Lexie, My Little Model

We spent a few hours at the derby races tonight.

I was glad to be there to watch the kids race, but I didn't need to watch a zillion other kids too. We got a wee bit bored, so I took a whole slew of pictures of Lexie in front of the lockers.

I got some great shots (like 100), but later in the evening I accidentally erased them!! I don't know if I'll get over that. I tried again, but she wasn't into it the second time. The magic moment was gone. I still got a couple of decent shots, but nothing compared to the ones I had earlier. Darn!

Mom, are we DONE yet?????

Derby Car Finals

Tonight was the Girl Scout derby car race finals. Kate came in second place again and took home another trophy. She is proudly displaying them both on her desk in her bedroom now. Good job Kate!! Ellie did well too, but no trophy this time. There is always next year!!

More Cooking by Ellie

Ellie woke up today and decided that she just had to make her own soup. Progresso just wasn't going to cut it. She got down the cookbook and I left the kitchen at her disposal. She later brought me a bowl of her delicious soup and I promptly ate it and asked for another. I would say that it was a success! Good job Ellie :)

She also made her own Kiwi Lemonade to share with everyone:
Hopefully she will replace me in the kitchen pretty soon. I can't wait!!

Ellie's poem about Tori

Here is a poem that Ellie wrote about her little sister:

Sprinting

We've been super busy here at Island Academy. We're on the last leg of our race to the end of the school year and we are in a full sprint to the finish line.

We are all in need of a break - me probably more than anyone.

It's tiring trying to keep the girls on task and trying to keep Nick and Tori happy and out of things. I think it wouldn't be so hard it I wasn't the only one ferrying them around to classes in the evening and putting them to bed at night. I'm ready for some free time - something I haven't had in months. I want to be able to read a book and go on the treadmill or spend some time outside!

Not that the weather is especially spring-like yet. It has been in the high 40s and the snow has been melting more and more each day. I could see grass under the trees and I could see parts of the roof. I was starting to get excited.

But we woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow. I'm sure that it will melt soon, but it is depressing to see - especially when there is still so much of it piled in the yard. I need to shovel out a path to the greenhouse so that I can get some plants started. It's already late, but better late than never.At the rate we're going, we should be done with schoolwork in about a week or so. That is exciting!!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Having a blonde moment, I accidentally posted this to my other blog! Here it is again :)
FOR TODAY April 13, 2009...
Outside my window...the snow is finally starting to melt. Each day, as it warms up outside, I can hear the drip, drip, dripping of snow melting off of my roof. It is music to my ears!
I am thinking...that I can't wait to see my green grassy yard again!!
I am thankful for...a wonderful Easter weekend.
From the learning rooms...the Celts in history and weather/natural disasters in science. We should be done with school in the next few weeks.
From the kitchen...Cereal for breakfast this morning. I cooked breakfast yesterday :)
I am wearing...PJs
I am creating...an online family tree to share with family and other researchers
I am going...to our regular set of classes this week - dance, gymnastics, art, Girl Scouts, AWANA
I am reading...family history documents : wills, probate records, Civil War pensions
I am hoping...that we can get a bunch of schoolwork done today. The sooner we get through it, the sooner summer break will be here!
I am hearing...my little ones eating their breakfast
Around the house...cleaning the bathrooms (not my favorite thing to do) and taking boxes of stuff to Goodwill
One of my favorite things...a good night's rest - and I got one! The kids came down off of their sugar highs and crashed last night. Tori usually wakes up once at 1 a.m., but she didn't last night. She slept from 8-8 and it was a beautiful thing :)
A few plans for the rest of the week:Girl Scout derby car races
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

This is what happens when it's almost 50 degrees out in Alaska. My darling daughter decides that it's swimsuit weather!!

To join in the fun, go to: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Easter Eggs

They were sure happy about decorating Easter eggs. I thought Kate was going to burst with excitement :)

We colored and decorated and got our fingers dyed. You can't be true artist and stay clean, can you?

Then they discovered the wax crayon and decided that they could be spies and write secret, invisible messages which they could read later:

BLAH

I'm not going to lie. This has been a rough week for us - physically and emotionally.

We are all short on sleep - which of course makes for cranky people (myself included!).

Ellie had 4 days worth of state testing. Unfortunately, it was in the morning (0845) and we couldn't leave, because Ellie is a speed test-taker and was the first one done all 4 days in a row. So, we spent 4 mornings sitting in the car waiting for her to be done. Then we still went to various classes throughout the week - and tried to keep up with schoolwork. It was ugly.

Lexie even broke down and threw a temper tantrum today and that rarely happens.

To top it off, Nick has learned how to open our sliding glass door and I don't know what I'm going to do. Every time I turn around, he's out on the deck, running around. It's an arctic door and doesn't slide like a normal one - and doesn't lock (you can only open it from the inside). So, I have had to chase him around like crazy for the past 2 days and it's driving me insane.

So, I am going to head to bed and sleep in tomorrow....

Compassion

We were reading about natural disasters this past week. Droughts, floods, tsunamis, etc.

This led to talking about aid organizations, which led to talk of charities.

The kids decided that we needed to sponsor a kid in a not-so-fortunate country. So, we looked at the websites for World Vision, Compassion, and Christian Children's Fund to see which one we might like to use.

They all looked pretty good, but we ended up going with Compassion. The girls chose to sponsor a little 8 year old girl from Tanzania. Her name is Roza and we will be getting our sponsor packet in the mail within the next couple of weeks.

We can't send packages, but it says we can send flat things (less than 1/8 inch thick and the size of a sheet of paper or smaller.) Ellie is already excited about writing her a letter and enclosing some stickers, stencils, and pretty papers for her.

I am so excited to see the kids truly want to do something special for this little girl. It only costs $32 a month to sponsor a kid through Compassion. If it is something you are interested in doing, then you can sign up right on their website. :)

Sisterly Love

Lexie likes to love on Tori. Tori isn't always up for it.

Spring Has Sprung

I think that I can finally say that Spring has sprung.

Today was the first day that I really felt like it was warm out.
So maybe this isn't warm to some people, but I was in a T-shirt today. (Remember when I posted in January and it was below negative 40???)

When I dropped Ellie off at dance, I passed a guy on the street with NO shirt on. Yes, it felt nice out this afternoon. I think I'm ready to peel the saran wrap off the outside of the windows so that I can air the house out.

The plow came through the neighborhood and scraped the streets. Now there are huge, dirty piles on the sides of the road, but that's okay. On the road, it was slush. The sound of wet slush under my tires was music to my ears.
Lexie and Nick were hanging out on the deck this afternoon. Wishing Daddy were here to grill them some steak and shrimp....
You can even hear birds chirping outside. We hung up the bird feeder that Ellie made last year at Girl Scouts and filled it with seed. The birds were going crazy on the deck, until Nick took a stick and emptied it - pinata style. Now the birds are under the deck eating the seed.

The kids (Nick) even managed to break the screen door off already. I expect nothing less!
We're supposed to be up to 40 almost every day this week. That should start the snow melting. I can't wait to see my backyard again!! Of course, there is always the possibility of more snow falling.....but I'm not going to think about that right now.

Here is Lexie, wishing that she could go back outside. We had to get back in the car and pick Ellie up from dance. Maybe tomorrow :)

Day One Done

Day one of state testing is done. Ellie breezed through the 4th grade science test. She was the first kid done - my little overachiever. Three more days to go - Reading, Writing, and Math.

It is so funny - you could tell that it was a bunch of homeschoolers showing up for testing at 0845 this morning. It looked like a lot of people weren't used to being up and out of the house at that hour :)

Label Your Pictures!!

Unknown Norwegian Children :)

I can pick my great-grandmother out of this picture - but who are the rest of these women? Relatives? A church group? Who knows...

Someone's kids enjoying a snack on a bench - somewhere...

This is just a gentle reminder to label your pictures.

You know who the people are when you take the picture and it seems like a silly thing to do, but it's worth it to take the time to label them. Even looking back through pictures from my childhood (and I'm only 32), I can't always remember people's names - people I thought I would never forget!

Also, if you have older relatives with fading photographs, take the time to sit with them and write names/dates/places on the backs of the pictures. Otherwise, this family history will be lost. When you have a box full of old pictures and you have no idea who they are, it doesn't make them quite as meaningful as knowing that it's your great-great-great grandfather and his brothers for example.

I have a huge stack of pictures from my grandfather and about 99% of them are not labeled. I know that they are relations - mostly his siblings, but I don't know who or when or where. :(

Girl Scout Derby Races

I think that Ellie is blinded by my flash :)

The first set of races were tonight and surprisingly, both girls took home 2nd place trophies - Ellie for Juniors and Kate for Brownies. Since these are the first trophies that either of them have ever received, they have become treasured possessions and I'm sure will be displayed prominently in their bedrooms for years to come.

Unfortunately, because they came in 2nd, that means that I have to go to yet another race in a couple of weeks...

Burn out

Burn out has hit and it's not pretty. No one feels like doing schoolwork - most of all me. :(

Maybe it's because we're on the home stretch and just ready for a break.

Or perhaps it's the snow that hasn't started melting yet. That's depressing.

Maybe I'm sick of driving somewhere every day of the week.

Or maybe it's just because we're halfway through the deployment and I'm really tired of being a single parent. I want a moment to myself every once in a while and I would like some decent sleep for goodness sakes!

Actually, it's probably all of these things put together.

We're still trudging along, slow but steady. We should hopefully be done by the end of April if we can keep up a decent pace. Don't get me wrong, we're okay :) But the lack of enthusiasm from all of us is apparent.

We're sick of being cooped up in the house. Of having our days filled with "stuff" we have to do. We're dreaming of the green grassy yard and days of riding bikes and eating popsicles. It just seems too far off to be real at the moment. The weather is starting to warm up. I think it's about 30 out today. Pretty soon, we'll hear the steady drip of the snow melting and my spirits will soar. I'm sure we'll all get a second wind then and we'll be rushing to finish so that we can get outside and enjoy the warmer weather!

Absolute Randomness

The kids have had some sort of a "bug". No one is throwing up or anything (thankfully). Ellie was feeling dizzy and had a bit of a sore throat though and now Kate feels a bit under the weather today. We skipped classes yesterday and it was a nice break.

Although they were too sick to do gymnastics, they were feeling well enough to do a run to Sam's club. Especially when I bought them new ipods. I was so sick of buying batteries for the mp3 players. Now we all have an ipod and it's so much easier to load and charge them all. I filled them with music, stories, and even annoying multiplication table songs - are there any that sound decent? I haven't found them yet.

Ellie brought me breakfast in bed this morning. She got up bright and early and wanted to make something. It tasted wonderful. Fresh pineapple, strawberries, apples, grapes with whipped cream on top. What a sweetie!

Tori is totally happy if you hand her a saltine cracker. She's so easy to please. Notice that she almost always has a bruise in between her eyes. I think she hits her nose on her crib a lot :(

Okay, I am super grateful that the kids empty the dishwasher now. It is nice to have handed that duty over to them. However, when I opened the tupperware cabinet this morning I was scared to move anything for fear or the whole thing falling down.

Along with the trip to Sam's Club, I also took Kate and Lexie to get haircuts. Lexie's shaggy mane is now tame and out of her face:
Those are probably enough random thoughts for now. I need to go make some lunch. I love to cook when I have a full fridge!!

Another day....

...another moose lounging in my backyard.

Art Inspired by Eric Carle

Over the years, we have all enjoyed Eric Carle's books. Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are among our favorites and I'm sure that I could recite them by heart.

So, when I saw this neat art project posted on Chocolate on my Cranium, I knew that we had to give it a try. I can't seem to find her exact post, because it was a few months back, but they made some beautiful artwork.

First we took some plain, white paper. I used cardstock, because I had some extra and thought it might be easier to work with. You could probably use plain paper also.

We used various different paints and just painted the blank sheets, trying to make different patterns and textures. The poster paints looked best - especially the "glitter" ones. They gave it a really neat shine. We also used some acrylics, because we had them in various colors. They left a more "dull" look to the pages, but still worked.

This is one of the times that I am eternally thankful that I have an arts & crafts table. The thought of doing this at the dining room table scares me. Especially since I let Nick participate!


I let them dry overnight. Some of the papers were pretty wet, since we were making interesting textures in it. They curled up as they dried:


I stacked them all up and put them under the monstrous Webster's Dictionary to flatten out a bit.

Then we started cutting pieces out to make our pictures. We used glue sticks and put them onto cardstock as a background. I would definitely do this project again!!

Ellie made a caterpillar:

And a butterfly:

Kate did a flower:

Lexie made a cute little ladybug:
I had to jump in and make some flowers too. I couldn't help myself!!

Doesn't this look like fun?????? Give it a try!!

What is the right age?

I have been contemplating this question a lot lately.

Maybe it's because Ellie is almost 10 and she's growing up so fast.

I feel really bad for firstborn children. (Maybe only because I am one!) They are always the experiments. It's just always harder with the first one. Letting them venture out into the world on their own is a frightening thought.

So that brings me back to - what is the right age?

To be left home alone.
To walk around the neighborhood with friends.
To babysit.
To have their own email address. (Ellie has been begging!!)
To have their own cell phone.
To go to the movies with friends (but no parents).
To walk around in a different section of the store - alone.
To run into the store alone to buy something.
To have a cell phone.
To wear make-up.
To (gasp!) date.

Some of these are obviously not going to happen for a very long time. But time creeps up on you. Before we know it, they're all going to be teenagers. Yikes!

I see kids walking home alone from school. Playing alone in the neighborhood. Gabbing on cell phones. I remember babysitting kids when I was 12 or 13. I can't imagine leaving my kids with a 12 year old!!

Am I just completely overprotective? What is the right age? I know that a lot depends on the responsibility level of the kid and the area that you live in and the values your family has. There is no "right" answer.

I just don't know when I'm going to ever feel comfortable with them venturing out into the big, bad world.

I Heart Faces: Pouting

This week's theme is "pouting".
I don't remember what she was upset about, but look at that lower lip!!

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