Week in Review 2/7-2/13

Sunday – This is Emma’s first year on the competitive dance team at her dance studio. (She’s the one in green on the left.) Her team consists of 1st and 2nd graders. Three of the kids were on the team last year, and the other three are new. She is loving it! Sunday, they had a “full” dress rehearsal – which means full costume, stage makeup, hair piece (a full ponytail). They are dancing to a compilation of 50’s music which includes Hound Dog, Wake Up Little Suzy, Shake Rattle and Roll, and more. It is too fun to watch. They have one more dress rehearsal before their first competition in two weeks.

Monday – Here’s Emma doing school. She is (in this picture) working on a Valentine’s Day unit study. It involves written work and work on the computer (reading a bit and watching some video clips of how chocolate is made, etc.). As you can see, she loves this study!

Tuesday – Early Valentine’s gift: Matt is horrible about waiting when he’s excited about a good find! I have been talking about wanting a hand-blender and a mini-chopper for months. He came across this one today while looking for bedding at Bed Bath and Beyond, and he couldn’t wait for Valentine’s Day to give it to me! I can’t wait to use it!

Wednesday – New rug and living room furniture: Matt found this rug while out shopping for bedding. I love the way it pops with the new living furniture.

Thursday – Snow people: We got snow, and we got lots of it here in TX. While Logan and the rest of the kids went off to school, Isaac and Emma made snow people. Isaac created “Bob” the Titans snowman. Emma created “Sarah” the snowgirl. The kids were so excited by the snow. That’s one thing they really miss about Cincinnati (besides their old friends).

Friday – Chocolate Chip Pancakes: Because of all the snow, Logan was out of school today. I try to make a hot breakfast when he doesn’t have to be at school early. (He normally has to be at school by 7 for track practice before school.) So, today I made homemade whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes.

Saturday – Logan and his new car: My sweet boy turned 16 right before Christmas. Today, he got a car!! We are all so excited for him. He is happy to have the freedom to go where he wants (within reason), and we are happy not to have to drive him there! Tonight, he picked up a friend and went to dinner. Then, he met more friends for a movie! Could life be any sweeter?

**Be sure to visit The Mom Creative to see other Project Life updates.**

Our Snow Day – 2/11/10

We’re in the midst of a heavy snow. Not much

compared to most parts of the country, I know.

However, for north TX, it’s a big one!

We are expecting 4-7 inches of snow today.

As of 8:00 this morning, we’ve got 2 inches.

Logan had to go to school since the roads aren’t bad yet,

but I expect him to get out early.

I couldn’t say no to Isaac and Emma

when they asked to go play in the snow.

Isaac and “Bob” the snowman

(who is frowning because the Titans didn’t do well this year).

Emma and “Sarah” the snowgirl!!

Baby Love Letter 112

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What are your child’s favorite things?

Logan has had many “favorites” over the years.  Some bring back such fond memories.

Pooh Bear ~ Logan used to carry Pooh Bear wherever he went.  He would carry him upside down by one leg.  As he sucked his thumb, he would tickle his face with the tag.  Oh, the memories that conjures up.

 

Hot Wheels ~ Oh, the hours I spent playing Hot Wheels with Logan when he was younger.  He would “drive” his cars around his car rug for HOURS!!

Ipod/Cell Phone ~ At 16, these are Logan’s favorite “toys”!  Not so many fond memories of these toys, unless being ignored by a teenager with ear buds in and his thumbs moving 90 mph across a cell phone keyboard can be considered “fond” moments.  LOL!!

Isaac’s favorite toys

Rescue Heroes ~ These were a HUGE favorite when he was younger.  He had the action figures, vehicles, and movies!  It was a sad day when he sold all of his RH in our yard sale.

Legos ~ These are a current favorite.  He particularly enjoys the building sets, not the “plain” Legos.  He loves the Star Wars Legos, cityscape Legos.  He just bought himself this pirate ship with Christmas money…

Star Wars ~ Another current favorite of Isaac’s.  He usually brings these with him to the dance studio to play with his friends while Emma is in class. 

Emma’s favorite toys;

Littlest Pet Shops ~ Oh, I’ve never seen such a collection!!  It grows and grows and grows.  She spends most of her allowance on Pet Shops.  She asks for them for birthdays and Christmas.  If I would let her, she would prefer to have a Pet Shop bedroom.  (She asked, I answered – NO!!)

American Girl dolls ~ I bought her the Bitty Twins for her 4th birthday, and she has collected them ever since.  She currently has four, and has circled most of the dolls in the catalog as ones she wants.  I love watching her play with her dolls.  She has recently gotten interested in reading the stories that come with each doll, as well.

BOOKS ~ She can’t read enough.  She can never have enough books.  Emma’s always got her nose buried in a book!  She reads like – well, like her momma.  She always has two or three books that she’s reading at a time.  She sleeps with books like most kids sleep with stuffed animals - I mean with piles of books around her as she sleeps. 

Isaac’s Book 1 – 52 in 52

Isaac decided to join me in my reading challenge.  I bet he can read 52 books this year!  His first book was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw. Every time we would go to the library, he would try to find this book series.  It was always checked out.  So, we bought him the first two books for Christmas.  He got the third in the series Monday at the library, and he finished it last night (Tuesday).  He’s currently waiting on book four to come in at the library. 

Field Trip – Dallas Museum of Art

Today I took the kids to the DMA. I’ve never been to an art museum before.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  We were able to recognize some art from our artist studies, and we were able to view some art from artists we will study later in the year.  It’s amazing the wide variety of “art” out there.  Emma and Isaac are total opposites on their “likes” in art.  Emma (like her momma) likes “realistic” art.  She loved the Degas ballerinas (no surprise there).  She liked the pieces where she could “tell” what the artist was trying to “say”.  Isaac, on the other hand, liked all the “outside the box” art.  He loved the abstract stuff.  His quote of the day was “I like to look at art (meaning paintings) but not make it myself". He much prefers to create sculptures and build with Legos.  I assured him that Lego sculptures could certainly be considered art.  When you use your imagination to create something it’s art. 

My favorite part of the day, by far, was watching Emma.  She is the resident “artist” (as she puts it) in the house.  She is constantly drawing, painting, sketching, etc.  All.the.time!!  She took her sketch pad to the museum today in case she was “inspired”  And, she was.  There were a few pieces she sketched to look like the original (like a Degas ballerina).  Other times she just got an “idea” and had to put it on paper.  After walking through a few rooms of antique furniture, for example, she sat down to draw a desk with a quill and an ink jar on it.  It was just precious watching her.  And, I must say that Isaac was a very patient big brother today as we indulged Emma in her need to draw.

My shopping bag.  Didn’t see a sign with the name on it (and it was cold so I didn’t look too hard).  So, I took a pic of my bag…

Yep, she just plopped herself down on the floor to draw when she was “inspired”. 

This is where she’s sketching a desk with a vase of flowers on it (after the quill/ink).

 

My sweeties!

Snow Again!

We got snow again yesterday. I decided last night to let the kids play outside in it. Emma has been eager to build a snowman. I’m glad I decided to let them play outside at 8:00 last night, because when I got up at 8:00 this morning all the snow is GONE! That’s the good thing about snow in TX – it doesn’t linger. I remember in Cincinnati when it snowed it would hang around for days or weeks before finally clearing off. But, for those days and weeks we were stuck looking at grey slush everywhere! Not here. If it snows, you must play in it immediately or not at all.

Emma is all bundled up and ready to go in her new hat and gloves Santa brought her. I have created a monster trained her well. Every time I pull out the camera, she strikes a pose.

My angels making angels in the snow.

The snowblob snowman…

Disney 2009 Day 2

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom. Mom really liked this park. She loves animals and taking pics of them. We ate lunch at Flame Tree BBQ - yummy!! It was a fun atmosphere with ducks and hornbills roaming the area. We got TONS of autographs (as shown in the pics below). We loved looking at the animals on the safari, and really enjoyed the Jammin' Jungle Parade. We tried to do the It's Tough to Be a Bug 3-D show, but both the kids were scared! So, we left midway through. Maybe next year....

Dinner at O'Hana was fabulous, as was my birthday cupcake. We ate at O'Hana last time we went to Disney, and I knew we would have to take my mom there this time. It's so good, we will probably eat there every time we go to Disney!

After dinner, we headed to Downtown Disney. I'll post those pics later.

Disney 2009 Day 1

This year, I took part in UFT (The Ultimate Field Trip)at Disney World. My good friend, Carol Beth, runs 3D Travel Company and coordinates this "homeschool" field trip every year. This year, we joined 483 other homeschool families for the best field trip ever! I took Emma and Isaac. We met Mom there, as well.

The day we arrived, I took the kids to The Magic Kingdom while we waited for Mom to arrive. It was a VERY LONG day. It started at 4:30 AM when I got up to get myself ready. I got the kids up at 5:00. We left the house at 5:30 and headed to the airport. There, we met up with our friends, the Scott's, who were on our flight. Our flight took off at 7:30 AM. By the time we got to the airport, shuttled to the hotel - Pop Century, and got to our room it was early afternoon. The kids and I headed to MK to wait for Mom (her flight didn't land until almost 4).

This year is the Year of Celebrations at Disney World. Since I celebrated my birthday that week, I received a "birthday" button. That was so much fun! Yes, I wore it every day!! I bet I heard "Happy Birthday, Tara" at least 30 times a day! It was very nice!

We watched a show at the castle. I think it was called "Wishes". Then we headed for some rides. We didn't ride many that day since we were pretty tired. We did, however, ride Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and Small World (Emma's favorite).

That evening, we met with CB and her travel agents at the Grand Floridian. This was where we picked up our group itineraries (for the UFT meet-ups through out the week). Emma got a lesson in "proper Pixie-dusting", and both kids learned about pin-trading ettiquite. After the meet-up, we headed into the Grand Floridian for a pizza dinner.

Were we done yet? Not quite yet! I think by this point the kids and I were on auto-pilot!! But, Mom was finally here, and the kids wanted to take her to the park. So, off we went - very slowly!! Emma and I rode Small World again while Isaac and my mom rode The Haunted Mansion. Then, Mom and I swapped and rode the other ride. After that, we all rode Dumbo and Cinderella's Carousel. At that point, I could take no more (and the kids had become quite grouchy as well). So, we headed back to the room to hit the hay!

Here are our pics from that day...

My sweet boy is coming home!

My sweet boy has been in Nashville for two weeks. I can't wait for him to come home!! He is flying alone this evening, and I am a bit nervous. I can't wait for him to get home tonight!!