Art Star #2

Jr. Princess was readying her backpack for school Sunday night and showed us an envelope from her teacher indicated she was selected as a Kindergarten winner of the school carnival coloring contest! Well, it's official, both kids are officially better artists than M&M Dad and me. (You may recall that Starshine won a birdhouse decorating contest a few years ago). And yes, I realize the bar was quite low :).

Here is her sheet hanging on the school wall...

She won 40 tickets to the school carnival Unfortunately, the carnival was Friday night! We're hoping we can use them next year. Great job Jr. Princess!

Spring Gardening

Yesterday, M&M Dad took the girls to Home Depot to pick up some supplies and take advantage of the Saturday kids craft. They made very cute planter boxes. Starshine really wanted to have some flowers to go in her box, and since M&M Dad didn't remember all of the stuff he was supposed to get :), we went back to HD today to get seeds and the rest of our list...

The first step in any good container gardening project is definitely DECORATING!

We then planted mint, basil and rosemary (and a strawberry plant she got as a birthday party favor). So we are all crossing our fingers that we will have some delicious dinners in our future. At least this helped us think it was spring-like today.

Jr. Chef

Today's activity is all because:

1. Starshine has been wanting to learn how to cook, not just help, and wants to know when she'll be allowed to make dinner. (The sooner the better works for me, too :))

2. We were having salad with our dinner

3. The girls love croutons and we NEVER buy croutons

4. I had 4 stale slices of bread I was going to throw away...

"Hey Starshine, so you want to learn how to make croutons???"

Well, she was in heaven doing all of the jobs herself (except in and out of the oven). Here she is with the finished product - delicious!

Hmm - I wonder if she'll make the tacos tomorrow night...

Maple Syrup Outing

The crazy winter weather (yup, 20F this morning) was driving us a little stir crazy. So, M&M Dad and Jr. Princess took us to the nature center to show us all the fun stuff they learned last year during maple syrup days.

We saw guys boiling syrup, ate maple popcorn, looked at all the great nature exhibits, went for a short woods walk, and posed in front of these maple sap collection bags.

OK, it was fun, but seriously - when is spring coming???

Family Vacation Days #5-6

On Wednesday, we were of to Kartchner Caves. It was a painfully long drive due to some sort of freeway accident, but once we got there, we enjoyed a nice tour. (And no - we didn't see any bats to remind me of my college bat trauma!) Unfortunately, they do not allow cameras, so it makes for a pretty boring blog post.

Thursday, we divided up. Here is Starshine out to breakfast with Grandma and Jr. Princess. I hear there were the world's biggest pancakes...

Grandpa, Auntie and Uncle headed up to Phoenix to catch a Brewers spring training game, and M&M Dad and I went for a nice long hike together.

Oh, and the last activity of the week was completing a puzzle. We spent HOURS on this, and while our family had to leave for the airport Friday morning with it 80% complete, Uncle was able to text us a picture of it all done before he and Auntie left Saturday morning. VICTORY!

We had a great family vacation!

Family Vacation Day #4

Tuesday was horseback riding day. I have fond memories of going horseback riding on vacations when I was a kid. Though, in retrospect, how come we only went horseback riding on vacations??? Anyway.... here's the group... M&M Dad wasn't super excited about the idea, but he has never been, so he figured he had to say he has ridden a horse at least once. After a serious infatuation with The Saddle Club TV show, Starshine was excited. Of course, a slow walk in straight line wasn't what she was expecting after seeing the show, but she still loved it. Jr. Princess couldn't believe she got to ride by herself... Here we are on the way back. It's a good thing our horses nicely followed in a straight line - this area is FULL of cacti. If any of the horses got adventurous, there would be a lot of tears!

Family Vacation Day #3

Monday was for family hiking at Catalina State Park...


I got an Arizona geocache using my cool new GPS Christmas present, though, it was a little nerve wracking looking amongst the cactus is snake country. I think we'll keep to less "spikey" terrain for future caches! Starshine is my little billy goat climber...

After a few hours we enjoyed our first "In and Out Experience." The burgers were yummy, but after hiking in the sun for a few hours, we would have eaten anything!

After cooling off, we had an all family birthday fiesta. We had drawn names to give gifts homemade or less than $5. Jr. Princess ended up with the most flamboyant gift - an Easter bunny headband and slippers from Uncle. She was ecstatic...

Family Vacation Day #2

On Sunday, the group (minus Grandma and the princesses) were off to the University of Arizona baseball game. At the last minute, Starshine decided to join us...


The crowd was small, but that just means we got to sit right in front, which was very cool.

Starshine entered her name in the "name that tune drawing", and won a UofA cheering set. The rally towel came in super handy as we were flaming hot and kept soaking it in the drinking fountain to put on our necks. We cheered super loud when her name was announced on the PA...

Combine that with the fact that M&M Dad got her a ball from the warm up catcher, and she was SUPER glad she decided to come...

The report from Jr. Princess and Grandma included swimming and golf cart rides - so we all had a lot of fun.

Family Vacation Day#1

For Spring Break this year, we all went down to Arizona to visit Grandma and Grandpa L. And this year, Auntie had the same spring break, so it was a whole family affair. We almost missed the plane due to unexpected snow slowing our trip to the airport (stupid Minnesota spring), and millions of other families at the airport trying to get someplace warm. At least the plane ride was smooth and we didn't have to repeat last years unpleasant arrival into Orlando.

Grandpa L picked us up at the airport...

And Grandma L was waiting patiently for the princesses to arrive before heading to the other airport to pick up Auntie and Uncle...

Jr. Princess spent all of her free time climbing the water feature in the backyard...

The warm weather was fantastic!

Need the Grandmas' expert opinion

Hi Grandmas,

Starshine is doing her biography project on Ruby Bridges, who helped integrate Louisiana public schools in 1960. She needs to present her project in costume. I have been trying to convince her that 1960's 1st grade fashion is not all that different from 2010 (minus the sparkle). A quick raid of her closet yielded a knee length dress with collar, matching cardigan sweater, folded over bobby socks, and black mary-jane shoes. If I work on my braiding styles over the next week, and throw in a bow, I say she is a spitting image of the cover of the book she read from the library.

Starshine is not convinced. She thinks she looks like a regular kid going to school.

OK - Grandmas - does she look like a 1960 1st grader??