Lovely Granny's Traveling Pipes

I didn't realize, until today, that I forgot to post these photos of my mom's visit to Eve and Noah's elementary school. She played the chanter and the Uillean pipes. She won over a kid in the kindergarten who did not initially like the sound. She was thanked multiple times for coming and told she was cool. (March 17th, 2011)

Gaelic Granny Groupies

My mom went to the elementary school today to play the chanter and shuttle pipe for the kids. The amount of people morphed a bit from a couple of 3rd grade classes to the entire 3rd grade in the cafeteria.







Then she played for 2 Kindergarten teachers. Our intermission was a trip to lunch with our promoter, Crystal Powell, at the Blue Rooster Cafe. Crystal was Eve's pre-k teacher and we have remained friends. She has a child at Camp Creek, as well. Crystal treated us to lunch. The chicken salad sandwich was tasty and the lemon cake divine. While we were at lunch Michael texted me a photo of my brother out with his class at the local mall. The teachers got nervous that a strange man was taking Denny's picture, but Michael explained that Denny is his brother-in-law and Denny vouched for him by standing near him. Small world.
Our second tour consisted of Noah's 4th grade class. They were really complimentary to mom. I was proud of them all. We took an hour break and mom and I helped with some Book Fair invitations for the teachers. Our last stop was Eve's 1st grade class. Mom let Noah and Eve introduce her for their classes. They were both so proud of her. One of the boys was in Noah's class last year, as well, and said he wanted to be in Noah's 5th grade class of my mom was coming back to play next year. One of the 3rd graders from the morning event complimented mom again when he saw her in the library.


I hope y'all have had a great day too!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...

...Oh, my I had such a fun time with Noah and his 2nd grade class! We went on a "Night Crawler" field trip to the Atlanta Zoo. We slept in the education building. We were able to pet a chinchilla (so cute and amazingly soft), a tortoise, a boa constrictor and an African millipede. We were shown the kitchen where all of the food is prepared and learned about the different dietary needs of the animals. I liked the Powerade, fruit cycle that was made for the gorillas, but they didn't offer us a taste. I wasn't so fond of the fish cycle for the otters, or the mouse cycles for the cats...not so tasty! We trekked around the park to the reptile house and used flashlights with red bulbs, so we didn't disturb the reptiles, too much.

In the morning, we toured the reptile house again, saw the elephants practicing their lessons with their trainer, the orangutans playing, the gorillas playing after breakfast, the pandas munching bamboo, cute little Muntjacks, lemurs, Golden Lion Tamarins free-ranging about on the ropes, and some really cool birds. The Zoo's, newest exhibit, is the naked mole rats. The have, almost, a hive mentality. They will work out who the queen is for their colony and she will be the only one allowed to have babies. They use their teeth to sense things around them and they kill vegetation because they eat the roots.
The children were pretty well behaved. There was the normal "he touched me", "She pushed me", and Noah got kicked in the ribs by a boy being silly. The boy apologized right away and Noah accepted the apology through streams of tears. All was to rights quickly. I was the shoelace monitor. Their was one little boy that must have been tying his laces wrong because they kept coming undone. The kids were so polite and would excitedly call out, "Ms. Taylor, come see this!" Noah was really cool, and not clingy. He was simply happy to have me along. He made sure he saved the seat next to him on our bus ride to and from the zoo. I did have a hitchhiker from the zoo. It was a jumping spider. Noah noticed him on my shoulder. I flicked him off and he went into the crack or our bus seat. Noah rode the rest of the trip sitting as far forward as possible.

:::::::::::::::::::::::Then It Was:::::

back to the elementary school for Kindergarten registration. Eve was excited to see two friends from her preschool class there, as well. She played with Fiona and Jayla after she finished her assessement with Mrs. Barclay (we love this Kindergarten teacher). We talked for a bit after the assessment. She was a superb teacher for Rachel and Noah. Eve got flustered when she lost site of me and began to cry. Luckily, one of the moms helping with registration knows me and pointed her to me right away. I hugged her and soothed her. Her friends had gone home while I was chatting and I was standing on the opposite side of the play area.

Earlier in the day my mom had taken Eve to school since I was at the zoo. Then, she and Grandpa Jim returned to read a couple of Scottish tales and my mom played the chanter for the Eve's class and the neighboring class. I heard happy reports from, Eve, a teacher at the school and both grandparents!

:::::::::::::Dawn Inskip C.T.::::::::



brand new collab by dawn inskip and heather manning ° evitangel °


also Embossed Alpha set 2 by Dawn Inskip


NDISB: http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php...acturers_id=58


Treasures to Scrap: http://digistore.treasurestoscrap.co...acturers_id=20


ScrapScandiStyle: http://shop.scrapscandistyle.com/ind...acturers_id=43


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Font: DJB MESSIE AMANDA by Darcy Baldwin at www.digichick.com


Brick overlay by Jenna Desai



:::::::::::::::Karen Lewis and Darcy Baldwin::::
Check out The Digichick for some cool stuff. Also, with National Scrapbook Day, Digital Freebies is having a 50% off sale.


:::::::::::::A Happy Birthday::::::

My mom and stepmom gave me gift certificates to Cake Art for some more fun design classes, I got great cards and phone calls from family and friends. I got to hangout with my youngest boy at the zoo, got beautiful flowers from my hubbie, went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with my mom, Jim and the kids. The restaurant folks sang to me and presented me with a sopapilla with a green candle...too cool!

::::::::::::In-Gathering:::::::::::

I'm off in a little while to a Girl Scout trip with Rachel and a gaggle of giddy girls. This should be an adventure!

Bagpipe Playing Grannies ROCK!

My dear cyber pal, Carol, inspired me to use Eve's photo all by itself, so this is the outcome:


_{Credits: Spring Fling Collab: Kate Hadfield, Rachel Young, and Michelle Godin, Swirl Therapy by Jofia Designs, Font: CK ALI}
Eve is glancing back at me taking and wanting me to catch up and walk with her.

:::::::::::::::Dawn Inskip::::::::::

Carol also inquired about Dawn Inskip. She is a designer who sells funky and doodly styled designs at 5 stores. She also sells at one store under a pseudonym, Luisa Leandro. It is a quirky thing one of the sites does with all its designers. Here are some links to her designs:

NDISB
TTS
Sophia Sarducci's as Luisa Leandro
Scrap Scandi Style



:::::::::::::::::::Pre-School Week::::::

Eve has had two of her favorite beings visit her pre-school class. On Wednesday, Aaron and I took Jasper, the ferret, to school for "Pet Day". Eve's teacher gave everyone a time for their pet so that no horrific pet disasters occurred due to incompatibility. Aaron red the children a little bit about what a ferret is and how they were domesticated. Eve was proud to have Jasper in her lap some of the time. The teachers were a bit creeped out by the concept and appearance of a ferret, while the school director and music teacher thought he was adorable. Most of the kids were excited to pet him and Jasper was well behaved. We took him in a newspaper lined hamper and he was so anxious to explore, but we had to keep him contained.

......Day 2, today, was "Grandparent's Day"
I had already told the teacher about the bagpipe playing granny. Crystal, the lead teacher, was also excited to meet the famous and mysterious "Granny with the Yellow hair". My mom showed up with her Georgia Tartan (a regional one for the state)scarf. She brought her shuttle pipes and played a few tunes: "Amazing Grace", Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney, and "When the Battles Over". She played some with the drones off so the kids could hear the melody. She also gave the history of the pipes and when they are used. The teachers were so receptive and the kids did really well. She played for 4 different classes at once in the sanctuary. After 20 minutes or so the 3 other classes went back to their rooms and Eve's class stayed. Each of the kids got to get their photo taken with the practice pipes she brought. The kids were a little timid, but Eve was beaming. BAGPIPES ROCK!...and so do Grannies who play bagpipes for their grandkids. My mom has played for each of the kids at the preschool, I think. It has been a few years between each child and all have attended the same preschool.

........Afterwards my mom and I ran over to Zaxby's for a quick lunch. Grandpa Jim met us their for an impromtu meal. I had their yummy grilled chicken salad. My mom went for the hot wings with "hot" sauce. She was happy, but I just see wings as an unnecessary anatomy lesson. Grandpa Jim got the chicken fingers. Good stuff. My mom drove me back to the school to my car and to give Eve a hug and kiss.

:::::::::::::::::::::::How Are You Doing?:::::::

Is a polite question everyone asks when they call. I have been answering, politely, and truthfully that I'm very frustrated with my son. He is given a math assignment that he takes the entire day to finish...often late into the evening. He doesn't listen to the instruction...says he understands...does the problem wrong...reworks the problem after getting more instruction....works the problem wrong. This is an every day occurrence. The only thing he likes to do is the history and science, but puts the minimum amount of effort into the work. This has been a pattern of his all of his life and we can give no incentive of punishment that modifies the behavior. We don't want to give him medication because we think the side effects are equally disturbing. I really worry about him long term. He does himself a great disservice and I think I getting an ulcer over the whole situation. If not I just am extremely frustrated 5 days out of every week.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::What Do You Do When Your Child Is Taking FOREVER to do Math?:
You don't really have to tell me, but I chose to finally work on Federal and State Taxes. We only get a little back, which is pretty good considering Michael has us down for 15 exemptions at work. He would be happy if we weren't getting anything back, or paying because the balance would be great. I took the opportunity to explain to Aaron some of the taxes his dad has to pay from his job, such as:

Federal Taxes
State Taxes
Medicare Taxes
Social Security (HE WON'T SEE A DIME OF THIS!)
Real Estate Taxes
Automobile Tags

Someone on the radio said that folks in the U.S. pay 38% of their income in taxes, which takes most people from January to May for taxes alone.


:::::::::::::::::::::::::Another Layout from my SIL's Album:::::



:::::::::::::::::::::::::Girl Scout Cookies::::::::

I'm picking the cookies up on Saturday, so the folks at Michael's work will be appeased. Thank you to all who purchased from Rachel. She was able to make her personal goal. I plan to take her to deliver the cookies and thank folks. I usually can make it to Michael's work right after school, but not to my mom's work which I'll try to work out both places. Thanks, Again!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::Check Out Michael's Blog::::

His wiretapping topic is really interesting.

Later, y'all! :)

Tartan Tots

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids "playing" the bagpipes. This photo of Rachel was published in this cute little Georgia based magazine my mom receives. I think Rachel was 3. I love the big eye look she has. I told Carol I would try and post these, so I decided to use the template by Pattie Knox to give it that graphic tartan feel:



_{Pattie Knox: Template
Katie Pertiet: Thistle Kit
Bren Boone: Luscious Solids
Emily Merritt: Photo Overlays from October Deal of the Month
Font: Century Gothic/ Black Adder ITC}



::::::::::::::::::::If You Need The Good Stuff Call Mom:::::::

You can't do a simple science experiment these days because the amount of duffusses (sp?) out there making meth! I needed some iodine to dye the cells of an onion skin, bit of potato, yogurt, cheek cell, and plaque, but the stuff has been pulled off the shelves. My mother purchased some a while back, so I was able to drive over and get it. The kids enjoyed looking at the cell structure of the different items. We joked about making meth now that we are all done with our microscope assignment, but Michael is already on "the list" at the pharmacy for buying Aleve Sinus for me last year. I suppose it would look shady?!

::::::::::::::::::::In Progress::::

I have a few layouts in progress, so I guess I'll go off and play with photoshop!

Smiles!