My Latest: A LOT!!!

There's been a lot going on behind the scenes in the past couple of weeks! Here's a brief catch-up of my latest builds and projects, and my tutes and essays from Crafting a Green World:

PVC pipe bow-and-arrow set

This bow-and-arrow set is based on the PVC bow-and-arrow tutorial from Skip to My Lou, with the following build notes:

1. Although my kids are handy with tools, and can build the PVC pipe sword entirely independently, start to finish, they needed an adult to string these bows and cut the slit into the ends of the dowel arrows for them. 
2. Although pipes are generally measured by inside diameter, these pipes need to be 1/2" in TOTAL diameter. Any thicker, and the draw weight will be too heavy for a kid.
3. Have the kid wrap electrical tape around the center of the bow for a hand grip.
4. Instead of cutting a slit into each end of the PVC pipe bow and then closing it with tape, have the kid choose a drill bit that's slightly larger than the sturdy nylon string and drill a hole completely through the bow about an inch from each end. Thread the nylon string through both holes (this is fiddly--roll a piece of duct tape tightly around the end of the string to make it easier to thread), then knot it and glue the knot.
5. Pencil erasers make good arrow points. Choose a dowel whose diameter is the same as a pencil's, then have the kid put a drop of glue into each eraser and push it onto the dowel.
6. That slit in the end of the dowel to fit it onto the bowstring is essential. The kids thought that they'd skip it, because it was too fiddly for them to cut, but without it, the arrow will simply drop to the ground when it's loosed. We thought the entire bow was non-functioning at first, until Will tried it with one of her real arrows and shot it clean across the yard.

2015 Trashion/Refashion Show

It was a great show! Shockingly, I did not take any photos of the kids in their final garments, with hair and make-up done--and the make-up was superhero AWESOME!!! Fortunately, there were a slew of professional and amateur photographers there, and surely someone caught a photo of the finished look.

Matt was sort of able to videotape the kids' runway walk, although he had the camera setting screwy so that he also didn't get a good shot of their makeup, and he was actually sitting too close to be able to get both kids in the same frame the whole time, but nevertheless, this is more or less what it looks like to be a pint-sized superhero on the big stage. Listen for the moment when the crowd begins to cheer so loudly that the emcee has to pause her spiel. That was a good moment:

Crafting a Green World

It's been a couple of weeks since I've caught you up, but here's my latest:

a round-up of DIY plant markers

an essay about seed bombs, and why I don't think that they really work

a review of YOXO, which my kids got for free to play test

a tutorial to make a Cartesian diver out of a soda bottle

an essay about the National Wildlife Federation's Butterfly Hero program

and a round-up of playhouse tutes

As far as projects for this week go... let's see...

I'll have several performance buns to create, as Syd has several rehearsals and then her spring ballet recital to dance in.

I need to get a couple of garden plots tilled and strawberry plants, blackberry starts, and greens of all sorts into the ground.

An enclosed chicken yard really must be built, or Fluffball and Arrow will have to spend our entire Chicago vacation in their coop. 

And, fine, I'm getting three wisdom teeth extracted tomorrow. I suppose that I'll need to rest after that for at least a couple of hours.

Three, max.

Practicing for the Fashion Show

If there is one thing that we've learned during years of participation in our town's Trashion/Refashion Show (and there are, of course, MANY things that we've learned...), it is that a fashion show takes PRACTICE!!!

There's no point in practicing before the show's first rehearsal--a couple of years the marks on the runway that they want the models to hit have changed, and one year the entire venue was different from the previous year--but after that first rehearsal, we tape down a masking tape runway indoors and draw a sidewalk chalk runway outdoors, and the model practices daily.

This is the first year that Will is also a model, and there was some sister drama to start, hopefully smoothed over now. During their first rehearsal, planning their routine, Will had the audacity to suggest one alteration to the routine that Syd had in her head, and she immediately pitched a giant fit. Rehearsal was stopped and frankly, I sent them both to bed.

The next morning, Syd was in fine form and ready to listen to any and all suggestions, but Will was still pissed at her for last night's behavior, and pissed at me because I'd asked her to practice instead of read, so she grumped and sulked until I sent her away and had Syd practice alone until she had her routine memorized. You can see Will in the background of this video, actually, using birdseed to lure the chickens away from the road:

These are some very superhero poses, aren't they?

These are some very spoiled animals that we have. Whenever we're outside, they insist on being underfoot:

Seriously. The kids and I went for a hike in our woods this weekend, and at one point I turned around to find that all three cats and both chickens had followed us!

Of course, the kids are equally besotted with their pets:

And that's how rehearsal segued into play, which segued into more rehearsal when a friend who's also in the show came over, and that segued into more play, and then the friend left and the kids did their math while I wrote, and then did their spelling and vocabulary, and then we worked on memorizing a Robert Frost poem, and then we listened to a CD of Robert Frost reading some other poems, and then there was Minecraft.

And that was a fine school day!

My Latest: The Awesomes

My round-up of the week's paid writing is late, because on Sunday I was deliberately NOT doing all the productive things that I usually do on Sundays. Instead, I watched Birdman, and spent a lot of time sledding, and ate Tibetan food--you know, the kind of stuff that the normals probably always do on a Sunday.

Anyway, here's what I got paid to write last week!

a tutorial for making a DIY camera lens cap leash

and ALL about the superhero costumes that I made for the kids and submitted to our town's Trashion/Refashion Show jury

I wrote this tute on appliqueing jersey knit without using fusibles. 

Syd and Will both helped piece the T-shirt fabric for their capes.

I made a template, and their job was to piece together something that was larger than that template.

Then I cut that piece to size, and added it to the cape.

I decided not to take the time to starch, so instead I painstakingly pinned while watching... is that Supernatural or New Girl? Can't tell.

Here are the rest of my build notes for the completed garments. 

I'm not super pleased with how these came out--if I hadn't been spending most of my time last month managing the Girl Scout cookie business, I think that you'd be looking at a much more elaborately detailed, intricately pieced pair of costumes right now--but I think that what you are looking at at least has more of the feel of a homemade, kid-designed superhero costume, like what a kid superhero would actually look like if she actually had the skills to applique herself a cape and sew herself a leotard. 

And, of course, the kids like them, so, you know, fuck you, Perfectionism!

Work Plans for the Week of February 23, 2015: Fashion Show, Field Trips, and Final Cookie Orders (Yay!)

I have GOT to finish the kids' Trashion/Refashion Show entries this week! I was thrown off my game by a full day last week when, no matter how many times I sewed it, Will's T-shirt biketard simply. Refused. To. Work. Now that I've got that nailed down finally, I keep telling myself that all the rest of the design and sewing will go much more quickly, but still... must get it done this week. That Thursday Free Day is going to be the final leg of the race, no matter what.

In addition to these lesson plans, the kids' daily work will include, as always, chores, typing practice, keyboard practice, Chinese practice, and a daily book or documentary of my choice, to be read/viewed and then discussed with me. Those selections include a picture book biography of Georgia O'Keeffe that I thought that Syd would enjoy, a photo/essay book on fossils that I thought that Will would enjoy, a couple of books and videos for more Chinese language practice, and some selections on ballet or Sleeping Beauty, the theme of Syd's Spring ballet recital.

MONDAY: This time last week we were in the middle of a blizzard, and all outside-the-house activities were happily cancelled, but today we'll be happy to be back at our regular volunteer gig now that everything is plowed and cleared and the snow is piled up where it ought to be--a foot deep on the grass, perfect for sledding and forts and snowpeople in our free time!

In Math Mammoth this week, Will is studying decimals and Syd is studying area, perimeter, and volume. On this day, I'll be showing Will how one can use our Base Ten blocks as decimal manipulatives (hint: the hundred flat equals ONE), and Syd will be helping me tape out a template for the capes that she designed in masking tape right onto the floor. I'm hoping that she and her sister can sew these capes themselves, or at least baste them by hand for me to sew...

Will has the outline for her essay on historically black colleges and universities written, so this week she'll be writing that essay, then editing it. And yes, I do make suggestions in colored ink all over her rough draft, just as I used to do with my freshman comp students. Syd also has a book report to write on this day, and both kids need to write some thank-you notes to some extra generous Girl Scout cookie customers.

I've set aside time for the kids to have a Hoffman Academy keyboard lesson today, but I think that I'll actually give them the choice to either take a new lesson or complete the worksheets from the last few lessons--I got lazy about printing the worksheets for them, because for a couple of weeks in a row they'd just seemed like busywork, but now that I look back at the pages that they missed, I think that they'll want them for the rhythm and note identification.

TUESDAY: We'll actually be gone for most of the day on this day; we'll be helping with seed sorting at the food pantry where we volunteer weekly, and we'll be sledding with friends, AND the kids have Science Club (and hopefully I have a date at a Mexican restaurant!) that night.

The kids, especially Will, love animals so much that I think they'll be excited to start this zoology unit on this day. We'll be using Zoology for Kids, and the first lesson is an introduction to animal biology at the cellular level, and it asks the kids to make an edible animal cell model--yum! We'll be doing it cookie cake-style, and I plan to require them to also make an edible plant cell model, so that they can see the similarities/differences.

WEDNESDAY: In addition to horseback riding class, the kids and I have a field trip to a local wild animal rescue center on this afternoon--they are going to be SO excited. We'll slog through one, two, or three First Language Lessons lessons, depending on how long each one is, and hopefully the Trashion/Refashion Show garments will be finished--at least *almost* finished--by the end of this day.

THURSDAY: If not, I'll be ignoring the kids all morning while I finish them on THIS day!

FRIDAY: It's early for Easter eggs, I know, but I have an experiment with dyeing brown eggs that I'm desperate to run, and I know that the kids won't care whether or not it's off-season.

The kids have a couple of larger orders of Girl Scout cookies to add notes and prizes to, wrap up for mailing, write addresses on, and calculate postage for. If it needs to be done anyway, might as well do it as part of school!

This Prima Princessa ballet DVD might be on the baby-ish side, I'm suspecting, but it's supposed to provide an excellent narration of the story as told in the Sleeping Beauty ballet (as opposed to the Disney movie), so I think that it'll be a worthwhile experience, and it's also supposed to include some little ballet moves for the kids to do along with the video, which will be nice for Will, who's never taken a ballet class in her life, to try out and get the feel of.

While Will takes her final ice skating class of the season, Syd can write thank-you notes to the relatives who generously mailed us their unwanted black or white T-shirts that will hopefully by then be part of our 100% completed Trashion/Refashion Show garments!

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Saturday, as usual, will have Matt spending part of the day taking Syd to ballet and both kids to Chinese and doing something fun with them in between. Sunday will hopefully be a day at home for everyone!

Because now that we've got our two favorite sledding runs nice and packed down, it would be a shame not to spend half the day, every single day, out on them!

Work Plans for the Week of February 16, 2015: Mongolia and Hoosier Heroines

Half an hour into our Monday, and the schedule's already blown, thanks to a combination of snow (yay!) and car trouble (boo!). We'll actually be having a little staycation here at home today and Tuesday, and I'll just wait and see if I fill up those out-of-the-house spots with schoolwork here, or simply let them be. After all, one must have ample time for snowmen and sledding, mustn't one?

In addition to the written schedule, each day the children also have independent practice in typing, piano keyboard, and Chinese, and they each have a book assignment, ranging from Mongolian folk tales to picture books of Chinese characters to a bizarre 1950s-era children's how-to manual, which actually explains, step by step and remarkably clearly, how to do things like clean the house and write a thank-you letter and make a grilled cheese sandwich, etc. I usually just have the children talk to me about the book that they've read, but this week I'll also be asking them to write Chinese characters and make me a grilled cheese sandwich.

MONDAY: No Hub, no Girl Scout meeting. However... snow! In math, I'll be demonstrating to both children the Girl Scout cookie booth essential skill of counting back change. Next year, I'll be demonstrating this skill to all my Girl Scouts BEFORE our cookie booths! Our troop's two oldest girls (both named Willow, incidentally--it was wonderful, at our last cookie booth, to call out "Willow!" and have TWO big helpful girls at my disposal!), can handle money and make change with an adult standing at her elbow to supervise, but they both simply subtract--fine for the easy math of multiples of four, but one day out in the world the math won't be so simple.

This week's horse breed is the Abaco Barb. I'm really pleased with the infographics that the children have been producing for their horse research; I feel like this is a useful skill well learned!

Syd is starting a block of short story writing; I'd like her to produce a few written and illustrated picture books this spring. Will is engaged this week in another odd little essay prompt for a local contest--she's really improving in her ability to write to a prompt, and after this season of essay contests is over, I look forward to asking her to choose her own subjects for essays, as well.

TUESDAY: No Robotics Club. However... snow!

WEDNESDAY: YES horseback riding! You'll notice that aerial silks hasn't been on my list of weekly classes for a few weeks. At a recent Family Meeting we discussed extracurriculars; although I'm willing to enroll the children in whatever they're interested in and want to work at, I've noticed that the children lose their appreciation for these opportunities when they're signed up for more than one a day, and so I asked them to make some choices, assuring them that they could revisit these choices at the end of every session. Both children chose to drop aerial silks classes for the time being (they still spend ages of time on our at-home rig each day, and I might explore Youtube to see if there are any demonstrations or tutorials that might appeal to them), and Syd also chose to drop horseback riding. Instead, she'll be taking gymnastics on Thursdays. I found these choices so interesting because, of course, both children could have continued in horseback riding, and both children could have taken gymnastics, and in previous weeks I think they'd both have been eager to. I think they took our discussions of their schedules and their commitments to them that we'd been having in preparation for our Family Meeting to heart, however, and I could see them really thoughtfully choosing only what they really wanted to do.

For whatever reason (probably because I kept scheduling it for Fridays, which is the least productive time to put the "serious" schoolwork), we keep not listening to the Story of the World chapters on Mongolia and working on the comprehension questions. We MUST do it this week, however, as World Thinking Day is on Sunday, and my Girl Scout troop, thankfully led in this by another mom, is presenting on Mongolia. The mom has done an incredible job teaching the children about Mongolia and organizing their displays and presentation. My two need to create displays on Mongolia's map and flag this week, and I can't pass up the opportunity presented by this unit to cover those Story of the World chapters. After all, who doesn't like learning about Genghis Khan?!?

Syd's Minecraft Homeschool session is over, so while Will is working on her essay, I'm filling in Syd's extra schoolwork slot with activities that I know that she'll especially like--playing a game with me, and doing a craft project. I'll also need her help with her Trashion/Refashion garment off and on this week, so easy, fun little "assignments" like those won't interfere with any work that I need her to do on that.

THURSDAY: After the madness of the past few weeks, I'm relieved that this looks to be our only hectic day this week. Gym Day will likely include some extra World Thinking Day rehearsal, and the start of gymnastics class overlapping with a Girl Scout cookie booth will definitely require some juggling. Math Mammoth (decimals and geometry), a keyboard lesson with Hoffman Academy, and, for Will, the writing of a rough draft are the only added things to this day.

FRIDAY: I was pleased that the children rated math class as one of the extracurriculars that simply couldn't be dropped (ice skating is still also on Fridays, but only until the end of this session. Our rink is only seasonal, sigh); they love their teacher, and many of their closest friends also take the class, which devotes a full hour to board games at the end--how could that NOT be a hit?

We're still using First Language Lessons for grammar. In addition, these Word Ladders are a fun way for a kid to practice a little logical deduction and stretch her spelling skills while her sister is on the ice.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: The children love their Saturday tradition of Sydney's ballet class, something "fun" with their father (last week it was Wonderlab, and the week before I believe that it may have been a buffet restaurant), and then Chinese class. Our local indie theater is showing all the Oscar-nominated short films as a film festival this weekend, so we'll likely be attending that, and then Sunday is World Thinking Day!

And hopefully by Sunday, I'll also have this Trashion/Refashion show garment in hand...

Work Plans for the Week of January 26, 2015: Essays and Indianapolis

Last week was a very successful school week. The kids worked with minimal fuss, enjoyed playdates with friends, and then on Friday, we skipped school altogether after math class, and instead went hiking and spelunking with some buddies.

See? Spelunking!

A creek runs through the cave, and although everyone wore galoshes, children's galoshes still aren't that tall, you know? My friend and I decided that we'll return to this cave in the summer, wearing Keens, and perhaps we won't leave again until fall.

And hiking:

This week, we've got that make-up day, more essays to work on, a couple of new classes to begin, and a field trip to Indianapolis.

The kids' daily book assignments (one each daily, in addition to the hours of pleasure reading that they do independently) include picture books on the theme of diversity, a history of the Pearl Harbor attack, folk tales, and more picture books about Georgia O'Keeffe.

MONDAY: We're back at our regular volunteer gig today, after skipping last week so that the kids could do a different service project with the Girl Scouts. The kids also skipped their Hoffman Academy keyboard lesson, since that was the day we went spelunking with friends instead; the lessons are short enough, however, that I'm considering having the kids complete two lessons today. It's not really necessary to do that, since I never worry that they're "behind" in anything, but still... it's worth asking them about to see what they think.

Will needs more hands-on experience with fractions, so I've invented a game for the kids to play with me today that involves fraction circle manipulatives and fraction dice. It should cover adding mixed fractions and both like and unlike fractions, so I think that it will help Will a lot. Syd will play, too, of course--one of the reasons why Syd is generally so quick at her math is this leg-up that she's always getting by sharing Will's hands-on enrichment.

Syd also has her Minecraft Homeschool class to work on this week, so that's sort of an invisible lesson slot in her work plans. It works out well, though, because Will has a biography of Anthony "Kapel" Van Jones to write this week, and it will give me time to focus one-on-one with her.

Finally, the children's horseback riding instructor is retiring from her post this week, so she deserves two lovely cards with lovely notes inside from two grateful little girls.

TUESDAY: The kids have their first meeting of a science club at our local community college on this evening. Will attends a robotics club there on alternate Tuesdays, where she is apparently a star programmer of LEGO Mindstorms, so I expect that this program will be equally excellent.

In Math Mammoth this week Will returns to fractions, and Syd reviews rounding and estimating. It should be an easy enough week for both.

The children's horse breed homework this week is the Lipizzaner. They've done this one before, but their new horseback riding instructor loved the infographic that they presented to her last week so much that she's requested that they begin to collect them into a binder, so some review is expected.

Syd knows exactly what she wants her Trashion/Refashion Show entry to look like, but she still needs to draw it for me in full-color detail. I'm afraid that I'm going to end up sewing it again this year, but I've suggested that she add capes to the costumes that she's designing, and if she likes that plan, she should be able to do much of that sewing herself.

Although the kids are working hard on their Girl Scout cookie selling (want to buy some Girl Scout cookies?), Will is intent on earning all the Junior badges before she bridges to Cadette, and so really needs to work on this every week.

WEDNESDAY: Verbs are our focus in First Language Lessons, currently. The kids are bored by the scripted lessons (as am I!) but love the diagramming, so we keep trucking through. Both horseback riding class and aerial silks class take up most of the rest of our school time on Wednesdays.

THURSDAY: Free day! We'll actually be spending the day in Indianapolis on this day, volunteering at the fossil prep lab at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and then either staying there to play for the rest of the day or going over to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to see their exhibit on Georgia O'Keeffe.

FRIDAY: Math class and Will's ice skating class also take up much of the school time on this day, but there are a few things that we'll also try to fit in. I have an idea for a physics experiment that I think the kids will enjoy--making zip lines for toys--and we still haven't gotten around to checking out typing programs! Something always seems to come up, and it's an easy lesson to put off if we're crunched for time.

The children should both be finishing up final drafts of essays on this day, as well. Perhaps we'll have a little family party that evening to celebrate!

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Saturday brings ballet class for Syd and Chinese language class for both kids, with space in between for them to do something special with Matt (and for me to get a bunch of work done, hopefully, allowing me to have more family time later!). Sunday is totally open, and we'll either spend it playing at home or, if the kids and I didn't go on Thursday, at the art museum with Georgia O'Keeffe.

Work Plans for the Week of January 19, 2015: Essays of Unusual Size

Will was NOT thrilled to write her essay last week, and she will be equally not thrilled to find yet another essay for this week. Write it she shall, however, and I shall attempt to regird my patience for the inevitable upcoming struggles.

Writing, or the battle about writing, took up much of last week, and, as I'd suspected I would, I did need to delete a couple of the smaller, unimportant lessons from our plans--experimenting with watercolors can happen anytime, and Syd, at least, will be pleased to be asked to get messy dyeing Great Northern beans with me during her leisure hours.

This week's plans, however, are all important and unskippable, although I did cull them down as much as possible. I include the children's extracurriculars into their plans, but I don't include the daily book assignment, keyboard practice, memory work, and the chore chart--that's all on top of school, but the reading they'd do for pleasure, regardless, the keyboard practice takes only minutes (although they often remain at the keyboard for much longer--yay!), the memory work takes place in the car, and chores are chores; everyone in the world has to do their chores!

TUESDAY: Yesterday was our free day! Matt was off work, so he took the burden of shlepping the kids around while I slogged through my work at home; the kids skipped our weekly volunteer gig to go to a special volunteer opportunity with the Girl Scouts, and they took their weekly aerial silks lesson, happily freeing up a little more Wednesday for us.

Today, then, as I write Will sits next to me and reads her book assignment, a biography of Charles Darwin (she has just informed me that we MUST go visit the Galapagos Islands one day, although sadly we are no longer permitted to ride the tortoises, and did I know that "galapagos" is the Spanish word for tortoise?), and Syd eats breakfast and reads in the other room. Their math this week is all review drills from our Kumon workbooks--more subtraction with borrowing across zeroes for Syd, and calculating volume and area for Will. I expect that after this extra practice, we'll move back into Math Mammoth next week.

The commencement of horseback riding lessons is also the commencement of the horse breed research that their instructor always gives them for homework. I believe that my emphasis, this session, will be on efficient, effective, and informative displays of their research, so that the children become easily able to reproduce infographics and posters, as the case requires.

Will has by this moment found and looked over the essay requirement for this year's Black History Month essay contest, and already pouted about it. It's another biography from a dedicated pool of names, with some first-person analysis, as well. She's going to loathe it.

She will like better our plans for a swimming date with some friends at the gym this afternoon, and like best of all the first session of this semester's Robotics Club tonight. While she's there, Syd will be able to have some quiet time to work on her design for this year's Trashion/Refashion Show. I REALLY hope that she creates a design that she's able to sew by herself this year!

WEDNESDAY: Song School Spanish is a painless lesson to get through each week, especially as much of the work for it takes place as our daily ten-minute memory work in the car every day. I also enjoy having someone else in charge of horseback riding lessons and Magic Tree House Club (the kids were meant to attend their club meeting earlier this month, but were so busy playing that they didn't want to settle down for it; this is the last meeting for this month, so they'll definitely need to attend this one); I can get some writing done during the former, and have time to cook something a little more involved than frozen pizza or stir-fry during the latter.

THURSDAY: First Language Lessons is scripted, so sometimes I'll save that to hand off to Matt in the evenings. I won't be surprised if I need to on this day, because both kids will need my assistance as they complete pre-writing activities for upcoming essays. We have ice skating plans with children from our homeschooling group, however, so hopefully that will keep them in a good enough mood to stave off the most excessive of the fits.

FRIDAY: I usually try to keep the kids' keyboard lesson early in the week, so that they can use the rest of the week to practice, but it just wouldn't fit into the schedule any earlier than today. Fridays tend to be busy, though, with both math class and Will's ice skating class getting us up and out of the house, so this quick, independent lesson will be a helpful breather for me.

I generally let the kids cook independently these days, but since these cookies are for other people, I'll probably need to be on hand to supervise. I need to remember to set aside time earlier in the week to have the kids choose a recipe so that we can shop for ingredients, unless you think that I can convince them to find a recipe that allows me to use up the random bits of candied cherries and chopped pecans that I have in the pantry?

All this essay writing--or rather, essay dictating, to me--has made it very clear to me that it's high time for the kids to learn keyboarding. I've got several software programs checked out of the public library, so ideally the kids will like one of these well enough to at least learn the functional basics.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: The kids don't have any responsibilities on Saturday, but I'm having friends over that night, so I suppose that I should do some cleaning and cooking. On Sunday, Will has Chess Club, and the cookies need to be delivered to our town's homeless shelter. I imagine there will also be Girl Scout Cookie selling. Perhaps Trashion/Refashion Show material shopping. Minecraft playing. Chicken spoiling.

You know, typical weekend stuff.

2014 Trashion/Refashion Show: Upside-Down Orange

In our four years of creating for and performing in our town's Trashion/Refashion Show, my kid has learned a LOT about being a fashion designer, a makeup artist, and a model, and, yes, I have learned a lot about being a stage mom.

I have actually said the following words to another human being, and MEANT them: "Please go full glitz on her, with super-dramatic eyes." We again owe Syd's beautiful hair and make-up to the students of the Hair Arts Academy, who always generously donate their time and skills to making all the models runway-ready.

I have become adept at packing a full day of nourishing kid food, none of which will stain one's clothing: hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, graham crackers, tangerines, granola bars, baby carrots.

I carry safety pins in my pocket.

I also carry tiny toys:

I photograph the dress rehearsal, since I can't sit in the second row during the performance:

Syd's signature move this year was a kind of jump+spreadeagle pose. She spent a lot of time airborne.

In fact, I spend most of the performance standing right here, just behind the curtain at stage right. It's a great spot, since Syd and I can watch all the activity behind the curtain at stage left, consisting of the stage manager and all the models about to walk:

I also know that there's no point in even trying to leave the theater for the two hours between dress rehearsal and our final call-time. Much better to hang out in the theater, reading or playing with tiny toy dogs in the balcony, watching the aerial silks and hula hoop teams at their own dress rehearsals:

Four years into this fashion show, I am well into the realization that this kid owns the stage. I am always so, so nervous for her that one of these years I may well have a pre-show heart attack, but as I'm sitting here at the table writing, with Syd sitting next to me working on her cursive/geography, I just asked her if she ever felt nervous before she walked.

"No." Didn't even have to think about it.

"Well, what do you feel?"

"Excited. And as soon as I'm done, I wish I could do it again ten more times!"

There you go, then.

Fortunately, aerial silks always opens the show, and their performances are so awesome (in the literal sense of the word) that my pending panic attack gets settled down enough that life can continue. I have to share both of these performances with you, both because they'll make your jaw drop (seriously, watch them full screen for the full effect), and because this is the group from whom Will takes lessons. These strong, brave girls and women are her role models:



Side note: While chatting with an acquaintance yesterday, I discovered that his daughter was the star of last year's aerial silks performance, the one who did all the impressive spins and falls and so stunned my daughters that they immediately asked for me to find someone to teach them how to do this amazing thing, whatever it was.

"Ah, YOU!" I said to him. "You are THE reason that I've spent hundreds of dollars on aerial silks classes in the past year!"

Syd, as she's been every year since she was four, was the model who opened the show. I love simply watching her performance, of course, but to me it's even better knowing all the work that she put into it, the way she has her marks and her cues memorized, her well-rehearsed routine that she practiced and timed and perfected over many weeks, the way she smiles openly at the audience:

And yes, she seriously would have done it ten more times, just that way, although I was pretty happy to be done with it after the once:

Much better, to me, to sit in the audience and watch the hula hoopers--

--and the Trashion runway walk, and to follow the Jefferson Street Marching Band up and down Kirkwood afterwards, random sidewalk cafe patrons taking cell phone videos of us as we passed:

And that's it for this year! The kid has her memories to sustain her until next year, and I have the happy satisfaction of a job well done, a major accomplishment accomplished, and the knowledge of a well-deserved rest from this particular project for the next several months.

Although... as I was chatting with my acquaintance about the show, he said, "Just imagine next year. Not only will you have one kid on the runway, but you could also have two kids in the silks performance."

I just...

I can't...

You know, I simply won't think about that for a few months.