<p>My son wears shorts all year round it seems and the fact that he built a snow fort that still stands to the delight of the little neighborhood boys says to me that boys grow taller but they don’t ever really grow up. He went back to school to find it comparably balmy to here (-10 this morning as a straight up temp not including the midwest wind). </p>
<p>I drove D to school this morning and as my facebook status attests I dismantled the tree and got it to the curb in record time. My family room, however, has ornaments strewn over every surface. Once the tree is down, however, the rest seems easy in comparison. I can’t wait to get to ground zero and then … I am hiring a cleaning lady. That is the gift to myself this new year. I need time for me especially if I want to lose the weight and get in shape!</p>
<p>Son’s friend had a party on New Year’s eve where all guests were spending the night. Of course, once the word of said party got out there were more than the invited attending. Parents came home after dinner to find their house overrun and used S and friends to determine who were designated drivers for the uninvited and then had to make the call to either make the stay or send them on their way. Apparently one parent was called and, unbelievably, some of D’s friends found themselves there. At one point I was bummed that D was no longer friends with some of these girls but as I learned a long time ago, sometimes there are good reasons. I am not under the illusion that she will NEVER want to join the crowd, but sophomore year is a way too early and this is one of those times where her spending a very quiet new years eve sledding with two friends was perfectly age appropriate.</p>
<p>" Eighth grade D went to school dressed in colonial attire. The GT 8th graders reinact the Constitutional Convention every year. Did any of your kids do that? "</p>
<p>I can’t tell you how glad I am that I am no longer surprised by the last minute need for historical costumes, etc…! I started a thread awhile back about “things we won’t miss” and someone recounted a time when she was told at 11 pm at night that her kid needed “a ham” for a class skit in the morning. I still laugh out loud at that one.<br>
So for you I am glad that colonial attire was at hand…I drove all over town once trying to find a necessary tricorner hat so son could be Benjamin Franklin…</p>
<p>I remember that thread. My contribution was the child (the current 8th grader) who needed to go to school the next day dressed as Clara Schumann.</p>
<p>One of my Ds once did a report/project on Clara Schumann. Don’t remember any dressing up though …</p>
<p>Ds are both very glad to be home right now, as it’s been warm, warm … the last two days the high has been in the low 80s. D2 keeps saying she doesn’t want to go back and should have picked a school in California …</p>
<p>I assume once she’s back in the swing of classes, it’ll be ok. But she has so enjoyed being home, with us, that I can’t tell how seriously to take her when she says she doesn’t want to go back. </p>
<p>BTW, MP, we spent New Year’s eve together as a family, played banagrams, caught up on past episodes of House, and went to bed early. I like that kind of pathetic …</p>
<p>Clara Schumann made me laugh then too. And go look her up on Google. We never stop learning, thanks to grade school projects! My D had to be Eleanor Roosevelt. Fortunuately a friend had a good hat and coat for that look (but I never got a picture, darn…)</p>
<p>And yes, I’m sure it was a real ham. Hope it didn’t get left in a backpack after school!</p>
<p>I also once was driven crazy having to find white gloves at the last minute. The 50s are long gone!</p>
<p>Oh the memories brought on by the last several posts … Over the years I’ve done Ben Franklin, Eva Peron, Pipi Longstocking (complete with braids sticking straight out), Harry Houdini, and others I’ve forgotten. Definitely don’t miss any of that!</p>
<p>D leaves EARLY tomorrow morning. She & I are going for pedicures this afternoon. S is home for another week or so, but it will be lots quieter here after D leaves. She’s the chatterbox. H is also traveling tomorrow for a couple of days, so my goal is to take down all the decorations and put the house back in order.</p>
<p>So far I’ve written 3 checks with the wrong year …</p>
<p>If we go back as far as preschool: ladybug, lifeguard, ringmaster. Pirate for all three in second grade. Just last year I made multiple African print dresses for 10th grade Culture Day. (But at least I had a couple of week’s notice on those.)</p>
<p>When I was in 9th grade, my GS troop did the Bicentennial thing and we all made period costumes. We also ran a concession stand outside one of the gates at the Master’s Golf Tournament. Ray Floyd was running away with the green jacket that year and a lot of folks left early; a few came by and gave us their passes, so we got to go walk the course. A friend and I were walking a long in our costumes, getting a LOT of attention. At one point we heard two people discussing: “Who are they?” Reply: “I think they’re nuns.” </p>
<p>Otherwise, I’ve costumed my kids (and others) as a cow, bat, train engineer, Dalmation, Moses, an Egyptian, a Maccabee, and a few dozen folks in Gilbert & Sullivan productions. Historymom, I used to coach OM/DI – the hard part was getting the KIDS to come up with ideas. I was ready to jump in and sew magnificent stuff, so it was a real lesson for me to stand back and let them own the process.</p>
<p>Thinking Day. I am such a post-menopausal girl scout that I can no longer remember what Thinking Day was about. But it would be a costuming challenge!</p>
<p>Were we “thinking” about Girl Scouts in other countries? We had some celebration where different troops spotlighted different countries. I remember having to make some Greek cookies one year–and I’m not from Greece!</p>
<p>I just remember making Situpons. Do you remember those? Little lamimated things that you tied around your waist so you wouldn’t get dirty when you sat down outside. I ASSUME (hope) that tradition died out in the 60s.</p>
<p>Moda, sounds like your s. in shorts building snow forts would be right at home with McSon’s crew : ) And re: the NY Party…yes, things get tricky with crashers but we’ve reduced the number so-inclined over the last few years by steadfastly taking keys when they walk in the door. The less-familiar don’t like to be trapped or closely supervised, I find ; ) Those who know us well know the drill. McSon does his share of management on that front too, making clear when it’s invite only.
And I had to chuckle re: your D’s friends crashing that party – McSon had made a rule: “No jailbait/high school girls allowed” and had his party b/c he did not want to go to a bigger party hosted by HS pals. I pointed out to him that he was awfully optimistic (or arrogant) if he thought it would matter whatsoever whether gals at either party were “jailbait” or not since he’s not exactly aggressive on the dating (or flirting) front.
Then again, I hate to discourage consciousness of the age factor either ; )</p>
<p>Re: Costumes…I passed the torch on our childhood tickle-trunk to McSon early in his HS career after one too many “I-need-a-xyz-costume-in-six-hours-because-I-volunteered-to-do-xyz…” It floweth over. He STILL regularly haunts goodwill for gear and will find any excuse whatsoever to dress up. This Halloween he spent his entire 2-week pay making a robot costume with led lights, voice modulation, a circuit-board style chest compartment (complete with doors you could open to see and music from speakers that sat on shelves…) and wandered around his college town like a fool, loving every minute of it and turning up on facebook pages all through his U.
So maybe it’s a good thing I never learned how to sew those costumes…he’s turned out to be quite self-sufficient on the costume front. Now if we could just master other forms of self sufficiency…eg. What online organizer, mom? (Today’s funniest comment from a college freshman about his school’s provision of a complete online organizer and study habit helper/goal-setting program and tracker and grade tracker. Hi ho : )</p>
<p>I had my troop make luxe situpons. a 5 gal bucket w/ a cusion upholstered in plastic tablecloth.</p>
<p>CD I had no choice but to rely on the girls…I am challenged.;)</p>
<p>Yes TD is the day we thought about Girl Guides in other countries as well as Scouts across the US. The whole troop was supposed to decide on a country to represent and then we made swaps and created a skit and a food to share with all of the other girls in our service unit. It was fun but coming up with native dress was a stretch…usually I compromised by using a simple accessory.</p>
<p>The costumes: I think I’ve intentionally forgotten about them. I do remember with the kind of horror only a non crafty mom can my D’s third grade year. This was the year of a monthy “book report” that involved some type of craft, a year long project that involved crafts, and a visit to a one room school that required period appropriate clothing. I made DD a lovely dress, bonnet, and overdress for the occasion. For someone that had not used a sewing machine in two decades or more it turned out quite nice I thought. That was until the snotty, little jealous girl with the mother that sewed period doll dresses and sold them pointed out all of the flaws. Yes, snotty, little jealous girl had arrived in something not quite as nice of course. </p>
<p>There was also the paper mache toddler size bike my son and I made. It hung in the hallway of his grade school for 4 years until he graduated. It killed us to toss it into the trash finally. My greatest moment of craftiness came the day before DS’s first and only Pinewood Derby. I had not had much sleep for some reason, but he needed a final coat of spray sealer or something on his car. I wasn’t paying attention and picked up the wrong can. He ended up with a black car instead of the red he had carefully painted–oops! </p>
<p>If I remember my situpon had foam inside with heavy duty vinyl. Our troop leader thought it would be more comfy? I also remember some sort of rope we were supposed to use as a strap around our shoulders. I don’t recall DD making a situpon.</p>
<p>I remember making situpons way back in my youth. We wove strips of newspaper together and then covered with waxpaper that was then ironed so they would stick together. Can hardly believe I still remember that! Gosh, that really shows my age! :eek:</p>
<p>ah–the snychonized swim suits–an entire American Flag and a Parrot with many colors were the hightlights. Hours and hours of sewing sequins…and I hate to sew. Always prick myself. But putting the hot knox geletin on the tightly pinned bun at 5 am so it had time to dry…</p>
<p>I did not know about situpons --love the name!</p>