Week in Review: Benihana's, Cherry Pie, and Time With Daddy

Gemma completed the summer reading program at the library. She got a certificate of completion, a book of her choice, and a kid's meal at Benihana's. We went to dinner with Gemma's good friend B and B's mom. B ate everything - soup, vegetables, protein - while Gemma ate white rice and rainbow sherbet. 

I clearly need to habit train my picky eater. 

The book Gemma chose as her prize-book was Jewel Society: Keep Friends Close, Emeralds Closer by Hope McLean, another mystery. (She didn't even look at the picture books; she went straight for the chapter books, and not the thin ones.) She decided on the "emerald" one in the series, because green is her favorite color. The book is a level S, end of 4th grade. She's 3/4 done with her Chickadee Court mystery, so she'll start this one in about a week.

We met with our home(pre)school co-op. The theme this month is maps. The host mom read the group the book Follow That Map (Ritchie). She hid three treasures in our neighborhood park, and drew a map showing where the treasures were hidden. Here is the group studying the map...

One treasure was a bag of compass rings!

Another thing Gemma and I did this week was make a cherry pie.

At the end of May, my in-laws brought us a crate of fresh cherries a friend of theirs had let them pick.

I hand-pitted enough cherries for a pie - four cups - and froze them. This week, we made the pie.

The finished product was not inedible, but because we used sweet cherries, our pie didn't taste like what I was expecting. (I later read that cherry pies are usually made with sour cherries.)

Daddy taught Gemma how to use a saw.

And then they had a tea party.

There was dance, piano, swimming, and a trip to the library. There was Prince Caspian, Life of Fred: Farming, Training Hearts... There was also a walk on the beach and a ride on the carousel.

I tried to get her to ride the pig (it's new, a replacement for the rabbit), but she wanted a horse.