Sport Camp!

 A friend of ours told us about a free "sport skills" camp we could sign the girls up for this summer. It was so much fun!  They mostly did relays with football-type drills.  Above is Birdy pulling the tires and below going over the "hurdles" (they also had to go under them sometimes).

Above is EJ (the one in the front of the line) doing the 4 way tug of war. That was a lot of hard work, but lots of fun.   EJ enjoyed the "ladder" run relay, too.

It was an awesome, well-run camp.  The last night there was a family party. Parents (and little brothers) got to participate in all of the drills and then there was a raffle and hot dog dinner. We actually won the raffle!! It was a fancy-shmancy box of all kinds of beauty treatments and make-up. It was a great prize!  I can't wait for next year. Bear will be old enough to participate, too.

Last Day of School

Just for fun, a side-by-side First and Last day of school pics:

 First Day:

Last Day:

 



Just Stuff

Someone got shaved for the summer!  Our guy is great- he doesn't make her look stupid.

EJ had a great end-of-year project. The kids learned all about marketing, manufacturing (cost/profit) and etc. Then they made an item to sell. They had to determine price, create digital and print advertisements.  Then they saw how much profit they made based on the cost for producing.  She came up with the idea to make yarn dolls and did them herself. 

I love that this girl still loves to wear princess dresses. This is her "castle" she put together one day. She and Bear each had "rooms" that they made up.

Happy to say that the produce boxes from Bountiful Baskets are still going strong as the favorite toy in our house with all children of all ages!

Bluebonnets 2014

Taking spring pictures with Bluebonnets is a Texas "thing"- Kind of like photos at a pumpkin patch in the fall.  This is one TX tradition I can really embrace! 

 Finding the "best" bluebonnet patch is a big deal. People are posting their favorites all over the internet (or keeping them secret) and the "good" patches can get trampled quickly. Last year we just spotted some and pulled over by the side of the road. 

This year, I wanted to do a little better and plan cute hair and outfits so I started looking and asking around for the perfect spot.  One day, I drove down my street and turned a corner and saw that my neighbor, 3 houses down, had a beautiful, big patch of bluebonnets- right beside their garage!

It was perfect! I made some cookies and took an opportunity to meet a neighbor (they are nice- original owners of the house!). They were flattered that I admired their bluebonnets and let us come and take some pictures. I was lucky that the day was mostly overcast and the kids responded well to an ice cream bribe. 

A few weeks back, Bear had a bee land on his forehead and has been terrified of all bugs ever since. There were a lot of bees buzzing around the flowers, so that didn't help, but he did a good job and we got some good shots in spite of his worry.  The girls were so fun and got really into it.

I paid my friend Kim with freezer dinners to edit our favorites and these will be the kids pics for this year. I can't wait to see them on my wall!

March: A Very Birdy Birthay

It is hard to believe that my crazy-curly haired, snotty-nosed blondie is now a grown-up 7 yr old with brown hair that keeps getting darker and freckles like her big sister! She is still spirited, beautiful and a joy to have in our family. As she grows it is so exciting to see how her strong-willed personality shows itself in a girl who wants to work hard for things- like being a better sister and student. She is such a joy!

This year was a "family party" year and she got all she wanted. She really wanted a "Frozen" themed birthday, and we decorated the house in blue, white and purple streamers and a big "Frozen" poster that can be recycled into her room!  She LOVED it and was surprised to see it when she came home from school.  Daddy worked from home that day and he, Bear and I were able to meet her for lunch. This year's request: sushi!  My, she is getting grown up!  She also got to wear her special pink crown to school all day with her blue church dress and "high heel" church shoes.  She has been planning to wear that dress and shoes on her birthday for about 8 months now!  She got a special, more sparkly crown just for lunchtime.

The Barbie megablocks (lego-type) set from Grandma and Grandpa was a huge hit! She opened it right after school and Daddy helped her follow the directions to put it together.  She loves lego and putting things together and has played with it a lot since.

The Birthday Girl requested Vietnamese for her birthday dinner and she got a WHOLE bowl of Pho soup to herself (she didn't even pretend to finish it all!)  Then we came home to have our party. We played some "Frozen" party games.  First, we "built" a snowman together on a big sheet of paper. Everyone helped to make him and I think that is how he ended up kind of creepy looking :).

Then we played "pin the carrot nose on Olaf".  It was fun- the whole family played- even Mom and Dad.  Mom won. Just sayin'

Then the kids did a Frozen maze and decoded a special Frozen message. Then it was time for CAKE!

As requested, we had chocolate cake (wowie cake, of course) with vanilla frosting.  I searched stores and the internets for some little Frozen dolls to decorate the cake with, and the best I could come up with were the little cupcake rings that I was able to buy from the Target bakery (bless them).  Birdy really loves the idea of getting an additional "present" in the form of a cake topper, so Ice Skating Barbie visited Arendale and graced the top of the cake!  

The birthday girl also got to pick out her own ice cream flavor from Braums: Molten Chocolate Cake ice cream.

I hope all her birthday wishes come true! We love having her as a part of our family. Hard to believe next year she'll be 8!!!

Spring Break: I'm Crazy

Just in case you have ever doubted that I'm truly crazy, I just want you to know that this happened on spring break.  That is 3 kids (+1 white dog + 2 cats) painting Birdy's bedroom pink. Don't be fooled by the color of the wet paint. It really dried pepto-bismol pink and it is way, way awesome (if you are a 7 yr old girl, which she is). 

I'm still putting the room back together and decorating, so stay tuned for a before/after.  You know, in 6 months or so.

March: Spring Break Spa Day

Spring Break here is hard. Because of state standardized testing schedules, pretty much everyone has their break at the same time.  And if you didn't know, TX is a big state, so that means everyone floods to do all the local fun stuff, as we learned on our San Antonio trip our first Spring Break here... 

Luckily, we've learned to make our own fun. We spent many days with our friends at group play date picnics at various parks.  I also promised the girls they could invite a couple of friends each and we could have a spa party. It was so much fun for everyone!  We got some snacks (m&m's, goldfish, donut holes and water bottles) and some dollar-store supplies- bath salts for feet and hands, face masks and headbands for the girls to keep.  We also made some really easy sugar scrub for their hands and feet (plus there was leftovers to take home!). 

Bear loved the attention from the big girls, but got bored after a while. It was great having the three big girls to help the three little girls.  We soaked and scrubbed hands and feet, applied and washed off a face mask and did manicures and pedicures!

I was a little nervous about executing it by myself, and I couldn't have done it without the help of the bigger girls, but it ended up being fairly relaxing and fun!

Sept: School Clothes

Sooo, since the girls didn't want to allow first day of school outfit voting, or even a "fashion show" of their school clothes, we took a few photos documenting their new school clothes. 

Pioneer Play Date

The girls and I were inspired by our visit to the This is the Place park and some great new books from Grandma to have a pioneer day.  To make it extra-fun, we invited some of our friends to dress up like pioneers and come and join us.  We read the pioneer books and learned about what it was like to cross the plains.  While we were reading, the girls took turns "churning" and making butter.

The girl's favorite activity was doing the laundry.  We got some dirty clothes and washed them the pioneer way (you know, if pioneers used a bar of zest soap...).  They had so much fun and washed until we ran out of line to hang them on! Now if only it really got the clothes acceptably clean I'd let them do it every day!

In true pioneer style, we made our own toys. We made super-easy and fun yarn dolls. The girls did a great job making them and they were thrilled!

We topped off our play date with slices of bread and fresh-made butter!  Side note- I had intended to make home made oatmeal bread, but my bread machine "walked" off the counter while it was mixing and broke beyond repair! Luckily we had a loaf of regular bread to save the day!