AJR Concert

 This is Sam. I took the big kids to see AJR in concert in St Louis. We also stayed the night at a Holiday Inn that was an easy walk from the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater.

James was also excited about the opener (“Boy With Uke”)

James was a little skeptical about me taking pictures.

They sold all 7,000 reserved seats, and there were about 2,000 lawn tickets purchased.

Such a sweet picture of Amelie as AJR played!

We were mostly watching the jumbo screens, but we could at least catch a glimpse of the band from our seats.

James was very happy during the concert, and he clapped very loudly throughout.

Amelie drinking a water that looks deceptively like an adult beverage.

Our view of Jack (the “J” in AJR) on the jumbo screen.

Maplewood Barn Theater

Our old neighbor Anne stopped by to give Amelie a birthday present & see the new house & we all decided to check out the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Maplewood Barn Theater the next night. Except then we thought it might be too late for Leah, so just the big kids and I went. They had a ball! But it was very cold! I brought blankets. 

Lucy really knocked it out of the park. It was super fun!

There were cutouts of the Peanuts characters, but it was too dark at intermission to take a photo. They also did prize drawings at intermission and we won tickets to another show. 

First Day of Summer School!

The bus comes at the seemingly somewhat more reasonable hour of 7:10 for summer school this year, so James said he wanted to ride it (it was 6:50 during the regular school year so Sam would drop them off at school on his way into work). They were up and excited and ate breakfast this AM! Hopefully that continues!  

The stop is a kind of far from the house, though, and then the bus drives right by our front door! I'm going to call (er, fill out the online form) and see if they'll pick them up at the closer cross-street or the door if they continue to be the only kids at the stop. 

This is Leah's first time riding the big yellow bus & her first day at regular, full-day, big kid school! 

Edited to add 2 updates: I did remember to take a picture of them at the end of the first day - they're only slightly frazzled! Eating a snack & reading books on the couch: 

And also - James had a terrible attitude about summer school & we let him drop out after the first 3 days. There were 28 kids in his class! Many promises were made about the number of chores & activities he'd do at home instead. Leah's continuing on & having a good time, though. She informed me today that she had Trix cereal for "morning lunch" at school & so I deduced that she's been eating breakfast at home & then again when she gets to school - it's free still (due to COVID?) so I guess they don't ask too many questions & she somehow wound up in the cafeteria. 

Crazy Hair Day

(This post is pretty belated! From spirit week? or kindness week? sometime during the school year.)

I think James envisioned something like Stanley's hair for Crazy Hair Day at his elementary school this year:

But unfortunately, I was unable to make his vision come to life at 6:45am. Eventually after some argument, he settled on this style:

And then Sam snapped these pictures of what it looked like by the time he came home at the end of the day: 

LOL

Tween Birthday Interview

Birthday Interview

 Amelie is 12!

I forgot all about this until the day after her party. I told her to go upstairs and try to take a nap or get some rest since tomorrow is a school day and they were up so late at the sleepover & we also have plans tonight (to go see You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Maplewood Barn with our old neighbor Ann). 

So I'll use this time to get the questions ready & maybe work on a post about the party!

She was slightly grumpy when she wandered back down from her nap right before supper, but she eventually got through the rest of the questions. 

1. How old are you? 12
2. What is your favorite color? Teal
3. What's your favorite possession? Probably my shade backpack buddy. That you made? Yeah. 
4. What is your favorite game or video game?  Hollow Night
5. What is your favorite song? What Else Can I Do? (We had bit of a "who's on first" moment here when I didn't realize "What else can I do?" was the title of a song.) 
6. Do you  have a favorite animal? An axolotl 
   
   
   
   
   
7. What is your favorite book? (this proved to be a very difficult question) What is the best book you've read recently? Flames of Hope. But like most books, it got me really mad at some points. It's also way sadder than other Wings of Fire books I feel like. 
8. What is your favorite movie? (same thing as with books - favorite of all time was too hard so I asked, what's the best movie that you've seen recently?) Encanto
9. What is your favorite TV show? Probably Steven Universe 
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Dutch Baby Pancake 
    She made this video as part of an assignment for English class where they had to investigate a significant recipe.
    (We had to take brief interlude here so James could investigate how to do the Charlie Brown dance on Youtube)
11. Where is your favorite place to go? Or if you could go anywhere, where would you like to go? China
12. Who is your best friend? Kaitlin 
13. What is something you learned last year in the 6th grade? about the Indus River Valley civilization 
14. What is something you'll learn now that you're 12 (or next year in 7th grade)? I don't know
15. What is your favorite subject at school? Science
16. Who is your favorite teacher this year? Ms. Huggins (skills for success) & Ms. Schmidt (science) 
17. What is hard for you to do? Explaining things
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Reading 
19. What is your favorite thing to do with friends? Talk and be crazy
20. What do you like about Me (Mom)? You're probably the sensible one of the house
21. What do you like about Dad? He lets me do way more than Mom 
22. What do you like about James? I enjoy our talks
23. What do you like about Leah? She's cute when she's not asking me to play with her 
24. What do you like about yourself?  I know everything about Hollow Night
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? Something in the animal rescue to veterinarian area
26. Bonus: What was your favorite part of the party last night? The ice cream sundaes because it was just crazy hyper sugar

Here's the link to last year: 

https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2021/05/amelies-birthday-interview.html

Cool Dude

 I wanted to take a picture of the outfit James picked the other Sunday. 

But he wanted to play basketball. 

He made this structure in church: 

Band Concert

 Amelie had her spring band concert, and I know this happens every year, but it was still kind of amazing how much the group had improved since first concert of the year! They did so well

Amelie plays the clarinet in the 6th grade band: 

It's possible she wanted me to stop taking photos here. Leah and I sat on the front row and Sam and James came in later and sat farther back. James had won the fun day teacher raffle, and the snacks and movie were scheduled after school on the same day as the concert. 

My phone ran out of space for videos during this one - and the songs got progressively more impressive after I was out of space!

Birthday Party

I never posted these! Better late than never! Leah had many mini birthday celebrations. We continued the tradition of candles in every meal for Leah's 5th birthday. Here are her chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast

Her friend from next door wanted to come over and give her a present. He brought all kinds of sweet things! Including a realistic-looking plastic succulent, which I'd felt even & still gave directions to Leah about how it just needed a little bit of water before I realized that night that it was plastic! 

They had eyed with great interest the package of hostess cupcakes we'd bought for her class -- and then school ended up being cancelled due to snow so they could eat them! 

Next we went to Schnuck's for her 1st COVID shot. I had her change into short sleeves so it would be easier. The pharmacist got a kick out of her coming in on her birthday and then she got to pick out a treat for dessert - after much deliberation she chose three packs of multi-colored marshmallow peeps. 

The 15-minute observation period was a little boring. She texted with Nana Jana. 

She really wanted to have a birthday party and invite her classmates. She also really wanted to have rootbeer floats - and none of us could figure out where she got that idea, she'd never had one & probably hadn't had rootbeer before that either. 

So we bought booked the same party that we'd had at Authority Gymnastics when James turned 9 and when Amelie turned 5. 

They burned off some energy first. 

Here's all the kids on the parachute (plus Amelie)

Here's a video of us singing happy birthday to her (plastic succulent & multi-colored peeps visible) where she has a little trouble blowing out that last candle & gets just a little too close!

Grandma Mary & Papaw brought over a pile of clothes & presents & then Nana Jana and Steve came over with even more presents the next day. 

More Leah Videos

Spelling

Making music with Sam in the basement

Zepto at the Cabin

A little bit ago, we spent the weekend at a cabin up at Mark Twain, and I took no photos  (unlike the other couple of times we've gone). The kids wanted to make a movie, though.

Here's the first idea:

And the finished product: 

Sam got one pic of the pond behind the cabin: 

I saw some very striking black ducks with white bands around their throats & of course several geese.

& We went on a short hike with the dog. The kids played on a log that had fallen over a (very very small) creek & no one fell in, so that's a success. 

We got to go swimming (& Sam & the kids went swimming several times)  including once when Sam got to lifeguard for all these unattended kiddos:

Facepaint

Nana Jana bought a face painting kit and the kids have had a great deal of fun with it. 

Here's Leah very carefully taking it off at the end of the day: 

And another time: 

Nana Jana let the kids paint on her! Eeek! 

Winter Catch-up Post

 I just realized I never put this one on the blog & obviously it must be preserved: 

I may have accidentally recorded in portrait, but I had the sense not to rotate halfway through at least (this time)

They're piling up the sleet/hail on the deck: 

We made snow cream on one of the days with fluffier snow: 

Recipe: 

Set out large bowl to catch fresh snow.

Whisk 1 c. whole milk with 1/3 c. sugar and capful vanilla. 
Whisk in snow (about 8 cups?) til consistency is good

Sprinkles optional 

Believe it or not, this one is from a different day. There'd been hail earlier, so of course Leah put on her Doc McStuffins helmet. Safety first, guys.

Dr Visit

 Leah had her well-child doctor visit Tuesday (& all three kids had their dentist appointments - no cavities!) 

This was the only picture on my phone: 

No shots today - they went ahead & did all of her kindergarten shots at her last visit - but we did schedule her 2nd COVID vaccine. 

Here's the link to last year's for comparison: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2021/03/dr-visit.html

They didn't hand out a milestone checklist - I'm not sure if they've stopped doing that or if the med student forgot. I found this one by the CDC: 

• Follows rules or takes turns when playing games with other children (mostly, I think!) 
• Sings, dances, or acts for you (definitely yes!) 
• Does simple chores at home, like matching socks or clearing the table after eating (with a little  encouragement, Leah's very helpful & she always asks to help if it looks like we're doing something interesting.) 
• Tells a story she heard or made up with at least two events. For example, a cat was stuck in a tree and a firefighter saved it (this is a big one! It seems like Leah likes to process things by telling stories about things. One of her favorite games is to play "puppet show") 
• Answers simple questions about a book or story after you read or tell it to him
• Keeps a conversation going with more than three back-and-forth exchanges
• Uses or recognizes simple rhymes (yes, but sometimes mixes up rhyming words and same-beginning-sound words)
• Counts to 10 (she's got good one-to-one correspondence for 1-10 & I think could count to 100, maybe with just a little prompting)
• Names some numbers between 1 and 5 when you point to them (1-12 I think) 
• Uses words about time, like “yesterday,” “tomorrow,” “morning,” or “night” (Leah has a funny habit of saying "last morning," which makes sense if "last night" is correct!) 
• Pays attention for 5 to 10 minutes during activities. For example, during story time or making arts and crafts (screen time does not count)
• Writes some letters in her name (She's good with all capitals and working on the lowercase) 
• Names some letters when you point to them (names all letters) 
• Buttons some buttons (I'll have to test this! She dresses herself, but her clothes are easy/comfy)
• Hops on one foot (yes!) 
• Draws a person with 6 body parts

Birthday Interview

Birthday Interview: Leah is 5!

1. How old are you? 5
2. What is your favorite color? Orange
3. What is your favorite toy? Trumpo
4. What is your favorite game? Life 
5. What is your favorite song? Shivers (by Ed Sheeran)
6. What is your favorite animal? Horse ... I mean, elephant!
7. What is your favorite book? I don't really know. The Batman Book. 
   

   
   
8. What is your favorite show or movie? She-Ra  
   

   
   
9. What is your favorite thing to eat? Oranges
10. Where is your favorite place to go? McDonalds 
11. Who is your best friend? Malik (This is her friend from preschool. Too bad he’ll go to a different elementary!)
12. What is something you learned last year? I can't think of anything. I don't really know. Did you learn anything at school this year? Or maybe at gymnastics? Can I pick something that I learned at home? Um. I have learned how to open a new soap bottle. A word I learned how to read a few days ago: Fish! 
13. What is something you'll learn now that you're 5? I don't even know. Ride my bike without the training wheels. 
14. What is hard for you to do? Bike riding
15. What is your favorite thing to do? Ummmm. Hm. There's nothing else in my head. If you could do anything, what would you want to do? Play with Nana Jana or Grandma Mary. 
16. What do you like about Me (Mama)? I get to cuddle you and hug you. 
17. What about Dada? What do you like about Dada? I really wish that wasn't in there. That question? Yeah. I get to play with him! 
18. What do you like about Amelie? Ummmmm. Nothing! (after a nudge) Well, she watches us. Who's us? You know what I mean!
19. What do you like about James? He's nice! And I love him!
20. What do you like about yourself? That question really shouldn't be there. Why not? Because. I love me. 
21. What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't know. Oh, I thought you had a whole list of things! How about you get a list of things you think I might want to be? I thought you wanted to work at the library? How about library or soccer. 
    

    
    

    
    

Here's the link to last year's interview: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2021/03/leahs-first-birthday-interview.html