Stylin' on Pi Day

L headed off to school today in a cute black skort and pink shirt, wearing her blank ankle boots (with metal studs). After school, she changed into shorts, a tank top and flip-flops before heading out the door to play with her neighborhood friends. Meanwhile, E and her friend, A, rode their bikes to the north side of town to get some ice cream. I saw a bank clock that said the temperature was 80 degrees at about 2:30 p.m. Wow.

And it's March 14, that means it's Pi Day (3/14). B was disappointed his algebra class didn't do anything to mark the day. He said other students got to throw a pie at their math teacher (really?) and another class got to eat pie. "All we got is a 'Happy Pi Day,'" he said. To make matters worse, E came home with a little fruit pie her math teacher handed out.

Spring?

Temps today were in the high 60s. The news reported that O'Hare reached 70. I noticed our crocus blooming. B and E both rode their bikes to school. L was out playing with friends all afternoon.

I also put the kids' snow pants and snow boots back in the basement. Let's hope I'm not pushing my luck.

100 years of Girl Scouts!

Today is the Girl Scouts 100th anniversary. I had so much fun in Girl Scouts - go to see Ice Capades, dancing on The Admiral, selling cookies, earning badges, camping at Camp Chan-Ya-Ta, Cadette Chaos, being the troop scribe for several years, making a haunted house at the VFW for Brownies to go through, and of course, camping at Twin Rivers in Missouri. I won't mention when I told my Cadette leader where to enter our driveway in a flood and she ended up flooding her car. I was so lucky to be in Cadettes with my BFF Darla. What fun times we had together!

Cycling injury

E and her friend A, along with B, went for a long bike ride this afternoon. The weather was beautiful, close to 60 degrees. E was riding along Lake Street when her foot hit a concrete planter. Ouch! It immediately started to bruise. You can see the bruise below her pinky toe.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Sure, it's a week early, but it was St. Patrick's Day in the western suburbs as Forest Park hosted its annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was a beautiful, sunny day. L even took her coat off, probably so she could move faster and grab more candy.

Here's L with M, one of her neighborhood friends, who spotted her from across the street and then came over with his mom to join us at the parade. M and his whole family are big golfers so E spent most of the parade talking to M's mom. B, on the other hand, slept through most of it. Not much of a parade person, I guess.

Banana bundt

I can't tell if B is trying to lick the cake or just stick his tongue out at it.

Tonight Andy and I had a church party to go to. It was the church employees' Christmas party. Apparently, Christmas is too busy for church people to have a party so the Personnel Committee, which Andy is on, plans the Christmas party for spring. The party was held at a neighbor's house a few blocks away. We were told to bring dessert. I made this banana bundt cake. The cake looked fine, but the frosting hardened up before I could pour it on the cake. Regardless, it tasted good and several of the women asked me for the recipe. I think they're going to be a little disappointed to learn the base was a banana cake mix. (Thank you, Duncan Hines!)

While we were at the party, B and E were at church learning about Chicago's Night Ministry and then making lunches for the ministry volunteers to distribute to the homeless. L was at a sleepover with Grandma B.

Mousetrap car

B was busy this morning writing the report for his mousetrap that was due - you guess it - today. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him as he's working on the laptop. I love how he tucks his feet under himself while sitting on a stool. Once wrong move and he's flat on his back on the floor. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

Any way, back to the cars. In science class, the kids were divided into groups and told to make a car powered by a mousetrap car. They're not given much direction. It's a matter of trial and error to see what materials and design make the car go the farthest. Along the way, they had to (or at least were supposed to) keep track of how they changed their car and the results. Here's the car B's group designed:

Sleepover

For at least a week, E has been planning a sleepover with her two new friends, R and F. E met F at engineering camp at University of illinois the summer between seventh and eighth grade. E was describing her middle school when F said it sounded a lot like hers. They soon discovered they both lived in Oak Park. E was at Julian and F was going to Brooks. E met R at her friend A's bat mitzvah, which A and R hosted together. R is now in E's Japanese class and they eat lunch together.

E and F went to see "The Lorax" today, then came home for pizza. R was dropped off just before we got the pizza. The girls played various computer games and talked, slept in the basement. Not sure what time they called it a night. Tomorrow is Pulaski Day so the kids don't have school.

Staying home

L has had a cough for a few days and last night she had a fever of 102. She stayed home from school. After watching a morning of TV and eating lunch, she decided it was time to sleep.

Four-year plan

E met with her high school counselor last week to figure out her four-year plan. She has a pretty hefty schedule this year and it looks like it won't be easing up any time soon. On tap for next year is English Lit, Plane Geometry, Chemistry, American History (all honors classes), Japanese, Small Business Management, Video Game Programming and the class she's most excited about - Driver's Ed.

Her big news from school today was that she passed the swimming portion of gym class. She had been dreading swimming since eighth grade. The girls are given suits from the school to wear so no one looks decent in them. She started out in the low end as a "Nemo" while the "Dories" served as instructors. Though she didn't want to take the class, it was the one she talked about every night when she got home. For the next nine days she'll be playing water polo. Then it's on the next unit.