Smiles

At Easter

 

 

The princesses.

 

 

Pants getting ready for the AWANA egg hunt.

 

 

She found lots of eggs.

 

 

Pie Pie found a prize egg and was awarded a giant chocolate bunny!

 

 

We got a chance to color some eggs with our friends.

 

 

Hunting for more eggs!

 

 

Our beautiful Pie Pie.

 

 

Pants swiped a daffodil!

 

 

I couldn't get Pants to look at me!

 

 

Pie Pie in her funky Easter dress with her new wicked shoes!

 

 

Pants know how to pose when she wants to!

 

I love taking pictures and these Smiles posts are a way to share them and remember all that I am grateful for in my life!

 

Smiles,

Nikki!



Smiles

At Ballet Class

 

All of the families had a chance to visit dance class this week. It was fun to see what the girls do and watch them have fun with their friends.

 

 

Here is Pants galloping.

 

 

They showed us what they have learned of their recital dance.

 

 

At the end they played Freeze Dance with scarves.

 

 

All tuckered out and ready to go home!

 

 

Smiles,

Nikki!

 

 

 



Devour a Tween Book!

I decided to do a rewrite on this post. I was a bit too quick with the first one and decided that this angle would be a bit more fun!

For Breakfast might I recommend a good helping of Katie Kazoo by Nancy Krulik. These books are a fabulous way to start your day! Every book gives you a chance to see life through another person's view. In the first book of the series Katie wishes she could be anyone but herself. She gets her wish and, as the series continues with the help of the magic wind she transforms into a colorful mix of other people. 

  Instead of a cup of coffee or tea I suggest you pour yourself a cup of The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. The adventures you find inside will give you a wonderful pick-me-up! Jack and Annie travel to many different places in search of exotic items. You will find yourself rescuing Pandas in China or riding on the back of a Unicorn to name just a few!

 

For Lunch you might want to take a bite out of The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson. These stories are all about Behind-the-Scenes Disney. Five kids along with some other helpers are chosen to guard the Disney Kingdom from the Overtakers. The Overtakers are Disney Villains who basically want to take over the World. The Kingdom Keepers job is to keep the magical balance between good and evil.

For Dinner I offer you a mouth watering Trilogy called The Wednesday Tales by Jon Berkeley. This is a story of a boy named Miles who befriends a Song Angel named Little. In the first book the two friends work together to rescue Little's friend Silverpoint. In the second book they are trying to find a Tiger Egg. In the third book they have to figure out how to use the Tiger Egg to save Miles's Dad. You will definitely want all three helping of this satisfying tale!

 

 If you have a sweet tooth a great Dessert is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. This dessert may look too big, but it is a light and tasty treat! There are 284 illustrations in this book and the pictures are essential to the story. This book is all about a boy who makes a fabulous discovery and finds himself a new family in the unfolding of his adventures. 

Any of these books would also make a great read-a-loud. I love sharing in the fun as my girls discover delicious new books to read!

Please feel free to share any books your tween likes to read!



12/12/12~Pie Pie's Ninth Birthday!

Pie Pie has been nine for over a month now! I just haven't had the time to post all about her special day! She really is growing up, I was just thinking yesterday how nice it is to have conversations with her. She is also reading the first Harry Potter book so that is also fun to talk about.

 

 

 

For her cake she chose her very first animal on Animal Jam. Animal Jam is her very favorite thing to do in the whole wide world! This is a game you can play on the Internet that is all about animals. What's not to love!?

 

 

 

She got many very awesome presents including some Wii games, which she loves almost as much as Animal Jam.

She had a friend sleep-over at the beginning of January, where there was hardly any sleeping, but there was a lot of fun! We had ice cream sundaes and the girls took turns playing Wii.

 

 

My Pie Pie and me on her birthday!

 

She is maturing so fast,

but I am enjoying each and every day of getting to know her even better!

Birthday Pants!

We recently celebrated a very special Birthday! Our very own Pants is now a full hand old!

Here she is with her bestie!

In preparation for her Birthday, we made a countdown chain that she could take a loop off of each day. This solved the problem of her asking me how many days it was until her Birthday. Which she asked a lot, until I put the countdown chain up for her. Once this was up, she could figure it out on her own.

We also read some fun Birthday books we checked out from the library.

 Birthday at the Panda Palace by Stephanie Calmenson 

Cake Soup by Richard Scarry

Otis and Sydney and the Best Birthday Ever by Laura Numeroff

Angelina's Birthday by Katherine Holabird

Little Mouse's Birthday Cake by Thacher Hurd

Ladybug's Birthday by Steve Metzger

Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake by Eileen Christelow

Little Mouse's Birthday by Jeanne Modesitt

The Biggest Birthday Cake in the World by Elizabeth Spurr

You Have to be Nice to Someone on their Birthday by Barbara Bottner

 On her actual day, we had a little party. My Mom made her a fabulous pink bunny cake! It was, of course, chocolate. Pants loves chocolate.

She blew out the candles on her fourth year and got ready to start her fifth!

She's growing up way to fast!

Happy Birthday Pants!



Smiles

A Look Back....

I thought it would be fun to post a few photos from our first Corn Maze Day!

Pants and Pie Pie were so little then.

 

 

 

They have grown up (and are continuing to grow) beautifully!

Smiles,

Nikki!



Pamper Your Pet Party

Webkinz Style!

We had a difficult time deciding what to do for Pie Pie's Birthday Party this year. We knew we wanted to do something with Webkinz, but we weren't sure exactly what.

Ooooooooooo

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

Then I was at a homeschool planning meeting and a friend had a great idea for Pie Pie's Party. She had a Pamper Your Puppy Party for her daughter. I decided to use Webkinz instead of puppies. Perfect!

Pie Pie loved the idea too!

We went to the Dollar Store to get supplies. The day of the party we set up all the stations and Pie Pie and her cousin made signs. 

First you washed your pet. We had a little tub filled with Styrofoam packing peanuts. The packing peanuts were the bubbles. There was also a loofah to scrub your pet.

When your pets were clean you could brush their teeth.

Do their nails.

Don't forget to give them a makeover.

Last we had a massage area. When the pets were all done being pampered you could give them a bow and a new collar.

Here is one of my bestest friends, Dotsy, with a very pampered pet!

 When your pet is happy, you're happy!

We followed up all of the pampering with Pie Pie's Surprise Pudding!

Yummy!



There was also a small issue with our new upstairs neighbor and a big bucket of mulch! You know what they say about Vegas, the same is true here! What happens at our house stays at our house! I could be persuaded to tell you the story for my own spa day! Actually, I'd tell you for less! Some cookies or candy would probably do the trick!

Have you pampered your Webkinz lately?!

P.S. I just wanted to let you know I am aware there is a lot of P's in this post!

Pure Whimsy

Since I posted about Pie Pie's creative writing I had to post about Pants too!

Her drawings and letters are so neat I had to share them!

We are all so proud! Pants wrote her name for the first time on Sunday all by herself!

This is a jellybean guy thinking about picking flowers. Do you see the thought bubbles?!

This is a whole jellybean family.

She wrote Nanners all by herself too!

This one is a thank you note she wrote to Pop Pop. It says Thank You for the hot dogs!

We all hope you are having a great week!

Much Love from us to you!!