Gwen And Girlscouts

 

We let Gwen sign up and try out Girlscouts last year.  If we didn't have to move again this year (from Texas to who knows where), and if my kids (since Gracie is old enough this year too) weren't so afraid to go door to door and sell cookies, I would have let them do Girlscouts this year too.  Gwen gained so much confidence in herself and made so many good friends through the program that we might try it again when we get to stay in a place for longer than a year and a half.

 

All the girls participating in the Girlscout initiation ceremony.

 

Jaycee, Gwen and McKenzie.  Jaycee became one of Gwens closest friends.

 



Gwens troop at cookie night after making their own clipboards (Gwen drew a picture of Perry the Platypus from the tv show Phineas and Ferb on hers).

 





Practicing knocking on doors and what to say when selling cookies.  They also practiced basic and stranger safety.

 



Every year they pick a country and each troop in the Eastern Oklahoma area did a table featuring something about that country, and something fun to do.  That year they picked Jamaica, and because our troop were brand new daisy scouts, we didn't have to do a table that year.  We just got to participate in all the fun games, activities, and food tasting.  One thing that a troop did was focus on some festivals they have there.  They made masks and headdresses and the visiting troops could put them on and not only take a group photo to take home, but individual ones as well.  This is her troop minus one. 

 





Gwen was the only one in her troop that forgot her vest that day, but she still had a lot of fun.  They sang some traditional Jamaican songs, played some traditional games, watched a puppet show, tried some fruit that's typically grown in Jamaica, and made lots of cool things like mini light houses and masks.

 



Their lessons and activities last year centered around plants and animals...learning about different ones, how to recognize them and take care of them.  One thing the girls had to do to earn a patch was to take care of an animal.  Since none of the parents really wanted to buy a pet that all the girls would have to share and take care of, Gwens leader decided we would use a stuffed animal instead.  Each girl took turns bringing Mr. Ribbert home for a week at a time and taking care of him as if he were real.  One of the challenges her leader gave the parents was to place Mr. Ribbert in different places to surprise the girls when they got home from school each day and saw what Mr. Ribbert had been doing.  These are just a couple of places I put him.

 

In our Elmo reading chair, reading some books.

 



Gwen made him this bed, that he slept in every night, from her baby dolls quilt and an empty cookie box.

 



Gwen loved Girlscouts, and right before we moved to Texas, they did a special patch ceremony so Gwen could receive all the patches she had earned up to that point.  It wasn't as many as some other girls, but Gwen was proud of her hard work and what she had earned, and I was proud of her too.  It was a really tough night for her, because she had to say goodbye to all her friends, and she and I weren't the only ones shedding a few tears.  It was a wonderful experience while it lasted, and one that I hope we might be able to do again in the future.

 



2011-2012 End Of School Year

 

The girls were so excited when the end of the school year came around and they got to have summer vacation, but they were also a bit sad.  They were leaving great teachers, and wonderful friends behind.

 

I have heard that some kindergartens have a special graduation ceremony at the end of the year, but the kindergarten classes in Gwen's school in Oklahoma did not.  They did have an award ceremony though, and while Gwen was disappointed that she didn't have perfect attendance, she did get an award for reading.

 

The kindergarten teachers started a program in January of 2012 to help the kids learn how to read, then progress into higher reading levels and harder books.  They started sending home practice readers which the kids had to practice reading to the parents until they had it right, and then returned it to school and took a little test on it.  The goal was to have each child read 20 books by the end of the school year.

 

Gwen accomplished the goal by Easter.  She had already been reading the practice books, so she started bringing home level 1 reading books, and quickly progressed to level 2 (she started reading chapter books like the magic tree house series and captain underpants series and charlottes web and stuart little a couple months ago...they tested her and she's reading at a 3rd grade level).  So we went to watch Gwen receive her award at school.  She was so excited she was getting up on her knees and waving at us from where she was sitting.

 

Here's Gwen receiving her reading award from her teacher Mrs. Tooley (what a wonderful woman she was!!  I just loved her!!).  We were oh so proud of Gwen!!
 

 

  So the following three videos after Gwen's awards ceremony are from Grace's preschool graduation.  I was so excited to find out when we moved to Oklahoma that the school district there had a huge preschool program that they ran out of one of the elementary schools for all the 4 year old children living in the district, and I was so glad that right before we moved there they opened up more classrooms and hired more teachers because that allowed Grace to enter into the program (we missed the normal enrollment and registration that happened early on in the year).  Mrs. Elliott and her assistant teacher Mrs. Olmstead were fabulous, caring teachers, and they put together a wonderful graduation.

 

This is part of the Dinosaur March song.

 





This is part of the Chewy Chewy Bubblegum song.

 



 

 They did so many more cute songs like the dinosaur march and bubble gum, but I loved that they sang the Oklahoma song from the musical, and was surprised to see that Gracie remembered most of the words.  It was very cute.
 

 

I was so proud when the program was over and they handed out little diplomas to the kids.  They put them inside big binders that also held a bunch of artwork they did during the school year, a hand print from the beginning of the year and a handprint from the end of the year, a see how I've grown sheet showing weight and height from the beginning of the year and the end of the year, and so many other things.  It's something I will treasure forever.

 





This is Grace and her friend Xoe, who also happened to be in her primary class at church.  They were best friends, had play dates once or twice a week, and were so excited to share that moment together before both of our families moved to different states. 

I love my girls and couldn't be a prouder momma!!

Easter 2012

 

We spent Easter by ourselves again this past year, and we had a blast.  We made a bunch of yummy food, spent some time snuggling and watching movies, talked a lot about Easter being a time to remember and celebrate our Savior's resurrection, and just enjoyed our time together as a family.

 

We decorated eggs the night before...it is one of the girls favorite family Easter traditions.

 

 

After the girls had baths and the eggs were dry, we decorated the eggs with crayons and stickers.

 





 

Happy girls on Easter morning, ready to go on the hunt for where the Easter Bunny hid their baskets.

 

After a bit of searching, the girls found their baskets, went on the hunt for the eggs we decorated and the Easter Bunny hid, and then went through their baskets to see all the goodies...candy, chocolate Easter bunny, stickers, a Crayola glow sand ball, bubbles, a jump rope wrapped around the handle, crayons and notebooks.  The girls were thrilled.

 



 

A happy Georgia.

 

 

My sweet Gracie.

 

 

My smart little Gwen.

 

 

Happy Easter!!

 

March 2012-Gracie Cuts Her Own Hair

 

This is what Gracie's beautiful hair looked like before she decided to style her own hair.  We had gotten it trimmed from time to time when it was needed, but she had never had a big hair cut-ever.  We had let her hair grow since birth, and by March 12, 3 days before the first of MANY incidents, this is how long her hair was.

 

Right before St. Patty's Day (which I apparently didn't take pictures of the girls on...first year I have failed to do that...we'll blame it on the all-day morning sickness), Gracie came home from preschool and told me that a little boy in her class had cut her hair.  I took a look and sure enough-a loss of hair!

 



When I looked at how her hair was cut, I should have known then that she was lying about who did it, but I was not happy, so I emailed her teacher about it.  I didn't hear back from her that night or the next morning, so I talked to her the following day after school.  Her teacher hadn't known anything about it, so she and Gracie's assistant teacher investigated.  And what did they find?  My child's beautiful locks sitting in her pencil box.  When confronted with the obvious evidence of inflicting the damage to her hair herself, Gracie confessed.  Her teacher kept an extra close eye on her after that whenever they used scissors in class, and Grace promised us that she would never do it again.  Sigh...if I only knew then that this would be a recurring pattern with her (she's done it at least twice since then).

 



 

Her hair after the hair cut to try to fix things...not too much shorter, but they did take a couple of inches off, and Gracie now had some very long bangs.

 

 

Gwen was jealous that Grace was getting her hair cut, so we agreed that if she really wanted to, she could get her hair cut too.  I don't have a before picture, but her hair was down to her shoulder blades.  I was sad she was cutting her hair too, but Rob and I agreed that if she and Grace were old enough to start picking out what cloths we bought for them, then they were certainly old enough to decide what type of haircut they had, which is why Gracie had a couple inches cut off the back and didn't just get the front fixed.  They turned out really cute though, and there really wasn't a whole lot of hair that was cut off.

 

 

Of course Georgia wanted her picture taken too, even though she didn't get her hair cut, having had a recent trim herself.  This girl sure loves to dress up and pose.

 

 

Gracie didn't get punished for what she did...although we were a bit upset at first, we really just found it funny and another life story to write down in a journal and save for her to read when she gets older.  I really cherish things like this, and I can't wait to laugh over it with her.

Valentine's Day 2012

 

What a happy day of love~I love my cute girlies!!

 

January 2012-Gwen and Georgia's Birthdays

I'm finally updating my blog!! Oh my goodness what a shock!! 

 

I feel really bad that I haven't done it in a year, but this year has been one of the busiest our family has had, and with all the craziness (morning sickness, moving, vacation, baby, start of school, and the holidays) it's taken me forever to organize all the photos from the past year and put together the photos I wanted to blog.  Hopefully I will be able to get the blog completely updated within a week or two.  We'll see.

 

So usually when it's the girls birthdays I take the time to think over the past year and write them a letter about all the ups and downs, milestones, and exciting things that had happened to them since their last birthday.  Since I was super sick with morning sickness (or all day sickness in my case) last year, I didn't write Gwen and Georgia letters (but I will make up for that this year by reflecting on the last two years of their lives instead of one). So, this will just be some pictures of the girls from their birthdays.

 

Georgia Turns 3

 

 

My sweet girl on the morning of her birthday.

 

 

Quick story-Rob was out of town for Gwen and Georgia's birthdays (they are one day right after the other), and since he wanted to be there for the cake and presents, I bought Reese's Peanut Butter hearts and we stuck candles in those and sang happy birthday just to keep their day special.

 

Georgia blowing out her candles

 



Georgia was so obsessed with the movie Tangled.  I swear we watched that movie once a day (we still watch it at least once a week).  She really wanted a Tangled cake, and even though I had taken all of Wilton's cake decorating classes, I had zero energy (let alone a strong enough stomach) to sit and decorate a cake.  So I bought a toy set and stuck it on top of her cake.  She loved it, especially when she realized she got to play with the toys on the cake after we cleaned them off.

 



My big 3 year old

 



She had a great birthday!!

 

Gwen Turns 6

 



 

My little peanut on the morning of her birthday.

 

 

Again, the candles in the peanut butter heart.

 

 

Make a wish!!

 

 Gwen wanted a Snow White cake, so I used the little Snow White doll they had already, bought a bunch of little animals, tried to make the cake look like grass, and stuck them all on.  Gwen thought it was cute, thank goodness.

 

 

Can I blow out the candles yet?!?

 

 Gwen was pretty pleased with her birthday too.

 

Gwen's Birthday Party

 

We have always told the girls that they had to be in Sunbeams before they had their own birthday party, so no party yet for Georgia.  Gwen however decided to have a dinosaur birthday party because she loves and is fascinated by dinosaurs.

 

 

We made trees from green poster board for the leaves, and brown packaging paper twisted up for the trunks.

 

 

We hung dinosaur decorations from the ceiling, and put up green and orange streamers around the windows and doors.

 

 

We played a bunch of games that were dinosaur themed, and at the end the kids took turns trying to defeat the awful tyrannosaurus rex.

 

 

Robbie wanted to make the cake this year.  Not sure if he wanted to do it because I was so sick, or because of this vision he had for the cake.  He used rice krispy treats to make the volcano, did all the icing himself, and added little plastic dinosaurs .

 

 

He even tried to make some of them look like they were attacking the others and eating them...hahahaha.

 

 

Gwen loved her cake, and all the kids thought it was pretty cool looking too.

 

 She had a great birthday party, with great friends coming to have fun with her.  It makes my heart soar to see my kids so happy and having so much fun.  Happy birthday to both my girls!!