Monday, January 31, 2011

All About Erin

 Seems all my pictures lately are all about Erin. She's a sweetheart and always willing to smile, just lights up everyone around her. Especially her mommy! (Hair style compliments of Lindy)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Academy of Science


This is the time of year that we get tons of school done. I prefer to hibernate all winter but we have fun in the process. Last year at the Homeschool Convention (which is a fabulous event!) Bill and I found these awesome science kits. Each one covers a different science topic in depth. The kits come with all the supplies to do the experiments and they are better than any science kit I have ever had. And we have had many different kinds of science curriculums! Since this company is devoted only to science they know how to make it fun.
The other great thing is that everyone can participate. For Ethan and the girls this has been great since they really like doing things all together. Even Erin has been keeping a science folder with her "results".
We brought home the Matter and Polymers Kits last spring and I am trying to figure out what I want to get this year. So many choices!
When they complete the unit they receive a certificate from the Academy of Science for Kids. So cool!
Here's a peek of what we've been doing:
This was an awesome lesson on atoms and making different elements. Great visualization!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Multitasking

This is what kids today look like. They can do so much at once! Of course they learn it from all of us who are always doing multiple things at one time. Erin's new thing is to pretend to talk on her "cell phone" while working on her laptop. And yes she does this all while eating lunch!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

When I Go to College

The other night as I was putting Erin to bed we were in the bathroom brushing her teeth. I cannot stop kissing on her ALL the time, but she is incredibly snuggly and lovey. We were looking into the mirror with our cheeks smashed together when Erin said, "We have to get a picture of this, so I will always remember it when I go to college". Huh? Not sure why she was thinking about that other than having watched the big Hannah  Montana where Miley goes away to college.
Of course I complied and got her picture taken. So cute! She is growing up so fast...

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ethan's New Room

 This has been a LONG time coming. We have been trying to get this redo done for the last 2 years. We have had many false starts, with a boy who struggles with making decisions. But we finally turned a corner and over the last couple of months he successfully picked some things out.
We started with bedding that Ethan liked. Then over Christmas he found the paint color he liked and a new bed. For Christmas Santa brought him a bean bag chair, a new floor lamp he wanted, and his Grommy got him a new desk. Things were really shaping up. The big thing was the new bed we found over New Years along with the matching night stand.
So this weekend while the boys were all gone on a Father/Son Camp in for Boy Scouts the girls and I had a HUGE project in Ethan's Room Redo!
The girls were so very excited about doing this. Ethan knew we were repainting his room but that was all he thought we were doing. Being girls who all love watching HGTV we had more in mind, like accessories!
We painted everything, walls, bookshelves, and wall shelves. We hung pictures, put up a new map, organized books, added new picture frames and lamps, and added a crafty touch. They even decorated the door with a sign. Its always a big deal when the kids get to redo their room but for Ethan we all celebrated in his new space.
So we went from the picture above to this.....

 Amazing! Girl Power!
 Desk area, map compliments of Grommy along with the new desk and lamp from Christmas.

 E for Erin and also Ethan!
 My little contribution was the wall E which he loved.
 His newly painted wall shelves. There is still one more to hang at the top.
 Newly painted bookshelf along with new light and art work Ethan did in Art class. All organized and arranged by the girls.

 I love the new lamp and night stand with the family pictures.
 New desk accessories from the girls complete with his favorite candy and new picture. We even got his little piece of Disney ownership hung up.


 Girls hard at work on their door sign and getting ready for the reveal.

 The reveal!!!
 And he LOVES it! And we loved doing it for him!

We worked hard and very happily I might add. The girls were so excited they were willing to do anything including clean and the not fun parts of the project. We are tired and need to have a relaxing day but we would do anything for the best big brother in the world! We love you Ethan!

Cookie Rally Ready!

Last weekend our troop hosted the Cookie Rally for Daisies and first time cookie selling Brownies. The girls created crafts, role playing games on how to sell cookies, Bingo, costume relay races and more. They had a great turn out of over 50 little girls! The girls broke into teams to run a total of 7 stations. The remaining girls each were in charge of escorting a group of girls through their schedule of stations.
The Juniors spent two meetings planning for the event and earned their Junior Aide award with the completion of the Rally. It was so much fun to be the "big girls".
Now the fun really begins, selling our Girl Scout Cookies! Time to order!

Lily and her mom ran the cookie taste testing station. Lily was the only Girl Scout for that station and she did a great job. As the girls snacked on cookies, Lily led them in making a cookie book with all the different types of cookies.
Anna and AnnMarie worked the Cookie Game Station. The girls broke into two groups, one played Cookie Twister (just a regular twister game with cookies on the circles) and a cookie mystery game. The girls had to guess what the missing cookie was.
Mary and Brooke had the important job of showing the girls how to sell cookies. First they did a little skit showing how to sell cookies. Then they gave the girls turns to work on how to sell. They also covered money and how to make change for the cost of the cookies.
Jessie and Skylar worked the Goal Setting Station. They had a cute little craft for the girls to make that was a reminder for them as to how many cookies they want to sell. They also arranged all the prizes for the sale on a table so the girls could see what they can earn.

Mackenzie and Faith worked Safety Bingo. They covered all the important safety tips and gave out lollipops to all the girls at the end of the game.

Mia and Paige had Phone Sales. They also did a little skit on how to sell cookies over the phone and covered phone safety. The girls then made cute little paper cell phone decorated with stickers and gems.

Rebekah and Lindy were both group leaders and led groups of eight girls through their stations. They were in charge of keeping track of the little ones crafts, passports etc. Cynthia worked the Cookie Costume Relay game which was quite a hit. Cynthia was also the "older girl" who everyone looked up to. She led the opening and closing cheer and helped the Juniors with the flag ceremony. She was my right arm for everything, I couldn't have done it without her!
Of course when we got home we had to have a little costume fun!


How could you not buy cookies from such cute little girls?!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Warms My Heart


This absolutely warms my heart! Lindy is reading, by herself, unprompted by anyone, and LOVING it! It has been years since she has really sat down to read anything other than a quick picture book. Thank God for American Girls! What is not to like about anything they have? It has taught the girls every kind of history imaginable, we've used the feelings books and journals, and a host of others.
Santa brought these new American Girl books for Christmas and he must have known they were just what Lindy needed. They are adorable choose your own adventures complete with a map and a host of cute American Girls. Lindy's first one was Braving the Lake, she read all the endings. I had her tell me about the story (she has often in her dyslexia struggle complained that she did not understand what she read and also because they look so cute I want to know!).
She not only recounted the main plot but told me all the different endings. When I asked her which one she liked best she said the third one. Why? The character "stood up for herself and that's something I don't do very much". Very true, Lindy is the ultimate peace maker, the one who will get walked all over if she's not careful. Which is what I love about American Girls they really encourage girls to be true to themselves and do the right things even when its hard.
Kind of like trying to read when its been a struggle and a daunting task. Her confidence has soared in the last couple of weeks because of these books. I brought the other two home yesterday from B&N and haven't seen much of her since!
Keep up the hard work Lindy, its paying off! Daddy and I are blown away by your motivation and drive to be the best you can be. Love you!

Such the little mama! Reading her book surrounded by her dolls.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Scrapbooking Extravaganza!!

I miss my scrapbooking week so much. The days melded together and quickly slipped into evenings and then really late nights. I did shower but I lived in my jammies, left the house twice all week, barely cooked, and ate lots of chocolate! It was heaven. I love my scrapbooking space in the basement and since it is tucked away  I don't hear the door and if the phone is not down there with me I don't hear it either. Its like being on a vacation in your house down there I just love it!
I was SO behind on my monthly kits. All told at the end of the week I finished 38 pages! Not bad since many of them took awhile since I was learning something new technique wise. So not only did I get lots done but I got a crash course on some things I had been wanting to learn. I also took some time to use up much of my remaining kits supplies on making extra pages for my scrapbooks or making extra cards to put in my stash for the upcoming year.
Here are some of my favorites....



 Loved all the Barn/horse pages. The paper color combo was beautiful, taupes with pale blue.

 This picture of Kyle is two years old but I have always joked with him that it reminds me of a picture that would be on a campaign mailer!

Love these VBS pics, also two years old, I had other great VBS pics that I finally got scrapped as well.

My absolute favorite picture of Erin and her BFF Emma. I had to have a 5x7 of this and was so glad when I did this page since it fit right in!

Fourth of July 2009 

So that's the end of the samples from the marathon. I am trying to figure out how to get back down there in the next couple of weeks for a weekend marathon. Once I get started I have a hard time stopping!