Erin Plays Soccer!

 Not only was Wed. the first day of 1st grade for Erin, it was her first day of soccer practice!  Yes, I've officially become a Soccer Mom.  Her team is the Purple Penguins.  And thanks to Amazon prime, her cleats and shin guards came just in time.

Her team is half girls who have played since they were two and half donning cleats for the first time.  They all had a ton of fun. Dribbling....

... playing Easter Egg Hunt....

.... and taking water breaks.

So if you're wondering where we are every Saturday morning until November, you can find us at the games!  GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAL!

WW: 1st Day of 1st Grade!

Random pictures from August 26, 2013.

Started the morning with a little microscopy.  We picked this up on Sunday at a garage sale for $5.  It needed a light source, so bought a clip-on booklight at the dollar store.  We spent lots of time looking at whatever little particle we could find - onion skin, paintbrush hair, cheek scraping, quarters.  Total score. 

Then onto Costco for lunch.  Hotdogs (Robin eats the entire foot-long by herself) and pizza.

Then met up with some cousins for picnic and bike riding in the park.  There may have been daisy-chain making too.

And I made this in-between - a felt tooth fairy pillow.  I didn't use a pattern, nor have I embroidered before so it's a little crooked and lumpy.  But it'll do the trick.  We don't have a tooth loss yet, but the time is coming close... thought it best to be prepared.

Clear Lake

Ho boy, I am months behind on posting photos. Admitting defeat, skipping over most of the summer, here was last weekend:

You can find the full Flickr set here.

WW: McMillers Go To Disneyland!

Adventure Playground

Remember when we were kids and we could go outside, play with whatever we found, get messy, do things maybe not so safe, and we had a great time doing it? There's a place that still holds this a sacred rite of passage for kids. Berkeley's Adventure Playground. 

Each child has to do a small chore - find nails or scrap, pick up trash, locate nail points sticking out of wood.  Then they get access to tools for the rest of the day.  Tools include: C-clamps, saws. hammers (3 nails at a time), paint, rasps, magnets, and probably some other things I didn't notice. 

What do they get to do?  Whatever they want.  Rules are: no painting on signs. Must wear shoes. Have fun. That's it. They make play structures every week, based on materials they have on-hand.

They then disassemble, with the assistance of kids, a structure every week and build another one.  How friggin' fun is that?!?  

My absolute favorite thing about this place is how much of a "Yes" place this is.

"Mom, can I saw this board?"

"Yes."

"Mom, can I paint this?"

"Yes"

"Mom, can I hammer this?"

"Darling, the universe will be happier if you do." 

Did I mention it's absolutely free?

Glad to have remembered this awesome place. It goes back to weekend-only hours after this week, but must remember it for those times when we all need to just pound some nails randomly into wood. 

Two Sewing Projects

1. We're totally behind on blogging.  It's been a busy summer.  Expect a flurry of posts when school starts.

2. Brian has taken the girls on a 2-day camping trip. I'm enjoying my mini mommy vacation.

Here's what tonight brought:

First, Erin has mentioned she doesn't have a "lovie" blanket as Robin does.  So I made two nearly matching little lovie blankets.  They have the same black polka-dot fleece backing with the same red-heart on cream background front. But one has purple stain trim, one has red.  I bet I'll have to make a second one of either the purple or red so each girl has the same thing.  So goes sibling squabbles.

The second project was a small bag made from three fat quarters.  These I made *exactly* the same and plan on personalizing with fabric pens once the girls get home.  I was super pleased with the funky fabric, the contrasting orange/red thread, and how it was so simple.  It will make a good little diddy bag for our next adventure!