Make school work more fun by changing the medium!

Miniature watercolor paint set ($.50) is perfect for little hands. Plus, since they tend to mix colors, it lasts just the right amount of time. They have done 10 pages each, and there is still paint left!

Morgan's picture above

Jaden's picture of me in the swimming pool (above) & the school work that she did for when we went to pick berries (below)

Study of African homes, Morgan's picture (above) & Jaden's picture (below)

I got these watercolors out when the girls started to get bored with the colored pencils. I am going to change up mediums every few weeks to keep them excited about doing their pages. They really enjoyed the paints!

Morgan's Lickstick

I gave Morgan & Jaden each some flavored lipgloss. Morgan got blue rasberry. She wouldn't stop rubbing it AROUND her lips! I didn't think that kid's lipgloss would turn out to be a color on their lips. That's weird! Anyway, daddy finally took the lipgloss away from her. She has been asking "Where is my lick stick? Daddy took my lick stick!!" for the past few minutes now. She just kills me with some of the words she says wrong. Cute!

Baby brother, before becoming a missionary

Check out the car seat!!!
Proud daddy with baby son Kevin
Baby Kevin playing the piano- who knew he would become a piano star & teach piano lessons
Awwwwww~~~ Isn't he cute!
Baby Kevin's first birthday. He is about to get really excited with the sugar on his plate!
Kevin hanging out on the party barge at a visit to grandma & grandpa's lake house on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas
Check out the glasses!
So this is what Kevin looked like in the 80's. His birthday is coming up in 4 days (July 4th). He will be 21 at that time. He is in Utah right now at the missionary training camp, but he will be leaving there in less than a week to go on his official mission in Washington state. I am sure he will send us lots of great pictures to post, so stay tuned!

It's all me...

I have enjoyed being with my kids more than I was back when I was in the mortgage field. That was long hours, and the girls had to stay with a sitter. Now, I have taken on the hospital on the weekends and audits during the week (only 4 audits per month). As you can imagine, that has given me a lot of quality time with my two favorite people (Jaden & Morgan).
Now, I am back to missing them. I have been working more lately. Then, today, I found out that my last coworker has quit. Which means, it's all me... Sunday through Saturday. I am taking one day off on Wednesday, but that might hurt me more than it helps me (since I will have more work waiting for me when I get back on Thursday).
So, the bright side to this... Maybe I will get a nice check out of it! Is anyone looking for a job? I could use some help :0)

Studying Africa

This is the beginning of "notebooking". I asked Jaden which continent she wanted to study first, and she wanted Africa. We began with the animals found in Africa. This is the first of Morgan and Jaden's unit study on Africa. More Africa notebooking to come!

Beauty Shop

We played beauty shop in the pool yesterday, and this was the result... Wow! You sure can do a lot of things in the pool!! It's a good thing, too, because it is HOT here!! 102 degrees today! Whew!

My Sun-Drenched Mermaids

A Raffle for Microsoft Zune 4GB

Hey, everyone!

Diego and his aunt are going to get the help that they need. Thanks to Kristen and all of the other Aura's House partners, Deigo will get a chance, and hopefully show a real smile from the inside out. The link to his fundraiser is here:
http://aurashouse.com/2009/06/emergency-project-for-diego-of-columbia/

I know Diego needs the nutritional supplements, tuition, uniforms, and textbooks ASAP, so I have started a raffle. He will be delivered the help he needs as the funds are raised little by little.

As soon as the first $150 is raised, he will be delivered the Pediasure immediately, and so on (in order of priority).

To help him get the help he needs quickly, here is my offer:
For every $10 donated, you will receive 1 raffle ticket. At the end of the fundraiser, I will get a spread sheet of the donors. I will use this spread sheet to print off the raffle tickets. My daughter Jaden will draw a number out of the hat to determine the winner. The winner will receive a brand new black 4GB Microsoft Zune Video and Music MP3 player found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WG1QRS/ref=ox_ya_oh_product
Thanks everyone for helping out this family! This is going to change Diego's life forever!
Heather

Money Saving Tip #16

Need a fun day out with the kids? Check your local movie theater. Many of the theaters offer a discounted summer program. Cinemark, for instance, has "Summer Movie Clubhouse". You can see 10 movies this summer for $5 per person! They only do this during the summer and mostly weekday mornings. These movies, of course, are not new releases. However, they are all fun films for kids and all rated G or PG. Here is a list of some of the movies you might find this summer at your local theater:

Horton Hears a Who

Bee Movie

Kung Fu Panda

Shrek the Third

Open Season

Surf's Up

Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie

Madagascar

Madagascar 2

Over the Hedge

Barnyard

Alvin & the Chipmunks

Charlotte's Web

To find the Cinemark nearest you that features the summer clubhouse, click here:

http://www.cinemark.com/showtime_email_register.asp?cinearts=0

This scares me

Funny that I didn't notice this outside our back door before. There were at least 20 of them... And what is that red stuff? YUCK!!!

Juneteenth Celebration

Juneteenth is always eventful (joking). We go every year. Every year, the celebration is in a different city, so I always think that this year it will be more eventful. Unfortunately, not much happens at these celebrations. The pictures above are of the most eventful things that took place (walking to and from the celebration). They had a DJ playing music, they gave church announcements, and there was food. That sums up the event. Maybe next year it will be more exciting...

A Bubble Bath for a Giant

For something new and exciting, I made the pool into a bubble bath. Jaden and Morgan LOVED it!! I used some nice smelling bubble bath soap, and laid back to enjoy the scent. The girls loved spinning around to make more bubbles.

Blueberry Crisp & Blackberry Cobbler

We are enjoying the fresh fruit. I made a blueberry crisp the first day, and blackberry cobbler the next. Because of the time limitations, I used a mix that is very easy to work with. For the crisp, I just had to add the fruit and butter, and for the cobbler, I added fruit, milk and butter. They were both delicious.

The mix I used is by Calhoun Bend Mill, and some grocery store sell it. If you can't find these mixes at a store near you, this online store is reasonably priced: http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/index.cfm

Washington State or Bust!

Uncle Kevin is officially on his mission. We talked to him on the phone for the last time today. Now, we can just write him letters and e-mails, which he can read once a week... We won't see him again for another 2 years.
Since he is headed to Washington State, the girls did some pages about Washington to put in their notebooks. I will share pictures of their notebooks soon. They are turning out really great. In case you want to do the same with your kids, here are the links to the pages I used for my girls:

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/reference/pagegen_wa.pdf
(map)

http://http//www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/washington/ (kids' worksheets)


http://http//www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/washington/ (census info, in case you are interested)

http://http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjgeog/a/suswa.htm (home school unit study)

Farming is hard work!

I took the girls to pick blackberries. We have a place not too far from us that lets you go on their property and pick the berries you want. Then, you just pay for the ones you bring back from the orchard. Jaden wanted to pick blackberries and blueberries, but we had to start with one berry at a time. Since people were already picking away at the blackberries, the owner suggested we hit the blackberries first (before they were all gone). It took an hour and a half, and I still didn't fill up the one gallon bucket! The girls were tired and hot, so we decided to save the blueberries for the next time we go.
I don't think Morgan ever contributed blackberries to the big bucket we were trying to fill. She ate every one of the berries that she found!!!
They did have some blueberries already picked, so we got a bag of those before we left. Now we have delicious berries to make crisps & cobblers!! YUM!!!