Audra's Birthday Party

Having an even numbered Birthday means you get a Birthday party at our house. Therefore, Audra was due.

We have been planning what to do for awhile. Both Audra and Claire said they wanted a mystery party- they are both very into mysteries. Audra really wanted a murder mystery. I know nothing about throwing a mystery party, so I started doing lots of research on-line for ideas. I wanted something easy, but all the pre-made party packages for kids did not involve murder (I wonder why). In the end, we found a mystery where a chocolate cake got stolen from a party that Audra was excited about, so we went with that.

I bought the package and was sent a PDF that did everything for me. I really didn't have to do anything, which is just what I needed (and, by the way, they said I can share it with friends, but I can't sale it. So if this sounds like something you would like to do, let me know and I'll send you the PDF). It was a costume party, and there were 9 suspects. So on the invite, I told everybody to wear a costume and asked for volunteers to be suspects. Keeping track of all the suspects was perhaps the hardest part of the planning.

Oh, and the weather....That was a huge problem. She invited 20 kids, so we decided to rent a pavilion at a park. No problem. I rented it three weeks ago. I checked the weather 10 days ago- 65 degrees. Perfect! Until the next day when it dropped to 62. And then every day it continued to drop 3 degrees until it said 53. Oh, and a huge snowstorm the day before the party. The stress began.

In the end, I begrudgingly had to move the party to our house. This was not ideal, but we didn't really have any other options. The sun was shining all day, but with a cold wind. We maybe could have done it at the park, but it would have been cold so I'm glad I decided to move it inside.

At any rate, the party turned out awesome! The kids were so incredibly great!

Of course, we had to get our own family costumes ready to go:

Everybody started coming, but not quite all at once. I realized I needed to do some quick thinking to get a couple games in until everybody showed up. I used some of the drama games from our drama club to get the kids in the mood for the game.

Then, once everybody showed up, I introduced the crime- somebody stole Mrs. MacGreedy's double chocolately cake! Who did it? The nine suspects were introduced, and then all 20 kids had to go and interview all the suspects to try and figure out who committed the crime. Audra was Mrs. MacGreedy.

They spent about 45 minutes interviewing each other. They were awesome! This was such a perfect group of kids to do this. They all got along so well and all participated and really got into it. There weren't any party poopers- it was awesome.

Only two people got it right, though- Claire and Avery. And they just guessed, but that's OK. I'm glad at least somebody got it right.

After the game, we had sandwiches for the kids.

 I didn't get a picture of the real double chocolately cake, but it was pretty basic- just a "10" made out of M & M's.

Then, Audra really wanted to open presents with her friends here. She likes it better when she is at a party and her friends open the gifts, so she wanted to share in the joy with her friends, and everybody seemed really happy with that.

In the end, the house is still standing and everything went off without a hitch. It was perfect!

The best part of the whole party is that the friends she invited came from all different walks of life: Homeschooling, band, friends since she was born, church, etc. If you remember, when we first decided to homeschool, one of my greatest fears was having people to invite to the girls' Birthday parties. But I realized as we put her guest list together that with this crazy, wild lifestyle we lead, Audra has friends all over the place. She isn't limited to her classmates- she enjoys friendships across a wide spectrum of areas. And, as evidenced tonight, they are all awesome and amazing friends! They are such great kids, and they all got along so great with each other, even though many of them had never seen each other before.

It was, simply put, fabulous.

And I'm so glad it's over.

Bat Boxes

For 4h, one of the woodworking leaders put together a fun project for our club: building bat boxes. He taught us a bit about bats, and then each family got to put one box together. It really was quite fascinating. We had the choice to either bring our bat box home to hang on our house, or to donate to a local garden area. Believe it or not, it was a hard choice. We actually think it would be really cool to have some bats living on the side of our house and eating all of our mosquitoes. But, in the end, we decided we didn't want to drill holes into our house so we decided to donate the box. Still, though, it was pretty cool.

Tea Party

We are wrapping up our homeschool year- this week we finished our spelling, writing, and geography curriculum. We only have a couple days of grammar left, and then we'll keep doing handwriting and math into the summer.

So, well, things are slowing down.

HALLELUJAH! It's been a beautiful year, but we are excited for a break and for summer to arrive.

To celebrate the end of the year, today we did a tea party poetry telling with some friends. Each of the girls memorized a poem and presented it to the group. Audra made some scones, and we enjoyed a little party.

Audra told "A Tragic Story" by William Makepeace Thackery
Claire did "I'm A Little Tea Pot" and "Hearts Are Like Doors"
Camille, in a last second decision, did "Humpty Dumpty"
And even I did one- "Something Missing" by Shel Silversten

It was a wonderful day. We are truly blessed.

Audra Turns Double Digits!

In addition to the big pre-school graduation, today was pretty awesome because we got to celebrate this incredible girl:

Audra was really nervous about today, actually. She was excited to turn double digits, but really sad to never be a single digit again.

I made her some French Toast for breakfast. She had hoped we wouldn't do any school, but her teacher is pretty mean so she had no such luck.

She is having a big party on Saturday, so we had just a smaller night tonight.

At 10 years old, Audra is pretty awesome. She still loves dolls- especially her AG doll Skye. She loves to read, and would pretty much prefer to read over anything else in the world. She would LOVE it if I would let her have school days where all she did was read. Right now she is in to Harry Potter (I only allow her to read books 1-4, and so she re-reads them over and over) and Anne of Green Gables. Her favorite food is still breakfast burritos. She is doing fabulous with piano and trumpet- reading music is finally starting to click. She is very loyal to her friends. She is incredibly empathetic. She will always look for the person who is alone to try and be friends with. It's impossible to describe how sweet she is. I have really never met anybody like her before- just so loving and kind and pure. I know I am her mom, but really, truly- she is just something special. It's pretty awesome to be her mom.

The first 10 years with this amazing person have been awesome. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings!

Camille Graduates!

Nothing says "Summer Break!" like a foot of snow falling on the day of pre-school graduation, but that's exactly what happened.

So the girls started the day building snowmen.

Then in the afternoon we went to Camille's classroom for her little graduation.

This is Camille's amazing speech therapist- Ms. Susan. She has been so incredible with Camille, and has been ever since Camille started two years ago. We will miss her!

It's strange to think that it's been two years of her in pre-school. I was so worried when I put her in, and yet it was so great for her. She really has loved pre-school, and all of her teachers keep telling me how smart she is and how quickly she picks up on things. I think kindie will just be an extension of that- I am certain she will thrive. It has really been a tremendous blessing for her to attend with such dedicated teachers who really cared about her and did everything they could do to help her succeed and excel.

Roald's Dahl Contest

Audra and Claire entered short story ideas to the Roald Dhal Imaginorium. It's a pretty cool contest, and the girls had a lot of fun thinking about their ideas.

Audra's:

Isabella wishes for a pet dragon for her Birthday. The next morning, she wakes up to discover that she is a dragon!

She goes on a quest to try and discover how to return to a human again. She has to beat a lion at a game of Chess (and if she loses she will be eaten!), cheer up a grumpy troll, and fly faster than a griffin.

In the end, she discovers she had the strength all along to turn back into a human.


Claire's:

Ms. Glasses IS a pair of glasses. She wants to get married, but fell in love with a star in the sky. The star is also in love with her, but his father does not want the star to marry a pair of glasses.

Ms. Glasses goes on a journey to get to the sky. Eventually she makes it to the sky and is able to marry the star.


For more information about the contest in case your kiddos want a chance to earn a Golden Ticket, click HERE.

Camille's Dance Recital

It's the time of year when things are wrapping up- thank goodness. May is CRAZY. We are going crazy. We are way too busy for a family that doesn't like to be busy.

Oh, enough ranting and onto some cuteness.

Camille had her dance recital today. It was, of course, so incredibly adorable.

I'm not sure if we will sign her up next year or not. I hope she is able to do it for one more year, but it all depends on our schedule and if we can fit it in or not. She has had a lot of fun in it, and it is especially cute when she comes home and shows us her moves. And, of course, Ms. Muffie is the absolute best. We love her!