What's Been Up

We had a crazy, busy, fun weekend last weekend.  Lots of hangout time with lots of different friends.  We were pooped by Monday, but it was so worth it.  Here are some highlights from our Saturday friend fun!

We headed out of town to celebrate a friend's 35th birthday.  We left early so we'd have enough time to do a little dining and shopping before the party.  The destinations for food...Chik-fil-a and Scratch Cupcakery!  Amazing.  We waiting in a line of 50+ people for the cupcakes.  Worth it.

We tried a Samoa cupcake and a Shirley Temple cupcake.  Unbelievably tasty!

We didn't intend to wind up in a candy story, but Dad spied a wall of sodas and was mysteriously sucked in.  It was a pretty cool store and we enjoyed seeing several vintage candies from our childhood.

Oddly, the candy store also sold giant animal head masks.  Here is Bennett as a freaky mouse.  The onlookers behind her appear to be concerned.

And here we are, post candy store, celebrating with the birthday girl, our friend Heather!  We had such a great time at her Hollywood VIP party!

Here is a shot of the kids' table.  The big kid in the picture was completely in his element with them.  A kid at heart, for sure!

There was some fun dress-up at the party.  The kids loved glamming it up.  The grown ups did as well.

This picture is so ridiculous I had to include it.  You know you are having a good time when there are grown women in luchador masks and odd dresses from the 80's at a party.  Who needs alcohol to have a good time?  Really.  Not us, man.

And you also know you are at a good party when Dad is looking like this.  Oh, the shifty sideways eyes.  He was a good sport to let me take this picture, and he will hopefully be a good sport when he sees it posted to this blog.  Fun, fun Saturday!!!!

Selfless Love - The Nurturing Spirit of Mama Hotdog

Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder...

May your Friday be filled with unexpected little joys!

Passing the Time

February is almost over!  Spring Break is coming!  There is light at the end of the tunnel!

In the meantime, here are a couple of things we've done to pass the time...

Today's snow day means a little indoor beach ball baseball.  It also means I dug out the tub of Cabbage Patch Kids from my childhood for the girls to play with.  Yes, I had several.  Yes, I still love them.

A couple of days ago we made hard tack.  Bennett had learned about it at school and had been begging to make some at home, so we did.  Hard tack, in case you didn't know (I didn't) was a hard cracker/biscuit thing that pioneers and Civil War soldiers ate.  If you make it a certain way and store it properly, it can last for fifty years!  It is made of lots of flour, a little water and salt.  Ainsley is poking holes in her cut dough, above.

Bennett is also poking holes.  Notice all the flour on her face?  She put that on there, you know, for effect.

We baked it FOREVER, and here you have it...hard tack.  Hard tack is H.A.R.D.  The girls think it is delicious.  "Delicious" might be too strong and positive of a word, in my opinion.

The best part of making the hard tack was the kneading of the dough...definitely the highlight.  We might make more to put in a pouch and take outside with us to eat while we play in the snow.  It's always fun to pretend you are crossing the plains in the winter,  eating hard tack, praying you don't fall victim to hypothermia or tuberculosis...toughing it.  Maybe we'll even get a nice fat buck with our bows and arrows.  A little venison to go with our crackers.  Who knows?!  Sometimes one must use a little imagination to embrace what's left of winter.  We can do that...for a few more weeks, anyway.

"All About Me"

Well, she's at it again.  Bennett is writing...and writing...and writing.  This time she had to write an autobiographical "book" for school.  It was called All About Me.  Below are a few excerpts from the book, which ended up being several pages long and full of text, drawings and photos.  I must say, I learned a few things about Bennett myself!

Above is a portion of her opening paragraph.  Bennett aspires to become a Big Foot expert!??!

The above selection is from her chapter on free time activities.  And the part about 50 pillows is no exaggeration.  Chances are pretty good that most people who read this post have been gifted with a handmade pillow from this girl.
 

Bennett included many photos that have now been marked up with arrows galore.  I did not know when I gave her the pictures that she's be arrowing them up.  Oh well.  Take special note of the little woman just to Bennett's left.  That's Grandma E.

Now note the reference to Grandma E. in the above excerpt.  "Peppy" and "spunky" are great words to  describe her.  What a wonderful, fun, sweet, loving lady we are blessed to have in the family!  

Finally, a snippet of her closing remarks.  I sure hope that everyone who reads her book has good intentions.  I also hope that Bennett is at peace.  One of the final lines she wrote after this that is not pictured was "If you didn't like this book, you have wasted precious time.  I apologize."  I assure you, Bennett...all who read will enjoy!  Time well spent!

Slow Saturday

Ainsley is on day 6 of the stomach bug.  She is showing slow signs of improvement, but she's still under the weather enough to keep us all home today.  It's a slow Saturday.  There are, however, big things happening with the "friends" at our house.

The sock dolls are on a pilgrimage.

And their friend, Mousey, is the guide.  Here he is, studying some maps in his bedroom before the dolls set off.  I'm told that Mousey is an old friend of the sock dolls' father, but they had a falling out of sorts and are no longer associating with each other.  I'm glad to see that Mousey hasn't let the squabble create a divide between himself and the sock dolls though.  Very mature of him.  

Clearly, we are desperate for entertainment over here today.

Rollin'....Rollin'

Let these moves carry you into the weekend!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIc1kKt2x_E

Essay Tests

Essay tests have become quite a common form of assessment in elementary school.  What is up with that?  I am glad I am not in school anymore, as I would not enjoy essay tests.  Bennett, however, seems to embrace them.  

She just brought home this test comparing and contrasting the Southwest Region and the New England Region of the United States.  Her assignment was to complete the bubble map above and write an essay using the information.  What follows are a couple of snippets from her FOUR PAGE essay.  Before you read (click on photo to enlarge,) let me share her opening lines from the essay..."Well, good day to you!  I never, never dreamed I'd see you here!  I feel I have the time to do a bit of comparing and contrasting for you.  So, let me begin!  The first thing I simply MUST compare for you are the New England Region and the Southwest Region's products."  Oh my.

Goodness.

Where does she come up with this stuff?  I wonder what her teacher thinks when she's reading Bennett's material.  Her brain is quite something else!  By the time she gets to college, paper writing will be a walk in the park...oh wait, judging by the length of her essays, she's already writing papers.  Blows my mind!

Down and Out

We knew our turn had to be coming...the "puking sickness" has hit.  Ainsley is the innocent victim, and it is kicking her butt!  She woke up not feeling great on Monday morning, which is nothing new for her.  Who does feel great on Monday morning!?  She complains on a regular basis on Monday mornings, so I sent her to school.  Oopsy.  She puked on her friend Lydia's desk.  She came home and started sleeping.  A lot.

Here she is at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday...

10:30 a.m.

11:30 a.m.

1:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

You know it's bad when your big sister is showing compassion and caring toward you in your illness.  Bennett left this gift...two ice cream cones dressed as Mary and Joseph...and a note for Ainsley on her bed.

And this brings us to current time...8:30 a.m. Wednesday and guess what Ainsley is doing?  Dry heaving and sleeping.  Dreadful!

Catching Up with Candle-Kazaam 2012

I realized I never finished posting Candle-Kazaam highlights from December.  Here are a couple challenges that I failed to mention on the blog until now.  Merry Christmas in February!

Dad did some Christmas "picking" like Frank and Mike on "American Pickers."  He picked some gifts for the girls at our friend Clark's house.  Video footage... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV_4Ln4F6uA

And his grand finale challenge of sorts was to dance in the front yard to some Mannheim Steamroller while wearing a red spandex body suit and twirling a dance ribbon.  The suit was tight, and by "tight" I don't mean cool and stylish.  The above photo was taken immediately after the performance.  The dance really did him in, as he is collapsed and panting in the chair.  Here is the video... www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmSV-xUSGZ0    Enjoy!

Bow Hunting

Back in December, some friends recommended a local handicraft toy to us.  It was a PVC pipe bow with wooden dowel and swimming pool noodle arrows.  These bow and arrow sets were available for purchase at an area mall for a whopping $5.00 a set.  Extra arrows...only 75 cents!  Bennett and Ainsley had a little money in their pockets so they each bought a bow and three arrows.  Some intense hunting followed.  Below is a link to a video recounting of an epic hunting trip back in December.  I am happy to report that the popularity of the bows and arrows is still going quite strong in mid-February.  The girls did quite a bit of hunting yesterday, but due to the cold and wind they only came away with one turkey.  The Fox of Fire is still out there, too.  They will set their sights on him next time!  Enjoy the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8LGIiCfAYY