May Fete

Since the 1950's Trinity Episcopal School has celebrated MayFete as a Spring celebration and right of passage for the fifth graders moving up the middle school. The fifth grade royalty sits along the front of the lawn and each of the classes provide a dance for them (and of course the parents and community members). Then the fifth graders do the May Pole dance. This year's theme was Candy Land. The kids danced to songs such as "lollipop", "On the good ship lollipop", "I want candy", and of course Caroline's class "A spoon full of sugar". Caroline was a flower.

If you think about the scene from Mary Poppins, there are singing birds, flowers and bees. So that is what Kindergarten was- with a few nests thrown in for good measure.

As part of MayFete, the students bring flowers from their yards (no store bought flowers for this tradition) to create colorful wreaths. These wreaths are hung along the backdrop of MayFete to remember a second grade student that died in the 1960's. Here is the Kindergarten/first grade wreath.

We just planted flowering bushes the weekend before and C did not want to cut any off so she brought a palm branch- 11 o'clock on the wreath. I am pretty sure the teachers added some color to these.

the eight towel weekend

It must be summer.

Saturday Caroline's Daisy troop attended the Adopt a Beach cleanup and spent an hour picking up trash and seashells. (I am not sure which we had more of at the end). We had a tough time keeping them out of the water and out of the dunes long enough to pick up some trash. After snacks and patches 5 kids decided to stay and play. Of course only three had swim suits, but that did not stop them.Saturday afternoon, C took a short nap and then we were off to Maddy's pool where the girls swam for several hours.

Sunday C could barely get through Sunday School and Church and as soon as we were home, she was back in her suit and in Maddy's pool again. You know summer has arrived when you have an entire load of beach towels in the machine and swimsuits are hanging over the shower rod.

Easter

A few years ago we added the Sunday School kids to the Palm Sunday processional. This year we had a few more hurdles than in previous years. On an island covered in palm trees, we had a hard time finding small palm branches our kids could handle. The branches they ended up with were a bit big, but boy could they reach into a pew to tickle someone as the kids walked in! After the processional the kids went to the Sunday School room where they were going to watch Veggie Tales. Unfortunately we needed to plug in both a TV and a VCR. Not a problem in most rooms, but our room is in a section of the church that still does not have power. We have one zillion foot long extension cord that runs everything in that hallway and it has one plug. So, the kids colored and played games and were just as happy.

Caroline was extremely happy with her Easter dress this year (seen in the picture). It has Fancy Nancy people, French poodles and the Eiffel Tower on it. And the best part, her American doll Kaylie has the same dress. Thank you Grandma Becky and Marshall's.
Easter weekend we hosted a crawfish party on Friday, went to a friend's egg hunt on Saturday and then went to church Sunday. The Easter Bunny knew that C had found a bunch of candy on Saturday so he hid eggs filled with coins at our house and left C a note about buying books with her coins at the upcoming book fair. Unfortunately she woke up and immediately started finding eggs. She was a bit angry that there was no candy until she saw the note and asked if she could pick any book she wanted. On the morning of the book fair she packed up her $15 in dimes and quarters and I had to convince her that she could trade her change for Mommy's check. The cashier at the book fair was extremely grateful. More on the books she picked out later.

Drum is Yum

We went out family fishing this morning in Galveston Bay. Our usual target when fishing with Caroline is ... well, anything. So, Hunter began to bait lines (frozen shrimp) and throw them out. Caroline was busy planning her upcoming fishing show (the one she will be recording for viewing in our living room, not on national television) and we got a bite.

Her past experience has been reeling in little catfish or whiting, but she has been paying attention to the fishing shows and knew that this was "a grander" and that she had to " pu-u-u-ump, reel, reel, reel, reel" if she was going to bring this one to the boat. We weren't sure what she had on the end of the line, but we were sure we would lose Caroline or the rod if we did not hold on to one or both.

Her little spinning rod with 4 lb line was pretty close to the breaking point as the biggest fish she has ever caught came into view. A giant black drum! Caroline was also pretty close to her breaking point ("I think I am getting tuckered out , Mom. You should do it." )

Caroline continued her 20 minute fight moving back and forth across the transom ("you don't want the line to get cut by the motor") and finally leading it up the starboard side so Hunter could net it.

The line and the hook broke just as we set the net down in the boat. You have never seen a grin so large or a child more proud of herself. When Hunter determined it was legal size we told her we could keep it for dinner and the grin got bigger. " I caught dinner all by myself" she repeated over and over. She was pretty much finished with fishing after that and worked the net for Daddy a few times, but what she really wanted was to go home and feed her family dinner- with the fish she caught. As it turns out this is also the first fish we have brought home on the new boat. A good omen for fish to come.

Mardi Gras fun- Daisy Style

Mardi Gras kicked off here with a slightly rainy Feb 14th parade. Many of the floats were Ike based (including one covered in blue roof tarps with riders dressed as clowns with FEMA hats). Caroline and I attended a friend's party at the Gaido's hotel before the parade. Caroline sat in a chair outside the hotel room eating hotdogs (her shoe size grew the next week so I guess she really was that hungry) and every adult that went by "beaded" her. Before the parade even started she had more beads than one girl needs. She told her IKE story to the party next door and they gave her a bag of ten DOZEN beads.

The second weekend of Mardi Gras is dedicated to kids and pets with the annual Krewe of Barkus and Meoux and Krewe of Munchkin parades. When I took on Daisies I had this crazy idea that we should be in the Munchkin parade. Since we did not have the money to pay for a float we cut a deal with the organizers and walked for $1.50 per kid. We borrowed a banner from the council office and gathered beads from past parades (including the 24 dozen Caroline got the first weekend) and put on our happy faces.
I remember parades as a kid as fun events. There was frequent stopping for bands to play or groups to catch up. Not so in Munchkin Mardi Gras land. I had 10 girls, 10 parents, two wagons and 243 DOZEN beads. We were followed by the "big girls" as Caroline calls them- 20 brownies and 6 juniors from the island who had their own beads.

My girls practiced balling up a string of beads and gently tossing it to a neighbor. My girls practiced staying in lines and between the poles (the parents carried PVC pipe to keep the girls in and the crowd out). My girls practiced waving and smiling and then the parade started and my girls forgot everything. They raced around and threw beads from the end (whacking their neighbor in the process). They ran under the pole out into the crowd to give beads to a friend. They threw entire dozens into the crowd because they were too excited to peel the paper off that tied them together. My ten sweet little girls threw 243 DOZEN beads to the screaming crowd in 7 blocks.

Those tiny blue shirts are my girls. By block 8 we were at least a full block behind the float ahead of us. We just couldn't keep up. By block 15 the distance had widened to almost three blocks. The big girls still had beads but the crowd just kept yelling "throw us cookies!" or " We want Thin Mints." One of the girls and her mom had to hop out because the Daisy was so tired of walking. By block 18 several Dads had joined in and were carrying their sweet exhausted Daisies. Caroline was calling to Duncan (Hunter's dad) who was walking with us along the sidewalk to carry her even though she could see the store at the end of the parade.

I was incredibly proud of my girls who walked two miles in the parade and then made the unanimous decision that they would definitely be spending their cookie money on a float next year.

The Tea Party

On Saturday Feb 14th my Daisy Girl Scout troop attended a Tea Party at the historic home of Nancy Peterson. She is a lifelong girl scout with an incredible collection of Girl Scout memorabilia. She opened up her home to my girls (yes if you had not heard, I am the troop leader post storm) to learn manners and tea party etiquette. They enjoyed making place mats (with the locations of all their silverware drawn in) and bonnets (from streamers and paper plates). Due to the Girl Scout cookie shortage on the island- only four troops have started back post storm- we had to make due with store bought cookies and cupcakes to go with the tea. The girls (and their mommies) had a great time earning their first fun patch.

Caroline is in the first row (white dress from Aunt Holly's wedding) next to her friend Ellie from preschool. Maddy- her new Tiki Island friend is in the purple dress in the middle row.

Top Ten reasons IKE was like Christmas

A friend sent this and I have been meaning to post it. Not quite David Letterman material, but funny nonetheless.
Number 10: Decorating the house (with plywood).
Number 9: Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season.
Number 8: Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
Number 7: Regular TV shows pre-empted for 'Specials'.
Number 6: Leaving town to visit with family.
Number 5: Family and friends from out of state calling you.
Number 4: Buying food you don't normally buy . . . and in large quantities.
Number 3: Days off from work.
Number 2: Candles.
And the Number 1 reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas: At some point you're probably going to have a tree in your house!