Color Dash 1-10-2014

Ella and I finished our 4th 5K on Saturday. She did SOOOOOO much better than the first 3.  She actually ran about 2/3 of the race.  Love doing these with her.  Our next one will be coming up in March I think...a UV night color run.   Sounds interesting
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Day 8-9 Crafting Challenge...and a little bit of fun!

Day 8 involves my little crockpot and some blackboard spray paint.  Love the idea of being able to transform the ugly looking crockpot into something new and cute.  Added bonus...I can write what is in the crockpot with some chalk!

 

Day 9---Solves the dishwasher problem!  Ella being a kid, does not like to look and/or pay attention to whether the dishes in the dishwasher are clean or dirty.  I would say she puts dirty dishes in with the clean stuff at least twice a week.  I was thinking of scrapbooking a little clean and dirty sign, but then I saw this!  I love the Scrabble tiles.  I actually had them in my scrapbooking letters because they were from a game that was missing letters.  A little bit of hot glue and some magnet strips and I now have a way of helping Ella know if the dishes are clean!

Total amount for each of these projects...$0!  Yes, that is correct.  I didn't spend a sent.  I used items that I already had around the house!  Can't beat that!

And while I was crafting, Ella turned the kitchen table into a fort.  Since it is 110+ outside, she has to find ways to entertain herself inside! 

 

Day 5 Crafting Challenge

Last week Ella was complaining that all of her L.O.W. shirts were too small.  So I thought this was a perfect craft for her to help with.  I bought a shirt from the Dollar Tree, grabbed some of my scrapbooking stickers, and put a little bleach in a squirt bottle.  I showed her what to do and then she took over.  WARNING...do this project outside.  The bleach can really be irritating!  Craft project total...dollar and some change. 

In the desert????

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Ella DOES have ICE SKATES on her feet. Yes, she is in Havasu. No hell did not freeze over. Someone actually has brought in a portable ice skating rink!!! It didn't start off to well....minor problem with getting the water to freeze...DUH this is the desert, one of the hottest places on earth (next to Death Valley and 1 spot in the Sahara Desert)! They did finally get it frozen and the kids have been busy skating around. Uncle Nate took Ella the other night and she had a blast. I am not 100% sure it was just because of the skating. She pretty much LOVES her Uncle Natey Pants! Nate said she caught on very fast and this video proves it. Thanks Natey for taking Ella on a date to the ice skating rink.

Happy Halloween!

The last couple of years, Halloween has become my favorite holiday. We have bought lots of decorations and have had Ella's birthday party as a Halloween party too. This year, I was not sure if I was going to be able to pull it off...with Kevin being in Texas, I was going to have to do all the decorating and preparing on my own. A few weeks ago, I go up really early and started decorating right away...of course decorating also meant I needed to trim some trees and do some yard work...but I got it all done, and have to say i did a GOSH DARN GOOD JOB! Then it was time to start thinking about a party. No haunted house this year, but it did not matter. I let everyone I knew know I was planning a good ol' traditional Halloween with trick or treating and bobbing for apples. NO MAIN STREET CHAOS for Ella or me. Lots of our friends were excited about the party and a traditional Halloween. Everyone had a TON of fun and are already excited about next years party!!!

Koala and Gypsy...Oma made Ella's Koala costume, just like she use to make Amy and mine. And just like we use to...she fell asleep in her new pajama outfit! Me...well I literally started searching my costumes 20 minutes before the party. Since I was not feeling any love for any of the costumes I had, I threw on a bunch of stuff from my closet. YES...all of this was from my own closet..just refashioned into a gypsy costume!




A week ago Ella and I went around and put little letters in ALL of our neighbors that we would be having a party and would have 15 to 20 kids who would be trick or treating. We let them know if they left their lights on we would stop and if they turned off their lights we would just pass right on by their house. We ended up with 10-12 neighbors who helped us with our trick or treating. The kids loved running up to the houses and yelling trick or treat. I think the neighbors were just as excited as the kids. It was super fun to watch all the kids. They were so excited. Of course all of the moms and dads walked along with us...instead of bags we had solo cups!


After trick or treating we headed back to the house for the pinata and bobbing for apples. The kids love this as much as the trick or treating. It is always funny when the girls are bobbing for apples, because of their make-up and hair. This year, Zoey was the first one to ask Rylinn to hold her hair back. A few of us moms were laughing because we are already imagining them asking each other this after a night out (of course that will be when they turn 21!!!)

Halloween is done and now it is time to start thinking about the Christmas Cookie Decorating Party! Another fun and traditional time for the kids and the parents!!

First Game!

We are Dynamite...this is one of Ella's favorite chants she has learned. She has been walking around the house practicing her chants for 3 weeks and finally got to perform them on Saturday at her first game!

Of course being Havasu in September it was HORRIBLY hot! That did not stop her from cheering the entire time. She was so awesome and had so much spirit she won the spirit stick!

Summer Science

Summertime always brings about boredom for Ella...especially when the temperature reaches 120 and it is too hot to go outside. Today happens to be one of those days.

Today Ella tried a science experiment about surface area...which she does not understand, so she thinks it is just about how many drops of water fit on a coin. The teacher in me had her create a question and hypothesis before starting her experiment.

Question: Which coin will hold the most water?

Hypothesis: I think the nickle will hold the most. (She told me it was because it is the thickest of the coins)

Experiment time:

Results: The nickle held 15 drops. # more than the penny and quarter and 9 more than the dime. (She was super excited that her hypothesis was correct)

Ella was not satisfied with just one experiment, so she found the turkey baster and tried the experiment again.

Hypothesis: She thought that the quarter would hold more this time because it was bigger.

This time it was a bit harder because the water was coming out on its own.

Results: The quarter held 7 drops and the rest only held 3.

Both of her hypothesis was correct!

Picture with Santa

Kevin was able to get my scanner to work....so here is the picture of Bean with Santa.