Celebrating a Decade

Middle DD turned 10 earlier in May. (Yes, I am very belated in posting pictures). We haven't actually had the party yet, but we did have the family celebration. DD wanted a Pokemon cake. I looked through her book and named the different Pokemon that I felt I could make with natural food colors. DD wanted Piplup. Piplup is blue. Now I know that all of you out there who have done cake decorating with natural colors are cringing just like I did. "I can't make a nice blue with natural colors, Sweetie. Can Piplup be purple?" "What about that blue sugar you used on DS's cake?" Ah yes, the India Tree sprinkles. So that's what I used. First I frosted parts with chocolate or vanilla frosting to help differentiate between the light and dark blues. I also used sugar for the yellow parts.

It's not great, but DD liked it.

Meet ????

Early in May middle DD reached her decade milestone.

She wanted a pet for her birthday.

She wanted a dog of her own.

Umm.... no.

A kitten?

Ummm....no.

She decided that a hamster was just what she had always wanted. Perfect. We have a cage and stuff from our other hamster who had lived with us for 18 months. We go to the pet store. The dwarf hamsters are looking really cute. Great. Now we have to get all the paraphernalia as well, because they're too small to use a regular hamster's cage. So DD got a robo-hamster for her birthday. It's tiny. And extremely speedy. Did I mention that it's rather nasty and bites? It doesn't bite DD too much, but it bites anyone else. I like that the cage is smaller. It's waste is smaller too, so the cage doesn't get stinky nearly as fast. (Yeah, too much information). Even the ball it rolls around in is smaller. The dog has been somewhat interested in that ball. DD has strict orders to make sure the lid is not only locked in place, but that it's secured with masking tape as well. And the name? Well, the night we brought it home DD was calling it Ginger. By the next morning it had been changed to Flash. DD has now settled on Gem.

Mother's Day Memories

In Sunday School the children did a Mother's Day craft. They were given papers with fill in the blanks which they filled in, then pasted on construction paper, adding gems and stickers to the borders. The papers read:

There is no treasure like my Mother...

There is no treasure like my mother; she is worth far more than ________.

God picked her to take care of me, and I love the way she ____________.

The Bible says that I should always honor my mother

and remember her teachings.

The most important thing she has taught me is __________________________.

She trains me up and tells me the way I should ________________________.

I will wake up in the morning and call her _______________________.

There is no treasure like my mother.

I will love her forever!

Youngest DD filled hers in like this:

There is no treasure like my Mother...

There is no treasure like my mother; she is worth far more than stars.
God picked her to take care of me, and I love the way she helps me when I get hurt.


The Bible says that I should always honor my mother
and remember her teachings.

The most important thing she has taught me is soccer.
She trains me up and tells me the way I should obey.
I will wake up in the morning and call her Mom.

There is no treasure like my mother.
I will love her forever!

Middle DD said this:

There is no treasure like my Mother...

There is no treasure like my mother; she is worth far more than Webkinz.
God picked her to take care of me, and I love the way she does crafts.


The Bible says that I should always honor my mother
and remember her teachings.

The most important thing she has taught me is be nice to my family.
She trains me up and tells me the way I should eat and learn.
I will wake up in the morning and call her Mom.

There is no treasure like my mother.
I will love her forever!

Truth be told, I teared up on the Webkinz part. :o)

I don't think anyone rose up to call their mother blessed, but there was a rumor that one child wrote down "lazy pants". Glad it wasn't mine!

My Newest Soccer Star

The Spring season of sports has started. This year the youngest member of the family is joining the ranks of athletes. That's her: pink shirt, black shorts and white socks :o)

In our township, the six year olds are eligible for "clinic". My son was in T-Ball clinic when he was six (broken arm and all). Neither of my older daughters were interested in sports at that age. But my youngest...well, she's been wanting to play soccer since she was two or three and was forced to attend all of her siblings games.Soccer Clinic occurs on Friday evenings. Approximately 100 Kindergartners gather on a regulation size soccer field where they are split into groups of 10 or so. There are 8 - 10 coaches in spots around the field and each coach teaches each group a drill practicing a particular skill. The groups spend about 10 minutes with each coach before moving on to the next station.

The first week they were taught to dribble. That's the week I brought my camera. The second week they learned passing. I don't think they've been taught not to pick up the ball with their hands yet. One station that week was an actual game. I think they spent more time trying to put on their colored pinnies than what they actually got to play.

Most importantly though, youngest DD is enjoying herself and learning that soccer is fun.