Chickens, Puppies and Horses…

It has been beautiful here the last several days.† Kei and I have both loved being outside.† We threw a rope over a tree and she made a swing, which promptly became a horse visiting mystical lands.† I love listening to her play.

Ride "em Cowgirl

A few days ago 2 dogs wandered up.† At first I was very leery of them, strange dogs and such, but they were so sweet.† Kei played with them for over an hour.† I got their name and number off of their tags and called their owners.† They came to pick them up but Kei still had time to get some Puppy Love.† We are still planning on getting a dog as soon as her play is over.

Loving the doggies

Speaking typing of the play, it is week after next.† Kei is loving every minute of it as usual.† She has several roles in this one and one is a Dixie Chicken.† She is one of Humpty Dumpty’s backup singers! †† It is going to be a great play.† We also have been helping on the scenery.† The irony of not painting MY OWN HOUSE and then painting scenery doesn’t escape me. :p

Cluck Cluck
Humpty Dumpty's Wall

She also got to try on dresses.† They have TONS of dresses at DreamWeavers and she was in heaven.

Red Curtsey

So far April has been lovely.

Enjoy nature,

Mad Hatters, FLW & Things that go BUMP…

The weather is still CRAPPY!† Seriously I get tired of always talking about the weather but sheeshhhh.

Kei and I went to see Alice.† It was really good and totally cool with the 3D.† Although my boss, who worked on the film, said it wasn’t filmed in 3D.† Kei loved it.† If she can love Johnny looking like this, it must be true love.

True Love...

We went to see Circo Comedia which was hilarious.† Kei loved it.† I can’t imagine just moving around, city by city, performing.† Under the right circumstances that could be so fun!

Kei loves to make things for me.† I woke up Tuesday and she had a clue in the bathroom that led me through the house to a ‘prize’.† I had to post her clues because they were cute and the last one can still make me laugh a week later.

1. “Where people say we should eat, is a clue to your treat.” <kitchen table>

2. “Now go to the desk where WOW is played to get a jump start on your day.” <my computer>

3. “Last but not least, look in the cookie jar for your treat.” <cookie jar>

4. “You found your treat, so Bonaparte.” <Ok I read this and said, “Huh? and she said ‘bon appetit , I spell checked it!’> I am still laughing about it.

Thursday we spent the day with some of our bestest friends <we missed you Gina and Heather!>† It was Suzette and Michelle’s birthday.† We ate at Olive Garden and then went to the Rosenbaum House which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.† It was unbelievable.† Kei and I loved it and wanted to move in.† Then we went to the park for cheesecake. Great day, great food, great friends, great learning.† Perfect day. Thanks Suz, Em and Zachery for letting us ride with you.

Kids at FLW

Kei at the River
Moms at FLW

Kei had play practice Saturday and Sunday we had a great day at church.† Sunday was the 1st day of† DST so we were both tired all day.† Kei begged to watch a scary movie during the daytime! ;)† I finally let her and she was so funny.† She got a bunch of stuffed animals and watched it with them assuring them at various times it was “just a movie”.† Other times she screamed at the TV about how stupid the people were.

It's ok, it's JUST a movie
DON'T GO IN THERE!!!

All in all, a good week.† Now if the sun would come out and it get above 50∫ I may survive.

Happy week,

Snow, Alice and Chocolat in Bed…

Last year, on March 1st, it snowed.† See proof below:
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This year, on March 2nd, it snowed. Kei and I didn’t even stick our noses outside. How quickly we become jaded. “Oh snow again? Yawn”
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Kei prepared for the release of Alice in Wonderland by making a cake.
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She also wanted breakfast in bed with “Chocolat”. She had ‘runny eggs’ and Johnny Depp. She was happy. 🙂
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She also finally hooked up her webcam at our new house. She has new software that does some cool things.
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This weekend it is supposed to be….[drum roll, wait for it…wait for it….]

60∞

Gotta dig out the bathing suits, fans and swimming pool!

Happy weekend,

Experiments, Sunny Days and Big Rats..

Things have been moving along. It is still butt cold. And for anyone not familiar with that term, it is COLD. We were teased with 2 days of weather above 40 degrees but now….cold again.

Kei and I enjoyed the warmer weather. She played outside while I read a book. It will be nice to have such a big yard for her to play in if it ever warms up!
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We did science experiments this week. We both love them and love this site. Great science site with experiments
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Chemistry with Pennies

You will need:
* A few old (not shiny) pennies
* 1/4 cup white vinegar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* Non-metal bowl
* Paper towels
What to do:

  1. Pour the vinegar into the bowl and add the salt – stir it up.
  2. Put about 5 pennies into the bowl and count to 10 slowly.
  3. Take out the pennies and rinse them out in some water. Admire their shininess!

How does it work?
There is some pretty fancy chemistry going on in that little bowl of yours. It turns out that vinegar is an acid, and the acid in the vinegar reacts with the salt to remove what chemists call copper oxide which was making your pennies dull. You’re not done yet, though, lets try another experiment:

Add more pennies to the bowl for 10 seconds, but this time , don’t rinse them off. Place them on a paper towel to dry off. In time the pennies will turn greenish-blue as a chemical called malachite forms on your pennies. But wait, your still not done yet.

Place some nuts and bolts in the vinegar and watch – they become COPPER in color! The vinegar removed some copper from the pennies and that copper was attracted by to the metal in the nuts and bolts – cool.
The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:

1. Will other acids (like lemon juice or orange juice) work as well?

2. Does this cleaning chemistry work on other coins?

3. Do other amounts of salt make a difference in the chemistry of the experiment?

Kei, being the eco friendly girl that she is decided to make a doll using trash. She used a Sprite can, a yogurt container, suckers for the eyes, sucker stick for the nose, gum wrapper for the arms and a restaurant butter container for the hat. It was too cute.
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Tuesday was Heather’s birthday and we met at Chuck E. Cheese for kid play and Mom talk. Then we went to everyone’s favorite place…Books A Million. It was a great day.
Kei, Heather and some of Esther 🙂
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Required Kid’s Shot
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Super Hero Kids
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Kei bought a book “Funky Things to Draw”. She is in there now drawing away.

Lovely day…
Peace,

Tea Parties, GNO & Vandelism..

What a few days.

Kei and I have been loving living in the new house.† We still have much to do but it is awesome to have space!

Kei started practice for her play “Wonderland”.† She is totally geeked about her part.† She adores doing plays.† It is just what she loves.††† She has been practicing non-stop.† I know all the words and she only got her script Tuesday!

We are also using a new teaching resource.† It is from Simply Homeschooling. We love J. Anne and all her great stuff.† She has amazing interactive units that Kei loves. She is also a single mom and a science geek. ;)† We love science geeks.

She had a huge tea party with her Animals.† She went all out!

The gang

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Table #1
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We meet with our great friend once a month for GNO.† Sometimes we bring some testotorone, sometimes not.† We always watch a musical and eat and have a blast.† Last night, for the first time, we got to do it at our house.† Everyone came except Cathy and Kaitlin <we missed you guys!> who was chasing the sun in Florida.

I cooked all day.† I love to cook for more than 2 people but rarely was able to before.† Now I have room.† I made a scrumptious salad, Poulet De Normandey, Broccoli casserole, pasta salad with bacon, French bread and Kei made a chocolate bundt cake.† Suzette brought a dessert to make and it was so complicated.† But in true GNO’s fashion, we had a hoot watching her make it. It was yummy too!

We then sat and talked and laughed and snickered.† Then the girls insisted we watch the movie.† We had decided on “Grease”.† It was a hoot and good times were have by all.
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However we everyone started to leave we discovered Esther’s car had been broken into!† They smashed her front passenger window and took her GPS, Nuvi. We had to call the police and E had to make phone calls and tape up the window and sweep the street.† It was a yucky end to such a great night.

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People are just so ARGHGHGHGH!

Today the sun is actually out and I felt warmth on my face as I ran errands!† Spring please come soon.

Happy Thursday,

Hearts, Frogs and Snow….

We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Woke up and Kei was so excited about my present. She got me a red rose, a snicker’s bar and my favorite candle. I had gotten her candy and this cool “Believe” wall hanging.

Brit also went to church with us. It was a good time!
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She was acting all “I’m 10 and I have a BF” until later that night. She got a bunch of stuffed animals and played with them.
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Then she fell asleep looking like a 5 year old. That’s what I love about my girl.
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This morning we woke up to SNOW! Our first snow in the new house. We went outside for about 22 seconds. It was COLD.
Kei Snowball
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Kei at the Ditch
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Footprints
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We are supposed to get more this afternoon. EEP.

There’s No Place Like Home…

We have moved.† We are now living in the house I grew up in.† My Daddy remarried and is letting Kei and I live in the house.† I had such mixed feelings about this at first.† Now I am super excited.

There is a ton to do, things to paint, things to update, changes to be made.† But I am home.† Funny how life goes full circle.† I was 9 when we moved here.† Kei and I moved in when she had been 10 3 weeks.

There is still things that need to be gotten out of here.† <my brother’s stuff..hint hint> ;)† Daddy has things everywhere, especially outside, but it feels like home.† It feels like MY home.

We have a room just for homeschooling!† A WHOLE ROOM filled with bookcases!
Kei in Contemplation
And crazy as it sounds, we are already running out of bookcase room!
books, glorious books!
I have painted and redone what was my Mom’s bedroom and is now mine.
My room
We have painted Kei’s bedroom.
Kei's room
She still wants to paint her bed…purple. It is a deep, grape colored purple.
Kei's Bed
I painted Kei’s bathroom.
Kei's bath

There is still tons to be done. The house is in great shape but hasn’t been updated in forever! We have big plans Lucy!

Kei has a pet chipmunk that stays on the patio.† She feeds him bread crumbs and grapes. She named him Chippy. Since she begun feeding him, he has been joined by birds and squirrels. Can you say menagerie!
Chippy

We have room for all of our friends to come visit at the same time!† We are so blessed and feel so lucky to be here.† I know Momma is up in heaven, grinning…

We went to HS Skate Day and the kids exchanged Valentines.† It was the 1st time Kei has made a Valentine box since 1st grade! We had a blast!
Valentine Box

Gina’s step mom passed away unexpectedly Friday.† She and Gina’s dad were in Panama City.† Gina and Bobby left to go down to be with her dad.† Brit and Cody are here and as sad as the circumstances are, we are delighted to have them here.† We have had such fun having a taste of a bigger family!† Gina you are in our thoughts and prayers.† We love you much!
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Life is good.

Aaeeiii YAH….

We started ‘school’ back today.† Kei and I were both ready for it.

She did a report from “The Daring Book for Girls”.† This is the coolest book ever.† She picked, of all things, Karate.

Then she helped me fax my work flyer to about 50 Production companies.† She said she needed to write down the numbers so she would have them ‘one day when I am about to be an actress’. 🙂

We had to miss our roamschool outing to Moe’s.† Daddy wanted us to come over and go through the house again.† I have such conflicting emotions about moving.† I just pray that it all works out.

Tomorrow we start cleaning over there.† Lord give me strength and patience! 🙂

Epic Days…

It is so cold here.† Unfreakabelievably cold!† Minnesota cold!† Sweden cold!

Last night we went to convergence at our church.† Our church rocks!† Kei and I were greeters.† There were so many people there.† We had a wonderful night.

Epic Kei
Epic Kei

Our band is so awesome. Plus they were joined by musicians from 3 other churches!

Epic Band
Epic Band

We woke up this morning to SNOW!† It wasn’t a lot but it snowed all day.† It was so cool to look out of the window and see snow falling all day.† I thought of my Momma all day. She always loved snow days.

Glorious snow!
Glorious snow!
Winter Wonderland..
Winter Wonderland..

It is supposed to get frigid tonight.† Low in the morning is -10 with the wind chill.† BRRRrrrrrr!

Stay warm and snuggle!

K

Twenty Ten…

Well Christmas has come and gone.† Thanks to the coolest friends in the world, we had an amazing Christmas.

We left Santa cookies and milk.

Ho Ho Ho...
Ho Ho Ho...

We then spent a very restless night.† Kei could not sleep because she was so excited.† She started at 1:00 am asking me if she could just sneak down and check and I said no.† She asked me every 30 minutes until 5:30 when I finally said yes.† I have to have a bath before I function <hey some people need coffee, I need my bath!> so we have started a tradition of her opening her stocking on the bathroom floor while I am waking up in my bath.

Kei got everything on her list!† And more!

Wonderful Christmas
Wonderful Christmas

We went to Eddie and Heather’s for Christmas breakfast.† Daddy and Marlene† came too.† We had a yummy breakfast casserole, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, orange juice and coffee.† Then we opened presents.† Good times were had by all!

Kei and I came home she played for hours while I took down the tree! I know, I know, but I was sick of that puppy.† So down it came.

Then we went to Marlene’s for Christmas dinner.† We met her son and his wife and their adorable little girl.† Everything was delicious and it was a nice night.† You know, traditions sometimes change.

Saturday we went to Laura’s for traditional Christmas dinner.† The food was excellent and the company was awesome.† I laughed so much my stomach hurt.† We love you all so much!

Suzette had everyone over to her house for our !st Annual Homeschooling Christmas dinner.† We had the best time ever!† We had fajitas and beans and rice and tons of sweets.† We also played Trivial Pursuit.† It was a great time with great friends.† Suz, you are the best.

Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit
More Trivia
More Trivia

We spent New Year’s Eve quietly at home.† I had given her an early birthday gift and she played Wii sports for hours!

kei-bday-wii

I played WoW with Carla and a friend from Canada.† We laughed so much and had so much fun.† Here is a screen shot of Carla and I waiting on Paul to figure out how to get me on a zeppelin that I was 7 levels too low to go onto.† It is a hilarious story but you have to play WOW to understand. :)† Yes we did it!

Happy 2010 on WOW!
Happy 2010 on WOW!

The 3rd was my beautiful girl’s 10th birthday and she was SO EXCITED. She is such a blessing in my life and I thank God for her every single day.

Sweet Child of Mine
Sweet Child of Mine

She told me she was going to be the Big ONE OH!

10th Birthday
10th Birthday

We went to church and then we went to IHoP.† This is the 6th year in a row we have gone to eat breakfast on her birthday.† The waitress’s all sing to her and she loves it!

Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!

Then we came home and Daddy and Marlene came over.† Marlene had made Kei a beautiful birthday cake. It was yummy too!

Yum Yum Yum
Yum Yum Yum

Then she opened my gifts.† She loved everything ….

kei-bday-giftsbut nothing as much as the Johnny Depp bag I found for her.† I took 5 pictures and they were all blurry because she kept jumping up and down!

Kei & her future husband
Kei & her future husband

Eddie, Heather and the kids† came over and brought her a Zhu Zhu complete with a house.† She loved it!† Later on that night, she was playing with it and I was on the computer.† Everything got very quiet.† I said “What’s up?” and turned to look at her.† She had her Zhu Zhu dangling from her hair!† She said, “I was laying on the floor and he just backed up and ran over my hair!”.† Only Kei.† I got one wheel out but I could not get the other one.† We called Jerri and went to her house for assistance.† Everytime you touch the dang thing the wheels would turn and it would make crazy noises.† Jerri and I were laughing so hard we were crying.† We finally got out all but about 10 hairs and we just had to cut it out.

Zhu Zhu of Death
Zhu Zhu of Death

Kei said, “Please don’t blog or Facebook this Mom”, but…it was too good to resist.

Now we are in the middle of a huge FREEZE! It is cold, I mean COLD, didimentionCOLD?† My Southern blood isn’t up to this kind of weather.† We are in the house and not going out until the temperature hits at least 40!

So, here we are….2010.† Hang on tight because the best is yet to come.

Jesus, a Mother, a Daughter and a Dog….