It is hard to believe that the year of GEMS is almost over. Shortly I will be giving birth, and shortly the girls will be enjoying spring and then summer break. Our spring is filled with fun events, the first of which is the Bake Sale during the Cadet's Pinewood Derby this Saturday.

Last night all of the GEMS were making different treats for the bake sale, and I decided to make Spinach Fettuccine with the girls for something different, and something for people to buy who might be trying to eat healthier, but still want to support the GEMS. I was really surprised that the girls weren't totally disgusted by the cooked spinach, which is a vital component of the pasta. Several even told me that they liked to eat is raw as a salad, but not usually cooked. I'm not sure if this is a MN/MI thing, but I don't think I have had 2nd and 3rd graders before who would feel like that about spinach.

The girls really seemed to enjoy getting to add all of the ingredients, and especially looking at the slurry of spinach, eggs, oil and water that was created using the blender. They were also amazed at how "Play Dough" like the whole process was, and had fun rolling, cutting and hanging the individual strands to dry. I hope that people will be interested in the pasta after all of their hard work. I may augment some of the pasta with some I will make because they had a ton of fun decorating labels for each of the bags. Aside from that though, they really did work hard making a quality product, and also worked hard to keep things clean for their customers.

The girls are so great, and we are finally seeing some real togetherness between the girls from Faith and Calvin Christian Schools and the girls from New Life Church, in part because Kate (my wonderful co-teacher who unfortunately can't be there every week because she also is on the worship team) and I have worked to play name games or some other game with the girls most weeks.

Last night, as usual, I got more questions about Noah and what it feels like to have him be awake and asleep in there, and at one point someone began singing, "That's Elmo's World," (don't ask me why) and they soon switched it to "That's Noah's World" and Cassandra pointed to my belly and said, "That is Noah's world in there, in your belly." I have to agree, it is rather round and planet-like as of late. I can't wait to see how they will really react when they see him outside of me, after hearing about him and seeing him grow over the months. I'll probably have to be careful that he doesn't end up going home with one of the girls!

I'm still unsure how much I am going to be able to do next year. Noah will be about 4 months old when next year's GEMS start up, and although Jim is more than willing to hang out with his little guy while I am away, I'm not sure A: How much I will want to be away, and B: how pumping will go, and IF I will be able to be away for even that length of time. We have talked about having childcare for workers next year, and I might end up doing that so I can have him with me and still be of service, because I don't want to totally drop off from volunteering simply by having a child.