Saturday, August 31, 2013

Daybook

Hubby's almost done making tortillas, which means breakfast, so let's get started, shall we? Music's rolling, lights are dimmed, and queue:

  • I am listening to: Godsmack right now, but who knows what will pop up next. The kids were on restriction  from electronics for a week and today is the day they get them back. I have to be honest and say I can't remember what they got put on restriction for, since that was longer ago than yesterday. Anyway, The TV has finally come back on and I don't want to hear it. Yuck. Oooh, now I'm listening to Snap! I got the power!
  • Around the house: The pig sty has returneth. I miss July when the chores were getting done. But, we started school and science co-op, so there goes what little time we had for that. It's really not as bad as I make it sound. For the long weekend, hubby has a list of chores we need to get done. Yea, chores! Not really. I despise chores and I wish I had a chores fairy. The most exciting news is that we just celebrated the big girl's birthday. She turned 15 and we spent the day at Disney. Duh. We all had a good time, but you probably already knew that. Guess what she gets to do now? Learn to drive. That is hubby's job. I told him I carried and birthed the babies, he gets to teach them to drive. That seems fair, don't you think? Heaven help us.
  • For the holiday: Ha! I added a new category! We don't have big plans. We're talking about going to the beach. Hubby wants to metal detect after 4,000,000 people have been there for the weekend. We just bought a grill. It's a little $20 table top. We haven't had a grill in almost 2 years and we wanted one. Burgers're going on that thing this weekend. I. Love. Grilled. Burgers.
  • From the schoolroom: It's been a bit of a rough start for us. We started at the beginning of August so we are about 4 weeks into it. It has been a huge adjustment in workload for the big girl. She was using FLVS for Latin, but she dropped that class. What a big, giant cluster of mess that is! If you haven't used the website, it is not user friendly at all. The lessons seemed to weave back and forth, but never long enough on one topic to make sense. Her teacher was really nice. I have heard horror stories about some of the teachers. Gives me shivers. She will take driver's ed from them because I hear that's pretty good. I have high hopes. The boy and the baby have a heavier word load this year, too. I added vocabulary to their day. There was always vocabulary in their language arts, but I didn't feel like it spent enough time reinforcing the word. They're both using Wordly Wise 3000. I used it with the big girl when she was in the 5th grade. Love it! They are both learning Latin this year. They get science at co-op, so that kind of freed up a spot. So far, so good. They both seem to be enjoying it, so yea!
  • From the dance studio: We start dance next week!! I cannot even begin to express how excited we are about that. There are just no words.
  • And don't forget Stella: Stella is 6 months old now, closing in on 7. She is not the teeny baby anymore. She is so big. She can set her head on the dining table. We don't let her keep it there, but good grief. She is super smart. She and hubby were chasing each other yesterday. At one point, she reversed on him so many times, he had no idea where she was going to come from. I watched the whole thing and I had no clue! She's learned sit, lay down, show me your belly, and off, darn dog, get down! She still follows hubby like he saved her life. She has even made friends with the neighbor's dogs. They run up and down the fence line, chasing each other. She won't get to go play for real until she gets Bob Barkered. We still can't get her to stop barking at Mr. D, our neighbor. He even brings her cookies! Maybe one day.

I think that's about all I have for now. Tortillas are ready and I'm hungry.

Have a great day.      

Friday, August 16, 2013

Happy Birthday to My Big Girl!


Normally, for birthdays, I do the whole "I love my kid, who is the greatest kid ever" blog. I'm changing it up a little. Change is good, right? I don't believe that for a second, but I'm doing it anyway. So, today is my big girl's birthday. I love that girl something fierce! Here's just a few pics so I can brag on my girl.


Oh, my stars, she's beautiful! How on earth did I get so blessed? She is beautiful on the inside as well. She is kind and caring and loves very deeply. She is super smart and talented and I am honored to be her mama!


She didn't think she could get away with wearing a scarf. I think she looks great! I like that scarf, too.



You know she is patient and tolerant because I am her mother. She has to put up with me!! She will dress up like the cat in the hat while dancing down the street...


Or get her picture taken with Pocahontas, et al. at Disney because I asked her to. Ok, sometimes it was more like telling, but she never rolled her eyes where I could see, so she gets bonus points.


She has always had these beautiful, long fingers. When she got old enough to take care of her own nails, she grew them long. And they are beautiful. She is very artistic. She loves to be creative and this is her way of painting. And she's good.


These were some of my favorites. I loved the sunset colors and the beach emblems. She free handed those, by the way. She does have stencils, but she rarely uses them.


I love the penguins! They are so cute!! She did something similar to this. She painted tuxedos. Each bow tie and cummerbund was a different color. She didn't like them, but I did!


We got her some nail brushes and a dotting tool for her birthday along with some nail polish colors she's been asking for. She did this bee in about 5 minutes today. She was thinking about putting Winnie the Pooh on the other hand.

I could not be prouder of her! She has stepped outside her box and is taking on new responsibility every day. She is a talented, beautiful dancer. She decided to forgo her allowance so that she could take an extra dance class. She is so excited for dance to start! She has done very well with her school work, keeping a straight A average. She is creative and wonderful and a great big sister. I love her so much! Happy birthday to my big girl!!

Have a great day.