Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Valentines and President Day

Valentines Day was on a Friday this year. It would have been super cool, except for the fact that Victoria woke up that morning at 5 o'clock with a stomach bug and stayed home from her class party.  We tried to make the most of it by doing some fun activities, like a flower painting and playing hangman with some new smelly markers that I got for her, but I think Victoria was still a little bummed. She even got to see Grandma Carol, when she came over to watch her while I went to run Bella's class Valentine party as room mom. (It was very fun, but very fast paced and the kids were wild.)
 
Later that day, the weather called to us and we set up camp in the front yard and read poems from one of our favorite books Where the Sidewalk Ends. As we were out there, an airplane wrote in the sky for Valentines Day "I love you". It was pretty neat. Jer came home early and tried to say that he did this for me- wink, wink ;). When I came inside he gave us girls beautiful flowers and sushi- he knows me well. It turned out to be a good Valentines Day.
 

 
The girls were given earrings and bracelets from their Aunt July and Uncle Jeff. They liked them very much and wore them to school the next week. Thank you so much!
 
 
The kids had President Day off of school and we had a perfect day. In the morning I called my old friend Chris (Nico and Marlee) to see if we could get together, we ended up spending the whole day together. We went to see the new Lego movie (5stars- very funny- would recommend it for adults too). Then we had two park playdates! The first park was very crowded, so we let the kids play for 30 minutes, then went to another nearby park. It reminded me of old times when we would get together, enjoy the day gabbing, letting the kids play, and not worry about time. The kids had so much fun playing on the equipment, playing "Zombie Man", collecting ladybugs, and soaking up the sun. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful! Later that night I even got to go to a Zumba and Yoga class. AND got a hot bath with Sleepytime tea. Definitely a Top 10 day!


 

 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Mommy, Grandmother, Daughter Date

 For Christmas this year I bought a Groupon from a painting studio called Sip and Doodle and took Carol and the girls to have an evening filled with wine or sparkling cider, painting, and fun.
 We pre-chose our pieces. Victoria and Bella wanted to make owl paintings and wanted me to too. Carol sketched out a beautiful angel. They first had us paint a fast background color, then blow dry it, (we were using acrylics), then sketch it out with chalk, then paint it.
 The girls did really well and actually finished a little early. I was glad I bought in Chick Fa Le for them, and that it came with a toy. Carol and I finished down to the wire, although I would have liked another 20 minutes. And Carol still needs to write with Sharpie her quote on her piece of the importance of Guardian Angels.
 We did a great job and had a fun time!

Daddy Daughter Dance

 Jer took the girls to their annual Daddy Daughter Dance. This years theme was a Masquerade. We finally got to use the masks that we've had up on our walls.




 They went with their friends Dan, Kate, Abby, Jay and Braelyn. Afterward they had dinner at the Macaroni Grill.

Sometime in the Last Month?

It snowed in Frisco, but we still had to go to school, much to the dissatisfaction of the students. So Mrs. Benne took them outside for 5 minutes to play in it, since their 30 minute recess was cancelled.
My Mom and Dad went with us to a roller skating place.
 
 Anyone want any Girl Scout cookies? I'm Cookie Mom again this year. The Girl Scouts helped in unloading and dividing their cookies into piles at my house. We still have plenty of cookies here (in the surplus) if you need any.


 Going to sell Girl Scout cookies with her sister.

Bella made a healthy snack from her cookbook- a honey, strawberry, almond sliver, bread butterfly.
 
One of Bella's best friends Natalie came over for a play date.
 
Victoria got an award for the Reflections contest.
 Victoria and one of her besties Mathita at lunch
 
 Grandpa Dick gave us a really fun, really MESSY, clay pot wheel. Victoria taught Austin how to use it.

 Victoria and Courtney enjoy their blue Slushies.
 
 Carol gave Jeremy a really neat gift of a suit of armor that is now hanging in our guest bathroom (swords to follow according to Jer, not me.)
 Bella celebrates the 100 day of school by dressing like she's one hundred.
 
Making cookies after school.

Mom and Dad Visit for Christmas and New Years

 
Only one month later, and I'm finally getting to posting my pictures from when my parents came to visit. Could I possibly be behind a little?
 
 My parents came to visit us for Christmas and New Years. It was a wonderful time. Here are some highlights.
 We gave them a calendar of all the grandkids.
Mom and Dad gave the girls roller skates.
 They had been skating once, so they were a little wobbly, but got the hang of it quickly, especially after going around our tile floor in the kitchen.



 Bella and Victoria used some of the money they had gotten from Christmas presents to buy skates for their dolls. They took them skating too.
 Victoria was entranced in finishing a blanket for her baby cousin Sarah.  



 On New Years the girls played with Pop Its on the driveway. We couldn't find any real fireworks as we are in a fire ban county.
 What goes better with pumpkin pie then lots of whip cream?

 Carol and Dick also came over to celebrate New Years. I made our traditional dish of pork, hot dogs, sauerkraut, and dumplings. We played a game of how well do you know each other by filling out our favorite things list/future goals, and trying to guess who was who. It was hilarious to guess some of them- Bella's goal for 2014 was to have more fun and she would like to learn how to eat gross stuff without saying yuck. Victoria would like to get better at writing, and her goal is to improve at school.



 W completed a 1000 piece puzzle based on the movie A Christmas Story.
And wouldn't you know it, one piece directly in the middle was missing.

Build A Bear

Lake Ray Roberts

Memorial Weekend 2009

Brothers Visit

Christmas '08

PA Vacation Slideshow