Last week Walker had his very first ISAT on Language and to encourage students to get extra sleep time and a hardy breakfast this note came home... He said they were able to compose it all themselves...

In the morning I made what he requested and while he was getting ready to eat it he says, "Instead of  Egg McMuffins we should call these Egg McFarlands!"

And the Egg McFarland must have done the trick since he got Advanced on his big test... next up this week is the Reading Comprehension ISAT... and I'm sure the Egg McFarland will be requested again!

I've got no stories lately... just the usual running kiddos here and there... working... sleeping... eating... homework... laundry... and waiting for some warmer temps!!

Some days we'd all like to be just like Mulan... ahh the life of a cat...

When you're Mama's helper you get to have a little treat when it comes time for clean up...

Peanut butter is her most favorite treat... if one of us are having a PB and Jelly sandwich, watch out.. she'll be right beside you waiting for any crumbs that might fall.

Lately the blog seems to all be about Ainsley... this was her cute self this morning..

This week she graduated from the DARE program...

I was surprised it was such a big thing... the mayor came and gave a pretty awesome speech and then stayed to congratulate each of the 5th graders. He would be the one that looks ready to punch Ainsley out!

And the news on Walker... this would be the words of the day... lovely.

He received 2 red behavior cards at school... one more and he would have had to call home and stay after school 30 minutes... say what??  (Poor kiddos are doomed with me being at school all the time... they can't get away with anything!)

I found out while at school... had a long embarrassing conversation with his teacher all the while apologizing  profusely. Then marched his little self home for a chat.. made him write a letter of apology (hence the words on the kitchen board) and then we headed back to school to deliver note. Luckily we ran into her on the way out the door and he apologized face to face. On the walk home I told him how proud of him I was for apologizing... it's hard to do when you are in the wrong but a good thing to do... hopefully a good and lasting lesson for the day?? Oh my... the stuff of life... it is definitely an adventurous one!

For the past couple nights I've been up way past my bedtime... ripped out countless stitches... ran out of a bobbin twice and changed my mind half a dozen times while working on these...

And the reason why... Because my sweet 11 year old says, "I love them... you are so AWESOME!! Thank you Mommy!"

Party is still in full mode... will post pictures of it all later... after this Awesome Mama gets some sleep.

Ainsley was beyond excited Friday morning...

It was a just the perfect amount of girls this year... she hand picked her besties this year instead of our usual rule of "invite everyone".  Here's the early comers and bday girl... so cute they are!

So my thinking for dinner was the usual birthday party food... pizza and pop.  In past years they've consumed all we had and then wanted more so with that in mind I got 5 boxes and 3 bags of breadsticks...

And this year we had 4 boxes and 2 bags of breadsticks LEFT!!  You never know I guess.  So fun to just sit back and watch... all the constant laughing... the squeals and "Oh my gosh!"  mixed in with random singing... and silliness... fun times!

After a wee bit of substance it was time to P A R T Y... let the crafting begin!  This year we made super cute flip flops.  Which had water balloons double knotted onto them.

Some just did one side and some went all out... how cute are these??

We had late night Birthday Sundaes... no fancy decorating of cakes this year. (At least I still have 1 more kiddo bday coming up)

Gotta have nail polishing and wii dancing...

As usual the biggest hit of the night... dancing in the dark with glowsticks... a close second was probably the junk food table... ha! All you could want of cheddar/caramel popcorn, Red Vines licorice, mini bags of chips and Sprite!

Most of the girls went home a little after 11pm... we had a couple over-nighters who were quite exhausted and snug in their beds just as I headed up at 12:30... I couldn't refuse a quick picture of the sleeping fort...

It was an early wake up call since we had a Volleyball game at 8am!!  They were good sports and couldn't wait to dive into the sprinkles and whipped topping on waffles... in all fairness I did make eggs and sausage too so it wasn't just a complete 24 hour sugar rush!!

And we made it... on time to the game... with a couple extra loud cheerers!!

Whew and with that it's time for the parents to have a nap!

Willow dog has toys... outside toys... chewies... and inside toys that we throw around when it's yucky/cold outside.  We have to watch her with said toys because when left alone she will chew them up and since plastic and stuffing aren't a sufficient diet we tend to not have any of them lying around.

Well while spring cleaning out the kids closets I found the Blue Soccer Socks that were once upon a time used for Soccer games... since the kiddos have both decided that soccer isn't their sport I put them in the garage sale area.

Every time the door to the basement got left open Willow would immediately run to the garage sale area and grab that blue sock and throw it around... and then take off running with it.  She would run like a wild dog with it and then settle in on her blanket with it... not chewing it just having it near her.  After the umpteenth time of taking it away, putting it back and her searching it out I finally said, "Okay it's yours!"  I didn't want her to think that the kiddos clothing items were play toys but since she was so adamant about having it and doesn't seem to want to destroy it... just likes carrying it around and having it near I figured it was a good thing for her.

Here she is with her sock... guess it's the "Bear" or "Phyllis" for Ms. Willow.  Luckily it comes with a spare too!

Just like that she's 11...

In a blink of an eye... she was just brand new...

and now eleven... so very much loved our little/growing up girl is.

This week was all about learning the game of Volleyball.  It didn't start out well when on the first day she tripped and fell into the pole holding up the nets.  But she recovered and after the first week of practice she was having fun and wanting to practice together in the backyard!

First game was today... how cute are these uniform shirts... the Court Queens..

She did awesome... served up 5 points for her team!

They ended up winning both matches and she thinks she's found a favorite sport to stick with.

We officially registered for Middle School this week...

Her first decision to make was what musical class did she want to be in.  Her choices were Band, Orchestra or Choir.  She chose Choir... I can't say that I'm not ecstatic about NOT having to buy/rent an instrument this next school year!

She also got to choose electives for the next year... they had really cool stuff like a class on dinosaurs, broadcasting, sports history. She had 10 classes to choose from and ended up going with Ceramics for a trimester and then taking Study Hall.  She's beyond excited about heading to Middle School next year... parents not so much (for the time being).

This week was also all about getting the upcoming 11th Birthday party planned and organized...

A fairly low key event for us this year... 6 girls in a sleepover next weekend.