Monday & Tuesday

I can’t even think of a blog title as I.am.tired.  I’m suffering with major insomnia again and the ~maybe~ three hours of sleep I am getting each night is just not enough.  I guess since I can’t sleep, I’ll blog and post about the fun little things we’ve been up to. 

Monday I chaperoned Maisie’s class as they did a field trip to one of the local libraries with their 6th grade reading buddies.  Both the first and sixth graders got a general tour of the library and then the sixth graders went off to see things more appropriate for them and the first graders were given a tour of the children’s department.

I look at this picture of Maisie with her classmates and realize just how small she is compared to everyone else but I’ll tell you, the girl holds her own and neither her size nor her age inhibits her in any way.

After the classes took their grade specific tour they gathered together to listen to a couple of stories.  Both in kindergarten and now in first grade the classes have had reading buddies and Maisie really enjoys that time with the older students. 

Yesterday was a miserable rainy day so it was good that the children had a field trip since it gave them the opportunity to get out of the classroom and do something different.  For me it was a day of driving in the rain.

• Round-trip home to school for morning drop-off:  20 miles. 
• Round-trip home to school to drive for field trip:  20 miles.
• Round-trip school to library for field trip:  10 miles.
• Round-trip school to home after field trip:  20 miles.
• Round-trip home to school to pick-up Maisie:  20 miles.
• Round-trip home to gymnastics to drop-off Maisie:  20 miles.
• Round-trip home to gymnastics to pick-up Maisie:  20 miles.

130 miles in one day, in the rain!  So glad I have my Prius as it probably only cost me about three gallons of petrol.

 Tuesdays after Maisie finishes school at 1:20 our afternoons are activity free so we always try to do something fun after Maisie finishes her homework  Today we made Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars which were super easy to make and other than melting the butter Maisie was able to measure out and do all the ingredients and layering herself.  It was a great teaching lesson too as she’s learning fractions in math so working with the measuring cups helps to reinforce what she’s learning.  The bars are very good, super rich from the butter and a bit sweet from all the chips and when I make them again I’ll most likely cut back a bit on the chips (to 3/4 cup of each) and add more cranberries (3/4 to 1 cup) to give them that extra tang.

Before we could move on to our next project Maisie decided that she needed some make-up but only on her eyelids, lips and one cheek, love my funny girl.On Thursday Maisie’s class is making a special Thanksgiving meal at school but one thing that they’re not making is a dessert so Maisie and I decided to make Pilgrim hat cookies.  It was a lot of fun and Maisie could do almost all the steps herself.  Here she is covering a bamboo skewered marshmallow in chocolate.

Sliding up a fudge stripe cookie which will be the brim of the hat. 

Sliding out the skewer to make the hat.

Once the chocolate hardened I just piped on a frosting buckle and we were done.  Maisie ate one and decided that they were delicious and that her classmates would love them but then felt it necessary to eat one more…just to make sure.

Tomorrow Maisie has to do a science presentation on the water cycle so please send good thoughts that she does well.  I’m always nervous when she has to do a presentation so that will probably add to my insomnia tonight…oh well at least Maisie’s fast asleep.