The Sharing Assembly & Best Part About School

Jayce's class had their sharing assembly a few months ago, which is pretty much what it sounds like.  The class has a  short 20 minute or so presentation to the parents one morning on some things that they had recently been working on. The class sang a few songs, talked about their senses, and went through the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  (There is a video at the end of the post of their performance.)

It was pretty cute, though certainly not as elaborate as their Christmas play.  They each had speaking/acting parts, sang a few songs, and then we got to go back to their classroom to see what else they'd been working on.

I was recording the show, and Chris was doing his best to keep Hannah restrained, who was so excited about the singing, dancing, group of kids in a big room, and well, all of it.

When they finished and Jayce ran over to say hi Hannah was delighted.  

She took his hat and decided to start a little performance of her own.

This picture (above) is my kiddos to a T right now: Jayce chilling, Hannah performing.  This is what they were like our whole vacation.  

This is one of my very favorite things about Jayce's school, they do a "learning book" of sorts.  Each child has a book that the teachers fill up throughout the year with various examples of them achieving their learning objectives in the classroom, pictures of them participating in different activities with captions, and examples of their work glued in with dates and explanations.  

I loooooooove this.  I love being able to see what he is up to in his classroom since he rarely tells me about his day, and I love the pictures of him in action, obviously.  There are a few different times during the year when parents are invited into the classroom for the students to show us their books, and Jayce loves flipping through it and telling me about his work.  

We have his book now, we received it at the end of the school year.  But at the time of this assembly I felt like this book was a precious treasure and I was eager to get a few pictures to show the grandparents.  It turns out that I didn't need to do this since we brought Jayce's book with us to the states and he was able to sit down and flip through it with a few of them.  It turns out that even kids who don't want to talk about their day still want to talk about their work and photos when it is all pulled together, and I have read through it with and without Jayce a few times since it came home.  It's like his teacher made us a detailed scrapbook of the year.  I can only imagine how much time this took them and I love it.

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Airports and International Flights: Take 3

For our first international flight with the kids, it went like this.  The second international flight was just Hannah and I, and it went like this.  This was the third.

When people would ask me if I was excited about our trip, I would say something along the lines of, "When we are in our bed in Florida, about to fall asleep, I'm going to get so excited about our trip."  This is totally true.  

Now, I'm not a pessimist.  I'm actually an optimist.  (Which, in hindsight, is maybe why I focused on the point when things will be going right instead of the possibility of the things that could go wrong.)  Anyway...

Overall, everything went just fine.  There were lots of delays, including before we even could leave London, but we all managed just fine.

I had found a Rescue Hero at a store in London despite the fact that they don't typically carry those here, and had set it away for the trip.  That morning before we even went to the airport I gave it to Jayce, and Captain Cuffs made the day's layovers much easier on my buddy.  

 

We flew from London to Texas, and then a short flight over to Florida, so international flight was around 10 hours.  It was pretty darn long, particularly since we typically fly to somewhere in the North like Chicago or Newark that only takes about 7 hours.  But I had an arsenal of activities to keep the kids busy, including some less typical ones like play dough, 

 

and mini 3-in-1 Lego sets.

 

 

Hannah slept once for about 45 minutes.  Jayce didn't sleep at all.  He was awake for 20 hours straight.

 

 

But we made it, all in one piece, and that night when I was falling asleep, I started to get really excited about our vacation.:)

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Destin, On the Balcony

Exactly 2 weeks ago today, the day after Jayce's last day of school, we boarded a plane and flew to Florida, eventually arriving in our beloved Destin.  We typically stay in the same condo, which is on the first and second floor of a lake-front villa.  But this time we were in a high rise condo with a view of the lake and the ocean, and I think the view, and the balcony in particular, must have made an impression on me.

We were in Destin for 10 days, and in that time, I took 45 pictures with my "big camera."  

When I downloaded them and looked at the number I burst out laughing.  (To give you some idea of what is normal for me, in the outfit pictures of Hannah that I've posted of her in the clothes I make her, I usually take between 50-200 in one session.  Or, when Mom and Chelsea came to see us in London, I took over 1,200.)  So 45, on vacation in Destin, for 10 days…well that's basically nothing.

That said, when I looked through all the pictures there appeared to be a theme.  With very few exceptions, the pictures I did take are on or have to do with the balcony.  It was pretty great.  

Perfect for bubbles, ice cream soup...

kids' yoga, 

and my unsuccessful attempts to catch the beach and sunset at various shades of dusk.

But I know that there are 2 main reasons that there aren't more pictures. 

1.) Jetlag/ vacation mindset/ dang I was tired/ "I'm on vacation I don't want to get up and get my camera I just want to sit here."  There was that.

2.) Hannah.  She wants me to chase after her or be snuggling her at all times right now.  This is fine with me, but tricky to do while also using a camera that requires two hands, and when we are at the pool or the beach it's just not a possibility.  

But when I did have the camera, the balcony was in the picture in one way or another.  We spent 10 days thoroughly enjoying it. 

As to the rest of the time, that's what a camera phone is for.

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Reversible Summer and Cloud Roly Poly Dress

 

So I finally used this incredibly fun, girly, summery fabric that I bought months ago.  It has these adorable little "scenes" of little girls doing summery outdoor activities, (picking apples, feeding chicks, reading books, etc.) and I didn't want to cut into them.  So this Roly Poly Pinafore pattern, which uses a big cut of fabric, seemed to be pretty perfect. 

I ended up cutting the back pieces at a slight angle since they hang at a slant across the back and I wanted the "scenes" to be pretty much straight up and down.  It wasn't perfect but it worked.

Also, since the front has a center pleat I wanted to put a cute little "scene" right underneath it.  It almost looks like you're peeking into a little tent where the girl is reading, with some bunting strung across the top.  One of those little details that no one else will care about but I think is cute. :)  Which is fine.

On the flip side I used the same blue chambray that I used for these bubble shorts.  (3/4 of a yard went a LONG way I think!)

But my favorite part are the pockets.

Clouds.  I know, right?  I love them.

I had cut them out in blue, and this floral fabric was the inner lining.  But I set them down on the fabric just to see the placement, and immediately decided that they just had to stay that way.  Floral clouds are totally fine, right? Right.

However, the next time that I add cloud pockets, I'll make sure to put them lower on the skirt.  They are close enough to the waist of the dress that if Hannah has been sitting for a while, or crouching down playing in the dirt, then the top is folded over a bit when she stands up.  No big deal, just something that's good to know.

Also, this is the first time that I've made this dress, and I based the size on her chest measurement.  It does fit great across her shoulders and chest but is a bit shorter than I would like.

Even Chris noticed this.  

Does she need pants to wear with this?  It's a bit short.

No, she doesn't need pants, she has bloomers on.  But yes, it is a little short. 

It's okay because I still think it will be adorable over a long sleeved shirt with some tights, but it's kind of a bummer to sew something that is a bit on the small side, for the sake of longevity.  Like I said, it works, but I think next time I will make the same width as this time, but size up for the length, just to give my girl a little more wiggle-room.  Literally.

Cheese, indeed. :)

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