language update

a flashback to 2007, almost the same time, in May, getting a sign ready for a flea market booth

Mark and one of our dogs, Kelba, also from maybe July 2007, getting the tires changed on our truck in town

 

 Henry and Irene on the day Esme was born, in the hospital room

 

It rained and had lightning last night, big storms to the north of us had tornadoes

We got a lot of rain, but not so much the road was too muddy.

 Esme has one week left of school, and her wildlife competition.  She said there is a Geometry test she is dreading, but not so much on the rest. 

French         L 25 XP 49867 19867 XP beyond Level 25
Welsh             L 24 XP 29758 +242 XP to next level
Spanish          L 23 XP 24570 +1430 XP to next level
Japanese         L 19 XP 14335 +665 XP to next level
Czech             L 19 XP 13581 +1419 XP to next level
Romanian         L 17 XP 11143 +857 XP to next level
Portuguese      L 16 XP 9632 +868 XP to next level
Italian             L 15 XP 7570 +1430 XP to next level
Greek             L 14 XP 6927 +573 XP to next level
German            L 14 XP 6041 +1459 XP to next level
Finnish             L 13 XP 5515 +485 XP to next level
Catalan (es)     L 12 XP 3953 +947 XP to next level
Swedish             L 11 XP 3689 +211 XP to next level
Norwegian         L 11 XP 3097 +803 XP to next level
Spanish (fr)         L 11 XP 3025 +875 XP to next level
Hungarian         L 10 XP 2438 +562 XP to next level
Ukrainian          L 10 XP 2288 +712 XP to next level
Irish                  L 9 XP 2174 +76 XP to next level
Turkish              L 9 XP 2044 +206 XP to next level
Polish                 L 9 XP 1798 +452 XP to next level
Chinese              L 8 XP 1446 +204 XP to next level
Russian                L 8 XP 1180 +470 XP to next level
Dutch                     L 7 XP 998 +127 XP to next level
Hindi                     L 7 XP 917 +208 XP to next level

 and Duolingo doesn't have Bulgarian or Latvian, but I've been working on little bits here and there - the Bulgarian is close to Czech and Russian, and I am going to work a bit more on the Russian just to familiarize myself with the Cyrillic characters more for studying on the separate Bulgarian site

-- got distracted, headed back to working on that - although it is also one of those mornings where I am hungry but don't want food, so thinking on that, will probably have to find some remedy to that with bread and butter or oatmeal

that other language site I like to go to is 'ba ba dum' I keep forgetting exactly and took me a few minutes to get to it today.  I am looking at BulgarianPod101 and doing some of the free lessons there, and then comparing my Czech and Russian language lessons to Google Translate and listening to what the same words are in Bulgarian and writing them down.  I have a Bulgarian phrasebook from a while back but I have to find it

Latvian : children's show 'Tutas Lietas' and children's website 'bern istaba'

Peanut Butter Fudge

 Peanut butter fudge candy making

Mark and Esme made peanut butter fudge last night, largest ingredient contained : sugar.  It's a very hot process with stirring so much that it makes your wrists hurt.  I took the pictures, and they did all the work.  It set up well this time, and he says it will be gone within just a few days.

 

Below : Charlotte trying her best to also be on the stove side rug while Esme is stirring fudge.

Shepard Lane Garden

We went out and did some weeding today, planted a few new things, took pictures of all the bounty that is getting ready to bloom soon!

The pole garden (new for this Mother's Day) is coming along well, weeded out the grass and put cedar mulch from our chicken pen around all of the new things.  Several lilies getting ready to bloom here, too.

 elephant ears, moon flower vines, cardinal climbers and morning glories

 pumpkins!

watermelon vines!
I saw a giant spider in here, carrying her egg case.. let her have that space for a bit and pulled grass elsewhere for a little while!

bits

Esme is off to picnic day.  I bought her a pair of Bermuda shorts, hopefully they meet the code.  They were the longest non-leggings I could find.  Things are coming up right and left in the garden.  Morning glory seeds I planted just a few days ago are up in one place, but not in others, and zinnia and cosmos seeds are trying, as well.  The borage is still alive.  The  corn and beans have not popped up.. its over due for the corn.  I do have a few cucumbers!

The rose bush bloomed!

 And the  centerfold lily, too :)

I bought a Jarv active track pedometer - the kind you wear on your wrist - and I think I have the weight and stride settings done correctly.. but I know it is not accurate.  Less than 5,000 steps per day is sedentary..and I'm active running across the store, up and down ladders, carrying stuff.. I know our steps in the house are 23 steps.. and it has me at less than 14 after two trips.  So.. its not a loss (I broke the last two within days just USING them.. they failed completely).  It is giving me between 2,800 and 3,100 steps per day over three days.  So, I'm going to use that as a benchmark.  If I get on the higher side of that I'm doing good.  If I'm on the lower side, then I needed to step up a bit.  It'll still be a good five dollar purchase *heh*  I guess I should have thought better of that cheap price, eh?

We are going into town to look at some trees Mark saw on sale.

 Peach trees, and a plum
We caught these on the clearance for about 10 dollars each... when they were 23.00 to  begin with.

Saturday Snowpocalypse

   We had snowball fights!

I had at least four layers on up top and two layers of pants!
I was lucky enough the thrift shop pair from when I got stranded in Duluth so long ago was four sizes bigger - it worked perfectly as a pair of snow pants :)

 The snow was the deepest right at the woodpile.
 

 

 Esme tracks all the way up the road

 Daddy came out to play too, briefly - he was very cold.

 and the sled did not work as properly as we had hoped.. for the second day in a row.

 documentary footage of the glare ice!  It will probably be slush by tomorrow

if the temperature goes up to 38 as they say it will.

 We measured a couple of places and it was 3 to 4 inches over most of the yard and in the truck bed.  By the woodpile it was six inches deep.

Also, Esme's hair went up in a nice bun after a warm bath, chicken soup and hot bread.  Now she is back to playing Skyrim.

Ready for Second Grade homeschool

 Ready to start 2nd grade on August 3rd

at Mixie Engineering Primary School (homeschool)

She says she is excited to make things, dig for gems (geology kit) and learn about dinosaurs!

 Mom and Esme

 And with Daddy the silly faces reign!

 Silly tongue out and air swim

With a kitty all ready to go to town

I ordered several photos for her 'school years book' and to give out to relatives.
We had a long day and she built several 'mob grinders' in Minecraft that turned into restaurants selling freshly gathered chicken, beef and wool bits.  She hooked a furnace up to the grinder/gathering hoppers and served cooked chicken with the push of a button....pretty cool.  I did help her get stuff into the hopper, as the water flow she had started was a bit off.

Pumpkin is disapproving (after taking a rare very close look) of the colorful thing that isn't really there.

I played a bit with painting after coming across an article about an artist named 

Rena Thiagarajan artist website  I was inspired by the way she applied her colors.  I mixed that thought with the bouncing around in my head of the Spanish I am learning as well as the 'schematica' and organization of things I have been working with lately (crystal structures, math, even homeschool charts and supplies)...I imagined Spanish word shapes as I painted, and then electrical circuits, then finally it seemed like a broken city landscape was coming into view...which I finally saw the doors, stairs, windows, lamps and plants take shape.

I think Pumpkin thinks I should add a cat in the 'blank window' at the top.

Anyway...as Esme and I do more art this year I definitely need to practice with this sort of 'the art leads and I follow' type again...it has been a long time.

Lake trip

 Esme went to a sleepover last night, and today when she got home we took a little trip down to the lake.  She wanted to go fishing, but it was so very hot - we planned for an 'expedition' that we could come home when we wanted to.  In the middle of it all we cooled off a little on the wooden dock.

 I snapped a picture of her and she snapped one of me.

 She said when it was a cooler day we could come down with our easel and maybe draw some pictures of the lake, because it was so pretty.

 I caught this picture of a grasshopper with its wings open - and she snuck up on the black and blue dragonfly and got a nice detailed pic.

We also saw some 'rose' flowers and a little school of fish swimming in the water by the dock after we had been sitting there quietly for a while.

Ready for First Grade first day of school pictures

 Nice and neat and ready for first grade!

She picked the butterfly dress I had made for her, and the fish pants - because she head dreamt of fishing in a boat with the whole family last night, and catching fish.

 

But, I knew that was not the 'real' Esme - and I asked her to show me how excited she was, because I knew it was there This is how we see her daily, animated, eyebrows up - ready and excited for everything! It's in the eyes - I just had to compare and contrast because to me this is the 'real' Esme. 

The hair also gave me some trouble - I settled for this, as it was not wanting to twist the way it should and I had to braid the little tails a bit before I put them together into the other one.  I had some experience last year trying - not always succeeding - to contain her hair for the school day so she didn't have it on her neck and elbows... she said that made it hard to read and write when it was moving on her skin while she did her work... but it is also so pretty it is hard to just bind it up every day and not let it hang down some.

sewing project for Esme

 I was sewing the little blue deer and Esme got talked into trying to sew herself a toy.  I made the knot and cut out the felt and she took great care in sewing (for a nearly six year old).. and actually did a good job with the weird bits of thread not wanting to go your way, when you accidentally catch the thread inside the loop etc.. I told her she was a natural.. barely cried when she poked her finger several times.  And she finished the project and was very proud of it!

Esme's pumpkin pillow

I was six when my Grandfather taught me to sew - a candytwist type pillow with stuffing in it.. and many after it until I finally got good at making seams that stayed... we're on our way :)

Santa and bits at the end of the weekend

.We saw Santa at our local home improvement place yesterday - where I happen to be a plumbing consultant during much of my week...

 Watching Christmas trees, houses and carousels

 Miss Judi, getting an explanation about Santa

 Esme seeing Santa and freezing... but only momentarily.  I think there was also a line, and she was trying to decide how to feel about waiting.

 Santa, look, that is my Grandma!

She sat on his lap and told him about the things she had written in her letter.  I had a hard time hearing all of it because there was a fan going - and I got a couple of eyebrows over something I did not hear, but she seemed very happy he had understood the giraffe and spaceship ideas.

 Candid shots from the triplets that were there before us, we caught one of the elves yawning on the job.

Cuteness Wars.  What a scowl!

We hope to work more on the extra atmospheric vehicle today.  I have a few little sewing things I could do - have to get ambition to work on those or to start something new.  I have been looking at lots of sewing patterns but only slightly inspired, and nothing enough to set to fabric.  I was slightly depressed yesterday by more problems with my Minnesota family, but there isn't anything I can do except give them some advice and then try to stay away from the topic.  It has been raining for several days - warm, not cold... but still, depressing weather does not help.  I'd like to have some sunlight.

I took Esme's measurements today - since she has turned five.  She is 21 w, 23 chest with a 25.5 inch length from outside hip to ankle.  She is 44 inches tall, and about 44 lbs (Mark used the fish scale).. she said that was fun and she was very strong and Daddy was very strong for picking her up.  The patterns I am currently using for her are a size 5 vintage pants pattern and a size 6 vintage dress pattern

This is Butterick 4655, which I do not own but was the only one I was impressed with during my search today.  I have something that will do this already in my collection.  I'm not sure what draws me to this one -- square collars have always done well on Esme, but I do not often use them anymore, as they are much more difficult to set the facing on.  I know I am also drawn to that golden yellow color often - but it isn't Esme's color, hardly anything is a 'bad' color for her, but blues and greens and purples seem to be the majority of her wardrobe.

 Up and Away book, 1949 - we have been reading this before bed and the pictures are gorgeous.  The writing is just above Esme's level, she knows a lot of the 'small' words but needs to take her time so she doesn't say 'far' is 'for' or 'was' is 'went' etc..  That is good to have her pay close attention (when possible, isn't always), stretch, sound things out etc...

Esme and I made a map of the house on paper 'just like Electric Company' today, and went around placing stickers and using a pen to mark where that would correspond on the map.   ie: by the refrigerator, on the stairs, at the edge of the bathtub etc.  Then, we backtracked and put all the stickers back onto the map where they had been in the house.  We hung it up on her wall, and she thought it was a great game :)  I loved watching her gears turn when she tried to figure out which was the kitchen sink and which was the bathroom sink... and three times she forgot what the toilet was in the map - but stood there and worked it out from memory at least once for herself.