Spring Break Adventures Part I

Okay, I know I haven't been around lately. That's because Livie and I are both on Spring Break (fortunately the University's break coincided with Livie's elementary school's break). We headed to my parents' house for a few days; it was time for Livie to spend some time with her grandparents and great-grandmother, Oma.

And when I head to their house, I usually just bring my tablet. It's hard (and time consuming) having to  peck the touch screen with just two fingers, so I refrain from writing blog posts.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the beginning of Spring Break.

Iowa City on my last day of classes (Thursday March 8) .

I-80, heading west toward Des Moines.

Farm land, late winter.

Common Iowa scenery.

Livie reads to her great-grandmother, Oma.

Oma poses for a photo.

Oma tries tickling Livie. Livie moves a little too fast, though.

The remaining photos will be coming soon!

The Sun Came Back!

Yesterday, the sun came back to eastern Iowa! While on the University of Iowa campus, I took a couple photos with the blue, blue sky in the background:

The communications and journalism buildings around 3:00 PM.

The Old Capitol around 4:30 PM.

Since Livie's school isn't in session today, she helped me use Picnik to edit these photos:

The Old Capitol, with the thermal effect at 25% fade.

This is one of the texture options. Livie liked the swirls.

Art Appreciation

We enjoy art in my household. What's awesome is that in Kindergarten, Livie gets to learn about famous artists during art class!! She recently learned about Vincent Van Gogh and his artwork.

She and her class even got to replicate a couple of his famous paintings - The Starry Night, and Vase with Twelve Sunflowers.

On Thursday night, we got to attend her Kindergarten class' open house, which included an art show, so we got to see Livie's replicas. She was excited to show us, and we were excited to see her art!

This first photo is her construction paper mosaic replica of The Starry Night:

And here's her painted replica of Vase with Twelve Sunflowers:

Andrew and I were pretty impressed!

Oh, and she wanted me to add this photo of Daddy's recent evening of snow blowing:

She thought the blowing snow looked rather ghost-like, which is why she wanted me to include this photo.

Snow Day!

Okay, today, we had a major snow day! It'd started snowing before dawn, and snowed pretty much the whole day! As a matter of fact, if I hadn't check Livie's school's website (due to a sneaking suspicion about weather-related closings), I wouldn't have known her school was going to dismiss two hours early due to the storm!

So, while that was two hours of much needed study-time that disappeared, I at least got to spend most of the afternoon with Livie.

After doing a few little projects with her, I snapped this photo of the snow. This was about half an hour after I used the snow blower on the driveway. It started getting covered again rather quickly.

Okay, so I used a few of Picnik's funky editing effects to make this photo a little bit interesting, so I guess it's hard to see exactly how much the driveway got covered in that half hour. Andrew had to snow blow the driveway again when he got home because there'd been so much snow, his car got stuck!


(As a side note, I just found out that Picnik is "closing" as of April 19th, which is too bad because I've really enjoyed using it).

Back to School!

Actually, I was thinking of the movie Finding Nemo, when Nemo was excitedly saying, "First day of school! First day of school!"

I took this at the University of Iowa last Saturday when Livie, Andrew, and I headed to campus to buy this semester's text books. It's the Old Capitol building (where Iowa made its first Capitol). Now the Capitol is Des Moines.

Today, I head back to the University of Iowa for my third semester. I'm getting a graduate degree in English, and hopefully a graduate certificate in Native American Studies.

This semester, I'm focusing solely on Native American classes: "Native Peoples of North America," which has a "lecture" class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and where I'm headed this afternoon), and a "discussion" class on Mondays (but since yesterday was Martin Luther King day, we're starting the semester today). These classes meet Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for 50 minutes each. My other class is "Native American Women and Religious Change," which meets on Wednesdays for 2.5 hours.

I tried my best to get morning classes like my previous two semesters, so I could be in school when Liv is in school. But that didn't work out. All of my classes this semester are in the afternoon after Liv gets out of school. Since it's a bit of a commute to Iowa City (45 minutes one way, not including time to park and walk across campus to my classes' buildings), I will have to leave before she gets out. That means Andrew will have to adjust his work schedule so he's getting in early, allowing him to leave early for Liv.

I'm looking forward to the subjects I'm studying this semester. But since they're not English classes, I'm not sure exactly what to expect, and therefore, I'm kinda nervous. I'm good at the "read a lot of literature, then write a lot papers" aspect of English/Literature classes. So to take an anthropology class and a religion/women's studies class . . . well, we'll see. Since they're both Native American Studies classes, I'm very interested, so I'm sure I'll do well, nonetheless.

Anyway, for those of you "regulars," you may have noticed that I've been posting more regularly . . . okay, daily, since January 1st. I hadn't originally planned on a daily thing, since the "a post or two, every few days" route seemed to work for me. But by January 4th, when I realized I'd already accomplished a post a day, I figured I'd see how long I could keep it up. That is . . . until the start of the semester. It was a fun goal while it lasted.

So this first week, I may be able to do a few more "daily" posts back to back. But since I'm not taking English classes this semester, I'm not sure how the work load will be, so we'll see. I will definitely go back to a few posts a week, so I'll still be publishing posts. Just not daily. 

Now I'll sign off with a couple more photos from on (and around) campus. 

The view from the steps of Schaeffer Hall - snowy and sunny. The bookstore where Andrew got some of his books is across the street (hidden from view by those trees). There are a number of other book stores on and around campus, though.

This is near the Bluebird Diner, where we ate lunch on Saturday. I snapped this photo because I liked the look of this old tree against the blue sky.

Thanks, Mother Nature!

Looks like winter finally decided to show up here in Iowa! Here's the view out the front door on Thursday morning:

Okay, so it's not a lot of snow. But what you can't really tell from the photo is that the winds are blustery, around 25 MPH, with gusts up to around 35 MPH. The temp was around 11°F, with a wind chill around -10°F.

I don't mind the snow. In fact, I love snow. Nor do I mind cold temps. I can handle them (which I can't quite say about hot, humid, sticky weather.) However, I dislike the wind (driving in wind makes me a little nervous, since I have a high profile vehicle) and I can't stand ice. AT ALL. (Unless it's in a hockey rink, of course. Or in a margarita.) 

At least I didn't have to drive to school (the University of Iowa, about 35 miles from home) in this weather yesterday! And I'm glad Liv's school is literally right across the street, being 0.15 miles one way, door-to-door, less than half a mile, round trip.

Here's how we feel about snow in my house:

"Mama, there's nothing like a good layer of snow!"

"I'm glad it finally snowed!"

We LOVE snow!

The windchill was around -9°F at the time, so we made sure to stay safe.

The Tooth Fairy's First Visit

Liv's had a loose tooth for the past few days. She kept wiggling it, even though she said it felt weird. I'd told her all about "The Tooth Fairy" in preparation for the day the tooth actually falls out.

Well, today while she was at school, it fell out! She was at lunch when it fell out. One of the ladies helping in the lunch room said that Livie suddenly looked really surprised. When the lady asked Liv if she was okay, Liv said yes, but that her tooth had just fallen out. So the two of them went to the nurse's office so Liv could rinse out her mouth and put her tooth in a little box for safekeeping. (It was a tooth-shaped box on the end of a "necklace" which Liv wore for the rest of the day.)

She's showing off the new gap.

She got this little box at the school nurse's office. (I don't know why she's not smiling. She has actually been looking forward to The Tooth Fairy's visit ever since she got home from school!)

I guess you all know what I'm doing tonight after Liv goes to sleep! Stay tuned for an update this weekend. It should be fun!

First Day of Kindergarten

Liv started Kindergarten today! 

We'd picked out an outfit last night, so of course today started with her spilling berry compote all over it this morning! (I told her not to change out of her pajamas until after breakfast, but she was too excited, and wanted to change for school right away.) So after a quick outfit change, we were ready to walk across the street to school!

Here's the outfit she ended up wearing! She's got her "First Day of School" name sticker (which also has her teacher's initials, so everyone knows which classroom is hers).

She's modeling her backpack (which has her matching insulated lunch tote inside).

 

She wants to make sure everyone sees the reflective strip, as well as the Ariel sticker she stuck on it.

 

Off to school, which is across the street from us!

She's excited to be at her classroom!

Memory Lane Friday - 8th Grade

Before I begin this week's Memory Lane Friday post about Eighth Grade, I'd like to give a big thanks to Lisa at Two Bears Farm. She's been hosting Memory Lane Friday for quite some time now, and it's been something I've looked forward to on a weekly basis. I also want to thank her for inviting me to join in, way back when (my first Memory Lane Friday post being February 27, 2010!!).

Anyway, I just wanted to thank her, since, after this week - and for the time being - she's taking a brief hiatus from hosting Memory Lane Fridays.

Okay, so this week's Memory Lane Friday theme is Eighth Grade. There are a few things I distinctly remember about Eighth Grade.

The big one is that in the spring, just a couple months before I was to graduate from Eighth Grade, I fell off my horse, Chico, while we were jumping, and I broke my collar bone (if you're interested, you can read about the incident here). I remember having to wear this padded support thing around my shoulders, and some girl in my class came up to me (practically getting right up in my face), asking me, "What IS that thing? What's wrong with you?!" When I explained what had happened, she backed off, apologized, and asked if it hurt. Hahaha! What a question. Why, yes! Yes, it does!

Of course, because of this accident, I couldn't go to my 3rd and final summer at Culver's Upper Camps. I was really disappointed by this, but the good thing is that I ended up going there for high school, beginning later that year, in the fall - one of my best experiences! (You can check some of my other Memory Lane Friday posts for a few of my stories from Culver.)

Another thing I remember from Eighth Grade was winning a writing contest! We were supposed to write about something chocolate-themed, and I had this whole elaborate chocolate farm story going. There were brown cows that gave their farmers chocolate milk, as well as chocolate Willy Wonka-inspired streams across the farm land, and other sorts of fantastic, gooey, chocolatey things. The prize? Two one-pound Hershey chocolate bars!! Yum!!

Oh, and this was the year that my family's Finnish au pair, Minna, got me into my first R-rated movie (Beverly Hills Cop).  Now that was fun!

Speaking of our au pair, she and I always had a fun time going on adventures (like going to Beverly Hills Cop). She was usually responsible for getting me to my riding lessons in the afternoon, often taking lessons, herself. I think she even took me to a few horse shows, too.

Horse shows were a lot of fun, and oftentimes, my friend Leslie and I would be at the same shows together. By the time I got to Eighth Grade, we had a tradition going. On the eve of a horse show, one of us would spend the night at the other person's house and clean tack (the saddles and bridles), and polish boots. We would typically watch the movie International Velvet, while preparing our stuff for the next morning. And, of course, we'd try to get to bed at a reasonable time, considering how early we had to get up the next day.

Then we'd get up, get to the show grounds to prepare our horses; then we'd show, show, show. At the end of the day, she and I would head out with her parents to a local pizza joint for a celebratory pizza! So much fun!

This is me at a horse show with Chico. It was not 8th grade (6th, I think?), but it's the best horse show photo I have of myself while showing Chico. Photo ©Rick Bate.

Anyway, those were the big highlights that I can remember from Eighth Grade!

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Lisa at Two Bears Farm. Please click on the "Memory Lane Friday" button below to read her entry, as well as other contributors' posts:

Memory Lane Friday - Second Grade

This week's Memory Lane Friday topic is "Second Grade." I've talked about 2nd grade before when we had "A Favorite Teacher" as the topic. But that was a year ago, so I'm going to repeat a bit of info.

When I was in second grade (at least I think it was second grade and not third), we had a teacher by the name of Mrs. Hunter. She was SO kind and calm. The class loved her. I remember that her room had a little reading nook. There were big fluffy pillows in one corner, and a curtain you could pull around yourself (like a curved shower curtain) so you'd have a cozy little reading area to read quietly. I always loved that corner of the room.

Anyway, the thing I remember most about second grade is that Mrs. Hunter had a pet skunk named Daisy! She was very docile and cute, and the whole class thought she was great! Daisy's scent glands had been removed, so she wouldn't get anybody stinky.

Sometimes Mrs. Hunter would bring Daisy to school and it was SO much fun. We were always so excited about our class "mascot" on the days she came into school.

Striped skunk photo by Tom Friedel (from Wikipedia)

Her husband was an EMT and he came by one day to tell us about a day in the life of an EMT. We got to go outside and see the ambulance, which was cool.

Another day, she had a classmate's mom and older sister come by with one of their Arabian horses for a sort of "show and tell," teaching us a bit about horses. Again, this was another one of those outside lessons (obviously).

Having already started riding lessons, I thought this was awesome!!

Arabian horse photo by Aline Sagrabelny (from Wikipedia)

Mrs. Hunter also had our whole class over at her house one evening, where we made ice cream in one of those old-fashioned ice cream makers - the kind where you've gotta use the salt and the big ol' hand crank. We all got to take turns cranking the ice cream maker. It was a blast. And the ice cream? It was delish!

She couldn't have made school more fun than that!!

Please come back next week when the Memory Lane Friday theme is "Third Grade."

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read Lisa's post, as well as other contributors' posts.

Memory Lane Friday - First Grade

This week's Memory Lane Friday theme is "First Grade."

I don't have a specific memory for something that happened in class when I was in first grade. I do, however, remember an incident that happened when I was visiting my grandparents just after I finished first grade.

I was in El Paso for a week or two visiting my grandparents. My grandmother, Oma, knowing I always enjoyed a good book, took me to the El Paso Public Library (I don't remember which branch) to pick out some books we could read together during my visit. 

I specifically remember picking out a book about dinosaurs, and was amazed by all these prehistoric creatures (like T-Rex, of course, diplodocus, triceratops). I loved this book. I poured over the photos, probably making Oma read it with me a million times.

But then the time came: the books were due back at the library. So Oma and I got in the car and headed back to the library. I was in the back, holding my stack of precious books, not exactly understanding what was going to happen.

When we got to the library, there was an external book return slot. Oma and I went to it, and she asked me to hand her the books and she stuck them in there.

I was surprised and upset. I wanted to keep the dinosaur book; besides, I thought it was mine! I hadn't quite understood that it was the library where we borrowed books, and not a book store, where we bought and kept them.

She promised that the next time I visited her, we'd go back to the library and check out that book again.

I remembered this scene the first time I took Livie to the library and then had to return a book she fell in love with - she acted the same way!

Please come back next week when we have another "No Theme" week.

Memory Lane Friday is hosted weekly by Lisa at her blog called Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read Lisa's post, as well as other contributors' posts:

Happy List for 20 Mar 2011

Okay, I was over at Mamarazzi's Dandelion Wishes blog, and saw that she does a "Happy List" on the weekends; I thought it would be fun to join in.

So here goes:

I'm happy that Livie and I were able to get outside yesterday for some sunshine, fresh air, and exercise in the springlike weather.

We're at the playground across the street from our house.

I'm also happy that we can have use of a playground across the street from our house! It's very convenient. Of course, it's the elementary school's playground, so we can only go on the weekends or after school is over for the day.

Of course, that brings me to my next "happy" - this is the school where Livie will start Kindergarten in the fall. Again, it's right across the street. How convenient will that be?!

I'm also happy that Liv and I were able to get to the art studio yesterday. It's an awesome place, in the back of a local artsy-type store. They have "Open Studio" hours on Saturdays, so anybody can go in and do art projects. It's something like $3/hr, plus the cost of the materials that you used.

And I'm happy that we now have a new printer (it's wireless) and it's now all set up and working. I can even print wirelessly from my laptop from the kitchen - or wherever I am in the house (with the laptop, of course). I can be upstairs on my laptop doing my homework and be able to print something. So if Andrew's on the desktop, I won't have to kick him off to print stuff. Woo hoo!

I'm also happy for spring. While I love autumn and winter, I really appreciate spring, because that means we don't have to bundle up in a million layers . . . especially when I have to bundle myself AND a squirmy 5-year-old. 

Finally, I'm happy to have gotten a good run in on Friday. I've been having issues with plantar fasciitis (PF) - owie! - and something with my knee (it was swollen like a grapefruit). While the PF is still bugging me, it's mild when I stretch and ice properly. And the knee? It seemed to have been back to normal by Friday, so I went running. And it felt good. A runner's high is a great thing - thank you endorphins!!

Please click on the box below to read Mamarazzi's "Happy List" as well as other contributors' lists:

Memory Lane Friday - Kindergarten

This week's Memory Lane Friday theme is "Kindergarten."

Now I can't really remember much about Kindergarten, specifically. However, I remember a story my mom told my grandmother (Oma) in a letter about one of my Kindergarten experiences. Oma eventually gave me that letter in a packet of mementos she'd saved (cards I got for my birthday, a lock of hair from my first hair cut, a flower I'd picked for her, etc.).

So here's the thing . . . apparently I was at Kindergarten one day and my mom had come to pick me up. When she came in to get me, I was playing at the play-kitchen. She watched me for a few moments, as I did chef-like things with pots, pans, the water faucet (the pretend one), and such.

At some point, before I realized she was standing there watching me, she saw that in the sink, I had the "class mascot" - the hamster! The real one! I had him in the sink and was "washing" him!!

She saw that I was being gentle with him (as gentle as a 5-year-old can be), and just really affectionate, as though he were my very own pet.

And then, so I could do something else "chef-like," I put the hamster in a pot (I guess so he wouldn't get away?) and set him on the play-kitchen's counter, to do something else at the little kitchen.

At this point, she had stepped in and made her presence known to me. I can't picture her ever touching a hamster (even when she was younger), so I'm assuming she either got the teacher's attention and had her come over to the play-kitchen, or she took the pot and hamster over to the teacher.

I get a kick out of this image, because it IS funny, and also because I can picture Livie doing the same thing.


Please come back next week when the theme is "First Grade."

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Lisa at Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to check out her post, as well as posts from other participants:

Memory Lane Friday - It Happened in Class

This week's Memory Lane Friday topic is "It Happened in Class."

I've been trying to think of something embarrassing or funny that happened to me in class at some point in my academic career. But since I can't think of anything (maybe I blocked out all the embarrassing stuff), I'm going to write about a fun memory from my astronomy class when I was at Culver Girls Academy (part of Culver Academies).

My senior year, for my science classes, I was taking Astronomy first semester, and Geology second semester, both taught by Dean Carl Steeley.

The year before, a few of my friends from the class of 1988 had taken the same classes their senior year. Now it was my turn.

It was fall semester, so I was in Astronomy class, along with a couple of my classmates from the class of 1989. It was a fun, interesting class - a subject that has always seemed really cool.

Anyway, one day in class, Dean Steeley was telling us about the phases of the moon - you know, waxing crescent (it's partially lit up and looking like it's getting bigger), waning gibbous (it's big, and starting to get smaller), and so forth.

Well, Dean Steeley was bald, okay? And here's the part where he used himself as a prop to demonstrate a concept to the class. It's also my "It Happened in Class" bit, which went something like this . . .

Dean Steeley had an overhead projector in his class, the kind that projects an image from transparencies onto a screen on the wall, via mirrors, lenses, and light. Know the kind? 

He turned it on and had the shiny part of the "arm" facing us, saying something like "Okay, here's the sun." Then he said "My head is the moon . . . see, you can even see the Man in the Moon's face" as he pointed to his head. He then proceeded to walk around the overhead projector, telling us about each phase of the moon, so we could have a visual.

Hahahaha! The "My head is the moon" quote? Classic Dean Steeley. My friends (from both graduating classes of 1988 and 1989) who took his astronomy class still, to this day, remember that day in class (he did the same thing the year before, for my friends in the class of 1988 who took his Astronomy class).

He was such a fun, kind instructor, always keeping the class entertaining.

He passed away within the past few months, which was sad, but inevitable news. So to remember him fondly, I told Livie the story about "My head is the moon," the first full moon after I'd heard that he'd passed away.

Anyway, this particular moment in his class is always a fun one to remember among those of us who took his class.

And to Dean Steeley, "My head is the moon!"

Here's a Chapel view of the Culver campus.

Photo was taken by me in May, 2009.

Please come back next week when the topic is "An Injury."

Memory Lane Friday is hosted weekly by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button to read her entry for this week, as well as other entries who may have posted.

Butterflies and a New Educational Adventure

Today was a big day.

See, a couple months ago, Andrew and I applied for Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits so we could continue our educations; our applications were approved.

That means that we will both have funding for grad school (both tuition and books)!!

The next step, therefore, is to get accepted to a graduate school in the area. One of the closest schools? The University of Iowa, in Iowa City, IA.

Iowa's Old Capitol, now a part of the University of Iowa.

Andrew's idea was to take two graduate courses in the non-degree program to 1.) get back into the school/study habit, and 2.) to establish a pattern of being able to get good grades at the graduate level, in case his GRE scores weren't as good as he'd hoped.

I thought that was a good idea, and was toying with doing the same thing myself.

So today, Andrew was planning on heading down there (about a 45 minute drive) to turn in the required paperwork, as well as dropping off his sealed undergraduate transcript at the graduate school office. Then he could sign up for a couple classes. He'd wanted me to go with him so I could do the same.

Here's Andrew on campus.

Well, I hadn't known until last night that he was planning on doing this, so I didn't have my transcripts sent. I told him I'd have to go down another day.

But since I had a bit of time today, I decided at the last minute, to go with him, just so I'd know exactly where I needed to go when I ended up going next week to drop off my paperwork (which I decided to take with me in the event I had a chance to sit down and finish filling it out).

Guess what? Once there, I realized that classes start NEXT WEEK!!

Good thing I brought my paperwork with me, right? (Except for the VA stuff, which I'll have to take with me next week, and drop off after class).

I got really excited about the prospect of signing up for a couple classes. As I scrolled through the list of English classes, I suddenly thought of my Uncle Hector, who was a professor of English and Linguistics in New Mexico. I missed him, and the opportunity to share my grad school experience with him.

It was a sad moment. I'd told Andrew, "I miss my uncle." He said, "Do this for him!" to which I responded, "I'll do it for me, but I'll keep him in mind."

And then I saw it . . . a class that looked really interesting - one that my uncle would've encouraged me to take - "Native American Literature." Here I was, thinking of my uncle, and voila! Here's a class he would've enjoyed talking about with me.

The computer, by the way, indicated it was still open!! Woo hoo!!

Andrew and I hurriedly finished our paperwork and literally ran over to the registrar's office to add our classes; I wanted to hurry up and sign up for the "Native American Literature" class before it filled up, because I'd found out there was one opening left.

Here's where we ran from one building to the next (from right to left).

Unfortunately, once we got to the registrar's office, I found out the class was full!  

Really?! In the few minutes it took us to run from one building to the neighboring building, the class filled up?!

Ugh. The registrar said I needed to get the slip signed by the professor, and that next week, I could head back to the registrar and see if anyone had dropped it, leaving a spot open for me. She said that if I had time today, maybe I could go to that professor's office and have him sign it now, then I wouldn't have to worry about it next week.

So Andrew and I did just that.

But this is where my second disappointment of the day happened - we found the professor and he said he couldn't sign it this week. I'll have to go to the first class on Tuesday, and if there are people who've dropped the class, he'll sign it then.

Ah, well. If it's meant to be, there'll be a space for me on Tuesday morning, when the first class is held. I'll be disappointed, but hopefully I'll find another class that is just as interesting, right?

Memory Lane Friday - A Favorite Teacher

This week's "Memory Lane Friday" topic was a hard one for me to narrow down. I had a number of favorite teachers from different schools (grade school, high school, college . . . )  and different activities (riding lessons, Tae Kwon Do, music) to make it a difficult choice.

But I've decided to go WAY back to around 2nd or 3rd grade.  The teacher was Mrs. Hunter. She was so kind, gentle, patient. I never saw her getting frustrated, impatient, or upset over anything.

She didn't even react when I'd gotten into her art supplies and did my own art project, while the class was doing something else. 

She had this gentle voice and read fun books to us - I remember that her voice was a good reading voice. Also, when she read books to the class, she'd change the characters' names and insert her students' names. It was fun anticipating when she'd use your name. Then it was such a blast hearing your name in the middle of a fun, familiar book!

Another fun thing about her was the fact that she had a pet skunk! Her skunk's name was Daisy. Daisy's "stink glands" had been removed so she wouldn't squirt anybody. I don't remember how Mrs. Hunter explained that to us, but somehow I knew and understood that we would not get "skunked" by Daisy.

I also remember that her husband was an EMT or firefighter and came over in an ambulance to talk to the class.

She also had a parent and older siblingof one of my classmates bring an Arabian horse (yes, a real one) to teach us a little bit about horses. I remember being out in the field next to the playground, and learning about the Arabian horse Mrs. L. had brought to the school. That was FUN. I was already horse-crazy by this point, and I may have already started riding lessons. So you can believe that I loved this "show and tell"!!

Another time, Mrs. Hunter had the whole class over at her house for a "slumber party" type of thing. I remember my best friend at the time, Alison, was there, as were many (if not all) of the other students from the class!

We did a lot of fun things, like make homemade ice cream (using one of those old-fashioned ice cream churns with the big crank handle, and how the machine needed that chunky salt to help freeze the ice cream). We visited with Daisy. We played tag outside. Then we told ghost stories inside while eating ice cream. As an adult, when I think back on it, I can't believe she'd have us all over for a "slumber party" all night, but I remember staying the night there and eating breakfast there with the class the next morning.

That was definitely a fun year in school!

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