She's A Little Bit Rock N Roll

Monday night, Miss A's Daisy Troop went to a local "party zone" for a Rock N Roll Dance Party.  The girls did such a great job selling GS cookies this year that it was time for a celebration and, knowing these girls, they didn't need much of an excuse to party.

Miss A was so excited for the night that not even an exhausting day at VBS could deter her from getting her groove on.  We tried to make her new shorter hairstyle rocker style, rather unsuccessfully, but cute none the less.  Of course, she also insisted on wearing a dress that could twirl a little. 

The Dance Party was a blast. The hostess did a great job of engaging the girls and having just the right mix of oldies and new songs for dancing.  Watching Miss A and her friends perform YMCA and La Bomba was a riot.  These girls really know how to shake it.

I told one of the other moms that this was perfect for this age. They can shake and shimmy as it's still cute and adorable.  Swinging their little hips and wearing cute little skirts and dresses is easy for six and seven year olds. It's the preteen years that get tricky.  I'm not sure that M's friends would have had nearly as much fun due to too much peer pressure to get it just right.

Miss A cracked me up dancing, limboing, and just have an old fashioned good time.  On the way to the party, she had told me she hoped it was more ballet type dancing than hip hop. She didn't wear the right kind of shoes or have the right moves for all that jazz. 

Miss A, I think you have all the right moves whatever you do! 

Celebrating Mid Summers Night: Early

We are trying to pass along both a Norwegian and English cultural heritage to our children.  When opportunities to impart some traditions from our backgrounds to our children whether in the form of a Royal Wedding or at a Mid Summer's Celebration, we dive in fully.

Mid Summer's is a big deal in Norway. Bestemor has stories from her childhood celebrations in Norway and she and Bestefar had often participated in a Mid Summer' s Celebration in the states.  When we heard that the local Scandinavian clubs were uniting to put on a local Mid Summer Festival, we decided it's something we just had to try out.

It was a perfect evening for the event, except for the crazy Chicago-type winds.  The poor May Pole took a little bit of a hit with the wind, but the Scandinavian Flags were waving proud.  Miss M and Miss A loved seeing the festive native dancers, they enjoyed the kids activities including the face painting, and the fishing for "Swedish fish."

Mr C was most excited to see the Viking Reenactors duke it out and we all enjoyed learning about the various weapons and uniforms the Vikings wore based on their status and wealth.  It was amazing to watch them battle.  Miss A said that she's just glad no one was actually injured in the process.  I love that Mr. C is not afraid of a little Troll.  I'm not sure his youngest sister was so easily convinced he was a good troll.

I think my Norwegian husband loved singing the Norwegian National Anthem in Norwegian and meeting the Norwegian Consul who lives in his hometown Houston. What was most impressive of the ceremony, however, was that while we celebrated the culture and the countries of our "homelands," we also sang the US National Anthem and the American Flag was prominent in the festivities.  . 

Because the Swedish meatballs looked somewhat dry and to continue our cultural experience, we had dinner out at Qdoba and ate fajitas and tacos.  Just call us the multicultural family! 

Eagle Scout Project: Phase One

It begins.  Mr C's Eagle Scout project is now underway. Thanks to some generous help from a local waterproofing business the Tires are no more. 

Mr. C and my husband had spent a couple of hours a few weeks ago trying with all their might to start removing the tires. Tires that we soon realized weighed about 300 pounds and were firmly planted in the sand and dirt.  Uncle S to the rescue, we contacted one of his clients who owns a big waterproofing business and as such has crew of guys with tools and equipment that could quickly do what our own muscles could not. 

Mr. C contacted the contractor, shared his power point presentation with the company, and expressed his need for help with the project.  Not only were they generous with their time, they complemented Mr. C on his professional plan for the playground.

Lets just say there is no way we could have done this part of the project without them.

On Friday, our "knights in shining armor" aka a Bobcat arrived and spent about an hour removing all six of the tires, and then as my husband explains a "God Thing" happened and they ran out of diesel fuel meaning the equipment was sitting there waiting.  This gave my husband and the principal time to brainstorm about the removal of the Zip Line while the crew went and got more diesel. 

We hadn't even figured out how we were going to remove the huge poles planted in concrete six feet down.  After a few minutes spent unscrewing the support beams, the bobcat knocked down the poles in just minutes.

What a huge blessing.  To top it all off, it was quickly determined that the school district would need to remove and dispose of the tires and poles, a job that we figured we would be left to handle.  Thank you God for going ahead of us in this project and working out details that we hadn't even thought to ask help with.

This is only Phase One of multiple levels and there is a lot of work ahead, but Mr C is moving along.

Final Days of Girls Only: We Add Dad!

With only two days left before Mr C returned and the days of just being the girls went away, we decided we needed to pack in all the fun we could.  Thankfully, Dad was able to join us for the final day of fun though, as he likes to point out, he is not a girl.

Friday, the girls and I got our hair cut which, for Miss M, meant cutting 4 inches off the bottom and for Miss A it means, for the first time in a very long time, she's sporting bangs.  A few months ago, we switched our hairstylist and we now go to a good friend from Dance who cuts hair in her home.  What a fun way to support a mom who wants to stay at home with the kids.  Both girls are loving their new cuts and they look adorable.

The weather was perfect for a trip to the Zoo so we packed a picnic basket and took in a few of the highlights of the zoo.  The joy of Zoo membership is you can come and go for a short time and not feel bad if you spend more time on the Carousel and feeding the fish than actually looking at the animals.  Just saying.

Saturday, after Miss M's softball game, we decided to capitalize on the perfect weather to go to an outdoor art festival.  While we aren't really in the market for Art, we love to wander about looking for deals and will take any opportunity to have some fun.  That's just what we did.  Have some fun. We made our own "art," enjoyed a snow cone, and, of course, did our favorite thing; people watch.  The most unique part of the whole show had to be the Quick Artist who made a "masterpiece" in five minutes time. 

Now that's talent.

All in all, we had a great time just us girls and dad, but we were thrilled to welcome Mr. C back home on Saturday night.

When Mr C is away the Girls Will Play

This week, Mr C went on his 8th Grade Trip with my parents to Mall of America for three days.  He returned last night in time for football practice and then headed out again this afternoon for a few days at a friend's cabin. 

You could say it's been a little lonely around these parts.  Both my husband and I have commented that besides missing Mr. C, we are even more thankful that we have a few more years with him around.  Guess the boarding school option is really out for us!

Lest you think that we've been sitting around moping, the girls and I have tired to make the most of our girl only time.  We know that there are just some things Mr. C is unwilling to do as fun as we think they might be.  We've painted our nails, watched some "kids" shows, had dance parties in the family room, and today we went to the mall.  Miss A started swim lessons and, since the heat was near 100 degrees on the first day, we met dad for a before dinner swim at the outside pool. 

Each summer, I have the kids write up a Summer Fun List.  On the list are some ideas of things the kids would like to do; library trips, lunch at a park, shopping at the mall, swimming party at the lake, etc.  We knew that were a few things on our list that Mr. C would balk at; the mall and pampering at home among them.

Today's trip to the Mall, however, might just be one for the memory book.  You see we had no agenda, nothing we really needed it was just an old fashion trip to "window shop" and while Miss M came armed with cash, Miss A had only three dollars and a dream.

We pulled up to the Mall and, as we exited the car, Miss A says "Let's do this!" and off we went.  Only minutes later, Miss M was hit with the reality of just how expensive it is to shop when it's your own money.  At Justice, she gushed over a few things, but quickly saw the price and declared that it was outrageous.  At Claire's, she wished for pierced earring's and was even willing to swallow the price: free until I showed her that you had to buy the "starter set" which wasn't free. No fair says Miss M.

For months, Miss A has been hinting of wanting a new Build a Bear and since I'm not one to give in to such requests and my husband had given the green light to spoil just a little, we finally made our way to bear heaven and both girls picked out their new friends; Sugar the Bunny and Cinnamon the Bear.
Miss M was even willing to fork over the money herself for Cinnamon, but I know how hard she's worked for it and told her it was my treat. 

I'll admit I'm not really a "shopper" I normally go to the store, get what I need, and get out. But today, I enjoyed lingering with my two favorite girls.  We giggled, we enjoyed laughing at various outfits, we dreamed big and bought small, and to finish off our day, we even enjoyed a cookie in the food court.

It's been fun to just be girls for a few days, but I'm looking forward to having our entire family back together later this weekend!

Our Type of Camping

We spent the night at the Lake on Saturday and it was the perfect way to end a hectic week.  Relaxation.  No computer or phone to interrupt our peace and quiet and mom even left all her VBS registration materials at home. We needed this time away as it had been a week filled with dance rectal rehearsal and performance, a great aunt's funeral and VBS preparation.  It was a week, according to my husband, in which you could tell I was otherwise occupied.  The laundry and the dust piled up!!

At least I told my husband, you could tell that I wasn't on top of my "home" game.  That at least implies that normally I am on my game.  Yeah me.

Thus, by the time we arrived at the lake on Saturday after A's last soccer game, M's softball game and the end of season soccer party, we were ready for downtime.  I'm not even convinced it took ten minutes for us to leave our burdens at the door and just enjoy freedom and family time.

Mr. C fresh off his Boater Safety Course was itching to drive the boat, Miss M and Miss A were anxious to catch waves at Sand Mountain and the parents were looking forward to just relaxing.  When we came upon the new Sandy Bottoms, a little cove that was recently excavated at the lake with sand volleyball and perfect sandy beaches, it was waiting for us to grace it's shores.

This is what we love about the lake so much, it's as if on that thirty minute journey we leave behind all that has weighed us down.  By the time we get the boat out of the dock and headed to the Marina for both gas and snacks, we've taken on our Lake Persona: No Worries, No Cares, Just Fun.

I tried to explain this phenomenon to my husband on Saturday night over our first s'mores of the season; it's like our way of camping.  We are roughing it for the weekend and just enjoying the simple things of life.   To which P said it was hard to call it camping when you go around the lake on a power boat, enjoy all the comforts of home, queen sized beds, indoor plumbing, and, of course, air conditioning. 

Some might call that living the high life, I call that camping for our family!

A Whole New World

I don't really think of myself as a nervous Nell, however, I'll admit when I got an email a week ago from the football coach at Mr. C's future high school about the start of summer conditioning, I really wanted to throw my hands up and say "not my little boy, he's not playing football!"  You can get hurt playing football.  Why couldn't golf be a fall sport?

You see, at Mr. C's all boy high school, you are required to participate in a fall sport as a freshman.  It's a way for the boys to bond and become a part of the school community.  It also serves to boast up the number of player of the team.  At his school, your options are football, cross country and tennis and, since Mr. C has never played tennis and doesn't love running long distances, his choice was to try his hand at football.  He's never played team football, unless you count the neighborhood backyard teams that he's created and played on. 

In other words, he's new to the world of competitive football making me a nervous mother.  Mr. C however is excited yet cautious.  This summer, he'll be participating in conditioning (weightlifting) four days a week and football mini camp once a week.  He'll learn the basics of the sport while making new friends.  According to the coach, a number of the players are out for football for the first time, and he'll be taking them through all the drills to get them ready for fall.

Last week, one of Mr. C's friends who is also going out for the football asked C what he bench presses.  C's response was "that's the position I hope to play." 

I told Mr. C that maybe we could get the doctor to send a note to the Coach saying that Mr. C should not see a lot of action.  I even volunteered to "pretend" he had a history of concussions and shouldn't get hit.  He wasn't interested in getting an out, and, while I love his integrity, I must confess I've been praying for Mr. C to see no more than 1 minute of real action on the field. 

I think he'd make an adorable water boy.  Don't you?