Still my Baby

While taking baby Annie for a walk today, her Daddy came to pick her up. He was running late so he grabbed her at the top of our road and took off. Of course that meant the stroller was empty.  So Cali jumped in!
I was already carrying Boogs in my jacket to keep him out of the stroller. He felt sitting on the baby's lap was the perfect place to ride. It was just like old times pushing my baby girl and for a minute I missed those days.  :~)

Standing on the Risers

That's what she said to me. "Mom, it's my first time standing on the risers! I don't have to sit in the chairs, I'm on the RISERS!"  It's so funny what matters to a kindergartner. I looked at her and just grinned. I was truly so happy for my baby-the little one. She has finally hit the big time and she was over-the-moon!

I've been to many kindergarten shows, obviously with two older sisters, I'd seen many, many shows before hers. This one though, it was sweet. They mentioned at the beginning that it was partially student created and definitely student driven.  Of course, in our house we hear that and groan. Sometimes that is pure torture to a parents ears.

In this case however, it was sweet and pleasant.  The songs were short and simple. The kids were accompanied by soft music, not singing alone, loud and obnoxiously. The transitions flowed. There was dancing, nothing too extravagant. Just happy little people doing some fun movements that made everyone smile for a minute.

And then, we were done. I think the entire event from beginning to end  was less than 45 minutes. There was wonderful artwork to see before we left which we could then take home to share with friends and family.

 There was day...

...and there was night.

And there was a whole lot of Cali and every other amazing kinder to admire.

I am so proud of my girl. Cali has been so fortunate this first year of elementary school.  I was part of the hiring committee for her kindergarten teacher.

 I loved her then and I adore her now. She is everything I thought she'd be and more.  Mostly, because she gets these kids. She cares about what makes them tick. She knows how important it is to finally be standing on the risers.

Cali's First Tutorial- Tying Shoes

Seriously, on Tuesday Scott pulled Cali on his lap just as we were heading out the door and said "Come here Sweetie, let me show how to tie those shoes." (He didn't think I was listening!)

It took all of about 2 minutes, shoes were tied and off we went.

Yesterday, after taking Daddy to the airport for what seems like the umpteenth time of late, we headed to school to drop Cassi off too.  Cali ran in to use the potty and when she came out she told me she need to tie her shoe. She sat in a chair in the hall and began.  I quickly sensed her confidence so I whipped out my phone for video.

Once we were back in the car she tried it again but she was having a bit of trouble so I figured we'd just gotten lucky. But at least I had it on video.

Last night, in the car once again, I was chatting with a soccer Dad while Cali scooted up to the front seat. I could hear her whispering as I spoke about soccer, "...Another bunny ear...".  I looked over and she was doing it again. She tied both shoes as I talked.

We can home, she walked out from the kitchen wearing Cori's shoes. :) She sat down in front of me and I started taking pictures.

Here's her first tute!

#1
Make an "X"

#2
Pull it tight.

#3
Make a bunny ear.

#4
Make another bunny ear.

#5
Go through the hole.

#6
And pull it tight again.

#7
Show off your work!

#8
One more time!

The Girl is Getting It- She's Playing Soccer

I mean she is really playing.

The kid has grown up every summer of her life on a soccer field, starting in May and not getting off it of until late August. We really thought we could end up with a Pele'-ette when it was her turn to play. But last year, after watching her pick the dandelions and chase butterflies the whole season we kind of gave it up.

It was good. We were fine with it but never really believed it would be her thing.  It's amazing what can happen in a year.

This year she is getting it! And it is so fun to watch. She is all over the place, getting in front of other opposing players to get the ball. It's a dramatic difference from last year. She hasn't scored this year but Scott is certain she gets to claim at least one assist.

I'm banking on the fact that she will score and I can't wait to see it!

This Smile is For Daddy

Cali went to the dentist today. Before leaving the house she insisted I remember the camera so I could take pictures of her getting her teeth cleaned. I mean after all, if he were here he wouldn't miss it. Right? Yeah, right!


She has really handled this dental thing like a big kid. I am quite amazed actually. I wasn't sure the office would want me taking pictures but the hygienist was really great about it and had me taking far more pictures than the one I expected to take!


She went to bed so late last night that I thought she might actually go to sleep in the chair but that never happened.


The first pair of Hollywood glasses weren't dark enough so she switched them out for the rockstar version.



Her favorite part (aside from all the goodie bag supplies Ms. Linda gave her) was the suction hose. I am pretty sure every kid loves that thing.


I am hoping she ends up with some beautiful teeth since the first two are cleaning out the bank already!

We've got a good start; Look at THAT grin!

It's Still Winter!

It's still winter here...imagine that! Cali and I decided we would work on "W" this week so we are still focusing on winter. I figure it lasts so long here we better find fun ways to think of it.

This is my burst of creativity for the week. I've never considered myself very creative so I think this is a burst for me. It's more my style to let someone think of the great ideas, then I just follow along!

I started with our finished product to give you just a quick minute to try and figure out what we used. So look quick, what do you think?

I know it isn't the cutest snowman ever but Cali is downright proud of herself. In my book, that makes for the perfect project!

We started with an empty one of these.

We painted the bottle white, the lid black. Then we glittered it up while it was still wet. After it dried I sprayed a bit of sealer on it in hoped the paint wouldn't flake off.


Then we went through our button stash, she chose all of them.


It took her a while to find enough matching ones for the mouth. I was surprised she stuck with it but she did.


He would have probably been slightly cuter without the scarf but Cali wanted one.
She asked me if she could cut the scarf herself. I said yes, but followed with, "I may need to cut it because fleece isn't always easy to cut." She immediately scoffed at me! "I have cut lots of fleece! Who do you think cuts up all those scraps you leave around?!" :)


She even cut a few fringes. I lengthened them just a bit for her but she did indeed prove she can cut fleece!

So, recycle your next creamer bottle or tell your friend to save her trash (I've done this many a time-don't be shy!) and make yourself a snowman.

*I'm linking up to Ramblings of a Crazy Woman We Made it Friday Showcase.
Go check it out for some great ideas!

Can't Believe I Thought of This

I do a lot of projects with my kids and every now and again I think of something cool however often I am just following someone else's idea.

Which is exactly what I was doing today. But...I came up with a twist. :)

You see the other day we made an apple project (which I will post soon) using real apples for prints. I am not usually a fan of using food for projects, unless they are edible. It just seems wasteful in general to me so I most often avoid those activities.

This time, I wanted something specific and figured it was the only way so I cut up some apples and got busy. After we were done, I kept looking at the apples and just couldn't bring myself to toss them so I saved them convincing myself another apple print project was in my future.

It was not to be, so today when I saw this Autumn Garland over at Wee Folk Activities I came up with a plan. The project was perfect for Cali and I knew she would love it.

I decided that rather than use felt for leaves I would cut my apples into slices and use them. I let Cali paint all of them that weren't already painted from the previous project. (She even got a little creative.)
Then I dried them and let her string them with the beads instead. See, clever huh? :)


She sat a long time for this project. We don't have a hearth so we hung it from the entry way into our living room.
It probably isn't quite as Autumn looking as theirs but she was able to do this in steps from this morning to early evening and she pretty much owned the entire thing.I did one string also so we would have enough to span the whole area.

And I feel a whole lot better about using those apples for apple prints. :)

Cali's "A"pple Cake

Cali did her first baking yesterday. We have been studying all things apple and of course the letter "A".

She's wanted to bake something for a while. I found this apple upside down cake recipe on the BHG website. I thought it was easy enough for her and we had everything on hand so we went for it.

She even used her own mixer for a bit although it isn't real strong so we moved onto the KitchenAid pretty quick-like.

I left the skin on some of the apples and shouldn't have. She didn't like the texture of that.

Otherwise it was a most delicious cake. I let her cut the first piece.


Her sisters and her Daddy were sure to tell how AMAZING it was.



This morning I told her we were moving on to the letter "P" and we'd make a pumpkin craft and she said "Don't forget the pumpkin pie!"

She Has Her Own Plan

I saw this little project over at No Time For FlashCards and thought Cali would love it.
So, I started making her a big pile of these.

I called her to the table and started to explain that she cuold make a tree. And instantly, she said "Yeah, I know, I can make an apple tree!"
She went into great detail about how this apple tree should look. She wanted big apples and a green tree and she wanted to draw the trunk herself.

I'd seen on Frugal Family Fun Blog a wine cork painting project but since I don't drink wine, well it was going to be a little difficult to gather them in this house. Instead, we put out heads together and came up with MARSHMALLOWS!

And together we made an orchard. Cali's Orchard. :)

She loved this project. Some trees she drew entirely by herself, others I helped with. She painted the tree green with some mini stamp pads I had here since we were out of all green paint.

After she was done we hung it up for her sister's to admire when they get home.
Maybe we will get to use that big pile of hole punches another day when she has another fantastic idea.