Anyone have any recommendations for a down-time plan for a new-to-full-time-school little lady?

First Day, part 2

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!
She had a great first day, she even made a friend.
Kind of cool this morning, time to bake some bread.

First Day of School

A Finished Project

I started this quilt in July of 2008.
I am a little shocked that it took me this long to finish, but there it is.
Treadle Yard Goods, where I work, carries supplies for fabric books from time to time and I am a total sucker for preprinted panels, so when we got a best of Beatrix Potter panel I had to get it.
Instead of a book, I decided to make a quilt.
So, 14 months later, here it is finished.
I might have to sew down the inner border, it flips up and looks kind of funny.
When I started it I thought it would be for the family, but the Elder Hug-a-Bug saw it and said "Ooh! A Peter Rabbit quilt for me?!?" so it'll be for her.
Only 3 more days until she starts full-day kindergarten.
I am excited for her, and worried, and happy, and full of anxiety.
This week might be a tough one.

Last Night

I have said it before, and I'll say it again, my neighborhood and my neighbors are the best around.
As longtime readers will remember, I am a member of a neighborhood crafting group.
We have sewn together, made soap together, soldered together, knit together, at Christmas one of the Mama's asked her carpenter husband to help us do some woodworking, and last night we welded.
Now, when I say "we" welded, it was actually a fantastically talented neighbor, Shelly, who did the actual welding. She has an amazing house that she and her partner have redesigned and filled with art that the both of them have made. In her workshop she has bins all over filled with scrap that she has collected and we were able to search through them and design a piece of sculpture.
Once we had all the pieces assembled Shelly welded them together.
My friends both made amazing pieces, I think I'll sneak over to their houses later to take some pictures.
I wish I would have thought to bring my camera last night, the welding was so fascinating to watch.
Honestly, when faced with the task of designing a piece of sculpture, I was stymied on what exactly to do.
It took me at least 30 minutes playing with the different pieces of metal to get inspired.
Finally, I found a piece of squared-off tubing that had a slight bend in it, and I asked Shelly to help attach it to a base piece. The upright is hollow and Shelly had a post that we attached to the square base so the whole piece can rotate.
Then I had an idea of hanging a small tight spiral from one side and a large open angular spiral from the other side, but it looked like an 8th-grader made it in shop and got a C.
Then Shelly pulled out a big pile of rings that she had left-over from building her own fence and I made this.
Shelly was such a wonderful guide in making our pieces.
She asked me if I would add anything to the top of the balance beam and I could see immediately that there needed to be some rings on the top to balance out the dangling ones.
I think I have to pull out the bush that is behind the sculpture in this picture, this place by the front stairs is out of the way of running children and I think I like it there.

The End of the Summer

Yesterday we made what might be our last trip to the beach before school.While we were there we saw a flock of birds doing some training missions.They were fascinating to watch.

Together Time

The Elder Hug-a-Bug was invited to go fishing with her grandparents yesterday by herself, the Younger Hug-a-Bug isn't old enough to go on a boat yet.
This left us alone for the day, so I made the logical conclusion that we must spend our together time at the Fair!