My Little Loves

Earth Day...

Last Friday our local Anthropologie was hosting a terrarium making class for kids to celebrate Earth Day.  Of course I had to sign right up for that when I heard about it.  Anthro, plants, crafts - some of my top favorite things!

My favorite sales gal, Brooke, was leading the class.  They had it decorated so nicely too but that is to be expected at Anthro!  There were all green snacks such as snap peas, celery, and zucchini as well as popcorn, sparkling perrier, and lime sherbet punch.

What a great item to take home.  The kids had a great time and I got to peek around at the new spring offerings there.  Win win for everyone!!!

Science kids...

In homeschool, we have been studying rocks - specificially memorizing the three basic types of rocks:  igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.  I purchased a rock kit from Scholastic so that we could actually see and handle the rocks that we were learning about and do so in a fun way.   The kit contained 9 rocks, three of which were in a block that the kids had to 'unearth' with a wooden stick and brush.  There was also a book enclosed so that we could identify the various types.

We have also been learning about volcanos.  Ryan picked up a Kitchen Science kit from Hobby Lobby and Boden has been quite eagerly attempting the volcano experiment...

Necklaces...

Nissa bought Boden a friendship necklace this past week.  She has gotten, given, or lost a few of these over the past year and I know Boden has been feeling left out.  We were at Justice the other day and Nissa let him pick out the one he liked the best for them to wear.  He took the black guitar and Nissa took the pink one.  It's been interesting to see how these two have really started to play well together and show love to each otherover the past several weeks.  Somedays I've felt like I was going to pull my hair out from all the arguing and fighting but for some reason things have finally turned a corner.  Boden has been obeying us and becoming a helper and doer.  I'm really proud of him.  He's getting to be such a big boy now.

Best Buddies...

Love my family!

Murder Mystery Party....80's style...

We hosted an 80's Reunion murder mystery party a few weeks back.  It was so much fun!  Everyone really got into their characters by what they wore and how they intermingled.  Look at all my amazing friends:

The Valedictorian and Band Guy...

The Newspaper Reporter and School Gossiper...

The Punk and Drama Queen...

The Stud (who shaves his head normally but was that night sporting a real woman's wig!!) and Pom Pom Captain...  

The Class President and Hall Pass Monitor...

AV Geek turned Movie Director and the Class Flirt...

The hostess in my 80's rocker outfit.  Total outfit from Charlotte Russe - $20 bucks!..

The Football Captain and Head Cheerleader...

This just speaks for itself...

The kit we purchased for the party came from A Night of Mystery.  I'd highly recommend that company.  It was really well laid out for a novice like me.  The party rolled fairly smoothly except for when it was time to have all the lights go out.  I had a couple lamps on so I had to casually turn those off which ended up not looking to casual before turning off the ceiling lights.  Ha!  

Scenes from December...

The kids were eager to play outside on our first big snowy day so I snapped a couple pictures before returning to watch from the warmth of the garage.  Yes, I am that kind of mom who cannot handle cold weather!

Trying to figure out how to make a snowball with this contraption.  Unfortunately the snow was too fluffy and wouldn't conform to Boden's wishes to build a stockpile of snowballs.  He kept going at it though...

My cute boy who will brave the elements with the kiddos...

Just adored this picture of Boden attempting to replicate at home the owl pellet dissection from our homeschool class science portion.  He was brave touching this reguritated stuff.  Actually, Nissa was quite brave too!

Mommy/daughter day 2012...

This years annual mommy/daughter day location was downtown Indianapolis.  Yep....Disney last year and right in our backyard this year!....seems like a step backwards in the excitement department but I realized I don't have to outdo myself.  It's all about us being together.

The morning started off with going out for breakfast so Nissa could get her favorite food...bacon!  Yes...we were off to a great start indeed.  After that we went to a local nail salon to both get pedicures.  Initially I picked out a nice bland color but the nail guy told me to "Get color like daughter!....need bright color to match daughter!"  He was right....

With neon pink toes we were on our way downtown to do some shopping!  This girl likes to shop (wonder where she learned that from?) so we spent some time trying on lots of clothes then had a bite to eat at Panera's before heading off to play some duckpin bowling....

Then on our way to check out our room at the new JW Marriott hotel....definitely recommend if you ever come to Indy.  A really neat modern hotel...

Here is our view from the 32nd out of 33 floors...

Then danced, sang and listened to some music by Eden's Edge in our room.  Had such a good time letting loose and getting crazy with her!  After that we decided to walk back to the mall and eat dinner at Champps.  She told me that it was such a fancy restaurant....ha!  It's just a sports bar restaurant....as you can tell Panera's is about as fancy as we really ever get.  Here we are together again....she won't let anyone else take our picture so pretty much all the pictures of us are like this...

After dinner we were going to go for a horse and carriage ride but it was 103 degrees that day and the horses weren't out so we decided to go back to the hotel and hit the hot tub and pool and hot tub and pool and hot tub and pool....you get the drift.   Around nine we went back to the room, showered and attempted to watch The Lorax but pretty much fell asleep after a short bit.  When we woke up we went to eat at the buffet downstairs (yes bacon was involved) and then walked over by the canal....

and rented a rent a bike...

After a nice half hour ride along the beautiful canal we called it a day.  She told me that Saturday was "the best day of her life!"  Not sure if that's really the case but I sure will have great memories of our special time together!

June...

Shelling peas from our CSA bounty...

Annual bake sale for Riley Hospital...

The girls raised $112 dollars!....so proud of them...

Don't take my picture!...

Ok.....cheeeeeeeese!...

cheeeeeeese....again.....

Going for a ride in our friends dune buggy!...

Ran a 62 mile relay in 95 degree weather....hardest thing I've ever done but I still managed to crank out a smile at the end...

Cincinnati Zoo....looking at bugs.  This kid loves bugs...

Face painting at VBS...

We have a four year old...

Back to back birthdays for these guys!  Boden had his party yesterday and we all had a fun time outside with a pin-ah-ta (Boden's pronounciation), face-painting, water guns and water balloons.

I can't believe this little man is four already....

His party started off with the pinata.  He picked out a cute present shaped one...

All the little kids went first....then Nissa took a turn...

An older girl from our homeschool group came over to do some face-painting.  What did Boden want for his face?  Here he is getting ready for the application...eyes closed...

During...

and after....a purple flower....how funny!!  This kid does like flowers!

Nissa...

Cake time...

Next he opened his gifts and played with some water toys.  He was a little timid with all the people everywhere but really enjoyed the party!!  I love this little man!!   He has such a sweet heart and loves to make you laugh.  I couldn't ask for a better son!

Eight years old....

We now have a beautiful eight year old girl on our hands!...

Nissa decided she wanted to have her birthday party at a local kids salon where she could invite a handful of girls to all receive up-do's, pedicures with foot massage and manicures.  Nissa and her friends had a blast getting curly do's and sparkly fingers and toes...

And no hairdo would be complete without sparkly glitter spray...

Next stop....the nail stations.....oh so many choices...

She loved the foot massage....who doesn't?...

The cake...

Boden and Ryan dropped by the party too...

Nissa and her best friend Emily...

She was really excited that her name was on the door of the salon.   When it was all over we had to make sure to get a picture of it....she felt like a celebrity!...

The whole gang of girls...

I'm so blessed to have a beautiful, smart, kind, and loving daughter.  I'm also proud of her for picking great friends to surround herself with.  I love my little girl so much!!