Breaking news! We had a MAJOR heatwave this weekend! It got up to 80 degrees, and soon it felt like SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!! And it was SPRING!!!!!!!!!!! What a hot weekend!🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I HATED it. P.P.S. So did my sister.

P.P.P.S. I kept cool by having spray fights with Grammy and we made horchata.

We at the Daily Excitement were thrilled to learn that we were included in the Washington Post story about the upsurge in kids' newspapers during the Coronavirus shutdown. You can find us at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/lifestyle/kidspost/kids-newspapers-coronavirus/. We are in some good company!

This year for Mother's Day, Creative Consultant and motivated, moody mom Laurel set a Mother's Day Challenge for the whole family! The challenge is for seven days. If we see something that needs doing, we don't think "Oh, I can just leave that alone. Someone else will take care of it." [Creative Consultant note: Someone else is almost always me!]. Instead, if we see something we take care of it without being asked! Editor in Chief Gwendolyn says, "It feels good to have everything nice and tidy because it's easier to walk around". When questioned by motivated, moody and marvelous Mom, Gwendolyn said, "It's not an unreasonable challenge because I have noticed that we have been passing by things and not doing them. I think I can do it beyond the seven days of the Mother's Day Challenge." Maybe when the whole family is motivated, there will be more marvelous and less moody!

Who is she? #

Malala Yousafzai is a pakastani education campaigner, and the youngest EVER winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded at age 17. She is still in school even, although almost done.

How did you find out about her? #

I found out about her by reading Malala's Magic Pencil, a book in Mr. C(my first grade teacher)'s class. It was the first time I had ever heard about her, and she sounded… Confidant. Brave. Powerful. Everything I wanted to be. I was amazed.

What do you love about her? #

I love that she has found her voice, and helped many others find theirs.

You can support Malala's work at The Malala Fund

The Triumphant Return of Dear Badger #

Dear Badger,
The weather is getting warmer. How can I keep cool?
Sweltering in Seattle

Dear Sweltering in Seattle,
Maybe you should get popsicles from the store. Or you could dump a cold bucket of water on your head. Or you could bury yourself in the yard!
Love,
Badger

Mother's Day Madness #

On Mother's Day we found some spiders in the garage and on the chairs out on the deck. They were very cute [see photos]! The spiders on the deck were extremely cute because they were babies and they were nestled up together. The spiders on the deck were garden spiders. The spider in the garage was extremely cool-looking and I almost took it for a black widow but it didn't have a red marking on its belly, so I knew it wasn't a real Black Widow. It was actually a Steatoda, also known as false widows.

We made a comparison chart, see below.

Bundt cake disaster turns into parfait perfection #

Recipe from King Arthur Flour #

I love lemon cakes, so when this recipe was recommended to me, I decided to make it immediately. I wasn’t sure if the gluten-free flour would work as well as all-purpose flour, but I think it was just as good or better than a non-gluten free version of the same cake. The recipe was very easy, and as I put the cake in the oven, I was very confident that I would end up with a beautiful cake. However, when I took it out of the oven and tried to invert it on the cooling rack, it would not come out of the pan. I waited five minutes, and tried again, like the recipe recommended if the cake would not come out, but it still stuck to the pan. I had to chip it out, in the end. After all this, I thought it was ruined, when a friend recommended making it into a parfait. I realized I had a jar of lemon curd in the freezer, and getting whipping cream was easy. I made the parfaits in half-pint mason jars, and in the end, I think it was better than the cake would have been plain.

----The head reporter

What it is about: You are training a somewhat clumsy(hence the name: Clumsy Ninja) ninja because Ninja(the ninja, obviously) 's friend Kira has been captured by an evil ninja named Hori-bull(get it: Horrible. Hori-bull.) . The goal of the game is to find Hori and save Kira.

What I like about it: it isn't a time game. There isn't any stress involved. You're just training this ninja how to be an amazing ninja.

5/5
How many cozy game trophies: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner

What it is about: Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are brothers and sisters. Their parents have died, so they are also orphans. They do have a grandfather in Greenfield, but they are afraid that he won't like them. Soon they find an abandoned boxcar, in the woods, and decide to call it home.

What I like about them: The books are very cozy. It's not like a survival story. They're just orphans and they're lucky because they find a boxcar until someone can come and find them and give them a real home. And they have enough money to buy some food even though they're orphans. There are some similarities with another book I reviewed, Jane of Lantern Hill. In both books, they're trying to find a true home. The tone is similar--it's not scary. It makes me feel safe and comforted. If I've just read a scary chapter in a book or seen a movie that was kind of scary and I need a palate-cleanser, I can just go to those books because they are really cozy and I like that.

Rating:★★★★★

10/10
How likely to recommend to a friend: ★★★★★★★★★★

from our co-reporters #

Jokes to laugh by! #

Why did the spider go to the computer? To check his web site.

Where do polar bears vote? The North Poll.

Why are playing cards like wolves? They come in packs.

What do you get when you cross a snake and a pie? A pie-thon!

What was the reporter doing at the ice cream shop? Getting the scoop!

What do you call a sleeping bull? A bull-dozer.

The Daily Birder aka The Daily Ex-Sight-Ment #

No new bird species dropped by for a snack this week. 😞

We're just seeing the regulars. Can you identify the regulars at your house? Once you know the usual customers, the new species really grab your attention.

One of the things we notice first about birds is their color. It's an important field mark. Birders often refer to LBBs (little brown birds), the ones that look much the same in size, shape and color, that are harder to identify. How many birds can you think of that have a color in their name? (Hint: The Washington State Bird is one.)

Poetry by Hadley #

The Beach
Warm sand in my hand
Chilly water and a crab on land
The beach is warm
The beach is fun
The beach is good for laying in the sun
I love the beach oh yes I do
I love the beach I hope you do too

Short Fiction by Hadley #

Grandfather's Paintings #

Once upon a time there was a family, and each one of the people in the family had black hair, and rosy cheeks. There were two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy was named Robbie and the girl was named Jessica.

Every Saturday their grandfather came and painted them a picture. And then one Wednesday morning, the mother said "Come here, and listen to me. Your grandfather is ill, so there will be no more paintings for a while."

The kids said, "I think we can handle it." But they were wrong. They were growing tired of not seeing their grandpa. Especially on Saturdays when they looked at their grandfather's paintings. Robbie said "I hate having every Saturday with no paintings from Grandfather."

"You know, I think we should make our own paintings." said Robbie.

"good idea!" said Jessica.

They told their mother their idea and their mom said, "Very good idea. You should go out now and make some paintings. When you have painted some interesting things, come back and show me."

They looked, and looked, and looked, but they couldn't find anything as interesting as their grandfather painted. The most interesting things were a cat jumping out of a tree, and a kid that trained its dog to stand on its hind legs for 2 minutes.

They came back and told their mother that they couldn't find anything interesting. "Have another try tomorrow" said their mother.

They tried and tried every day but they couldn't find anything as interesting as their grandfather's paintings. On day they were sitting on their front porch not knowing what to do, when Robbie saw something amazing.

"Look" Robbie exclaimed.

Beautiful magic tulips were growing out of the weeds that they hadn't picked. And then Jessica found something amazing. "Wow" gasped Jessica. All of a sudden these beautiful lights were shooting up into the sky and swirling around.

They knew at once what to paint. They started painting. When they were finished with their paintings they ran over to their grandfather's house to show their grandfather. "They're the most beautiful paintings I've ever seen" said their grandfather.

Soon their grandfather became better, and they decided to do their paintings together. "I think it's more fun painting with you." Said Robbie. "I agree" said Jessica. They all agreed, and they continued painting paintings, together.

Meet the Birder's Dog #

Name: Rosie
Age: Approximately 7 human years
Motto: GO!!!!!!
Hero: The Humane Society
Favorite Food: Treats
Favorite Book: Any Carpenter Mysteries by David Rosenfelt
Favorite Movie: Star Wars
Something about Rosie: When she came to us from Hawaii, she didn't know how to go up or down stairs. It took her 3 months to master that sill. Now she has a cozy hangout at the bottom of our stairs.