Hail to the Cheif!!!!!

A few weeks ago Noah decided he wanted to write President Obama a letter.  I really didn't think much of it and said OK.  He was at the dinning room table for awhile and then came out to get an envelope.  The next thing I knew he had addressed the envelope to Pennsylvania Ave.  He asked for a stamp and then put his letter in the mailbox.  I didn't read the letter he had written but can only imagine what it said!  I knew he would get something back because Abbie had written a letter a few years ago to President Bush and was sent a nice letter back.  Everyday he asked if the President had written him back and everyday I had to say no.  I don't necessarily agree with a lot of  President Obama's ideas and views.  I was disappointed again.  Then, on Friday it came.  A handwritten envelope and a nice letter from President Obama.  The letter was kind of generic and I knew that same letter went out to all of the kids who had written the President. But, Noah didn't know that and was thrilled with the letter!  I do think that it is really nice that they(whoever they may be) take the time to get back to all the children that write the President.  Noah felt so special as he should!  He took the letter to school to share with his class!

 

Noah does and will continue to do great things!  I can't wait to see what God has planned for him!!

Alien Invasion!!

Emma had a project due for school this week.  She had to create her own alien!  This was the first of what I know will be a lot of projects this year.  I have spent a lot of money in the past and I decided this year we were going to use what we had at home!  I have restocked our craft box with the essentials..pipe cleaners, pom poms, google eyes,..you get the picture.  So , Emma decided to use a water bottle, a foam ball , pipe cleaners and paint.

She LOVES to paint and has very creative ideas.  We had fun brainstorming at the kitchen table.  She also had to answer a few questions about her alien.

1-  Where is your alien from?  She answered..Alien City.

2- What does your alien eat?....She answered.....Snails.

3-What does your alien do on his/her home planet?....She answered.. She is the president of Alien City.

4-What does your alien like to do for fun?.....She answered...play banana toss.

5-What do want to learn from your alien?....She answered... learn how to play banana toss.

6-What do you want to teach your alien?..She answered...math.

7-And our favorite...What is your aliens name?...She answered..Clukclukcluklou!

We were trying to think of names and she wanted a silly made up name.  Noah and I kept giving her suggestions.  We laughed until we cried!  Finally we came up with that silly name.

She was very excited to share her alien with her teacher and class!

Extreme Makeover..... Room Edition!!

It all started with Emma's room.  She has been very sad that she has the smallest bedroom.  I told her awhile back that we would look to see if we could find a loft bed.  The kind that have desks and bookshelves.  She was very excited about the thought of that.  We had a garage sale and sold some stuff so I told her we could use the money to look for a new bed.  We shopped and shopped until we found the perfect one.  She had made some money selling some of her things as well.  She told me that she wanted to buy her own bedding. Wow, I thought.  I would have thought she would want a new toy or something from the American Girl Doll store.  Nope she said, I want a new bedspread.!  What a big girl!  So, we went from fairies to polka dots.  I so wish I would have taken more pictures before we started moving things.  

We painted cork boards to hang up.  I saw this really cute project in a magazine.  I also made curtains out of ribbons.

She was so excited that her bed has a desk.  Can you see it?

It hides under one end of the bed.  The space where the desk slides is also a super cool place to hide!  It goes the full length of the bed.  She and Abbie traded bookshelves.  Now she has one that is a little taller and Abbie has a smaller one that matches her other one.

Our house doesn't have lights on the ceiling so lighting has always been a problem.  We found this really cute lamp.  You can adjust any way you like.  All five lights can be on or you can switch to two or three.  Let me just say that I love Target!

Well, Noah and Abbie were feeling a little left out so...we fixed that!  We weren't sure what we were going to do with the white bunk beds that were in Emma's room.  Noah spoke up and said he  wanted them in his room.  There was only one problem.  One very big problem.....they're white.  So after about 5 spray cans of primer and about 9 cans of brown paint they were finally brown!  We also had to do some touch up with some brown paint that we had.  What a headache!  Literally, after all that paint I thought my head was going to explode!  The bed turned out great!  Noah didn't want to change his Harry Potter theme so there was not a lot of decorating to do.  I found some new bedspreads at Target super inexpensive!  Did I tell you how much I love Target!!!  We moved his old daybed down to our library room. 

Noah likes to read after we put him to bed with his night light.  We moved his red beanbag chair up for him to enjoy in his room.

There was a chair we had in the library that didn't fit with Noah's daybed now in there.  So, we moved it into Noah's room.  He can also sit there and read too.

He can still use his same bookshelves and dresser.

My little pack rat doesn't like to throw anything away!

Abbie's room was next.  She got a new bed and bedspread awhile back.  We didn't have to change the base color of her room.  She decided to add polka dots and hand prints to her room.  It turned out really neat! 

We also painted cork boards to use as a head board.

She added some finishing touches!

We still have a few more things to finish up with.  I think their rooms turned out really cute.  We had fun family time moving and trading and painting and moving!!

Emma told me when we were done that she LOVED her room and she didn't want to change a thing!

Hmmm....What room to do next? 

Our Masterpieces

My kids love to do arts and crafts and so do I.  I found some canvases at a local discount store.  One night this summer we all sat down to create our masterpieces.  It was fun sitting around the kitchen table sharing ideas.  It was a time to use our imagination and make something special.  Noah just started painting as I set out more paint.  His picture started off as a bunny in the grass.

Then he started adding brown and it became a night time scene.

Abbie had a hard time trying to figure out what to make.  Then she started doing splatter painting.  She added all of our names to her picture.  You can also see little hearts and smiley faces if you look close.

Emma liked these sponge dot painters and started putting dots all over her picture.  She also added a flower and her name.

James and I got in on the fun too!

It was really cool to see all of our creations.  James noticed that he and Noah colored the entire canvas and you couldn't see any white left.  The girls and I left some white showing with ours.  They turned out so good that we decided to hang them in our dinning room!

Monday's Memories..............My Mama!!

Sonya Jean (Brown) Laney was born June 19th, 1939

to Anna Jean (Bay)Brown and Tom Chester Brown.

Proud sister, Cherie(Brown)Denney.

They lived in Hillsdale Michigan.

This is how I imagine the birth announcement looked when my mom was born.

She is such an amazing women!  I love to listen to her tell stories of when she was a little girl growing up in a tiny house. She and her sister shared a room.  It was actually a sun room that was turned into a bedroom.   The way their room was situated my mom could look into their mirror and watch her sister get good night smooches from her boyfriend.  She once read her sisters diary at the Thanksgiving table.  Like all sisters do they fought over clothes, boys and attention. My Aunt recently came for a visit and it was fun listening to them walk down memory lane.

She also tells stories of how they lived life when she was young.  They didn't have a television until she was older.  She remembers listening to shows on the radio.  They didn't have much but they were happy.  All the things we think are essential just didn't exist.  It's hard for my kids to imagine life without TV, computers, microwaves, and cell phones.

She was very imaginative when she was little.  She would talk to trees when friends couldn't play.  She loved her dolls as well.

In high school she was a cheerleader.  It's fun to look at her yearbooks.  All the girls wore dresses or skirts all the time.  It was their dress code.  Jeans were not allowed.  She remembers wearing jeans one time when they decorated the gym for prom.

They lived on a lake and she remembers swimming across the lake for her lifesaving course.  She tells stories of spending time with friends in the summer on the lake or walking through town.  It honestly is stories from the 50's.  She remembers Poodle Skirts and Saddle Shoes.  Sock Hop and Sadie Hawkins dances. I have often thought what life would have been like in this "slower pace time".  Small town livin!

She met my dad in High School.  They graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1957.  My dad joined the Army shortly after High School and she headed off to Michigan Sate to study art. They married on December 13th. 1958.  They celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2008.

    

My mama is most selfless person I have ever met.   She always puts others needs and wants before hers.  She has inspired me to be the kind of mom she was to me.  Her example is something I rely on everyday.  She is the kind of grandma I always imagined for my kids.  She is kind and loving and I have cried on her shoulder way more times than I can count.  She is a great listener.  She has never made decisions for me but guided me.  I have made quit a few mistakes and she reminds me that these "learning experiences" will make me a better person.  She is my "best girlfriend"! 

It is my hope that I can be half the person she is because that is a lot.

 I can remember as a little girl she was talking with me about loving God.  She told me that I should really love God more than my family.  That was hard for me to grasp.  I couldn't imagine loving ANYONE more than her.  So, in my child like mind I told her if the world was made out of dots that I loved her one dot less than God.

Mama thank you for all that you are!  You mean so much to me. More than I could ever write here. 

I will always love you "one dot less".

Tennis Anyone??

Emma has taken up playing tennis.  It all started early summer.  We have a tennis academy that teaches in our neighborhood and she was excited to try lessons with a friend.  She went the first time and LOVED it.  James was so excited to have a tennis player in the family that he could play with.  He used to play in high school and also has started playing again.  They go down to the courts a few night a week and James works with her too.  She has learned to bounce serve.

She has a great back hand (per James)!

She also did a summer tennis camp and had a great time.  She is still thinking about if tennis is something she wants to continue.  We have told the kids that they can pick two extra curricular things to do.  She normally dances and has also said she would like to play basketball.  I love that she likes to try new things!!

She still has awhile to decided.  So, time will tell!

I love this one!!  Thank you James for taking the camera down and getting some great pictures!  She looks mighty hot to me!!

She also loves that she gets some one on one with her daddy!  This picture is not one of them playing tennis but I love it!

That girl loves her daddy!!!

And they're off......First day of school 2010

I really can't believe how fast this summer zoomed by!  I know I say that every year, but time really does fly by.  So, last night we got all the kids to help pack up their backpacks and set out the clothes they were going to wear.  They got to bed at their designated bedtimes and I got in bed at 10:30.  I layed in bed all nervous and excited for them.  It's like being a kid again myself. I finally had to get up and come downstairs.  I played games on the computer, read some of my book and finally started feeling tired.  Let me just tell you that when the alarm clock went off at 6:00 I felt like I had just fallen asleep.  I woke Emma up first.  She sat up in her bed rubbing her eyes and then realized what today was.  She climbed out of her bunk bed and happily hopped down the stairs!  Noah was next.  I went in and rubbed his back and he opened his eyes and said "Mommy why are you waking me up?  It's not time to get up yet!"  Boy I couldn't agree more!  He climbed down the stairs and layed on the couch to wake up a little.  I opened Abbie's door and she pulled the covers over her head.  I  told her I knew it was early but reminded her she insisted she needed an hour and a half to get ready!  She layed in bed and few more minutes then stumbled out out of her room.  I hopped in the shower to get ready to take Emma and Noah to school.  Emma came in and asked if I had to work today and I said no.  She asked if I was going to put my pajamas back on and go back to bed after I took them to school.  That sounded so wonderful, but I told her I had lots to do before they got home from school.

Abbie called Emma to the bathroom and asked her if she wanted her to do her hair.  Emma was excited and said yes.  I thought that was very sweet of Abbie.  They have not been getting along very well lately  and that was a sweet gesture on Abbie's part. 

"Seriously mom, you have the camera out already?"

Emma looked so cute and grown up!

We were already to go!  We stopped at the front door to take some pictures.  My sister taught me that trick.  You can look how much they've grown if you take the picture in the same spot every year.  We always look at the doorknob and it's fun to see how tall they are.

Off I went to take Emma and Noah to school.  James stayed home with Abbie until it was time for her to go up to the bus.  Oh, and take pictures of her.

On the way to school Emma and Noah talked about how old they would be when Abbie started High School.  Right there it hit that that is next year!!!  I became very emotional and bit my lip so I wouldn't cry!  I had to talk to myself and say we still have one more year and this year has just started.  Who, am I kidding?  I just said time flies!!!  So anyway, we pulled into the parking lot and Emma asks me if I'm walking her to her class.  "Why wouldn't I?" I say.  She replies "you can walk me to class but you can't kiss me in front of all my friends."  Rip my heart out why don't you I want to cry!!!  I was good and said I would just hug her.  So that's what I did.  I left her smiling and laughing with her friends.  Noah was very sweet and said "Mom you can walk me to my class as long as you want".  That boy has the biggest heart.  He knew just what I needed to hear.  I worried about Noah the most this year.  He will be changing classes a lot.  I'm sure he will do fine.  He never ceases to amaze me!  We were walking down the hallway and all I could think was I hope no one is unkind to him.  I worry about that the most.  We turned down his hall and he saw his teacher. He gave her a big hug  and gave me a hug and then saw a friend.  He and his friend have similar issues.  They hugged each other and sat down next to each other.  He has a friend was all I could think.   He was also smiling when I left!  I drove home feeling happy for them.  I was a little sad but knew they would have a great day.  I arrived home before Abbie left to go to the bus!  So guess what?  I took pictures!!!  She and her friend decided to ride the bus today.  I said " You don't want me to take you to school?"  "Mom. I'm in the 8th grade!"  "Don't remind me I wanted to cry!"  So, James had already grabbed a couple of pictures and I was able to grab one of Abbie with her friend Brooke.

Off they went!  The house was quiet and to be honest it was a little nice.  I almost put my PJ's back on but knew I had things to do.  Emma and Noah will be home in about ten minutes and I can hardly wait to hear about their day!