School

   Kira is in kindergarten this year.  We started the year doing the k12 program.  My intent was for her to quickly get through the kindergarten material and move onto first grade, where she is academically.  Not the case.  The work was so tedious.  She started sailing through and stopped paying attention.  Which scares the daylights out of me since I sailed through a few years of school and had to re-learn how to work when I finally had a teacher who challenged me. Anyways, she stopped trying and was sailing.  So even though she made the honor roll for the first quarter of school, I pulled her out and am now officially homeschooling her. 
   Part of me is terrified that I will mess her up, but the larger part feels at peace and is excited to see her being challenged and grow.  I love the idea of catering the lesson plan to her.  I know it's going to take more work on my part, but I know that the more work you put into something, the bigger the reward.  So on to our new adventure.  Wish us luck!

Meet Andromeda and a Camping Trip

Welcome to our family Andromeda!  We hope that we don't run you to the ground to soon and that we can have many, many memories made with you!

Well, we bought a motorhome.  We took her camping this week to Roosevelt Lake.  It was such a fun trip, even if we failed at cooking.  Next trip will be better...It can't get much worse! 
Kira's favorite memory was throwing rocks in the water. 
Rora enjoyed looking for Brownies.
Josh enjoyed just spending time together as a family.  Oh, and his hike with Kira.
My favorite was playing UNO with everyone.  Rora saying 'Oh shucks" when she had to draw cards and both girls laughter as Josh drew card after card after card. 

I love my little family and the memories we make.

I can't believe that my baby girl is 6.  Where did the time go?  It seems only yesterday I was figuring out that I would rather hold her while she sleeps than have her cry it out.  Only yesterday while I held her tiny hand and cried with her as she lay under the bili lights.  Only yesterday when she said 'Mama' for the first time, when she smiled a milk smile.  When she buried her head in my chest and held my hair to go to sleep.  Ah, I love my girl so much!  Happy Birthday Kira!!

How old are you? 6


What is your favorite color? Pink
Last year: pink and purple

What is your favorite animal? A pony
Last year: A pony and a horsey
What is your favorite food? macaroni and cheese
Last year: chicken noodle soup and cereal and milk


What do you want to be when you grow up? A horse rider
Last year:  A ballerina and ballerina teacher.
This one really surprised me.  I thought for sure she would pick Ballerina again with how much dance is currently consuming her life...

What is your favorite book? A little Dinosaur
Last year: The Nutcracker
What is your favorite song? I love to see the Temple
I LOVE that this one didn't change.

What is your favorite TV show? Angelina Ballerina
Not surprising, this one didn't change either...I told you dance was all consuming...
What is your biggest accomplishment? I'm getting good at my Nutcracker dance.
Yep, dance again. ;)
Last year: Vacuuming my room and the living room - I'm kind of sad that her current accomplishment doesn't help with the housework!


What is your favorite season? Christmas.  (me: that isn't a season) Winter. Why? because it snows and I like snow. Last year: Winter. Why? because it's cold and it feels like it's going to snow. And Christmas.

Sadly, we now live in Arizona so there is much, much less chance of snow than in Alabama...did I mention that its October and at 6:30 (just past dusk) today it was 97 outside...will it ever get cool!?!
Where would you like to go for a vacation? Camping again.
Last year: Disney World
I'm good with both her vacation ideas. 
What is your favorite activity? paint.  I'm really surprised at this one.  She doesn't ask to paint very often.
Last year: Dance class
What is your favorite place to go for dinner? Chipotle.  Because they have those yummy chips and yummy beans.
Last year: Red Lobster
I love Chipotle too!  Great choice Kira!
Who is your best friend? Brooklyn
Last year: Eli
It saddens me that she didn't pick Eli.  They have been best friends for so long, but alas, we don't live near them and while she looks at his picture at least twice a week, (yes, she still LOVES her photo album!), they don't get to play together anymore.  I am glad that she has a couple good friends here.


Kira just started piano lessons, she is reading Pioneer Sisters, a Little House on the Prairie early chapter book, she loves being the big sister and will gladly take Ella and play with her or just bounce her when she fusses.  She dances everywhere.  Her laughter lights up my life.  Her live is infectious.  She has changed me more ways than I can count.  I am so blessed to be her Mother.  Happy Birthday to my Princess.  I love you!!

*This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, this is pretty much what everyday looks like around here.  Love my girl!

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

   Today for Kira's reading comprehension the book was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Her reading focuses on thinking more deeply and understanding why you know what you know about books (ie, Alexander is never mentioned by name but we know the book is about him.)  Of course this book and conversation had to fall on a horrible week.  I haven't been sleeping since Ella has been sick (first a cold and then shots), Rora is in full 'cry' mode every 10 seconds and baby blues have hit hard. 
   One of the questions posed to Kira was why would Alexander want to move to Australia.  She said, "He just needed a break from life.  Just like you (me) needed a break the other night so you went for a walk, he needed to step away."
   As we read the book we can see why his day is bad, but we can also see what he does and doesn't do that worsens the day.   I love that the last 2 sentences of the story say, "Mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia."   How I love that I have a Father in Heaven that I can turn to to unload my problems at the end of the day and that this 'stage' is only a short blip on my journey through this world and eternity. 
Thanks for giving me a glimpse into my path through a simple story.  It really is humbling how such a simple thing can make all the difference.  I can't go past this stage with Rora any faster, or get more sleep at night, but I can focus more on the big picture and remember that yes, some days (or weeks, or even months) are like that.  Even in Australia.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

 5 Trust‍ in the Lord‍ with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 6 In all thy ways acknowledge‍ him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Arches

A couple weeks ago we went to Arches National Park.  It was so much fun!  Most of my family joined us as well as my SIL's parents.  We are already to go on next years trip! 
A few things I want to remember, in no particular order:

Ashleigh and Kylee getting yelled at while trying to sponge shower themselves in the restroom.

Shontel getting stuck while rock climbing and Ty having to save her. (You're never going to live this down :)

Brownie hike!  They live EVERYWHERE and my girls are so excited to look for them on our next camping trip!

Rora NOT having an accident!!

Showering my girls in the dishwashing tub.

Neal's pancakes.  They were epic!

Uninterrupted talk time with Josh on the drive.

Amorim's perfect marshmallows.

Kira running to jump over the bush and running through it L(


A few things I really wish I could forget:

Strawberry marshmallows - they are so NASTY!

The smells!  It's amazing how we all smelled about the same...NASTY!!

Our air mattress deflating the first night.  :(

Fire ant bites all over my girls legs.  OUCH!

It was a great trip.  My fam is awesome and I can't wait to do it again!!

*I only put one pic on here, if you care to see all the rest they're on facebook.  Download is much easier to facebook...

Watermelon + Shapes = FUN!

   I am always looking for creative fun ways to teach.  Today I had a great idea that I thought I'd share.  Rora is at the age and desire (key) to start more school centered activities.  We have been working on shapes the last couple of weeks (not very hard mind you since she is only 2 1/2.)

So I had the girls cut up watermelon into the different shapes.  We cut out squares, rectangles, triangles and circles.  Both girls had a lot of fun and since my counter was already messy with watermelon juice there wasn't much extra mess. 

  Showing me her square.

 So beautiful

 Triangle!

 Getting a lesson in knife safety from Kira.

 Ella chose to do her learning through osmosis.

 She gripped the toy bar her entire nap.  I love sweet baby hands!

 Rora's favorite part of this lesson was eating the watermelon!

Circles are hard to cut out of watermelon.  Way to go Kira!

Snoosie Time!

   I get a lot of questions about what I put in my smoothies so I figured I'd break it down.

I start with 1 cup of plain yogurt. Plain is best, free of artificial flavorings, dyes and sugar.  Plus it has the added benefit of extra yogurt cultures since it hasn't been mixed so the cultures are more active.  To that I add in my spinach.  For the smoothie pictured I used about 1/2 the spinach I usually use, I was in need of a costco run!  Costco has spinach the least expensive that I have found.  It's $4 for 2.5lbs here in AZ.  Compare that to $2 for 9oz at any of the local grocery stores.  Anyways, I had 3 of my measuring cups stuffed with spinach for this smoothie. (And again, that's about 1/2 what I normally use.)

Blend that on high for a couple minutes  before you add in anything else to break down that spinach.  Then I add in a heaping spoonful of orange juice concentrate (this is for the sweetness.) About a cup and a half of mixed fruit (whatever suits your fancy.  I like the costco prefrozen festival blend with mango, papaya, strawberries and pineapple for its convenience but if I have fresh fruit on hand that we wont eat I'll throw pretty much anything in it.)  And one banana.

Blend on high until all the fruit is pureed and enjoy!  This smoothie made 3 of the pictured cups. 

I have developed a taste for less sweet smoothies so you might want to start with more fruit or sweeter fruits until your taste buds change.  Enjoy!

*and yes, we call them snoosies and even sing a snoosie time song when we are about to partake :)