Quick Takes Friday

1 -
I don't know how long it has been this way, but blogger is all different now.  It's a little distracting, actually.  I guess I just don't like change that much!

2-
Tonight is Charlotte's preschool program.  Every year our local preschool has a spaghetti supper, auction and program as a fundraiser.  Since I pretty much have "sucker" written across my forehead, I was called and asked to chair one of the committees - I (smartly) said no, as I have been overscheduled all year.  Of course, I assumed that we were all being asked to donate something to the dinner and help out at the dinner, so I brought in my 20 lbs of hamburger yesterday, and have an hour shift of serving tonight.  Go figure that some people who donated items AREN'T helping out at the dinner.  Oh well.  Charlotte is so excited and nervous because she is going to be on stage (In her own words "EEEKKK!!!)

3-
Sunday is Eva's First Communion!  I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that she is so grown up already, but First Communion seems like a very grown up thing.  I think she is ready (and maybe a little nervous!)  MIL came over this week to help me with Eva's dress.  I bought the size I usually buy for her, but we ended up having to tack in two inches on both sides of the dress, and tack the sleeves up about a half an inch.  I think it looks fine, but MIL doesn't like that you can tell we made some last minute alterations, and thought about deconstructing the dress and altering it correctly - but that sounded like way too much work - plus, the only places you could see (if you looked closely) are under Eva's arms, and along her back (and she has a long veil that will make it even harder to see the back.  Since Eva will probably get to wear her dress again this summer at the Midwest Catholic Family Conference (First Communicants are invited to lead the Eucharistic procession, with the girls in their first communion dresses) I'm glad to have something we can take out a little if need be.

4-
My parents are coming out for the weekend.  My dad found someone to cover his last class of the day, so they will actually make it in time for the dinner (originally, I thought they'd be getting here around the time Charlotte's program and auction starts) and they will head home sometime on Sunday.  Both girls are very excited, but Eva has written them a welcome message on the chalkboard side of the easel in our basement, and she has also made them a doorhanger welcome sign.

5-
Catechism classes are almost over for the year (YEAH!!!! It's been a long year...)  Next week is our final class/party.  So, to try to be slightly sneaky and educational, I told my kids that we would play "Stump the Teacher" where they can ask me any question from the material in their books (which we have used for two years, and covers all of salvation history!) and I have to answer without my teacher's guide.  One of my boys wanted to stump me this week and asked "Who is the mother of Jesus?" - if that's the level of questions I'm going to get, this should be a breeze...but we will see how ambitious they get.

6-
Girl Scouts is also almost over for the year.  I have one more week of Brownies (we have a speaker coming in to talk to the girls about aquifers, since that's where all of our water comes from, and we will be making ice cream aquifers) and then we have bridging...then I am done until August - when we will be taking some of the girls camping...on the weekend of my birthday.  Nothing says happy birthday quite like spending time with up to 20 hyper girl scouts and up to three other parents.

7-
While many things are coming to a close, We still have around 30 school days to go...Eva should be close to finishing her Teaching Textbooks 3, so I may make her finish that out even when we are done with our 180 days.  We are on our last unit of Connecting with History volume 2, which has a lot of Viking books and crafts, so that is pretty fun.  We are currently caught up on NOEO Science Chemistry 1 (I usually end up a couple weeks behind and having to spend most of a Friday catching up on experiments).  Eva is close to being finished with her test prep book, so she will probably be taking her CAT test next week.  I wish I knew at this point what we will be doing for school with Charlotte next year, but I am still waiting to hear back from a virtual school AND from an organization that offers grants for speech therapy.  I've been planning away for next year for Eva, though...because nothing says "this year is almost over" like spending all my free time thinking about the great curriculum we'll use NEXT year! (Okay, it's not that bad...I'm still enjoying school at the moment...I just am ready for preschool/CCD/Girl Scouts to be done so that we can stay home and do school for a change!)

More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!