I love close ups of kids.
Actually, I’m really in to close ups.
I wish I had a great camera… any suggestions?
Also for software so I can play with the picture after. What do you use?
Archive for Madeline
Made with LOVE
Other kid: “Do you like chocolate?”
My kid: “Oh, yeah! I LOVE chocolate! My Mama LOVES chocolate and she made me, so I LOVE chocolate!”
Me: 
“Sort of”
Madeline came home from school Tuesday in a good mood.
As she’s planning to be an artist, she was sitting at the kitchen island crafting away. She was making something special with a purpose. It is hard for me at times to just let her craft away. It’s just so messy. She uses everything. Everything all at once. She creates things. As I type, she is working on the same project with the following items: paper plates, paper, different colored beads, crayons, a bowl of water with glue in it, string, a paper cup, another bowl, a small tin purse… oooh and now she’s going back into the craft drawers for more stuff! It’s a paint brush. Wonder what she’ll come up with.
Anyway. Back to where I was. She came home in a good mood. We were chatting casually when she told me she had something to tell me but wanted me not to tell Kylor. Okay. Proudly and with a sweet smile on her face she said the following,
her: You’re right Mama, “C” is really sweet. He and I are boyfriend and girlfriend. He wants to marry me, he asked me to marry him.
me: He IS a sweetheart, I really like him. What did you say?
her: I said, “Sort of.” He really IS sweet Mama, he’s ALWAYS in a good mood and he came to play with me on the playground when he knew I was sad. He’s so so sooo sweet and nice and caring.
me: It’s important to pick someone with those qualities. Someone who cares about you and always is good to you. I’ve always liked “C”.
her: Yeah, he’s always just SO sweet and CARING Mama. He NEVER yells and is ALWAYS a good friend. I’m making this papermache for him, it’s his birthday soon so I’m gonna make this for him.
me: Well, you have plenty of time to decide, but I like him too honey.
her: Yeah.
And then she told Kylor too. She’s very happy.
I’m hoping this will last a life time… that whoever she falls for is as sweet as “C”, that she will always feel like she can share with me, and that I will always like him too.
Just listening
So after a nice day together spent on a short field trip and then an evening swimming at our local pool with bunches of friends… we (except for baby) settled down in our pj’s to watch Wipe Out (a treat since it was after official bed time – but hey, it’s summer!). We watched and laughed as we snuggled on the couch.
Commercial time. A commercial for a new show called something like S-xy, Money, something-er-other came on. Not knowing where the clicker was exactly, and frankly being so tired, I prayed for a G rated commercial that would go quickly. Here is the conversation that followed.
M: What is “S-xy”?
me: ( crap! what do I say? )
K: Oh. I know. Let me explain. S-xy is when you get all pretty and all, and wear make-up. And your skin is all soft cause you use that stuff, you know M, like that commercial we saw for Eveno, remember?, yeah, like that. That’s s-xy. Okay?
M: oh, okay.
me: ( Ha! Escaped another one by just listening! )
HOT
On Tuesday it was this:
So we did this:
and this:
and on the way back to our air conditioned home,
my sister called to say she was driving to work in a snow storm!
Love that girl!
Spunky, strong, smart, loving, true, imaginative, creative, loves getting dirty, and wearing a tutu.
That’s my girl!
A letter from school:
Dear Parents,
Thursday evening, April 3rd, Norfeldt kindergarteners presented their annual “Walk With the Masters: A Night at the Museum” to their parents, grandparents and friends. Children shared their writing, reading, songs, and artistic interpretations of the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, Georges (aka “Dot Dot”) Seurat, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Mary Cassatt, Norman Rockwell, and Georgia O’Keefe.
Can you guess the artist? (clues from Mrs. G’s students):
- I paint sun flowers. My paint was thick. I like yellow. My best friend is Paul Gaugin. I was born in Holland. I moved to the yellow house.
- My style of painting is Pointillism. I painted by dot by dot.
- I do fresco paintings … I painted the Mona Lisa I was a mathematician.
- I painted ordinary every day life. I painted people doing hard work.
- I love to sculpt. I will not [want to] paint the Sistine Chapel. I did not like to paint but I had to paint.
- I like to paint Pop Art. I had twenty-five cats all named Sam. I had lots of wigs. I like to paint soup cans over and over and I had wacky hair. I was bald.
- I love ballerinas. I lived in France. I like dancers.
- I painted the Japanese Footbridge. I painted lily pads. I was an Impressionist.
- I painted the Girl with the Watering Can. I like to paint people having fun everyday. I am an Impressionist.
How did you do? How about another challenge? Why is Mona Lisa smiling? Here’s a sampling of ideas from Mrs. G’s, Mrs. D’s, Mrs. J’s, and Miss K’s students.
I think Mona Lisa is smiling because
-
- she’s eating shrimp.
- of all the food on her plate.
- she went on vacation.
- she lost a tooth.
- she is having a baby.
- she is eating a Popsicle.
- she just ate some chocolate.
- she is going to a party to have so much fun.
- she is having a birthday party.
- she has a pizza delivery and it is pepperoni.
- she is getting ready for Hanukkah.
- she is getting ready to go to a pool.
- she is going on a field trip.
- she is going to the grocery store.
- her birthday is tomorrow.
- she is going skiing at Vermont.
- she’s getting her picture taken.
- she’s getting a puppy.
- she is getting into a car. She is going to New York to visit her cousin.
- she is getting a new castle. It will look like a palace.
- she’s getting a new dog The kind of dog she’s getting is a poodle The poodle is a black dog It has a very curly tail
- she is getting a new cat.
- she is going to New York City. She is going to see her cousins. Her cousins’ names are Isabelle and Danny.
- she is at the zoo.
- she is getting a new dress with sparkles and blue stripes.
- she is going to Florida.
- she is going to France and she is going to a museum.
- she is getting a new baby. She will get the baby 100 tutus.
- she has a new dog. Her name is Sibey.
- she got a new computer.
- she wanted to go to the beach.
- she got a new SmartBoard.
- she is going to be in a picture. And after, she is going to lunch with her friends.
- she is getting a new house. The new house is so beautiful I think she will faint.
What great ideas. I can’t say for sure why Mona Lisa is smiling, but I certainly know why we are!
Fondly,
(the principle)
Answers for page one clues:
1 Vincent Van Gogh 2 Georges Seurat 3 Leonardo da Vinci 4 Norman Rockwell
5 Michelangelo 6 Andy Warhol 7 Edouard Degas 8 Claude Monet
9 Pierre Auguste Renoir
He gets it. and Bestest Buds.
When asked our nightly, “What was your favorite thing about the day?” Kylor responded, “Talking on the phone with Boppie (my mother).” Their conversation lasted about ten minutes as he described in great detail about the book he is writing at school. He then went on to say something that was very understanding: “Now I get it. You can talk a lot on the phone, it took me all that time just to tell her one thing!” Perhaps he won’t complain about my next long winded phone call. Maybe.
Madi’s answer: “Everything.” The one? “Going to Bridget’s house.” They are bestest buds! They posed at the art show:
Do you remember your bestest bud from Kindergarten?
