Making Ornaments with Caelie

 I picked up some tile scraps at a yard sale

and played with them. I made these two little

ornaments and put them on

Andrew's Birthday Present.

 That was just the beginning.

 Caelie was out of school and stayed with

me one day - so we went to look for

smaller tiles to make ornaments.

She can pretty much do this by herself

so she made LOTS of ornaments.

 Here are the two styles she made that 

first day.

And here is a close up of my 

favorite! I really like the pink!

Since then, Brandy and Andra have came 

over and we've made more ornaments.

But - I didn't get pictures.

I started making ornaments with them,

but ended up putting away tea sets

and making Andrew's cake with Brilyn

while the girls crafted away.

My ornaments are not finished yet.

BUT - I plan to do this again

when Grace and Olivia are here,

so I'll try to post pictures.... and instructions, then.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you be blessed as you

Give Thanks and make yourself

a blessing to others!

Grace's Gymnastics Expodition

 Grace had a Gymnastics Exposition and she

was excited. She seemed confident when 

she went out onto the floor.

But - from the floor she looked out and

saw LOTS and LOTS of people.

I think we failed to fully prepare her for that.

We forgot that when a child performs

for the first time you are supposed to tell

them to look out at that audience and imagine

all of those people in their underwear!

So.... she didn't know to do that.

And she got a little bit of stage fright.

 So...she was "too shy" to do all of her routines,

but she did do the rings.

And the bars.

I think those are her favorite events.

Sometimes this kid is shy and sometimes

this kid is courageously confident.

(she often sings with confidence in the shopping cart)

But she is always loved!

And her little dog ears are adorable!

Olivia at Gymnastics

 Olivia is an adorable little gymnast!

 She pays attention in class and follows

directions and it's obvious that her

teachers adore her.

We went to see Grace participate in a

Gymnastics Expodition

and Olivia had a make up class coming

so she did it on a Saturday morning so

her Great Grandparents from Missouri

could watch her, too!

Isn't she a cute little thing?

I think she enjoys the spotlight.

She may be a tiny little thing

but her confidence is HUGE!

Caelie The Cheerleader!

 Caelie attended a cheer clinic and got

to perform with the High School 

Cheerleaders at a High School Game.

Heather and her girls went with me to watch!

Caelie didn't know we were coming.

Just look at her surprised smile!

 She was happy to see Grace!

 And she did a great job cheering.

 She attends a private Christian school

and if you'll notice, the cheerleaders

actually wear clothes that

cover most of them up. I love the

long sleeved cheer uniforms!

After the game, we went back to

my house for a movie night.

Grace and Olivia enjoyed the movie

but Caelie was so worked up that

she just bounced around the house.

She just could not contain all of

that energy and excitement.

 

Grace Can Cook!

 I got a new batter dispenser for making

pancakes and cupcakes and Grace

just had to try it out.

Now - I think she's going to

want to cook pancakes every morning.

If you mix up the batter she can really

cook them ALL BY HERSELF. 

 She did the first batch perfectly round,

but the next batch she got creative with.

We had pancake pumpkins, pancake snowmen

and pancake teddy bears.

So far she's made blueberry pancakes,

cinnamon spice pancakes and when I took

her home she made us strawberry oatmeal

pancakes. She's quite the cook!

Now - I guess I have one more reason

to miss that girl when she's not here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW!!!!!

 Brilyn had been telling me for awhile

that "Rolos" are her favorite.

They're her Daddy's favorite, too.

So - she wanted to make her Daddy

a Rolo Cake for his birthday.

So.... I made sure she was here when

we made Andrew's cake - and I let

her pour all of the ingredients into the bowl.

She even got to crack the eggs!

When we finished the cake we sent

Andrew a video!

Isn't this a pretty Rolo Cake?

 We celebrated Andrew's Birthday

on Sunday.... but his real

birthday is TODAY!

So.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW!!!!!

Visit to the Museum

Grace and Olivia

love museums, so we went

to out local museum while they

were here.

Our museum has undergone

a lot of changes lately and is now

more hands - so I thought the

girls would like it!

 I was right! They loved it!

I think they liked the giant lite-bright

feature the best. They make

I love you, Mom and I love you, Dad

signs and we took pictures with my

phone and messaged them to

their Mom and Dad!

 There was a little horse statue for roping.

Olivia needed Grandpa's help, but Grace roped it.

This picture was the only one I got an it

is out of focus, but you can see that

Grace roped that little horse!

 There were skeleton's and bones to discover.

 And the girls quickly discovered the

bone Olivia recently broke.

The clavicle or collar bone.

And here they are in Little Prairie Bonnets.

Hopefully, these will be useful on

field trips for years to come.

A Visit From Goldilocks!

We were a home school family,

and my youngest two sons

were outside the box thinkers.

While it was a struggle at first

to figure out how to teach them,

I loved the fact that they saw

and experienced things so fully!

And I think Olivia might be a

lot like them!

Why?

Because when I took the girls home

last week their Momma wasn't there.

(She had went to home group after baby sitting

a couple of neighbors so their Momma

could go to the doctor.)

We let ourselves in and they

wanted to show me their doctor stuff

in their toy room.

And - their toy room was a mess!

Grace said, "Oh, no! I know I cleaned

our toy room before I went to your house!"

And then Olivia said, "Someone's been playing

with our toys!"

Then Grace said, "Someone's been playing with

our stethoscope."

And Olivia said, "Someone's been playing

with my blocks."

Then Grace said, "And someone's been playing

with our Barbie's!"

And then - Olivia thought she KNEW

what had happened!

"Oh, no!" she said. "It must have

been Goldilocks!"

Once she figured that out she insisted

that I check the beds.

Nope.... no one was sleeping in Grace's bed.

Nope.... no one was sleeping in Olivia's bed.

Nope.... no one was sleeping in Momma's bed.

Nope...... Goldilocks was nowhere in the house!

Grace tried telling her that Goldilocks

is only a pretend character,

but Olivia wasn't buying it.

We had to check the chairs.

And once we cleared the house she still

wasn't too sure. She even wanted

her Daddy to check again

when he came home.



Trick or Treat 2013

 Look at my adorable little

Trick or Treaters!

 Asher even had a costume.

Grace and Olivia were a day late,

but I was so happy to see them

I didn't care what day it was.



A Baby Shower for Our Newest Addition!

Weston will be here soon,

so Heather and Brandy planned a

baby shower for

him and Alyssa!

 His room is done in camo, so they did

the shower in camo, too.

I had my doubts at first, but it turned

out really cute.

 Billy is a cowboy who loves to hunt

so hopefully, Weston will share his

passion for adventure.

 We found this burlap in the hunting department

and used it for table covers. It was about

the same price as a disposable

table cloth - but it's much cuter!

 Isn't Alyssa adorable, too!

Brandy ended up not being able to attend

the shower due to a last minute business trip,

so I was needed to help out a bit. So - I only snapped

a few pictures and then handed the camera

off to Grace. She took this last one and many

many more, and did a great job!

 



Mining

 At the Pumpkin Patch there was a place

to go mining for minerals.

The water was a little bit cold,

but all the girls wanted to try it anyway.

 It was pretty fun. 

We got to sift sand through this little

sifter and when the sand was

washed out by the water

the gemstones would be left behind.

 We found quite a few. Once we were finished

sifting our sand, we went around and found

sand poured out on the ground and sifted that,

too, and found even more pretty little stones.

This is what the sifter looked like.

If I were handy, I think I'd make one to take

with us to the river when we go Razor

riding. Then, the girls and I could sift through

the sand by the river while the guys went

for wild Razor rides. 

Who knows... we might find something interesting.

Super Slides......

 Would you take a look at these slides?

They're HUGE!

 And all three girls climbed up those 

towers and went down them.

 It looked like so much fun!

The slides weren't too fast at all.

Grace actually had to push herself to 

keep sliding.

And if you went to far....

You'd go SPLAT!

Right into the mud.

Pedal Cars

 Grace and Brilyn rode the pedal cars!

Brilyn needed help, so Andrew

gave her a ride.

 Doesn't that look like fun?

 Grace wanted to try it, too, so

Heather got to get in on the fun!

Look at those girls go!

Riding REAL Ponies!

 There were REAL ponies at

the pumpkin patch!

 And all three girls were brave

enough to ride them.

The lady running the ride started out

walking beside Olivia - thinking she might 

need a little help holding on.

But she quickly noticed that Olivia 

knows how to ride a horse!

She was even dressed to ride.

Just look at those adorable little boots!