A study of Minnesota...

We belong to the Heritage Homeschool Co-Op of Owasso and on the last Friday of every month, we have a special day called "Heritage Day". On this day, our Co-Op meets at Freedom Church and we have fun, educational activities planned. In the past we've had Show & Share days, The Roving Reptiles came and did a presentation and this month's activity was a "State's Fair". Each family chose a different state to do a display/presentation on. My girls chose Minnesota - mostly because they are very into Little House on the Prairie right now & Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in Minnesota for part of her life. They enjoyed learning about the state's symbols as well as other interesting facts about the state. They worked very hard on their project - as well as all the other families that participated, too!

It's a party in here, Mom!

BEFORE - Notice how nice & clean the room is?! It even looks big for such a small space!


AFTER - The girls have definately taken over! And, yes, I caved & let them do school there today. Did you know I would?! But come Monday, we're back to the grind in our school room! Oh - what the heck, we only have 2 weeks of school left!

Camo Closet

So what do you do when you've painted every room in your house?! Start painting the closets! Steve came up with the idea of turning our junkiest closet in the house into a hideout closet for the girls. I think he just did this so I would clean it out ;-) It had everything from a huge box of my 80's records & cassette tapes (yes - I said RECORDS & CASSETTES!) to my wedding dress to about 15 pieces of luggage (we're such world travelers, you know!). I think I got rid of everything except our vacuum cleaner & I'll find a new home for my wedding dress (as long as the girls don't hide it with their dress-up clothes!)

So then once we got the closet cleaned out, Steve painted it pink. Of course, I couldn't just leave it plain pink - so I decided to paint a pink & green camouflage pattern on it. I threw in a pink rug, some body pillows & a couple of baskets to put their stuff - I mean "valuables" in. We did most of this project this past weekend when the girls were at Steve's parent's house for the weekend. Then we surprised them tonight when they came home from church. They are already saying they want to sleep in there & make it their new homeschool room. I'm thinkin' it's a little small for that but maybe it would be a good incentive to get their work done so they can play in their new hideout!!!

My playlist has been updated ;-)

So I finally updated my playlist! I put a few of my new favorites on it (along with a few favorite oldies) & added some old hymns that have been "modernized" by groups such as Jars of Clay & The David Crowder Band. There are also a few songs we've been singing in church lately. One of my favorite songs right now is "Love is Here" by Tenth Avenue North but Playlist doesn't have it right now. Hopefully they'll add it soon!

You can't fool the Tooth Fairy

The other night when we went to check on the girl's sleeping before we went to bed, we found a note & a little "surprise" they had left us.

The note said, "Dear Tooth Fairy, (which is funny because they don't believe in the tooth fairy anymore - see this blog) Please take our teeth."

This was also quite humorous because they hadn't actually lost any teeth that night. Mackenzie had 2 small bits from a piece of candy that looked like teeth. Apparently, they thought they could pull one over on the Tooth Fairy. So - the Tooth Fair wrote back & said, "Nice try girls. I look forward to seeing real teeth real soon! Love, The Tooth Fairy"

Prince Caspian coming soon!

Yesterday, the girls went to the library for a party to celebrate the upcoming release of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. They had a great time making crowns and swords & getting their picture taken with Aslan. They also had fun playing a trivia game & surprisingly knew most of the answers. We look forward to the movie coming out May 16th.

For homeschool mom's who might be interested in lesson plans on Chronicles of Narnia & Prince Caspian, here's a few I found:

http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/2005/11/chronicles-of-narnia-lesson-plan.html

http://litplans.com/titles/Prince_Caspian_C_S_Lewis.html

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/narnia.htm

http://www.geocities.com/kawebb99/PC.html

http://www.easyfunschool.com/Prince-Caspian-Narnia.html

Just me and my friends

Do your kids like to sleep with dolls and animals? My girls love to & I just look at their beds & think, "How do you fit in there with all of those friends?!" I suppose I should just enjoy them being young and innocent & not worry myself so much with the "logical" things in life like fitting into a bed with 50 stuffed animals!

RAFFLE for a chance to win an outfit

Karin Peak is the Children's Pastor's wife at Freedom Church in Owasso. She and her husband, Brent, are in the process of adopting a little girl, named Amy, from China. In order to raise funds for the adoption, Karin makes adorable boutique-style clothes and sells them on her on-line store, Mamma's Darlins. The adoption is only a few weeks away and they are still short on funds. So, she's decided to have a raffle and the winner wins any item on her website. Be sure to check it out and feel free to pass the word on to your friends and family!

Happy Birthday to Emily and Poppy!

Happy 2nd birthday to my niece, Emily, and Happy 20 something to Steve's dad, Charlie!

Our kitchen "re-do"

Wow! I just noticed this is my 50th post! I can't believe I've actually kept this blog up for a few months now!

Anyway, we just had our kitchen countertops and backsplash replaced this week! Gone is the green fermica and white country ivy tile! We went with a black granite countertop that has splotches of brown in it - it's called Indian Copper Brown. And our backsplash looks like faux ceiling tiles - we went with a color called Bermuda Bronze. The manufacturer makes it sound like anyone could put it in, but it took the tile guys about 5 hours and they made it look MUCH better than we could have ever done. It looks so great!

If you are looking to replace your kitchen countertops with granite, you have to call the guys we used - Stonemen Granite and Marble. They were great to work with, very professional and got the job done in a matter of days - and with very little mess. They are also way less than someone like Lowe's or Home Depot because you cut out the middle men working with them. They also do special cuts and little "extras" at no extra cost. Tell them Christy sent ya!

Lullabies and Lace

I found a new site today I just had to pass along. It's called Lullabies and Lace and it's owned by a homeschool mom who makes beautiful crocheted designs. I saw this crocheted mug cozy & thought it would make a great Mother's Day gift. Check it out!

Our favorite sites to listen to...

I love to listen to music & just thought I'd pass along a few sites I enjoy listening to...

Radio Grace - Home School Internet Radio Station programmed by homeschool students and their parents. Choose from Rock, Gospel, Contemporary or Praise & Worship.

Air 1 - Contemporary, Rock & Hip-Hop Christian music

Got Radio - many different genres to listen to

Pandora Radio - Thank you, Leslie, for turning me onto this one! It's so cool! You type in the name of a group you like to listen to & they create a station for you of music similar to the one you typed in. Love it!!!

Some of the girls favorite sites (these include music & stories) to listen to are...

HisKids.net

Kiddie Records Weekly

You Need a Story

We Kids

Storyline Online

Adventures in Odyssey

Ice Skating in April

So today we went ice skating at the Oilers Ice Center in Tulsa! The first Friday of every month they have a special session for homeschoolers. It's from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and it's only $3 - including the skate rental. I was a little hesitant to take the girls because it was their first time to skate & I haven't skated in many, many years - I was going to be doing good just keeping myself up on the skates! Well, the girls did great! After going around just a couple of times with me hanging onto the wall, they were soon skating past me & I was trying to keep up with them! Don't act so shocked - yes, I skated, too! "M" even made a friend & I enjoyed talking with her mother. We will definately have to plan on doing this again next month!

The Belvidere Mansion

Before our adventure in Claremore began yesterday, the girls and I decided to eat dessert at The Belvidere Mansion. We usually like to eat at The Pink House but the girls were dying to show me The Belvidere. They usually get to go on their birthdays because Nanny takes them. They have very fond memories of those days & I'm so glad they get to spend special time with their Nanny ;-)

Anyway, we had their To-Die-For Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter and Banana dessert! Good thing I worked out that morning! We then went exploring around the mansion and had a great time!

Do NOT let your driver's license expire - especially if you were born outside the U.S.!!!

Sorry - but I just had to vent...

Have you heard the warning that you shouldn't let your driver's license expire - even one day - because of the passage of HB 1804? Well, I heard the warning but didn't pay much attention to it until February 1st when I wrote a check and noticed my license had expired the day before! So, on February 2nd, I thought I could just pop down to the tag agency & get a new license with no headaches. Boy, was I wrong! Fortunately, I called the tag agency ahead of time & asked what I needed to bring with me to renew my driver's license. They told me I would have to take my original birth certificate to the Dept. of Transportation in Claremore, Tulsa or Broken Arrow - Owasso was not one of the choices, mind you. After searching our house up and down for my birth certificate and not being able to find it, I called back and asked what I needed to do if I couldn't find my certificate. The tag agency asked me which state I was born in. When I told her I was born in Germany, she said, "Uh - you better just pray you can find your birth certificate!"

Needless to say, I couldn't find it & had to send documented evidence of who I was, where I was born, who my parents are, etc. to Washington D.C. - along with a $30 check. After about 8 weeks of waiting impatiently and driving illegally, I finally received my birth certificate in the mail a few days ago!

Last night, I heard on the news how the police were stopping drivers a few miles up the road from where we live to make sure they had updated driver's licenses and insurance. So...today I drove to Claremore to get my new driver's license. Apparently, the address they listed on the internet is the wrong address because I drove around for about 45 minutes looking for it! I later learned they moved to the other side of town! If you've ever been to Claremore, you know that there is a stop light practically every block & LOTS of trains go through town so you have to sit and wait in traffic quite a bit. By the time I finally found the Dept. of Transportation, I was fuming and should have been praying for patience. All they did was sign a paper and I then had to take that to the tag agency! Why could't I just get my license there?! I don't understand!!!

So, I wanted out of Claremore asap so we (yes, I drug the girls along with me & they were having a blast - kidding, of course, about having a blast) drove to the Owasso Tag Agency and got my driver's license. Of course, this took up our entire afternoon today. So I beg you now - get up out of your seat and go check your driver's license expiration date. Right now - GO!!! Let this be a lesson to you and don't let yours expire!!!

I'm not ready for this yet...

Conversation I had today with "A"...

A:Mom, how do you spell "Carter"?
Me: C-A-R-T-E-R
A: How do you spell, "I love you, my special friend?"
Me: What are you doing, "A"?
A: Writing Carter a note.
Me: How come?
A: Mom, Carter asked me to marry him today.
Me: He did? What did you say?
A: I told him I'm too young & he's too young. Plus, I told him I'd have to think about it.
Me: How long are you going to think about it?
A: I'm going to think about it until I'm older.