I Said Goodbye

I said "Goodbye" to my childhood home this past week. At the farm memories flood me with every step I take. This was my home, my refuge, my playground, and my practice field for life. I loved this place. Oh I'm sure you won't be impressed by what you see here. It was not impressive with square footage or the amount of acres it sat on. It needed plenty of updates. But that's what is great about being a kid. A kid doesn't care about those things. A kid simply cares that she feels safe at home, feels loved at home, and has lots of fun with the people she calls her family. This is the lesson I take today: care less about the appearance of my home. Quit apologizing for the mess. Invest in my children and love them well. Make sure that they feel safer at home than anywhere else. Let them have FUN and make a mess! THEN someday when they say goodbye to their childhood home (or return to it) the memories that flood them will be irreplaceable. They will smile and long to go back...

Coming back home. Such a good feeling.

My kids entering my childhood home for the first time.

The favorite place for us girls to stand was always the furnace.
The carpet is worn here. 

My bedroom walls that were always covered in pictures.
I spent  hours staring at those walls. Away from the world. My own place.

Now I have a daughter. Will she lay in bed and journal and dream and pray like I did?

Cameron checks out the view from my bedroom. The acres of grass that I played on; we mowed.
The driveway that we  walked down to the bus. The field where I walked beans.

The bathroom. A place of late night discussions among the best of friends:
Mother and daughter. Sisters. 

I planted flowers here. Watched them grow. Rode bike around and around.
Sang and swung. Played catch. Waited for mom to call us in for Popsicles.

My Dad in the barn. I avoided this place. It didn't smell very nice.
I was not your typical farm girl. 

Longing to go back. To be a little girl again watching my Daddy do his chores.
Seeing my Grandpa eat his lunch. I love you Dad!!!!

"Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” 

― L.M. Montgomery

Chloe's Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party

Great Grandma made Chloe a special Strawberry Shortcake outfit. She wore the skirt but saved the  shirt for later. Thanks Grandma! She looked adorable!

The Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Old fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Eating with friends

These party favors were a hit with the boys!

Musical carpet squares. I LOVE Brent's face as he tries to prevent Cameron from getting trampled!

More LEGOs. Did I mention that she loves LEGOs?!?

Her new friend

Showing off the new doll clothes that Great Grandma made.
Chloe and I are so thankful for Grandma's new sewing machine!!!

A fun headband from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Rog!

A personalized beach towel-perfect for our little fish!

Blowing out her candles. I can't believe there were 6 of them!!

Chloe Turns 6!

I can't believe my little girl turned 6 last week! I took a lot of pictures so there will be 2 blog posts! We had a really fun time celebrating Chloe!!!

She chose cinnamon rolls for breakfast. What a good choice!

We had a Birthday Tea with Corrina, Jordyn and Caleb. Caleb did not wear a hat but he really enjoyed the little sandwiches and cookies!

Drinking tea like a refined little lady!

I served them actual tea. They asked for water shortly after their first taste!!!

Pizza for supper!

She was very excited about her new dress.

She wanted to put these LEGOs together upon opening them. She LOVES LEGOs right now!

Here is the usual favorites list...

Favorite School Subject: Math

Favorite TV show: Richard Scarry's Busytown Mysteries

Favorite new toy: "Dolly" and "Dolly's" clothes. She even took Dolly to dance with her today! She is very excited to dress her in her swimsuit and bring her to swim lessons as well!

Favorite Foods: Mac and Cheese, spaghetti, hamballs

Favorite Books: Berenstain Bears Books

Favorite sport: Soccer

Favorite Thing to do during quiet time: Read books, sing

Favorite Games: Chinese Checkers, UNO

Favorite Indoor activity: LEGO Friends. She can have these put together in no time. It somewhat amazes me!!

Favorite Outdoor activity: Riding bike, SLEDDING (we have had plenty of that this winter!)

Favorite Clothes: Her pink vest and polka dot pants.

Favorite Days of the Week: Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday (no school days!)

Favorite Body Part: Her missing tooth (and new tooth growing in). She is pretty proud!!

100 Days of Homeschool

The first thing we did was make necklaces with 100 fruit loops.

Chloe celebrated her 100th day of school this week! We had been counting the days of school since school started in August. It has been a great activity to learn counting and PATIENCE!!! She has been very excited to get to this day so I knew that it needed to be extra special. Here are some pictures from our day!

We also made 100 day glasses. Here is Caleb sporting his 100 day glasses.

Chloe's glasses.

Chloe was pretty proud to mark off the 100th day of school!

100 pieces of monkey bread for breakfast!

We had lots of sugar. This is a picture of Chloe making her very own "100 Snack" from 10 different snack foods.

THANK YOU to everyone who gave Chloe 100 of something. That was her favorite part of the day!!!

Counting pom poms and making sure Grandma Judy sent exactly 100. She did!!

Counting 100 Animals. The kids got 45 animals without any help from me!
Thanks for all the great ideas Angie VP!!! 

Chloe showing off her "100 Snack"

Daddy gave Chloe 100 Lego pieces (his old ones) and she had to make something with exactly 100 pieces.

Chloe made a house.

One of Chloe's assignments. She didn't finish  the $100 part.

Another assignment for the day.

We had a really fun day and even had time to read some 100th day of school books from the library. I would highly recommend "100th Day Worries" by Margery Cuyler and "Emily's First 100 Days of School" by Rosemary Wells. Thanks to all of you who helped make Chloe's 100th day of kindergarten special. Now I guess I just need to start preparing for the LAST day of kindergarten!!! Crazy!

At nap time yesterday Caleb picked out a princess story (a Princess Gigi book) for his story of choice. It is a VERY girly book. Chloe scoffed at his choice. Making fun of him she said, "Boys DO NOT read books about princesses." Caleb calmly replied, "Well, boys marry Princesses someday so I might as well know something about them." Well said Caleb.

A 60th Wedding Anniversary Party!

These pictures were so FUN to look at!

Kyle wore my dad's leisure suit from 1975 to host the Not So Newleywed Game. He did awesome! Grandma and Grandpa didn't win but I think they had fun?!?

I tried to capture a picture of them cutting their cake like their wedding picture.

The cake and the mints.

A red themed candy bar was SO APPROPRIATE for my Grandpa!

The original wedding cake topper!

Their gang.

Happy Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa! We love you!!!