Happy Birthday, My Little Lady

Today was my middle daughter’s birthday. In order to fully celebrate turning the big 1-0, we headed into Los Angeles and into the American Girl store! (It seems ALL AG characters turn ten in their book series’, so celebrating at the store for your tenth is a BIG deal.)

Every time we do this, we allow our girls to pick their favorite AG character and dress like them. “T’s” favorite was Kit Kittredge. Little Miss likes Josefina…. Here is the outfit I mentioned in an earlier post. (Didn’t it turn out so cute?)

We started the day by decorating the front room like “American Girl”. Stars, balloons, and streamers in the standard AG colors.

After a quick breakfast, we headed out to my mother-in-law’s house. There we met up with both her and my mother, to enjoy the day together.

The bulk of our day was spent in the American Girl store. We had her picture taken with her doll and put on the current issue of the AG magazine. We had lunch in the cafe and enjoyed some very good food. We also took a leisurely tour of the store and got lots of pictures with her favorite things.

Visiting The Grove wouldn’t be complete without a quick jaunt by the Farmer’s Market, so we passed through and tried a few different items. We tasted some unusual ice cream (which tastes like wine!), bought some anchovy olives, and perused other venders.

Following all that excitement, it was time to head on back to the house. Upon arriving, we were surprised by my father-in-law just having finished making a fresh pan of paella! Yummy!

Now we are finally back home and getting ready to do some relaxing. Missy has put her pajamas on and dressed her doll in a matching outfit. They are too cute!

I think perhaps we are going to put on one of her favorite movies and perhaps sneak in a nap.

Purse-onality

Welcome to “Pump Day”, where one day a week we homeschool in heels and talk about all things girlie! 

It’s silly, I know it’s silly. Every year when summer rolls around, I feel the need to ditch my black, leather (okay, fake leather) purse for something a little more summery.

Recently, the strap on my purse gave out. Apparently I was either carrying too much weight in my meager bag or I had owned it a little too long (they just don’t make things to last, do they?). Instead of replacing it with something more practical and universal (read black), I opted for something completely out of the ordinary… yellow!

This isn’t your run of the mill, sunflower yellow. Think of a soft, buttercream yellow; not pastel, more vintage. It has cute ruffles on the front and a flower on one side. My husband remarked how much he liked it, although he agreed it wasn’t my usual color of choice.

Even if my purse hadn’t “called it a day”, I would have found myself fighting the impulse to buy something more fitting for the season. It just doesn’t seem appropriate to be running around in a sun dress or skirt, lugging along a heavy, black bag. No, I have come to the realization that I might need to invest in a few different styles.

I plan to save my black bag (no sense in being wasteful), in hopes of finding a craftsman who can repair my strap. This way, I can reuse the black bag in the fall/winter seasons. If this yellow withstands the summer, it too will be saved to be used again next year.

Besides these “general use” purses, I think I might like to invest in a few impractical hand bags. (Well, I suppose that’s subjective.) When I go out on a date, it might be nice to have something small and light which will hold only my identification and perhaps some gloss.

If there is one complication I run against, when purchasing purses, it’s my OCD. Even here, I run into trouble. Being the over-organized freak that I am, I like having sections inside my bags. This way, everything sits nicely and neatly; I don’t need to hunt through my bag to find my keys or lotion, I know where everything is located.

Unfortunately, most purses on the market these days are an open bag. There are no sections and everything just gets clumped together. It seems I will need to either “get over it” or buy an insert which is available for people like me, helping keep things in order.

For now, I am very pleased to have this newest addition in my closet, section-less and all. I got an excellent price for it (under $20) and it added color to my somewhat drab wardrobe. Now to have my other bag repaired….

How many purses do you own?

Last Keepers Meeting of the Year!

Today was our last Keepers meeting of the year! While we did have quite a few girls show, we had a lower attendance than normal due to public schools letting out this week for summer vacation.

For our last meeting, we had the girls paint and decorate these cute frames, then we placed a group picture in each one!

While our last meeting of the year is official over, that doesn’t mean we are done! We have planned some park days for the summer and we are already working on next year’s plans.

It will be exciting to see what the Lord brings us next year!

The Mad Scientist: Introduction to the Microscope

It has truly been a mad day around my house (don’t ask), which fits into today’s summer school lesson… “The Mad Scientist”! Today, for our “mad science” lesson, we focused on learning the basics of the microscope.

Our homeschool PSP has been blessed with three awesome microscopes. Unfortunately, they usually sit in a cupboard unused. I asked our homeschool principal if our family could possibly borrow one for the summer, if we took good care of it. His answer was “yes”!!

Along with the microscope, came four boxes of slides. Three boxes had already prepped samples for us to look at, while the fourth box was filled with blank slides for us to experiment with.

Due to time constraints, today we were only able to touch the surface of the microscopic world, but we had fun in the short time available.

To start our learning time off, we watched this helpful video found on YouTube.

Then we headed over to our borrowed “scope” and did some exploring of our own. We were able to look at several slides and admire the wonder often unseen. 

I wish we had more time to dedicate to this today, but it’s out the door we go… off for another, different adventure!

Have you studied microscopes before? Which was your favorite specimen to examine?

Destination: Costa Rica

Today started the first day of summer school! We were so excited to get things moving and enjoy the fun planned.

Our first activity of the day was “Workbook Fun“! We grabbed some newly sharpened pencils, pink erasers (Don’t you just like looking at those?… Well, I do anyway!), and got to work.

As usual, our workbook time was loads of fun. We spent a few hours running around the house counting objects, solving logic problems, and answering riddles. There is never a dull moment when we’re learning.

After workbooks, things got really animated, as we unburied our traveling suitcases and headed “out” for our virtual field trip. Today’s destination: Costa Rica!

After marking our world maps, we trekked over to mommy’s computer to discover some fun facts and details on Costa Rica. There we learned all about Costa Rica’s national exports, their tourist attractions, some of their history and topography, native animals and plants, and explored more of their fascinating culture.

Seeing images and watching a quick video was fun, but there is nothing quite like hands-on learning. So, off to the kitchen we ran, ready to get our hands dirty.

We hand crafted butterflies out of coffee filters and talked about a few of Costa Rica’s main exports; coffee and bananas! To help remind us of how grateful we are for these tasty products, we decided to spend some time in the kitchen. We made ourselves some iced coffee (mostly cream with a dollop of syrup to sweeten) and this wonderful cake:

Costa Rican Banana Cake [Queque de banano]

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground gloves
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 8 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (The cake was pretty sweet so next time I would reduce the sugar to 1 cup or 3/4 cup!)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices.
2. In another bowl mash the bananas.
3. Add the butter, sugar, eggs milk, and vanilla.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
5. Bake in a greased 9×13 pan for about 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

After enjoying a lovely snack, we made sure to have our passport books stamped and collected a photograph to remember our trip. 

Our learning day was fun, delicious, and informative! After all that hard work, we decided to reward ourselves with some time in the water.

Ah… nothing like a hard day’s fun (Oops, I mean work)!

Is there a particular country you are focusing on this week? We’d really enjoy hearing about your adventure!

Summer School: Workbook Fun

Reblogged from A Homeschool Mom:

Normally we would not associate workbooks with fun. There is probably an image forming in your head right now; I am dragging my kids to the table, threatening them with various punishments, or cajoling them with promises of something nice. I am very thankful to say that I have not had to resort to any such things. When mommy announces it is time to do workbooks, my kiddos jump up and run to the table.

Read more… 315 more words

Here we go again! Our school books have been filed away and the summer workbooks are out and ready to go! Let's see what fun we can have with our learning this summer!

Summer School: Field Trip Fun

Reblogged from A Homeschool Mom:

• 
• 

Thinking back on my own childhood education, I can count on one hand how many field trips we went on. Once we got into high school, field trips stopped altogether. One great aspect to homeschooling, that both my husband and I love, is visiting all the places we never had an opportunity to see before. We have been on more field trips than I can recall.

Read more… 398 more words

Let's see how many "Day Trips" we can come up with THIS summer!

Summer School: Fair Fun

Reblogged from A Homeschool Mom:

• 
• 
• 

There is nothing quite like the fair; the sights, the smells, the sounds. For schools, this is a time of discovery and learning. A time to get good and dirty. A time to step outside the classroom and have some real fun.

As in most counties and states, the L.A. County Fair comes every fall. Each year our kids eagerly await the opening week and highly anticipate all the fun to be had.

Read more… 316 more words

While the dates for entry forms have changed and the competition entries altered, this still stands true. Every summer we work on our massive list of county fair projects and explore the world of art, history, and literature. It just wouldn't be summer without it! For a current list of competitions and entry dates, HERE is a link to the 2013 L.A. County Fair.

Summer School: Science Fun

Reblogged from A Homeschool Mom:

• 
• 

It wasn't until high school that I developed an appreciation for science. There, we were able to do fun experiments; mix chemicals, dissect frogs, and other fun things like that. I wanted to make sure that our kids had the opportunity to truly enjoy science at a much younger age. During summer, we step outside our regular curriculum and shake things up.

Read more… 261 more words

This summer, we are back at it again. We have ten different experiments chosen, plus some valuable lessons with our borrowed microscope planned. It looks to be a very fun, educational summer!

Summer School: Geography Fun

Reblogged from A Homeschool Mom:

• 

Of all the fun things that we do over the summer, the one thing my kids always look forward to the most, is geography. Funny isn't it? I think most of us look back on geography as boring and unimportant, but nope; not our kids. Why the difference? There are lots of ways we've made geography fun! Let's take a look at a few...

Read more… 671 more words

Ten more countries have just been chosen. Let's see where our "Summer of Fun" takes us this year!