A Few More Treats!

If I have mentioned it before, I will mention it again.  I am spoiled.  My mom has definitely went above and beyond to help decorate our home.  She did a few additional touches that are just amazing.  The first one she made was a soft cornice box with box pleats for our back door.  She used the same fabric as the kitchen window.

 

 

Next she made a gorgeous cornice for our bathroom window.  I just have to be careful not to fall asleep in the tub!

The details of the fabric and the beads are beautiful.

Lastly, she made a valance for our craft room/office.  I did not want to put a lot of money into this window, so she used a board for the rod pocket instead of hardware (not sure if I have the lingo totally correct, but close enough).

The Beginning of the Family Garden

Kendall has been begging for a family garden.  Last year we had promised her a garden, but then we decided to have a second house built.  We each had to temporarily give something up to make that happen.  For Kendall, she had to give up her garden.  This year we were able to put it in.  By "we" I mean Kevin.  He worked very hard and did a beautiful job. 

 

Notice Sid supervising in the background.  I think she painted a total of 3 pickets before getting distracted.

Kendall spent Sunday afternoon staining the picket fence.  I have never seen a 6 year old work so hard.  She is taking this garden very seriously.  She painted for 4-1/2 hours with only a few very short snack breaks. 

The next morning when I woke her up for school she said, "I think I broke my arm."  I laughed and asked her which arm.  It was her right arm and she could barely move it.  I told her that is what it feels like to do good old-fashioned hard work.  If I recall she requested my assistance to brush her teeth and her hair that morning. 

She has watered every night and covered her strawberry plants to protect them from the chilly nights.  We have some starters that we planted from seeds that are growing like crazy in the sun room.  A few more weeks and we will put those in the garden too. 

Shave and a Haircut - Cooper Style!

Cooper was looking pretty raggedy and all of the brushing in the world was not going to rectify the situation.  So we decided to give her the spa treatment.  Kevin took her in Saturday to get a shave, teeth cleaning and nails done.  Kevin claims that she has been acting like a puppy ever since.  I say that she has never stopped acting like a puppy.  She is nine years old and as energetic as ever.  People used to tell us that she would mellow out after 2-3 years...not Cooper!

To be honest, I did not even believe she was the same dog when Kevin brought her home.  I had to spot the tennis bowl in her mouth and hear her whine before I would believe it was her.

Before:

 After:

Kisses for Sidney:

Hippies Chicks & Full Body Tracing.

The girls make me smile with their outfit choice's.  The way they dress has been a battle that I decided early on I was not going to fight.  As long as they are not completely weather inappropriate (with some exceptions) or just plain inappropriate, I have chosen to "let it go."  We have left the house with pants on backwards, shirts inside out, complete mismatches, accessories overdone, cowboy boots with fancy dresses, rain boots on sunny days, knee high socks with capris, the list could go on.  My sister thinks this is quite funny given that I am usually in a carefully chosen outfit.  Weekends do not count, as sweatpants are my outfit of choice for weekends. 

Kendall has recently been putting together some fabulous outfits.  Sid on the other hand is still in the experimental stage.  What you do not see in this outfit is that she is wearing purple capris under the skirt.  Later in the day, her headband was wrapped around her wrist and hand like a Madonna glove from the 80's.  Kendall said something to her about this outfit.  Kendall said, "Sidney do you know that you are wearing a dress with a skirt?  That is kind of weird."  Sidney's reply, "I do not care.  I like what I am wearing and that is all that counts."  Good for her - little turkey!

Kendall had this bright idea to lay on the white paper and have her Dad trace her.

Sidney also liked the idea, only she had a very hard time not laughing through the whole process.  Both of the girls are currently coloring in their body traces with outfits and faces.

This picture of Sidney was just too darn cute to pass up.  She is going through such a mischievous phase right now.

Break Dancing with the Boise Beat Boys.

Kendall participated in a four week break dancing class through an after school program.  She loved every minute of it and would come home each week telling us about her new moves.  The third week she became a member of the "z-scratch club".  She learned how to do the sprinkler, the coffee grinder, the body spin, the worm and the wave.  They also learned quite a bit of break dancing history.  It started on the streets of New York.  Cardboard would be taped to the ground to save their skin.  On the last day, they had a performance for families.  Here she is in action:

The Boise Beat Boys made an appearance and helped the kids during their performance.  Here is Kendall waiting for her cue from one of the Boise Beat Boys to go out and freestyle.

Out onto the cardboard she ran for her 15 seconds of fame.  She did her signature move "the body spin".  My personal favorite is the coffee grinder. 

And the fabulous finish...

My sister reminded me about all of the break dancing we used to do.  We even had a book on how to do the moves.  I remember a boy at my school named Eric Ross (funny the things I remember).  He would show us how to do it.  He and Bill (I cannot remember his last name) were incredible break dancers.  My coworker Wilson is a pretty good break dancer, but these Boise Beat Boys did things that I did not know the human body could do.  I wish we had taken a few pictures of that.  I think that I would probably break something if I tried to do it nowadays.

A Big Easter Celebration,

We had a huge Easter celebration at our house this year.  There were tons of relatives visiting from the Strong side of the family and the Nelson's joined us for Easter lunch and egg hunts.  The girls wore their new Easter dresses from Grandma Karen and Papa Mark.  They are very into posing lately, so there it goes.  This was as tame as we could get...



We took the girls to church.  Kendall had her art on display in the foyer.  Her class had made "light boxes" out of shoe boxes.  If you peered into the box, there were various scenes of Jesus death and resurrection.  Kendall's is the second from the right (purple).

 

Here are the D.I.L.'s (as Terrell has dubbed us).  We are the daughter's-in-law.  I am pretty fortunate to be part of such a beautiful group of women.

We had two Easter egg hunts for the kids (Rebecca's wonderful idea).  We filled tons of eggs with candy and stickers.  The girls went first.  They had a blast.

The hunts we have previously been too were not really "hunts" as much as egg "pick-ups", so it was quite fun watching the girls search for the eggs.

The boys hunt was next.  It was a good thing we separated the hunts.  The competition was fierce amongst the boys.  In contrast to the girls hunt where they were literally giving their eggs to each other.

Roy and Sherry had to get on the road pretty early, so we snagged a family photo before they left.

It was great to have them join us for Easter.  I hope that having Terrell down here brings family in town more often!  That would be a great bonus.

Partying Like Rock Stars.

The girls spent spring break up at my parents house.  They had an excellent time.  Kevin and I met my Mom in Grangeville on the Sunday before spring break and transferred the girls.  It was a party the minute they got in the car with Grandma Karen.  She had not even gotten them all the way to her house before they were making stops at Baskin Robbins for ice cream

My mom took them on a visit to see Grandma Juanita, Aunt Sharon and Aunt Nena.  It was great for them to visit with their relatives that they do not get to see too often.  Grandma Juanita showered them with love and kisses.

Aunt Nena let them each pick out a hand crocheted purse.  She also gave them some awesome pictures that she had drawn. 

Sidney took Aunt Sharon for a few laps around the driveway.

They played nonstop with the neighbor kids.  They made homemade ice cream by passing the mixture in a Ziploc bag back and forth to each other and mixing it by hand.  They even had the opportunity to decorate Easter eggs for the first time ever.  I have never been brave enough to do this with them.

They hung out with their cousins Dylan and Hallie.  Big D is always so good with the girls.

My mom promised me that the pictures on the motorcycle were for posing only...hmm.  She also tells me that what happens and Grandma and Papa's stays there.  Should I be worried?

Sidney also informed me that they had "movie night every night."  I love that they get to spend this special time with their family.  The week flew by and I went back up to Grangeville to meet my Mom on the Saturday before Easter to pick them up.  They got back just in time for the Easter bunny.