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!

Camille Turns FIVE!

It's hard to believe that Camille is already 5. Wow. It's crazy. But, thankfully, Camille promised me she wouldn't get any bigger until she turns 6. And, she said she still likes to snuggle and play, so that's good.

We made some mini-cupcakes to send her to school with, so she was pretty excited about that.

Then tonight we went to Casa Bonita. Her original choice was McDonald's, which was extremely disappointing because she has only been there about 2 times in her entire 5 years, so we were very distressed that she still chose McD's. But, we were able to convince her to change her mind and go to Casa Bonita instead.

We stayed there way too late, but still had to come home and let Camille open gifts- a doll, Wii Music game, and Mermaid Island from Grandma and Grandpa High.

At 5 years old, Camille is pretty awesome. She LOVES making others happy, loves being silly, and loves to laugh and play games. She makes friends easily with everybody. She loves to tickle her baby cousin Max's cheeks. She is very creative and inventive with great imagination. She is very smart and catches on quickly to new things. Her favorite animal is zebra, and her favorite color is "lots of them." She loves to color, write her name, and dance. She marches to the beat of her own drum- with tons of confidence. Though she likes to annoy Claire, she loves her big sisters like nothing else. She is really a ray of sunshine- such a fun girl who wants to bring and spread joy to everyone! We sure do love this precious not-so-little-girl!

Mother's Day

"The best part of being a mom to me is the unconditional love. I have never felt a love as pure, a love that's as rewarding."

- Monica Denise Brown

I sure do love being a mom to these girls!

They even helped me make some quilts for my mom and mother-in-law:

We got all the grand kids to color pictures and then quilted them together. They turned out great!