Garden, composting and makers fair

Garden update. I had planted lettuce seeds on two different occasions and both rows are up. The girls were having fun planting the onions so we had planted the whole pack I bought. Today I counted over 40 onions. I'm not sure yet if the green onion seeds are up. There is something there that looks like it could be green onion but could also be grass as there is something else similar in other parts of the garden. I think my carrots popped up just today. One of the tomato plants is getting a flower as is one of the pepper plants. So far there is no sign of the cucumbers. The lettuce plants look OK, but don't seem to be growing very fast. I'm probably just being impatient. Between the plants and the seeds, I have lettuce taking up half of one of the gardens. I'll have to figure out what to put there after the lettuce is done. I hear it will be finished early enough to put something else there. I think the zinnia and wildflower seeds that I planted have sprouted. I spent some time today weeding the flower garden in the front yard and trying to remove some of the thistle from the thistle garden. I've almost filled one of the compost tubs, but I put lots of branches in it, so it probably won't compost quickly. I'm going to try to keep putting stuff in it for a bit. Yesterday I went to get a countertop container that the city provided for putting kitchen scraps in. They intend for people to put things in there then empty them into the compost bins that they pick up. I plan to use it for collecting and taking stuff out to my compost bin. Between broccoli and leeks last night, I've half filled it already and emptied into the compost bin. Bah, I just lost half of my post. It's the one problem I have with this computer is that if I touch the area in front of the keys just right, it selects a chunk of the post and if I'm writing at the time, deletes it. Let's see if I can remember what I wrote. I spent some time today weeding the flower garden and trying to remove thistles from the thistle garden. It's supposed to be mostly ground cover, but the thistles were thick in there last fall. I think they are annuals but are very good at seeding themselves, so I figure if I keep them from going to seed, we will have fewer thistles next summer. Today I took the girls to the Ann Arbor Mini Maker's Fair. Valerie received a flier for it yesterday. I think she enjoyed going. We did a "make and take" that taught us how to solder by making a little "robot" pin with light up LED eyes. We had to solder in the LEDs and the pin and battery case. I enjoyed making it and she loved wearing it. There was a teddy bear on a swing that was swinging with the help of a small motor with a bar under the ropes of the swing. Both girls liked that. There was also a guy there with a setup that drew on Christmas ornaments with a Sharpie. Valerie was really taken with that. She kept watching the video that showed it drawing on an ornament. He then put in an ornament so she could see it. It didn't get quite set up right, so most of the stars are missing from the NY skyline that it drew on the ornament. He let her take it home. They had a banana piano where you held a alligator clip in one hand and touch bananas to complete the circuit. Each one was set up to play a tone. Both girls tried it and both seemed a bit scared of it. I think the girls will really enjoy the fair as they get older. We had a good day today except for two snags. I made the mistake of leaving the girls alone with the sunscreen for a minute and they completely over did it and got it all over the floor. I had told Valerie just a little for her feet as we had already done the rest of both of them. Cordelia has been biting lately. Usually just Valerie for some reason. She got her good this evening on the back. I don't know why she's biting. I don't know how to stop it. Valerie has been impressing me lately with her reading. I've heard her sounding out words both in reading and in writing. She gave me the best Mother's day book today. It was set up with sentence beginnings like "I like when my mom and I" for her to fill in and a space for her to draw something. I love it!