Inn of the Last Home

Vacation 2011!

2011-09-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Monday August 29^th, 2011

So MaryJane and I took a vacation to Oklahoma last week. We headed out a little before 7 a.m. and traveled to Blue Bell Creameries in Broken Arrow, OK. If you didn’t know MaryJane is an Ice Cream fanatic, so you can imagine how exciting it was to take a tour of an Ice Cream Factory. It was very fun and informative. It was just her, Kelly, I, and the tour guide. Lionel could not be trusted around that much ice cream so he had to stay in the car. Got to view from second story windows looking down, the unloading / storage area, the milk / sugar area, and the coolest area the flavoring / packing area. The putting of the ice dream into the different containers was really neat. We also watched a cute little video about the history of Blue Bell. At the end we got to go to their little ice cream parlor / gift shop where we enjoyed some yummy cream and she got a set of 4 ice cream spoons w/ cute animal handles.

We then traveled west to Oklahoma City to enjoy time at the Science Museum and Zoo. Who would thought that the spoons she obtained at the creamery were musically talented. They put on some awesome shows for me on the way there. The science museum was really cool. We had fun playing w/ light…the neatest probably being standing in front of these light absorbent boards in a dark room when a flash goes off in front of you and you can then step away and see your “shadow”; where the light was blocked. We played in a giant treehouse twice that had this curly slide that went like million miles an house. It was quite exhilarating. We solved a murder mystery in a new area. We gathered evidence and did forensics. Really sweet set up. Then her favorite thing was next…riding on the Segway. We rode it twice and she was all smiles. Would love to have one of those bad boys for real. Amazing invention it is. We checked out an old luxury train, had lunch and then headed up stairs to tour the mind games. It was trippy. Back down stairs we fiddled w/ a few more things like the erosion and earthquake displays and a tinkering area. She got two real arrowheads from the gift shop…something we had talked about recently. A really educational and fun place to go and they are adding more areas for new fun next time.

Next it was to the zoo…which is literally 100 yards away. It being so close sure was a time saver. We saw lots of amazing animals. Saw Rhinos near the entrance and we headed for the elephants. On the way we stopped by the monkey zone. There was a building we went into and there were two large areas you could see into from large glass walls. They were in the process of feeding the Chimps. They took the monkey out of the left area, opened the door, and came in w/ a large trash can pull of compost and started throwing it all over the place…along w/ a bunch of books. So when they let the monkey back in he immediately went over, picked up a book, put it in his mouth, climbed up on a ledge, and started reading. It was awesome and I tell you when I looked that guy straight in the face I saw a glimpse of Christian. Haha. So we made it to the back of the park to see the Elephants. They were kind of far off, but there was a baby one that was so adorable. Very precious. On the way back to the front of the park we saw some smaller cats…not sure what they all were, but one was still a kid and one was a baby…I think they were Leopards. They were beautiful. Stopped by a play area build like trees you could climb around in. We pretended to be a monkey family and that was great fun. Also, went thru the area w/ the Galapagos Turtles, Flamingos, and Peacocks. Those turtles have the cutest faces, but they are deceiving cause you’d lose a finger real quick messing with one. Our last animal stop, and her favorite stop, was to see the Sea Lions and Seals. Oh…on the way there we got to see a guy feeding the ducks and catfish. He dumped this big bucked of feed into the water and they all went crazy. It was nuts. So the Sea Lions were cute and one made a kept making a funny, but annoying noise. We saw them from the top. Then we went underground and saw the Seals thru glass. There were 3 in the tank area and they were super duper cute and having so much fun swimming around. They would go right past the glass and one even came right for it and turned at the last second. Wanted to take one home w/ us, but instead she gat a Seal stuffed animal named Sara from the gift shop. They are perfect together…a cute faced girl and a cute faced seal. Love. That zoo is real good.

Our last stop was Incredible Pizza in Tulsa so we headed that way after the zoo. On the way Lionel meet Sara and as hard as he tried to be like a seal he failed. I got to train Sara to do some neat tricks. MaryJane doctored both Sara and Lionel in the zoo game we played. The pizza place was tasty and fun. She loved the fact they had a big pasta bar. Not sure she even ate any pizza, but I sure did. Played fun games, got lots of tickets, and got some cool prizes. Always a good time at that place. So after that we headed home. WE actually didn’t end up in Joplin, yea, and I got more great performances by the ice cream spoons. It was such a fun day.

MaryJane's 3 Birthdays!

2011-07-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 16th

We started our day w/ a 2 hour play session including Knitting Class, Webkinz, and Baby Sister. Her Friend Birthday Party was at Fun City. It started at 11 am and lasted until around 2 pm. It was her friend Her and her friends Eliana, Malia, and Sasha played games, they ate 3 bags of cotton candy they won, she opened gifts, and we had pizza and Hello Kitty cake. Back home we played w/ all of her presents. Next it was down the Fayetteville Trail for a snow cone and a game of orphans under the railroad bridge. After cooling off and dinner w/ Doodle Bear and her black bear son in China, we played some more Polly Pocket, a different game of orphans, and we pretend to be different Monster High characters at Monster High.

Wednesday, July 20th

We started off her 10th Birthday w/ gifts. She got two My Little Pony Playsets. We played w/ them and Strawberry Shortcake Dolls until it was time for her to go to her GuaGua's. So while I worked from 10-2 she enjoyed time w/ her Mommy, Christian, and her GuaGua. After her Mommy brought her back and stayed for a short visit w/ Christian we made our to the post office to pick up two more gifts. She got 2 Webkinz; a calico kitten named Victoria and a Mazin Hampster named Hope. After a trip to Toys R' Us and Donalds we returned home to round out the day w/ a game of Barbies, some more Ponies, and then more Baribes.

Saturday, July 23rd

We started of the day playing w/ Barbies. She left at 9:15 w/ her Mommy to attend her Great Grandpa Chief's funeral and returned shortly before her Family Birthday Party started at noon. A ton of her family came to our new home to celebrate her birthday w/ her. There was plenty of conversation, French Poodle Sandwiches for lunch, she opened her gifts and cards, and we had more Hello Kitty cake. After the party we played numerous games of Littlest Pet Shop Mall Madness, Hello Kitty Pedicure Shop, and Good Princess / Bad Prince.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

MaryJane and I enjoyed ourselves this fine Valentines Day. We went to a valentines party at the club house. She played bingo, got a puppy named Carly, and made / exchanged valentines w/ the other children. It was a good time. When we got home she got her big valentines gift, Mrs Weenie.

She loves her. She played w/ her and the cats, watched some Wallace and Grommit, looked thru old pictures, and played a karate and a princess / prince game. Awesome fun. Before bed she made me a flip book that draws a heart and says I Love You. It is the best.

Christmas 2010!

2010-12-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

After having fun playing Polly Pocket the early afternoon of the day before Christmas Eve we headed out on the town. We enjoyed buying gifts for our family, having a nice dinner at our A.Q., and a nice visit to the square to see the lights. She got to ride a pony, which she loved every second of, and we ran into her best friend Eliana, her sisters, and her mother Aly. It was great to see them and we plan to get together sometime in January.

We spent our Christmas Eve morning and early afternoon having fun wrapping gifts, making and baking homemade gingerbread cookies (they turned out fab.), and playing a little Polly Pocket. We spent the later part of the day at Aunt Cheryl's for our annual, traditional, Christmas Eve get together. It was wonderful being amidst the entire family and partaking in the usual festivities.

Christmas Morning my Lovely showed up around 11:30. She quickly showed me stuff she got at Mommies and then, after freaking out about the Barbie Video Girl under the tree, went to town opening her other gifts. Think she liked what she got?

They were all things she wanted "really, really, bad". We then went thru our stockings. We spent the rest of the day having fun playing. We started by playing Barbies + her Monster High doll for around 4 hours, she played some of her Pokemon game on her DSi, we played "Tangled" on the Wii, and we played plenty more Barbies.

The day after Christmas we started the day off w/ a trip to Church. It was nice. Back home I feverishly cooked and did final cleaning for our expected company; Cody, Robi, Grandma, and Branden. We all enjoyed each others company, had tasty homemade gumbo, exchanged gifts, and played the "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader" board game.

The day after the day after Christmas, aside from a quick trip to Best Buy for batteries and few minor chores, was spent having fun playing. We played Barbies, her mini skill crane game, the board game "Pictureka", and Wii games.

MaryJane and I sure had an awesome past five days. Looking forward to an awesome 2011 with my Gurly.

Christmas Pictures 2010!

2010-12-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

1-2-3!

2010-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

I can sum up our awesome Sunday in three words; Church, Barbie’s, and College. Let me elaborate a bit. She made another new friend in Sunday School and we finished up the “Release” series. Aside from eating we played an ongoing story w/ Barbie’s the entire time we were at home. We toured the U of A campus taking pictures, learning, and stopping for warm drinks.

Happy Halloween and the 5 days before!

2010-10-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday and Wednesday found us playing w/ clay "Kirby" figures MaryJane made Tuesday night. She did a great job on them. We also had tickle fights both nights. She is the champ. Hehe. Wednesday night we made a trip to Tyson park to dizzy ourselves on the tire swing. She can spin forever. Thursday night we finished up putting her costume together and getting what Daddy needed for his costume. Above is her after her fashion show. She got a 10. : ) A great two nights. Friday afternoon she came Trick-or-Treating at Daddy's work. She loaded up her McDonalds bucket. Friday night was our Halloween night. She got 2 Halloween prizes, we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, and we ate a pumpkin shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. A spooky great time. Saturday she was with me until 1:30. We spent our time together playing Neopet figures and plushes, horses, and Barbies. A short, but great day. Sunday morning we first attended wonderful Church. We then played Neopets to and fro from great Grandma and Grandpa Danforth's where we had lunch w/ them plus Cody and Robi. Good food, great company, and MaryJane got to tour Grandpa's cabinet shop. Back home we made Halloween figures out of clay and she rode her bike. A great Halloween. A great, fun filled 6 days.

Party Time!

2010-10-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

After picking up Gurly Friday afternoon we headed to Pizza Hut to enjoy some grub. It was yummy. Next it was over to Hobby Lobby to get a present for her friend Lon’s Birthday. She got him a nice 89 piece art set. She also bought herself a tattoo pack w/ over 200 tattoos. Not surprising seeing as how she has been had multiple tattoo shops giving Mommy and Daddy hand drawn tattoos, giving herself temp tattoos and having a tattoo shop days earlier giving me a temp tattoo, and her current want to be a tattoo artist when she grows up. So as you probably guessed when we got home I got a few temp tattoos from her tattoo shop and then she proceeded to give herself temp tattoos.

Saturday morning we played a game where she was the sister and I was the bad brother. After that we headed to Home Depot. She built a neat fire fighter boat. She did a great job as always. Then it was back up to Springdale to meet up w/ Sonia, Lon’s Mom, so we could follow them to the birthday party. The party was at his Grandparents 2nd home, a cabin in Jane , MO. It was very nice and a very fun place. We first went walking around exploring the area and then it was time for the zip line. It went from the cabin, down over land, then over the pond to the landing area. After all the kids except MaryJane went I took a trip down it and after a rough landing I elected to not go again. It was fun tho, don’t get me wrong. W/ round 1 of the zip line over we all had pizza and watched present opening. Then all the kids, and some adults, got to decorate their own cupcakes. MaryJane made 3 or 4 I think and they all were very fancy and nice. We sang, chowed and then headed out for round 2. This time MaryJane was ready. She told me “ I have to live my life” a few times. How cute and funny I thought. She went once and immediately went again. Yes, she loved it and it was her favorite part of the trip. Finally, the kids got to take a trip around the lake on the canoe. I guided the last trip w/ MaryJane. She got to go twice, lucky gurl. After her getting her goody bag and saying our goodbyes we reluctantly left the cabin. There was plenty more fun to come tho. We played more sister and bad brother in the car on the way to the tennis court. I broke more lamps than you can imagine, blaming it all on her. Haha. After her showing me improving skills on the court we played a game where I was a bad guy and a good guy and she was the captive, the court being her cage. After a failed attempt to save her by the good guy it turns out she loves the bad guy and they leave the “cage” and head to the play ground. We spent the entire time there getting dizzy on the tire swings. Much funnier on an empty stomach. : ) We grabbed some grub from the market and a copy of the new Tinker Bell movie from Redbox before we went home. We spent the rest of the day relaxing. The movie was really good and the company was really great. What a fun day.

Sunday morning started out w/ Pokémon bargaining and a Pokémon card game. On the way to wonderful Church there was a wild Google in the car that was on a eating rampage. By the time we got to the church doors all the planets were eaten, including my hair and clothes. Haha. Church was fantastic of course. We played more on the way home and while we got ready for our next outing. On the way to the Apple Festival the wild Google was back in action, this time singing to songs on the radio (we were laughing so hard...I was in tears). It also pooped on my arm numerous times. Hehe. We loved the Festival. She had been asking about it for some time and she was not disappointed. She got a little pink w/ black polka dot kitty named Pinkie and she ate 3 servings of apples. After the short stop there it was on to Grandpa and Nana’s for Grandpa’s Birthday Party. We had enchilada soup. It was yummy. We had fun playing dolls and Barbie’s, MaryJane and Brena enjoyed being spun around on the swing set, Cody, Dad and I played a fun yard game, and MaryJane opted for Monsters Inc. over football. Glad we got out there to visit and play. Had been wanting to for some time. On the way back home We played a game where Lionel had his own TV show about Trash stuff and Pinkie was a guest, promoting her line of Perfumes. Well, in the end Lionel’s show ended up getting canceled and was replaced by Pinkies show and her Perfume sold and sold and sold. : ) Back home we made a meal and watched the new Tinker Bell movie again. Another fun day and an all together awesome weekend.

Labor Day Weekend 2010!

2010-09-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

We kicked of our 3 day weekend w/ me taking a trip to the tattoo shop. I got a Google and a multi colored star. Both great, as always. We spent almost the entire morning playing. We played a game where she started off as a baby. She got older and eventually moved away from home. Her brother (Lionel) and father (me) visited her on Christmas. After discovering that her long awaited coupon to Build a Bear had come in the mail and tackling school for the day, we headed to Roger’s where she picked out and brought her Chococat to life. Her name is Choco and she is a police officer. Her police skills were put on display when we got home and discovered a multitude of robberies had taken place. Chococat and I, her Assistant Officer, listened to each victim and then successfully tracked down each and every bad guy, even the ring leader, and the stolen possessions using sharp police and detective abilities, including a precise sleep dart gun shot, questioning, blackmail, and disguises. Later Kelly, Lionel, and I were judges on the latest and greatest show, “Animal’s Got Talent”. Hehe.

Sunday was wonderful Church. She made another new friend in Sunday School. : ) When we got home we chowed and took care of some Math and Science. It was then off to the Springdale Aquatic Center to enjoy some swimming and slides on their last day of operations. We went last weekend and she went down the long slide into shallow water and two short slides into deep waters for the first time. She has progressed each year at the pool. First year staying in the “kiddy” part, the next to the bigger kid part (she could stand), and this year we added the slides because she can swim now. We had a lot of fun both last and this weekend. We will be back next year. After finishing up school later at home we played board games.

Friday and Monday are on Facebook.

What a great weekend w/ my Gurl. Her imagination and playfulness fuel our playtime, her smarts make school a breeze, and her love for life and her Daddy are purely wonderful.

Mission Possible!

2010-08-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Date: 08/28/2010

Time: Between 0700 hrs and 2100 hrs.

Mission: Capture and tame the wild Google.

Operative Webkinz began there training Saturday morning. The combatants underwent thorough training, ability analysis, profiling, and after a trip to the locker room they lined up and took a great pep talk by there leader, Beauty (grey horse). They were driven to there departure location, U of A bus station, by none other than second in charge, Coco (himalayan cat). As the soldiers neared the war zone some became very nervous and apprehensive, none the less they all pulled thru and entered ready for battle. At the point of no return the Webkinz, Lila (chihuahua), Cotton Candy (dragon), Caramel (doggy), and Chocolate (monkey), huddled up to review the game plan, locate and capture. At first the enemy could not be located, but when it was...well, who woulda thought...the Goggle was nice. Some of the team were suspicious of the Googles warm nature and believed it was putting on a show, only to attack them when they were off guard. They returned the captive to there world headquarters and began questioning and testing to determine whether this Googles words and actions were genuine or fake. Turns out the Google is nice! Her name is Coconut.

As you can plainly see from our smiling faces, Daddy and MaryJane's 3rd trip on the University of Arkansas transit was a great one!.

Celebrating MaryJane!

2010-07-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

My Darling Gurl MaryJane certainly enjoyed all the fun of celebrating her Birthday. We had a big party Sunday afternoon at our sweet and stylish club house. A good turnout of Friends and Family were present to celebrate w/ MaryJane. She got lots and lots of nice gifts, had a cool and yummy cake, and had a blast mingling w/ her friends in and out of the water. : ) After the party we went thru her new goodies on our living room floor, colored a nice picture together, and played some DSi on the couch before bedtime.

We continued celebrating Monday w/ Daddy taking off work to spend the day w/ Birthday Gurl. We had a great time playing w/ Pokémon figures and Pokémon cards and playing DSi at the house. We Played Pokémon trainers outside. We made 2 trips to the pool; the second time we played Pokémon at the pool, and a trip to Cold Stone Creamery where we enjoyed sweet treats.

More celebrating came Tuesday, her actual Birthday, with her and I going to the movie theater to see The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. We both love magic and this movies has plenty of spells that are amazing. A great movie for sure. Can’t wait to see it again on DVD. Prior to the movie we went to eat. She showed me a picture she had taken on her DSi of her and her 3 friends at the Sitters…and the picture of them after she had drawn on all their faces. She was a cat, Madie was a horse, Devon was a clown, and Cameron was some guy w/ a mustache. So then she took a picture of us together and made me a clown and her SpongeBob. The artwork was great and the faces were funny.

Wednesday was more celebration w/ her going to Gator Golf w/ Mommy and Christian. She said they had fun time and that she got a hole in one on the first hole. That’s my gurl. Mommy also took her and C to eat at Lynn’s Garden; the most delicious Chinese buffet known to man.

We finished up celebration yesterday w/ me taking her to Wal-Mart to get her final gift, a Pokémon game w/ 2 bonuses for her DSi. She loves it of course. We also chowed some Subway and had a lot of fun at the park in Johnson, so much that she has requested w/ go back tonight. Looking forward to it.

So excited for all the wonderful things that the next years holds for her and I.

One last “Happy Birthday MaryJane”!

Daddy Loves You!

: )

I Heart Moving!

2010-06-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

You’d think so at least from as much as we move. Yes, Its tru…we have moved. We are back at Electric Ave...same building…same side…same floor…just the other end. We like it there.

(6/3) - We headed for Fayetteville after leaving the sitters to eat an CiCi’s. We usually go to the one in Rogers, but the Fayetteville one is better. It was yummy. Next it was over to Barnes and Noble to browse and read as we frequently do. They are having there summer reading program where you read 8 books and then they give you a book for free as a prize. She read a few while we were there and would have read more if we hadn’t had to get going in order to have some time at the park. We went to the Jones Center Park. I knew they had a park, but I didn’t realize it was so big, fancy and cool. On the way there we pretended we were Chinese and at the park we played in general and played a ton of short pretend games. It was much fun. On the way home a cheerleading bear kept turning into a zombie and eating my hair. When we got home MaryJane cured her of her zombiness by playing the Plants vs. Zombies song for her.

(6/4-6/6) - Friday was packing day, Saturday was U-haul day, and Sunday was more packing and more moving day. It was a loonnngggg 3 days. I was very happy to have MaryJane there w/ me the entire time. We did not enjoy the fact that we did not get much time to play, but understood what had to be done. We did play a little each morning and each night and a few time thru out the day Friday. She watched tv Friday and Saturday morning and did other things like making cool crafts. She kept me in good spirits. She made a bunch of fish have a singing competition while I was working on Sunday. It was nice. A HUGE thank you to Bill for helping me move on Saturday and to Gina for bringing us dinner. Sunday was also a trip to Build-a Bear Workshop where she made her new friend “Peace”. She is a bright blue bear w/ bright colored peace signs all over her. She is very cool.

Family Camp 2010!

2010-06-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday (5/25) After picking Gurly up from the Sitter’s we headed over to a Las Fajita’s in Bentonville to eat. She taught me napkin etiquette, played w/ Lionel, and she saw how many times she could bounce a semi-bouncy call and catch it. Next it was off to the Bentonville Library. She got a few book and Lionel got in a lot of trouble. At home we played the game where she is a girl who lives in a tree house located the Forest. This time I pretended to be a guy that lived in the forest too. We became friends and decided we would meet again. She read a chapter of her newest book series, The Bailey School Kids, while I read Judy Moody.

Thursday (5/27) Today we made a quick stop by Braums on the way home to get some vanilla ice cream and fresh cones. Once home we played outside for a little bit. We were kids that just wanted to rock out, but our dad made us husk 1000 ears of corn a day instead. While eating dinner and enjoying the cream we watched part of Shrek Forever After. Then it was back outside for a few minutes to play and then back inside to watch more Shrek. While watching she decided to give me a manicure and a pedicure. She is quite good at both. She learned how to hypnotize and part of how to be a babysitter and the Sitters today.

Friday (5/28) This was the final day for MaryJane to attend her art class at the Jones Center. She came to work w/ me in the morning where she drew a beautiful picture of flowers. I later took her to her class where she did a cool forest painting. After class I picked her up, grabbed her some Donald’s and dropped her off at the Sitters. We made a semi-quick trip to Wal-Mart after work to pick up supplies for our weekend trip to Family Camp.

FELLOWSHIP FAMILY CAMP (MAY 29-31)

5/29/2010 to 5/31/2010

THIS CAMP IS FOR K- 6TH GRADE (FALL 2010) AND THEIR FAMILES. OUR DESIRE FOR FAMILY CAMP IS TO PROVIDE YOUR FAMILY A TIME TO FOCUS ON HAVING AND INCREDIBLY FUN TIME TOGETHER. JOIN US AT NEW LIFE RANCH FOR A WEEKEND YOUR FAMILY WON'T FORGET. WE HOPE FAMILY CAMP WILL BE A GREAT TIME TO CONNECT MORE DEEPLY WITH FAMILIES AND FIND THAT YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WORKING HARD TO RAISE CHRIST-LIKE CHILDREN. MAY 29-31 AT NEW LIFE RANCH IN COLCORD, OK.

We then headed to pick up MaryJane’s present for her Mommies B-day and grab a bite at Arby’s where Lionel tried continuously to invade her and Kelly’s Girls Club to no avail. At home we played outside. It was a game where Lionel and I meet a girl (MaryJane). She told us about the legend of a wolf that scattered jewels across the land. No one had ever found one…and we were not about to be the first. It is said that anyone who finds them will be haunted by the wolf. Yikes. Hehe. We later finished of Shrek. Despite my perception from previews that it would not be good…it is good. : ) Bedtime; big day tomorrow!

Car time this week included school (even one of my fav’s; Healthy Class), playing with Shrek toys, good conversation, and stinky Lionel. Bed time recently I order a meal and she makes it in the form of gum. It’s totally Willy Wonka style.

Saturday (5/29) After a fast and Furious last minute packing frenzy we headed for Colcord. It just on the other side of Siloam (about an hour drive). We got there just before 11:00, got our picture taken, and got half unpacked before it was time to head to the Chapel for our first rally. The rallies consisted of singing songs, a short play, and a short lesson (in rallies 2-4). We had a lot of fun singing and doing hand gestures and she learned a lot from the lessons. We then got into groups of 4 families and went on a Scavenger Hunt. We were w/ the Halls, Archers, and another family we did not know. Brandon Hall leads our community group and the Archers are members of our community group. We never found out who won, but we did really good and had fun doing it. It was then lunch, followed by an hour of free time, and then they opened the creek, pool, and challenge course from 2-4. We spent our afternoon doing various things. She made a cute cup to drink out of, I went down the big water slide a few times, we made an attempt to scale the rock wall, and spent a lot of time canoeing. We started out together and by the end of our canoeing day she was powering her own kayak. Part of the time we pretended that we were lost and being watched and followed by Indians. It was a great time. After attending the cook out for dinner we headed to rally number two. As I said before there was a lesson at the end of this one and the next two. Someone would speak for about 5 minutes then we had Breakout. This was where we went back to our rooms and spent time together as a family doing an in depth lesson based on what we learned at the rally. Our lessons and the theme for camp were based upon 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come”! At 7:45 we attended a Sock Hop. We thought it was going to be a sack race…hehe. It was a 50’s themed get together where there was dancing, games, activities, and more. We played w/ holla hoops and danced together, she got a strike playing bowling. She danced w/ some older girls, she participated in a “do the twist” competition and a limbo competition, we ate ice cream, and she colored a picture for her new found best friend Julia. At dark she got a glow stick and 3-D glasses and then we watched an awesome fireworks show.

Sunday morning we got up, showered, and headed down to get some breakfast. I don’t remember specifically at what meals we did this, but we would pretend that we were students eating at the school cafeteria. Before our 3rd rally and 2nd break out we made a trip around the big island; both in kayaks this time. Then us parents meet up at the Chapel for a parent seminar while the kids played outside. She said she didn’t really play anything; rather spent time hanging out w/ Julia. After lunch we went back to the cabin where we meet up w/ our group from the scavenger hunt. We were there to build boats. Sunday night at 6:30 we had a boat race. Each team got 4 big pieces of cardboard and 3 rolls of duct tape. Our team built 2 boats. One for adults and one for kids. The adults did the boat work while the kids played and did crafts. MaryJane made a beautiful pillow. We then made out final canoeing / kayaking trip and then headed over to the creek attractions. She spent most of her time sitting by the life guard watching people get wet. I made a trip down the big water slide, 2 trips down the fast slide (a really long, steep, metal slide like you see on an old school play ground), and got launched from the blob (a huge inflatable laying on the water. One person lays on one end while another jumps from a ledge, landing on the other end and launching there victim into the air). After a quick stop at the pool we headed back to the cabin where she finished a second pillow and gave it to Julia. We threw down on some supper, grabbed our boats, and headed for the water. Brandon’s Wife, Windy, drove the adult boat and Brandon skis, Reed, was supposed to drive the kid boat, but he backed out and Matt ended up filling his spot. There were a lot of cool boats there. The race was hilarious. Some, like our teams kid boat being driven by an adult, didn’t last a second, while others slowly sank, and other did quite well. One even made it across the creek and back. Wow. Following the boat race all families meet at the Chapel for games. It was a game show theme called “Minute to Win It”. You get the drift I’m sure. I competed against another guy in playing “Card Ninja”. We tried to throw cards into watermelon halves. He got 4 in a minute while I got a big fat 0. Yup, I was horrible at it, but it was fun none the less. MaryJane competed right after me against another kid playing “Magic Carpet”. Thee scooted on rugs across the floor in a race. MaryJane Won. She did awesome. Finally for the day we attended a basketball game. I watched while she worked on a third pillow and spent time w/ Julia.

Monday was breakfast, rally number 4, breakout, and baptisms in the creek. After packing the car we played at the gym for a little bit and then we were on the road headed out. We made a stop at Donald’s and at Wal-Mart to get a few necessities and some party supplies. She said we would have a party to celebrate the good time we had at camp. Great idea. When we got home we opened our goodies; Pokémon packs, traded, ate cupcakes, and then stuffed animals came out and participated in a game show like we had Sunday night. They won gold medals. Next we played a talking Pokémon cards game. The one where my guy has the stinky cards and her girl has the awesome cards. We made a quick trip outside, I ran her thru the bath, and then after dinner we went back outside. We played a game where she was a girl of ill trades. She sprinkled Lionel and I with soap to clean us and then made me a smoothie, main dish, and a fancy bunny dessert. Yum. Last we played more of our Pokémon game. What a great weekend. We will always remember it.

Attention to Detail!

2010-05-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday (5/22/10) - So here it is Saturday and I’m blogging about Saturday. ; ) We started our day w/ Nature Class. We walked down Rainbow Drive. I was the teacher and a student and MaryJane and Lionel were students. She made a nice list with her new multi color pen, I drew pictures, and Lionel wrote down two things kept picking things that were not nature. 2 W+'s and 1 A+. Then it was Barbie’s. It was a story we have done before with a family of 4; Mom, Dad, Daughter, and Son, and a Sitter. The little boy is bad and wont clean his room aside from throwing away a piece of trash or two, so he has to stay home w/ the sitter while that rest of the family goes to Disneyland. This time the daughter grew up later, got a boyfriend, and went to college. She became a Vet and Doc and the boy became a Firefighter and Policeman. The girl ended up keeping her fist animal patient, a LPS puppy that later grew up and had a puppy that she gave to Cinderella. They end up rescuing a ton of animals and finding homes for them. We paused at 9 during Barbie’s for me to go mow. She played Peggle, her newest favorite Pop Cap game. She is really good and is close to beating it already. She is a Peggle Superstar. After lunch we headed outside where we spent a lot of our afternoon. We played where I was the father, Lionel was the bad son and she was the good girl. We then played a game where she was a good Pokémon. I was her owner that wanted to make her be bad and Lionel was in video she watched about being bad. Next we attempted to do water ballons but they wouldn’t bust so we just sprayed each other with the hose and had a lot of good wet fun doing it. We later used the water balloons in a game where she was a vet. We made her a clinic in front of the storage shed and a bunch of animals from our yard sale were treated there. I would deliver water balloons full of medicine and other supplies as the UPS man to her and she would use the medicine on the animals. She did surgeries, removed bad cotton and beads from animals, putting medicine in and on them, putting good beads in them, and she gave one of them stitches and some band aids. I was also the father of Lionel who acted bad and tried numerous times to get into the clinic so he could get yucky medicine and chocolate: things she didn’t even have. We then did school. She learned about the Hebrews going from Egypt to Israel in History and about Matter in Science. After dinner we headed back out for another round of Vet and Lionel feel in love w/ one of the patients, but she wouldn’t have anything to do w/ him. We also had a battle, her using strong Magic 101 moves and me using weak sword moves. After playing a little more where she was the Wizard girl and I was the warrior boy we headed in and called it a day.

Sunday (5/23/10) - Sunday started off w/ 2 games where we use Pokémon cards as our characters. In the first game two 3rd stage cards and their minions (me) picked on some stage 1 cards (her). Another card was a police officer that made my cards leave her cards alone and arrested my cards. Her cards evolved and defeated all my cards. In the second game her group of cards was new to my group of cards neighborhood. My cards picked on her cards and got in trouble. Her cards evolved and my cards quit being mean. Then it was off to Church where we meet up w/ Poppy and Grandma Gina. The Sermon on The Bread of Life by Robert was great. On the way there and back she was a girl that loved nature and music who was new to school. She used her snake instrument to make the areas nature grow beautiful. Me, the teacher, and Lionel, the cranky student, were in awe. After lunch we got outside to play. We played games similar to Saturday. The battle game, except this time I tried to use magic, but it didn’t work. The vet clinic game, except this time she started off as a young girl just practicing to be a vet and I was her cranky brother who wanted to be the manager of a Chuck E. Cheese. She later grew up to own her own clinic and I didn’t get to work at Chuckies. The game where she is a Pokémon, except this time she was a water Pokémon part of the time. Before heading in we filled up water balloons, poked a tiny hole in the tops of them and pretend they were ice cream as we drank the water out of them. Later inside we did school. She learned details about the Hebrews trip from Egypt to Israel in History, about Properties in Science, and numerators and denominators in Math. Before leaving for Community group we played another Pokémon card game. This time we both had a Pokémon Trainer card. Hers had lots of Pokémon that evolved and mine had few Pokémon that would not evolve. She came to Community group w/ me and got to play and watch a movie w/ and 8 year old girl named Bailey while we watched a play called The Beam Seat. On the way there and back she spent some time reading her Bailey School Kids book #2. We found it funny that both her book and friend both were named Bailey. Haha. When we got home we played outside. She was the Wizard Girl and I was her brother who couldn’t do good at being a warrior or wizard. After a Water Balloon Ice Cream we headed inside. She played Peggle before bed and is on the last character. She is really good at that game. Now I’m off to do my chores so I can get in a little Peggle myself before bed. An awesome weekend it was.

2010-05-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

I didn’t really take notes for last week or this week so far. I’m going to start typing each night about our day. That way it will all be fresh on my mind, I can get all the good details in there, and I won’t get behind. I can tell you we have been having a blast. I will get a little something put together about last week and put it here… and include a tad about this week so far when I do my Monday post. Later.

A Fun Week Indeed!

2010-05-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

Last week was great. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday master C was with us. Monday night started off w/ a few rides on my shoulders each up and down the hill in the back. Sis an I played a game where she was a girl in the jungle an I was a guy from New York that found her and learned from her. We alter watched an outside show called “Bamboo Shunu”. C is Bamboo Shunu and we watch episodes of him doing whatever he is doing at the time. We laugh hysterically, which entices him to really go crazy. After some Hieroglyphics it was off to bed. Tuesday night Sis opened a natural beauty salon by a tree in the front yard and we watched more Bamboo Shunu. Wednesday was a trip to the park by the Bentonville Library and to the library itself. We had a picnic at the park and did plenty of swinging. Sis got Judy Moody # 6 so when she finished # 5 she would be ready. She is reading #6 (and a handful of other books) now. : ) Thursday on the way home MaryJane enjoyed light up spray candy and taught Lionel to read. When we got home it was a popular game of pretending to be Chinese. After spending some time throwing stuffed animals into the ceiling fan and laughing our heads off we had Ballet Class. Friday night we played a game of being Chinese w/ Doddle Bear and Black Bear, played School w/ Kelly and Lionel, and I was taken back to my childhood as we threw stuffed animals into the ceiling fan and laughed our selves silly. : ) Sunday morning we spend a brief time in the bed playing w/ Build-a –Bears and a brief amount of time on the futon playing Neopets before playing school for a good while. She then spent some time painting a beautiful flower picture for her Mommy for Mother’s Day. The afternoon was filled w/ more pretend school, Barbie’s, real school, and playing outside. Speaking of playing outside, we spent soooo much time playing outdoors Sunday afternoon. It was one fun game after another. A fun week indeed.

A Wildgirl and a Wildboy!

2010-05-07T13:44:00.001-07:00

Last week MaryJane and I again started of our week w/ a trip to Wal-Mart. We go their way to much. We have been doing Harps some too. Higher prices, but easier to get in and out off and MaryJane and Christian love to have me race them down the aisles. At home we enjoyed going crazy on the bed, looking a t a Disney book together and checking out a star system model she made a few years ago at Treehouse. It has glow in the dark beads on it. I raised a question about how they glow and she responded w/ a very detailed explanation, including a very detailed diagram. It’s quite a complicated process. After a bath and a story it was lights out. Tuesday we played Reading class, Ballet class, and Singing class before I mowed half the yard. She got some pipe cleaners the night before and decided she was going to make something for the Silent Auction at the Treehouse Gala we were attending at the Jones Center on Thursday night. She made the braids you see below. Nice huh. Before bed we played some w/ the super hero figures again. Wednesday C joined the party. I finished up my mowing while they played outside. Ran them thru a bubble bath after the outside action. We then played on the bed…before sleeping in the bed. Thursday was the Gala. Mommy had to work so I took the kids. We grabbed a bite at Arby’s where we formed a girl club and a boy club. Tried to convenience Kelly to join our group , but he wouldn’t. The Gala was fun. We browsed the auction quite a bit. She got a mug full of candy and her item sold for a few bucks. : ) After that we moved over to the Theater where we watched performances and a play. MaryJane sat w/ her friends while C and I sat together. He enjoyed clapping after the performances and laid quietly on me during the entire play. Took these pictures outside after the Gala was over. What cuties. Friday we played around the house, including Karate class w/ Kelly and Lionel and where MaryJane pretends to be different Pokémon. Saturday was awesome. We got up at 6:15 in the morning and played for 4 ½ hours straight. We played a lot of Barbie’s, some super hero figures school, and where she is an orphan girl who lives in a treehouse. We then headed for Springdale where we made our return to the Library. We hadn’t been in quite some time; instead only going to Bentonville. Now we are doing both. : ) She got quite a few books, including Judy Moody number 5 which she is already finished with. We went to Gully Park in Fayetteville. We played there for 1 ½ hours. Spent some time on the play places, but a majority of it was spent in the wooded area by the little river. She was a girl who lived in the wilderness and I was the father of Kelly and Lionel. We meet her and she showed us the ways of the wilderness. Lionel complained and Kelly tried numerous times to convince her to come w/ us, but she would not. However, at the last minute she decided she would come w/ us for one night. : ) Sunday we played LPS for a bit before Church. After wonderful Church we finished up the new Alice in Wonderland, played Barbie’s, and read books on the bed. She came to Community Group w/ me and afterwards became a VIP on BarbieGirls.com. What a fun week.

Another Great Week!

2010-04-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we started our week off w/ a fun trip to walmart. Yip-cha. When we got home we continued to play Tattoo shop for a bit and had a good round of Barbies in the tub. We are actually scheduled to continue that game tonight. Fun. Tuesday we played school on the way home; math class w/ Daddy, Lionel, and Kelly students. When we got home we learned about nature outside by watching pretend videos narrated by MaryJane. That was cool. Next we played another game outside were we were superhero kids with Chinese accents. I was the father and brother, she was the sister. The brother ended up getting sent to time out for being mean to his sister. While in time out father and sister made bread out of various outside ingredients and honey. We cooked it w/ a lighter and it turned out good and yummy. One more outside game was a must. We were characters from our Magic Cards. I’ve told about this before. I am a Forest Ranger and she is some Dark Girl. This time were started out young, 5 or 6, and were just developing our powers/skills. We later grew to be 12 years old and had full powers/skills. We were supposed to go to a class to learn how to use our powers/skills, but decided to skip that and just go use our powers/skills. Wednesday started off the same w/ math class and again featured outside games, but different ones. Again I was the father and brother, she was the sister. The father was training the brother to be a Forest Ranger while the sister cooked. Again the brother, along w/ another brother (Lionel) mis-behave. They are sent to a behavioral class where they can’t seem to behave and where the sister is presented w/ a Ranger Staff. Our last game before heading in for the night was one where she was a handicap girl named Tina on her first day of school. Lionel and I were mean kids making fun of her, but she was comforted by her friend Kelly. We all went to a class on the porch where I was the teacher. I taught Hieroglyphics. She did great, Kelly copied what she did, and Lionel was so bad he was in the principal’s office a majority of the time. Wednesday was the last day of Treehouse. : ( ,but it was enjoyed. She finished her last Lapbook, and pretty much just had parties and played outside in the rest of her classes. She did a Nancy Drew Swap where her and another kid made something for each other. She did an awesome job of drawing a replica of the first Nancy Drew book for her wrapping paper and then wrapped the first book in it and I helped her w/ the neat pen. She got a cool little clock and a stylish pin for her backpack. We watched Monsters Inc. in my class. Me and my wonderful students.

After Treehouse we jetted and anxiously headed to the book store to get our new books. She got Judy Moody # 4 and I got DragonLance Lost Chronicles Volume 1. After Coffee, Milk, and browsing we went to Wendy’s to eat. We went not long ago and it was really good so we went back for more. They had Detective toys so of course we played a detective game in the restaurant. Kelly and Lionel wanted to be Detectives w/ us, but we said no…that we would only train Kelly to be a future detective. Lionel was bad, but MaryJane used her sleuth skills to catch him and Kelly showed us some of his skills, but they were not good. Got MaryJane a good amount of spring clothes and we got seeds and hoes to start our garden with. It was dark when we got home, but we worked in the garden anyways. Friday I went over to Jessica’s new place for the first time, hung out there for a bit, and then took the kiddos to eat. Sis ate her food and then danced in the restaurant. She’s a really good dancer. At home Sis drew a really nice diagram of garden. I will have to get a picture of it. The night went by quickly so we didn’t get much playing in. Saturday morning was spent playing around the house. MaryJane and I played a game where as usual she was a Pokemon Master and I was a newbie. She showed me and told me about a Pokemon Pass. Basically if you want to be able to do anything Pokemon related in the place you are at you have to swipe your pass before you enter that place. Then MaryJane, Christian and I headed off to Siloam to enjoy ourselves. First stop was the Casino. They had been there before, but not I. It was quite good. I’d like to go sometime when I could venture the area more and give them some of my money. Haha. Then we visited There Great Grandma and Grandpa; Jean and Ira. They had not seen Christian in some time so I was pleased he could be w/ us. We chatted, played ball in the back yard and admired the beautiful quilt she is putting togerther for MaryJane. Upon returning home we enjoyed playing outside. It was wet and it was fun. I recalled something from when I was a kid so took action. Its where you stand under a leafy branch and have someone shake it to make it rain on you. They loved it. After C went to sleep early Sis and I played Doctor. She was the Doctor and Kelly wanted to be one to, but could not. Sunday morning we meet up w/ there grandma and grandpa; Bill and Gina, at Fellowship. Since they had not seen Master C in a while we got there a little early. After visiting MaryJane and I took him to Sunday School where the little “Calico Kitten” had a great time. After Church and and Lunch C was more than ready foir his siesta. He slept for 3 hours…and MaryJane and I played 3 hours. WE played pretend in the living room, superhero figures in the bedroom, and she colored a pretty rainbow. I dropped them off with their Mommy before heading to community group. Another great week completed.

Girls and Trees!

2010-04-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

We kicked off last week w/ a trip to Turtle Creek Park in Rogers. Been there once before and had a good time. We played, she read Judy Moody under the tree, and she wrote in her new secret journal. We had dinner outside on the back deck when we got home and then proceeded to spend more time outside. We played a game where she was a gurl who worked at a do-jo after hours. Kelly and Lionel found her and the story elaborated from there. We then spent some time breaking sticks in Karate Fashion. Hi-yah. A fun night out doors. Tuesday we went for a good walk, picking flowers and petting this huge dog we know. Christian really thought that was a good deal. Played a board game w/ Sis while Christian had fun playing w/ the pretend food. We did our best to break the bed too. Hehe. The newest idea surfaced that night. They lay horizontal together at the end of the bed, Christian being closer to me. I then lift the mattress quickly sending them rolling, w/ C rolling over Sis. They loved it. Needless to say we got a good work out. Wednesday was another trip to the park. This time Attalanta Park which is just down the road from us. Sis, C, and I spent some time on the playground equipment, but the real fun came w/ the water. There is a good, shallow stream that runs beside the park w/ a little waterfall. They enjoyed wading and throwing rocks. They got wet, but not wet enough. When we got home the neighbor had his sprinkler going. They stood, as they have before, as close to his yard as possible in hopes of getting sprayed by the sprinkler. Sis came thru the door as I was making dinner, drenched, saying the guy had let them come into his yard, then she was back out and back in his yard w/ Christian. Now they were good and wet. : ) After a quick change of clothes we gathered around the computer and watched “UP”. Found this great website where you can watch just about any movie you want for free. Its swell. So Thursday was an adventure. Bout the time I was getting to work I got a call from Jess saying she had to take someone to the hospital; not good, but I got to see the kiddos again; real good. We went to Treehouse and played on the playground until class started. Then C and I split. We came to my work, rode the elevator numerous times, and got some money. It took a while to get my check and he was so good the whole time so I took him to Donald’s for eatz and playtime. We crawled thru the tubes having fun and asking each other which way we should go next. Did you know they have 9 sauces for nuggets, even chipotle BBQ and buffalo? Who knew. We grabbed a Happy Meal to go for Sis and venture over to Treehouse. Sis was doing great. She started a lap book about camping and finished the alphabet in A-Z Animals. After eating and playing until her next class started C and I hit the road. We ran a few errands and then hit K-Mart to goof off in the toy isles for a bit. He enjoyed pushing the buttons on all the vehicles pretty much the entire time. I then dropped him off with his daddy and was off to teach at Tree house. We had a great class as always. Played the classic game of “don’t let the balloon touch the ground”, made Adventure Journals, and hunted for balloons outside. She made a couple cute paper plate animals in her art class and something gross in cooking. We got out of there quick this week and headed down the road for B&N. She read Judy Moody and I drooled over 2 DragonLance books. We are going back this week to get a book each. Yea. We had a delicious dinner at Golden Coral next. Just can t beat all you can eat delicious steak. We played w/ Gummy Bears as we usually do there. She made a battle arena in one dish and another bowl full of accessories so that we could make our bears into Pokémon and they could battle. It was so funny and fun. She scored a big yellow kitty from the machine on the way out and named her Daniela. She looks much like an LPS, which is a good thing. She is also royalty and made Lionel her maid. I am his back-up cause he really isn’t that good at it. Before heading home we played a round of mini-golf in Fayetteville. She beat me. : ( Hehe. She attended her Art Class again on Friday. She did a couple masterpieces I have yet to lay my eyes on. I know they are spectacular already. After work was a trip to Subway for a healthy dinner. We always fill out comment cards. This one got 3 out of 5. It was freezing in thurr. Burrr. Hehe. On the way home she pretended to be different Pokémon and I was a trainer that didn’t have much luck communicating or catching the Pokémon. When we got home the game continued in the front yard until I turned in Wubuff Man; a superhero w/ a Pokémon’s names. I saving numerous people we headed inside and called it a night. Saturday we stayed home after being out so much during the week. I like doing things, but a good day at the house is just awesome. We played 3 great games w/ Pokémon cards and made a trade, played school where she taught me from an English book, plus did and taught Lionel exercises on the bed. We wrestled for a minute and then while she was laying there I made her attack me. I just rolled her on top of me and made her do moves while she lay limp. She loved this and we did it upon request 2 more times that afternoon. During and after lunch she made me 3 nice gifts, we read Judy Moody on the bed (her book #3, me book #1), and I carried her on my shoulders while she dusted. The biggest game w/ us playing Fashion Designer. She was a gurl who worked at the studio and I was a teacher that took my children, Kelly and Lionel of course, on a field trip there. Lionel didn’t like it, but Kelly was crazy about it. After leaving Kelly kept sneaking back into the studio to observe the designing. It was a lot of fun. We got some school done and also watched the newest Barbie movie on-line. A very fun day at the hacienda. Sunday morning we played Tattoo shop before we headed off to Church. No Grandma Gina and Poppy today, they were preparing for the family picnic we were going to afterwards at Lake Wedington. On the way there she finished her 3rd Judy Moody book. She is loving that series and cannot wait to read #4. We had a good time at the picnic. They have a tire swing that she loved and played on when we first got there and later w/ Haley when she arrived. We went down to the water for a bit, visited w/ great company, and ate delicious food from the grill. She even got to do smores. I wish we could have stayed longer, but Daddy had community group to lead. We will be back there again this summer I’m sure of it.

Spring has Sprung!

2010-04-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

So Last week Master C was with us For the first half of the week. Monday when we got home I gave them rides up and down the hill, which they love. Sis used the ZuZu pets as the keys (yes…I make car sounds). Hehe. Sis helped make dinner and plated the food. We played in the back yard for about an hour I think. Sis had a restaurant where she served up natural dishes that were outstanding. She was Nanny Mcphee and very serious about her restaurant. Christian was my wild child that ran rampant and threw things in the restaurant. We then went for a short walk before it got dark. She was again Nanny Mcphee and Kelly, Lionel, and Christian were bad kids. She would freeze and move Kelly and Lionel around w/ her stick, but for some reason the magic had no affect on Christian. Hehe. Sis and I played Copy Cat on the way back. I ran their dirty little bodies thru the tub, they had a snack along w/ the ZuZu pets while finishing up Bee Movie, and it was off to bed. Sis peeled me a carrot for snack time. I declared that she is now officially in charge of dinner and snacks at our house cause she serves up super yummy food. : d Kelly and Lionel took a field trip to Harimuka on the way home Tuesday night. MaryJane whipped up some more goodies again when we got home. She was MeMe this time and she served real food. She made me a yummy banana and cherry smoothie and a veggie and fruit salad. Yummy. We watched part of Wall-E before taking a break to go for a walk. MaryJane rode the skate board down the road and did impressively well. C rode it all the way back….except he was on his belly w/ me pushing him. Hehe. We finished our movie before bed. I like that movie more every time I see it. Wednesday we went to Memorial Park in Bentonville. It a very interesting park. It has a slide w/ no sides, spider webbing, and plenty of other things you won’t find at your typical park. We had a real good time. Monday and Tuesday we had not jumped on the bed and I knew C was missing that so we cranked up the radio and did our thang. Before bed Sis grabbed a bunch of change and they competed to see who could grab the most money (I even dumped money on there heads which they seemed to enjoy). and she taught some from an old homeschool book. A cool, fun 3 nights the gurl and the dude. : ) Thursday was Treehouse. She finished another lapbook (baseball), is nearing the end of the alphabet in A-Z Animal Science, made some sort of chocolate whip cream in Cooking, and my class sent great. We did Wall-E. We played basketball w/ trash and made boots which we planted flowers in (recall the plant in the boot from the movie).

After Treehouse we went to McDonalds to eat and pay. We always go to one of the two w/ a play place. She had a restaurant in the baby part of the play place that had a drive thru from which i ordered and we played this game we do where i have to guess which slide she going to go down by going to it and then seeing id she comes out of the one where i am at. Before i took her to her mothers we went to the Bentonville library where she got books and we spent some time in one of the private reading rooms making animals in books say funny things. We love doing this and always laugh so much. Friday night we went to CeCe's Pizza for dinner. Yummy food, nice people, games, and prizes make this place a hit w. us. When we got home i had to mow. She worked in the garden, helped me mow, and placed a ton of dandelion seed in one spot of the front yard so a bunch of sunflowers will grow there. Before bed i took Margaret and Charlotte to the doctor/hospital. Charlotte was good and got a treat while Margaret was bad and got shots. hehe. Saturday a lot of fun. We started our day of by playing Polly Pocket for over 2 hours. We could have played longer, but had to get ready for our trip to town. In the car we played a game we do where we make Pokemon cards talk and do things and she spent time reading Judy Moody, a new book series she is loving. We went to a book swap at the mall. She traded in close to a dozen books for i think 9 or so really good, nice books. It was better than i could have imagined. Next was Wilson Park in Fayetteville. Havent been there in ages. We had a short little picnic when we got there and then headed for the castle.

While there we discovered a lot of clues. We pieced clues together and came away knowing we needed to find out more about a jewel bird. We also found a secret code, E S 6 6, that we needed to figure out what meant. We then headed over to the play ground area where we ran into Haden and Haley. MaryJane and Haley had fun playing together. We did her Math, Reading, and Science when we got home. She id doing great in all 3 subjects. We watched some of the last Beethoven movie and then went outside. We did some gardening as Vikings and played this game we do where we set up we set up shops out side. She sells good items and i sell junky items. I went to her shop and stuffed animals went to our shops. None of them wanted anything to do w. my junk, but they all enjoyed buying nice things from MaryJane s shop. Sunday morning we meet up w/ Grandma Gina and Poppy for Church. I think we are going to start going w/ them every week which is awesome. Sunday afternoon was packed w/ games. We played like a million different things. A few mentions are more detective work. We figured out more about the clues. We uncoded the secret code and got "rose" so we know now it is a red jewel bird. We also played Scooby Doo and caught the bandit puppy who stole the clementines. We colored too. She did a fabulous job on this Groovy Girls picture and i did a Peanuts page. Another awesome week.

This is a card she made for me the Friday prior to last week in the art class she is taking at The Jones Center. What a sweetheart.

A cool coloring page she did Thursday night in the car....

...and the cool back.

A cute kitty cup she made and drank from.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

We started of our week w/ a trip to the library. We have recently become frequenters of the Bentonville Library. While the selection is not as vast as the Springdale Library it is very nice and very close. We enjoy our visits there browsing, reading to each other, and Sis has even helped shelve books. Kelly and Lionel visited the doctor and dentist on the way home and we finished up the 5th, but not final Beethoven movie that night. Sis says its her favorite and I have to say it is really good. There is one called Beethoven’s Big Break that we will have to check out next that is not in her collection. We hit McDonalds for a bite Tuesday night. She made a friend as she usually does. They played and Lionel chased them a bit. We went for a walk later to pick up trash around the neighborhood. It was relatively already clean this trip. We ended up down in the back yard of Jessica’s old house. There are some chains that a board used to lay across that made a swing, but the board was gone so she just held on to a chain and I pushed her that way. I told her there was some wood in the shed behind the house that we could use to make a new seat. She said the one before was painted black; that she was going to paint this one. So when we got home I drug out a good board; a 1 x 8 I guess is what it is. I set up some benches and she cut herself a swing seat. She is a really good at sawing. She then laid it on the porch and painted away. She finished the top of the seat that night and it looks so cool. She painted a picture of Toothless, the main dragon from the new How to Train your Dragon movie. She only lacks about a quarter of the back to go before she’s done. I’ll have pictures of her, her swing seat, and likely some swinging this week. Wednesday Christian came to stay w/ us. With the warm weather I thought I would take them down to the boat drops. This is a good size almost island like area made of dirt and rock. Master C and I spent time chunking rocks into the water and MaryJane and I played a game where she was an Orphan Indian. Can’t wait for the water to be warm enough to swim. We later jumped on the bed. Thursday was Treehouse. Wow…so lots to say here I guess. Last week was one of the final four sessions. MaryJane is loving it as always. She is taking 6 classes. Poetry in your lap (she makes elaborate lap books based on things like pirates, butterflies, baseball, etc.), A-Z Animal Science, The Nancy Drew Book Club (She likes Nancy Drew a lot. Each week they talk about and do things related to one of the books), Art Exploration, Cooking, and Pixar Playtime. If you didn’t know (which you probably don’t) I am teaching her last class there this semester. Each week we talk about one of the wonderful Disney Pixar movies and play games and do activities related to the movie. I have MaryJane, her BFF Eliana, and 4 other children in my class. It’s a real joy to teach and the kids really enjoy themselves. We are doing Wall-E Thursday. So after Treehouse I always take her to do something and last time we went to see How to Train your Dragon; the latest movie from DreamWorks. We went to McDonalds first. They have Dragon toys. Her new Dragon challenged Lionel to races and jumps around the restaurant. There was basically no one there so we ran circles around that place. It was much fun. I’ll get a preview here… I have had a love for Dragons for a long time now so I was equally excited about seeing this one. It was a very good movie. It had an awesome story. It was a great week. Check back tomorrow for details on the great weekend. I picked up MaryJane Saturday morning. A couple things I found out. 1. that she had learned how to write in viking language and 2. that it was Kelly’s sisters birthday We then headed to Home Depot to build. She made a Butterfly house. She was really on her hammering game I tell ya. We then grabbed a bite to eat and then it was to Wal-Mart to get a few things, including cupcakes for Kelly’s sister Tina’s birthday. When we got home Tina (middle) and their mother Blue Kelly (right) came out.

MaryJane wrapped a snow white video (Tina’s fav movie), I made a card written in viking language (becasue she can onlyu read viking), and Kelly had a SpongeBob card for her (also in viking language). After cards and gift we sang and had cupcakes. Tina had a very nice Birthday.

We had a lot of fun coloring eggs. We colored 24 eggs. With 12 colors to choose from, a wax pencil, stickers, and 5 coloring swabs some very nice eggs were produced.

We played a game where MaryJane was another girl named Tina and I was a boy named Jack. We were viking children that had lots of work to do. Kelly and Lionel wanted to be Vikings too, but were to busy playing hot wheels. Hehe. We also practiced karate Saturday. She is a karate master; ouch. Hehe. MaryJane wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny and placed it along w/ two carrots and an eggs on a plate for the Easter Bunny before bed. Sunday morning we awoke to find an Easter basket filled w/ goodies. Here she is w/ her Reeses Bear.

We then got ready for Church and headed out to meet up w/ Grandma Gina and Poppy at Fellowshiop for the 8am Easter Service. It was very nice. Bill invited us to come to there house for Breakfast and to visit so I accepted of course. MaryJane made scrabbled eggs and Gina made pancakes and bacon.

It was super yummy. MaryJane and her grandma spren some time outside picking flowers afterwards while Bill and I cleaned up and visited. Gina asked MaryJane and I to sign her wooden table w/ a wood burner. Here is a picture of the great job MaryJane did.

Later Jessica's sister Lisa came over with MaryJanes cousind Haden and Haley. MaryJane and Haley had fun palying outside and in the basement. They are great friends. We all had a wonderful time together. Next it was off to Nana and Grandpas. On the wasy MaryJane taught Kelly and Lionel how to do some Karate moves. She got a basket from her Great Grandma and Grandpa when we first got there, shortly after we had a delicious lunch, and then it was time to hunt eggs. Nana had stuiffed a ton off plastic eggs w/ candy and money. Trenda hid them all and then MaryJane and her cousin Brena hunted. They both had much fun and made a haul.

MaryJane hunted real eggs once and hid them for Brena a few times. Dad, Cody, and I played a few games of washers. MaryJane was my cheerleader which i just love. MaryJane and i spent some time outside playing on some wood boards and practiced more karate. Did i mention shes a karate master. hehe. It was a very nice Eater afternoon. We got home in time for her to hide our eggs around the house for me to hunt before bed. What a great Easter 2010.

Back Home!

2010-03-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, well, look who’s blogging. Not only getting back into my routine here, but coming back w/ a new look and more dedication and desire. Did not plan on a three month absence, it was just one of those things where I just did not do it and after a while that became my routine. I’ve missed posting as I am sure you have as well. So here we go… I guess I will start off w/ a rundown of last weekend’s festivities. Started out Saturday morning w/ a Hello Kitty Club meeting. This is a club w/ MaryJane, Kelly, and Lionel in it. I got the last question wrong on the entry test not long ago so im not in it. Lionel was being his cranky self and with him not wanting to follow the club rules and eat his healthy celery he was left in the bedroom when we made our way to the living room. He later ate his food…and the napkin . Silly kitty. Next up was creating Spongebob’s out off sponges; what else. Hers are Queen Sponge and a kitty and mine is a green Spongebob. They turned out great. Our washer broke about a month ago and we finally got a new one Saturday. MaryJane and I helped get the old one moved out. We had lunch while he was gone taking the old one away and bringing back the new one. Upon his return we helped bring the new one in. Then I did some laundry and actually enjoyed doing it. Haha. A good part of the afternoon was spent writing letters. We have mailboxes we made from sandwich bag boxes that she set in the kitchen. I received mail from Plants and Zombies and I wrote to them. There is a game called Plants vs. Zombies that she likes; that is where this comes from. A ton of mail was sent and it was really cool and really fun. Bye the way…Plants Rule and Zombies Drool. Hehe. We later played a game where the 6 main Disney Princess stuffed dolls competed in singing, dancing, and moves and before we left for mommies work we did a quick game…it’s the one where the pet shops sell bread…hers sell the fluff and do great and mine sell the crust and do badly. Its classic and always a good time. I picked up Gurly in time to make the late service at Fellowship Sunday morning. Being Palm Sunday it was an emotional service. After lunch we broke out the Care Bears for the first time in a long time. We played a lengthy game of school. We put together families in the living room, the clothes basket bus picked up kids, school was held in the kitchen, and we had a great and hilarious time w/ it all. : ) Once school was out we played a game of America's Got Talent. Our two giant Care Bears and Her or I were the judges and one or two Care Bears at a time put on performances. There were some great acts i tell ya. We later jumped bounced on the bed while listening to music and played a game where she is a princess on the bed before hitting the tub to get washed up and play Barbies. She got some foam soap last week and it has made for some great playtime w/ the Barbies. It gets pretty silly...and very pink. Hehe. Before bed we started the 3rd Beethoven movie of the weekend. Another fun weekends in the books.

Birthday and Christmas Fun!

2009-12-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

With a Birthday and Christmas I have lots of pictures and lots to say.

Woke up Friday morning, my Birthday, to wonderful gifts from Gurly. She made me another sweet card, a super cool visor, and this neat picture that I put in the frame she decorated. What creative and wonderful gifts from my sweetheart. MaryJane and I spent a majority of the morning on the folded out futon playing LPS, coloring Garfield pictures, and reading a Larryboy book. After a relaxing morning (well…except the part where we went nuts on the bed..hehe) we headed out to live it up on the town. First stop was Shogun’s in Fayetteville where we meet up w/ my work peoples for the annual Christmas Luncheon. We enjoyed the food, show, and company. Afterwards her and I enjoyed ice cream and a book upstairs in the lounge. Lovely. Next was the comic shop in Fayetteville; Rock Bottom. We browsed the huge store and each selected a fine comic. She got Pokemon #4 while I got Wildcats #2. Then we went to the Springdale Library to pick up 3 more Larryboy books and a new book by the DragonLance authors that we had put on hold. Liking the whole “hold” thing. After that we were off to FastLanes in Lowell. Kinda like Locomotion, but bigger and better…and more expensive. Hehe. We loaded our cards (you swipe a card vs. using coins) and went crazy. We racked up over 350 tickets and MaryJane scored 2 stuffed animals out of one of the washing machines. We traded our tickets for prizes and headed to the mall for a cold stroll and some pictures. After grabbing me a much needed pair of shoes at Hot Topic Missy posed and posed for pictures. What a doll. After warming up briefly at Build a Bear Workshop we made our way back to the car and went just up the way to Golden Corral for another feast. Love that joint. Anywhere that has all you can eat steak is a winner in my book. Haha. Finally we made a pit stop at Wal-Mart for a few necessities…and 2 Pokemon packs. Hehe. A wonderful 30th birthday spent w/ the bestest daughter ever.

Saturday we spent a good part of the day playing at the house. We got out a bunch of stuffed animals and put them on the floor in front of the futon and played washing machine. One of us would get on the futon and put quarters in a bank to be able to control the other person, picking up and winning stuffed animals. It was a blast. We played Littlest Pet Shops on the Futon too. We got into this game where some of the pets controlled by me had a pet hamster that gnawed on wood pencils. She would take a pair of tweezers and scrape the outside of pencils off and pretend the hamster had done it. She told he she wanted to write a book called something like "Michael and MaryJane Mysteries". We were to solve some mysteries and then she would write them down in a book we would make together. We went on what was called something like "The Mystery of the Bird Bath" outside and discovered that the statue we thought might have been a predator trying to catch birds was merely a pigeon. Mystery solved. Hehe. We played an Orphan game where she was an orphan that lived in a Treehouse (the futon) and I was a rich man that discovered her and did things for her. After a game of Barbies in the tub we got ready and headed out to Dad's for my birthday party. We had a great time of course. Here is MaryJane playing w. there new puppy. They are both just precious. Oleta made my requested meal of crawfish jambalaya and fried potatoes and she did a wonderful job. It was soooo delicious. Cody and Robi, G and G Danforth, and Grandma Mary were there and visiting with them was a pleasure. I got a Wii for my birthday and we are loving it. Dad and I have played Bowling and some golf almost ever time we go out there so now i can practice and maybe, just maybe stand a chance against "the pro". Hehe. While we played on his Wii MaryJane constructed this super sweet graham cracker house. Nice.
Sunday morning was traditional Church followed by a special visit to Grandma Gina and Poppy's house. Bill and I spent most of our time downstairs watching football on the big screen, chatting, and eating the delicious array of goodies Gina had prepped for us. This is how watching football should be done. We we soaked this up Gina, MaryJane, and her cousin Hallie played together. They colored pictures, played outside on the swing set and trampoline and MaryJane and Hallie discovered there is a ghost in the house and they saw a shooting star while we were there. We all spent some time together as well. A great time was had by us all. MaryJane and Hallie are best friends and she cant wait to see her again.
Thursday morning we played around the house before setting out to Walgreens to pick up wrapping supplies for all the gifts we had purchased the night before. We got in our game of Santa's workshop when we got home and it was fun. A Santa bear was Santa and two stuffed animal reindeer were the elves. I wrapped and MaryJane checked the gift and applied the bows, ribbon, and tags. I loaded the trunk w/ gifts and we made our way to Aunt Cheryl's for the family Christmas Eve get together. Every one accept Rachael, Matt, and there children was there. We visited, ate, listened to music and opened gifts. MaryJane got lots of goodies including a Neopets plush, Pokemon game, and a cool bracelet craft. I got a desperately needed new coffee maker. Hehe. Upon returning home we quickly put out Cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and hurried of to bed. This is a picture of her saying Merry Christmas
Christmas morning we awoke to find that Santa had filled our stocking and brought MaryJane a bunch of presents. She got a Three Musketeers Barbie, Pokemon cards and games, books, a Neopet, a My Meeba, and much more. We spent the morning and afternoon playing with all her new stuff before picking up Christian and going to Mommy's. MaryJane opened the gifts and emptied her stocking. She got a new bike, a Wii and DS game, a calculator, and much more. I spent some time playing w/ the kids and and visiting w/ Jessica before heading home. It was a wonder white Christmas.

Saturday morning I picked up MaryJane and we went to Dads to continue our celebration of Christmas. We visited, opened gifts, and played. We got another Wii-mote and Super Mario Bros. Wii. and we each got a couple other nice gifts. After playing with her fashion designer kit,some Wii action , and more we left to go to Grandma Mary's. There we hung out w/ Cody, Robi, Mam, Branden, and Grandma Mary. We visited, ate, and opened some gifts. MaryJane did a neat Butterfly craft. Another fun day.

Sunday morning we attended Church and then came home to recoup and play at home after all the running around. We took a whopping 3 hour nap, played Neopets figures, stuffed animals, and babysitter. Kelly and Lionel visited our restaurant and learned a little about cooking. We also played Wii and watched Ghost Busters while eating dinner and doing art.

MaryJane's Art Gallery!

2009-12-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Thought i would put up some of my little artist's masterpieces from the weekend. Enjoy!

This is an ornimate she made Tuesday night at the Library. Pretty!

MaryJane gave this to me this afternoon. It is the 1st of my 4 birthday gifts. What a sweetie!

Tis the Season

2009-12-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

MaryJane and I are just a little excited about Christmas…NOT! We are so anxious we just about can’t handle it. Every day she asks me “How many days until Christmas”. So in the spirit of Christmas we did lots of Christmas stuff over the weekend.

We started prepping our Christmas cards Saturday night. She picked out some awesome cards at Wal-Mart and it all about doing them all by herself. She’s writing all the inside verbiage, putting the to and from addresses on the front, putting the pictures inside, marking where the stamp will go, and will surly seal, place the stamps on, and put them into the mail for you all. She did all the writing in cursive by the way. My only involvement is cutting out pictures and signing my name below hers on the cards. They will be done and in the mail later this week so keep an eye out for yours. : )

We made Gingerbread Dudes and Friends Sunday afternoon. We had much fun decorating them and playing w/ them.

We watched 2 Christmas movies. Thanks Netflix. The first was the DVD of Santa Buddies. Very cute and funny. We did the traditional “chase” during the credits, we danced to the music video, she rode on me during the sing-a-longs, and we enjoyed some sneak peeks too. We got our monies worth out of that one…hold on…it was free…hehe. The second was the Instant Online of A Nightmare Before Christmas. As creepy and weird as usual.

She made these cool Christmas crafts. They are sticky foam characters, acessories, and letters on foam frames. Very creative designs by a very, very creative gurl.
We had planned to play Santa’s Workshop as well, but didn’t get it in. Sure we play it this week. Love that game.

Also, going to get our Christmas light up this week. Still scheming on how I want to do it this go round.

Best Bud’s!

2009-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Well as scheduled we meet up w/ the Camacho family at Home Depot on Saturday morning. MaryJane was thrilled to see Eliana. She is also buddies w/ Mailia. They built there helicopters, flew them around, and attacked me w/ them. Haha. They invited us to brunch w/ them at Village Inn and we gladly accepted. Of all the B-fast joints that one is surely the yummiest. Some of us had breakfast, some of us had lunch, and we all had a very nice time. MaryJane, Eliana, and Mailia chattered, looked and Bella Serra and Pokemon cards, and colored. Cutest part had to be when MaryJane and Eliana did one of those clapping hands thing…not sure what you call that?...anyways they did it to the tune of that “Mrs Susie” rhyme…the one where Tiny Tim tries to eat the tub and they call the lady w. the alligator purse….they clapped and sang so loud, but Aly and I just sat there b/c it was just to precious to interrupt. Before we left I just had to get a picture of those two cuties together.

Thanksgiving Plus Rundown!

2009-11-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

I was making a few notes to follow before I blogged and I noticed that I was putting things down in groups of 2…so I thought “what the heck..why not put them up in pairs”. So here goes in some random order…

2 Very Special Kiddos – I was so lucky to have 2 kiddos Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, and Thanksgiving morning. We had fun during the nights going crazy playing in the house and going to FBCS for Blessing Baskets. Thanksgiving morning was very pleasant. This is Super C “playing w/ his food” and Sis posing w/ her “20 Questions” game.
2 Games – Well there were two pertinent games Sat & Sun and they were Kelly and Lionel’s Charm Factory and Nature Class w/ Handicapped Girls. For the first game we set up Barbies on the Futon and a line of stuffed animals on the floor. The Barbies ordered “charms” on-line from the futon and the orders were taken in by Barbie the Giraffe. (side note: the charms are colored pipe cleaners with a various assortment of alternating rainbow beads on them. She got this as a craft to do earlier in the week and had already made a bunch before this game). So after Barbie took the order from the Barbies...hehe..MaryJane made the charm. You will see this is a factory line. After she was done she passed it on to “Tiger” who checked it for errors (my fav part) ; then “Stripe” who put it in the kennel for 3 minutes to cook; then to “Kitty” who rode up the elevator to the top of the chair, then a bear whos name I am unsure of flew the charm to the correct Barbie on the couch. The whole time I was Kelly and Lionel running the show. Kelly was the good boss and Lionel was the bad boss. The factory pumped out a ton of bracelets. There is more I could elaborate on, but I will not. The second game we went for walks and she was the new gurl in nature class. She was mainly “Angela” the blind girl, but was a few others as well. Kelly and Lionel would not understand her handicaps and I would help her along her way and talk about the other senses she had and how she could still enjoy nature.

2 Thanksgivings – Our 1st stop on Thursday was Bill and Regina’s (aka Poppy and Grandma Gina). We hung out for a good hour and enjoyed the delicious food and the fabulous company. Jessica’s sister, Angela, was there w/ her boy for a short time after we got there, but we spent most of our time visiting w/ Bill, Gina, Jean and Ira (aka Great-Grandma Jean and Chief). MaryJane enjoyed herself. Gina loaded her up w/ goodies from Hawaii, including a fan, bags, and lots of cute jewelry and accessories. It was great to see them all and very much looking forward to seeing them all more often in the future. Our 2nd stop was Dad’s. We got there pretty late, but there were plenty of left over’s to be had. We visited and ate. MaryJane watched Shrek 2 and part of Bedtime stories w/ Robi. Dad, Cody, and I spent a good while going at each other on the glamorous Wii. We played three player golf and bowling and it was great fun.

2 Best Friends – We meet up with Camacho Family at Cambridge Park on Beautiful Friday Afternoon. MaryJane and Eliana (6...bout to be 7) are Best Friends. Alyson and Dathan also have 2 to other daughters, Sasha (4…I think) and M (8..for sure). They are a fellow Homeschool family, Aly taught a class last semester at Tree house, and all her kids attend. We figured MarJane and Eliana could not survive w/o each other till February when Treehouse starts back so we are getting them together b/w semesters. So this park has a pond w/ a trail and bridges around and is in slightly wooded area. The kids spent time building fairy houses and then got into a game. This was where they were trying to get water to flow from the pond, under a bridge, and down the culvert as far as they could. Eliana built a dam while the rest of us pushed water w/ sticks, cared water in cups, and cleared leaves from the waters path. We got pretty good results, but MaryJane insists we go back to the park soon to work more on the project. MryJane and Eliana enjoyed there time together, exchanged hugs and gifts and are meeting again next weekend at Home Depot to build and play together. : )

2 More Games – I couldn't limit myself to mentioning only 2 games. Hehe. We got the stuffed horse rides going. Our big thing now is spinning around in the living room. Her and C love it. The rider grabs the reigns or his neck and hold on for dear life while I grab the horse by the face and spin him around in circles. They are both quite good stuffed horse riders. To end the 4 day weekend Sis and I had a Webkinz Fight. This is where we close the bedroom door and w/ her on the bed and I on the floor we pelt each other w/ Webkinz. They both love this game too.

2 Signs Christmas is Coming – As you know Sis has been working on her Christmas List for some time now and after a trip to Toys-R-Us earlier in the week she was ready to mail it off. She sent him one page of things she wants for Christmas. She filled out the envelope, decorated it w/ stickers, put the stamp on it, and we used team work to put it in the mailbox. Now we wait to see if Santa will write back and to see what he will bring her for Christmas. We got our tree out Sunday evening and put it up. It looks so very nice thanks to Miss MaryJane and her super decorating. She got 2 new ornaments this year, a Buzz and a Tink mini snow globe. She went thru all the ornaments from years past and put the “hooks” on the ones needing them while Kelly, Lionel, and I loaded them into 3 stockings. We transported the stocking over by the tree and she decorated the tree while I played Christmas music. She had so much fun and did a wonderful job on the tree.
2 Subjects Down - Moving Right along w/ the 3rd grade. We smashed thru 2 Lessons of Math, a Lesson of Social Studies, and she did great on her History Test. Going to try and pick things up a little more over the next few weeks before Christmas time is here.

2 Great Movies – After seeing part of Bedtime Stories and Nana’s and her telling me how great it was before and after that experience we had to watch it. We are now members of Netflix. We shopped for the movie, but it was 15 dollars and after mention of Netflix from Aly I decided to check it out. She said they had a lot of movies and TV shows “on-demand”…and she was right. That’s the best part really; being able to watch tons of movies and shows instantly on the PC. We are getting “Santa Buddies” in the mail today. She also watched a Tom and Jerry movie that she had seen before, but loved just the same. She’s really digging that Cat and Mouse Duo right now. Now…what to watch tonight? Hehe.

2 Gifts 2 Give – A week or 2 back MaryJane got an Angel from the Angel Tree at Wal-Mart. So we made a Trip on Black Friday morning to Toys-R-Us and got her 2 very nice gifts; a “Totally Tattoo’s” Barbie and a “Gummie Bears” purse. We dropped them off over over the weekend and it was a great experience for her. She is such a sweetie.

To Infinity an Beyond!

2009-11-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well, its late and im just now getting around to the blog. So as youve probably already read over at Jess's place the 4 of us went and had Christmas pictures done Friday night. The delay was excessive, but the results were fabulous. I cannot wait to share pictures w/ you all. We thought we would put C in there first, but he wasnt having it so we switched to MJ first. Sis loves the spotlight and soaks it up, so no problems w/ her. Well, as soon as he saw her doing it he was right there by her side.After the first picture he was all about it, laughing and clapping after every one. They both did great as you will soon see. I made sure we got our fair share of pictures taken and the girl who handled us was very nice and did a good job.

Saturday started off to a “crappy” start w/ a clogged toilet. Prime suspect…Super C. After an unsuccessful attempt w./ that so called plunger I was off to get the kiddos from Mommy. After visiting w/ Jess we headed to Wal-Mart. That is where she got the shirt you see. She loves it. She put it on a soon as we got home last night and didn’t take it off (other than long enough to bathe) until Sunday night before bed. She’s loving Toy Story, Tom and Jerry, and Up! right now and I can’t blame her….they are all awesome. She watches Tom and Jerry online and has watched Up! numerous times. Her favorite is Doug. We played outside for a good hour or more when we got home w/ Super C. I gave back rides, Christian played in the car, and Sis and I did some chores. We made a deal that if she did some chores she could earn money towards a new Build-a-Bear. She put away groceries, helped clean out the car, and we picked up trash around the neighborhood. After C was gone we did our History lesson for the day and then got in the car to head to town…but we went nowhere. The car would not start and I took it as being the starter. We were disappointed we didn’t get to go to town, but we had a great time at home. I even got a “This is the best day ever”. I love those. : ) We played a game where she was a dog and I adopted her from the pound only to find out she was a bad dog, but the pound (ran by Kelly) didn’t care when I called and when he finally sent Lionel to pick her up it was to no avail as the dog was to wild. It was way fun. Aft3er bed it was UFC 106. I love the internet. I can watch a $50 PPV for $0. Sweet! Only downside is I can t put it on DVD and I can’t watch it again, but I can live with that when its free. : )

Sunday morning was play time galore. We started things off w/ a stuffed animal game in the bed that included Kelly, Lionel, Kelly’s Sister and Mother, Lionel’s Mother, and Samantha (the girl cub from Lion King 2). Due to the elaborateness of the game and the details being a bit fuzzy due to my sleepy head I will not go into detail, but I will tell you it was a good hour plus of awesome animal fun. We continued on w/ the bed fun w/ a game of Math Class. She broke out an old math book and really did great w/ some big addition and subtraction problems. W+ for MaryJane, A+ for Kelly, and F+ for Lionel. Next it was out to work on the car. I fiddled under the hood and she made wishes. Neither worked. Hehe. We headed to the couch where she read Kelly and Lionel part of Genesis from her Story Book Bible. How cute and fun this was. Next it was out to work on the car. I fiddled under the hood and she made wishes. Neither worked. Hehe. Back inside She read some more to Kelly and Lionel, we read a funny Garfield Story and we went outside and read in the yard. She had found some broken glass down by the road Saturday and she had brought a piece to the house as a jewel. Well, she grabbed lots more and she now has a Jewel collection by the TV. Yes, it’s broken glass, but she was very careful w/ it. So with this by the TV she created a museum with a dragon egg, a magic wand, and the first candy ever made. Kelly and Lionel toured took a tour and despite Lionel wanting to try the ancient candy he was denied. Then to my surprise we were helped out by Tony. He came out and jumped the car to see if it was the Started or Alternator…and I’m happy to report it was neither. The battery had drained due to a loose cable. Happy that we had wheels again we headed out to do our Saturday stuff. We first went to Toys-R-Us so MaryJane could finish her Christmas list. She has one full notebook page ready to be mailed. Then it was the trip to Build-A-Bear she wanted so much. Between a $5 off coupon, money earned from chores, and a small loan she was able to make a new friend. She was after the soon to retire “Snazzy Kitty”, but she was already in retirement when we got there. I asked about the kitty and she showed us a new kitty that had just arrived and wasn’t even on display yet. She was “Cool Kitty”and MaryJane wanted her right away. Her name is Jenny and she is certainly cool. She’s going on-line for the first time tonight. We visited w/ Jess at Marketplace and ate to re-fuel before we went to Petco to get a sucker fish and to Wal-Mart to get a toilet sucker (aka super plunger). Haha. When we got home s wrestled w/ the toilet while MaryJane made crafts on the couch. She got some colored pipe cleaners and colored 1500 beads at Wal-Mart. She made me a “Razorback bracelet”, 2 “Broncos Bracelets” (one for her and one for her best friend Eliana), and 2 more pretty ones as well.

Sock Monkeys!

2009-11-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that i stayed up way to late last night I was surprisingly awake this morning (with a little help from Mr. Coffee. Hehe.) We had a lot of fun playing this morning. I love the mornings we wake up and just play for hours on end. We started out w/ a game of school and it lead into some creative, elaborate games. One of the students, a pink pony named Pinky Dinky Doo started stealing things and Lionel was the police. He would arrest her and throw her in jail only to see her bust out and do her dirty deeds over and over. The next game was in her room where MaryJane and Kelly opened a Jewelry Shop/Bank. She made and sold the merchandise and Kelly ran the bank. Stuffed animals shopped and used the bank and that pesky Pinky Dinky Doo kept stealing Jewelry. Thank goodness for that police officer Lionel who continually laid down the law. Haha. Last was a game on her bed and the floor. Two Strawberry Shortcake dolls who were visited by fairies and found the secret entrance to there land. They went there and meet the Queen, a Sleeping Beauty Barbie, who showed them how she made the fairies. There mother did'nt believe that they went there. A the end it was questionable whether they will ever get to go back or not. To be continued I guess. We went to Donalds to eat and on the way back we listened to the radio, hearing her second and third favorite songs. In the afternoon we played a game where i sat on the bed and she was behind me and would sing songs she made up while i pretended to drive. How awesome is that. We played some Pokemon and watched some TV. I watched UFC 105 live from the UK on the internet and she watched Garfield, Spongebob, and we cracked up at an episode of Tom and Jerry together. After we played a game in the tub where she went around in the tub and i had to squirt her with different strengths of sprays (mist, stream, in between) based on what she moves she did, we watched Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium. This is the movie about the magical toy shop. It was a very fun and sweet movie. We ate of Cheddar sprinkled popcorn, ate our Lemonheads, and cuddled on the Futon. There were two points where they showed a sock monkey on the shelf who reached out to be held from the shelf, but got no love. We were sad for him and cuddled intensely after each occurrence as thought we were each others sock monkey. I'm happy to report the last thing they show in the movie is it reaching out and hold a guys arm. We were happy to see this. In the bed we again announced that we were each others sock monkey, cuddled, and kissed before i tickled her to sleep. We are getting sock monkeys very soon from Toys-R-Us. I love my little sock monkey and she loves her sock daddy. : )

Go Hogs Go!

2009-11-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

Another great weeekend has come to a close and it is time to recap the goodness. Our playing consisted a lot of class time Saturday, a majority of which was "crochet class". MaryJane learned how to crochet at Treehouse last Thursday and she has been all about it since, croching like a pro. She taught me how Friday night. She is really good and really quick. She is making a length of string for each of her teachers for the last day of classes this coming Thursday. Speaking of teaching i will be teaching a class next semester at Treehouse and MaryJane and I are very excited about the fact. We went to Home Depot Saturday morning where she build a Trivet, otherwise known as a hot plate. It was an easy one and took her no time at all. Next it was off to her first Razorback football game. I got some complementary tix's thru work. We ended up sitting in some decent seats that were not ours which provided a good view of the field, the big screen, and the awesome fireworks. She got into the game cheering on the Hogs and booing the "chickens". It was "Go Hogs Go" and "Boo Chickens Boo". Haha. We ate concessions like they were going out of style and wear a decent sunburn as proof of our attendance. Im so glad she enjoyed herself. It was a lot of fun. We hit the library afterwards. She read 3 books there and another two to Kelly and Lionel on the way to Marketplace. We visited w/ Mommy and filled up on some yummy food. The day went by fast, but we enjoyed it. Sunday consisted of playing Neopets, going to wonderful Church, cleaning her room, Science and History. She is doing really good w/ her school. Shes such a smart gurl. We are enjoying our computer. She reacquainting herself w/ buildabearville and neopia and checked out TY Girlz for the first time today. We have been watching TV on the PC too. Her Spongebob and I MMA and Football. Loving the email and the blogging more. Well, I'm off to make a cup-o-tea and watch some more Sunday Night Football. Until next time...

I Told You So!

2009-11-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

See...here it is Friday and im posting. How sweet is that. The following is from Thursday nite. We have this pretend weed eater that mom gave to me long ago. Well, Christian loves that thing. He will walk around the house with it going full speed. Last night i got my hands on it and attacked them w/ it and it was much fun. Sis was elusive, but the boy encouraged it. I would get his toes while he was on the futon and he would laugh so hard while wiggling like he had gotten shocked or something. It was hilarious and they both loved it. Gave them rides on this giant stuffed horse w/ retrieved from Jess's old place. I have given them rides on it before, but last nite i really got it down to a science. Before i would push from the back, but now i pull its head from the front while they hold onto his reigns. Got a good track down too. We have hard wood floors and a tile kitchen so its smooth sailing. They even went on one together...sweet. Super C walked around w/ these two candy buckets hung from his arms. I thought it was cute. He loves his candy. Before bed it was the jump off the head board ritual. Sis has picked up on it to now. She got pretty creative; doing spins and butt buster for example. I got creative too tonight hold up pillows and blankets for them to put into. Sis did karate kicks.

“Little Kitty Cat”!

2009-11-02T11:43:00.000-08:00

This is MaryJane performing a song that she made up Saturday morning. This is an early performance; soon after we were both singing it word for word...at one point while skipping thru the front yard in our costumes. It was awesome.

“Happy Meow-o-ween”!

2009-11-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

Gurly and I certainly enjoyed ourselves this Halloween. These are pictures of her trying out her costume the night before. The mouse eating thing was her idea. Hehe.

We wasted no time getting into costume Halloween morning. She was in costume before I even woke up and she had me in the bathroom coloring my hair no long after. After coloring class w/ Lionel and Kelly and a trip outside we ventured out to strut our stuff on the town. We made a stop at Mommy’s, the Library, Dairy Queen (hello free ice cream), and the inevitable Wal-Mart. When we got home she took a rare, but mandatory nap and then it was off to see Mommy again, but this time at work where we enjoyed some yummy MarketPlace food before we got loaded on sugar. : d It was nice…and soon dark…and we were on our way. We meet up w/ Christian and his daddy and circled a couple blocks. MaryJane boogie-woogied about while C calmly rode on his daddy while enjoying suckers. Sis made an attempt to teach C how to say “Trick-or-Treat” at one point, but he just responded in hesterical laughter. It was quite cute and humorous. After an hour they bailed and Sis and I picked up the pace, ko’ing a bunch of house in the last 30 minutes. She made a good haul and had lots of fun. Her fav house was the one where a girl gave her a “Now-n-Later” telling her it is “Princess Power”. She will likely never eat this piece of candy. : ) My fav house…the one where the gurl said “You’re lucky…we were getting ready to close” and then put a handful of candy in each of our baskets. Oh yeah. She gobbled down candy all the way home and when we got there we headed for the bed. We dumped our buckets, sorted the candy into groups, and made trades…all while munching on candy of course. Despite the sugar rush she passed out w/ ease…and a couple of shampoos later I was right there w/ her.

Evil Cute-nievel!

2009-10-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Pictures!

2009-10-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

“She’s Making a List”!

2009-09-11T14:15:00.001-07:00

Since MaryJane started her Christmas List on Labor Day, I have been inspired to do a List Themed Post this week, highlighting some of the things we did over the extended weekend.

Little Miss Read-A-Lot – Gurly Gurl put away another dozen or so books/chapters over the weekend. She is such a good reader.

Cats, Cats, and more Cats – So…we got another Cat. How could I resist this cutie? She had snuck a ride to my work in the back of a pick-up and needed rescue. She is a sweetie and a crazy. Her name is Coraline.

Coraline – Coraline is the most recent movie by Tim Burton. It is about a gurl who visits an alternate world where everything appears to be perfect (aside from everyone having button eyes). See the trailer following this post. MaryJane loved it so much she watched it 3 times over the weekend.

Sweet Dreams – MaryJane got a Barbie cook book from the library over the weekend and this is what she choose to make. Basically you take fruit, nuts, and sweets, dip them in chocolate, cover them in nuts/sprinkles, and chill in the fridge. Mighty tasty I’m tellin ya.

Little Trip; Big Trip – What I thought was going to be a small trip to town turned into a big trip to town (as it usually does). We took Mr. Christian w/ us and had a good time (as we usually do). We hit Home Depot where she made a cool Bean Bag Toss Game, we hit the Pet Store and admired the animals, hit the Library and loaded up on books, hit B.K. for some grub, and what’s a trip to town w/o good ole’ Wal-Mart. We made a stop at the Down Town Rogers Park before heading home to play and collect sand for our final chapter of 2nd Grad Science.

Goodbye 2nd Grade – The final Lesson in Science was fun and relaxing and cool. We learned about Ocean Shorelines. Sweet. We are doing the very last of Heritage Studies…tonight. The Independence War is over, we have a government, but now all we need is a President and a Constitution. Hmmm…wonder what the 2 lessons are about. Tomorrow we say Hello to the 3rd Grade. : )

Crafty – Here is a pic of the dolls MaryJane made out of toothpicks and some Mystery Fruit from a tree down the road. Awesome.

Playtime Galore – You know us. We cherish our playtime and get as much in as humanly possible. We played a game where she was different Pokémon and I trained them by rewarding them w/ Bread, Cheese, and Pepperonis. We had the fair share of classes. We played a great game of Aladdin. We traded lots of Pokémon cards and had battles too. We played the Backyard Forest People game. Plus lots more.

Read & Play-A-Lot!

2009-09-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last Friday saw us going to get a book from Barnes & Noble for MaryJane to read for “Read-A-Lot”. This is a 2 month long program where a bunch of homeschool children read books to earn rings. What we did is cut out 1 x 8 strips of construction paper (hers are all purple) and each time she reads a short book or a chapter of a book she earns a strip. She then tapes the strips to form rings; hooking them together one at a time to make a chain. At the end of Oct. all the kids will meet at a park and hook all the chains together to see how long it is. Sounds fun huh. So we grabbed her Disney Fairies book and then she noticed that B&N was running a reading program of there own (something we have previously done). If you read 8 books, write them down and comment on your fav part, you get a free book from a special selection. Well, we read the 8 books….right then and there. Yup, she read to Kelly, Lionel, and myself a unicorn book and seven Dr. Seuss books. So not only did she get a free book, but she earned 8 rings. Sweet. First thing Saturday morning she was ready to read more books and earn more rings. Of course, she created a game out of this. I brought a big box of her books into the living room and we had a book factory. Kelly and Lionel gave her the books then she scanned the books then I typed in the upc code into the Dora register, and finally Pikachu put them into stacks of going to read and not going to read. She read the whole stack of going to read books that day, earning herself another half dozen rings. She’s got over 20 rings already. We also played an elaborate game of Littlest Pet Shops in her room which was crazy fun. We had arts and crafts class. She colored a Penguin picture and I cut out strips for her rings. Later that day it was time to play the game where she is my per horse. I’ve told you all about this one before. Where we make a stable out of pillows, I leave town and have sitters watch her (usually Margaret and Charlotte), and while I’m gone Margaret goes crazy and bad things happen forcing me to come home. Really like this one. Sunday was Church. We went to the 11:00 service and that went well. She got to sit next to a friend of hers from church. After church we went to healthy class at AQ Chicken House and had a yummy meal. Bellies full we headed out to visit Grandpa and Nana. It was a nice visit. Nana and MaryJane put a ton of stuff on “watch” while surfing e-bay, MaryJane and I played Sweet Streets Doll houses, and Dad whooped me at Washer a couple times. After a delicious meal of Fettuccini and Salad we headed home to rest our heads. A wonderful weekend indeed.

Updated: Vacation Station!

2009-08-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

Let me tell you…having 9 days off of work w/ the most wonderful gurl in tha world is just bliss. We sure had a great time together. Ill sum up our days into categories.
Inside

We played so many games that you will have to pardon me if I don’t list them all. : ) We pulled the Care Bears off the shelf for the first time in a while and played a few games w/ them. A favorite Care Bear game has always been Care Bear school. There was the cool bus ride, some awesome classes, and a lunch line w/ celery at the end. : d We had the previously mentioned Pikachu birthday party. She got a pack of over 500 stickers and tattoos and we had a birthday cake. It was fun. The stickers generated some games. We had a sticker shop where animals waited in line to get stickers applied. We played more sticker book class and they were used in that game. She made a sticker book that included some of them. There was a puppet show that had some of them in it. Also used some for an outside game (more on that later). We played quite a bit of doctor over the vacation. Many different varieties. A few times she was the doctor and/or nurse, I was the dad, and either Kelly and Lionel or Margaret and Charlotte were my kids and the patients. These times were where she used her doctor kit and wore her doctor coat. A few times we played doctor w/ Neopets. Now this is a bit different from the other type of doctor play. The Neopets waited in line to go into a concealing box where they get shots. The JubJubs love shots and were happy if they had the most. Big purple Aisha was the doctor. What fun. We also did some doctor w/ the Garfield plush she got from Aunt Cheryl (more on that later). In this case Kelly and Lionel waited in the waiting room while Garfield got a shot. We have done many variations of this one. Sometimes using Pikachu, sometimes its shots, sometimes its picking fleas w/ tweezers, sometimes Kelly and Lionel are watching for a class, and sometimes they wait in the waiting room. Back to Neopets we played another game where the Neopets waited in line to get drinks and get into a club. Sounds bad, but it was innocent. There were to drink stands, one a good guy stand and another ran by the Electric Geleat that was trying to get the Electric Wakki to drink his drink for it was a love potion. All others were turned away. The club was a Build-a-Bear box and the Geleat tried and tried to get in, but was denied. We played plenty of Pokémon too. We had card and figure battles, and traded cards as well. We trade a few different ways but my fave has to be this one. She gets a square pillow and we each pick a card and put it on one side of the pillow. The pillow is what I would call a trading machine. It makes machine noises. The cards go into the sides and come out at the top of the machine. They are turned over and the names are announced. Now you can’t grab your new card now (trust me) because they are behind glass. The cards go back under the pillow and your new card comes out. Pretty sweet. We had a stellar tea part. It was MaryJane, Myself, Kelly, Lionel, and Pikachu. We love tea parties. Played w/ our pound puppies. It was a funny game where we took them to some kind of dog festival and they wanted to go to the game area, but they never got to go. We feed them, feed ourselves, and then b/c all we could hear when they were talking was barking we thought they wanted more food and kept giving them more. Hilarious. She got a new Pound Puppy as well. Her name is a tan cocker spaniel named Samantha, she was born in 2004, and she makes whining noises. Played us some babysitter. Her and Charlotte were the good kids while Margaret was the bad one and I was the father and the babysitter. A great game. Finally I will mention a game where Mario and Toadstool saved Princess Peach and Daisy. Mario didn’t do much other than cry like a big baby. My paper made Toadstool defeated enemies to advance e thru 8 levels to save the princesses. At first he fought stuffed animals, then he fought Pokémon, then he had began gathering his own Pokémon and used them to battle the other Pokémon. In the end he defeated Bowser and saved the Princesses and the Neopets village. : )

Outside

We always enjoy the outdoors and we did plenty in it as usual. We did a lot of swimming outdoors (more on that later) which was a total blast. We also went on a couple walks and played nature class. We found a Turtle in the road and put it in a high sided box…only to find it had escaped a short time later. Maybe the 3rd will be a charm? We want a pet turtle but they always get away before we can get a tank. We also went on a Homeschool field trip to where we spent some time outside…and yes (more on that later)...hehe. We played a game where her, Kelly and Lionel earned stickers (aka Badges) for completing challenges and games. She raced her scooter and kicked balls for her challenges and played hide and seek (indoors..sorry) and bowling for her games. They all earned many badges for their sticker…I mean badge books. We also played the game where we live in the forest and capture Kelly and Lionel. Great fun I tell ya.

Out and About

Alright. Here is the skinny on the away from home fun. Explanation for the pictures too. Where to start…Hobbs. Who knew we live 5 minutes from a national park. MaryJane, Christian, and I meet up w/ a ton of Homeschoolers. We began by touring the inside of the visitors center where we saw information on animals, caves, and lots of “stuffed” animals. It was cool. Next we were directed into a classroom where we watched a video about taking care of nature. It was interesting. After that it we mingled a bit in the atrium of the visitors center. MaryJane made a new friend (Picture 2 and 3) and handed out flowers to some of the girls. What a sweetie. Then some girl lead us outside and the kids played games. One where a few kids were hawks and the rest of the kids were baby birds. (picture 2) MaryJane was a the cutest of the baby birds and, despite trying to get caught by a hawn so she could turn into one, she didn’t get eaten. Hehe. And another game where one kid acted out an animal and the othes had to guess. MaryJane was the first to volunteer and can you guess what she is? (Picture 4) Ok…know that you’ve guessed it right, ill confirm; a bobcat. : ) After the museum we ran home, grabbed some grub, and headed down to the Prairie Creek pic-nic and swimming area to meet up w/ the other homechoolers for the annual “not-back-to-school” party. MaryJane swam, and swam. She hung out w/ her friend Lon. They rode on a real log a lot and made a lap around the outside of the swim area in tubes. I spent most of the time w/ Christian throwing rocks into the water. He loves to trhow rock….shoot everything for that matter. It was fun and my arm was sore for days. I did take him into the water a few times, but it was not his favorite. WE all had a wonderful time. Ok, ill stick w/ the swimming now. We swam 4 more time too. 2wice at the lake, 1nce at the jones center and 1nce at the springdale pool. The lake happened 2 days in a row. We spent a lot of time doing our moves. We played the mermaid game, practiced swimming, and just went crazy in the water. One really cool thing was she was eating goldfish crackers in the water the 2nd trip and on fell into the water beside her. Next thing I knew there was a fish beside her rand it gobbeled up the cracker. Kind a cool; kinda freaky. So we exited and threw half the box into the lake so we could watch the fish eat them. She picked out a bigger package at wal-mart last time…hmmm. Hehe. The Jones Center was not planned. We were going to go to the pool but b/c public school started back they aren’t open during the day. So her thought was Jones Center. What a smarty. When we got there even they were closed…until after school tho…so we hung out and played for an hour until it opened. It was really cool being the first people in the pool and besides about 5 other people we were the only one s there for the first hour or so. It rocked. We jumped into the deep and had a blast get swept around the kid pool. It has these blaster that make a current and we usually get in front of them and play, but with no one else in there to block the current it was strong all around the pool. She also made another friend named Jasmine that goes to the pool every Friday. They had fun playing together near the end of our stay. Another great time had. So the next day was to the pool. We couldn’t take it that we didn’t get to go the day before. It was relatively low attendance. We spent a lot of time climbing on the water creatures. She played w/ some other gurls a bit and we did a game where we made up hand signals and then got at opposite ends of the pool and tried to communicate. It was hilarious and so much fun. We did meow meow mutton head some and at the end of the trip I spun her around as if we were ballroom dancing. As if you could tell…we love the water. : ) We went to Church and that is always great. After Church the first Sunday we went to an awesome park. Sis told me about it cause otherwise you’d never know it was there. It is set back quite aways from the main road. It is Lake Atalanta Park. Really nice. We had a very nice picnic before we played. We played on the monkey bars, she swung; I pushed, and she got wet. There is a good stream running beside the park you wan wade in. Its good…and might cold. She didn’t care tho. By the end of the trip she was about soaked. We laid down on these bench like swings and swung too. It was crazy and fun. (Picture 1 is from the park) We made a trip to the library and paid a visit to Mermaids one day for lunch. We had our fav appetizer and she colored a pretty picture for me. Love that place.

School

We are almost to the 3rd grade. Yea. We polished off a History and a Science Lesson, leaving only one of each for the upcoming weekend. We learned about Motion and Newton’s 3 laws and we are in the midst of the colonists breaking away from English

rule and gaining their freedom. The tea party we had was part of our lesson about the Boston Tea Party. : ) She liked the Science and is very interested in the Heritage Studies, and I don’t blame her…its quite intense.

Classes

Well, aside from real school we did a lot of pretend school as we always do. That gurl can turn anything into a class and it’s just the best. As a said we had nature class. We also had cooking class 2 or 3 times and she was proud that one of her dishes was genuinely delicious. We had healthy class a few times. We have a hard time choosing between healthy class and lunch break. Both are such fun games. : ) We had some traditional classes like science, match, etc. in the car. We had reading class after she obtained a new Pokémon book. We had new pet class after she got her new Pound Puppy. Kelly always has a slug or a hermit crab in this game. Lionel usually brings dirt and/or a worm, but this time he brought a skunk. Pheewww. Haha.

Have you seen me lately?

2009-08-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am…back at the Inn…and looking forward to serving up plenty of our famous ale and delicious spiced potatoes. What have MaryJane and I been up to you may be asking yourself. Boy do I have answers for you. : )

(Current)

This week’s been awesome. Tuesday night Sis and I traded Pokémon Cards, pretended to be Ash and Misty, had Pokémon card battles, cured Pikachu and Lionel of fleas, Kelly, Lionel and I learned how to brush a Pokémon’s Teeth, and we had a races b/w Pikachu, Kelly, and Lionel. Notice a theme here. Hehe. Wednesday night was more Pokémon card trading and watching Americas Got Talent. We created our own act and I assure you we could beat out all those people on this season we saw. : ) About time to get off work and them I’m not coming back….for a while. Hehe. Vacation time is here and very excited. I’m taking off all next week so that 9 consecutive days that I’m not here. Yippie. Sis and I are not doing anything huge, but we are going to have so much fun. When we are not playing our heads off inside / outside the house and working towards the 2nd grade finish line we will be doing some out and about activities including a visit to the Springdale Pool, Lokomotion, a Homeschool Field Trip to Hobbs National Park, and seeing “Ponyo” at theater. Library is tomorrow and we are celebrating Pikachu’s Birthday. In case you’re not a Pokémon Trainer, Pikachu is the most popular of the Pokémon. We are having cake, a tea party, and she’s getting a cute little gift.

(August 8-9)

Saturday was our out and about day. After some morning play time including cooking class w/ Kelly and Lionel we shipped off. Between 2 trips to the Library we racked up 27 books and 3 Pokémon movies. We discovered a section we had not looked thru and found a jackpot of classic story books and joke books. We went over to Siloam to visit Grandma Mary. She was doing well. It was very nice visiting w/ her. MaryJane modeled some new
clothes she got from her sweet aunt patty for us. Super cute. We had ice cream and hung out for a good hour and a half. When we got home I cooked up a big pot of bowtie pasta and she loved it so much she had it again for her bedtime snack and told me to make sure and put the left over’s in the fridge. Yummy. After church Sunday we headed home to do some school and play. We are in the process of finishing up 2nd grade. We have 2 lessons of Science and a 3 of Heritage Studies left. We are having fun w/ it and both learning a lot. 3rd grade is only weeks away. We had some sticker classes. Earlier in the week in the process of looking for some lost Neopets stickers we found a bazillion other stickers. When we have classes, unless it is cooking class, I am the teacher, MaryJane is a student / (sometimes my assistant), and Kelly and Lionel are the other 2 students (Kelly is good and Lionel is bad). The first sticker class was where they created sticker books and the second was where they put stickers on coins. We played more Orphans outside and came up w/ the cutest little cheer I guess you would call it. We clap our hands against the others and our own a few times a while saying 2 phrases (something about paca fruit and a house…hehe )and then jump up and down counting “1,2” a few times and then say “stop”. It super awesome I tell ya.

(August 1-2)

Another good time had this weekend. Saturday we kicked the day off w/ a walk in the rain. We strolled around a familiar “loop” of streets we frequent in the pouring rain w/ our umbrellas. I was hesitant to go, but MaryJane talked me into it…and it was quite fun. Other fun for this weekend included: We watched Garfield and Friends. She chooses this over SpongeBob…and that’s a feat for a show. We watch it during the week and every weekend. Played us some Neopets. Played this great game where Kelly and Lionel and I visited this Science place where MaryJane created things out of colored toothpicks, glitter glue and plastic utensils. We had to stay behind a glass wall and could only speak to her thru an intercom system. Lionel continuously tried to take off w/ the Science Experiments by dressing up as different things, like a delivery guy and stuff. It was great fun. We played it a bit on Sunday too. Saturday nite was Garfield Nite. We made homemade lasagna (Garfield’s fav), Bone cookies (Odie loves bones), and watched Garfield: Pet Force. It was super awesome. Sunday morning I made her a Garfield bookmark while she played Webkinz and then it was off to Church. On the way there we played Neopets Puzzles and Games Class and on the way to, and at the community garden, we played Field Trip Class. On the way home we were going to Africa and when we got home she dressed up like an African woman and visited w/ Kelly, Lionel , and I. We picked Honeysuckles…well, Kelly, Lionel and I did….she was the queen and we were her servants. Haha. We also played w/ superhero figures and Barbie’s together. The Barbie’s had to be rescued by the Superheroes. With the goodies w/ picked from the Garden we played cooking class. MaryJane taught us how to make a dish called…hmmm, something w/ pony in the name. I thought it turned out great and we had it as our side w/ Sundays lunch. The time before when we picked the garden we played a game where I was the father, she was the mother, Kelly was the good kid and Lionel was the bad kid. We pretended to pick the veggies and tho cook them up in a big pot. Lionel didn’t get to eat b/c he didn’t help. Poor kitty. Hehe. Had a lot of fun outside as usual too. We played a game of Orphans and a game where I am the cranky big brother. When we play Orphans we pick Honeysuckles and Persimmons (or what we call “Paca Fruit”) and pretend like we find refuge at a abandoned house (our house). Hehe. Played a game of Barbie’s in the tub before bed and 1 story later she was snoozing. : )

(July 25-26)

We spent a lot of time in the water over the weekend…and our sunburns proved it. Who knew you could get a sunburn when the sun isn’t shining? No I; lesson learned. Hehe. After the cancelled trip to the pool on her Birthday she was very anxious for the trip last Saturday. We grabbed some Subway and had us a nice little picnic at the park between the pool and the library. I pushed her on the swing for a long time afterwards. She was flyin high I tell ya. I then buried her in the volleyball court to make sure she was nice and sandy before entering the pool. Haha. We played in that pool for what I would say was close to 3 hours. Played some Simon Say’s (man she’s good and I seriously lost one time on the first thing she said..geezzz). I spun her around while she stood on the front of my thighs leaning back, then tossed her numerous times. Hard to explain, but mucho fun. She later named this “Meow Meow Muttonhead”. Haha. We also jumped into the water numerous times. She would do moves and then I would have to try and copy her. I did decent. She spent a lot of time climbing on the creatures (dragon, shark, stinger, etc.). We had a blast. So you would think that would be enough water for one weekend, but no way José…we wanted more. So a while after Church Sunday we headed down to the boat dock/swimming area to play in the water. She tested out her new raft (ehh...kinda flimsy). We spent a lot of your time playing Meow Meow Muttonhead and “Boo Boo”. This is where I sit on the bottom, she stands on my shoulders, I get to my feet, and the spring up as she jumps from my shoulders. You know this one I’m sure. It isn’t allowed at the public pool so w/ enjoyed doing it a million times in the no rules lake. : ) We also spent time playing the game where she is a Mermaid, but it’s a secret and Kelly and Lionel don’t know. They try to get her to come out of the water to no avail. She practiced trying to swim for the 1st time too. She did pretty good, but has work to do. We will keep after it.

MaryJane’s 3 Birthdays!!!

2009-07-24T13:00:00.001-07:00

Three birthday’s; really? you may be thinking. Why yes. I can’t think of a more deserving little angel. She came up w/ the titles of first birthday, second birthday, and third birthday for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

The 1st

She had asked Friday nite if she could open a Pokémon gift first thing in the morning so I wrapped one up and wa-la, she got 100 Pokémon cards. After looking thru them w/ ohhs and ahhs bet you can t guess what followed. Yup, we played her version of the card game up on the couch (aka the futon) and had Pokémon class w/ Kelly and Lionel. After that I had to finish getting the house ready for our guests so she hung out on the couch and watched Spongebob Squarepants. They had a new episode where he shrinks all his pants in the dryer and the store is out so he has to resort to Roundpants. Haha. Also had the First Episode and then the Top 10 favorites picked by all the kiddos who love that show. She got another gift before our family showed up; Christian. Hehe. Her first party was family. Great Grandma and Grandma, Grandpa and Nana, and Cody and Robi came over for MaryJane's party. MaryJane loved on Robi while Great Grandma helped me prep lunch. MaryJane chose to have French Poodle Sandwiches w/ Salad. Everyone enjoyed the yummy food then it was time for presents.

She got lots of very nice gifts. Not sure which was her fav. She checked out her new goodies and then we all gathered in the dining area to sing and watch MaryJane blow out her candles. It was precious as always. The cake not only looked pretty, it tasted super delicious. Ice cream cake rules. BTW Dairy Queen is the bomb, cake and food wise. After chowing cake she hung out on the floor w/ her goodies while the adults visited and explored the house and grounds. I think everyone really liked the place. I know we love it. After the party we got our play on. We played some Neopets, we watched some of Garfield and Friends Season 1, and we played an elaborate Barbie session all while keeping mister Christian contained and entertained. : ) She was wanting Totally Stylin’ Tattoo’s Barbie. It a doll that comes w/ temporary tattoos and stickers you can put on Barbie’s, Barbie clothes and yourself; really cool. Well, being the little miss creativity she is, she got out some rock-n-roll temporary tattoos she had gotten at from Nana and Grandpa and asked if she could put some on a Barbie. I said sure and she put one on a Barbie and it worked and then it was go time. Her Barbie was totally rock-n-roll and I was her husband and her cousin and her sister who were all just kinda rock-n-roll and there 2 children, one of which was cranky and one of which was good. They went to the Tattoo shop more time then I can remember. It rocked. Hehe. Before Mommy showed to pick up Christian we played a game of “1, 2, go” on the bed. It’s something he says. I would say it and they would both fall down on the bed in hysterical laughter. Good times….followed by bed time. : )

The 2nd

She had asked Saturday nite if she could open another gift first thing in the morning so I wrapped one up and wa-la, she got Super Princess Peach. This is a rare Nintendo DS game where instead of the boy(s) saving the gurl, the gurl saves the boys. How sweet is that. So before church she played her new game and we had DS class w/ Kelly and Lionel. During Church she drew on the program as she always does, but instead of Neopets, this time she did a picture of her and all her friends at the party and a parking lot full of cars. She was just a little excited. Hehe. Her second party was friends and family. She had a pool party at the Jones Center in Springdale. Before heading out for the Jones Center we packed the awesome Pokémon Piñata that I didn’t get a picture of : ( and she finished up her Neopets Cups. Being that there are were no Neopets party supplies available she had the brilliant idea to make her own plates and cups (again no pictures). : ( They turned out fabulous, trust me. She took a short nap while I finished getting everything ready to go. I walked in to the house going to wake her up and there Birthday Gurl stood. She thanked ShoSho for waking her up and it was off; party time! Upon arrival we saw her GuaGua and Aunt Wanda so we parked next to them. We finally got to see the cake.

MaryJane had picked out a few packs of small plastic Neopets figures for GuaGua to use on top of the cake. Check it out. Angel Gurl set out all her plates and cups and placed a coloring pack and set of crayons w/ each. I printed off over 50 pages of Neopets and Pokémon coloring pages and a full color cover for each brand. We had a class Friday night where it was a factory and her, Kelly and Lionel were the workers and I was the boss. She built the packs and Kelly and Lionel handed her the crayons. It was mucho fun. The packs turned out great and were a hit w/ the kids. Shortly after her Mommy and Christian showed up her little friends started pouring in. She kindly greeted each one of her Treehouse friends (Katie, Stella, Lon, and Blue) and colored w/ them all.

She had to show Lon (aka Pokelon) her Pokémon cards and trade a few w/ him (we blame him for her love of Pokémon). ; ) After they all the kiddo had time to mingle for a bit it was present time.Again, she got lots of very nice gifts. Her favorite had to be “Queen Aisha”. She checked out her new goodies and then we all sang and watched MaryJane blow out her candles. Look at that darling face of hers.

Priceless I tell ya. We all put the hurt on the cake and all the kids (and the brave adults) had frosting flavored ice cream w/ chunks of white cake in it. Its MaryJane's fav. On to the Piñata. Since there is nowhere to hang one we hung it on me. Hehe. The kids all jockeyed for position in line and it was on like Donkey Kong. We had everything from calm and weak to aggressive and hard hitting. Lon whacked it so hart it blew the top off of the baton. It was awesome. After a few times threw the line 9and a few pauses to pick up a trickle of candy and prized) Birthday Gurl broke it wide open. Candy rained down on kids scrapping for over 4 pounds of candy, toys, and 10 surprise Pokémon cards. After all the goodies from the Pinata had had been gathered and another look thru the presents

all the kids and adults suited up and headed down to the pools. MaryJane and Blue put on goggles and enjoyed going down under. We all spent some time in the kiddy pool before we were evacuated to the big kid pool due to some kid throwing up in the pool. MaryJane played w/ Katie a bit and played w/ Blue and I a lot. We had fun going into the “deep sea danger zone” as I call it and jumping in from the far end. Of course as kids and adults exited we thanked them all for coming. BabyGurl, Blue and I swam until the pool closed and then MaryJane and I were off to get some grub. She chose Braums. We had healthy class w Kelly, Lionel, Queen Aisha, Cocksy, and Flipper (the last 2 are Neopets too)…then she had more birthday cake ice cream. Hehe. With full bellies and chlorine soaked, sleepy eyes we headed to the hacienda for an elaborate game of Neopets. In short the Neopets had to pass tests to see if they got into Neopia (the world where Neopets live) or had to live outside the gate. It was sooo much fun. To end out the oh so great day we did part 2 of an earlier started bedtime story (sometimes we have to stop and resume another night). The 8 cats, us, and the Mario Bros. and friends rescued Princess Peach from Bowser and Bowser Jr. Good times….followed by bed time. : )

The 3rd

She had asked Saturday nite if she could open another gift first thing in the morning so I wrapped one up and wa-la, she got a How to Draw Neopets Book. Nope, we didn’t have drawing class, but instead headed to her bed for some more Princess Peach Action, bound and determined to beat the first boss, and we did. Hehe. Mommy and Christian came over around 9. Mommy brought a stash of gifts and we had Birthday, just the 4 of us.Again, she got lots of very nice gifts. Not sure which was her fav. I headed to the kitchen w/ little helper Christian to fix breakfast while Mommy relaxed on the couch and MaryJane embarked on her mission to fill her new Pokémon Sticker Book. We chowed, visited, and messed around w/ the bunny for a sec before Mommy and Brother headed out. MaryJane remained steadfast on her sticker application while watching Beethoven and I got us ready for our trip out and about. The trip didn’t go quite as planned, but we had the best time despite. First stop…Mermaids. This is MaryJane’s favorite place to eat and she had been asking to go there for some time. No better time than on her Birthday I thought. So Her, I , Kelly, Lionel and Pikachu had the most fun and delicious lunch. They have her fav; Sketty w/ butter and parm, so she had that. I had a crawfish po boy…yum. Kelly had bread, Pikachu had tomatoes, and Lionel tried to eat sugar packets; bad kitty. We admired the pretty fish tank and mermaid artwork on the walls; discovering there were little painted pictures of Spongebob characters hidden in the artwork. We love that place even more now. After our raspberry chocolate desert and a picture by the fountain,we hit the road. We made a trip to Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us so she could spend the Birthday money that was burning a hole in her pocket. She picked out very nice things, that included the much sought Totally Stylin’ Tattoo’s Barbie. Next it was to be the Springdale pool, but we got rained out. : ( We did the library park for a few minutes and then headed inside to score some Pokémon movies and books. We laughed our tales of at some geese that stopped traffic to cross the road and a mother and father duck w/ ducklings. The mother was keeping them in line while the sleepy father couldn’t keep up. It was hilarious. Next is was to be the Rogers water park, but again rained out. We did the Used book store close by and what a gem that place is. Tons of good books for cheap. She got some Animal Arks and I got the entire Narnia series. When we got home we figured out the Barbie Tattoo Gun and then we got our game on. You can put tattoo’s on yourself and the Barbie’s clothes. So Barbie and Ken opened a clothes store where they sold their tattooed clothes and some cranky boy kept trying to kidnap Barbie. In the end the bad guy turned good and they got married while the ken cried his eyes out. Haha. Before bed she rode a bucking bronco on the bed (yeah..it was me) and passed the easy, med, and hard levels to win. Then I read her the first chapter of the first Narnia book. Good times….followed by bed time. : )

Long time, no blog.

2009-07-17T13:41:00.001-07:00

Hey Peeps. Long time, no blog. No excuses. Just haven’t done it. Got some great pictures to share and am drafting some verbiage to go along with. MaryJane and I have been having the best of times. We are loving life and our new home by the lake. Here is a sneak peek at the titles for the past 3 weekends and the upcoming weekend.

Yard Sale Staples

Smoke Bomb Queen

Little Bunny Foo Foo

MayJane’s 3 Birthdays
The 1st
The 2nd
The 3rd

Between the games that come from and are fueled by MaryJane’s beautiful imagination, to an explosive and magical 4th of July, to the acquisition of new (and old) pets; we have been living it up. Look forward to elaborating on the past next week. Until then…peace.

I’m back.

2009-06-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Some of you might have thought the Inn was closed, but no…we’ve just moved to a new treetop location. : ) Since its been a while ill start w/ the move and work my way forward.

Moving Weekend!

So moving went very well. My friend Jaymz from work rented a U-haul and came over to help us out. It was a one trip deal, but stiall an all day deal. Miss MaryJane had a good time. She talked up a storm to Jaymz, helped load and unload a few things, and played around.

Honey Suckle Weekend!

We spent most of our time down by the honey suckle patch. We discovered a giant patch just a few minutes walk down the road and she couldn’t get enough. Keep in mind she had never tried them before and once she did she wanted to go down there constantly. We made countless trips down there and played tons of Honey Suckle Class.

Pool Weekend!

A much anticipated trip to the Springdale Pool was the highlight of the weekend. She cant wait to go back. We started out in the kid area. After that she wanted to get a life jacket and venture into deeper waters (like she has been doing at the Jones Center). She got her vest and we haeded to the Big Kid area. I had no idea it was only 3’ 6” deep. Before long she had her jacket off and was living even larger.

Father’s Day Weekend!

MaryJane spent Saturday w/ her Mommy and GuaGua. They went to the movies, went shopping, and all kinds of stuff. MaryJane and I spent the evening at Wingfest at the mall. We chowed some wings, watched the wing eating contest, and played. She was so cute during the contest. Last years champ was a gurl and all the rest were boys. She jumped up and down and screamed “Gurls Rule” the whole time…and when a boy won it was “boo” and double thumbs down. Hehe. Sunday was great. First thing was the Happy B-day song w/ b-day being replaced w/ Fathers Day. How sweet is that. She gave me a stack of Garfield comics she printed and cut out. She had good taste cause she hand picked some hilarious strips. : ) We went out to Nana and Grandpas for the afternoon. MaryJane had a ball making things out of beads. We went the Great Grandma and Grandpas after that where she had fun building blocks and
picking pretty flowers.

Random Wonderful Mentions

We have been playing an ongoing game in the back yard where we pretend we are characters from some trading cards of mine. Im a Tree Ranger and she is a Knight of Dusk and the back yard is our land. We capture Kelly and Lionel and make them our maids…or try to eat them. Hehe.

We have made a few trips to the boat dock . It about a 10-15 minute walk away. Both times she has made a pooch friend. The first dog just tagged along and waded in the water, while the second came while she was in the water and played fetch and chase w/ her in and out of the water. Once the water goes down there is a swimming hole. Cant wait for that.

Been playing lots of School. Everything from Warriors Class (a cat book series) to Pokemon Class (like Neopets) to Healthy Class to Mario Class. Just about anything she can make a class out of she does.

MaryJane attended History Camp again this year a few weeks back. It was from 10-3 for a week at the Shiloh Museum. Her Friend Katie from Treehouse was there again this year and she made 4 other friends as well. They did a different theme each day. • Railroads• Native Americans• Pioneers• Arkansas Symbols• Ozark Folklife. She played lots of games, including Chinese freeze tag. She made lots of crafts like a butterfly mask and a wagon. They got to tour the museum the last day. They also made ice cream a time or 2. She had a great time.

MaryJane has just recently become very interested in Video Game Characters (Mainly Mario Characters and Sonic the Hedgehog Characters) and Pokemon. She got a Wii at her Mommy’s shes loving and we just got done beating Mario Bros. on her DS. She has some Pokemon Cards, Mario cards, and Pokemon figures we have been playing w/ too.

We have found the Luckiest Patches of clovers ever. Two small patches beside our house and we have seriously found over 20 4 leaf clovers and a five leaf clover in them. How awesome.

Lots of Artwork coming out of MaryJane. Our fridge is full. Hello Kitty, Mario, Elephant Tales, Pokemon, Neopets, Princess and Princesses. You name it shes done it. : )

...and heres the house. Enjoy.

Mac & Me!

2009-05-29T13:26:00.001-07:00

Well Little Miss Sunshine and I have been enjoying ourselves. She spent last Saturday nite w/ her Mommy while my kinda boss Jaymz and I watched UFC 98, which was totally awesome. Here is what the rest of our weekend was. We seriously only did a few things, but it was a blast. 1: Prepared for our yard sale. Her bed is covered w/ toys, books and movies she is selling. She used masking tape and put prices on everything while Kelly and Lionel watched. It was awesome and is still ongoing. 2: Played w/ Magic: The Gathering cards. While looking thru my room for things for me to sell in the yard sale she came across my cards. She asked me if there were any Unicorns and yes there were. It turned into me looking thru all of them to see what cards she could have and then it turned into her using her cards to win more cards from me. It was so fun. Played it even this morning. I'm running out of cards for her tho cause she only gets to see the child friendly ones. : ) 3: Science. Finished another chapter. Yea….2 to go. 4: Watched Beethoven. She loves that movie and is on a mission to see them all 1-6. I remember watching the first one when I was younger and it is really good. We will see how the others fair. 5: Nana’s. She asked me what we were doing for the Holiday and suggested we visit our family. What a sweetheart. So we went to Nana’s and hung out there for a good 6 hours. She chased wild cats, played w Brena, cheered for me when Grandpa and I played a game outside, knitted w/ Nana, ate lots of yummy food, and played on the computer. Cody and Robi were there part of the time too. We had a really good time. We have been doing all kinds of other fun stuff too like… At home: Playing Neopets, Webkinz, school, making Mommy’s birthday present and her birthday party supplies (Yes, we are making them….there are no official Neopets Supplies), reading, telling stories, and lots more. Out and about: Swimming, Library, Park, Toy/Book/Pet Stores, and more.

Ready, Set, 3rd Grade!

2009-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

We are pumped and prepping for another great homeschool year. Nothing personal against BJU (current cirricullum), but we are making a change to Christian Light Publications (CLP) this year. She has enjoyed and learned so much from BJU this year and it shows. There are just things about it we do not care for and based upon that and her learning style we are confidently going w/ CLP. It is a consumable curriculum; meaning it is workbook based, and our gurl loves her some worksheets. Here is Jessica’s summary of the 3rd Grade.

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Christian Light:
~Math
~Reading
~Language
~Science
~Social studies
~Bible

Supplemental:
~Grammar (dictation, copy work)
~Spelling (there are some spelling words in the christian light language program, so I'm just going to have to pick and chose)
~Geography (she will briefly study a state a day, just to have an idea where each state is located)
~Pioneer studies (this may fill the gap after the geography study is finished)
~Latin (she will study this daily)
~Read alouds (I am in the process of making a reading list for the year and writing out the comprehension questions)

------------------------------

As you can see CLP is the base and we are using pieces of other curriculum's to make it even better. We are very excited. Now if we could just finish 2nd grade. Hehe.

Our New Pad!

2009-05-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh…I so very much wish I had pictures to show you all, but you’ll just have to wait I guess. What am I talking about you may say; our new home. Yes, its official, MaryJane and I are moving to Rogers. Still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this is really happening. Almost to good to be true. We had been looking at houses and duplexes and while having some luck we had not found anything spectacular…..until now. A place in Centerton had my attention, but sis wasn’t wild about it and it was kinda out of the way. Jess was sweet and was helping me look for places and had given me a number for a house really close to hers. I wrote the number down….and lost it. Hehe. I figured a house out there would be too expensive for me anyways. Jess asked me if I had called….no….and before she got me the number again she found the house on Craigslist. Once I saw the details I couldn’t get on the phone fast enough. Left a message and the next day received a call back. MaryJane and I meet Jeff at the house on Saturday and I was blown away. Seriously…this place is a 2 minute walk from Jessica's house and it is very nice for this price. Papers are signed and we are moving in this weekend. Check out tha skinny on this place and tell me your not impressed.

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2 bedroom house-- 10 minute walk to Beaver Lake swimming beach and boat docks. Distant lake view from front of house. House has a sunny front yard, and shaded, fenced-in back yard, with french doors onto back deck and wraparound porch. Located in a quiet, family-friendly neighborhood. Doghouse and separate fenced area in backyard for dogs. This house has all amenities, and would be a great home for older people, a starter home for a young couple, or even a family with small children. It has a nice country feel, but is only 9 miles to I-540! Only $650 a month-- at this price, it won't last long! Would like to have rented by June 1st. Carport Large picture window with lake view on the east side of the house-- watch the beautiful sunrises over the lake from your couch or front porch! Lots of windows and natural light Recently remodeled Central heat/air Wood stove All appliances-- large side-by-side refrigerator with ice maker, full sized washer and dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal in deep double sink, nice flat top stove, etc. Sunroom (!) New wood-laminate flooring in living and dining areas, carpet in bedrooms, ceramic tile throughout kitchen and bathroom New paint throughout, matching curtains included if desired. Toolshed in backyard Lots and lots of built in storage, including walk-in closet in one bedroom, and double closet along one side of the other bedroom Full-length mirrors in both bedrooms Pets okay, no pet deposit! Email for pictures. Rent is $650.

-----------------------------------------

Yup. All that for 650. Righteous. : )

Packing feverishly today and tomorrow. Hopefully moving some stuff tomorrow before the big move Sunday. Taking Monday off of work to finish up. Soooo excited. I will have a bunch of pictures Monday.

Happy Birthday Tabby!

2009-05-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a special day and another party. It was Tabby’s B-day. We started by giving her gifts when we woke up. MaryJane gave her a Build-a-Bear Swimsuit w/ a beach ball, goggles and a towel and I gave her a bag of bows. Here the two cuties just after she got Tabby suited up. After picking up MaryJane after work we rushed home. I prepared dinner and ran the guests by her for approval while she cut out all the build a bear prizes. Lionel and Kelly gave Tabby presents too; a card and a fortune teller. We ate our pizza and then it was time for Cinderella cake. Here are the two cuties just after Tabby blew out her candles. I cut and passed out cake and we chowed. It was yummy. Then the guests played games to win Build-a Bear points they exchanged for prizes. How cool is that. Then we trekked across to the other side of the apartments to swing for a bit before bedtime. It was an awesome day enjoyed by all. : )

The 3 Little Kittens...

2009-05-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Cute pic huh. She got all dressed up late Sunday for a tea party and this pic just kinda happened. We had a lot of fun over the weekend. Saturday morning was playtime and cleaning room time. Then it was off to meet my mother for lunch. We had not seen her or Branden for some time so It was good to catch up. MaryJane had a nice time. She was telling Grandma all about Neopets when Grandma mentioned seeing some at a flea market earlier that day. Scariest flea market ive ever been too. IT was out doors and called the Hillbilly Flea Market…. Yikes! She made of w/ 2 Neopets and a Barbie for a buck fifty. One of the Neopets is a favorite type of her that she did not have one of so it was a big deal to her. The light blue one is a Poogle named Poogle and the Bird is named Starry. We stopped by Grandma Mary’s for a little bit before heading back to Springdale. It was a pleasant visit. We stopped by Lowes to pick up some gardening supplies. She picked out the window flower box thing and the 4 flavors of flowers.

Below is her planting and cleaning up. After planting it was downstairs to play w/ some boys hat were out. We had fun playing tag, tag, and more tag. We also did school, played a hand made board game, played Neopets, and more.
Sunday was Church and Mothers Day. Jess was sick so MaryJane stayed the day w/ me. We had the best time. Played an awesome game where Neopets got autographs from the new Neopets, worked out and watched a Barbie flick at the office, and enjoyed our tea party. Last night we had another party. She covered the living room rug with wrapping paper, we made 3 interesting concoctions in the kitchen, and stuffed animals traded clothe pins for candy. It rocked. Tonight we are going up to Centerton to look at a house. : )

Gala Gurl!

2009-05-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ha…..bet you thought you had gotten rid of me didn’t ya. Well, no way jose…im back in the saddle and ready to rock this junt. Oh…where should I begin. Think ill just mix it up a little. MaryJane had her year ending Treehouse Gala last night at the Jones Center. We all get together once a year to celebrate a wonderful year of Treehouse w/ a food, a silent auction and performances. MaryJane and I hung out together. We ate a little pizza and then bid on a Build-a-Bear Workshop Cat. That gurl spent the last 30 minutes of the auction posted up next to the cat to assure no one out bid her. It was great and would have been effective…had anyone else bid on the cat…yup, she placed the set open bid of 3:00 and won the 25 dollar cat. She was very pleased and named her Tabby. We watched a Alice in Wonderland and enjoyed that. It was a nice Gala and we are all happy to know that despite the departure of our Treehouse President we will be continuing Treehouse. : ) MaryJane and I have been having a lot of fun the past week and a half. Lots of indoor and outdoor fun. Around the house its been real school, pretend school, Barbies, a fairy workshop, a webkinz fight, lots of bedtime stories, cooking and so many other things. Outside (when it has not been raining) we have had fun playing at the park (MaryJane made it 3 bars on the Monkey Bars), playing Caterpillar Catchers, and all kinds of other fun. We've been swimming at the jones center and to her workshop at home depot. Went to Lin’ Garden last week w/ MaryJane, Kelly, Lionel and almost all the Neopets and went to Mellow Mushroom w/ the guys from Community group. Both are soooo tasty. MaryJane had her last Treehouse day for a while last Tuesday. She wore her Tea Party dress b/c they had a tea party in her Princess class. She was head of the table. : ) We are home shopping this month so wish us luck. Getting a house or at least a duplex. So anxious.

What Up?

2009-04-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

Whats up people? Sooooo we had a good time last weekend. We hung out w/ Grandpa and Nana for a good part of the day Saturday. My little coloring superstar had colored a picture at Jose’s on Dickson last time we went and she won herself a free kids meal so we meet up w/ them there to eat. We enjoyed the company and yummy food. We then set out for the football stadium where we Razorfest was being held. MaryJane had the best time. She played lots of games and won lots of fab prizes, the best being a valentine puppy named Samantha. She named it after her friend at the apartments that moved to Missouri; how sweet. We were pretty wet and tired by the time we got home so it was the lounge act for us. Sunday was a trip to Church and play time around the house. Got all of our School done both days and played a lot of Webkins and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie Game over the weekend too. Tuesday was Treehouse and Community Group. Played tag w/ MaryJane and her friends at lunch and her and I enjoyed a nice picnic at the park before I went to group. Wednesday was Earth Day. Her mommy and her had a blast. See Jess’s Blog for details. We were going to pick up trash to recycle, but when she got outside and saw that her friend Michelle was out that she has not seen in forever was there she spent all there time playing w/ her instead. They had so much fun together. Played outside some last night too. Love the weather as of late. : ) Today MaryJane attended Culture Club (Round 2). Again, see her blog for more on that. Weekend holds all kinds of fun, but ill speak on that next week. Until then….Peace.

Eatser and More!

2009-04-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

What an awesome weekend. MaryJane and I truly enjoyed ourselves. She was so excited about the Easter Bunny coming, going to visit our family and Church. We were up at 6am on Saturday morning and almost immediately she had her new dress on, thats how anxious to get the weekend started she was. hehe. We started our eggs and it seemed tho her like forever for them to cook and cool. She just could not wait to get her hands on them. We played and got everything ready to color and decorate them while we waited. She had a great time coloring, applying stickers, and dipping them in the hot water to shrink wrap them. She did a Kitty and Puppy theme. Cute. After that she hung out and watched Beverly Hills Chewawa (which she just loves) and then it was time to jet. We packed up her eggs and we were off. A few stops later we arrived at Nana and Grandpas. MaryJane had a ball hiding eggs. She had a bag full of prizes she had put together on the way there so after she gave those out after the first few hunts. It was awesome. She had fun playing w/ Brena and playing on the PC. On a walk w/ Nana she discovered Frog Eggs in the ditch. We saw hatched and unhatched eggs. Very interesting. Dad and I had fun playing washers and some game Cody made. Both were a lot of fun. After an hour....or four (time flies when your havin fun), we headed out to Great Grandma and Grandpas for a long over due visit. I couldnt have been nicer. Grandpa and I talked while the girls picked flowers. Grandma helped MaryJane put flowers in jar vases and helped her put together a card to go w/ one of them she gave to her mommy. It was very sweet. It was then home. We put out carrots for the Easter Bunny, made sure the door was unlocked, put the cats in the bedroom with us, closed the door and couldnt wait to get to sleep in anticipation of the Easter Bunny coming. We were up at 6:30 and she couldnt wait to get out of bed. She discovered that the carrots were eaten and a bucket full of goodies had been left for her. She was very pleased. We then played a super awesome, over an hour, session of Barbies before we rushed to get ready for Church. She wore her other Easter dress her GuaGua had gotten for her and she looked gorgeous. As you can imagine there were a million people at church and i thought we were gonna have to sit/stand by the wall but we luckily got a seat, yes one. It was nice tho; she sat on my lap and it was cuteness. After the short service we headed to Rogers where we meet up w/ Mommy. The week has been good. Tuesday nite we went to a guys house that is in our community group to start our community garden. To MaryJanes disappointment we didnt actually do any planting, just looked at the spot and discussed the plans, but that was way over-ridden by the fact that a girl named Miranda that is a homeschooled girl her age was there and the fact that there was cheese pizza. Her and Miranda played, played, and played some more and she ate, ate, and ate pizza. We are going back next week to plant our cool weather plants. We are excited. : )

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On It's Way!

2009-04-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Gearing up for a big, fun Easter weekend. MaryJane and I have been having fun. She sewed and made lots of crazy concoctions in the kitchen last weekend. Played a ton of Barbies. Went to the office to work out and enjoy some Garfield on the big screen. Went down to the ravine and played in the water. We really enjoyed that. It was a fun weekend. We made a cake Wednesday nite and she decorated it last nite and we will eat some of it tonight...hehe. Ill be back Monday w/ details on coloring and hunting eggs, the trip to visit our family, details on what the Easter Bunny left, and Church. I will have pictures of MaryJane in her Easter Dresses too. : )

Neopets Are Fun!

2009-04-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Neopets Are Great!

2009-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

Horsin' Around!

2009-03-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yes...the day finally came....the 10 annual UA Horse Festival. MaryJane was so excited. Check out the pictures. I got her the outfit last week and she took her horse and lucky horse shoe.....and a whole bag full of horses. : ) We attended a show at noon where we saw tons of horses. We saw a high speed drill team, The Clydsdale Express, tame Zebras, Rodeo Queens, and much more. There were some less interesting parts and not every act showed up due to the weather, but we certainly had a great time. After the show she got to visit Dusty the worlds smartest horse. She got to pet him and he gave her a toy with his mouth. It was cute. MaryJane, the Neopets, and I had a Tea Party Saturday nite. She made up one of her con cautions, I made some tea, and we had a lovely time. : ) Sunday morning we made some Easter suckers. We painted and filled molds with colored melted chocolate. It was great fun and they are oh so tasty. : d We got outside Sunday and enjoyed the nice weather. We played down by the water and on the bridge. We then went over to the office to work out and watch Garfield in the movie theater. We had a lot of fun.

Hey!

2009-03-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is...Friday...and just now getting to blogging. Didnt get into detail about the week when i posted last Friday...sorry. Here is last weekend and this week in short, plus a look ahead to tomorrow. I will be posting again this coming Monday....not Friday. : )

Last weekend was good. We were stranded at the house w/ a dead car battery until mid-afternoon Sunday, but aside from missing Church we were ok w/ it. We hung out at the house and played till our heads fell off. ; ) Lots of board games and Polly Pockets. Finished our study of muscles and colonial jobs. Watched "Thumballena"; the Barbie version. It was very cute. Oh...lots of basketball too; March Madness.

Been a good week. No Treehouse this week again, but MaryJane did had Culture Club Thursday. Once a month kids get together and present a project and dish. This month was Ireland. Check over at Jess's place for picks of MaryJanes super cool lap book and dish. She worked hard on her project and it turned out great. Very proud of her.

MaryJane and I are attending a Horse Festival tomorrow. : )

Happy Spring!

2009-03-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Another week has passed. Here is whats been up. Last weekend was nice, but man did it fly by. Spent Saturday morning playing before we headed out for what turned out to be about a 4 hr outing, library, movie store (picked up Wall-E), CiCi's (good and cheap), Wal-Mart, and Hobby Lobby (picked up some school supplies and got some fabric to decorate her bedroom shelves). She has a large 5 level shelving unit in her room and we thought it would look nice if we wrapped the shelves in fabric. She got some pretty ribbon to use too. We will be doing this over this weekend. By the time we got home, did our Heritage Studies lesson where she learned about Colonial Shoemakers and worked toward completing her own shoe, it was dinner time. WE grabbed our lunchables and got ready for Wall-E. She has seen it the week before at her Mommy's and liked it so when i mentioned getting it she agreed we should. It's no Toy Story, but good. By the time we watched that for our movie nite, and ran around the living room during the credits, it was past bed time. Sunday morning was Neopets, Barbies, and water. : ) It was a spa treatment kinda game, Neopets in the barbie pool and the Barbies in the bath tub. Church was great as always. After a Science lesson we went to the Jones Center to swim. It was good to be back at the pool. We were there for over 2 hours and had a blast. When we got home we were starving so we chowed some steak and tatoes, played and called it a night. Ready for the weekend. Loving all this basketball. Happy Spring.

Even More Neopets!!!

2009-03-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

More Neopets!!!

2009-03-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Neopets!!!

2009-03-13T10:21:00.001-07:00

The Week In Review!

2009-03-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hello peeps. Been wonderin what we have been up to? Well...hurr goes.

Last Friday i thought it would be nice to go to the park after picking MaryJane up and before going home. We went to Gully Park, which we love and is on the way home. She ate a whole carton of GIANT Strawberries to get things started and then it was Playground time. We ran a muck on both play areas playing chase and a copy cat game she made up before heading down to the little river area. She messed around w/ the water and we hunted for Treasure. Love the pictures. I am supposed to tell you that in the second one she is "The Sea Queen" and yes i am the Sea King. hehe. Before we left we played some more on the play place and i had to pass some tests to get my stick back. We stayed until nearly dark. We had such a good time...she did not want to leave. : )

Saturday was Home Depot where she built a mini derby car track. The little wooden cars are ok, but she had more fun running hot wheels and other cars down it. We made a short as possible trip to Wal-mart where she picked up a new Neopet named Jazel (spelling?) (named after the princess from Enchanted). Before we left she had to say goodbye to her mother and called her mother at Wal-Mart over the weekend. Cute. Had a tasty lunch at Steak-n-Shake. Ended our journey out w/ a trip to Hasting's to pick up a copy of Narnia # 2. Glad we got this because it provided a lot of fun for us. We watched it Saturday nite for movie nite and it was soo good. Highly recommend. She had some concerns about the horses getting hurt, but i assured her they were always ok. No horses, jaguars, or tigers were hurt cause they are all good guys (even if the horses were on the bad team). : ) Narnia continued into Sunday w/ us playing it. She was Lucy, Susan and the Ice Queen while I was Peter, Edmond, and Aslind. We had indoor and outdoor fun using a plastic sword, the sticks we acquired from the park Friday, and a little sword she fashioned out of 2 chop sticks. It was great fun i tell you. Of course there was plenty of other playing that went on over the weekend. Here are some of them. A few games w/ littlest petshops, one of which is a fav where they sell crust and bread from an italian loaf. yummy and fun game. : d Doctor w/ is popular around the house right now. Played Fairies. This has been popular too. We have dismantled some old baby toys and tinker bell 'tinkers" with them. its cute. We decided a trip to the park by the school about half a mile down the read sounded good so we went out and enjoyed it in the continued nice weather. We played on the play place and swung on the swings. Also notice 3 beautiful horses in the flied right next to us. WE spent time admiring them and trying to persuade them to come to us bye shaking grass at them and by making horse noises. She decided we needed to get some more appealing food for them so we headed out to get something, but first we had to track down a noise not made by us but that of the ice cream truck roaming the neigborhood by the playground. We spotted it, followed it for a few blocks, and to my surprise she pulled right over, serving us two super tastt bubble gum ice cream popsicles. surprisingly good. WE got an apple and headed back to the horses, but they were to far away from the fence when we got back. We decided to try again another time, played a bit more and then headed to the house for good. She also made some more crazy concoction out of misc items in the kitchen. She did one show and one class, the show was where her and Jazel crushed up all kinds of crackers w/ rolling pins and put them in a bowl, the class was where Her, I, Jazel, Nina (her other new neopet), Kelly, ans Lionel put s batter mixture on Fruit Roll ups. I mentioned getting her a cook book thinking she might like making something that tasted good, but she was like "then i couldnt pick out the ingredients", which i understand...she has fun making these things...even if they do taste iffy. Thinking she could do both. We were responsible peoples too. Got some Heritage Studies in each day, a guitar lesson, and we cleaned her room and she dusted. Lots more i could tell about the weekend, but better move on...

This is Her and "Sucker Town", which she made Sunday Afternoon. Quite a delicious little place.

Monday morning was a special morning b/c we got to go to the Walton Art Center for a play. As you know she has a class at Treehouse called "Discovering the Treehouse", in which they read and do activities based around "The Magic Treehouse" book series. In (really) short the books are about a boy and gurl find a treehouse that can take them anywhere and in each book they go to a different place and have an adventure...ending w/ them making back home. So as part of her class they got to go to the play based on one of the books and i was lucky enough to get to join my darling for the experience...and a wonderful experience it was. It was her, me...and what was said to be, and certainly seemed like, about 1,100 other kids. We were glued to the stage the whole time as the musical drama unfolded. I have never read any of the books and loved it so i can only imagine how much she appreciated and loved it. She said they are listening to the audio tape of the book the play was based on no win her class so thats cool...they can see how the play compares to the book. Great time had by all...1,100. hehe

Sooo...speaking of Treehouse...Tuersday was another round and she had a blast as always. Made lots of awesome artwork w/ we just love. She has pictures taken the week before and we got the proofs. She looks so adorable. Now we have to decide which one to get and when you love them all that aint no small task. I want them all. : ) Our evening was mainly Barbies and V-smile.

Wednesday was our final trip to the dentist that involved the word "cavities". She got her last filling and is glad it is done and over with...as am I. Now its just back for a cleaning twice a year, which she dosent mind. She dosent want to be a dentist anymore, partially based on her unliking of the filling action and partially because she has found a new desired profession, Animal Doctor....which i think has something to do w/ her liking of "For Petz Sake", the animal rescue program her mommy is involved in. Another recent change is her fav color. Now the job thing changes a lot, but her fava color has been blue since she was 3 years old. Well not long ago this year it changes to red...for about a day...then to Purple...and that is where it stands. She told me a few days ago it is because "im the Darkest Faerie". That child loovveesss her some Neopets. Ok...back to Wednesday. She had wanted to go to eat after the play on monday, but i had to get to work so w/ just did some drive thru action. She had mentioned wanting to eat somewhere she had never eaten before, some where on dickson, and mexican food....that combined w/ her eating ice cream after her dentist appointment Tuesday, which she didnt get mother ; ), led me to taking her to dinner at Jose's. It meet all the criteria and they have the infamous fried ice cream. If youve never had this you must. It is soooo yummy. So we had played w/ Kelly, Lionel, and Neopets, she colored Neopets pictures and a picture for there wall (something i did as a kid) , and yeas we ate and had the awesome cream. We got so full. Made a stop by the Dickson Street Used Book store which is just so cool before heading home to get in a quick game of library before bed.

Yesterday I got a packet from the boss man. It is a catalog containing items i can get in recognition of being w/ Tyson for 5 years. Seriously...5 years...its been that long. Well, it cool. So MaryJane helped me pick out an item when we got home last nite beofer we hit the kitchen. She made some little (the bread was cheese-itz little) Barbie sandwiches while i got dinner ready. She then made a desert out of all the sweats in the cupboard....which turned into part of our Barbie game. Orphan Barbies came and got candy. hehe So we played a few more barbie games, including barber shop, playud barbies in the tub and then we played barbies some more...just kiding...it was bed time. No story this nite, but we have been in the grove of tellin stories at nite. I have been telling her this story about cats since she was very little and whe still requests it. The number of cats in the story changes and the place they go changes, but the main gist is usually about the same. The cats decide where to go, Jasmine drives out of control and goes to jail, the cats go crazy at Chuck E. Cheese (or wherever they end up), and then they go home. She tells me stories of the cats sometimes too which i just love.

Looking forward to another sweet weekend. Sweet as in the sweetness of that little love fountain named MaryJane and sweet as in soooo great.

Playtime!

2009-03-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Hi-ya! Back after a fun weekend. Heading into a couple dayz w/o my BabyGurl, so thats a bummer, but looking forward to comm group tonight and the last home game for the Hogs tomorrow nite. MaryJane and I had fun over the weekend. We spent Saturday morning playing w/ her mix collection of small plastic dolls. Barbies, Fairies, Madelines, and all kinds of little ones in an elaborate hour and a half playtime. It was sweet. We got out for a bit after that. Hit the library and loaded up on Animal Ark and horse books, ate at Las Margaritas : d, grabbed a few movies and an bear names Ocean from the washing machine at Hastings, got some school supplies and othe art supplies at Hobby Lobby, and what would a trip out be w/o a trip to wal-mart. hehe. grabbed a few things to eat and she got stuff to make a cake. So on the way home she had the whole afternoon planned out. It was to be cake class, art class, and movie nite. She has some food coloring (4 colors pack) i got for a science project and on the back it tell you how to color frosting and cake so she wanted to do that and thats what we did. She made purple frosting and pink cake. How cool. So while the cake cooked and cooled....we got art class underway. Kelly is away at Grandma Jean's : ( so it was MaryJane, Lionel and myself. Lionel was being cranky as usual so he didnt get to paint. MaryJane painted a wooden fairy wand and a darling picture frame w/ sunflowers. We had a good time. Once the cake had cooled MaryJane and I put the frosting on and then she drew flowers on it with glitter gel and sprinkled it with sprinkles. She mentioned it needing something else and when i offered a few candles left over from her b-day from the cabinet it suddenly became someones b-day. Striped the tiger turned 3 on Saturday. MaryJane and I prepared dinner together. She was the salad maker and i was the pork chop maker. She did awesome while i managed to burn myself 4 times. haha. Her salads turned out awesome and, despite my injuries, so did the pork chops. : d So we began our movie. We watched the first Narnia. She had been wanting to watch it for a while and we want to see the second one soon. So we watched our movie while we ate our dinner, had cake, ate popcorn and drank home-made cherry limeades. Sunday was another fun day. Finished of Narnia first off and then it was outside to check out tha snow. Snowballs were not happenin, but MaryJane and Snowball (the cat) made snow angels before we were off to Church. It was great as always. Lionel is in love w/ Snowball so on the way home he was trying to get her to marry him, but she was not having any of it...instead wanting to marry a pooch at the house. So when we got home we had a weeding. It was fun and crazy. We packed a lot in to the time we had to play before i took MaryJane to mommy's before i went to the ballgame. She made her famous french poodle sandwiches for lunch and we played polly pocket, a golf game she made up, battle ship, i got to dance w/ a princess, and connect four. Had a great nite last nite too. Played Bible class when we got home. She made more salads and a drink that contained a little of every drink from the fridge (kamikaze's) while i made the soup and veggie. She tole me "i love cooking". I think im going to get her a children's cookbook. We can each pick out a recipe every week of too from our books and make them together. : ) Played doctor w/ Margaret and Charlotte and a game where she put diff kinds of glasses on the bed and on her face and i said what kind of glasses they were. We each told a story before sleepy time; hers being about horses and mine about cats, of course. : ) Mommy came and picked up MaryJane this morning so we got extra playtime. It was class time; time class, art class, and what i believe she called sharing class, which was playing game player. hehe Well, thats all for now. Later.

Tid Bits!

2009-02-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

WoW...i really gotta start blogging more. When i get a computer at home ; ) ; ) i know i will do better. Even have mild aspirations to start a second one. So here are a few tid bits on what been goin on since Valentines Day.

Celebrated Codys B-day the Sunday after Valentines day. We had a good time and got some pictures of some birds. I wasnt able to get a picture of a female cardinal or get as close -up as she wanted on the male cardinals, but still some ok pictures. Between Church, going out to Grandpa and Nana's and playtime we had a day full of fun.

Week was good. MaryJane and I spent Monday, Thursday, and Friday nights together. We had fun playing, watching new spongebob episodes, and even had an awesome tea party Friday night where she turned into a horse. It rocked. MaryJane has Treehouse Tuesday and had a wonderful time as usual. She went to the Shiloh museum w/ some other Homeschoolers on Friday. She made a new friend and she had just loved the Shiloh Museum ever since History Camp. Tuesday was round 2 of Romans w/ community group and Wednesday went to the Razorback game w/ a friend from work. Stinks we loss, but we had a good time.

Last weekend was cool. It was mix of playing and school at the house. Some of the norm, Neopets, Barbies; and new games too like one where she painted old toys and things to give them new appeal to her and stuffed animals and non-scooby doo detectives. She was very sweet at night to; reading to Kelly and Lionel and doing activities w/ them from her God and Me Bible and Devotional. Pictures are sooo cute and by request. She got this

This weeks been good. Chowed some Chinese last night and played doctor w/ the biggest doctors kit ever and yesterday was Treehousee. MaryJane had a ball and made another new friend. We had fun playing tag and walking the ties around the playground at lunch. Looking forward to seeing MaryJane tonight. Got together w/ some of the guys from comm group last night to watch a movie; Body of Lies. It was ok.

The Best Valentines Day Ever!

2009-02-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

You know its been a great day when you get "this is the best day ever". MaryJane and I had a very nice Valentines Day. She grabbed, hugged on and commented on her new teddy i put on her pillow for her first off, then it was to the living room to see her chocolates and new stylin Barbie butterfly sunglasses seen here. Awesome.

We spent our morning playing Neopets on gameplayer, playing valentines and coloring school. She, I , Kelly and Lionel made some sweet valentine's b/w playing valentines school Friday night and Saturday morning. She helped make breakfast after that and we chowed down on her awesome eggs and my yummy sausages while we finished up school. After a trip by work to do some school research and watch a few Neopets videos we headed to the mall to meet up w/ her Mommy and GuaGua. Fast forward 4 hours (dont care to talk about the lowsy ball game). Went and picked up my date ; ) and we headed to the house to make Bird feeders (still in progress...paint had to dry) and to prepare ourselves for our fine dinning. We headed out to Mermaids, one of our favorite place. We pretended to be a French couple, a Chinese couple and upon arrival we became Barbie and Ken. It was cool. We got there just in the nick of time b/c we grabbed the last table The perfect table really. It was a small round table for two, in the back by the fish tank and the Mermaid painting featured on the menus. We had the best time. After a time being Barbie and Ken we became royalty. We had fun playing w/ Kelly and Lionel, conversating, being sweet, and eating, of course. Cheesy appetizer, fresh salad, buttery bread, and pasta dished each. Lots of variety. So before we left i had to get a few pictures of my darling. The one w/ her eyes closed...well, it is to keep the light from turning her eyes purple (its a Neopets thing).....and there are hard to get rid of. Both are precious.

After dinner it was time for a double dip junior cone from Braums before heading over to the Bible book store to get her new Bible. When she got her Bible that she uses for school she had seen a Princess one that she wanted. It was not there, but we found on that is even better; a "Mary Jane Bible". Yup, and she says its named after her. hehe : ) Ill have to get a picture of it to show. It is very nice and she is taking very good care of it. Finally we went to the pet stores to get Orange Beauty a pink collar and tag that say "Princess" on the front and her new pets; two fish. She previously had two fish, a red beta named Jewel and a sucker fish named Saw. S in memory of them she got the same kind of fish, naming the red beta Ruby and the sucker fish "Hammer". : ) She just loves them both and it taking good care of them as well. Pics coming soon. She helped get the fish all cozy in there new home and then it was off to bed. It was the best Valentines Day ever. : )

Action Packed!

2009-02-11T10:19:00.001-08:00

Lots to talk about today.

Weekend was great. We were bizy bodies on Saturday. After some morning play time and Heritage Studies it was off to Home Depot. She made a beautiful jewelry box w/ velvet inside and everything. She painted it Sunday and decorated it with stickers to boot. Its very nice i must say. We ran some more errands and then it was home. After more play and more school we headed over to Lokomotion to cash in one of the gift certificates i got for Christmas. We had a blast playing mini golf, racing cars and motorcycles (arcade only...hehe), and racking up mucho tickets. She made off w/ a few cool prizes. So after all this it was time to relax. We had a movie night. We watched "Space Buddies" and had the regular movie refreshments. Movie was cute, funny, and very far fetched. Always enjoy dancing around the room at the credits. Special. Sunday we rocked the church scene, visited China (no...not really, but what a fun game), painted paper plates and paper towels, finished up school, played guitar, and even played Snow White w/ a twist at the end of the day. It was a pleasant day. One big game that stretched across both days was Littlest Pet Shops elect a new president. There was a pedestal and a dog with a microphone that would ask each candidate what they would do if they were president and then based on how many pet shops gathered around they got a score and the highest scoring one got to be president. We did a ton of them and although i dont remember who won it was really a lot of fun. : )

MaryJane got back to Treehouse yesterday. She missed the week before last due to the Ice and they were scheduled off last week so you can imagine how excited she was about going. She prepped Valentines to hand out Monday night and had fun w/ that. Payed her a visit at lunch as usual and it was nice. Chased her and other kids around the play area which is always cool...and tiresome. She had a great day at Treehouse and we played Barbies and watched some tv to close the day out.

Looking forward to Saturday. MaryJane and I have are going on a date to Mermaids for dinner. Shes also getting to pick out 2 new fish and a new Bible; things she has really been wanting.

Later.

Party Hardy (Round 2)!

2009-02-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

So we had an awesome time Saturday celebrating the 2 birthdays. MaryJane even purchased a new friend the night before. She is an Isha and her name is "Spotty". Cute. The morning was spent playing board games and school, checking out the goodie bags, playing Neopets on her DS and on Gameplayer, and blowing up balloons. She also painted very nice pictures of 3 of her Neopets. My little artist. We didnt cook this time around buyt the Neopets still at there share of Lucky Charms and Pizza Hut on there Zoopal Plates. Cody and Robi came over to visit and have lunch w/ us. We played Barbies and a board game, did Tattoos, and went crazy w/ balloons. The afternoon was fun too. Worked out at the office, played babysitter, had a tea party and more. : )

Sunday was cool. We made some Christmas ornaments out of suckers. She always has the best ideas. We played darts for too. She wanted to play so i set up the board and we had fun seeing what numbers we got. She's really good. She said the green was 100 and the bulls eye was 1000. She did the dance from the video when she got a good number. She said a Neopet on Neopets.com does the dance and that she does it when she does good on her Neopets DS game. How funny. We went over to my Brandon's house to pick up materials for our Community Group lesson for the semester and she played w/ his 2 boyz for a while. They played in the icy waters of the empty sandbox and jumped on the trampoline. She didnt want to go over there, but i know shes glad we did now cause she had fun. Aside from watching the fourth qtr after she went to bed, i didnt watch much of the Superbowl. MaryJane and I hung out in her room and watch Puppy Bowl V instead. It was so funny and cute. She was bustin up. She was happy that her favorite puppy won. Before bed it was the toothbrush show. I loved it.

Neopet Dance!

2009-02-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

The Toothbrush Show!

2009-02-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

Trapped Under Ice!

2009-01-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

Hey...what a krazy week it has been. Going back a bit MaryJane and I had an action packed weekend. We spent Saturday morning playing and getting some school in. After that Diana and I went to watch the Hogs lose #4 in a row, but after she treated us to lunch at the Pesto Cafe to ease our pain. : ) Went and got Baby Gurl after that and we went to the movies. Its all a secret so me just saying that we went is probably saying to much. ; ) We had a great time. Luv that Gurl! Sunday was Church followed by a trip to Grandpa and Nana to Celebrate Robi's B-day. We had a great time. At lunch she noticed that there were bird feeders out the window and then became enthralled w/ watching them. She had never seen a girl cardinal so that was a treat. We kept tabs on how many Cardinals, both male and female were around...as well admiring the other birds. Needless to say Birds are now her 4th fav animal. hehe.

WoW...what a week...never seen such a disaster. While i missed not having my gurl as much I am thankful Mommy has a generator and kept her warm while Daddy was at work and in the dark and cold. MaryJane didnt get to go to Treehouse, but had a lot of fun w/ her Mommy. She Made "Kitty Chains", fruit kabob's (yum btw), colored some awesome Hello Kitty pages, had a tea party w/ her mommy and played w/ her monkey brother. MaryJane and I did spend Wednesday nite together and had fun playing the ever so popular Barbies and despite me having to take her back to her mothers last nite after realizing the electricity was of again we were thankful that we did get to spend some time together. Feel bad for the trees. "Poor Trees" was the words of my darling.

Looking forward to the weekend. We are celebrating the Birthdays of 2 more Neopets tomorrow. Mrs. and Mr. Bruce (a red penguin and an orange penguin). There birthdays are on Fab 1st and Feb 3rd. We are excited. She picked out some plates, cups, snacks, balloons and goodie backs at Wal-Mart, we are using the same list of things to do from Neo's birthday w/ the addition of "lots of board games", we are ordering pizza, and weather permitting Cody and Robi are dropping by for a bit. Its going to be so much fun.

The Weekend and Treehouse!

2009-01-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

Had a nice weekend. Mainly played at the house. Did get out for Church of course. School went well. Made Corn Bread and homemade butter as the colonists did for Heritage Studies and measured and classified for Science. She classified rocks and enjoyed it so much she did more before bed, this time adding more details and as she does w/ most everything, made a game out of it. Got out the rarely seen these dayz Care Bears and played w/ them on multiple occasion which was fun and played the coolest game of horses where we were horse tied to the dinning room chairs by jump ropes and we each had an owner. Lionel was the good owner of MaryJane and Kelly was the bad owner of me. Not long ago Lionel went from being bad to being good and Kelly went from being good to being bad. Not sure the reasoning, but were having fun w/ it.

Yesterday was the 1st day of Treehouse and MaryJane had a blast. She was so excited to go; acting as though she was going to sleep immediately at bed time, picking out Princess themed clothes for "All About Princesses", and even making wishes the all her classes would be great and that the best would be Princesses. She loves Treehouse. She was excited about all her classes and seeing all her friends, but the most excited about her Princess class and seeing her friend Katie who did not attend Treehouse last semester. I paid her a visit at lunch time as usual and it was fab We ate and chatted about her morning and stuff, froze outside for a few minutes, and hung out w/ some other princesses in the princess class room. She wasnt the only one excited about that class. : ) Talked to her afterwards and she had a great day for sure. What a darling. I attended Community Group last nite. Finished up our Lesson from last Semester, chowed on some Mad Pizza (1st time for me and Yum, hardly no sauce and yummy cheese), and set up things for next semester. Next week is guyz nite. Not sure what were doing yet, but sure it will be fun. Then the next week we begin our lesson on the book of Romans. Im hosting and leading. Should be fun.

Here are MaryJanes Classes.

Fables
Students will explore classic and modern fables by creating dioramas, lapbooks, and various 2 and 3 dimensional crafts.

Pioneer Days
Learn about life on the frontier. Where did people get their food? Their clothes? Their tools? We'll discover the joys and challenges that people experienced during the settling of this great land. We'll do crafts, read together, make some pioneer snacks and play some fun games as we learn what it was like to live long ago.

Discovering The Treehouse
We continue this course based on the popular Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. We will use this wonderful series to explore the magic of books. Do Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knights at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning sound interesting? This class is for beginning and non-readers. We will read, discuss and do some projects pertaining to the "time" we travel to. We will read portions of the book in class but students should ideally have a copy of the book to read at home with a parent or on their own. This course will run through Spring Term 2009. A ticket for the spring production of The Magic Treehouse at the Walton Arts Center on March 9th at 9:30 is included in the materials fee.

All About Princesses
Young ladies will enjoy arts and crafts, reading stories, and playing games all revolving around princesses. An end of term “tea” party will give our Treehouse princesses the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained. Tiaras are optional.

Arts & Crafts
Students will explore a variety of arts and crafts techniques. Projects will include clay pinch pots, weaving, mosaics, and more. Come discover your creative side and get just a little messy at the same time. Wear old clothes or bring a smock.

Storytime Arts & Crafts
Each week we’ll read a story and create a cool craft to compliment the story. Kids will have fun using different mediums to create projects perfect for any fridge, centerpiece or gift-giving occasion.

Neo Buddies

2009-01-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Party Hardy!

2009-01-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

Not everything was accomplished over the weekend, but the party was great and rockin all day Saturday and we got almost all our planned school lessons done on Sunday. Hogs lost...by a lot...no top 25....yet. : ) Artwork got scrapped...starting over...done on Friday. : ) DVD-RW didnt get re-setup, but it did last nite...and super happy w/ it. : )

We certainly didnt get up at 5 am, but instead 6:40. So i was wrong about thinking the party was to celebrate the new year. It turns out it was to celebrate Neo's birthday. Neo is the Neopet in the picture w/ the hat and rings that Lionel made for her on Friday nite. We were in the kitchen starting to make our cupcakes by 7. Neo invited 15 (13 stuffed animals, MaryJane, and I) to the party and while the cupcakes cooked and cooled each one of us made one of the Barbie heads you see on the cupcakes. Originally these were going to be just for the Barbie chicken we made for dinner, but she decided she wanted them to go in the cupcakes and later in the chicken. It was great fun and the cupcakes turned out so great and yummy. We played Barbies and Gameplayer. MaryJane, I, Pink Poodle and Neo made Famous French Poodle Curly Sandwiches for lunch. We put on tattoos, played with the Barbie heads,and created/played rock, paper scissors w/ added movements and sound effects. We played horses. We and seen part of a horse jumping competition on Animal Plant so she wanted to play that. I set-up tracks made of books and movies and she ran her horses with Barbies on them around the tracks. We watched Barbie in a Christmas Carol while all 15 of us dinned on the Barbie chicken and fresh green beans she helped prepare. We played Betty Spaghetti during bath time, had a short pillow fight and did other stuff too.

Sunday we did a 2 Heritage Study Lessons, 1 Science Lesson, and played a bunch. She served stuffed animals Moonsand, we played a game from Neopets.com where we tied string to ourselves and tried to pull the other into the blue towel water, and we played Barbies...of course. hehe.

MaryJane starts Treehouse again next week and Community group kicks off tonight. Excited about both. Ill get up some details about her schedule for the Spring Semester later this week and im presenting an idea for our spring semester curriculum at group tonight so i will have to tell you all about that if it gets picked.

Ansty!

2009-01-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Oh...its almost 4:30 and i'm antsy. Getting MaryJane after work and we are heading to eat and shop. On new years eve while we were at dinner she announced that we were going to have a party on January 10th. I think we are celebrating the new year. hehe. We got our activities and food items finalized last night and its going to be so much fun. Activities include a pillow fight, decorating her room w/ wrapping paper, Barbies, and much more (plus who knows what we will come up with as the party is happening). MaryJane is picking out all the food and going to help make the selections. We are making chocolate cupcakes w/ star sprinkles, famous french poodle curly sandwiches, and Barbie chicken. hehe. She told me last night that she wants to get up at 5:00 am to start the party. haha. Ill have pics and more details on Monday. So that is our Saturday; party from the time we wake up till time for the Razorback game. Sunday i have some school planned. We are starting a new chapter in Science where we will be learning about measuring and our study of colonies continues, going into detail about the homes and the food of the colonists.

Other exciting weekend happenings include watching the red hot Hogs take out Miss St., NFL playoffs continued, finishing a piece of artwork, and burning some movies to DVD. I have everything hooked up and burned a disc the other day; video and audio are top-notch, but i've decided i want to hook it up differently to get even better picture quality so although changing stuff around again will be a chore the outcome makes it worth it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend too.

Later

Happy New Year to all and Happy Anniversary to the Inn!

2009-01-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve was great. MaryJane and I had a nice dinner at Oseguera's before heading over to check out the lights at the Fayetteville square. We have gone before Christmas last two years, but this time it was New Years Eve. It was mighty cold so the outing didn't lasted only 15 minutes, but every minute was enjoyed. We admired the lights, followed the paths, and talked along the way.

Yes, its been a year to the day the Inn opened for business. Thank you to all the frequent and not so frequent customers. You are always welcome, cause we never close. ; )

New years day was great as well. Other then the morning trip to Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart we spent the morning playing School and the afternoon playing Barbies and Horses. Also, we got close(er) to winning the Neopets game for gameplayer and she helped me do some dishes by hand w/ the cloths and soap she got at Wal-Mart.

Looking forward to an awesome weekend.

Here's to another great year!!

3 Christmas's

2008-12-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful!

This is her dancing on the couch to see her light up Tinker-bell Christmas shirt light up on Christmas Eve morning. Super cute! She was then off to have Christmas w/ her Chief and Grandma Jean. I picked her up in the afternoon and we headed out to Aunt Cheryl's for our annual Christmas Eve get together. We enjoyed ourselves. She had fun loving on and playing with Rachel's little gurl, Audrey. It was so good to have everyone together and to see those we dont get to see but once a year. Everyone received there "Danforth Soundtrack 2008" as well; a compilation of 1 song picked by each family member. It is quite interesting. I took her to her Mommy's afterwards so she could get nestled into bed and to sleep.
Woke up Christmas morning to find Santa had filled our stockings and left lots of presents under the tree. I talked to her Christmas morning around 9:30 and she told me about all the books, the Nintendo DS + games, and the stocking stuff she had got from Santa. I went and picked her up around 3:00. When we got to the house and to the door she closed her eyes, walked in, sat on the couch and then opened her eyes. We emptied our stockings and then she opened all her gift in a matter of minutes. Her "special surprise" from Santa was a beautiful pony necklace that she is never going to take off. The afternoon was full of Barbie, Polly Pocket, Webkinz and Nintendo DS. : )

The morning of the day after Christmas was spent playing of course. There was an art show and a cooking class where we (being MaryJane, me, Webkinz and VIP's) made a salad to take to Grandma Mary's for dinner. We went out to Grandpa and Nana's a little after noon to have a tasty lunch and open gifts. We spent most of the time after that playing all the games she got; a Littlest Pet Shop board game, a Cinderella board game, and Disney Princess Go Fish and Old Maid. It was so much fun. She loves her Candy Glam Barbie and takes it everywhere w/ her. We meet Cody and Robi at Grandma Mary's around 4:00. We talked, opened gifts, and had tasty Lasagna Robi made and our Salad. It was nice to see Grandma Mary.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas too!

Get Well Soon!

2008-12-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hola. Well, i stayed home on Monday b/c of the icky weather and forgot my camera yesterday , so here is my Monday post on Wednesday. : ) Lets get the crummy newz outta tha way. I was sick Saturday and Gurly Gurl was sick Monday, Yesterday and is still sick today. Shes been running a temp, developed a cough yesterday, and has an achy little body. Mommy and i are taking good care of her of course and she should be better in no time. She rested at Mommy's yesterday and is resting there again today. Get Well Soon MaryJane; Daddy Luv's You! Saturday and Monday were mostly lounging around and playing low-key games. Sunday we got out and attended an awesome service at Fellowship and that nite went to a Christmas Party at her Mommy's Church in Rogers. MaryJane had a wonderful time. They had tables for arts & crafts and games lining the walls. She did every art & craft and every game and loved it. She made 3 cool ornaments, a bag w/ tinsel on it, a gingerbread man, and more. Also did some stencils and drew a few pictures....of Neo-pets. hehe. It was really fun. Now for the fab pictures.

Here is MaryJane and her favorite Cabbage Patch Kid named Charlotte. Ive talked about and shown her and her sister before, but heres a refresher. Her sisters name is Maragaret and she the one w/ orange hair. They are the crankiest kids in the world and are always really bad. I have a special voice i use for them. Charlotte loves Karate and Margaret loves Gymnastics. There last name is Picante. They are used quite often in games we play. Well, Friday MaryJane bought the baillie outfit you see here in at Harps. She told me that when Charlotte put it on she was going to turn good....and she did. Funniest thing. She is now a sweet gurl and her last name has been changed to Princess. I love it.

Here is MaryJane and her Letter and Pencil from Santa. She sent of her letter to Santa not long ago and Saturday she received a letter back confirming he had received her letter, that she had been good, that he knew exactly where she lived, a reminder to get to sleep Christmas Eve and that he loved cookies and milk, plus a mention about leaving her a "surprise". How awesome is that. The pencil she got she says she is going to use to write her letter to Santa next year. Sweet

Finally here she is just prior to us leaving for the Christmas Party on Sunday. She had disappeared into her room and i as wondering what she was doing. She was attempting to put on her fancy Christmas shoes, so i helped her out w/ those and then she did a pose and asked me to take her picture. Not often she asks to have her picture takin so i quickly grabbed the camera and here she is doing a few other poses w/ her stylin Christmas outfit and shoes. What a cutie.

Here I Am Now, Entertain You!

2008-12-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

Here i am. Had a nice weekend despite Gurly Gurl coming down w/ a cold. : ( She didnt let it keep her down tho. Always high spirits and high energy w/ that gurl no matter what. : ) We did relax quite a bit. She got a new "gameplayer" (a.k.a. Playstation 2) game at Best Buy Saturday morning while we were helping Aunt Diana pick out a T.V. stand for her new honken 46 in flat screen and she was all about playing that. A lot of reading class too. We also journeyed over to the library Saturday and she got 15 books. She is really interested in one of them, a horse book of course. She would read it and others to the stuffed animals and it was great.

Oh...lots coming up post wise over the next month. I may just post as much as Jessica. : P Speaking of her, i will be wanting to show off the awesome gift i am making her for Christmas. Its going to be smashing.... ; ) There will be my weekly posts, a birthday post, a Christmas post or 2...or 3, a new years post, a 1st anniversary post, and a music post. This is certainly the best year in new music I've seen since 1993 (the year In Utero was released).