2 steps

With her Poppa around, Renée is a very brave girl. She took 2 steps Sunday evening to get to her Poppa where she proceeded to climb over him like he was a little mountain. Her lateral incisors are poking through also. 6 teeth total!

My birthday gift

You won't be able to guess what I am getting for my birthday!
A rebuilt transmission! That's right, the ol' Matrix manual transmission has been making an odd little rattling. I was hoping it was just some loose things around the car, but no! Wednesday we get the car back. Until then, we're a family going nowhere since the truck only seats three.
At least we can get it repaired!
95,000 miles and a rebuild.

Moon Festival

We attended a Moon Festival on Sunday evening. It was quite an interesting experience. Everything was in Chinese and English, including the introductions. Gaby was thrilled with the applause of the audience and the music of the San Antonio Chinese Performance Association. She stood on Mike's legs and swayed to the music. It was so danged cute!
Phoebe liked that music also and the dancers of the Shanghai Dance Group were amazing! She rated them a 10+.
It was a great evening out for the family, but we left before the end of the show because it was Gaby's bedtime. She was getting a little cranky.
No pictures as it was so dark. Good memories, though.

Clothes Alterations

Phoebe is off of school and we worked together making clothes for Renée. Read all about it along with a picture on Phoebe's blog, Clementine.
The sewing was a snap and thank goodness Phoebe had a band-aid. I can't apply snaps without drawing blood.

Brinner

Tonight we had pancakes, bacon, and hash browns for dinner. Phoebe named our breakfast for dinner as brinner. Mike asked a few minutes later: What is breakfast for dinner on Christmas called? Yule Brinner!!!
He is so danged funny!

Greatest Spaghetti Ever-for how long we had it

I made some delicious red sauce Friday. Really tasty good stuff.

While putting it up, I didn't take into account how hot the crock was on the sides. Here is the result.

Sad day for the crock.

Golden Bead Material Making-First

I have begun making the Montessori golden bead material for Renée. I know, she isn't even a year old, but I thought an early start would ensure completion. The progress is going well. I have 8 hundred planes complete. Originally, I got the inspiration to undertake this task through this Montessori at Home: Montessori Mathematics: The Complete Bead Material - Part 1.
I keep it all in the lid from my craft tote so it is easily put up away from Renée's reach. When she is asleep, out it comes.
I am using 18 gauge steel wire, 24 gauge purple coated wire, 8mm faceted beads, wire clippers, and round nose pliers. I was going to use copper, but the cost was going to be phenomenal! Really, mind boggling high. The beads were 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I got yellow because that is the color they had the most of during that sale. The purple wire was already in my pile of craft items, and the steel wire is from Lowes.
After some experimentation, I got my assembly line started. With Phoebe's occasional help, this project is going smoothly.

Above, I cut 11cm lengths of the 18 gauge wire, make a circular turn at one end, and thread on 10 beads.
Using the purple wire, I assemble 10 of those bars together to make a hundred plane. Here is am starting that assembly. 2 of the beads down is where I begin. I use a length of wire about 45 cm long. I fold that in half and tuck the bar into the fold. I twist once and add another bar. I twist around that one and continue doing that until 10 bars are assembled.
Once all 10 are together, I return along the previous twists, weaving the wire over/under/between the beads, as shown in this next image. To finish the plane, I twist the two wires together, trim a short length, and wrap the twist back to tuck in between 2 bars.
Here are the completed planes thus far.

Here is a goofy error I came across during my work. One of my bars only had nine beads on it. I discovered it after I has assembled one end of the plane. My solution was to clip the circular end of the offending bar, remove the beads to slide it out. I slid a new wire with 2 beads on it, put that through the assembled end where the other was removed (shown in the photo below), put on 8 more beads and then turn a circular closure. The twisting of the purple wire continued to complete the 100 plane.
This doubling back with the purple wire makes a pretty stiff plane. For the creation of the thousand cube, I will only make one pass with the purple wire. These that I made up will be used as hundred planes.
Initially threading the beads on the 10 bars butted tightly together is a bad idea. It makes the bar curve, the purple wire doesn't fit well between the beads, and they just don't feel cool.
When I make the thousand cube, I will space the 10 bars apart a bit more than I have in the hundred plane. My goal is to make them as close to 10cmx10cmx10cm as possible.
When the thousand cube is complete, I will post it. I can't wait as that is going to be a massive weight. Who would have thought that these beads would have such heft?