Ellie's Purse

http://madebyk.blogspot.com/2011/03/ellies-purse.html

Thanks Karin for making Ellie such a sweet purse and for no particular occasion. She's loving it!

Some of Mikayla's Art

Elephants. She colored Mickey Mouse on the opposite side so that is showing through a bit...


Patrick and Plankton from SpongeBob Squarepants:



Phineas from Phineas and Ferb:

March!

I can't believe I haven't posted on the blog in such a long time. March is almost over! I blame Facebook who gets to hear my day to day ramblings of life. From birthday parties to school events, to getting together with friends, we've been busy.

Mikayla just finished an after school art class and really enjoyed it. I think she is getting to be pretty good!

She has been doing incredible at school and has been bringing home 100%'s on math and spelling tests. In March the 1st and 2nd graders of her school went to the Recreation Center where they could either swim or ice skate. We did swimming this year and I volunteered. The weird thing is they had tons of parent volunteers but only one other was suited up to be IN the pool with the kids. It was a good thing I'm such a swimming fanatic and was in the water playing with the kids because when a little boy was drowning, I responded before the life guard did. Evidently, the lifeguard was trying to decide if she should take off her sweatsuit before jumping in. It was kind of neat to be a hero in front of my kid and all of her friends!

Mikayla has been busy with American Heritage Girls. Currently we are working on our Citizenship and Government badge and have earned our Needle Arts and Personal Hygiene badge this last month. She even completed her service star (which means she's done 5 hours of community service!).

Recently they had a special dress up event. I dug out all my prom dresses (which I kept for future kids to play dress up in). Mikayla wore one of them over some leggings and I clothes-pinned it to fit. Then, the only fancy outfit I found was the bridesmaids dress my sister wore to my wedding. It was fun to get dressed up together! Here is a photo our our AHG group that I am the assistant leader of. It's a great group of girls!


If we aren't working on a badge, then we are doing science experiments. The science kit we purchased through Amazon at Christmas time is still providing hours of fun. Last week Nate built a volcano with the kids. As I was heading downstairs I heard the following conversation:

Ellie: Where do we buy the lava at?
Mikayla: We can't buy lava Ellie. That would cost Google plex dollars and we only have a thousand.

Ellie is still impressing us with her reading skills. She had an evaluation in preschool for a parent/teacher conference. They were testing her on her shapes. The teacher realized that the shapes also had the shape name written on them. She had to flip them over and said to Elyana, "You know why I just did that, right?" Ellie responded dryly, "Yep." I can't wait to see how much she will grow and change from now until Kindergarten next Fall. She's going to really enjoy Elementary School, especially with her big sis down the hall. Next month, Ellie will be starting swimming lessons again on Tuesday mornings. She's so excited for them to begin. After all, she still wants to be a sea diver when she grows up. I can't wait to see what she really does for an occupation!

I've been busy this month with dog sitting, cleaning houses, writing another article (for the May/June issue) and training for an upcoming indoor triathlon. It's this Sunday. I'm wondering how I'm going to get last minute training in this week with it being spring break and the girls here all day. It's also reminding me that I need to figure out how to work in my regular cleaning jobs this summer with them here all day. I want to have a "normal" part time job this Fall, but I need it to be flexible with the girls schedule. I have no idea what it will be, but am still kicking around the school district para professional job idea. Oh, here's a picture I snapped. It sums up for me that I am officially in training. If you ever needed another idea to do with the IKEA wire curtain hangers, put them in your laundry room for to hang things to dry. In my case, perfect place for swim cap, goggles, and suit:


This month Nate and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary. We sent the girls to Madison to stay with my mom and we came back home for a weekend at home. It was so nice to be able to have the house to ourselves and sleep in. We did take the opportunity to finish our taxes together, go out to dinner, and catch a movie. We even went to the new Love and Respect couples class offered at our church.

We traveled once again this last weekend to meet up with a long lost friend of mine, Nikki Mueller. We hadn't seen each other since 1994! What a sweet reunion! Here's a picture of the girls traveling in our Sienna watching a DVD. I love the wireless headphones!


Finally, I must end with this photo. I'm so so blessed to be able to stay at home with them as they always are making me laugh. Recently I found these barbies posed like this. The explanation was that one barbie was the Yoga teacher and the other her student. They were just practicing their Yoga moves! Ha Ha!

Melting Snow!

With all the snow finally wet and melting, it's perfect snowman weather. This one the girls are building to look like the pigs in the Angry Birds game.




We went for a walk this weekend to the river that runs by West River Parkway. We needed to observe a stream or river for Mikayla to finish earning her Geology badge for American Heritage Girls. The girls enjoyed splashing in puddles in the way there and back.


Once we were there, Mikayla and I made a snowman and Nate discovered that he could skip snowballs across the river just like pebbles. Ellie was so wiped out that Nate carried her most of the way home.

Below Zero

It is sad that the girls have learned about negative numbers this year by watching the digital thermometer in our Swagger Wagon drop on our way to school each day. Thinking positively though, this means Nate did a great job insulating our garage for the van to read in the 20's and then drop to the negatives. Brrr!

Ice Skating Next Door

We have the best neighbors to let us use their ice rink whenever we'd like! I wish I had the strap on double blade skates like Ellie! Ellie's first time on the ice she stands up by herself and announces to Mikayla, "I'll race you!"

February So Far

We're still enduring a cold Minnesota Winter. If it would just get out of the single digits up to the 30's I think I will celebrate and wear shorts! Elyana especially has been asking me when Spring will come.

Two weekends ago, I was so blessed to be invited to my best friend's "cabin" on Lake Petenwell. I did embrace Winter and cross country skied on the frozen lake. It was beautiful. I could wake up and do that everyday. I also discovered Just Dance for the wii. I realized that I don't have to do my "time" at the gym, but I can have tons of fun getting an incredible workout. Now I just have to save up my money to purchase a copy.

The girls have been busy getting their Valentines ready. Mikayla is currently doing a read-a-thon at her school. Any donations towards her goal would be awesome! She's discovered she enjoys reading science books in her spare time. Lately, she has been reading books about fossils and can't put them down. We've still been enjoying the science kit we got Mikayla for Christmas. She and Nate have grown a Chrystal in our closet. It looks like fossilized miniature Cheetos's to me, but hey!


Mikayla and I have been making really cute pom pom pets also.


I'm still enjoying crocheting very much. I made my sister a hat and scarf to match her new coat. I was so eager to get it to her, that I forgot to take a photo. Ellie has a new coat, so I got another opportunity to make her a hat also. You can't quite tell in the picture, but the hat is very glittery with tiny sequins. I want to fleece line it, but I don't know how to do that yet.

I had to include this picture. As I type this, Ellie has made a volcano and a pool out of playdough and is playing with her Polly Pockets in it. Very funny listening to her, "Stay in the pool where it's safe? Oh no, we have to cool off from that terrible volcano next door...." I love her active imagination!


As soon as I figure how to get photos off of my new cell phone (It's an Android!) I will post pictures of the girls learning to ice skate on our next door neighbors rink.

On a final note, I am looking into becoming a para professional in the girls school district. I'm not sure if next year would work or if I should wait until Ellie is in 1st grade. Someone asked me last night what I would do with all of my time next year when Ellie is in half day kindergarten. I'm thinking that volunteering in 2 classrooms, bible study, exercising, running errands, and cleaning houses will take up most of that time. The time will pass very quickly I'm sure.