More Jewelry Making!

I'm really enjoying making jewelry these days. Mikayla has been getting into it also. The first photo is of bracelets Mikayla and I have made together. One of them is a stretchy bracelet. The next photos are some of the necklaces I've made.   The last photo is a cute stretchy band ring that Mikayla made. She wants to make a bunch this summer to sell at a Lemonade stand.

Spring Break

 On Spring Break, the girls and I went to Madison to visit my mom. She had picked up my niece Sophia from Appleton so the girls could spend some time together. Mom ended up getting sick, but despite it all, she managed to help the girls do a few science experiments before we headed home. Their favorite was placing Mentos in a Litter of Soda.  : )

 

Kisses From Katie

This is a book that some of my friends were reading recently. Even though I'm busy right now, I felt moved to check it out from the library. It is a quick read, at least for me. I highly recommend this book so much that I've placed a few holds on it at the Christian bookstore so I can just pass a copy along to people I know. This is a story of a modern day "Mother Teresa" who was only 18 at the time the book takes place. At the age of 21 she has adopted 14 girls and lives in Uganda serving the community, feeding the hungry, educating the children, providing health care, and the list goes on. Some of the things she has encountered on her journey so far are simply amazing and inspirational. It gives you a different perspective of how incredibly blessed we are here in America.



There is a blog site with some fascinating videos if you aren't the reading type...I encourage you to read it.http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/2012/02/healer-god.html

Recreation Center Day

Once a year the girls' elementary school has a field trip to our recreation center which is just down the road from us. They get to choose swimming, ice skating, or playing basketball in the gym area. This year Mikayla wanted to ice skate. I had a meeting with my boss rescheduled so I surprised Mikayla there and was able to snap a photo of her with her best 3rd grade friends. I'm so blessed that I work part time so I can be involved with the girls and their school still. Mikayla and I are getting better at ice skating. I'll have to remember to take the girls there this summer on a rainy day.

Mikayla's 3rd Grade MN Zoo Fieldtrip

Due to a wonderful donation to the Minnesota Zoo in the cities, tons of school-age children got to enjoy a free trip to the zoo that included a free ticket, free lunch, a free dolphin show, and a free monorail pass. My mom came to watch Elyana for the day so I could chaperone the trip. Some of these children have never been to a zoo before. One in particular cried because they were afraid of the bears. They didn't understand that they would be in a caged area. Incredible how much we take for granted. I don't even know how many times and how many different zoos we have taken the girls to.

Mikayla's Photography Badge

Mikayla is working on earning her photography badge for American Heritage Girls. She is pretty good with the camera and I want to get her a camera for her birthday this summer. Of course there were some typical silly photos of me driving, a very surprised dad, and me on the toilet. I'm thankful that I can view and delete photos before printing! A lot of her photos I thought were random and funny until she began to organize them and explain them as she placed each on in her album.

For example:

She took photos of trash in a nearby stream. She took a photo of an empty trash can nearby.
"Mom, these I want to show my troop to encourage them not to litter and to help pick up trash. I can't believe that people even litter! Why would someone do that?!"

She took photos of her bed, our refrigerator, her tennis shoes, and her backpack.
"I want people to know that rest is important. So is exercise, eating right, and going to school," she explained.

These are just some of my favorites that she took:






Here is a photo of her American Heritage Girl "Buddy." Each girl is paired up with an older buddy. Mikayla adores her buddy, looks up to her, and prays for her. She even has called her up when she wanted to talk through something she was nervous about. We really lucked out when Mikayla was matched with Grace.

More On Early Spring

These are photos of the girls playing in the sprinkler on March 23rd! We had unusual 80 degree weather and they begged me to have some fun outside in their swimsuits. Such weird weather! Our March 20th anniversary is always the first official day of spring. In our 13 years of marriage we have never had such warm weather!





I also wanted to post a photo of how my March Art Class projects turned out. I was teaching on sculpture and form. My class made clay birds nests, painted them brown, added some Easter grass, and then we made little birds for the nests out of plastic Easter eggs. They turned out pretty cute. Next month, I am teaching on perspective and space. I'm excited about it because I have gotten confident enough in my teaching to scrap last years lesson plans and come up with an entire month of fresh ideas.