A Little Mold on a Sunny Day (day 1)

Today we attended the Young Author's Book Faire, where Lila Holler received a first place award for the book of poetry that she submitted to the contest.  At the Faire they had a Scholastic Book sale.  Bunny, in true form, bought a booked called Gross Science by Paul Beck.

This book is full of creepy, crawly, stomach turning experiments like creating a bacteria farm, balloons of stink, garbage smoothies, fake snot,  maggot roundups, slimy putty and a worm ranch!

It's pretty nasty.

We've only been home for a few minutes and Bunny is already pleading to make some stinky stuff.  Some things require a trip to the grocery store, but fortunately we have many of the ingredients that it takes to create several of the projects in our kitchen.  And oddly, I have never thought of them as projects, so much as things to avoid because they could likely poison us all.

But, that's just me...

Today, much to the delight of my 9 year old daughter, we grow mold!

Bunny filled a mason jar with strawberries, cheese, bread and lettuce.  Now we will take picture of it each day for two weeks, or until the whole entire thing is full of green and blue fuzz!

And lucky you, I'll be taking a picture every day so that you can see our progress!  :)

You're welcome.

Principal's Award

I'm having the most chaotic, brain-twisting day that I completely intend to complain about later... but I don't have any time for that right this second.   I will say that it is partially due to F#C%&(! snails.

For now, I just want to say that I'm super-proud of Bunny, who came home with the honor of a Principal's Award, which she received at mass and in front of the whole school.  She won it for environmental care!

Things That Bunny Will Wish I Hadn't Made Public Someday

This is probably worse than a naked baby picture.

This is the dinosaur that Bunny colored at school today

And this is what she named it.

Happy Birthday Bunny Holler: Post 1

Each year for Bunny's birthday she and I seek out some cakestrosity that she thinks is extra special and she challenges me to make it for her class.  It's our tradition.  She selects the confection and I do my best as an amateur baker and craftstress to rise to the occasion.

This year, my friend who should be on  sweet genius Jennifer posted pictures of high heel cupcakes and I and Bunny went gaga for them.  We decided to make them blue so that the boys in her class wouldn't feel entirely Barbified.  I also wanted to challenge myself further by making the interior of the cupcake rainbow!  This is something that I have seen several times but haven't ever had occasion to try!  I think it will be a fun surprise for the kids when they bite into their cupcakes!

Here's the How To:

First, I chose decorative cupcake wrappers

Then, I made little bows out of fondant

Next, I mixed the cake batter, colored it, layered it in the cupcake wrappers and baked them!

I cut a small sliver out of each cupcake.   It's for the wide part of the graham cracker to rest on. 

While the cupcakes were baking, I cut my graham crackers and dipped them in candy coating.  Then I cut the heels for the shoes!

After dipping the graham crackers, make sure you stick them in the freezer for a few minutes after you dip each side.  And put them on parchment paper.

I let my cupcakes cool overnight before decorating them!

Frost the sliver that you left out of the cupcake white.  

Then frost the rest blue and cover it in sprinkles.

Glue the heel to the small end of the graham cracker using melted candy.

Put it all together!  Add the bow.  Pipe around the edges of the arch with frosting and use decorative candies to make it festive!

Because of the colors here I think that these would be perfect for a bridal shower!  I sort of wish I'd gone with yellows and greens, but all in all, I'm really thrilled by the way they turned out and I think that the kids will love them tomorrow.  

Last Friday Jay was able to meet with Bunny's teacher, principal and lower school counselor to talk about her obstacles and the teacher change that we requested.

We've noticed that each time we say something to B's teacher, her attitude towards B changes (temporarily, so hopefully this time will be a permanent change) and B stops fearing school to such a degree. She just wants her teacher's acceptance so badly and fears her disapproval so much. I mean, it's to the point where it gives her serious anxiety.

So, her teacher said that B's been doing much better both socially and academically. The report cards that she submitted were filled out a few weeks previous to our receiving them and Bunny had been struggling. She said that B does not need any sort of tutor and is exactly where she should be academically. She also mentioned Bunny's "husband" (who called her on Friday night after receiving a hand made card that said "this is my fone numbr. Call me now," by the way).

Again, creepy or cute? Neither Jay or I know. And worse, it seems that B is feeling very empowered by this relationship. I'm so desperate to jump-start her self-esteem, but I want her power to come from within. In life, little girls have so much pressure to snag themselves a man... six is too early to start feeling that pressure.

But, getting back to the teacher. She apologized for not responding to my concerned emails. She said that she just hadn't read them well enough to realize that they needed responding to. I don't care for that... but what are you going to do? All that really matters is that Bunny is doing well.

So, she'll stay where she is for the time being and we'll try to make it through the school year. Things seemed okay yesterday and the mornings are getting easier.

I guess that we'll see what happens.

On a different note, I'm totally still sick. :(

TumbleBook

Every so often our elementary school sends home a link to something awesome.

This week, the school sent home a link to an online library of animated story books (which theoretically seems similar to TV, but in practice is not). It's called the TumbleBook Library and it rocks my universe. There are endless books on this site and my children LOVE it. Because we've recently lost all of our books (heartbreak) I also swoon a bit for this site.

I really like that the sentences are highlighted as they are read and the narration is a throw-back to "Free To Be You And Me," which I tend to go a little crazy for.

You have to put in a user name and password which I'd love to post here but am too much of a clucker to do. That said, if you ask me for it... I'll tell you what it is. Also, I think that they offer a free trial of thirty days too. If you've got kids and love books, I recommend giving this a shot.

UPDATE:

After investigating further I discovered that only schools can sign up for this. So, write to me at annapholler (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll tell you the secrets of the universe.

Another Difficult Morning... prelude to a peaceful weekend

Poor Bun, her days are getting easier but her mornings are still difficult. This morning she was particularly tearful and she stood at the gate begging not to go into school.

I wish that I knew what was wrong. I wish that I could give her just a teaspoon of Lila's confidence (god knows that there's enough to spare.) I worry that Lila is sometimes forgotten. It's always been this way. She's so confident and self-serving that she's often not given as much attention as Bunny is. This morning, I can't remember if I even said good-bye to Lila before she walked into school. I was so preoccupied with Bunny's tears and insecurity, that I forget to congratulate and support Lila. I'm a crappy mom.

I am regularly awed by how different my children are from each other.

We have some fun plans for the weekend, which I hope will make life a little better for the girls. Jay and I are going out for dinner at the White Dog Cafe tonight and trying out our new babysitter from sitter city. Then, tomorrow at noon we have reservations to tour the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia... which is a potential birthday party site for Bunny. We purchased our tickets via groupon. Groupon is the best thing that has happened to my day-to-day life in years. On Sunday we're making granola to share with Bunny's class and staying in. I will contact Lila's teacher next week about doing something for her class too. I don't know that I could possibly make enough granola for two classrooms of kids in one day without breaking the bank. We're going to have a restful day in preparation for the week of school and later nights (committee meeting and back to school night).

Since I'm totally content with my weight and done losing, I've been slowly adding a lot of food back to my diet. For the most part I'm keeping it gluten free, but where I was really avoiding carbohydrates, I'm including them in my meals more often now. Also, I've noticed that I'm hungrier than I normally am, which I attribute to the seasons. Today, I went to put on my skinny jeans from the GAP that were pretty skinny when I got them a few months ago and fit fine a week or so ago. They are so big that I can barely keep them up. I got on the scale and wasn't that surprised to see that I've lost a few more pounds. I guess it makes sense because I've been walking so much. I thought that the extra calories and carbohydrates would balance with the extra exercise so that I could perfectly maintain my weight... but I guess not. My thought is that if I'm not trying to lose weight, am eating what I want and being healthy, but still losing a bit... my body probably just hasn't' reached it's natural place yet. It's interesting.

eatcher veggies

I do my food shopping at two different places, which is a complete pain in the butt when you live in a city. Both places are walkable, and I have one of those little, personal grocery carts that all urban mamas secretly keep folded up in their coats closets.

I buy organic.

I used to buy organic when we could afford it.

Then, I would pick and choose which organic things to buy.

For lots of various, personal and pertinent reasons, I buy organic. There will be no High Fructose Corn Syrup creepin' into my cart. HELL NO.

So, I love my local Whole Foods and would like to buy all of my groceries there, but realistically that's impossible. It would mean stretching the $400 budget I have for a grocery trip to an $800 budget. Craziness. Instead, I buy organic, local meat and produce from the Reading Terminal Market (AKA the foodies paradise) and my dairy and general aisle/personal products from the Whole Foods Market.

Recently I've noticed that when I go through my check-out at Whole Foods they ask if I'd like to donate money to The Great American Salad Bar Project. This is such an important cause, particularly for places like Philadelphia where so many children depend on the Free Meal programs to eat both breakfast and lunch every day. The Great American Salad Bar Project is raising money to help put salad bars stocked with fresh veggies in one school near the participating Whole Foods. I was happy to see that within the top three participating Whole Foods Markets, two of them were Philly based... and one was the Whole Foods store that I use for my groceries.

If you have an extra dollar and you're looking for a good cause, check out The Great American Salad Bar Product and donate online. In doing so, you are potentially giving healthy options to children who may not have any- particularly in Philadelphia.

The Nest Has Been Evacuated

Eventually we will have moved and will be unpacked and I'll need to figure out what I'm doing with my life. I'm only an hour into this "two-kids-in-school" thing and I'm already feelings like I've forgotten something. It's only 10 am. What am I going to do until 3? Luckily I have packing to do and birthday party invitations to decorate. I just told Jay that I'm going to stop sending him with lunches. Instead, I'll just make full meals and then bring them to him and eat with him at work... every day. (not really.)

Maybe I should start watching SOAP OPERAS! Do they exist anymore?

So, Lila insisted on giving her teacher flowers for the first day. It was such a sweet gesture that I had to forgive the kiss-buttedness of it and let her do it.

Lila went to the school with no reservations or anxiety, which was refreshing because Bunny is having SO MUCH anxiety about her school year.