Betsy Ross

Two weeks ago Ella came home with her first real book report. We were really excited to see how Ella would do :)

Her character was Betsy Ross..yes, someone crafty, right? A book was sent home and although it was a bit tough for Ella to read, we did it. She did some research online and filled out the book report information. She was to fill out an initial sheet on Betsy Ross (when was she born, write 3 interesting facts about her childhood, what made her famous, etc) and then in school, they would write that report.

But the most exciting part was that she got to make a model of anything representing this character. In my mind, I figured a paper plate as a face and then a flag. Well, you know Jason wasn't having that!

On Saturday morning, Ella and Jason worked for over 2 hours on the lifesize Betsy Ross. As her teacher said, who knew Betsy Ross was a WNBA player?

Jason fitted Betsy's clothes but ella painted a color and cuffs while spray painting the boots. We draped an American Flag over her legs and her hair was complete with my wig from the Halloween I went as the Octomom.

Her project was due Tuesday but thinking we couldn't fit Betsy in the car in the morning with the other kids. Jason and Ella took Betsy in Monday after school and propped her in the corner. Pretty sure the custodian probably jumped seeing her in the corner :)

The first step of Betsy

Ode to Betsy :)

After Betsy came home, then what do we do with her?

Well, let's beat her up...why not?

Betsy stood strong but eventually lost. Such a fun project for all!

Packing Meals

Today, Jason, the girls and I signed up to pack meals for the hungry through a program called Feed My Starving Children. Our church organized this event and we were excited to do a serving project the girls could fully participate in.

After watching a video on the procedure and where the meals actually went, we were excited to get started. 

Our station was a great mix of dads and daughters (I was the only mom).

It was a lot of fun to see the girls work together and switch stations when they got bored.

Here is Ella putting in the chicken, next step was the veggies, then the soy, then rice.

After put in the baggies they had to be sealed.

Laney rocked the sealing station.

Filling up a bag

Laney scooping in the chicken

Yeah, I rocked that

Laney did a great job of helping clean up the mess we had made

What a wonderful activity for our girls and in our 80 minutes of packing, all of our teams packed meals that would feel 64 children a meal for an entire year.

One of Ella's questions: Don't they get bored of this meal?

This 2 hours of serving brought about a lot of great questions and hopefully helped to broaden their scope of life :)

Fishing with Grandpa

While Jason, the girls and I were packing meals for the hungry, my parents watched Matthew. My dad picked Matthew up (even early! thank you dad!!) and they went to the store to get worms. My first question is, "where does one buy worms" but I guess that is a guy thing.

Then the proceeded to spend the rest of the day (about 2 hours) fishing. Apparently Matthew even caught a fish!

You will notice in these pictures he has his fishing hat on in. Before he left, my dad asked him if he had a hat he wanted to wear and Matthew said, "yes, my fishing hat." I didn't know this hat was his fishing hat but now I know :)

Thank you for having Matthew be your fishing partner, Dad.

I can tell he had a great time!!

Presents from a friend

Laney has been good friends with Liam, a boy she met in preschool, for quite a while and they enjoying playing together at school. Laney came home with this beautiful set of earring handcrafted by Liam :)

Joyful Noise

On Sunday, Matthew and the preschool (aka Joyful Noise) sang during the St. Thomas Episcopal church service. Ella and Laney, who are in the older choir were invited to sing as well but only Ella decided to sing. Laney wanted to watch :)

Matthew and his friend, Cassia Kelley.

Cassia sat with us during the service and as Susie said, she did not need to worry about Cassia as Ella was there. Ella loves being in charge of the young ones :)

Ella making sure the little ones got to their seats. She also made sure they were front and center....way to go, Ella!!

Laney's first soccer game

Laney decided she wanted to spring soccer and we were excited for her! Although the rest of the team is Mariemont girls, she couldn't care less. She gets out on the field and practices hard (of course there is a random cartwheel when things get boring) but really enjoys the sport.

Laney ready to play forward

Pep talk from the coach

Playing forward

Look at her go..smile and all!

After the first few minutes of just running around, game was on for Laney.

She ran, she dribbled, she played defense, she played offense...all at the same time :)

We were so impressed with how much she understood the game.

The past 2 seasons she has played instructional soccer but there are no positions and in all honesty, we were just trying to keep the kids going the correct direction. This game she played forward and defender although often as defender, she was found dribbling down the field. We need to work on that passing thing but that will come :)

Look at those moves!

The coach asked Laney to throw it in and the first thing I said to J was, "Does she even know what that menas?" But in true Laney form she proved us wrong and knew exactly what to do.

The grandparents were split this day with the Willetts with us and the Popes at Ella's game. Ella scored at that game...yay Ella..but boy were we bummed to miss that!

Gabby was the hit of the game. Everybody was coming up and petting her :) Such a sweet dog!

Interview with Ella on her 8th birthday

Favorite color?  Light blue

Favorite subject? Art

Favorite teacher? Mrs. Gulbin

Favorite activity? Math

Favorite singer? The Dynamite Person (aka, Taio Cruz)

Favorite song? Dynamite

Favorite movie? Annie

Favorite tv show? Sophia the First

Favorite book? Berenstein Bears

Favorite sport? Soccer

Best friend? Emma and Marin

Friends? Hannah, Jill, Ellie

Favorite school memory? Learning about the Clouded Leopard in 1st grade

Least favorite school memory? Timed Math Tests

Why do you like being a kid? You get to do a lot of things grownups can't do. Apparently grown ups can't go rock climbing :)

One word to describe you would be _______. Fun

What advice would you give your parents? To go to bed early

What do you like to do for fun? Play kickball

What do you love most about your sibling? Can we skip this one--lovely, right? :)

What was the nicest thing you did for someone? I picked up pencils when Emma dropped them

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now? I will be a grown up and I will be an art teacher.

What is your favorite thing to do in the summer? Go to the pool

What is the grossest thing you can think of? Matthew pooping.

Cinderella

My mom, the girls and I attended our last performance of the season for the Children's theater. We were all so excited it was Cinderella. Laney got her fanciest dress on (after trying about 5 on), had her wand in hand and we were ready to go. On the other hand, Ella wanted to regular her clothes which was perfect for us :)

It was a wonderful show!! It was also really cool that one of Laney's friends, Melissa's, older sister, Ashley was in the ensemble. She did a great job!

Our last musical of the children's theater this year was Cinderella. Anyone could dress in their favorite princess attire but Laney was the only one of the 4 of us (Laney, Ella, my mom and I) that decided to.

Love those ruby red slippers!

Since we had season tickets, we were able to get autographs.

Cinderella and my little princesses.

Wish this wasn't blurry...grrr...

The girls, my mom, the stepsisters and step mother. They were a hoot!

Their signed posters went right on their wall :)

Between this and Cathy Rigby they have quite a collection!

Lemonade Stand

Emma came over on Saturday and after a few hours of playing, the girls wanted to do a lemonade stand. We love doing stands but usually it is too much work for me so I try and get out of it.

This time it was just the older girls (Laney was at a birthday party and Matthew was taking a nap) so I was game. Plus, the girls said they were going to raise money for Children's Hospital. How can you turn that down?

The girls made signs and really worked those signs. They raised over $17 and it will be sent directly to the hospital from the TP lemonade stand ladies :)

Pics of Matthew

Random pics from my phone

Matthew loves magnatiles.....so many creations!

We don't know what to do? So we go bouncing...

Ahoy Matee....Pirate Day 2013 at St. Thomas :)

Wacky Wednesday

I love Wacky Wednesday at St. Thomas.

Although we had a tough time deciding what to do, shorts over the pants, shirt on backwards and a hat and it was wacky enough for us.

Look how cute my little man looks :)

April Fool's Day

My mom called Laney before school on April Fool's Day. She said, "Laney, go outside. I heard there was an elephant coming down the street." Pretty believable since we live on Circus Place though :)

So Laney went outside and looked high and low but no elephant. Nana then told Laney April Fool's Day.

When Matthew got up, Laney pulled this stunt on him. Matthew went outside and together they looked.

But unlike Laney, Matthew was MAD there was no elephant :)

My parents took Laney out to lunch and at lunch Laney said, "Nana, you got me good."