“She’s Making a List”!

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!

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!

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?

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!!!

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.

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.

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.