Our 14 hour car ride to Williamsburg, VA

This summer we drove the farthest we have ever gone with the girls. Our vacation was in Williamsburg, VA which is 14 hours from St. Louis, MO. We decided to stop overnight both ways to break up the trip. I knew the girls would be watching several movies on this long trip but I wanted to have some fun breaks from the DVD player.  I looked around for some fun ideas to keep the girls busy for the long trip there and back. 

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First to combat the dreaded, "are we there yet" question I made a map charting our way there. We had a little monkey pin that the girls got to take turns moving along the route. It helped us all know just where we were and how far we had to go, so that question was never asked.

 On our last car trip we played the licence plate game with a scratch piece of paper making a list. This time I printed out a map for each girls to color in or cross off as we saw the licence plates. I really liked this because it also helps with learning all the states.

I found this idea on pinterest. Make copies of your families heads, slip them into plastic sleeves and let the kids draw the bodies, hats, etc.... or bat wings as Amelia drew onto our dog Groucho. This was a lot of fun, we all got a few good laughs from this activity. I also liked that it doesn't take up much room and because we used dry eraser markers they can be reused over and over. I found the idea here on this blog: All For The Boys

I also a bought a few new coloring books to help keep them busy and the snack box was also a big hit. Overall our trip there and back went very well with the girls. Brian and I now know we can all survive the super long car trip. The question now is... where to go next year?

Girl Scout SWAPS - Weather Forecaster

My Junior troop is going to make these Girl Scout SWAPS for our all school troop bonfire. These SWAPS are so cute and super easy to make. Check out my youtube video with step-by-step instructions on how to make these cute Weather Forecaster SWAPS.

Need to make the tags for this SWAP?

Download the free PDF file here.

Links to supplies:

-Purple yarn https://amzn.to/3RTzPJw -Pink Yarn https://amzn.to/3D9j7SB -Green Yarn https://amzn.to/3DdeNBR -Blue yarn https://amzn.to/3TWUZsg -Safety pins https://amzn.to/3eDCVDp -Googly eyes https://amzn.to/3cW6ijX

Just print them out and write your troop # and the date at the bottom. Then cut them out, punch a hole and 
attach them to your SWAP.

Happy SWAP Trading!

User is granted permission to use this tag pattern for personal or Girl Scout troop use only. Mass production and/or commercial use of this tag design is not allowed.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Anna - About Me Homework

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School is in it's second week and homework has started. So far the girls don't mind because it's all very easy work. Above is Anna's homework last night. Can I just say that I LOVE # 9 and #10!

Maybe I am doing something right?

Adult Swim

A new invitation I designed for a client. 

Now listed in my etsy shop here.

What I'm reading... Out of My Mind By Sharon M Draper

My mom just retired as a 4 & 5 grade teacher. When she left school she took many of her books to give to Amelia who is starting the 4th grade this year. She pulled this book out of the box saying it was really good. Amelia found some other books to read so I picked up this one... "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M Draper. 

I would say it's a 5th grade to adult book and I truly feel that everyone should read it! It is very well written with a great story everyone can learn something from. The book is about a life story of a girl growing up who can not move or talk. She is labeled as mentally and physically disabled, but once they give her the tools to express herself the world is finally able see the true Melody.

A lovely book that makes you stop and think, a must read! 

Summer 2013

Summer... that's where I have been. Summer with kids home, places to go and things to do.

With only one more week of summer until the kids head back to school I look back at our summer. I feel I was able to keep the girls busy but also allowed enough free time for them to just be kids. But not too much free time so that I think I only heard, "I bored" twice all summer long.

2013 Summer:

- Swim team - Daily
- Softball - Amelia
- Girl Scout Day Camp - Both Girls
- Embroidery Camp - Hosted by me
- 10 Day Vacation to Williamsburg, VA
- Six Flags
- Amelia's Birthday Party
- Impromptu Neighborhood Kickball Games
- Lego Robotics Camp - Both Girls
- Big Family Camping Weekend at Johnson Shut-Ins
- Swimming at Grammy & Papa's Pool
- Volleyball Camp - Amelia
- Remembering Grandpa - Funeral weekend
- Golfing & Hiking with the Girl Scouts
- Violin Lessons - Amelia
- Theater Camp - Both Girls

Yes, it was a busy, fun summer that flew by so fast! School supplies are packed up and ready to go. Good bye summer... it sure was fun, we'll catch you next year!

Custom Scrabble Family Print

New! For all those who love my scrabble pillows now you can have even more scrabble fun in a paper version. 

Frame and hang... why didn't I think of doing this one sooner?

Check it out here in my etsy shop

Surprise notes are the best!

I found this note from Amelia at the bottom of my to do list...

it just made my day!!!

Puzzy

Amelia has always played tag with a group of girls and boys from school at recess. Last year they made up nicknames for the game. Amelia named herself "Puzzy". When I first heard this I groaned and told her I really didn't like the name. But one day at pick up the kids were running around and I heard the name called... I cringed a bit. Later that day I said she needed to find a new nickname for tag. She asked why but I just said because I didn't like the one she had. A few weeks we were running errorns and the girls were talking in the backseat. I heard the name Puzzy again and I told them not to use that word, and then why they me asked.

Ugh... my mind twisted and turned to quickly figure out how to gently explain the problem.

"Well... you know how sometimes there are different names for things. Puzzy sounds a lot like another word and that word is another name for vagina".  There was dead silence from the back seat. "That is why I don't want you to use that word, ok"?  Quietly from the back seat I hear, "ok".

I don't think I will hear that word again.

I found $1,200

My neighbors (a husband and wife) are in their 90s, Brian and I often help them with a few things. Brian mows the grass, shovels snow and lights the pilot light every fall. I help them with the computer, getting a dvds started, etc. They also have several hired people to help them, clean, shop, etc.

Last week she asked me if I would replace some shot elastic in several of her skirts. Her helper and I looked through the skirts and they gave me an old bag of elastic that I could keep and maybe use for the skirts. I finally looked through the bag to see what elastic was in there. I pulled out a few zippers, patches and two big spools of thread. The bottoms of the thread were stuck together and I thought that was odd and as I pulled them apart I saw a roll of money! Looking closer it was all twenty dollar bills. I counted it and there were 60!

I knew right away she must have stashed the money in there, but how long ago and did she have other money stashed around the house? I took it right over and showed her what she had done. Right away she told me not to tell her helper, that the helper would be upset because she had told her not to hide money around the house. I said she should listen to her, that's not safe with all the people coming and going in the house to help them. Plus she just gave away this bag of stuff & money to me to keep, luckily it was me and I returned it.

Do you hide money around the house? Have you ever found money? We keep a small amount of cash in our emergency bag, but that's it.