Awards Day

Today was awards day at Brooksters school. She was so excited because the teacher had told her she was getting an award. She asked me over and over again for 3 day. " Are you going, Are you going" and each time she asked I gave her the same answer. YES. I asked why she kept asking and she said she " Did not want me to forget about it" I asked her how many times I had ever forgot something that was important to her. She said " never but there is always the first time for everything and I don't want this to be the first time. "

I have to give her credit she was covering all bases. She also told her Mimi to help remind me. Her Mimi takes her to school every morning. They kept up this tradition even after I stopped working because they both do not things to change so she kept going over to her Mimi's every morning for breakfast and to be taken to school. It was fine with me since we live right next door and all she had to do was walk across the yard. This morning after she took Brookster to school she called the house and asked if I was up. I told her I had been up since Brookster came over. Well, Brookster wanted to be sure I did not go back to sleep.

Well enough with my compulsive daughter and on to the awards. She got 5 awards today. The first one for was achieving excellence in academics. Only 20 children in the whole 2nd grade got this award. :). She got in the 50 point club in the accelerated reading program. Handwriting award, Good Conduct award, and Citizenship award that was signed by the State Representative.

I am very proud of her and I love her more than anything in the world. I love how hard she works for things and achieves her goals that she sits for herself. She acts so much older than she really is. I am so glad that I have stopped working and is going to be spending time with her this summer. I hate that I have missed so much time with her, but I will be making up for lost time this summer.

Thanks for letting me brag about my little girl.

Time Management

I used to be the best at being organized and time management but since I have stopped worked it seems like I am not good at either one. I have not learned how to organize my day since I am at home all day. When I worked time was pretty much managed for me. I went to work at the same time, came home, got dinner done, homework, bath, spend time with Brookster and bed. Now though, time seems to get away from me. I know it is something that I have to get used to, but it frustrating when I used to be so good at it.



Tonight it was Brownies. I got Brookster's bath early so when we got home we did not have to do that. I was reading some e-mails and when I looked up at the clock I had 10 minutes to get her to Brownies and she was doing the special flag ceremony tonight. I called the leader to explain that we were running a little late but we were coming. She was super nice and said it was fine. Brookster however was not has nice and understanding. According to her I have ruined her life and she is going to be sooooooooooooo in trouble for being late. Now keep in mind I have already talked to the leader and worked it out with her. I however understand Brookster because I used to never be late to anything.



I have bought a daily calender and I am going to try to schedule things that need to be done. A friend of mine suggested that. When I worked I lived by the calender so maybe that is what is missing.



Tomorrow is the last day of school, so Brookster and I both will have to get on a summer schedule. I will keep you posted on how I am coming with this time management thing. Thanks for letting me vent a little bit it has made me feel better. Do you all have any advice on how to juggle it all?

VGNO- Sweet

It is already Friday and it is time for some Virtual GNO. It is going to be a busy weekend in our household this weekend so I thought I would post a little early tonight and get to do some surfing later on tonight when we get back home. If the weather holds out we are going to a baseball game tonight. Brookster is so excited but it looks like rain again. It has rained so much in Tennessee this Spring we might need to build a boat.

Tomorrow is also the Strawberry Festival in our town and it is a big deal in small town USA. Brookster gets to ride a float in the Parade this year and is on cloud nine. It is suppose to rain so please pray for it to hold off while the parade is going on. The kids will be so disappointed if it was to rain. I will post pictures next week. So in honor of the Strawberry Festival I thought the drink for tonight should be Frozen Strawberry Kiwi-Tini

Ingredients

2 cups ginger ale

1/2 cup vodka

1 tub Crystal light Strawberry Kiwi Flavor Drink Mix

2 1/2 cups crushed ice

6 each kiwi and strawberry slices

How to make it

Place ginger ale, vodka and mix in blender container: cover. Blend until drink mix is completely dissolved.

Add ice; cover. Blend on high speed until smooth. Pour into 6 martini glasses. Garnish each with a kiwi and strawberry slice.

After drinks we need a party game and the game Ann has chosen for tonight is:

Sweet as Candy

If you were to have a candy bar named after you what would it be called? Just for fun follow the guide below to create your candy bars name. Ex.If your first name starts with an 'A' and your last name starts with an 'H' your candy bar would be called "Sweet Confection". Try it out.

Your First Name

A - C = Sweet

D - F = Honey

G - I = Lucious

J - L = Sugar

M - O = Precious

P - R = Savory

S - U = Delightful

V - Z = Heavenly

Your Last Name

A - C = BonBon

D - F = Tart

G - I = Confection

J - L = Chunk

M - O = Honey

P - R = Blossom

S - U = Bits

V - Z = Buns

My candy bar would be named Sugar Confection. What is your candy bar's name? I hope everyone has a great VGNO.

Dora the Explorer Super Babies Dream Adventure Review

Dora is taking on naptime in the all new DVD Dora the Explorer Super Babies Dream Adventure

The DVD includes 4 interactive episodes, "Super Babies Dream Adventure", "Dora Helps the Birthday Wizzle","Pirate Treasure Hunt" and "Benny's Treasure". Created by Nickelodeon Home Entertainment and distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Program Description

In the feature episode, "Super Babies' Dream Adventure" Dora has a special naptime story! Once upon a time, the Super Babies were getting ready for their nap but the Dream Fairy never showed up because she was still asleep! With your help, the Super Babies try to wake the dream
Fairy so she can deliver all the happy naptime dreams.


When Brookster was little she loved anything that had to do with Dora. I always liked it as a parent because it is a fun way for the kids to learn. Brookster learned quite a bit of Spanish from watching Dora. I never really knew how much until she started telling me what a word was in Spanish. She was learning a second language and did not even really know she was learning. That is the best kind of learning.

The DVD is going to be released on May 2, 2009. It has a retail value of $16.99. If you would like to buy a DVD of Super Babies' Dream Adventure you may click here, here or here.

Thanks to Erica for the opportunity to review this DVD. We still love Dora in our house.

Lowes Build and Grow Program

This past Saturday I decided to take Brookster to the Lowes Build and Grow Program. It is a free program for kids where they learn to build things. They have different programs a couple of times a month. This past Saturday the kids got to build a planter for Mothers Day. The next clinic is May 23rd. The project is a Ready 2 Go Kit. According the website the project is about safety. On June 13th the kids can build a mini putting green for Daddy. Brookster can not wait for this one, since she plays golf all of the time. She says she may give it to her Coach. So, much for Fathers Day. Oh Well.

The clinics start at 10:00 and last about an hour. Each child that participates receives an apron, goggles, a kit and a badge that can be sewn on the apron. It is important to register so the store will have enough kits for each child. The store that we were at Saturday ran out of kits and had to turn kids away. It was so sad because some of the kids left crying. I highly recommend this if you have a Lowe's close to you.

On to Brooksters day:

She had never really built anything so she was very excited. Here she is waiting to start. She did not want to wear the goggles because they made her "ugly and did not go with her outfit" Oh boy! I explained the safety reasons for it an she kept them on but was protesting about them most of the time.

She did not like the goggles. She said they made her look ugly and did not go with her outfit. Don't really know what to say to that one. I had to explain the safety reasons behind them but she still was really buying it. She wore them because she could not do the project with out them but it was under protest. She did get into the project finally and forgot out them.

Here she is working on the project. They have instructions with the kit but the one thing that I did not like about it was they really did not help the kids very much. They expected the parents to read the directions and help the kids. Did they not know that not all Moms know how to build things. I was having a really hard time reading the instructions with the diagrams but I finally got them figured out and we got it finished. The only thing we did wrong was we got the sides on backwards so the flowers did not show up correctly. Brookster said that was fine because we did it ourselves. For this project they gave each child a gift card to add to the project to give to the mother's. They lady that was helping was so nice she took Brookster off to the side to give her the card because Brookster told her I could not see it yet. That was so sweet. The following pictures are the finished project. I have to say I think this will be a new Saturday activity on the days that they are offering it. I have already signed up for the next two kits.

Finished project:

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My Mothers Day

I had the greatest Mother's Day yesterday. I hope all of you did as well. It started with breakfast in bed. A bowl of Apple Jacks. Brookster is so sweet. Then I got my presents. I just love presents especially when they are from Brookster.

First, I received my drawing. It says I heart you down both sides. She loves to draw. This one is going to be framed. I always pick one drawing that I love a little more than the others and frame it. She loves it that her pictures get framed like famous artists. Then she gave me a string of hearts. She stated that there were 8 hearts because she was 8 and it they stood for 8 reasons she loved me. ( cry starting here). She told me the eight reasons were

1. I always took care of her

2. I cooked for her

3. I hugged her when she felt sad

4. I magically made hurts go away

5. I leave her special notes in her lunch. ( I always write a note in her lunch box. Sometimes I just say I love you or sometimes if I know she is going to take a test or something I will tell her good luck. Did not know they meant so much to her until yesterday.)

6. I take her places

7. I play Wii with her

8. I am her Mommy.

Now, I would have been very happy with these presents but she brought out a bag, that had a little bag in it. The little bag held the following
Thanks to Mimi, she knows just how to top off my Mother's Day. Then we went to Logan's to eat lunch and I just enjoyed being with Brookster. I told her that I was lucky to have her as a little girl and without her there would not be a Mother's Day for me.