School House Rock

Hannah was in a play last week that she has been working on for the last two months. Her teacher this year is also the director and after seeing the school's Peter Pan, which was earlier in the year, just knew she wanted to be a part of it.

So how many of you remember School House Rock?

I don't think I ever saw a real episode of it, although I was surprised to find that I am somehow familiar with most of the songs. You know... like Conjunction Junction and Three Is the Magic Number (you probably know the Jack Johnson version, right?) Hannah got to sing duet with a girl named Cassandra on Elbow Room and had a small speaking part. Her real debut happened during the song Interplanet Janet where she was THE Interplanet Janet - in all of her silver spandex outfit, iridescent cape glory!

The play ran two nights, June 13th and 14th. Saturday's was the best as they had the chance to work out the kinks at Fridays performance. I have video that will be coming but I wanted to get this posted before the next event happens and I miss sharing altogether. Here is Hannah with her flowers from the family and gift from SueAnnie and Rachel. The spandex is pretty impressive on its own. I know you can't WAIT to see the full get-up!


It really is fun to have kids in these crazy-sorts of productions!

School Skippin'

Where to do homework has been an issue. I prefer kitchen table or bar because I am nearby for help. Isaac prefers his room because of less distractions. The problem with his room is that there is no desk and he has been sitting in a little kid rocking chair with a work-board, boxing himself into a corner.

He has been wanting a desk for months. Hannah has one that Isaac has been coveting. I saw one at IKEA, at the time of the bedroom switch, that I liked the looks of but David thought he had a better idea.


His work has done office furniture and there was a desk base that has been sitting around forever so he brought it home with a promise to make a top for it. (I can't keep track of time so let's say) Months later we are still having the desk dilemma. Now, that isn't to say David hasn't been busy with a lot of other more important projects - I am just tired of waiting.

I informed David on Tuesday that, after the roofing project this weekend, the desk was to be next TOP PRIORITY!!!


Wednesday we had a pretty rough morning. Isaac left for school and I got to thinking about the desk and how I didn't want to wait for the next priority - I wanted to go shopping at IKEA. When? Too busy! Couldn't see a free day in the near future...

I then remembered the time my mom took me with her for a one-on-one, school skipping day. I have memories of hanging out in her printing studio, eating lunch in downtown Seattle, and the important feeling I had for getting to share her day. This was it - my chance to repeat that day with my own kid!

I quickly made some arrangements for Alden, got ready, and pulled Isaac out of school. We needed a day together with just the two of us. IKEA's a pretty good drive (an hour and a half) so there wasn't a lot of time to spare.

I called Dave on the drive down to inform him of my change-in-plans. He said "That's fine, just don't spend any money" (Yeah, like that's possible!)

"Okay, I am just going down for that desk that we REALLY need" (smile sweetly with voice...)

We went down, enjoyed a yummy cafeteria lunch, and had just enough time (okay, there is never really "enough time" when it comes to IKEA). We were on a mission and knew just which area to head to.

I knew it the second I saw it. Orange drawers ($50), you pick the table top ($20), and legs ($8). Okay! A blue chair to match ($40)! Love the lamp - $20? I had set myself a $150 limit and I came in at $138 with just enough room for tax. Perfect!


Now I know this is just IKEA furniture and not anything that will last (#1 reason David wanted to make a desk) but I am pretty pleased with what we came away with! Not only does it coordinate with his bed (which is important to me) but it has drawers, a chair, AND a lamp - none of which the just-base desk had working for it.

On top of that, Isaac and I had a much-needed great day. I hope some day he will look back and remember his special day with his mom. Now, I did warn him this was an exceptional day. That rough mornings do not result in being pulled out of school and being bought things. The desk had been on the list and just happened to work out for us.

It does get me thinking how I have other kids in school that would also enjoy a day out. I will have to keep myself open to the possibility of repeat offenses. I had told the school receptionist, when I pulled Isaac, what we were really doing. I doubt if I were to start making a habit of this, if they would continue to be so understanding...

Hannah's Science Fair

We are always crazy-busy around here, but our most recent "big event" (worth documenting) happened on April 27th for Hannah. Teamed up with her friend, Sarah P, they Cloned Cabbages. She had originally wanted to build a steam-powered clock but I was able to reason with her and, with some help from Google, we were able to find science fair projects with step-by-step instructions (I love the internet!).

The girls got together one weekend and set up different "environments" in which to "clone cabbages". What this entailed was cutting up cabbage cores and replanting them in six different baggies - soil, manure, grass clippings, peat moss, fertilizer pellets, and mulch. They then had the easy job of sitting back and letting nature do the work.

The morning of the fair Hannah posted to facebook that she was pretty nervous.

I showed up after the judging to find the girls wearing the goggles because they were sure they made them look more scientific. They were also jumping around because they were convinced that they were going to win with a score of 67 out of 100. (Hmm, that doesn't sound like a winning score to me...)


They ended up with a 97 out of 100 and took Overall First Place. Not only did they get gold medals, but trophies as well!


Those goggles must have really done their job!

Let's get digital

Okay, so I am just a month short of a whole year since I started this thing. My sister-in-law sat me down and gave me the run-down on this blogging business and I am determined to use my new-found knowledge so as to document/journal our crazy/busy life.

SueAnnie gave me a ton of useful advice and showed me how I can even create my own header. Huh! I even have digital scrapbooking software that I rarely use that should work perfect! So, instead of paying bills on the computer this afternoon, I creating this header. I am sure you can see it at the top of my page, but, who knows, maybe I'll change it someday, so I'll post it here too. Now that my page looks cute, I can actually use it (cause I'm superficial like that).