Christmas Music

My talented girls at Christmas recital.

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Dangers of Dance

Big girl started dance team last week. She was so excited to see all her friends.

Last night at class while practicing some leaps she landed with a thud. Her foot was hurt. She iced it a few minutes and tried to rejoin class. It was soon apparent she wouldn't be leaping anymore that day.

When she was still swollen and complaining this morning I decided to bring her in to the doctor.





Off to x-ray! Had fun driving (and crashing into things in her new wheels.

Long story short...dance career is on hold. 5th metatarsal fracture.



Temporary splint. Going to orthopedist next week to see if it needs to be braced or casted.





Only Big Girl can giggle her way through treatment for a broken foot!


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Blue Ribbon Fair!

Big girl did great at fair. 4 blue ribbon photographs. 1 was champion of her division and 2 were selected to go to state fair.


3 blue ribbons for sewing and 1 selected for state fair.


1 blue ribbon for table setting.Harry Potter theme,of course!



And 1 blue ribbon for Iron Chef- Battle Frozen Blueberries!



Exhausting but we are very proud of her.


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My daughter's Obsession

It's time to get ready for fair! Both girls are in 4-H and entering items into the fair. No farm animals, though!

Little girl is a cloverbud and as such, can only display her work and not really compete. She took photography this year. When it cane time to decide what pictures she wanted to take to fair she chose...what else? Star Wars Legos!








Here is one of the pics... Too cute,right? I think it will be a hit.

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Off to Camp!

Big girl is off to camp today. So cute with her backpack that weighs as much as she does!

Unfortunately it's about 25 degrees cooler at camp than at home.

She looks a little chilly.

I am missing her already and little girl will start day camp tomorrow.

Whatever will I do with my days?
I hope I don't get too bored!


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Blueberry Season!

The girls and I visited our local blueberry u-pick today. We always have fun picking and the season is short. Little girls bucket always weighs a little light but luckily they don't weigh the kids before and after picking.





I LOVE the price...$5.00 for 4.5 lbs!






Went home and made a pie right away for my big girl since she's going to be gone a WHOLE WEEK for camp!!!




-




Beautiful! If only I ate blueberries!



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SWAGGER WAGON

Thought this was a hilarious video...kinda makes me wish I still had a mini-van....

POTTER!

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of Big Girl and My trip to Orlando!

Our first look at Hogsmeade

 

Fish and Chips and Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks!

The butterbeer was delicious!  All the food and drinks in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter are authentic to the books...no diet coke here.

The town of Hogsmeade.

Big Girl was chosen by Olivander at the wand shop.  She got to be part of the magic when her wand "chose her".

Got to see the Hogwart's Express and meet the conductor. 

Hogwarts!  Just as I imagined it.

Hermione's gown for the Yule Ball.

Big Girl rode the Dragon's Challenge 4 times.  I waited in baby swap...I'm not crazy! Or I'm a big wuss. Can't decide which.

Entrance to Dragon's Challenge.  We were Team Potter, of course.

This is another view of Hogwarts...statues of Warthogs?  There is a great ride/tour inside.  A little scary but I managed...I might have closed my eyes a little bit.

This is the Boar's Head Pub.  I had a Boar's Head ale.  Not a beer fan and this was pretty strong stuff.  Had to get the cool souvenir mug, though.

Oh, yeah! We did some other stuff at Universal. 
We pretty much had the Universal park to ourselves since everyone was over at Harry Potter in Islands of Adventure...Donkey was HILARIOUS!!

 

We loved Jurassic Park.  Made it look like a separate theme park like we'd stepped into the movie.  Very fun.

 

 Universal has really come a long way with their shows.  Very fun and realistic.

But then it was time to hurry on back to Harry Potter...That is why we flew across the entire country!  Had a great time.  Highly recommend if you are a fan of Harry Potter.  Next time, though we would stay at Disney World and take a shuttle over there for a day.  A day is plenty of time if you go in the off-season.  

Really appreciate Hubby for sending us and staying with Little Girl (who is not a fan of Harry or flying or hotels or leaving the house...)
The only thing he was jealous of is the butterbeer so he found me a recipe online.  It was ALMOST as good as the real thing.

Recipe for Butterbeer:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/333367/harry_potter_top_10_butterbeer_recipes.html

Happy No-Braces Day!

Little Girl got her braces off!  I was more excited than her, I think...No more brushing and flossing between 7 million braces twice a day!!!YEA!!!


                                                                                Before:

                                                                              After:
                                                              (Gotta Love those freckles!)

  

 First Item on the Agenda ?

BUBBLE GUM!!!!

                                                                         

Dance, Dance, Dance

The girls had another dance recital.  This time I took them to get their hair done at the salon...so cute.  They were outstanding, as usual.  These are their hip hop outfits...don't know what happend to their jazz pics but those were also pretty cute. 

Super Stars!

Spelling Bee

Big Girl was in the homeschool spelling bee in our town.  This is the first year she was old enough and was very excited.  She didn't study that much and I knew she would be up against kids much older so I wasn't sure how far she would get.  She was up against 9 other kids from 5th to 8th grade.  She beat out all the younger kids until it was her and two 8th graders standing...they went several rounds before Big Girl made a mistake on ACQUAINTANCE (did I spell that right?)  She actually knew how to spell it but forgot a letter...Bummer.  Still, she got third place her first time out and spelled a bunch of words that I got wrong as I spelled along with her.  What a smarty-pants!

She'll get 'em next year!

Tug-O-War

Big Girl got to play with the lions at homeschool zoo school!  Amazing how strong this guy is.  Took Big Girl and 5 or 6 adults to come close to being a fair battle.

Junk-Salin'

Me and the girls went Junk-Salin' Saturday.  I don't call it Garage-Saling because...well, that's obvious.  Ever optomistic, several Saturdays a year the girls get their loose change in their little purses and head out to find that elusive bargain.  More often than not we head home dejected with nothing more than a wasted morning.  Sometimes the girls are determined to bring home SOMETHING and so spend their hard-earned allowance or tooth-fairy money on a dollar-store trinket or some disgusting slobbered-upon stuffed animal --BLECH!  These items usually get placed in a pile for OUR future garage sale pretty quickly.

However, this was OUR DAY. 

Emily found a much-longed for pillow pal for 3 bucks.  I had previously refused to buy a pillow pal for 30 bucks.

Sarah got a great deal on an IPOD alarm clock.  5 bucks!  She even bargained and got them to come down from $10...that's my girl!

I got my best deal on a hand-made chest.  The girls are planning to redecorate their play-room into a gaming/media room and this will be made into a toy chest/bench for that room.  I am planning on making a cushion for when they need extra seating.  5 bucks people! We also found some cute girl clothes for Emily, a purse from Macy's with the tags still on and a couple of other things.  Success was OURS!

Guess we'll keep on Junkin'!

New Towels and A Great Deal

Okay, I have been wanting a good set of towels since I got married eleven years ago.  I have purchased many a towel over the years which I had high hopes for.  Towels that looked oh, so lovely in the store. Plush, vibrant color, surely THIS towel will not let me down...Only to be disappointed soon after.  I don't know how many times I have put a new towel into the washing machine, a beautiful, soft towel, and later pull out a faded, un-raveling mess.  I get out my scissors and start giving my new towels a trim...Boo Hoo!

Then after returning a few things to Land's End who's return policy is "GUARANTEED. PERIOD."  I got to thinking...buy me some towels and if they are crappy towels...RETURN...GUARANTEED...! 

So, ever looking for me a great deal since these towels are not cheap, I cashed in some of my credit card miles for a gift card and put some towels in my virtual shopping cart.   But...I went over my gift card amount...bummer.  So, I figured there must be a way to google me some free shipping or something.  Found me a code for free shipping and bought me a set of $200 towels for $19.00!!!! Can't wait to get them and see if they hold up.

I am so inspired by my saving, I'll have to take my coupons to the Safeway, later.  Did anyone see the TLC show "Extreme Couponing"?  It was awesome!