Flag Football

Sunday turned out to be a perfect day for a 3 class Sunday school picnic and flag football. It was a nice temperature and slightly overcast. Our class combined with the other 20-somethings classes (a misnomer if there ever was one!) for chili, hotdogs, and football. You might notice the "flags" were socks stuck into back pockets.

We held it at the new playground/park. I love that the play area is fenced in. The kids went in and played while the women chatted and the men (except Leslie, the one girl playing) played flag football. I designated myself "class photographer" and ran around getting photos of everyone. When I got home I burned the photos onto CDs to hand out next Sunday in class. In this picture our friend, Corey, is mid air catching the football! Daniel is on the left in a blue shirt and blue jeans. It was pretty funny watching all these normally sedentary adults turn into NFL wannabes. They were throwing themselves into the air, making dives, rolling across the grass, all in an attempt to rip socks off each other's bottoms or snag the (often fumbled) ball. Most of the folks in these "20-somethings" classes are between about 28 and 40 years old. You wouldn't know it from the determination and antics on the field this day, though!

Face Painting

Here are the pictures of some of the face painting the girls had done last Saturday at the mini-mall. Aren't they great! I wish the photos could really capture the shimmer from the glitter. Of course, that same glitter got in their eyes when they rubbed them. The girls really felt pretty going to their friends' birthday party and the costume contest later on. Everywhere we went people noticed their pretty faces. Then again, that happens even without the face paint!

Double Birthday Bash!

Here's Danya sitting next to the two birthday girls, Kayleigh and Hope. These are actually girls from Gloria's Sunday school class. They had a joint party last Saturday at a new party place. The building used to be an All American Fitness and Raquetball, but now each room and racquetball court has climb on toys, jupiter jumps, or other fun stuff like scooters in it.

We all had fun! I even played air hockey with Gloria and shot some hoops on the basketball game. Then the girls and I rode on the little scooters together. You sit down on them and then wiggle the handlebars to make them go. It's based on the same principle as roller skates.

Danya buddied up with Kayleigh and they held hands and helped each other climb on alot of the different rides. I can't believe how much energy those kids had! It made me tired just to watch! The birthday girls got a TON of presents and I have no idea how their mom's managed to keep them all separated since they opened them side by side. Their moms are nurses together at a local hospital, so they're probably used to working together. After they had cupcakes and juice and opened gifts all the kids ran back and played some more until the end of the party.

Danya Goes Pumpkin Caroling

Danya is a member of the KICK Choir at our church. They practice on Sunday nights and Saturday morning was their first performance of the season. K.I.C.K. stands for Kids in Christ's Kingdom. They were the opening performance at a newly built mini-mall in town and then later they did a show for the Baptist Retirement Village.

Danya was so cute! She's been singing these songs all around the house for weeks. Before the performance started at the mini-mall, the DJ played some good music and some of the kids broke into spontaneous dancing. Danya played it cool...she just kind of swayed a little and tapped one foot, lol. After her choir left to go to the next event, we stuck around and let Gloria jump in the jupiter jump and get her face painted. Later that day we brought Danya back to get hers painted too. They had a professional artist doing the painting and she did a beautiful job!

We also bought a kit for a whole set of weather experiments at a new store there. We're planning to use them this week during homeschooling. It was really cold outside at the mini-mall. Danya was so sweet, sitting next to her older friend in the choir, Mylyssia and putting her arm around her to help her stay warm. You can see Mylyssia in the orange shirt standing behind Danya in the photo. She's got a broken arm. We also got to watch a karate demonstration and some dancers perform. It was a fun event. Gloria even sweet talked a worker into giving her a balloon that was supposed to just be for decoration!

Office Homeschool

Wednesday afternoon, after the Bass Pro shop trip, Daniel had a meeting at work to attend. So the girls and I packed up our homeschool materials for the day and went with him. His meeting was an hour, and in that time we got alot done. We were in the break room of his company's downtown office. It was great! We had a wonderful view of the city through the large glass windows that covered two walls of the room.

We got some strange looks from employees who came through there, but mostly they were just amused by the girls. We played "Donde es..." with Spanish flashcards. I would name something in Spanish and show them the picture and then they'd run around the room or to the giant windows and point out the object yelling "Aqui!" I even threw in a few tough ones like instead of just saying, "Donde es la mesa?" I added, "Donde es la mesa circulo?" and Danya paused for a moment and then ran straight to the circular table over by the television! Gloria even got one or two before Danya did!

At one point we had to be extra quiet while doing addition flashcards because someone was getting interviewed for a job at the next table. I was just happy that the girls managed to stay focused and get so much accomplished despite being in a strange location. It might have had something to do with my bribing them. They got to have some candy out of the snack machine when their work was finished. We got done just in time as Daniel came back downstairs from his meeting and we went off to dinner in the city and then on to church for the girls Awanas classes. I LOVE the freedom and flexibility that homeschooling offers!

Impromptu Contests and Learning

Saturday evening the girls and I walked to Mazzio's for dinner. While we were there Danya bumped into a friend from church (that kid has friends everywhere!) The girl's mom told us about a neighborhood costume party with a jupiter jump, music, and face painting. She said they had a fire truck, ambulance, and police out there for the kids to explore. When she said it was starting in less than an hour I decided to take the girls.

So we walked home and got the girls into their costumes. Daniel was sleeping still. The girls and I had a good time. It was from 6 to 9 pm, so it was dark, but they had the area lit well enough to see. They played, got their hands painted, since their faces were already painted, and walked around looking at all the emergency vehicles. We even got to go on a hayride in the dark along the pathways around the park.

The best part was when they decided to climb into the back of the ambulance. They started asking the EMT all kinds of questions. They wanted to know what every single item and piece of machinery was for. He was an excellent teacher! He patiently explained everything to them, some things twice. I learned alot just listening! We found out that even though the gurney says it can hold up to 500 lbs, they really can't put more than about a 350 lb person on it. Instead they remove the rail it sits on, and then slide the person onto the floor of the ambulance.

As we were getting ready to head home at about 8pm, they announced the start of the costume contest. The girls really really wanted to do it, so I told them they could be in it only if they promised not to get upset if they lost. But guess what? Danya won first prize!! She got a $15 gift card for Wal-mart. They also gave out items donated from the new YMCA being built nearby. Gloria got the first basketball because her birthday was the closest (the day before)! Then they threw t-shirts to the crowd and I caught one! When we got home we woke Daniel up a few minutes early to tell him all about it before he left for work. I gave him the t-shirt and the girls practically jumped up and down in their excitement to tell him everything.

I told Daniel that with all the things we had learned about the ambulance, and the other things we'd done that day, I was going to count it as a homeschooling day. It's amazing how learning happens so often when it's unplanned, unexpected, and still surprisingly fun!

Bass Pro Field Trip

We took the girls to the newly built Bass Pro shop in Broken Arrow, OK last Wednesday. Daniel was excited about the idea, but I had never been to one before so didn't know how fun it could be. The girls were in awe from the moment we arrived.

The crosswalk in front of the store was painted with little white fish instead of normal lines. They were overwhelmed by the giant two story waterfall pouring into a real fish tank. After seeing their enjoyment here, Daniel and I both agreed we have to take them to a real aquarium. Daniel pointed out all of the different fish in the tank that can each be found in Oklahoma lakes and rivers. The girls discussed why some fish might need super long noses and why others had whiskers.

We walked around and upstairs looking at all the different stuffed animals (and I don't mean teddy bears). They stroked the fur on a deer, buffalo, mountain lion, bear, raccoon, and a few others. We showed them the foam deer that hunters use for target practice and how they outline where the heart and lungs and liver were. Daniel played a giant target shooting game. Finally, we followed the various animal tracks in the floor. The girls played like they were hunters tracking paw prints around the store. When one trail ended they'd just pick up the next nearest one and follow it.

There was also a mini NASCAR that the girls sat in for a picture and pretended to drive. We talked about the tree stands for hunters and why it was important to be where an animal couldn't see you or smell you and to be silent. We talked about the importance of good aim, so that you didn't just hurt an animal and let it run off and die in pain. We saw a display of a mountain lion about to sneak attack a big buck.

Daniel and I saw the giant buffalo and smiled, remembering how the first giant statue of a buffalo I ever saw was painted white and far off in the distance. Daniel and I were teenagers, and we argued about whether it was a large sheep or a buffalo as we drove closer to it in the church van. He still teases me over that, but I don't mind. This was a really fun activity as a family. Daniel and I agreed that this is where we're going to get our Dad's Christmas gifts from this year!

The Davis Family

Our friends, Leslie and Stan and two of their kids, came over Friday night for a Spaghetti dinner with our family and to celebrate Gloria's birthday. Daniel, our chief spaghetti maker, did a great job! The kids were great and didn't make a big mess of it on the floor.

We had the house cleaned and a semi-low point chocolate cake baked. Gloria was thrilled that she was officially four years old! We sang Happy Birthday to her that night and she just grinned from ear to ear! She had already opened the last of her presents from us that morning.

The kids played games and acted like kids, getting into trouble now and then, but mostly just having fun. Stan brought a game called "Trump" and taught us how to play it. I didn't do very well, but Daniel and Leslie were pretty competitive and it looked like a tight race until the end when Leslie blew the competition away! This definitely wasn't "my game", but we all enjoyed playing together and just hanging out talking to other adults. We told them that next time they came we'd get to pick the game!

The cake was really good, and the kids wound up the evening by watching a kids' video with dancing puppets. What is it about grownups in giant animal costumes that fascinates kids? We had to call it a night at 9pm since Daniel had to be at work in an hour. The Davis' are fun to spend time with and I can't wait to do this again!

Young Paleontologists

Today was Gloria's actual birthday. She got to open the presents from Daniel and I that she'd been excitedly waiting for. They've been sitting in our room all nicely wrapped and making her crazy that she couldn't open them yet, lol.

One of the presents was the National Geographic "Dino Xcavator" game from Target. It's like "Operation" but with a dinosaur. The girls loved it and I loved that it was a nice culmination to our homeschool week of studying dinosaurs. Next time we'll try playing it with the question cards, but for today they just practiced getting the bones out without touching the sides and making the T-Rex roar!

Some other gifts she got today were two Barbies which she immediately shared with her sister, "one for you and one for me!", a wooden truck for her and Daddy to assemble together (it comes with a screwdriver and all the parts to make a jeep), and a Mickey Mouse "bop bag" that she enjoyed whooping the snot out of all day long. She likes to "punch" our palms and sometimes pillows for play, so we figured it would be a "hit" (pardon the pun) and it was! With these birthday presents she may either be a paleontologist someday or the next "Ali".

Fart Funnies

My sweet little 4 year old daughter gets piles of presents for her birthday this week. She exchanges two because they are duplicates and uses the money to buy a new game, a doll, and oh yes...a little can of goo for 88 cents. So what is her absolute favorite birthday toy?

Flarp. It even sounds gross. You can hear her maniacal giggles all over the house followed shortly by the squelching bubbling gassy sounds of Flarp. She thinks it's the funniest thing ever made. She smulches her hand down into the can smushing the pink goo to make rippling rat-a-tat-toot sounds and blames it on everyone in the family. She finds it hilarious to say, "Ewww! Mommy! Say Excuse me!" I thought only boys found bathroom humor funny. How wrong I was! Whatever happened to my delicate little princess? Actually, I don't think she ever fit that description. Her Daddy and I are soo proud.

Cake Trouble

Cake trouble is defined as being on weight watchers, having used all your points for the day, and then having to serve the yummy looking cake at your daughter's birthday.

This post is for Lori, my SDS sister from Boot Camp Buddies. She rightly pointed out that I should be in more photos on my blog. So here ya go, Lori! Trust me, when I'm down closer to my goal it will be impossible to keep me OUT of every photo, lol! In this picture I'm wearing my current favorite pants, and they are snug on me. They're size 18. When I'm down closer to an 8 I will have a deep NEED to show off my cuteness.

In the meantime I'll just rejoice in my almost 12 pound loss over the last 3 weeks! Woohoo! No cake could taste as good as losing the weight feels!

Gloria's McDonald's Party

Gloria had her birthday party with her local friends today at McDonald's. This was her first ever Mickey D's party! She had a blast! She and her friends played in the tunnels in the playland and ran all over the place laughing, giggling, and swinging from things.

She was so excited when she got home she ripped open the packaging on all her presents. She had paper, stamps, dishes, and clothes scattered all over the living room. She was so cute at the party, saying thank you for gifts before she even got them opened.

The best thing about the party for Gloria was that her beloved "Mr. Rick" came to her party. She talked about him constantly and lit up when she saw him. Mr. Rick was her Sunday school teacher until recently. They have a special bond.

Gloria certainly had a great birthday party!

Kimono Costume

This was an early birthday present Gloria got to open today from me and Daniel. She's going to be soo adorable in this Kimono for Halloween. She thinks she looks like the three sisters from Sagwa the Siamese Chinese Cat. I guess she means when they are dressed for a special occasion. At the end of this post is a link to the site where you can see them.

She looks so beautiful. She kept admiring herself in the mirror. The mirror she's looking into is actually the new mirror for Danya's bedroom door. It fell off. We haven't found a way to hang it (that lasts) yet. We're trying to avoid putting nail holes into her door. They've spent alot of time dressing up and posing in front of this mirror. I'm just imagining what it will be like when they are teenagers!
Sagwa Sisters

Disney teaches Japan

We collected a whole series of Disney books about different countries and cultures before we even had kids. We actually signed our dog's name onto the book club membership. It was pretty funny getting so many offers through the mail for life insurance for our dog, Molly.

The series is Disney's Small World Library, and you can find a few of them on Amazon.com for less than a dollar. The girls really like these and they learn alot from them. At the end of each book there is a series of "Did You Know?" little facts about the country and the story.

Books have become such a big part of our homeschooling. It makes it alot easier for me to pick a topic for the week and find about 5 books on the subject (one for each day). I feel more like we learned something that week that I can specifically talk about with them other than just grammar and math.

Writing Review

Today we had a review of the letters we've been learning with "The Writing Road to Reading" book. I have to remind myself that it's awesome that they are writing so well and their letters don't have to look like mine (not that mine are perfect). The girls both did really well. I didn't show them how to write the letters. I just put the list up there and they had to finish the row for each letter. We left the letters up all day so that they could show Daddy when he woke up. We also spent time reading out of the girls new bibles. Danya can read hers all by herself! I just hope that her Sunday school and Awanas teachers approve of it. They recommended a bible that was sort of a mini-version of an adult bible, but Danya can't read that yet and having that many words per page is discouraging at her age. We'll happily buy her a new one next year if she's ready for it, but for now this one is just right. She read the story of Abram and Sarai and Lot from her bible, and then I read the same story from my bible so that we could see the difference. They only left out a few minor details. We didn't originally intend to get Gloria a bible, but she wanted one so much. We figured, if you're going to spend a little extra on something, what better than a bible for your child?

Block Heads!

The girls invented their own little block people today in the living room. It's amazing the amount of stuff they think up and create when I'm not trying to micromanage some sort of craft or art project. They build elaborate cities, tents, puppet theatres, you name it. Today they even made a workbench and tools out of blocks! I try to encourage them and let them know that I think their creations are special by taking pictures of each one. Danya made the yellow girl on the left. Gloria made the frowning boy on the right. I think Glory likes to do things like give her people frowns just to see what kind of reaction she'll get. I try not to act surprised and just agree, "Yes, he does have a frown. What a creative way to use that curved block!"

Stitched Together with Love

It's kind of small looking, but this is my latest 12 x 12 scrapbook layout. It mostly consists of pieces from a StoryTellers kit, except for the patterned paper which is new from a giant pack of patterned paper that Daniel bought me as part of a celebration for losing 7 1/2 pounds this week. My goal is to get all my old photos scrapbooked as quickly as possible and to use up some of my giant horde of scrapbooking supplies. It's fun seeing our girls and the Maxwell kids looking so little in these photos. Not to mention Daniel is looking much slimmer in that old photo. Actually he's looking alot slimmer now, too. He's lost 15 lbs since starting weight watchers two weeks ago. Go Daniel!!

Magnetic Attraction!

Daniel and the girls tried out the magnetism and electricity experiments today in a kit we bought at Target a while back. Some of it didn't work right, but they were able to pick up some metal paperclips with a battery and some wires as you can see in this picture. The girls thought it was pretty great. They made a homemade battery with money, metal washers, vinegar, and tissue paper. Daniel showed them that it had a charge by hooking it up to a voltage reader thing that he uses when he's fixing our vehicle.

Today we used the Electric Kit and we also have Radios, Phones, and Telecommunications which is really cool because Daniel works in Telecomm. Here's a link to see some of the project kits in the series that we picked up Projects for Kids.

Thoughts Along the Road

Danya says the funniest things sometimes. Today while we were riding along the road she came up with some interesting comments. One she announced in a thoughtful tone of voice while we were parking next to Albertson's to grab some fat free salad dressing.

Danya: "Mommy, I think I know now why you tell us not to touch things in the store."

Me: "Oh?"

Danya: "You always say that if we break something you'll have to buy it. Well, sometimes I think I should break it because then we could buy it and take it home."

Me: "You do?!?" (hadn't thought of that)

Danya: "Yes, but I've been thinking about that. If it was broken, it wouldn't be any fun to play with." (smart kid!)

Family Bike Ride

We went for a family bike ride again today. We went about 3 miles round trip. The girls were having a rough time. They each fell off their bikes a couple of times each. I think they are falling more because they are getting more daring! They went down little ramps and pedaled faster than they ever have before. They both seem to be mastering their fears. Both girls also cried for a second and then got back on their bikes after falling off. We were so proud of them!

On the way home we stopped at the local elementary and we all played on the playground. It's fall break for public school kids, so the school was deserted. Danya did great on the monkey bars! She's learned how to go all the way across by herself! Looking at this picture you probably can't tell that she had just fallen off her bike a couple of minutes before. Daniel did some pull-ups on the monkey bars, too. The girls had a race down the tandem slides. It's been a while since we've played on this playground. We all really enjoyed it. I wish we could have stayed longer, but Daniel is working overtime at work today. He had to be there by 3pm to work the swing shift.