What does Your Shamrock Say About You

Your Shamrock Says You Are Gregarious

You are charming, witty, and larger than life. At times, you can be a bit impatient and inflexible. You don't like to be distracted. You don't really consider yourself a lucky person. In your view, people create their own luck. You are stylish, in a classic sort of way. You are particular about how you like things.

The Shamrock Personality Test

Sneaky Little Leprechauns

There were some sneaky little leprechauns out and about last night. And they left a few surprises for the girls when they left. They always do. We are so lucky. They surprised us with some big orange sunflowers for the vases we made a week or so ago. They also left us these cool drinking glasses filled with green grass and gold chocolate coins.

The big girls spent the night away however Cali came downstairs this morning to find the gifts. She was pretty excited. I made myself a cup of coffee and by the time I'd made my way through the living room to turn on the dryer...well this is what I found. There were only two left.

After I gave her a huge glass of milk in hopes of squelching the sugar rush, she decided a project was in order. I saw this somewhere (anybody else seen it lately) and figured it was easy enough. Originally we were going to finger paint like the post I saw but then I thought using q-tips might be fun so we tried that.


She kind of goofed up her orange line which really frustrated her. She wouldn't make a new one and I kind of had to convince her to finish the project. I like it like it is. She didn't get back into the swing of things until she started making the sun and cloud. Go figure.


Hope your day is a rainbow kind of day too!

May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.



Happy St. Patrick's Day to you.

Lemons to Lemonade

How nice is this? Amber from Hey, I'm Just the Nanny bestowed the Lemons to Lemonade award on me.

Being that I've never received a blog award I will attempt to contain my excitement however I must say, I even called Mom to share the news. :)

And now here are the rules.

1) Put the logo on your blog or post.

2) Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.

3) Link to your nominees within your post.

4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5) Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award.

Since I'm rather new to this, I haven't come up with 10 people yet. I will edit my list when I do.
For now, I would like to pass this on to
1.This Girl Loves To Talk
2. Snapshots
3. Eyes of Wonder
4. Flipflops & Applesauce
5. Towards Sustainability


I enjoy reading each of these blogs and find something inspiring about each one of them. I am grateful for their desire to share with the rest of us and the unique and individual ways in which they do it. Reading these blogs makes me happy. Be sure to check them out, you might find a bit of happiness there too.

Oh and Amber, thank you!

The Start of Spring Break

Friday was our last day of school. At least for about 9 days. We started the weekend off making snow cones or slushies as we call them. I figured this could find it's way into the theme at unplug your kids which was WATER. Frozen water is still water, right?

This was pretty much a self conducted activity; one they enjoy most anytime.

If you don't have one of these ice shavers from pampered Chef, you should look into it. I don't think they are all that expensive and the kids enjoy it so much! I don't even use the the bowls to make the block of ice. I just dump in ice from my freezer and they get to it! Cranking and cranking until there is a nice little mound of edible snow.


Yum!
Now I am off to www.unplugyourkids.com for some water inspiration! See you there.

Word of the Week

Here it is...your word of the week.

PROBOSCIS

pro·bos·cis

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural pro·bos·cis·es also pro·bos·ci·des \-ˈbä-sə-ˌdēz\

1 a: the trunk of an elephant ; also : any long flexible snout b: the human nose especially when prominent2: any of various elongated or extensible tubular processes (as the sucking organ of a butterfly) of the oral region of an invertebrate

And here is what can happen after you tell your child the word and definition.

I said to Cassi "Your proboscis is looking unusually large this evening." and she said "Your saying MY BUTT LOOKS BIG!!!"
Have a great week!


How it got started.

Years ago, I had a friend who challenged my vocabulary and grammar on a regular basis and made it fun. I was a young adult at the time and it made an impression on me then and has since been a mischievous banter between us. I also had a friend who would give me a "Word of the Day". He challenged me to use that word several times through out the day. I in turn shared the daily word with Kelly. (My best friend, for any one who doesn't know).

I asked Kelly during a recent conversation if she remembered the first word my friend gave me and SHE DID!

It was-brouhaha, meaning uproar. I've used it ever since.

While chatting we decided we should start doing it again, just for fun. And as for me, I can share it with my kids. Being that is was Kelly's mom, who used to give me such crap for my grammar and such, I challenged her to come up with a fun, silly or all around odd word each week that I could use. She is currently fighting the fight of her life, lung cancer and most days are hard. I assumed this would be a simple distraction but possibly a fun challenge to get her mind off things. And a way, to 'get' me so to speak which is always fun for her!

So, keep and eye out here. Each week I will give you a word and I challenge you to learn it and use it. Keep it fun and include your kids. I promise it will be fun, and if not,find a way to make it so. We will all be better for it.

Getting to Know You...

...Getting to know all about you.

Cori and Cassi attend a school that specializes in combining standard learning with emphasis on art/music and science. Cassi and I were in the midst of changing out some art work on her art wall (they each have their own spot in our kitchen) and I thought I'd share with you, some of the art the girls have done in school this year.

I think they are pretty fabulous.

This is Cassi's self portrait from last year. Her class didn't do them this year. She left it up as she wanted it clear whose wall it was.

Here they were making abstract geometrical pieces. The one on the left is supposed to be a mirrored image.

She really likes this one; her Dad told her it was a favorite! :) It was a resist project.

I love this drawing. Her class used loupes (a small magnifying eye piece). A lot of the students drew exactly what they saw. She looked at the details of the flower a piece at a time and created the whole flower.

This was a print making activity. They do a lot of this at our school. It seems as though they have done several through the years. She titled this Bamboo.

Cori did this with a visiting artist this past fall. She really dislikes this picture. They also had to include her wishes which I really enjoyed.

Here they were painting animals. I adore the elephant and the camouflaged bird.

This is a Van Gogh style sunflower resist piece. We do a lot of this at home too. Not sure why. Also, near the bottom you can see her sketch of candy canes. That one makes me smile.

This last one is a water color and she enjoyed doing it so much, she made two.

Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.