Maggie’s graduated today from Cornerstone Montessori Elementary School which she has attended since kindergarten. It was a beautiful ceremony on a perfect day. Next year, she will attend SPA (where Daddy teaches) as a seventh grader. She will be on the same campus with Griffin (entering 10th grade) but most of their classes are in different buildings. We are enormously proud of her!
Sarah has been meaning to tackle some of the invasives in our yard, starting with these two sprawling Japanese Barberry bushes. They came out more easily than expected and opened up a bunch of space near the side deck and sun room.
The Faculty Fun Committee organized an afternoon of bowling at Sunray Lanes, not far from our house. Maggie opted out, but the rest of us had a great time. (And Griffin beat Andrew!)
Earlier this year, the kids agreed to cook at least one dinner per week for the family. They have chosen a number of bold recipes, including their first lasagna this week! It was delicious.
We spent a fabulous day exploring the Hirshhorn Museum on the National Mall. We were wowed by sculptures by Simone Leigh, Yayoi Kusama, and Rodin. We also explored other worlds through an exhibit of contemporary Chinese photography, Laurie Anderson’s “Four Talks,” Mark Bradford’s 400-foot long “Picket’s Charge,” and John Akomfrah’s “Purple.” And food trucks. Obviously.
The Olson-Hammers outdid themselves once again with a magnificent holiday party featuring sweater-shaped cookies and a massive array of decorating materials. My sweater was intended to be creative, but I ended up accidentally crushing it in my hand just before the photo.
(Griffin’s photo is missing at the moment. We’ll remedy as soon as we track it down! )
This is another song that Oliver wrote at school last month. Here’s the transcript followed by the original.
Fluffy monkey puppy pants.
Ya ya ya.
If you don’t like it, you will be a saw.
Ha ha ha.
Fluffy monkey puppy pants.
Ya ya ya.
If you don’t like it, you will be a saw.
Ha ha ha.
This is a song that Oliver wrote in school in the last month. He says that it is not in his best handwriting. Here’s a transcription with the original below.
There’s trees there. There’s trees here. There’s trees everywhere. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I love trees. Trees are the best. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
There’s trees there. There’s trees here. There’s trees everywhere. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I love trees. Trees are the best. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
We drove down to Saint Louis to attend Clay and Meghan’s lovely wedding. Everyone found new fancy outfits for the occasion. Oliver’s was the talk of the town.
As mentioned in the previous post, Maggie was away at camp all week. Griffin is also at camp and Sarah is out of town, so it’s just been Oliver and me holding down the fort for the past few days. We’ve had a great time.
Maggie returned yesterday. We had a lovely welcome home dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (one of her favorites). Things felt pretty normal. Watched a show. They were bickering before bed, just like usual.
Then, today, Maggie went over to her friend’s house for a few hours. When I was getting ready to drive over to pick her up, Oliver started gathering things in the kitchen. I asked him what he was doing, and he explained that he thought Maggie might be thirsty, so he was filling up her water bottle with fresh water and lots of ice. Then he packed a container of Nilla Wafers because he thought she might need a snack.
Seriously. I just wanted to hug him and never let go.
