Bumblebee Craft

This is a must-do craft. It is a bumblebee plant poke made out of a mustard container.
I saw this craft a while ago and really thought it was cute but we needed to use up the remaining inch of mustard in our container. Needless to say, I gave Brad a little EXTRA mustard on his hot dogs the night before!!

Measuring his antennae and working together!!

The kids had a little extra-curricular fun with the large googly eyes. Poor Margie was the blunt of all the jokes.

Looks kinda freaky.

Wow even Josie and Emeline worked together. There was a shot right before this moment that Josie looked entirely like she might blow a fuse but I decided for her sake not to include that one for all to see.

Georgia looking like she is REALLY enjoying the assembly of his antennae.

It wasn't too far into it that baby Margie started fussing. I'm at the point now where I have a real mother's helper. She can hold that baby, do the dishes, vacuum and everything. She is quite the little house maid. (Did I say maid?)

Josie adding the final touches.

Here it is greeting everyone as they come up the driveway- but since when is Cousin Itt a part of our family?

Ready-Set-Fun 2009

Ready-Set-Fun was a hit again this year. Here is Georgia posing with Super Why and Clifford. Josie and Emeline were too chicken to go stand next to them. Ironically Georgia told me before we got to the venue that she was too old for it and that it was going to be boring. It sure looked like you had fun Georgia!!
They got to check out a fire truck too.
Notice the fire truck's name? I wonder if that is a tradition among fire fighters to name the trucks?

Em's Birthday

Emeline had an early birthday party over the weekend. It was very nice to have everyone together. It seems like it had been a while.
She can't be two. She is still my little baby.

Yippee books. She is a busybee so anything to keep her occupied is WONDERFUL!!

Once again a box is the big hit. Josie entertained the littles by being a Josie in the box for a little while. She really gave Em a scare but I missed that shot. Elsie thought it was pretty cool.

Thank you every one for coming.

We also had a really nice breakfast here Sunday for Mom but all of us moms were busy cooking so their will be no visual proof of such an event - therefore I just had to write about it! It was another opportunity to get together. Stacy and family as well as Jessie and family (and of course Mom and family) enjoyed some pancakes, eggs, sausage etc. I hope everyone enjoyed it and had a wonderful day yesterday!

love to you all!

Examining Rocks and Minerals

During our unit on the Earth I got out my rock and mineral collection. I took an Earth Science class and had to buy this collection a few years ago. At one time I had them all classified but now I will have to go through the steps again with the girls so that we know what is what for sure again.
After playing around with the rocks, feeling different weights and recognizing characteristics they each picked out their favorite.

75$ collection better have a use beyond one semester!!

tissue paper carnations

We found a real easy and also real pretty tissue paper flower craft. The directions can be found at Folding Trees which is a paper craft warehouse.

The picture is a little blurry but what a pretty carnation. I now have a vase full. (Nice thought for Mother's Day!)

Some More Margie

She's getting bigger isn't she? It is amazing how long she is awake now. Yuck! She wants to stay awake all day long. Her naps are shorter and when she is awake she props her head on my shoulder and takes it all in. I used to lay her sideways along my belly and wrap her up in my bathrobe. She loved to be snuggled up like that (I loved it too). No longer the case! She wants to know what is going on. You hear it all the time...it doesn't take long for them to grow up. I'm trying to take it slow!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ole! Ole! Ole!

Ems headed out and a mishap

Not sure where you are going Em but you certainly are looking good!
Here is a little story for you. Russell went to hang out at Brad's school last week because he is going there next year and Mom wants him to get used to the atmosphere so the transition is easier for him. Brad was doing a track and field unit and he used Russell as his guinea pig to demonstrate. One of the things Russell did was jump hurdles. Well about lunch time Brad brought him to Mom's office because it was bring your child to work day or something, and he spent the rest of the afternoon with her. SO, that afternoon Brad had to do the examples for the kids. I must add that their was another special part of this equation, it was career day at the school and many different jobs were going to be represented by different people thus the reason why this whole scenario happened in the first place. Notice Josie's hat above? It is khaki right. He had a nice pair of khakis on and when he did the hurdles that afternoon to show the proper form and leg extension etc, you guessed it he had a blow out!! He came home with a BIG rip in his lovely khakis! RUSSELL YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING! Anyway I couldn't throw all that fabric away. We went somewhere and Jo didn't have a hat to wear so I whipped one up. Looks just awful doesn't it? I didn't have a pattern and learned very quickly that I may make better lamp shades than bucket hats. No she wears it I just have to make the brim a touch shorter so that she doesn't run into that tree in the backyard again!

working on our family tree

We just finished reading the American Girl Felicity books and she was an immigrant from Sweden. I thought Georgia and Josie would enjoy seeing where our ancestors came from. So far we found out our ancestors came from many different places in Europe. Here is Josie filling in her "My Family" chart.
Georgia made one for herself. I need to extend them because I would like for them to include another two generations. We have some research to do also because we are interested in learning about where these "Greats" came from and the reasons why they may have left their homelands. Thank you Grandma's and Grandpa's for responding to promptly to their request for your help. For your information I found a website called house of names where you can type in a surname and it gives you some information. So far all of the origins match up which is neat. Maybe (if you haven't already) you would like to go there and see if you learn anything new??

A Blessed Event; Samuel's Baptism

We just got back from Samuel's baptism. Welcome to the church Samuel!!

award of excellence

Ooops- I forgot to post Georgia's award for outstanding achievement. She got the award because she had no corrections for the entire day. She also gave me some very insightful answers to my questions that day! Good job Georgia!