Friday, June 29, 2012

Ponytail

Kylie told me she wanted her hair pulled into one big ponytail. She wanted to wear it up for her day at Summer Camp. I was concerned about how her curly and slick hair would hold up but I obligingly pulled it up for her.


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I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing when in just a few short hours she happily hopped into
the car looking like this:

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Kylie my love, you look beautiful no matter what!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Project Life Week 25

This first page felt very Summery with pictures of squirt guns and a visit to the sprinkler park. As usual, click on the photo to view the credits. Project Life Week 25 page 1.jpg

Sunshine Park was packed on Tuesday with buses of kids from various Summer camps. I was proud of how Kylie ran and played within the throng. Fortunately, the crowd dispersed before we entered the sprinkler park. Ms Robin has a culinary work in her class.

This week Kylie sliced bananas and then speared them with toothpicks. Next she used an orange juicer to create freshly-squeezed orange juice. Then she offered the slices on a tray to her school mates. Well done Kylie !

Kylie has learned to snap with her right hand!

We’ve noticed a shift with Kylie’s reading. She’s reading signs and labels now. She is so pleased with herself when she reads “Fox Movies” on the tv screen or “Life is Good” on one of my tshirts. And she still loves us to read to her. This week, we finished the Junie B. Jones kindergarten books and moved on to the Junie B Jones first grader books.

Page 2 was all about our new roof. Thank heavens we got this before Tropical Storm Debby came to town. Otherwise we would have been swamped!

Project Life Week 25 page 2

The roofers started early on Thursday morning. In one day they were able to remove all of the old roof. Thursday afternoon we also had a playdate with Kylie’s friend Katherine. It was all a bit overwhelming but it kept us from being so distracted with all the roofing noise. On Friday, after a morning inspection, the roofers started putting down the new roof. They finished all but the Florida room on Saturday afternoon. Our timing couldn’t have been better because another tropical storm swept into Florida on Sunday. Thank heavens we had our new roof!

On Friday, Kylie went to the pediatrician. Shehad an ear infection in her right ear. We got a prescription for antibiotics and for numbing drops. Even though we had to wait for over an hour, Kylie was quite the trooper in the doctor’s office. We read some Magic Bus books and played games on my iPhone.

The roofers started at 7:30 on Saturday morning. Fortunately, Karen had a plan. We started with breakfast at Cracker Barrell. Then we watched the 10:30 showing of the Disney movie, “Brave”. Afterwards we checked into a nearby Hampton Inn that had an indoor pool. I had accupuncture for my heel while Karen & Kylie played in the pool. Later I fell sound asleep on the bed while Karen & Kylie watched “Ice Age” on tv. When we returned home at 6, the roofers were done for the day. Our day of fun was much better than staying home listening to the roofers bang around all day!

I love how Project Life gives me a place to store hotel key cards and movie ticket stubs. If you stop by, please leave a comment. Comments mean the world to me.

If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Project Life Week 24

Wow! This week really flew by! As usual, click on the photo to view the credits.

 Project Life Week 24 page 1.jpg

Journaling:

Kylie dances to her radio using the glass door as her mirror.

Kylie was playing with her toy propeller on Monday. It made a small cut under her right eye when it bounced back into her face.

The snake art was something Kylie painted some time ago. It was a part of a larger jungle art piece. With all the green on this page, I thought it worked well for this week.

Karen was in Tennessee this week helping Carolyn make preparations for Nana. She drove down on Sunday and was back on Saturday.

Sorry game:  This week Kylie learned to bump, slide and switch her way to winning this new game.


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Coach Jack named Kylie his star swimmer for the month of May. We were so tickled! I was also pleased that Kylie started to learn both the breaststroke and butterfly this week in class.

Kylie is crazy for the Scooby Doo gang these days.

Peanut butter cookies:  As part of my Summer Manifesto, I wanted to make cookies for Kylie’s summer camp teachers and for the men who take care of our yard. On Thursday, Kylie helped me make her first batch of peanut butter cookies. She helped me add the ingredients to the mixer, roll out the batter balls, and make the fork marks with powered sugar. We also made sugar cookies which she decorated with colored sprinkles. After the cookies cooled, I put the cookies into cellophane bags and decorated some bag toppers with a “thank-you” from our family. It was wonderful to see the happy faces as we gave the cookies away.

Coin jar:  We were having trouble keeping Kylie in her seat while sitting at the dining table for meals. She kept popping up. After reading “Alexander, Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday” we decided to fine Kylie a coin from her bank each time she popped up. Let me tell you, there is just ONE quarter in the mason jar we put on the dining table. Kylie paid one fine for getting out of her chair. Since then, she has not popped up from her seat in over a month. I guess we are lucky in that Kylie likes her coins so very much!

If you look closely at that bottom right picture, you'll see that Kylie is petting the shell of a turtle in our backyard. Our yard is teeming with animals these days!

And that's it for another week!
If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Project Life Week 23

Blog readers, there are some sweet stories contained herein. A raccoon encounter, Kylie's first homework, our ninth anniversary and more.  So even though it is in 'Project Life" form, I hope you'll hang around and enjoy the post.

I really enjoyed my camera this week and these Project Life pages came together easily. Sorry for the bit of glare here. As usual, you can click on the photo to view the credits.

 Project Life Week 23 page 1

I thought I would throw in a picture of my daily breakfast.

On Monday I shot this sweet photo of Karen and Kylie rocking and reading.

The journal card next to it reads:
On Monday, Kylie came home with a headache, aching ears and a sore throat. She just wanted to curl up and have us read her Junie B Jones books. Kylie continued to fight her cold all week long. I was so proud that she went to school each day. Ms. Robin told us she was focused during the work periods but lethargic on the playground. Each afternoon she would collapse onto the couch or chair and ask us to read to her. Usually Kylie is constantly on-the-go. It was unnerving yet sweet to have so much cuddle time with her.

Raccoon encounter:
Tuesday night I was heading out to the hot tub and saw two raccoons eating birdseed that had fallen from our birdfeeder. Of course, I grabbed the camera! I also woke up Kylie to show them to her (from the safety of our Florida room). The next morning Kylie said, "You got a little nuts over the raccoons Mommy!"  I said, "I know it sweetheart! But it's not every day that you see raccoons in the backyard!"

We are fortunate that Kylie enjoys completing a page of each of these Summer Bridge books in the mornings before we leave for Summer Camp. I took a picture of the book and a picture of Kylie working on one on the pages.


Project Life Week 23 page 2


Kylie started Summer School this week with Ms. Robin. On Thursday, Kylie brought home her first-ever homework. This is the type of homework assigned to kindergarteners. So Kylie is getting an early start over the Summer. Inside Kylie’s homework folder was a Primary Phonics book of twelve pages titled “Mac and Tab”. There was a questionnaire to complete to confirm that Kylie has understanding of what she has read. There was a laminated card with eight “sight words” which are words that she should start to know without having to sound them out. And there was a booklist where we write each book and sight card that Kylie completes. Karen and I were silly with happiness over Kylie’s first “real” homework assignment. My mom laughed and said that we would probably quickly get over it. But for now, we are tickled with our growing girl.

Nicknames:
Kylie has some great nicknames. Her teachers call her "Smiley Kylie". Her girlfriends call her "Teacup". And her friend Josu calls her "Charismo". I love them all!

Lastly, Karen and I celebrated our ninth anniversary with side-by-side pedicures at One Ocean Resort. Hanging out in the spa waiting room, we had a fabulous view of our beautiful Atlantic Ocean. The whole day was sheer bliss!

I included a page from Kylie's Summer Workbook. Instead of drawing hair and clothes on her figure, Kylie drew bones, brains and her bloodstream.

Project Life Week 23 art insert front

Kylie had several free-form "splotchy" art pieces this week. I like this one of her and her swim coach in the pool. Coach is the one with black goggles.

Project Life Week 23 art insert back

And that's it for another week!
If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Project Life Week 22

On Sunday night when I finished my Project Life pages, I turned to Karen and said, "I think these are the worse Project Life pages I've ever created." I wasn't too surprised though. Last week I felt pretty scattered. That disjointedness continued to be with me as I created the pages. I hadn't even planned on taking pictures of the pages nor blogging them here. I just shut the scrapbook and said, "Well, it's done and maybe next week will be better." But I opened it up today and it wasn't as bad as I thought. The pages don't have much flow; just bits of this and that put into pockets but you know, some weeks are like that.

So here they are. As usual, you can click on the photo to view the credits. Project Life Week 22 page 1.jpg


Storm Journaling: Tropical Storm Beryl hit us on Sunday night, May 27th. It made landfall at 9pm. We were expecting high winds but we didn’t expect 60mph winds. The storm came from the ocean and the wind beat the rain through our Florida room windows. We had to line the room with beach towels under the windows to catch all the drips. It was amazing and a bit unnerving to watch the wind whip around the palm trees. We had six foot surf and the water came up to the dune line. We lost power eight times. It was a restless night for us all. We were grateful to have power by morning. The neighborhood yards and roads were filled with leafy debris. It was an incredible storm.

Memorial Day. We remember the men and women who died while serving in the US Armed Forces.

Busy Seven Days. No school on Monday, 11:30 release on Thursday, No school on Friday. There went my normal routine!

The bottom two pictures are from Karen and Kylie's tour of the museum MOSH here in Jacksonville. On the dinosaur picture, there are three small iPhone pictures of Kylie. They saw the new TRex exhibit and the “Dinosaur Train” show as well as the Elmo “One World” show.




Project Life Week 22, page 2


The top of the second page celebrates Kylie's last day of school. Beside it is a small iPhone picture of Kylie enjoying the Adventure Landing waterpark. I used a 12x12 digital scrapbooking template I had in my stash to make this small card. I still think it will be fun to use templates to make 4x6 photo cards but this one ended up a bit too busy.

There is a picture Karen took of me and Kylie as we enjoyed lunch together on Kylie's last day along with part of the school packet we received with the forms and information for the 2012/13 school year.

We got new season passes for the waterpark so I tucked last year's passes into one of the sleeves. I just love Kylie's expression on her pass!

The final small card captures the fact that I was Children's Church leader on Sunday.

The bottom to slots are dedicated to Karen and Kylie's trip to the zoo. The journaling reads: Karen & Kylie enjoyed two train rides, two carousel rides, the Happy Feet 4D ride (which didn’t go over well with Kylie) and a delicious sno cone on Saturday morning at the zoo. But Kylie’s favorite part was touring the new butterfly exhibit. She was particularly impressed with the fairy houses.

On the right side I put Kylie's final report card in a letter-sized sheet protector. I also included the Children's Church lesson I presented in another sheet protector. I still need to go through Kylie's artwork and put in two of her best pieces for the week.

And that's it for another week!
If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Summer Manifesto

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Kylie finished school last week. However, she is enrolled in her school's eight-week summer camp. The hours are different and Kylie will have more time with us in the morning and in the afternoon.

I really like my routines and I can struggle with change. I know this about myself. I wanted to embrace and fully enjoy this Summer.

I was so excited to see author Ali Edwards blog about a Summer Manifesto. Our Manifesto is printed and on the refrigerator. I look forward to checking off these items. The Ali Edwards post has links where others shared their manifesto. There are lots of great ideas there.

 If you create a manifesto, I would love to read it so share it with us in the links.