schoolwork

Here are the answers James provided to the questions on his schoolwork. They were instructed to write a sentence or a simile describing each month.

January- New year
February is... Love Day
March is... Same patrics Day
April is.... Easter time
May is.... flowers day
June is.... Beach time
July is.... 4th year to cellebrate Nebraska
August is... James's birth day
September is... about racking leaves
October is.... Halloween
November is... Thank's Giving
December is... Santa Claws's Birthday

I love 1st graders!

to do list

Things I'm trying to get around to doing:
blogging about James' birthday
sending out pictures to all the parents of their children who attended James' birthday party
blogging about James' first day of school- 1st grade edition
fall cleaning- the big one!
figuring out what we need to replace, recycle or refashion in our home
then doing that
trying to come up with some ideas for the craft fair in december
working on testing the recipes in 'the' cookbook
trying to not gain 10 lbs. while testing those recipes
blogging about my birthday (it's on thursday) and the amazing things I have planned for my birthday bash- two words: Tamale Party.

also, I need to potty train Oliver.
But I am dreading that moment. Not out of any true concern for my ability to produce a potty-trained child. No. It is because I hate potty training. I don't even have a pinterest board for it, I hate it so much.

thanks for listing to my list.

6 years

Vital Statistics
Name: James Vaughan Daily
Birthday: August 8
Height: 45.5 inches
Weight: 44 lbs.- ish
Favorite things to do: Ride bikes, run, play on the swings (you learned how to swing yourself just 3 days ago!), make-believe play that you are at various times Spiderman, Batman, Pirates, Angry Birds, astronaut, chef, animals of all kinds, and (very recently) Harry Potter. You like playing with Legos, reading books that have anything to do with skeletons, dinosaurs, Henry and Mudge, Dr.Seuss (you are just now understanding the funny things in his stories, for example: Oliver Boliver Butt sent you into hysterics for a couple of days), and you love going out to our friend's farm to chase chickens. As a matter of fact, you actually caught one last week!
You have no fear! Every time we go to the zoo, you head straight for the bug building and ask to hold every single bug you can! You love to pick up bugs from the sidewalk and just look. You say they tickle you.
You have learned to swim pretty well this year. We're working on learning to swim with our head above water. Keep working on moving your arms!
You LOVE to draw and your coloring is getting so good! When you really focus, your pictures are just beautiful! You are especially good at manipulating letters. We love your drawings and how you collage your walls!
Every little girl at church has a crush on you because you're just so cute! And we all love you very much.

Happy 6th Birthday to my big boy!

On why I do not have pictures nor a story about this summer

For those who are just DYING for an update on my little family, here it is.
It's going to be short.
And sweetness may have no part in my writing.

What we have done in the routine:
YMCA
swim
library
park
zoo
bowling
summer academy

What we have done out of the routine:
DCI in Omaha.
water sports at the lake with good friends.
Fireworks.

So, as you can see, our summer has been VERY tame. I make sure we have something to do every day- it get's us out of the house for most of the day and I am the kind of person to DO things when I spend time with my family.

Mostly, though, this has been a summer of enormously lazy proportions.
The kind of summer you look back on and say:
"What did we do?"
"Nothing."
"Oh yeah! That was awesome."

So, to those long summer days, I've enjoyed you. It's actually starting to get dark around 9 o'clock now.
Soon, the trees will start to turn.
Soon, football will rule the town.
Soon, school will start and for the first time in our entire marriage, I will not send my husband to school.
That will be weird.

Summer days, driftin' away, but- oh! Oh those summer nights...

Kindergarten is closed

Or,
I now have a 1st Grader.

This school year has FLOWN by! James has made such HUGE strides in school- both academically and behaviorally. At the beginning of the year, he was having a hard time using his words to express his feelings, whether positive or negative. Now, he can tell me what he is feeling and why! This is a big deal here!
Also, he has discovered art.  His art teacher told him he was her best art student in the Kindergarten level.
I'm not surprised. It runs in the family. But I'm proud of him! At the beginning of the school year, he was having a very difficult time following instructions. Now, he completes all his assignments on his own! It's amazing!!!
Of course, none of this could happen without his amazing teachers: Mrs. Jill Gable, Mrs. English, and Mrs. McNaught. They have been just wonderful and I love them so much!

 This is at the beginning of the year:

 And this is at the end:

On to first grade!!!
And piano lessons, and swim lessons and soccer and everything else.

Rapunzel Rapunzel, let down thy hair!

I have a friend who is treating her kids to the ultimate DisneyWorld vacation. (maybe I'm a little bit jealous...)
And she needed a dress for her little girl.
Well, I don't have one of those, and she (my friend) doesn't have the skill set to sew a costume dress, so I said I'd do it for her. I have to live vicariously through other mom's of little girls. Not that I don't love my boys- I DO! But sewing for a little girl is SO much fun. And it's pretty.
My friend's little girl wanted a Rapunzel dress, so here it is:

Here's what I learned how to use/do while making this dress:
Fray Check
Heat 'n' Bond
Elastic thread
Eyelets
Lace and trim
lots and lots of hemming
altering a pattern
Satins are a pain to sew with forever and ever, amen.
How to NOT use an iron
How to HIDE iron damage
How to make a little girl's dream dress come true.

I'm available for hire, now:)

Oliver and the Piano

A photo essay

How cute is that?!