Book Date One

Tonight was the first of our "book reading dates". We started this last year, for every 24 hours of reading the kids earn a date with mom or dad. Seth was the first to reach his goal a couple of weeks ago, so tonight I utilized my live in babysitter and we went out on the town.

He was very excited about our date. This afternoon, as I was planning for our school week next week, Seth ran upstairs and changed into a dress shirt, dress pants and did his hair.

When we were about to leave I ran upstairs to run a brush through my hair, when there was a knock on the door.

"Mom it's your date" giggled Kylee.

I ran downstairs and opened the door and there was my little guy standing there with a rose. I am sure he snagged it from the neighbors, since my roses quit producing....last year. He also handed me the buy one get one free coupon we were planning on using. I laughed and told him he probably shouldn't hand his date the coupon his is planning on using!

We posed while my my babysitter took a couple of pictures, and we were about ready to leave when he asked me in such a proper voice ,"may I please use your toilet before we go?"

I about cracked up. I told him of course and then he just looked at me, waiting for me to tell him where it was. Yeah, he was taking this date stuff serious! I showed him to the restroom and then we were ready to go.

We went to dinner and had a great night. Great conversation and delicious food. Very fun.

And last but not least, we stopped at Starbucks for some salted caramel hot chocolate. Let me just say there aren't words to describe this hot chocolate and if you haven't tried it, you really need to. Yum!

Kristen

Shanghi Tournament- Halloween '08

Ok, so until I can figure out how to post pictures on facebook, I will just have to post them on here. But I will figure it out. Here are some pictures of our Shanghi tournament/costume party.

Mike was a joker (as in cards joker not scary joker) and I was the queen of hearts.





Here is the joker on his own. You can also catch a glimpse of a shark, but you will have to wait another week to see the kids in their costumes :)












The blues brothers were at the tournament, and Elwood even took the much coveted shanghi trophy home.






Here is a whole family of cards. This queen thought she was more important than the queen of hearts, but we know that isn't true!




Oh yes, and don't forget our metrosexual vampires. And if you don't know what metrosexual is, google it.

There were a few friends that missed my camera shots, like Smarty pants (Paula), Doug and Joni, and Terri's Dad, sister and brother in law.



And there was lots and lots and lots of card playing. Four tables, 4- 5 people at each table! It was very fun!







Here is the punk rocker. Again you will have to wait till Friday to see the whole costume. Very cute! Also a very good Shanghi player.










Mike had to wash off the make up and take off the hat, he was scaring little kids! But he did find one of the vampire's wigs and make use of it. He was reliving the old days :)










For those of you who didn't know him back in the day.


Kristen

Pictures Seth's Birthday Party Weekend

Here is the much anticipated Coral snake birthday cake (sorry mom and dad, it took so long for me to post these).






Yeah, I couldn't decide which pose I liked better, so I posted both.






Seth and Philip had a great time with Mike playing laser tag and bowling, then came home to play video games and eat cake.






What? Our dogs aren't allowed on the couch!








Mom and Seth cheesing it up.






All the candles blown out!






Then the next day we had a treat after our free movie, Jackson got to come over and hang out with us for a while. They spent a good part of the day building card houses and were very proud of this one.


Kristen

Happy Birthday Todd

Kind of a strange day.

I have had lots of emotions today, and have been unsure of what I want to share.

Tonight I celebrated my friends 43rd birthday with his boys and his wife. He should have been with us.

Paula and I took the kids to Chuckie Cheese, where they had spent Todd's last few birthdays.

While there, Kylee and Jackson, such good friends, were paired off. They found a game that they had found a way to get A LOT of tickets out of. I didn't feel bad that they were bending the rules of the game a bit to get a lot of tickets, because let's face it Chuckie got his money tonight.

But here is the thing. After Kylee and Jackson got all of these tickets, and there were a lot of tickets, Jackson asked Kylee if they could take these tickets and go around to some of the little kids who don't have that many and give them away. Kylee said sure!

That is what they did. They gave every last one of them away!

You know who that is?

Todd Mitchell.

Oh my gosh, I just wanted to cry. That is Todd's legacy, he imparted to his children how to be generous, by living a generous life.

I am so proud of them and I know he is too.

Kristen

Puppy School

Kylee and June Bug doing spelling.








Faith holding her baby while doing her science. This was such a cute picture but at the last minute she moved her ear and it blocked Faith's eye. GRRR.










Typical Junie pose.










And lastly while we were taking pictures of the baby, the big girl was sitting, waiting patiently for her picture to be taken.












She even smiled a little, but I missed it.








Then she got tired of it all and tried to go to sleep.




Kristen

Pink.....The New Black

So one of the problems with having girls then boys is , there are just some things that can't be passed down.

When they were little, jeans could sometimes be passed down.

Baby toys were not a problem boy, girl it didn't matter.

But bikes, skates, etc. are a whole different story. We did keep the first bike Faith ever had to train the little guys on when they were learning how to ride without training wheels. It was purpley and pink, but was used strictly for training purposes.

Recently, they have all been into roller blades. Faith and Seth got new ones for their birthdays and Faith's old ones got passed down to Kylee.

What happened to Kylee's old ones?

The cute little bright pink roller blades?

Yeah, Joshi has been wearing them. But only in the basement, up until last week.

The three of them wanted to go to Philip's and see if he could play.

I said sure.

They said they wanted to wear their roller blades.

Hmm. I thought about it and suggested maybe Joshi wouldn't want to wear the pink skates outside.

He said he didn't care, they are roller blades and he wanted to roller blade, he didn't care what color they were.

Whatever.

Few minutes later, in comes Seth in a huff.

Apparently some bigger boys were at the park they had to pass to get to Philip's, and they made fun of Joshi :(

Kylee followed in a huff. She was agitated that someone would make fun of a little guy. She said Seth stood up to them and told them not to pick on him because he was just a little kid.

Good boy.

Then, in came Joshi. I was worried he would be upset. He said he didn't care what those kids said, he likes to roller blade.

I told him that pink was the new black.

So tonight as Joshi and I were sitting at the table eating, he started rubbing his eye.

He said,"mom, what is pink eye?"

I explained to him it was an infection in the eye.

He said,"it makes your eye pink?"

I said yes.

He said, very matter of fact,"pink is the new black."

Yes, Joshi, it is.

Fascinating Ant Fact

I just learned, from my kids science book, that ants keep aphids like we keep cows.

They take care of them and when then stroke their backs the aphids emit honeydew which the ants enjoy drinking!

Who knew?

Also, our experiment to lure unsuspecting bugs into our meat or fruit trap has attracted exactly.........zero bugs. The kids are very disappointed. So to all you teachers out there what do I do when an experiment fails completely?

Science teacher Jen Bell? Anyone?

Kristen

Dioramas!

So far this school year has been the year of Dioramas.

A couple of weeks ago we were reading about the beginning of Islam and the Muslim influence in Europe and Africa after the fall of Rome.

So here are some pictures of an Islam market c.700A.D.

Each kid took a piece of the market place this was Seth's rug shop.









This is Faith's cloth shop with Kylee's smith shop in the background.










This is a front view of Kylee's smith shop. I love the donkey with a pack of beans!

Joshi didn't do a shop this week, but made a scimitar, which was really cool, but too fun and got played with and destroyed before I had a chance to photograph it :(





This last week we started in on the feudal system in Europe during the dark ages. Their dioramas were to show one of the four parts of medieval life. Kylee choose the church. Love her stained glass!!





Faith chose the royalty. Unfortunately this isn't the best picture but she did a great job!








Seth, of course, chose knights. His guys are hilarious!







Joshi did the peasants. His sheep are adorable, made out of clay then covered in cotton.






Ideally the whole diorama is to be stuck together and hung so I will have to get on that.

Kristen

Seth's 8!!

Yesterday was the day Seth was waiting for all week.

About driving me crazy!

He was so excited about his birthday. Just couldn't wait for the day. It wasn't about getting presents because Mike and I had already given him his present earlier in the week, roller blades. I am convinced he just really loves being the center of attention.

He got up Saturday morning and opened up his gifts from his sisters and brother, two shirts and two Funkeys(if you don't know what they are you must not have kids in the 8-10 year old range.) Kylee bought the Funkeys and told me he could use her port even though that might mean sharing her funky coins. So kind.

Then we went to the free Saturday morning movie as a family! It was a treat to be together, since Mike was gone to a conference for a good part of the week, and didn't get home until 12:30 Friday night or is that Saturday morning? Whatever. We saw Spiderwick, which we have on DVD, but it was so good on the big screen, we all loved it!

Next took him to Red Robin, where he ate himself silly and got sung to. He is such a ham, he ate it up!

I let the kids play for the rest of the day with friends, till we had to get to church. I bought him a big bag (90 pieces) of candy to take and share with his friends at church. This is where his very generous spirit comes out, he had two pieces, every child in Wahabu was given two pieces, and he came out with a few left in the bag. But instead of keeping them for himself, he proceeded to go through the building giving away the rest of his candy to smaller children, who weren't in Wahabu, and adults.

He gave it all away! That just blows me away. I can't wait to watch him as he grows , and watch this generous spirit grow with him. He is going to do huge things!

So next week is his party. This year since we are doing "one friend parties" he chose Philip, and Mike is going to take the boys to play laser tag and bowl next Friday night. And he is having his first sleep over ever!!!!!

Wish me luck.

Kristen

Cool Glasses!

Faith helped Joshi make these special glasses yesterday.

He wanted to wear them while doing his math.

Had to take a picture.

Enjoy.

Kristen

All in the Name of Science

Do you ever start something and even as you are doing it realize that the results could quite possibly be not so good?

We started Apologia science this summer, Faith is doing a middle school general science course, and Kylee, Seth, and Josh are doing Zoology, winged creatures.

Sooooo, this is a picture of Joshi working on an experiment.

The idea of the experiment is to dig two holes in the ground and put in two different cups, one with a piece of meat in it and one with a piece of fruit in it. Cover it with a board and see which attracts the most bugs, meat or fruit.

There are so many things that could happen here.

When Faith asked me what they were doing, I tried to explain the experiment to her, and before I could get to the point of the experiment she interrupted me with, "Ew what are you trying to do attract maggots?"

Hm, I hadn't thought of that.

So in the name of the scientific process my kids are outside digging holes in the mud and setting traps for unsuspecting bugs and, quite possibly, their young.

Not to mention the two hounds that reside in our house and quite often use the back yard as their playground/bathroom. Jasmine doesn't sniff so good, so I am not sure she would even find the bait, but Junie is a first rate sniffer.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

Oh yes, there will be pictures.

Kristen

With Seth's birthday fast approaching it is also the celebrated birthday of Harley.

And guess what Harley got for his birthday?

Yep, a harness. Doesn't he look pleased?

Any shred of dignity that a guinea pig may have was completely stripped away with this contraption.

And to top it off Harley isn't a big, how should I say this, mover. He just kind of likes to sit and eat, so while he is a great pet to hold and cuddle, he really isn't the most fun pet to have on a leash.

Seth was a tad disappointed, he had visions of taking his guinea pig on walks around the block, going for Sunday strolls with his little friend. All Harley really wants to do is, eat grass.

Kristen

Frogalina

This is Frogalina.

The kids had big plans for Frogalina. I was, of course, on the phone when they found her.

By the time I got down stairs they had named her and located the old fish tank in the basement.

They all had their hearts set on keeping her. But the voice of reason won out.

I told them they could keep her, trapped in a tank, but what would they do when winter hit and there were no bugs to be found? I convinced them it would be cruel to keep her in a tank when she has such a lovely life outside in our yard.

Frogalina is, once again, a free range toad.

Whew, that was a close one!

Kristen

Cakes!

A few months ago our printer died. It was very sad. But we were blessed that same day with an even better one! It even has a scanner! So a good friend of mine suggested that I scan in some of the first cakes I made and include them on a blog post of all the cakes. So I scanned and searched through disks and tried to include as many cakes as I could. These aren't all of them but it is a start.

Elmo was the first birthday cake I ever made. Faith's first birthday. He got made several times, so I only included him once.








Same with Tigger. I was still forking out dough buying pans.










By the time I got to Barney I think I was desperate. I couldn't find a pan and decided to take on making it free hand. Not a great picture. But I came up with the idea of printing out a picture, drawing it on the cake with tooth picks then frosting in the outline. That is what I have been doing ever since.









This was an early attempt at free hand. Not so good.











This one was another attempt at free hand, still rough, but a little better.











Then came the multitude of Barbie cakes. This actually was a pan that came with a plastic Barbie. It got used A LOT!









Same pan, different Barbie.










Then there was the stand up Barbie. There have been a few of these as well.






Dragon Tails- is that show even on any more? I am sure I am breaking about a hundred copy right rules by copying their images, but I am not selling them so is that okay? If not then we will say it is not from Dragon Tails but, lets see, Dragon Stories.





This was one of my first attempts at a non-kid cake. Not a very good picture, but it was fun to make!






Another non kid cake. I really didn't know what I was doing here, but a friend of ours was getting re-married so I made her a cake for her reception. For free. I would never have charged her for it!






Another free hand picture, I found the picture in one of Faith's books and drew it on the cake.







Same cake but on a heart.







Then I discovered Familyfun.com. They really have great cake ideas.









Next was the care bear stage. Care Bear Cake 1.











And Care Bear Cake 2.









Seth wanted a alligator for his third birthday. I must have gotten the idea from somewhere, but I don't really remember where.










Ah, strawberry shortcake. I remember this one was tough. I drew her on the cake but there is something about pictures that are frontal pictures, they are just difficult. It is a perspective thing.











Winnie the Pooh! I drew him and frosted him. Not too hard.







Scooby, this was the year Joshi was born so the girls shared this cake.








Star Wars. This was the cake that made everyone sneeze. I made a cake cut it up lumped it all together, frosted it then covered it with about a box of crushed graham crackers. Yeah, it was sneezy.





This was the first cake I made for the Mitchell boys. They got a little black labor-doodle for their birthday's, Maisey, and so we made this cake. We filled the bowl with cocoa puffs and wrote their names in cocoa puffs around the square cake.









Also for the Maisey birthday.








This was the twins birthday cake for this year. Super easy and fun, got it off of Familyfun.com.








This was for Faith's sleepover party last year. The girls were Twinkies!






Here is the wicked cake for this year. Again it was done free hand.









We had quite a few ice cream cakes in the last few years. This was one of them. Seth got to join the basketball team for his birthday last year, so I made him a basketball cake.






This was Jackson's football cake this year. Believe it or not it was one of the more difficult ones.








Free hand Larry and Bob. Also hard because of the dimension issue.









And finally the pool cake for Kylee's birthday this year.







Kristen