Action Figure Museum, Pauls Valley, OK

We've been talking about visiting the Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, OK for a little while. We had gotten coupons from the kid's summer reading program at the library... but unfortunately, they expired before we made it out there. But we decided to go anyway, on a rainy pre-fall day. Jackson wasn't feeling too hot... he had some sort of cold. I think he would have enjoyed it even more if he'd been in good health. But we all enjoyed in none-the-less. It was a pretty small museum but they had a TON of action figures. And then towards the end, they had a dress up area.

Hot Mama Run & Baby Parade

My sister, Laura, asked me if I'd like to walk with her at a locally put on race/walk. I hadn't been running over the summer (too hot outside!!) so I definitely didn't want to do the run. Laura had a new baby and was going to do the walk/baby parade. So I packed the kids up in their strollers & we walked with Laura, baby Miguel, & a friend of hers & her baby.

Here we all are! (Isabella didn't want to be photographed!)

First Day of School 2012

We started our homeschooling near the end of August, when our schedule calmed down. It's one of the nice things about homeschooling... super flexible. :)

Here are our pictures for the first day of school. It was tough to make the kids get pretty for pictures... another plus of homeschooling is none of us have to get dressed unless we're going somewhere.

Just Between Friends Consignment Sale

Two times a year (spring & fall) our city has a fabulous week long consignment sale at our local fair grounds. The sale is called the Just Between Friends (JBF) sale but it is so much bigger than that name would have you believe.

This year I had so much to sell! I gathered up a lot of the kids out grown toys (I don't usually sell a ton of toys, we haven't really had a bunch that they've totally grown out of) and clothes along with the rocking chair/ottoman I used with both kids as babies and a crib mattress. I had a ton! I started the sale prep early but I had so much stuff, I was doing it for weeks (little bits here & there in between our trip to GWL & other things here & there).

Here is just some of the mess all the stuff I was selling created on my dining room table! (I even pulled out a portable table to help me with the process!)

And here was the stack of price tags that I printed off! The sale recently went to a new way of numbering the consignors & so every tag had to be re-printed off and reattached. So anything that hadn't sold from previous sales, had to be reprinted/retagged. This is 229 tags.

Now the fun part! The shopping!! Since Isabella was a baby, I've gotten about 90% of the kids clothing at the JBF sale. It is a very economical way to get the brands that I like at a fraction of the price (sounds like a commercial, but it's true!). The owner of our JBF sale is super organized & runs a great sale in which much of the stained/worn out clothing is screened out and what is left is some really great clothing! I volunteer 8 hrs working the sale so that I can shop early and I think it is totally worth my time because there are some pretty dedicated moms (dads and grandmas!) who shop this sale & grab up the good stuff quickly! So I do 8 hrs of work to shop a little bit before the masses. :) 

Here are a few things that I got for Isabella.

Here is Jackson wearing a new Spiderman shirt & Spiderman house shoes. He's all boy!! (I'm not crazy about character stuff but we do things like this for around the house play and pajamas. It's a good compromise that has worked out for us so far!)

 And some of the things that I got for Jackson. I actually did some Christmas shopping this year, which I've never done before. But I saw some new & nearly new toys at great prices so I couldn't resist! (BTW, these collages were entered in a contest on FB, in case you were wondering!)

The even better part... I made $619.56!! So if you minus $369.71 (what I spent this season & costs associated w/ the sale such as card stock, tape, etc) it equals $249.85 profit!! That covers the chair we bought for Jackson from IKEA ($80) with $169 to spare!! :) This is the most I've made at the JBF & I think it might be the least I've spent on 2 kids! So all around a great sale. (I sold 161 items including the rocking chair/ottoman & mattress.)

Isabella Hula Hoops!

We went to my nephew, Cameron's birthday party in July and while we were there, we learned that one of his little friends was a really great hula hooper. Isabella has wanted to learn to hula hoop for awhile, and has owned one for some time. She just never has been able to figure it out (nor has she put a whole lot of time into it). So this motivated us to work a little bit more at it... I found her some videos on Youtube to teach her and she diligently watched and practiced. Before too long, she had it down and was doing tricks (like walking, spinning, etc) while hula hooping. She has tried to teach me her skill but I have only had it going a couple of times. :)

Here is a video (be aware... she's quite silly!).

Tie Dye with MOMS Club

The day before we headed to Great Wolf Lodge, we had a tie dye party with our MOMS club friends! It was lots of fun and all the shirts, dresses, and hats turned out really cute!!

And here are some of them when I was rinsing them all out in my kitchen sink before they went in the wash. (Note to self- don't do this on the day before you plan to leave town!)

Isabella's Actual 6th Birthday Day

Since we weren't having a party on her actual birthday, and really we weren't having a traditional party (since we were going to Great Wolf Lodge), I did a couple things for Isabella to make her day special.

She woke up on her birthday to balloons hanging in front of her door. (Nothing fancy... just went with what I had! :)

I devoted my picture wall to her birthday pictures for the past 6 years. (And here is Bella's silly grin she likes to do for pictures!)

And perhaps the biggest surprise... to welcome baby Mimi (what my kids have called the baby since Laura found out it would be a boy) or rather Miguel Angel Valle IV aka Mavy into the world! Isabella was pretty excited to share her birthday with her new baby cousin. :) 

Isabella turns 6!

Isabella sure lucked out on her birthday this year! She got to celebrate her birthday not once, not twice, but three times in one week!!

The first time was a few couple days before her actual birthday at my parent's house. Only my sister Jennifer & her family were going to be coming to Great Wolf Lodge with us for Bella's birthday, so this was our celebration with extended family. My mom made her a really yummy and cute chocolate Brave cake (from the Disney movie Brave) and Isabella opened some really great presents.

Then of course we couldn't let her actual birthday pass without any notice. So We went and got cupcakes to eat together as a family and did her family gifts. (Please ignore the piles of junk in the background... I was very busy getting ready for the JBF consignment sale & I had stuff everywhere!)

Lastly, she got to have happy birthday sang to her one last time when we were down in Texas staying at the Great Wolf Lodge. This was at the Rainforest Cafe, her pick for her dinner in TX. 

We spent 2 nights at the Great Wolf Lodge and the Polliard family joined us for one of those nights. Isabella sure was happy to have her best friend, Cameron, at her favorite place. We had lots of fun sharing the GWL excitement with the whole Polliard family!

Every time we visit Great Wolf Lodge, Isabella sees all the kids playing this game called "Magi Quest" and she always wants to get a wand a play too. We have put her off every time and the last time we came we (last year) we told her that she could do it if we came for her birthday (which was already in the works the last time we visited). So here we were... signing up for Magi Quest & buying a wand. Turns out, it was pretty fun... although a bit challenging at times (even for us adults). Everyone got in on the action of wand shaking and we managed to finish several "quests". 

Oh and the bottom left hand corner is Bella & Cam in the bunk bed watching cartoons in the morning. Isabella was so excited to have her very first sleepover. Cameron and her shared the bunk (she slept top, he slept bottom). Everyone was so tired, they passed out almost immediately upon getting into bed.

We spent more time on day 2 at the water park and even spent quite a bit of that time in the outside portion. Poor little Cait ... she is such a little girl, she was shivering nearly the whole time she was in the indoor portion. She did much better outside and I actually thought it was nice in comparison! Even baby Lilly got in on the outdoor action!

These next 2 collages are what happen when you let the children have fun with your camera. These pictures were taken by Caitlin (2), Cameron (6), Isabella (6), & maybe even some from Jackson (3). I think Caitlin took the most pictures out of all of them though.

Here are the two group pictures we got with the silly kids... at Rainforest Cafe:

And after story time with Violet the wolf:

We all had a fabulous time and we were so happy to have my sister Jennifer, her husband, JC, and their kids, Brendan, Cameron, Caitlin, and Lilly join us for some Great Wolf Lodge fun for Isabella's 6th birthday.

4th of July 2012

Believe it or not, this is the first year we've taken our kids to see fireworks on the 4th of July. I actually think they've only seen fireworks on TV. Pretty sad, I know. I have just always been a stickler for bedtime when they are little (to avoid meltdowns) & we've always had a baby or toddler for the past 6 years... or so. But now Jackson is 3 & we can fudge his bedtime a little for special occasions. So we decided to get the kids out to see the fireworks. We met up with my sister in a nearby town to watch some at a casino that was fairly close to our house. The kids really enjoyed it and the show was pretty good. They also had a good time playing with their cousin, Taelyn. And believe it or not, it was Isabella that melted down, not Jackson. ;o)

Baby Shower!!

In mid June I hosted a baby shower for my older sister, Laura. It was a lot of fun to put together and I think she had a pretty nice time celebrating the upcoming birth with her friends/family.

The main theme was a gender reveal. Laura and I knew the sex but the party goers were to guess and then have the gender revealed at the party. The colors were red and grey, the nursery colors.

Here is my picture wall converted for the shower to a baby wall with ultrasound pictures of the baby and the invitation.

Here are some games we played- Children's Book Title Scramble, Complete Mom's sentences, & Baby Jeopardy. Everyone also filled out well wishes/advice for the mom-to-be and a wishes for baby card. The small ribbon tied packages were left over prices for the jeopardy game... chocolate covered almonds. We played in teams so we needed a lot of prizes!

The picture in the bottom right corner was the table set up with the chalk board to take the votes, ribbon pins to denote your vote (red for girl, grey for boy), & more ultrasound pictures.

Food, yummy food! Everything was vegan (and easy to prepare because I always have too much going on on party day with limited time to devote to food prep!). To make the shower a bit more eco I used these super cute grey/white strip biodegradable straws with mason jars for the drinks. Biodegradable plates were also used as well as sugar cane fiber napkins. :) I used paper lanterns that I had on hand from other parties (and I will continue to use for future parties) so that we could keep from throwing away too many party decorations.

In the picture below there is a closer look at the little succulent plants that were given as favors (loved this so much that I gave them to my moms club friends for an end of year dinner favor!) but also served a dual purpose- decorations!

For the votes, the boy side got the most votes. And according to the wives tales we read off, she was going to have a girl (8 to 6). And you will see in the bottom right corner, the cupcake revealed that Laura is having a boy!

As a side note... the cupcakes were probably my most challenging undertaking. I found a yummy vegan cupcake recipe easy enough. The tricky part was the cream center. First, finding one that would turn out & be the proper consistency. (Took me a couple tries of various recipes before I settled on sweetened coconut milk with vanilla and thickened with agar agar.) Now the blue color was a whole different problem... concerning chemistry, believe it or not. So I didn't want to use any artificial dyes but needed it to be a shade of blue that was obvious enough for the guests to see. I first thought blueberries... right??? Well no. That was purple. Then I read that you could use red cabbage. Followed first set of directions I found online- boiled cabbage & used that "broth" to color the cream mixture. Nope. Still purple. Read more online. Discovered that to get blue from the red cabbage "broth" you needed to add baking soda to change the acidity. Of course not too much. And you can't heat this mixture after it turns blue or else it will turn a shade of grey. Thankfully this is what finally did the trick. It also kind of sounds yuck to have this in a cupcake... but in the end, it only took a little bit so you couldn't taste it at all. Whew. I was relieved to have that figured out, especially since I started the Monday before the shower (couldn't make cupcakes too early!) and had to go through several trials to get it all figured out.

 Lots of fun had by all and what a fun way to celebrate the upcoming arrival!! (I will be posting pics of mom-to-be on my fb page!)

Summer is Underway!

We started June off with Isabella losing another tooth! Exactly one month from the date of her last tooth! Again another front bottom tooth.

We definitely know it is summer when we start Ms. Jennifer's swim school! Jackson was started in level one this year (he was just in the parent/child class last time) & he did really great. He wasn't crazy about the stuff they had to do (like put their faces in the water) but Jennifer has a way with the kids and by the second week he was doing it without any fuss. I only took video of Isabella, so no pictures of her to post... except the one with Jennifer's next door neighbor's Emu. 

We had a MOMS Club bottle rocket activity at the park (bottom picture) & after that we ran a few errands. At one of the stores, the kids had fun trying on all these lovely hats. :) Of course Jackson liked the green one (Incredible Hulk's color). 

A Busy Start to Summer...

This is a bowl full of strawberries from our garden... just in one picking! Our (Mike's) strawberries did really well this spring/early summer.

Isabella lost her first tooth in May 2nd... just 3 months shy of 6 years old. She wasn't scared at all! I had been wiggling it every night when I brushed her teeth and tonight it seemed even more lose. She made the noise for me to stop wiggling so I did and told her I thought it could come out pretty easily if she pulled. So she pulled and out it popped onto the floor! Then it was a scramble/panic on her part to locate it, which we did quickly. She was so excited to have pulled it out and then super excited to share with everyone. She wanted to send out cards to everyone, to announce her lost tooth. :) 

Co-op classes ended and we had to say goodbye to our friends for the summer. Here is a picture of Jackson's class that I taught and assisted in all day... he is a bit grumpy. ;o)

For mother's day, the kids and Mike took me out to a newer restaurant in Norman called Local. They use nearly all local ingredients so of course I had been wanting to try it out! I was super excited to go for brunch. Isabella is into taking silly pictures these days. :)

Another milestone that has occurred this month is related to Jackson's sleeping arrangements. He has gone from this...

To this (as I scramble to put his new bed together with Mike working because we sold his crib faster than expected).

And then to this (a bed he can sleep in). He did end up spending the night with Bella since I didn't get it done in time and we needed a twin mattress (oops). 

And then I made some curtains out of a shower curtain I found at the store. And now he has a little playing area underneath. 

Unfortunately it wasn't all lovely this month... Jackson mysteriously came down with hand foot mouth disease. His throat was super sore, his feet were a bit sore, and we I had to take him into the ER on a Saturday morning (and miss the Ostrich egg breakfast at the zoo) to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately there isn't anything they can really do to treat this but the doctor did give a Rx for a solution of numbing meds for him to gargle to help his throat so he could eat. Not too long after, Mike came down with a minor case. Thankfully Isabella and I were spared. This pic was taken after he was feeling better.. but this is what his feet looked like!!

Aren't these hydrangeas lovely? I've had the bush in my front garden for a couple years now but this is the first year I've brought some inside to enjoy. I'm sure glad I did!! The are so nice to have around to look at. And it actually helps the bush outside look better because it gets so saggy with the heavy flowers. Win win. 

We did the classic volcano experiment in our homeschool activities one day. It erupted fast!

The kids gymnastics year came to an end and they had their end of the year olympics show. Here is Jackson hanging off the bars.

And Isabella turing to look. Gymnastics has been super fun and next year Jackson will be in a class by himself (instead of one with a parent). Isabella is saying that she wants to go back to dance again.