Moon and Stars

We had the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful moon!  This night was fun as you could only see the moon and one really bright star in the sky.  What a gorgeous night!

This was a picture taken with different camera settings and nothing else in the picture.  It looks so different but was taken moments apart.  The Lord truly blesses us with beauty in nature.

Keeping Busy in a Short Month

Poor Mojo constantly has someone hanging on her, kissing and hugging her or laying beside her on the floor.  She must breath a sigh of relief when everyone leaves during the school day!  She's not short on love and attention that's for sure!

Mom was so excited to find this game at the dollarstore!  She used to play it for hours with her sister when they were visiting their grandparents (in between playing maids, runaways and library).  The girls love the game now too!

Mom can't seem to get a picture of just the girls anymore!  Mojo doesn't look too interested in gettting in this picture though!

The girls had a pink shirt anti-bullying day at school.  We decided to have the girls hand out bubble gum to their classes and other random people at school.  We attached notes that said, "Chews to be a friend, not a bully".  The girls loved making people smile by giving them a treat.

Elizabeth has been learning about how things are different now versus 100 years ago.  They made a picture of themselves as grandma's and grandpa's.  Elizabeth is right in the centre - Grandma Elizabeth.

Then she decided to dress up as a grandma for school one day!  She's looking pretty old and happy!

The girls had a week off school this month so we decided to build the roller coaster they got for Christmas.  It turned out pretty good and is fun to watch the car zoom around and around.

Dad was planning to the take the girls into the city for a fun night out - movie, treats, etc - but then a nice storm blew in making travel on the highways less than ideal.  So being the great Dad he is, he took them swimming in town and then out to ice cream!  What a great night full of fun memories!

Piano Recital

The girls had a talent show coming up at their school but only one "act" could be selected for each class.  With many kids trying out Mom knew the odds were against them so we planned to go visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Richards and give them a little "talent show".  The girls were excited and planned out the songs they would perform.  Even Elizabeth learned a song on the piano.

We enjoyed some treats, games and visiting in their room before heading down to play on the piano.

All of the girls played beautifully and handled any nerves they had well.  We even had a few others join the performance.

Emilee and Cera had each picked about four songs to play and Elizabeth only had one so we got to hear it over and over again!  We'll have to prepare a few more for next time.

This lady was so sweet!  She kept asking if the girls were actually reading the music.  She was shocked that they could read music and at such a young age.  Great Grandma ask her if she just played all of her songs from ear and the lady said yes.  She then treated the girls to a wonderful song played completely by ear.  Not sure who was more impressed - this lady with the girls reading music or the girls with how amazing this little old lady played without any music.

It was a fun day and the girls are already talking about their next recital!

Happy 9th Birthday!

"Just stop growing!" is often heard by the girls from Mom!  The girls are growing way too fast!  Emilee was excited to celebrate her 9th birthday!  Her morning started with a dancing ninja cat card and a couple gifts.  Her birthday always seems to fall on the week off school which made for a relaxing day.

Who doesn't want a candle in their smashed eggs?

It wasn't the exact set of bunchems she wanted but she was still pretty excited and got right to work building new creations.

We didn't have much planned for the day and had to stay at the house so Mom planned a surprise playdate with one of Emilee's friends.  She was so excited when her friend showed up at the door!  It turned out to be a great day for her.

Emilee is such a sweet girl.  She is very empathetic, loving and kind.  She wants others to be happy and to be friends with everyone.   She is a hard worker at school and is often found helping others once her work is done.  She enjoys reading and writing but her favorite subject is math.  She also excels in music at school and is doing well with her piano lessons.  We look forward to the great things in Emilee's future!

Learning New Skills

Emilee finished her unit on India at school.  At the end of these units they have a "taste of" day.  Emilee discovered a new love for butter chicken.  Mom decided to make it from scratch for Emilee's birthday dinner - and you can't eat butter chicken without naan bread!  We learned how to make naan bread (which honestly might be Emilee's favorite part of butter chicken).  Emilee enjoyed rolling out the naan bread and was pretty proud of the finished product.

Mmmmm - delicious!

Mom's Weekend Away

Mom decided she needed a "mom break" so she grabbed Grandma and invited herself to stay at Aunt Tori's house for the weekend.  It was a great weekend filled with visiting, food, sleep, treats and a fun hour trying to escape from the "museum".  Mom is grateful for everyone that made this weekend retreat possible for her!  Thanks to Tori and Tyler for letting her come hang out, to Grandma for keeping her company and for Dad and the girls for holding down the fort for the weekend.

Dare Graduation

Cera has been doing the DARE program at school.  She has enjoyed the knowledge and power it has given her.  She finished her final project and was excited for graduation day.  What made it even better is that Dad was able to be there!

Medal - check, graduation certificate - check, super happy and proud girl (and parents) - check!

Mom wasn't able to attend the graduation so she was grateful that Dad kept sending her these pictures with a smiley girl in them.

DARE Graduation Class of 2017.  (or at least one of the best!)

Happy Valentine's Day

Traditions continue - of course Dad spoiled his girls for valentines day!  They woke up to great surprises and loved feeling the love.

Family Minute to Win It

Mom had found and planned a bunch of minute to win it games for the youth at church.  Of course the girls wanted their turn playing after seeing all the planning.  They all liked the face the cookie game - it took a few turns but they were able to wiggle their faces to get that cookie in their mouth!

Nose dive - the girls had to put some vaseline on their nose and then move 5 cotton balls from one bowl to the other using only their nose.  It was rather entertaining to watch!

Bite me tried the flexibility in our family!  You had 5 paper bags cut to different sizes.  You had to lean over and bite them to pick them up and place them on the table.  Only your mouth could touch the bag and your feet could touch the floor.  We enjoyed a lot of good laughs together as a family!

To wrap up our fun night we played pink elephant.  With a slinky attached to our heads with a headband, we had to flip the slinky up to sit on our forehead.  It sounds easy but takes some practice and a few tries before you can get it!

We also played sticky situation but in the craziness didn't get a picture.  This seemed to be the girls favorite.  You tried to bounce ping pong balls so they would stick to a piece of peanut butter bread.  The girls worked together - taking turns bouncing and then passing the balls back.  It was a great night spent together as a family!