Tea Parties and Spring Concerts

Kate had her annual Girl Scout Tea Party. She and her fellow girl scouts made a lovely spread of PBJ and quesadillas with fruit and veggies on the side. They were able to invite two guests; mom and teddy bear. It was lots of fun and we even ate the food that had been touched by lots of little hands and survived.

They learned about different types of painting over this last month. So during the party we could meander around and view their art. Kate received 2ND place for her water color.

Last night was the Spring Concert. Kate's class sang "It's a Small World After All". Daphne sang "I've Got No Strings". Daphne also performed 3 song with the 4Th grade band. Here is Kate and Lauren after they finished . We loved their expressions so much us moms tried to imitate it.

I don't think it turned out as cute.

Since we don't get dolled up too much I need a picture of my cute little performers.

There is a time and season...

When in our lives do we finally realize that what we really want is going to take time and effort then just getting it now and paying way more than we should. I bought Ben this beautiful Canon Rebel 12 mega pixel camera for his birthday. We have no debt except for our house and a student loan which will be paid off in August. We have a little savings but I felt that he deserved this camera because he works hard and has been talking about it for years. SO I did it. I actually totally surprised him and he loved it.
Now I am not sure who is the money obsessor in your family, but it's me in ours. I must have rubbed off on him because he suggested we wait a little while longer for this wonderful camera and he returned it and for half the price got a nice Canon point and shoot and a GPS unit for Geo Caching with the girls. We feel so good about it. We are actually really glad that we did this.
Our next dilemma was a car. We drive a 2001 Chevy Lumina and if you have lived by us in the last 5 years then you have seen this car. It seats six and we have been squeezing into it since last July since our 2 month old van was demolished. We went to buy another car and after a day of sitting in a dealership while some guy tried to convince me that he was doing his best to give me a "deal" even though his interest rate was higher than my preapproved one and he wanted me to pay 60 bucks more a month than I wanted. We walked away and do not want to do that again for a long time. My dilemma is do we continually sit on the edge where we have no debt, but a few things go wrong and I am right back into it. I want to get as far away from that line as I can. So we decided( well Ben is almost there) that if we put away that car payment for another year (sigh) and wait til next year we will have a lot to put down and have more pull at that dealership.
I just wrote a mouth full but I just want to remember this time where my view has shifted. I am learning what needs and wants are. I have gone almost a year with one car and have survived. I have received a lot of help and we have just had to suck it up and not travel a lot. It is a little easier here because it is a small town and there is nothing to do. I am grateful that I have a wonderful family and our focus is to do more things together. Which brings me to our pictures. We have joined the local community garden and I took some pics with our 2nd new camera. I thought they turned out pretty well and they girls love going and "helping". Our GPS as also been a hit except that Kate thinks dad bought it to find rattlesnakes ( not a good experience, lots of crying).

This is our plot

I had to throw in a cute picture of this girl. She just learned to clap!

Hillbilly Kateroo!

I'm sure glad I stopped making them brush. Those teeth are gonna fall out anyway.

Isn't she adorable!

Roxaboxen

One of my favorite childhood memories was helping to build a city out of mud in the backyard. My oldest brother started it and we came along and tried to help. We probably messed more up by helping but I thought it was the best thing ever created.
We have this lovely Palo Verde tree in the back corner of our house(Palo Verde are those green trees with lots of thorns and they blossom beautiful yellow flowers that make me sneeze) and since I have been in the back raking and cleaning to make a compost pile, my girls are out more and have taken over this back corner where the Palo Verde branches make a nice little secluded spot. They have cleaned up all the weeds and dead branches and created a playhouse. When I asked them what they were doing they told me they were making roxaboxen. If you aren't familiar with that book then go check it out at the library. For the past few days they walk in from school and walk straight out the back and I call them in to dinner. Isn't that how it is supposed to be?
Best thing I ever did was get rid of TV and get the girls bikes and gardening tools. I guess moving some where warm year around helps. I will have to post pictures but I needed to write it down so I would remember. Daphne and her friend are the original creators of this place but they did try to charge Kate money to come in. I found out because Kate was walking outside with two dollars and I asked what was going on. Daphne was told if she started charging an entrance fee then her dad was going to charge her rent. My poor Penny watches all this through the screen. It is so cute.
Today they had the annual Ajo Shindig at the park and they do a coyote call contest. I took Lily over to watch and asked if she wanted to do it and she actually said yes went up and did her best impression of a coyote into the microphone. It was adorable. She didn't win but received a little purple ceramic coyote that she will never put down again.

3 Months

This is my goal dress. Cute, simple, and very nice for summer.( Well any time here cause it's always warm). I have til May 31st which is Penelope's 1st birthday. I am half way there from my post prego weight and making it public will hopefully give me that extra push to get there. Of course I am going to need new shoes, jewelry, hair cut, and to be taken out on a date by my husband to complete the outfit.

Spa Days

Daphne is always finding wonderful new ways of playing with her sisters. Friday Daphne came home from school with a fever and we all know the second the Tylenol kicks in they feel better and need something to do. So Daphne and Kate decided to play spa. They set the whole room up including "background music" They also had a waiting room. I had my toenails done later. It is so much fun when they play and not make a big mess. They also ate their eye wear.

Biker Kate

We have been working on this bike thing with Kate for a while. Ben took her out about a month ago and she was getting it but was too scared for him to let go. I tried once but it was hard for me to run next to her on the sidewalk so I gave up for a while. She was becoming frustrated because Daphne took over her bike the second we took off the training wheels since her other bike was stolen. So the other day I took her out in the street and started running behind her. It took me about 3 strides and she was off on her own and mission complete. She has told Daphne repeatedly that she is not to touch her bike anymore cause it's hers! Now Kate lives outside and always tries to sneak out without her helmet.