you feel my panic?

Clearing the brush and limbs off the roof.

He's proud of himself, despite me, on the ground, in a nervous heap.

Using the blower to clean the leaves out of the gutters. He finished the job safe and sound... we're getting a new roof soon. I'm hoping I can talk him out of getting up there with the roofers... lol.

Nerd Day

During Spirit Week for the kids' school, they had "Nerd Day".
Here's my little nerd. If he had dark hair, he would remind me of Alfalfa... Libby dressed up too, but it's a little harder to capture true nerdiness with a girl. At least it was for us!

Girl Scouts...

Libby has been in Girl Scouts this past school year. She's a Daisy, and thinks it's awesome. A couple of weeks ago, we got up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and went to earn her "Wearable Art" badge. I actually thought it was a bridging ceremony, but I was wrong. So I showed up in slacks and everybody looked at me like I was an alien. Anyway...

This is Libby decorating a tote bag. This type of activity is SO up her alley. She LOVES crafts. And can you believe how grown up she is? It seems like just yesterday she was born.

Here she is getting ready to make a Mardi Gras mask. Note her intent listening. This girl follows the rules. The rest of the girls are wiggling and squawking and running around like wildcats, and little Lu is right on task.

The best part of the morning... getting to tie dye a shirt. Hers turned out really great. She wore it to school this week and was so proud! Her troop had their bridging ceremony last night, so she's now officially a Brownie!

Easter Gift Bags

This year, Roan was obsessed with being the Easter Bunny. He used his own money to buy a set of bunny ears at Target and was obsessed that this was his new career path. In the midst of the Easter Bunny obsession, he started thinking about kids who might not get Easter baskets... and it made him cry. He asked me to figure out how he could bring Easter treats to some kids. So I called my friend, Debbie, at Special Learning Center. They are a local school, specializing in kids with special needs such as autism, cerebral palsy, blindness and mental retardation. Debbie said they would LOVE to have us bring over some treat bags! So we got busy... Roan working on writing a special message on each bag.

Libby is working on preparing her bags...

Sorry for the blur... these are some of the completed bags.

Libby and Roan with all of their treat bags, ready to go into the Special Learning Center. It was a great experience for them. They got to tour the school, which has a lot of special equipment. They were interested in the wheelchairs, the adaptive equipment for kids with visual impairments and the Snoezelen Room. I've spent my entire career working with people with special needs, so I figured the kids would do really well interacting with the students there. Roan loved the kids, and even helped one child approach the visiting Easter Bunny. Libby was much more apprehensive. She needed to stay close to mom and check everything out first. It was interesting seeing each of their reactions. It definitely made them both stop and appreciate their abilities and talents!

I'm really proud of them both, but especially that Roan took the time to think about others. I've got a couple of really good kids!

Kindergarten Writer's Celebration

Roan's class has been working on writing their own books. (Wow, has kindergarten changed since 1973!) They based the structure of their stories on the book series "If You Give A Pig A Pancake". The kids wrote their own story, illustrated it, then they laminated laminated and bound. The books, not the kids. The parents were then invited to a Writer's Celebration in the classroom.

This is Roan reading his book to me. We were lounging on beanbags. I refuse to think about how I looked peeling myself up off the beanbag.

Roan was very proud of his work, and happy that his mom was able to come to his celebration. He's good at composing stories, but even better at illustrating. He can draw with amazing detail. We also had cookies, and they were wonderful!

Princess & Papa dance

Our school district hosted a "Princess & Papa" dance several weeks ago. Luckily, Libby's Baba Jack lives here in town and he was happy to take her!

She picked out her dress and I made her hairbob. Isn't she just so cute? And grown up? Where did the time go?

Baba Jack bought Libby a wrist corsage... this is her opening it. She was thrilled with her first corsage!

Getting ready to leave for the dance with Baba Jack. She's so lucky to have two incredible granddads. They had a great time! They danced, did a few crafts and had their photo taken. She can't wait to go again next year!