Ready for Christmas??

The week before school break was in a word....HECTIC. So much going on in J's class, prep for the party, helping her teacher with hats, costumes, and then the actual party. Some of that is stuff that honestly, I never thought I would be the mom doing. But it's all good. We had a blast. She is fortunate to have an awesome teacher and class this year.

And then my folks got here on Monday so it's been busy here too. Finishing shopping with them, Zoo lights one evening (sorry, forgot my camera that night, but Ray had his so I'll get those pics up soon too). Today was a gingerbread kind of day. We had the pre-made houses to decorate, a tree kit (some really fat trees if you ask me! LOL) and my mom made a gingerbread man for us to decorate. Full day.

So here are some random pics from the last two weeks. Hope you enjoy. Oh and the outfits, are from Aunt Tiny who must really know these girls better than she thinks she does. They fit and the girls LOVE them. :)

Santa

Guess who we saw at the mall last weekend? D was a bit nervous as she had a video from Santa telling her she really needed to work on that temper, but I whispered in her ear, "Do you think he MIGHT tell you that he knows you have been working extra hard, so you're real close to getting that Rapunzel dress?" her eyes got big and the nerves were gone. And truly she has been working very hard, some days she's even got it. LOL. Little by little, step by step. The temper is really the last hurtle we need to get over. Other than that, she really is doing great:)

J is less than one point away from her next Rising Reader level already. She has two books to take in tomorrow if she tests well on those then she will be working toward her next goal of Rising Reader 4. She continues to amaze. Her teacher loves her, she loves her teacher and she is absolutely thriving this year. She can't seem to learn fast enough for her own satisfaction. The book she read to me tonight was well into a 3rd grade level, I'm nervous about her testing on it actually but it was about her current favorite animal, the Panda, so she may very well surprise me again.

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Just a few quick blips to share with you. It's been a rough month or so. Julia is on her second round of antibiotics for Strep, she had it first around Halloween and again now. In the between time she had a possible UTI, tests came back negative but symptoms were all there and went away after treatment so...??, and last week was a random rash. Oh and before all that an outbreak of lice at school that she naturally got! I am getting to know her drs far too well. We are so ready for Christmas break!!! One more busy week to get through and then Grammie and Grampa will be here from Maine:) We are excited about them joining us for Christmas!

Devyn has been healthy and seems to be settling into the school thing. It's funny, I took her to J's school one morning to drop off something and it was quicker to sign in and take it directly to J so that's what we did. It was D's first time seeing the classroom while class was going on. After we left and were on our way to her school, she says "I didn't think it would be so quiet" I was like "what?" She said "Julia's class, I didn't know they had to be so quiet" (they were doing packet tests) so I said "well yeah honey they were doing their work so it was quiet time". pause "I don't think I like first grade" OOOPS! I did tell her they have lots of fun too but that yes when it's quiet time, they are expected to actually BE quiet. This is something that D already understands is super hard for her, so she'd rather not do it. I think I'm in trouble. LOL That said her preK teacher has said she has made really big strides this year and feels she is going to be just fine in K. Whew! :)

The pics are from our annual card photo shoot this week. Hope you enjoy, the girls and I had fun, getting the dog in there was a ton of work! Hyper little thing that she is! LOL

Lastly I'm going to start sharing some of my Facebook status's with you. I just don't always have the time to blog anymore, but I will make an effort to do at least a post a month, to update. In the between times I will do my best to remember to copy and paste some of status updates that concern the girls and the funny little every day things that come out of their mouths. So if you see just random little posts, that's what they are, and my way of keeping you a bit more up to date, and having a place where I know I can always look back and find those funny little things. :) I'll start with last nights:

the hubby tells me that he was talking to the girls about a package for them today, D throws herself on the floor and very dramatically says "Oh my God!", he says "quit trying to get attention and get back in the playroom", J rolls her eyes and says "at school we just say OMG" I still can't stop laughing.

Pumpkin Patch

Okay, that last post took more time than I intended, but it was such a full weekend and so much happened, I thought you deserved to hear about it. We took a quick trip this afternoon to our favorite area Pumpkin Patch. The girls love going here each year and picking out the perfect pumpkins for both carving and their favorite part, the little pumpkins they get to keep. It was a beautiful day for pumpkins:)

And now you are at least somewhat caught up. Can you see why I never get time to blog anymore?? Next week, Halloween party, my friend and I are putting one on together for the Scouts and a few friends. We went from 12 confirmed kids to nearly 25 in the space of an hour. YIKES!! Wish us luck!! Fortunately we rented a place to hold it. So until next week.... Happy Fall Y'all!!

Camp out, Girl Scout Style

Yes, we all slept on those THIN little cots.

Making their own First Aid kits, so cute:)
A Fall Craft.
Learning Chinese Jump Rope, this was hysterical!:)
Knots!
Julia and her BFF taking part in the Flag Retreat Ceremony with the older girls. Love it!:)
"Fairy Glen" the girls spent most of their free time in here by themselves, making up their own games and stories.

Julia and I went on a Leader/Daughter Camp Out last weekend with a couple other Troops in our area. And though the beds were beyond awful and we nearly froze the first night, the second night we put the beds together;), we would absolutely go and do it again. She had a blast and truthfully so did I. It was an adventure right from the start. There were 9 of us from our Troop, 4 Mom's and 5 girls. The two that have actually been to the camp before, were in one van, my bff and I were in the other. After our stop for dinner, they left us getting back on the highway, and we were sure they were miles ahead of us. Well they were, but they MISSED the EXIT! So we found our way in our own, in the dark to the parking lot and meet the Ranger, and end up WAITING on them. THEN, after they arrived, about 20 minutes after us, we had the Ranger's truck loaded with our stuff, and were supposed to hike in. Mind you it's full dark by now. No problem, we're Girl Scouts, we have flash lights and maps, right? One would think. My co-leader, (who is one of the ones that missed the exit) takes the map, because after all, she's been here before, and we start down the road. Only for her to stop after at least a half a mile and say "wait a minute. this is too far down, what was that last trail? We missed ours somehow" SAY WHAT??? So, I get out my cell phone and make the embarrassing call to our SDA leader that is heading up the camp out and tell her we are lost. So back up the road we go, with sketchy directions from her and a promise to send the older scouts to meet us. Happily it wasn't long before we found the start of the trail. To be fair to my co-leader it really was NOT marked, I think we may be doing something about that soon. LOL

So that was the start to our adventure, then came the cabins, freezing our butts off, getting up at 6 AM after NO SLEEP and slogging our way through the day and I know it was every bit of 10 PM when we called it a night after gathering our things to be ready to head out the next morning, participating in a Flag Retirement Ceremony, (seriously moving stuff that!), and snuggling up for hopefully a bit more warmth. The girls made duct tape flowers, duct tape situpons, the activities that the older Troops put on for them that you saw in the above pictures, hiked in the woods, cooked dinner over the campfire, popped pop corn, and made smores. It was a very packed day. Julia and I got home about 9:30 Sunday morning, took a hot shower and by 11 laid down for a nap and slept til almost 2! Yes we were tired!

And while we were gone roughing it, Daddy and Devyn??? What did they do you ask?? Well they went out for breakfast both mornings, hit the carnival in town, and then Daddy, God love him, fixed the hot water heater and shampooed the carpets! Nice huh??!!:) Devyn is already asking when Julia and I are leaving again!! LOL!

Terrific Kids

Yep, that's a lot of Terrific Kids! Our school has a program that recognizes Terrific Kids every quarter. Each teacher gets to put up 3 kids for the award each quarter. So these are 3 kids from each of our 1st and 2nd grade classes. We are up to 17 1st grade classes, and I forget how many 2nd grade classes. So yeah, A LOT of Terrific Kids. Julia and her BFF (in another class) were both chosen the first quarter this year:) Have I mentioned her teacher is a really good fit this year??? I feel really blessed in so many ways to have her in Julia's life, and she is doing wonders building this kid confidence, maybe a bit too much even. Haha. Anyway, of course we were very proud of our Terrific Kid and she can't wait to use all of her coupons for free kids meals! LOL.

Twist me and turn me...

The Brownie story (from Girl Scouts) has a little rhyme, "Twist me and turn me and show me the elf, I looked in the water and saw ...MYSELF" One of our Daisies was ready to Bridge up to Brownies this year, so we had an Investiture/Rededication/Bridging Ceremony all rolled into one to start off another year of Scouts. And I seriously have not stopped since. This was the end of September, I am going to try to update you very quickly tonight with snippets from the last month. I am not kidding when I say it's been BUSY.