we were one table short this week, because it was the most sturdy thing i could find.  i wanted a big pirate ship.  it kicked off x week.  pirate play always provides opportunity to hone our “use your words,”  “what to do if you feel threatened,”  “how to get away if you are scared” skills.  a couple years ago, we almost didn’t do our years long tradition of X marks the Spot week when the news was flooded with real pirate violence.

but for this year, the emphasis was on friendly…lots of AAARGHS….lots of treasure hunting…lots of baby rescuing (?)…and a friendly pirate ship.

sturdy it was, thanks to more tape and afghans with good stretch.  i only wish i could have made it rock.

we tied some tubes to the fabric strips (fabric strips that were made for our wedding almost 15 years ago!!!) and were able to keep track off all sorts of things in the sea.  including a pesky hammer head shark.

in sort of a brainwashing crazy way, we had this song on repeat in the background…until ms. carol turned it off…..: )

:: :: :: ::

stay tuned…this is only the beginning of our X MARKS THE SPOT week!

the local newspaper prints photos of all the graduating preschoolers in the community along with responses to “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  our conversations involved more than simple answers, that’s for sure!

a hairdresser (who does ponytails)
a soccer player and a doctor
a ballerina dancer
a scientist that studies earthquakes
a dog rescuer and trainer
a race car driver (like my dad)
a soccer player and race car driver and grain truck driver
a truck driver that delivers things
a dog doctor
a race car driver
a violin player (with a bigger violin)
a teacher
a dancer on stage
a princess (the real kind)

i will miss these dear children and their families (except for the few who have younger siblings coming back!)

since it wasn’t a good weather day for our creek field trip, we took a walk in the rain instead.

we took a wagon and let the youngest kids ride first (and longest).

we made sure to dress for the weather in school boots and fuzzy pink hats. : )

once we got to the busy intersection of first street and main street, we checked out the signs.

everyone got a turn to press the button…

we looked toward the traffic light to check the signal:

see, there is an orange hand telling us DON’T WALK

then, oh the excitement, the signal changes to a person figure telling us to WALK!

(i admit i held my breath until we were all across…i forgot our walking rope which we usually hold on to during busy street crossings!)

one benefit of not holding on to the rope:  you can make your arms like airplane wings.

we passed a preschool friend’s house on the way back.  we knew her dog might be waiting at the window…and he was!

hello, waffle dog!

finding a big empty tree trunk finished up the walk…then we got under covers for story time.

thank you, ms. carol, for documenting our rainy walk!

more paper plate earths, but this time with sparkly gold paint added to the blue to make a sparkly green:

and now to show you what happened after all the earths were done:

most importantly, we’ll be outside this earth day…collecting trash, walking in the rain, noticing things.

happy earth day 2010.  here was earth day 2009.

when we let the wheat grass dry out a bit, it can be lifted out of the tub.

“ms. kristin!  ms. kristin!  i can feel the roots!  i am touching the roots!!!”