McG Kids

This weblog tracks my kids’ early years. Each entry is a snapshot from their childhood.

Please pardon any type-o’s, misstatements, or factual irregularities. This blog is written by an often dazed dad, normally after 11 pm when he should really be in bed if he had any sense. Even the basic quick edit is not a regular practice here.

STAAR Wars

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Claire and an ice cream dessert
A relieved Claire enjoys a post-STAAR dessert at Kerby Lane Cafe

Claire finished her first major standardized test today, the dreaded STAAR test.  It is a two-day test, fours hours each day, mandated by the state of Texas.  Claire and her fellow third graders have spent most of third grade preparing for this test.  Parents brought snacks and drinks to keep the kids sharp and refreshed.  But once the doors close, it is fully locked down, with no visitors of any kind.  It is pretty serious.  A sign in Claire’s classroom says:

STAAR Wars — May the Scores Be With You!

We don’t know Claire’s test results yet, but to celebrate just finishing this monster test, we took her out to dinner and let her pick a dessert, a rare and substantial treat for our sugar-starved Claire.

Pre-K Track Star

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The girls’ school had its annual track day today.  There was a mile race for the third-graders.  Claire bravely took pet in this race and finished near end, tied with a new friend, Anna, who she met on the track.

Molly took part in the 1/4-mile race for the pre-K class.  Molly finished as second place for per-K girls and got a medal!  A total of three pre-K girls participated, and one girl finished behind Molly.  Still, second place is second place, and a medal is a medal!

Goaaaals!

Aside | | patmcg

Molly scored two goals in today’s soccer game, her third soccer game ever!

Kit took Molly to the game and was very excited to tell me the news.  Molly, for her part, denied everything.  She said she did not score any goals and asked not to talk about it any more.  Huh?

Cooked Pizza is So Last Year

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We did make-your-own pizzas pita tonight.  Claire was hosting a sleepover, and make-your-own pizza is always a safe bet.  Molly decided that her cold uncooked pizza looked pretty good and maybe didn’t needing any cooking.  She wanted to eat it raw.  I talked her into cooking some of it and trying the rest raw.  So as her pizza cooked, Molly say down at the table with an oddly shaped pita topped with cold pizza sauce, cold shredded cheese, and cold pepperoni.  She observed that this uncooked cold pizza was extra messy, so she put on some disposable plastic gloves to keep the mess down.  Molly did eat all of her uncooked pizza, and she reports that it was delicious.

Rock Stand

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Molly playing with rocksWith all the nice weather, we have been palling in the back yard more lately.  Claire has been into sports just a little bit lately, and we were practicing dribbling a basketball and hitting whiffle balls.

Molly got bored of this and went off to play with the pebbles and sand toys in the yard.  She ended up inventing a game which she dubbed “rock stand”.  In this game, you begin with a big crumbly rock (which I think was actually an old concrete ball).  You take another rock and whack the first rock into smaller pieces.  You then smash those little pieces into even smaller pieces and so on until there is only dust left.  There was a very important step in there that involved moving the small pieces between buckets using a certain shovel.

The game of rock stand is taken right from the pages of the Ramona Quimby books.  Ramona had a game called “brick factory” that involved smashing old bricks into smithereens.  She played brick factory with her friend Howie.  Molly basically is Ramona right now, although we don’t have a Howie.  Claire has stepped nicely into the role of Beezus, although Claire is generally even more patient and kind than Beezus, who was actually a pretty nice big sister too.

Bringin’ in the Easel

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We cleaned up the back yard today, and in the process discovered the old art easel that had been forgotten out on the back patio for a while.  It was covered in dust and pollen.  The girls took it upon themselves to bring it inside and refurbish it.  They tackled this job with enthusiasm.  I did nothing but give them some rags and cleaner.  Molly and Claire got the easel in perfect shape, carefully wiping it down, removing every bit of dust and pollen and arranging the easel in its old spot.

Once the easel was in place, they put it to work.  Claire started drawing on the whiteboard side, and Molly took over the opposite blackboard side.  Claire draw a bunch of random cute things and titled it “Random Art”, and Molly drew a house.  It is amazing how far Molly’s art skill has progressed.  It really looks like a house!  And it even has some writing on it.  Here is the fruit of their labors.

 

 

Spring Break / Jumpoline / St. Patrick’s Day

Image | | patmcg

Grammy Joyce was in town for a few days while I went to South By Southwest Interactive 2015 and the kids started Spring Break.  With Joyce around, I could stay at SXSW and not hurry back to get the girls.  Plus the kids just like to see her.

Today, our nanny Sarah took over watching the kids for the rest of the week.  They kicked things off with lunch at Jason’s Deli and a fun trip to Jumpoline Park (see photo).  That was a good way to kick things off in a week where most of the girls’ friends have left for vacation and we’re stuck here at work.

Also, it was St. Patrick’s day.  Don’t the girls look good in green?

Sleepover

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Claire’s absolute most favorite thing in the world is having a sleepover with her friends.  We host sometimes but tend to get a little worn out juggling Claire’s friends’ needs with Molly’s, and with our work often bleeding into the weekends and getting into the way.  Anyways, here’s a rare picture of Claire enjoying a sleepover at her friend Susie’s house.