maracas

at school in science we've been learning about the effects of energy on an object. part of this includes learning about sound & for a project we had to create our very own musical instrument at home to present to the class. the rules for our instruments were that we had to be creative & the instruments had to be handmade with things from around our house & not purchased. so after talking about all different kinds of instruments with mommy, i decided I was going to make maracas. the first ones i made i used toilet paper roles but i couldn't get the anything to stay where i needed them to stay closed. so then we remembered that daddy saved these really neat coca cola bottles a while back & they would work perfectly. so we gathered all our supplies: rice, beads, paint, bottles, glue, yarn, buttons, jewels & ribbon. then i picked the color paint i wanted & painted lower half of the bottles.

 after the paint dried i put white rice in one bottle & beads in the other one. that way when you shook them you would have different sounds & levels of loudness.

 then it was time to decorate the bottles with all the fun stuff.

daddy helped me wrap yarn around the top half of the bottles so they would have cool grips. i also glued a white button of top of the lid with the white rice & a blue button on top of the lid with the bottle I filled with blue beads.

 then it was time to shake shake shake to make some music. i can't wait to see what my friends made & i hope they like mine too.

name calling is hair raising

this past week at school was "no name calling week" & it was full of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing us with the tools to eliminate bullying!!! yesterday was our theme day..."name calling is hair raising!" day. we got to wear our hair in any creative or unusual way... like a crazy hair day at school. it was so fun going down the hallways & seeing all the cool hairstyles! my principal even added pink strips to her hair & our librarian had made this turquoise & lime green unicorn wig!!!

i had mommy put about 20 braids in my hair, then I slept on it, then in the morning we took out all the braids, brushed it until i looked like a cave woman, then mommy chalked parts of my hair blue & yellow, then she put in to pig tails, ratted my hair out till it looked as crazy as possible & finished it off with almost a half can of hairspray! then i was ready to raise my voice on no place for hate distinction.

silly hat day at mdo

moments from last week

here are a few things that happened last week that we wanted to share.
every week at shady oak they have a memory book the students fill out that comes home so all the mommies & daddies can see what their kids have been up to. livi was asked what was something she wants to learn how to do for the new year & she said she wanted to learn how not to be scared. we're so proud of her, she knows her struggles & wants to overcome them so bad... we know she will!!

one day last week livi didn't want any help at all fixing her hair for school & we weren't allowed in the bathroom will she fixing it either. 20 minutes later she came out with about 15 clips in her hair. she was so proud of her hairstyle & how pretty it turned out, so off to school she went to show her friends. i love how she's not scared to try out any style & rocks it with her confidence.

last friday at my school was "live a dream" day. to help celebrate our salute to higher education we wear asked to wear apparel representing a college of our choice. i wore the colors purple & gold representing the university of washington... go huskies! sadie was so excited & wanted in on the picture, i guess because she is an awesome dog mascot too. i finally had to give up posing & just give her a smoochie to calm her down.

teaching the art of scarf

we have a group of friends going out with kylie's prayer this coming saturday to serve the homeless & they had heard that i had made a lot of scarves to take to the homeless last month & asked if i could come over to teach a group of ladies the art of scarf making? i said sure, but was a lil nervous about it... i couldn't believe adults wanted me to show them how to do something. everyone was asked to bring scissors, a yard of fleece fabric, a snack & be ready to have a great time getting their serve on. well their was about 8 women & 7 kids who were ready to learn how to make no sew fleece scarves & let me tell you once they knew what they were doing it was... work work work WORK!!! we were all so into what we were doing we forgot about the snacks & there was a pumpkin roll there... hello a pumpkin roll, we were on a mission. we made over 150 scarves, can you believe that?!?!?! talk about one successful scarf making afternoon venture, i can't wait to help hand them all out on saturday night. mommy was so proud of what i had inspired others to do & can't wait to see what I'll come with next. remember there are so many ways to reach out to help your community & it doesn't matter how big or small you give... it will make a difference!!!

brrrr

this week has been so chilly willy!!! every night we've been in the 30's & the highs have been in the low 50's.... brrrr. every morning it takes 5 mins to get bundled up with our jackets, scarves & mittens! we were hoping for snow, but we didn't get any... maybe next year!

sadie's been loving the cold weather too, her favorite spot is front & center of the fireplace. she gets all warm & cozy, then conks out for hours.

we've also been making a lot of hot chocolate with extra extra marshmallows because that's the only way to have it... delish! 

show and tell

every wednesday is livi's show and tell day at shady oak & she loves show &tell!!! the show & tell items for the week should represent the letter of the week & come in a brown sack with 3 clues written on it to share with the class so they can guess what is in the bag. it's always fun to sit at the table & listen to the clues she comes up with... they're so cute. she really wants her friends to guess what she's brought so she loves to give at least 5 clues to help them. we love that she is so excited to get up in front of her class & share something that is important to her. this week the letter is "d" & at school they're learning all about dinosaurs, so mommy knew for sure livi was going to pick one of her awesome dinos to share. guess what, livi wanted to bring a dog instead because she knew all her friends would be bringing in dinosaurs & she wanted to surprise them. she is so smart & I can't wait to find out if any of her friends guessed her surprise!

pennies for peace

this week at school we are collecting as many pennies as we can for a worldwide program called "pennies for peace." by participating in pennies for peace you make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time. while a penny is virtually worthless, in improvised countries a penny buys a pencil and opens the door to literacy. i'm so happy my school is doing this because we're giving lasting hope to children half a world away! for a bonus the grade level that brings in the most pennies will earn extra recess & bragging rights. don't worry, there will be a second place prize for extra recess, too. tonight mommy, livi & i emptied out my piggy bank of all the coins (wow, that a looooooong time... i had no idea i was that rich), then we sorted through all of them setting the pennies aside. let me tell you, our hands were gray & filthy by the end of it, but i know we collected way over 200 of them... whoo hoo! i can't wait to take them to school to help pass them to a friend! if you want to learn more about this awesome program, please click here

see a penny pick it up

all day long you'll have good luck

pass it on to a friend

then your luck will never end

determination

my virtue for the month is determination which is deciding it's worth it to finish what you started!

dinosaur tea party

for christmas livi got tons & tons of dinosaurs from our nonie & pop. this morning it was really casty outside & we thought it was the perfect background to have some serious play time with them. one of the dinosaur sets pop gave livi had volcanoes, rocks & trees in it & we had so much fun setting everything out then in the middle of playing we decided it would be a fanolous idea if the dinosaurs had a tea party! so we got out all the tea sets we own, tons of pretend pastries & of course some fried chicken for the t-rex. the more we set up, the more fun we had so then we got all the dinos livi owns & lots more food. we had dinosaurs eating cakes out of trees, dinosaurs swimming in tea cups, dinosaurs standing in the cakes they were eating, dinosaurs standing on their tea cups to get to the treats better, a t-rex & a brontosaurus fighting over the milk pitcher, dinosaurs pouring tea with their tails... it was tea party madness! talk about one awesome tea party, we can't wait to do it again!

cinnamon roll cake

some friends of our are going through a really rough time & we wanted to make them something that would make them smile & know how much their family is in our hearts. we decided a cinnamon roll cake would be the perfect thing because cinnamon rolls always make you feel warm, happy, smiley, cozy & most importantly... loved! so if you'd like to try this amazing delish cake, here is the recipe...
Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted
Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.
Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

chef livi hard at work

monsters inc 3-d

since this winter break we haven't really been able to leave the house since livi has pneumonia & my asthma has been flared up & we all are just a wee bit... StIr CrAzY!!! so daddy said "enough" we're getting out of the house for one lil treat because we deserve it & we need it! so we went to star cinema grill to see "monsters inc. 3-d" it was livi's first time there & she thought it was the coolest thing ever!!! she would have ordered the whole menu if we would have let her, she couldn't believe how much fun it was. she was writing on the ordering pad, charming the waiter & eating every one's food! we got to wear these really cool neon green glasses that made everything jump off the screen, livi wore them for a lil while, but then she decided the monsters were a little to close for her liking. mommy & daddy's glasses were plain old black & they looked just like sunglasses, not near as cool as ours. when it came time to order desert i ordered an ice cream sundae & oh my goodness was it HUGE!!! i didn't know what to do... i wanted to eat all of it so bad but at the same time it was screaming "tummy ache." thank goodness daddy told me he'd help me out, i can always count on him to help me in the ice cream department. we asked for extra cherries for on my sundae for livi to have, but she had that waiter wrapped around her finger so tight that he brought her a whole bowl! it was the best afternoon ever & we were so happy to have gotten out of the house! i think it was just the medicine we needed to feel even more better.

lazy sadie

look how lazy our sadie is, she makes it hard to get moving around here because she always looks so cozy. every once in a while we can't say no & we cozy up with her... come on you know you would too.

happy new year

Happy New Year everyone. May 2013 be full of many blessings!