what's been going on

It's really been an eventful month, and the last two days were no exception.

Yesterday morning Jordan had a dentist appointment, so he got to miss the first bit of school. I don't normally like to schedule appointments during school, but we'd been putting this one off and it turned out the be the least imposing time we could work out between now and August. All went well, he has one tooth left to lose, wisdom teeth were showing up on the xrays (already!) and no referral to an orthodontist yet, which I think always disappoints Jordan just a little.

We ended up being at the dentist for a lot longer than the hour I'd planned for. So he was pretty late for school. These days though the impact isn't too bad as the year is winding down.

Jemma and I had a few errands to do before heading back to the school for Jordan's band concert. We had to go to the mall, which usually turns into an ordeal since the old Build-a-Bear debate always surfaces when we're there. I stood my ground once again and we did not even walk past Build-a-Bear, even though she made threats to not move from her spot several times unless I would agree that we could. We've been promising her a trip there for her birthday, which is obviously seeming like an eternity to her.

We got a little sidetracked in the accessory section at Nordstrom. Jemma fell for a headband that had a massive butterfly attached to it. She insisted it was cute enough to get, but not only was it on the obnoxious and can't-really-wear-it-anywhere side, it was also $78.

We made it to the band concert early enough to get a decent seat, but that still didn't provide any good photo opportunities. It's not the most photo-friendly environment with bad lighting, and the band was set up in a way so that we could see Jordan's head, but not his clarinet. Jemma took some video with my phone, a few photos too, but they're not uploadable. The 5th grade orchestra and band performed first, and the 6th grade string quartet did a few pieces before Jordan's band performance came up. I think they do that as a gradual build-up process. I gained a new appreciation for elementary school music teachers. Not only must they be multi-talented when it comes to knowing and playing instruments, they also must possess a lot of patience. (According to Jordan, his band teacher has not shown any signs of patience.) They're probably glad to have another year over with.

We got home and Jemma got involved playing with her animals and things so I had Jordan come home from his friend's house so I could go to the paper store. What a mean mom, making him babysit his sister just so I didn't have to tear her away from her play time. I figured she needed some release after being hauled around all day. At the paper store I bought some beautiful paper that my friend's husband designs. Right after I got home and was putting it to good use, I got an instant message from her --they were at the Apple Store in NYC. We haven't chatted in awhile, so it was kind of random to hear from her right at that time while she was on my mind since I was using their paper.



During the night Thursday Chris and Jemma were disturbed by some strange sounds coming from the chimney (Jordan and I were oblivious). Jemma was a little freaked out that it might be a wolf trying to get in. Chris figured it was a bird that was trapped. Jemma wouldn't be consoled until we confirmed that it wasn't some kind of "meat-eater" as she suspected, trying to clamor it's way into the living room. Only when we shined a flashlight up the chimney and saw a duck perched on the fireplace flue did she switch from fright to pleading with Chris to save it.



After a few minutes of struggle, Chris was able to grab the duck in a towel and run it outside to set it free. It flapped it's wings in a momentary frenzy and then just nonchalantly waddled away toward the canal as if nothing had ever happened, even though it was covered in soot.



My original plans for Friday morning did not include rescuing a duck or making play dough, but sometimes that's how things go. Jemma was set on the idea of making play dough, and it wasn't a bad idea since we haven't had any for a while. It was probably a good thing we made it because we discovered that our flour supply is completely depleted. (I even had a borrow a tiny bit from a neighbor to make the dough less sticky.) I don't do much baking, so I guess I'd just neglected to realize that we were very nearly (well, we now are) a flourless household. Isn't that kind of a staple that you tend to not run out of? Aren't we supposed to have a two year supply?

I love the Kool-Aid play dough. It fosters great creative play and smells good too.

We made a quick library run to return books and movies and pick up a few more. It's a weekly thing, but I wasn't really in the mood to browse too much today so we didn't stay long.

Jordan's been taking advantage of good bike riding weather. It wasn't super warm today, but it was dry.

Tonight we went to the Training Table for dinner, all together as a family of four. Jemma could not say enough about how "wonderful" it was. It was a good thing to do on a Friday night.