Swiss Family Olson: 2 weeks left

Two weeks from now, I'll be waking up around 4:30am or so at my dad's house in CA. I can't wait. Except for the 4:30am part. Pretty normal for a 9 hr time adjustment.

So the woman who tries to be Supermom (although here I guess I should refer to my goal as Uber-mom or Ubermutter) has allowed another birthday party and 2 playdates to slip into the schedule. Reminds me - we need to buy B-day presents. Sigh.... I'm not trying to be Super anything - just trying to keep up.

And the "Uber" up there should have umlaud dots on top of the "U" but I don't know how to do that in blogger and I don't have a German keyboard. I'm just neurotic enough to be bothered by this.

Rachel & Kendra at school for the 2nd grade concert - last of the evening school events! They really enjoy these and I am glad they are in a place where musical arts are an integral part of their school life. The 4th & 5th grade orchestra & bands were outstanding this year. Rachel plays violin and loved playing the score from Chronicles of Narnia in orchestra. Kendra's grade sang songs related to their unit on Healthy living - Body Boogie was one of her favorites.

The kids have assemblies throughout the year where various performances/talks are done and the children themselves have a chance to share talents/traditions. I was distracted in spite of all the things I needed to do last Friday morning when I heard assembly forming. So I stayed to watch a bit.

This is the 4th/5th grade assembly and the Middle School 8th gr. Ballroom Dancing (a PE elective) class had come to perform. As they were introduced, it sounded like the UN had come to visit: UK, South Africa, Sweden, USA, China, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Mexico - I can't remember them all. Sometimes I forget how International our community is. Wish I could dance.

I'll share a little treat with you. And yes, they are little. We have little, wild stawberries all over the place right now. They are small and usually sweet with a light flavor - not like a large strawberry flavor. It's almost as much of a smell as it is the taste in your mouth.

There is a big patch of them in the back garden and then they grow willy nilly whereever they see fit and I haven't pulled them out. Better than the weeds and just as prolific and wild.

They need to be eaten within hours of picking. They usually don't make it out of our hands - they're so small that we eat them as we pick. No - we don't wash them much. Washing them seems to make them instantly soggy. Since the farmer in back doesn't spray his fields and I don't spray these and it rains enough - they're good.

We actually picked enough one day to fill up the small glass. They were gone soon.