Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Brady made some neat modular origami After a snow delay, our girls junior high basketball team finally had our basketball banquet We were involved in a lot of tournaments this month.  First, Natalee competed with her basketball team at the March Madness Tournament in Lewisburg.  Of course, the day of the tournament, it had to snow and cause some bad road conditions!  With the blowing afterward, I was glad we were staying there for the night. The team in Lewisburg Brady had the day off school the day before his birthday.  He decided he wanted to try to replicate the cake Cousin J had in Colorado last summer (the Agnes Cake).  I warned him that it would be a lot of steps and it would involve cooking icing, making meringue, and cooking the ganache.  He was not deterred! This is an intricate process.   Ta da! Happy 13th birthday to Brady.  For some reason, nearly all of the birthday cards Brady received involved flatulence.  I have not idea why :...

A few weeks ago, the children had an art show at school. Now, the artwork has come home for us to decorate with. The new art teacher has done a lot of amazing projects. This first one of Amie's dinosaur in the city was also on display at a local coffee shop in February .  Amie's art represented the Kindergarten class at her school.  It was on display for the towns art walk. Amie also had this cow on display at the art show. I really like Brady’s night mountain reflection off of the lake. There are so many details! This is Brady’s, too This was Natalee’s art show entry. I like her howling wolf, too. I like the color and texture. This one wasn't actually in the art show, but I like it. One of my favorite art things this year has been all of the crazy collages they have been making at home. We've had a lady doing the Yoga tree pose on top of a vase.  We also have a picture of a chair sitting in a dessert with a goat head.  For Jesse's...

I've saved a few gems from school so far this year. I particularly like that his favorite food is kale chips.  It is also humorous that he saw "my ranch" over the summer. And, he does not like fidget spinners. Amie came home with this picture of our family: I really like Jesse's sparse hair.

Finding pictures like this melts my heart! Here's a funny conversation that I had with Natalee.  I was tired of the children arguing amongst themselves.  And, here is the conversation: Me:  "Do you all ever hear Dad and I arguing and yelling at each other like this?" Natalee:  "Yes" Me: (*?*!?) Natalee:  "Waffles" Me:  "What???" Natalee:  "Yes, you argue about whether waffles are for breakfast or dinner." Brady:  "I don't care when you have waffles.  I'll eat them anytime!"

This is the first time we have ever ventured to carve pumpkins with three helping hands.  Usually we just painted them.  It was fun, but we did learn a few things for next year. Everyone helped to scrape out the seeds and carve the pumpkins.  Then, we saved the seeds and roasted them.  Brady insisted that he wanted to make a hole at the back of the pumpkin so that he could shine a flashlight through his pumpkin.  Then, everyone else wanted to do the same thing. The finished pumpkins- Natalee's pumpkin, Brady's pumpkin, and Amie's pumpkin I'm a little behind putting pictures on here of our pumpkin carving experience.  These pumpkins were thrown out about a week ago because they got too moldy!

 After kids camp, we decided to go to Greenwood Furnace State Park for a swim.  I tried to get a picture of the kids together. BRADY!!! Amie! BRADY!!!!!!!!!!!! AMIE!! Seriously?? I give up! In other news..... About 2 weeks ago the kids collected Queen Anne's Lace on our walk.  When we came home, we added food coloring to the vases to see what would happen.  One was yellow and one was red.  The yellow ones turned really quickly.  The others turned pink. A day later, these were a lot more colorful! They looked really neat. Yesterday, Brady drew me this lovely picture of a flower.  I love when he actually tries and is successful!  I think he will love getting back into his "preschool" work :)

I am blessed to have 3 wonderful children, as well as a loving husband. I also am blessed to have a loving, caring mother and mother-in-law. They provide for many needs! And, I can't forget my grandmother! She lovingly cooks us lunch after our Wednesday Bible Study so that the kids can have a decent meal before going to preschool. Sunday before church, the kids presented me with cards that they made. Natalee's didn't show up well in a picture, so it's not here. I think Natalee wrote the words in Brady's card. Brady drew our whole family, completed by his dog, Wrinkles :) He told me I was the biggest one. So who has the frown??? After church, we had lunch with my mom and grandmother. Waffles belong with chicken, not breakfast :)

Mom and I took the older two kids to the PA Native Plant Festival at Shavers Creek today. It was fun to do the flower scavenger hunt and look at all of their rescued birds. They have owls, bald eagles, a golden eagle, hawks, and a vulture.  Part of the scavenger hunt was drawing the flower after we found it. This is Brady's version of a red columbine.  I'm so happy that he is finally trying to draw and color things!  I could tell Natalee was trying hard not to criticize his work (she wanted him to add another part to it). And, this is Natalee's version of an American Redbud Tree.  We also found a bleeding heart, a flowering dogwood, and a wood poppy-- all native to Pennsylvania. For lunch we ate a picnic at Whipple Dam State Park....and the kids could hardly wait to get in the water! It was not very warm, but it did not matter! Natalee asked for her sweatshirt and then proceeded to go in the water anyway. Then, we discovered the salamanders. I was afraid Br...

"Now what did I tell you about tractor tipping?" "To not to????" (Pretend Larry the Cable Guy is saying this and you will know how the kids sounded.) That's what they have been telling each other this morning. We watched the Cars movie last Friday. And, they've been talking about it ever since. Natalee drew this picture. I love how they both are creating artwork that is more creative. Natalee drew this picture of Mater (MDR) and McQueen (Mqeyn) tipping a tractor. The tractor has a snail on top of it.

Both of the kids have been rolling out lots of artwork lately. Here are two that I really like. Natalee drew a picture of Brady and herself standing under a rainbow. I think it is adorable. When I asked her where Amie was, she replied, "Amie is inside taking a nap." Brady drew a picture of Natalee in Sunday School. At the top of the page (it is cut off in the photo), the teacher wrote "Brady". He was really upset that she wrote his name on the paper. When, I asked why he was upset, he replied, "It's not a picture of me. It's a picture of Natalee! I didn't know how to write her name." How sweet! He didn't want his name on it because it wasn't him! Later, he had Natalee write her name on it.