Christmas Ornaments

The holiday season has officially begun at our house. We spent the day making sequint ball ornaments. They look soo good that the girls want to make a bunch more to hang up. Brenda and Bret area already working on their second ball.

"Thrift" Shopping

Marley and I hung out at the Thrift store while Dad was shopping at the men's store for suits. We were buying time, basically, but we came home with plenty! This is Marley's favorite aisle.

Afterwards we headed to the Men's store with Marley's new toys to occupy her while I helped Bret pick out matching ties...
Yet still trying on the jewelery was the best part for her.

Tea Party Style

This is all Marley can think of lately. Tea Parties, picnics, banquets, fall feasts, etc. Every day she plans a food get together of some sort or another. Usually she sets the whole thing up herself, sometimes we even get invitations if she thinks we are too busy to show up. I am considering inviting her friends to a Tea Party for her birthday party in a few weeks.

So this first picture is Marley setting up a beach picnic for lunch.



Here, Marley invited me and a whole shlew of other guests to share our tea (juice) lunch party get-together.

Another Halloween

Trick Or Treating together. Gaige even got on a mask to get some candy with us this year. Last year in our town was a crappy time so we went to a friend's neighborhood instead and the festivities seemed a little more cheerful and good natured. No I don't think that putting on his hunting gear = dressing up for Halloween. But I am sure it was warm and toasty!



Leftover loot from one bag. The good stuff!!

Pine Cone Owls

My fried, Lisa, had one of these as a tree ornament last year. I have been dying to make them with the girls ever since I saw it... but where to find a round pine cone. Marley and I located some under a tree at the park a couple weeks ago. Aren't these the cutest little things? Bret's is in the middle. It looks like it is whispering something to the guy next to him!

The missing tooth

So Marley, who is not quite 5, has lost two teeth already. The first one she lost the day we went to the forest park to pick acorns for Bret's deer hunting. We were at the park for several hours, ending with making a big leaf pile and playing in it. (That is where I got this picture from). So from there we came home, had dinner, and... realized Marley's tooth was missing. No one knew how long it was missing or where it was. It was just gone. We did have apple slices for dinner. So we scoured the house to no avail. Finally Marley got tucked in to bed without her tooth, devistated. While I was reading to her, Dad frantically hunted his drawers until he "found" the tooth. Marley said, what is all that brown stuff in it? "Oh the blood must have dried up real fast." She went to bed satisfied and the tooth fairy didn't disappoint. So take a good look at this picture. I think it proves that her tooth fell out before we even got home. lol. I will show it to her when she is much older. We will get a good laugh at the Tooth Fairy's expense.

Homeschool Find of the day

While shopping at Kroger for some fire pit goodies we came across a discount area that Brenda just HAD to stop at. I tried to explain that spending $.50 on something I didn't think we needed prior to seeing the dicount area didn't sound like a good deal to me. But we stopped anyway. Brenda found a bottle of "Glow Away" washable wall paint. And she has been wanting to add to the halloween deco for a bit now. This was a great chance for her to add some glow in the dark wall decorations of her own making. How could I say no??? Plus... it was CLEARANCE. lol. Anyway I hope it glows in the dark!!! :-)

Brenda's Knitting Frenzy

At Girl Scouts Got Talent a couple weeks ago, Brenda showcased some of her knitting. A couple girls offered to pay her for making hats for them. Brenda has been working all week on the hats. She figures even if she doesn't get paid for them, they are too cool. She wants to keep them. lol.

And so (drumroll please) Brenda's first ever two hats. And her first time working in the round. Her first time reading a pattern. And her first time making her own pattern.

Circle at Camp Kern

My drumming circle got together for September to be our wild daring selves at Camp Kern. No drums or rattles. Just a bunch of fearless devilish wild women (and a select few men, as well) climbing poles, standing on tight ropes high up on trees in the forest...



So, yeah, I am afraid of heights. Not so much when I was younger. I rode all the roller coasters and boasted that I wasn't too scared to do anything at the 7 Flags near my town. But since having kids, my stomach gets sick just swinging on swings too high. This was a little scary for me. But here I am, high up in the sky doing all kinds of things I wouldn't have believed I would do.



Funny enough when I signed up to go do this with my friends, I was excited and didn't really think ahead to what it meant to do this activity.



What was high ropes, I didn't really know. The Tango Tower, why I had never even heard of it until I showed up at Camp Kern ready for adventure. I conquered my fear. We did all nine obstacles on the high ropes. The first 3 were really scary. After that I remembered that I wasn't going to die even if I slipped. And I reminded myself to enjoy the ride. Then I did.



So glad I was there. So glad I have a great circle of friends. I wanted to take Brenda with me, but sometimes she can't decide whether or not to face her fears. Maybe when she is a bit older.

Time for Bed

These girls fight during the day, complain about eachother at night, then I sneak in to their room in the middle of the night and find this. They really do enjoy eachother and are bored when one or two of them are gone.

Steve Spangler Our New Science Guy

We are all into Steve Spangler and his science experiments these days. Then at the Homeschool Not Back To School Picnic this year Brenda ended up receiving a Steve Spangler Bubble making set that we had wanted but could not afford. We have been having big bubble fun.

Finally Get My Playroom After All

I think I posted a few months ago when Bret and I constructed a wall down the middle of our family room for Josh, Brittany and their new baby Callie. I had always wanted that wall there so the girls could have a play room, but Bret had said no. He wanted a real big family room. When we built the wall for the kids and their new baby, we asked them to committ to being here for a while. Or else it would not be worth the time and effort to build them the room they wanted. (But not-so-secretely I knew that even if they didn't stick around very long, I would get the playroom I had wanted from the beginning. lol.) And so Josh found a new girl friend and left Brittany and the baby here with us. About a month later Brittany decided to leave too. And guess what... We have a play room now!!!!!

Girl Scouts in Canoes

We took the girls to a camp lake to get some canoeing experience. They learned to board and exit safely; change seats within the canoe safely; paddle forward, backward, in circles (tehehehe), turn; and a bunch more. My girls have had several chances to canoe in the past few years, but this was a first for most of the other girls. They all had a great time, but river canoeing seems out of their plans for the time being.

Decorating Time Again

Halloween time might be the favorite for little Lily. I brought up the decorations from the basement and she has been decorating, redecorating, moving, switching the goblins and ghouls ever since.

Brenda's Turning 11

The last few years, we have had family parties for the kids' birthdays. This year, Brenda asked for a party with her friends. So we threw her a rock star sleepover. Dad got out the dance lights and smoke machine and they had a blast. I was tired the next morning as we all headed over to Home Depot for their kids workshop to finish off the party.

Coloring the sheets

So one day while Bret was in school (She decided to try school this year. It lasted 7days of school. She is back home now again.) Brenda, Marley, and I took crayons and colored my sheets that had gotten a big hole in them. Then we made the bed nice and neat and waited for dad to get home and pull the covers back to see our art. lol. Maybe it was not as funny for him as it was fun for us.

Knitting Time Again

Here is Abby's (that is Abby the dog) new winter attire. Brenda's first knitting sweater experience is for the dog. She has knitted a bunch of little monster animals as well.

HSN: Not Back To School Picnic

At the HSN picnic this year, I really tried to meet some people with kids Brenda's age so I could network her into some activities with peers. Most of what we do seems to have gotten too old for kids her age. Plus we ate tons of food, played with friends, and in the end came home a mad mushy mess. When you look like this, I know you have had fun!!

Survival Skills

This year in Girl Scouts I have made a decision to proactively NOT rush activities through. I will let the girls take their time learning. Even if it means we are doing less and enjoying ourselves more.




We put together a Survival Skills day at the park a few weeks ago. I had lists of things for us to do. But what did we actually do? We made solar ovens that took 2 hours in the sun to begin cooking the garlic cheese bread pizza.



We practiced our team building skills. we made shelters in the woods.



And we hung out together and enjoyed eachother's company. All and all, a day worth the energy it took to produce it.

Crazy View from the Car Window

I heard about this before we took the trip. On the way to Chicago, driving up I65 were these miles upon miles of windmills. Indiana's answer to sustainable living?



Someone posted on facebook that BP was one of the investors who helped to construct these amazing miles of metal wind-energy users. And something negative about BP and oil spills. Will we ever get over this tragedy? And is it BP's fault? Are we not driving cars to work and on vacation and to the grocery store? Who here can say they don't EVER use oil? Who doesn't use a product that need oil to be made in one way or another? Is BP to blame for this? Could this happen at all if we, the consumers, didn't want more oil? I guess if you are going to point the blame, be ready to stop reaping the rewards that oil has produced. Be the change. Who here has become the change? Anyone?

Brenda and I Take to the Road

So my sister has been placed in a home run by nuns. I thought to take a small trip to see her and spend some time with her. It has been years since I have been back to Illinois. Not wanting to drive the distance alone, and after my friend who was going to travel with me had to change her plans, Brenda and I took the trip together.



So we got up early and took the 6 hour drive up to see my sister's new home. Then we headed straight out of there and to Lake Michigan for some fun in the sun.



It has been years since we have been around sand (not including the sand box at the museum of course). When judged... my castle won. But don't tell Brenda that. lol.



What did Brenda have to say? The water was SOOOOO cold. But she and my sister got in anyway. Me? No way. I already know when I get that cold that I can't lose the chill for days. It was winter in the water over there. I am too used to our nice warm pool.



On Sunday we visited a Unity Church in Des Plaines IL. Afterwards there was a concert/cook-out. We stayed. This is us with Lena from Russia. She was wonderful fun! The service? Reverend Gregory Barrette was amazing. I would never skip a Sunday if I could hear him talk each time. So inspiring. He truely seems to live what he says. I was told that he is that way every service. I want to go back. If you live around there, GO GO GO. I love to attend a service that makes me want to be better than I was when I left.

We headed next to a movie. We wanted Eclipse but we couldn't find it anywhere at the right time for us. Instead we saw Dispicable Me. I loved it. Brenda too. My sister (who is a much bigger movie-goer than we) didn't care for it much. Maybe we were just romanced by the big screen and popcorn.

Then off to take the long journey home.

Time For Math

Today Brenda worked on her times tables with PAC MAN. How cool is that!!

Girl Scout Pool Day

This poor little bug was caught hanging out by the water slides. I don't get to see these guys anymore where we live so that was an exciting moment for me.



Marley and a friend... Girl Scouts to be.



So there was pizza, hot dogs, cup cakes, and all kinds of goodies. They picked their activities for the year; they swam, dived, and tanned; they ate; and they spent some much needed quality fun time together. Love those kids!!

Meijer You Rock

So call me stupid (well don't really) but I am shocked to find out how many kinds of sprouts I can buy. We bought onion sprouts the other day from Meijer and I was so impressed by the taste that I went back again for more. Kroger, Walmart, etc. Cannot find any other sprouts anywhere except Alfalfa and Mung Bean sprouts. But Meijer has a variety. This last week to add to my onion sprouts I bought spicy sprouts too. AND THEY ARE SPICY lol. Thank you Sandra Lee for making such a fun variety of sprouts.

For you vegans out there. Or just vegetarians, or just you people looking for an awesome lunch, this was my onion sprout, avacado, tomato sandwich with vegenaise. Yum. Might be one of my fav sandwiches.

Need A New Look??

So it occurred to me today... well a couple things really. One was that Brenda has no nice clothes for church. She is strictly $3.00 walmart shorts and hand-me-down t-shirts right now. The other thing is that flip flop season is almost over and all the girls have besides sandals are tennis shoes (and they really should not be wearing flip flops to church anyway). So we headed to the thrift shop for a little make over.



So we played around a bunch trying on stuff we will never buy because it is funny. Then we got down to business. I found some couch pillows for cheap. We can always use more of those!! Plus a serger for $1.99!!!!!! Can't even believe that one. Now to find out how to use the darned thing!



The girls each got to express a little bit of extra creativity that, I have come to find out, is overflowing these days.



Brenda is shampooing and Bret is the shower. (In case you didn't figure this pic out already. lol.) So NEWSFLASH for our family... Brenda will wear dresses and skirts. Now that was a new development in our household. Wowee to that piece of information.