A Happy 7th Birthday to our Girl!

Our girl is going to be 7 tomorrow!

We're going to be on the road, heading out to speak in Washington and Grandy, NC on Sunday, so we've been celebrating the past two days. First, we spent some time over at a good friends' house on Thursday.

Sissi, decorating her cake.

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday with our friends.

So excited, and ready to blow out the candle.

Mommy, cutting the cake.

Then, today, we had a few other friends over and we did cupcakes...with Frozen plates and napkins!

Sissi and her friend from dance class, Riya.

Getting ready to sing the Happy Birthday song again.

Blowing out the candle on the cupcakes.

The boys.

The girls, and their silly faces.

We got to have a fun pool party with Sissi's friends.

The kids put on an aquatics show with a bunch of twists and jumps and tumbles in the water.

Her birthday balloon from the Redfields.

Sissi's gift from her friend, Riya. She can't wait to make this craft.

Her gift from the Redfields. Another fun craft idea. I think these friends really know our girl!

Her big gift, from the family! She already has Caroline, a gift from a couple of years ago from a group in Tennessee. Her new doll is Kirsten, the American Girl Doll from the 1850's. 

I am on a homeshool Yahoo! group and back in December, one of the moms listed that her teenage daughter had an original Kirsten, that is now retired, and wanted to sell it to make a little money. I did a quick search online and realized it was a really good deal. We wrote, we met, we ran it past Sissi to make sure she really wanted it, and we made the jump and purchased it. Then, we told Sissi that she would have to wait for it, for NINE whole months!

It just recently hit me, 9 months is how long I waited for HER! I found out in December of 2006 that we were expecting her, and had her in August of 2007. Sissi had to wait that long. WOW! How impatient are we moms after 9 months...and she is only 6...now 7. She did great waiting!

I did joke with her that I was going to come in at 4:30 in the morning (about her birth time) and wake her up with the doll...but she said that would be too hard and she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so we opted for her receiving it tonight, at dinner with the family.

Her acting all surprised when she opened the box!

Hugging the box in her absolute joy!

Sissi with both of her girls...Kirsten and Caroline.

Giving kisses to her new baby.

She was so super excited and talking to her. It was the sweetest thing.

Big hugs!

With her new girl.

Pulling out all the outfits that came with her doll. I guess the girl that had her also had a few clothes to go with Kirsten. Sissi is so thrilled.

What a memorable birthday!

Making a "new" dress from an "old" dress

My daughter loves pink and she loves dresses. So, the dress below with pink and orange, butterflies and flowers, that I got on the clearance rack last fall at JCPenney, has been quite a favorite this summer. It pretty much got worn every 3rd or 4th day.

As the summer is winding down, and I know we're heading into fall, then winter and spring, when a tank top dress just isn't a reasonable clothing choice, I figured I needed to do something to update this cute little outfit.

I was at Walmart and saw their long sleeve t-shirts on sale for $4 and that they had a shade of pink that was pretty close to the dress at home. I purchased it and brought it home to see if it would match. It's a bit darker than the original top, but there are so many shades of pink in the dress, it works.

I took pictures of our project along the way. So that if you have a similar dress that still has life in it, it just needs to be lengthened, or given a new look, you can copy these steps and make it work for your daughter as well.

The t-shirt, in a size 7/8, and the summer dress on my ironing board.

First, I pinned the tank top to the t-shirt so I could see where I would need to cut the t-shirt. Then, I figured, why not add about 4 inches or so to the length, so it will last all the way until next summer...maybe into the next fall?!?!

Then, I pinned where I would need to cut it (I added about another .5 inch to the 4 inches so I would have a good seam allowance) and ran a tape measure across the dress, so I would cut a straight line.

Here is the t-shirt, cut at the length I needed.

Then, the hardest part was taking out the old tshirt. I used my stitch ripper and carefully tugged and pulled. There is a "lace" waistband on the dress, one of Sissi's favorite parts of it, so I needed to keep that part in tack. The tank top had been sewn to the dress and then the lace waist band sewn over it. You can see how I tried to at first just cut out the tshirt, but then realized that the lace would be backed by the old tank top, which is a different color pink, so then I started pulling the stitches.

Great! A fully removed tank top and the lace is all still attached and in one piece.

Then, I pinned the tshirt into the dress. I first lined up the 2 side seams, then the center of the front and the back, and then the center of those sections, so I had 8 pins connecting the t-shirt to the dress. Then I went back and put "pin tucks" in the spaces in between each pin because the t-shirt had more material than the skirt's width. This way, the material was evenly spaced and didn't get all bulky at the end.

I put in 2 seams, one along the elastic and then attached the top of the lace to the t-shirt as well.

Here is my girl, so excited and jumping in her new dress.

She was so happy that she can keep wearing it through the winter! Glad I got to keep the dress and have a happy girl!

Let me know if you have any questions about how I did the update.

Our First Week of School 2014

Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with weekly school posts this year. 

You know, you're so excited at the beginning of the year and do all these fun crafts and things and then a couple of months in, there just isn't the same level of enthusiasm. 

My problem is, I get busy, I let life get in the way and the first thing to go is the "fun crafts" in our homeschool. I know this year is going to be busy...life and new culture and language are GOING to happen and you know what, that is also "school," that is also learning and living, butI am also going to TRY this year to keep the craft aspect alive as well. The kids sure love it, and when I asked them today what was their favorite part of this week, it was the Senet game they made, the paddle dolls they did, and the cookie dough maps they all created. SO, pray for me, to keep the fun alive?!

Working on their sugar cookie dough maps of Ancient Egypt. You can see Gwangi has cut out the Red Sea and drawn in the Nile and the delta area with his knife.

Krypto, just starting to carve his out.

The boys made their own Senet game based on their readings this week. All they needed were a piece of paper, Legos, and some craft sticks that were colored on one side with a marker.

Cookie dough maps all cooked (and expanded) and some frosting put on them...yum! I think a piece had already been broken off and eaten from this one :).

Yummy cookies.

Krypto took some time to frost/paint on his Nile River and the green areas on the sides due to the yearly flooding.

Paddle dolls. We used cardboard box tops and then colored them.

We used a hole punch to put holes in the head of the doll and put pieces of string in the holes. We tied some of Sissi's beads on the strings so that when you swing the dolls, the beads hit the cardboard and make a sound.

Krypto working on his paddle doll's hair.

Krypto's finished product. Notice side facing features, a pony tail as opposed to a head of hair, and the decorations on the dolls clothes are Ra and Set in a battle.

Sissi's paddle doll. Her girl has pink hair, lots of makeup on the side facing features, and a cat on her clothes.

Gwangi's doll with a battle scene from "Peeps from other lands: Egypt - the Kofu story."

Just a peek at some of our History and Literature selections. There were also a few books that they read on the Kindle for this week.

Sissi started Sequential Spelling for the first time. I usually wait until 2nd grade to begin spelling, as I have found that later is better in this department. Mine tend to get frustrated with spelling if they aren't a strong reader yet. You can see how she went from spelling "in" to spelling "beginning" by Friday/Day 5. I really like how it keeps words in "families" and teaches spelling patterns.

This is a view of what level 3 looks like. This is Gwangi's spelling list that I worked with him on this week (Day 5 was on the next page.) There are 180 days in each book, so enough for a school year. You call off the word, give it in a sentence for context, and they spell it back and write it down on a piece of paper.
Krypto is using the program as well, but his is online this year, making one less subject that I have to do with him.

List of Meals for the 30 Day Pantry Challenge

I was a bit busy last night setting up for the first day of school and reviewing my Teacher's Notes, so didn't get a chance to do my "inventory" and menu for this 30 Day Clean out the Pantry Challenge that I've given myself.

After a great first day of school, and a trip to Chick Fil A to get some free ice cream by turning in some unopened Kids' Meal toys/books, I was ready to begin!

Here is what I think I've got supplies in the pantry, fridge, and freezer, to make... (again, short of the perishables like fruits/veggies, milk, eggs, and cheese)

4x Italian meals - spaghetti, lasagna, baked ziti etc.
Chicken, Potato, and cheese soup (tonight's dinner)
Corn and Potato Chowder
White Chicken Chili
Beef Enchiladas
Corn Bread Taco Bake
Chicken Pot Pie
Roast Chicken with Okra
2x Venison Sausage breakfast wraps
Leftover Frozen Rot. Chicken thawed and put on a salad
Asparagus, Artichoke, Spinach dip
Tilapia with Alfredo sauce
Tortellini with ground venison and spaghetti sauce
Bavarian pretzels topped with chili
Pork Chops with Gnocchi
Mandarin Orange Chicken with brown rice
Kung Pao Chicken with brown rice
Pizza and taquitos
2x Venison Steak with poutine
1x Venison Steak with blue cheese and potatoes

I also have the makings for ...
pecan pie
pumpkin pie
tang pie
2 cakes (good thing we have 2 birthdays this month :))
quick breads like zucchini and banana (plus several frozen loaves and muffins already made)

Also on hand are several boxes of cereal, oats to make oatmeal, breakfast bars, chips, flour and sugar and baking supplies.

To buy is the following ...
Sandwich meat and cheese for lunches (we have about 6 loaves of frozen bread we need to use up)
Canned corn (I need 1 more can to make the corn chowder)
Beans/chili mix for the corn bread taco bake and white chicken chili, everything else is on hand
Pesto and chicken for a Chicken Pesto Pasta that Sissi has specifically asked for for her birthday dinner meal...I can certainly accomodate that.
Perishables each week, like milk, eggs, cheese, fruits and veggies.

So, what do you think? Any other ideas?

First Day of School 2014-2015

Today was the first day of our new school year!

I printed off some neat signs for them to have at their seats and blew up balloons again (they really, really liked that from last year!)

I got up early to have my quiet time and shower and when I came downstairs, at 7:45 to start breakfast, no one was awake...very strange in my house!

I began making pancakes and soon Krypto arrived. He walked around the table and read everything and said, "Awesome 6th grade, Incredible 4th grade, Super Fun 2nd grade, and Super Nice Mommy!"

Ahhh! What a sweetie!

This is Gwangi's seat.

Sissi sits next to him.

On the other side of the table is Krypto.

For breakfast, I made pancakes. I went ahead and put sprinkles in them. This one...hmmm, well, Sissi was "helping" and so a few too many sprinkles got put in this pancake. Of course, Sissi claimed it as her own.

Outside, first day of school for our 2nd grader, Sissi.

First day of school for our 4th grader, Gwangi.

Our 6th grader, Krypto.

Our two boys together :). So handsome!

30 Day Pantry Challenge

It's that time,we're getting ready to move.

The last time we did this, going to Tanzania, I wasn't very good at dwindling down my food supplies and so ended up tossing, donating, and giving quite a bit away.

This time, well, we just got back from a road trip, and as is usual on those kinds of trips, we spent a bit more than I had expected and so need to do some trimming this month to make up the difference.

Hence, the challenge - Other then perishables like milk, eggs, and fresh fruit/veggies, try to only eat from our pantry, freezer, and fridge for the entire month of August. (Quick caveat *We have 2 birthdays this month...Sissi's and Indy's...so there might be exceptions for those special events.)

Can we do it?

I never have done this before, though I've seen it blogged about and tried by many others.

So, I'll comment and post and let you know how we do.

Any suggestions, any thoughts? Have you done this? Any good recipe ideas? I'm off to do an inventory and make a list of what meals we can eat with what we have. We have a pretty well stocked pantry and freezer, so I know we won't starve, but I may have to pull on some creative juices to put a few things together.

We'll let you know how it goes.