Sponge Hat or A Contribution to Higher Learning

I should be prepping for Joy School, which I'm teaching tomorrow, however, I wanted to record this. 

This morning, I took M to the university for a study the Early Childhood Dept is doing on how preschoolers respond to emotional cues.  Something like that.  They had her wear this "hat" with electrodes on it so they could measure brain activity while she did part of the testing.  I thought she would baulk, but the researcher did a great job of telling her how awesome it was.  It was, too.  Check this out:

(They took a photo for me!)

We spent about 2 hours there (plus sitting in rush hour traffic on the way... argh!).  She had a great time and earned $40 for her mission/college fund.  Not bad for a 4-year-old!  I told her before we went that she would get a prize at the end, and she said she really wanted a monster truck.  I warned her that they might not have that kind of prize, but guess what?  They did!  They had exactly what she wanted!  M was so excited.  Then we stopped at McD's because it was lunchtime, and she got a unicorn/pegasus/pony as another prize.  She could not stop talking about them the rest of the day, much to the chagrin of two of her brothers.  :)

Blue Thunder

To round off a lovely day, she came with me to pick up C from the middle school for an orthodonist's appointment (she loves going there and playing in their playhouse) and got to pick the treat for FHE.  She was on a high all day.  I'm not sure if it was the prizes or the adventures or the fact that she (finally) slept past 8:00 this morning, but whatever it was, I'll take it.

Pajamas

I have a problem with accumulating fabric.  I have so much fabric.  And I have a hard time throwing away scraps even because I think I will - and often do - use them for projects.  I made some mermaidens for a school auction and used up some of it, but I've had a stack of flannel and fleece staring at me for weeks and I finally made time to do something with it. 

Mostly, I turned it into baby blankets for friends and for Project Linus.  But one piece I decided to use to make M some pajamas.  Does she need more pajamas?  No.  But really, flannel covered in cats?  Who could resist? 

I couldn't find my pattern that I normally use, but after a quick online search found this awesome tutorial for making pj pants without a pattern.  Seriously, it's genius.  Her folding idea is genius.  If I hadn't waited to make sure of M's waist size, I really could have had them done in 15 minutes.  Since I waited, M had to help pull out pins, press the pedal for me, and push the back button.  That stretched the total time out a bit.... but it was worth it.  She feels like she made them, too, and she loves them.
I even got ambitious and did a little applique on an undershirt, even though I didn't really have the right materials.  It turned out pretty cute.  Maybe I'll have to learn to do it for real.





You can sort of see the shirt.  She wasn't being very cooperative...

Leprechaun Trap

S's 1st grade class built leprechaun traps this year.  To say he was excited about it is an understatement.  Lucky and Lucy the Leprechauns have been visiting their class each night, causing trouble.  Every afternoon, he came home and discussed with J what he could do against sprites who could tip over the teacher's chair and write on the chalkboard.

He put the bottles on there, hoping the leprechauns would slip and fall in.

I was proud of him because he took the initiative on the whole project.  All I did was tell him where the big cereal box was and find him green paper.  He designed and built the whole thing without even needing to be reminded.

The gold is to lure him in and the tape so that he'll get stuck.

We sent it in on Friday, not trusting it to survive the weekend unscathed, only to have school cancelled today because of a snow storm!  S was glad to know that if the leprechauns made it through the snow, his trap would be there to catch them.  :)  For a boy who doesn't believe in Santa and doubts the Tooth Fairy's existence, he has become surprisingly enamored of leprechauns!

Speaking of snow, here are a few photos from this morning.  We got about 8" overnight and this morning.  Crazy.

 

Lots of perfect snow flakes fell while we were shoveling.  I wish I had a macro lens to capture them.  We had lots of fun looking for different kinds.

 

 

It was perfect snow for sledding.  They made the track slick enough to ride all the way into the front yard.  Fun but I admit I'm hoping this is the LAST snow storm this winter! 

4 Years Old

M has been sooooo excited for her birthday.  She's been bouncing with joy whenever she thinks about it.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, which turned out to be perfectly lovely.  Everyone got out of bed and ready for church without complaining (a little gift to me!).  The Primary sang to her, which she loved. 

We opened her presents early because we had company coming later.  She really, really wanted a dragon car to match S's and by sheer luck (or perhaps it was a tender mercy?) I found one at Target.  She was clearly thrilled with her presents. 

 

She wanted pancakes for dinner, so we invited the sister missionaries to share them with us - one of whom shares M's birthday.  (Happy birthday, Sis. Cox!)

 

 

We asked a couple of neighbor families to join us as well so we wouldn't have to eat two cakes by ourselves.  C set up a slideshow of baby pictures for everyone to enjoy.

 

 

M wanted a dragon cake, so this is what I came up with.  (FYI:  If you want to make a dragon cake, I suggest you do NOT check Pinterest for ideas.  Anything you do after that will be a let down... :) )

 

 

 

A little something

Due to some technical difficulties, I do not have photos yet of M's birthday, but to tide you over, here's a little tidbit from this weekend:

We took a neighbor boy with us to a baptism on Saturday.  D is 8-years-old and J's best friend.  M talks his ear off, and he's very patient with her.  Well, he ended up sitting by M in the middle row of seats in our car.  I glanced back at one point to see her swing one leg over the other, lean toward him with legs crossed, and start chatting about something. 

Oh. My. Word. 

It was so natural to her and so mature young woman talking with an interesting boy, that I think my jaw dropped.  I so wish I had a picture of it.

And that is our newly minted 4-year-old.  :)