Busy days

We've had a busy, but fun, few days. Bobby went to a men's retreat with our church, so Maggie and I had a girls' weekend. On Friday, as several of you saw via Facebook, Maggie insisted on dressing herself for school -- literally from head to toe. There was nothing on her body that she didn't choose herself -- her hairbow, her skirt and shirt, even her socks and shoes. She was so proud of herself, and I quickly decided that preserving this precious self-confidence was much more important than having a child who matched perfectly. So, cringing on the inside, I sent her off to school dressed like this, amidst choruses of, "I look SO beautiful. Mrs. Dana is going to LOVE me in this!"

I really loved the socks, which she refused to even roll down:

Reason #101 why I love Maggie's preschool? Every one of the teachers and assistants fawned all over her "beautiful" outfit choice. It was obvious to all the grownups that Maggie had dressed herself -- thank goodness -- and they all recognized the self-esteem boost that would go along with it. Mrs. Dana climbed in the car next to Maggie as we were leaving and told her again how nice she looked and what a great job she did. The smile on Maggie's face was priceless and was all the confirmation I needed to know that I'd made the right choice in sending her to school ... mismatched but so proud.

Friday was such a gorgeous day that I suggested a picnic.

Maggie and I packed our lunches and headed out ... to our front yard (location chosen by Maggie). We had a fun time and were even joined by our neighbor Suzy, who noticed us when she walked out to her mailbox and came over to chat.

It wasn't long before we were overtaken by caterpillars!

On Saturday we hung out at home for most of the day. I had to chaperone a field trip with our church's confirmation class; we've been talking about ways other denominations worship, so we took them to see a Catholic mass. (I wanted to go to a pentacostal church too -- I figure if we're doing one extreme, let's do the other too. Our pastor joked that while he had no problem with this, the pentacostal services often last a long time ... longer than our kids would sit still for ... and it would be hard/rude to make a graceful exit mid-service.) Anyway, Maggie stayed with a preschool friend while I went to the service. It was really interesting. I find the history and tradition behind the Roman Catholic church just fascinating.

Sunday mornings are always wild for us, but especially so yesterday. Usually Bobby handles wake-up and breakfast for Maggie while I teach my confirmation class at 8:45, then I head home after my class (9:30), he goes to Sunday School at 10, I get her dressed, and she and I meet him at the 11 a.m. worship service. Yesterday, Maggie had to be ready when I left -- bright and early at 8:30!! She was NOT happy about this arrangement -- not a morning person, my daughter. She wanted to come to class with me, but I found the early Sunday School class for her age and she grumpily went inside. After my class, I toyed with the idea of going to the 9:30 worship instead, since we were already at church. But after hanging out in the hall talking with some friends, I realized it was 9:40 and didn't want to go in that late. So Maggie and I headed to Krispy Kreme for "hot donuts now." I guess she's never been inside a donut store, because her reaction was like a TV commercial: her eyes got huge, a big smile spread across her face, and she exclaimed, "Oh, wow, Mommy! Look at all the donuts! I want one of each kind!" She settled for two mini donuts (best invention ever) and had a ball watching the donuts come through the assembly line for their icing.

It was a good thing we decided not to go to the 9:30 service, because Bobby surprised us by showing up at church five minutes before the 11 a.m. service started! His retreat finished up a little early, so he came straight to church. Maggie was so excited to see him!

Our church is starting a new gardening ministry -- we're growing an organic veggie/herb garden, and the vegetables we harvest will be donated to local food charities. Yesterday was the big planting day where we transplanted seedlings into the big garden, and Maggie and I helped out. The garden features potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, green beans, radishes, red and green peppers, carrots, yellow and zucchini squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, and onions, as well as sage, basil, and pineapple sage (my new favorite herb!). We also planted nasturtiums, geraniums, and marigolds, which are supposed to be natural pest repellants.

A few of the plants had already been put in the ground, including radishes, some of which were already ready to harvest. The gardening coordinator let Maggie have the honor of harvesting the first crop! She showed Maggie how to tell which ones were ready, and Maggie did a great job of picking out the ripe ones and leaving the others that weren't yet ready. They took her picture with her radishes -- when I get a copy I'll be sure to post it here.

A nice bonus was that after the church garden was filled, the gardening helpers got to bring home any leftover plants. We took home roma and cherry tomato plants, a cucumber plant, two pepper plants, plus sage and basil, and bean seeds. Maggie and I planted all of these yesterday, as well as starting some zinnia and black-eyed susan seeds; here are some photos of our work.

Seed pots:

Container veggies:

Finally, here are some overdue pictures from Easter.

Maggie immediately recognized the B&W cat in the top of her Easter basket as one she'd pined for at Barnes & Noble a few weeks earlier.

My pretty girl in her Easter dress:

We had lunch with friends; these are her two best friends, Meghan and Heidi.

Meghan was upset about something here, and I think Maggie looks so sweet trying to comfort her friend.

Secrets!

This one was taken after our church egg hunt on Palm Sunday. I just loved how she picked up a book and sat reading it, all by herself!

Thanks for being patient -- I was overdue with photos, but I think I made up for it, huh?