The End of Art Class

 Eek!  Now that's an up close picture, is it not?  I love by the way how dark her eyes are...she has the color of eyes like mine and Cal's are a brown like spilt Dr. Pepper like his Daddy.  

Anyway, do you like the paint on Emma's face?  She often comes home from art class with art wounds like these.

 And these....

 And these (while these were harder to capture on camera, but there nevertheless)

And these.  Poor Emma.  These were her favorite jeans.  She was so upset that she got something on them that wouldn't come off.

Anyway, every time we are at Art class she comes home in an outfit that will never be fit to wear again for anything other than art.  So she's been wearing this outfit every Wednesday for the last few months.

Yesterday was her last day of art.  I think in the Fall we will pick back up with Art class but for now we could use a break.  Right now she has art class for 3 hours a week and had gym for 3 hours a week.  It is a homeschool program and we LOVE it but it also cut quite a bit into her regular schooling on those days.

I will tell you though that the one thing Emma has LOVED are the friendships.  She has such cute little friends and it is adorable to see them giggling with one another or to be rolling their eyes in agreement over conversations of what a pain brothers are.  Is there anything cuter than little girls hanging out together???

But ta-ta art!  Hopefully in the Fall the class will have invested in some smocks and we will be able to wear more than one outfit during the year :)

So proud of you Emma!  You are flourishing in all that you do and we love you sooo much!!!

Our Fire Station Field Trip!

Last week we accompanied Cal's class to the Fire Station for a field trip.  We had so much fun!  

 This is Emma telling me "no flash photography!" She is starting to get really tired of me taking pictures of them all of the time.  I hope someday she will look back and be grateful I took them all.

Love this picture!!!  This is Calvin and his best friend in the whole wide world.  Can I just start crying now as I think of them not being together next year?  Waaahhh!

Here's the firefighter showing them the kitchen. Emma like to randomly ask him the questions she had thought of.   So it went like this "So we have big huge pots to make a meal for everyone here on duty."
So how much does your hat weigh?  

I don't think she minds being random :)

And the truck is this big!

Love that he did this!  Dressed to show the kids how scary he looks in his gear and then they talked about how you never hide from him in a fire even if he looks scary.

And here's a class photos...so cute!  I am so glad we have opportunities to go with the class on trips!  He has the best teachers in the world.  They were Emma's teachers too and this is our very last year with them...oh dear, here come the water works again!!! :(

Where We Are Right Now..

Ugh, this week has already gotten me up on the wrong side of the bed several times and it hasn't even started yet!

Ever have one of those?

Nick got a new job.

Well he actually got it a time ago.  Long story.  Anywho right now he is still working his old job and on his off days he is working his new job to start learning and training and trying to pick up the pieces of things that haven't been done for a while.

Oh boy.  He doesn't have to go in on every one of his off days but if you know my husband you know he is about the ethical man and tries to do the right thing in everything.

Which translates to...he works a lot when he can to support his family.  Which all of us back at home sure do appreciate but we also miss him like crazy and it makes us want to cry.

So far he's worked an entire week...weekend and all.  It doesn't sound like much, I know, except these children miss their Daddy something fierce.

My poor babies.  It's hard to face all of the questions...

Does Daddy have to work tomorrow?  
I miss Daddy!  

The absolute worst is when they forget he's at work and come down the stairs in the morning expecting to see him...
Where's Daddy? 
When I have to tell them he's gone it just about kills me.

And this week they've been pretty good.  They don't do it if he's worked like a day of course, but the last couple of days I've gotten the questions.  And I know they will be asking all this next week what is up.

Tomorrow is Nick's first business trip.  Monday's around here are horrid as I've mentioned before and I'm already wishing my husband who should have tomorrow off, didn't have to go.

Nick's new job is a Corporate Auditor position...or so I've been told.  I've also been told it has some other title but I can't remember what that is.  And I basically have no idea what he does all day.  He could be testing football's for their bounce all day for all I know...as long as that paycheck is direct deposited, I'm a happy camper.

I do know he is going to have to travel and I am okay with that.  At least I was until it came closer and now we are standing face-to-face, staring at each other.  Because when it is all said and done, Nick being out of town means a lot of sleepless nights...3500 square feet of creaks and bumps in the night...eeek!

Anyway, people keep asking me if Nick's at his new job and I always say yes but if you ask him he'll tell you not yet, so thought I would explain to all of you in the wondering department. :)  We are so grateful to his Company for this opportunity and so thankful to God for opening all the doors.  His will be done all of the time, right?  :)

So excited about this time we are facing in our lives...if you need me though and Nick's out of town you can find me hiding under the covers from the monsters under the bed ;)

Scholastic Delivers :)

Alright maybe that's a bit of a play on words.  But today Scholastic did deliver...

book orders that is!

And please don't laugh at me but I have to tell SOMEONE this story!

Due to the visitors of the day I was getting tired of answering the door...

No thanks, we don't need our sidewalk shoveled...

We live I guess in a more affluent area and people apparently walk here from all over the city to try to get hired to shovel for us.  Our answer is always no. Well, no thank you :)

Anyway, I was tired of these people so when the door bell rang I came downstairs and crawled to a window in our solarium to see who it was...had to be sneaky to make sure they didn't see me through the foyer and the entry way door.  I still couldn't see anyone so I had to get underneath the baby grand to peep through the window.

And no one was there.  Boy was that a waste of wicked ninja skills :)

It was just the UPS man delivering a box of Scholastic book orders!  I am so, so stinkin' excited.  If you missed my first post about how us homeschooling Mama's can get in on the Scholastic Book Order action you can click here to read all about it!

 This is one of the order forms I am most excited about!  Games, Kits, books on tape...awesome.  You are a speakin' my language!

 I am discovering that almost every order form has at least one $1.00 book!  With 12 order forms to order from, I could fill an order with practically nothing but buck books!

This is another order form that I am super excited about.  And yes I know I am a big huge nerd.  Or dork.  Dweeb maybe.  But whatever the name, I am it.  I love history and I love immersing our children in it as well.

The kids and I got to pour over them, just like if they were in a real school.  I love things like this that can help them to get a teeny, tiny part of what goes on at school.

So the kiddos will have to turn in their order forms soon so we can get our order in...I am so excited!  The one reason why I may have been the most excited though is that I am HORRID at looking at catalogues online...does anyone else have this problem or is it just me????

Unhealthy Picnic Date

Sometimes in life I think you just have to say "screw it" and make yourself a very unhealthy lunch...

I'm talking with sugar, white bread, white flour, and jelly...lots of oozy and goozy jelly.  

What do you do with this lunch?

Why would you commit such a diet sin?  

Well today I did it so I could sit on the living room floor on a blanket a little boy named Cal tried his best to spread out.  We put our lunches on the floor and had a little picnic.  

Emma was at art class so it was just the two of us.  

I got a jelly kiss from a little boy whose face was covered with it.

I'm in love.  

And today I made a memory with a little boy who got to eat junk food...on the floor!  With his Mama!  On a picnic date!!!

Be still my heart...eating white sugar and flour it totally worth it for this! 

Wow, God is Good on a Horrid Monday

Monday was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

I think I've written on here before how much I dislike Mondays...it involves a lot of back and forth action of taking the kiddos to and from places all day long.

Add to this that Nick has started his new job and had to go to Illinois for the day.

Not too bad except he took my car and left me his older car to drive.

Oh fun.

Also, add to that that Monday evening I had a meeting I had to attend for the children's resale organization I volunteer with.  I was so super excited to go!!!!

Until I got the phone call that Nick was stuck on the Dan Ryan and would get home too late for me to go to my meeting.  Bummer.

He got home around 7 (my meeting started at 6:30).  I had a JCP coupon for $10.00 off a $10.00 purchase and we had a gift card so we decided to get the kiddos out of the house and do some shopping.  The coupon expired the next day and I really wanted to see it used.  (By the way, did you know that they keep track of if you are using your coupons or not?  If you don't use them then they might not send you anymore...just a heads up :)) Which by the way, Nick found track pants for the gym and we bought two huge Christmas presents, and paid $3.00 out of pocket...woohoo!

On the way home oddly enough we stopped to look at a car lot, thinking maybe it was time to start looking for a new ride...and that is where all of our lights got dim and things started going wrong as the "Check Charging System" warning came on...

Ugh. Oh.

We managed to drive to a restaurant parking lot and that's where it died died, dead friends.

Eck.

We called my parents who lived super close to where we were but they were out of town.  So we called Nick's parents and waited the half an hour it took the poor thing to come up.  I felt so bad we had to drag her out.  The weather had been about 50 degrees that day but it was now raining and the temperature was dropping.

As we waited we let the kids climb into the back of the Explorer and, well, explore. They loved it!  I think they thought that was such an adventure and helped to take their mind off of us being stranded.

When Nick's mom arrived he charged our battery from hers and it started, but only made it about half a mile.

We did this 5 more times.  By the time we got close to home...our end stop was right across the river from where we live, it was only lasting about a quarter of a mile before it would die.

So stressful, but in the end thinking about it, I was so thankful God was looking out for us.  Everytime we died, it was somewhere where we could pull off and be okay...a side street, a gas station, a curb out of the way.  In the dark and the rain we could have very easily gotten hit since each time our car died we had NO lights, meaning NO hazards even to flash!  I was so thankful Nick's mom was happy to help.  We had a very nice police man help us right before the last time it died and he stopped traffic so we could get across an intersection.

All in all, as much as it sucked, we knew God was with us and helping us.  And that is what we hope this taught our children.  Every time Nick had to get out in the pouring rain to charge our battery we started praying.  And he answered our prayers.

The next morning Nick went and bought an Alternator and went to where we left it and replaced it.  I am so impressed with my husband that, while certified mechanic he is not, he can fix anything.  He just amazes me and it amazes me the talents that God has blessed him with.

It is running great now and an Alternator was the only problem!  The only other things were either 1) battery (no biggie) or 2) the computer system (way huge-o biggie!)

So there was our horrid Monday and through that we were given the reminder that the Creator of the Universe is always there watching out for us and loves us through the great times and through the storms (literally!) of life!

God is crazy in love with you my Friends!

Our House of Love

In an epic moment of failure last year, I completely spaced having us make a Gingerbread house.  It was one of those things that kept sporadically running through my mind and then the realization hit me on Christmas Eve that we had never gotten to it.  

Oops.  

So I did the next best thing.  

At Target I found a Hello Kitty Gingerbread kit on clearance for 75% off...I think it was $2.50 or something.  I looked at it...it was pink.  It had heart candys...we could use this for Valentine's Day!  

Frugal Tip: Try looking at things on clearance in a different light to see if you have other uses for it.  Sometimes you can come up with creative uses for things and save a ton of moola.  

So we assembled.  I always try to have the kids have their own items to work on so they won't fight and so they have their own spaces for their creativity.  So each kid got a side, a front (or back) and a side of the roof.  

When it was all assembled I added Hello Kitty to her new home, affectionately named 

"The House of Love"  

oh yeah.  

It was the centerpiece of our Dining Room table because I don't have anything Valentiney for our table.  

Anyone have any ideas for me???

So everyday it was there tempting them.  Tantalizing them.  Drawing them in.

 

 Until Valentine's Day when these two adorable children finally, FINALLY got to dig in.

 Eating the House of Love!

It was very crunchy (putting it lightly!) but they really seemed to enjoy it and had fun!  And they finally got to make a Gingerbread house!

Ice Skating

The kiddos got to go ice skating.  Emma loves going ice skating but I am horrible at it!  HORRIBLE!!!  Horrible I don't think even captures how truly bad I am at skating.  And Nick can't skate well either, but was a trooper and went with the kiddos.  Thankfully Nick's mom, Grandma Peggy, likes to go skating with the kids, so she agreed to go too.  

 Here's our gang out on the ice...Nick's mom in the blue hat, Emma, Cal, and Nick.  Cal isn't very good with balance so ice skating is a definite challenge for him.  Emma isn't the best skater in the world but she has been in hockey, so she knows the basics of skating.

 I love these two.  I love Emma's heart.  She is always so quick to put aside what she's doing and help her brother.  God definitely knew what kind of big sis this little guy needed.

 Here she is trying to help him...again.  I think by this point he was beginning to get it.  I love these two with my whole big heart.

Look at that face!  He's so proud.  Skating with Grandma Peggy he did his best skating.  I'll have to remember that the next time they want to go skating.

Our local rink offers homeschool skating on Monday afternoons and while I haven't taken the kids to it, I am thinking I may in a week or two...provided the weather cooperates with us!  I think you all in the Midwest can relate with me!  Ha, this week we have rain and snow in the forecast together.  So funny to me, but so typical of this time of year.

Happy Ice Skating!!!  Is anyone else horrible at skating like I am???

Thankful for the Hubs

Tonight I write this from my death bed as I am down for the county with some type of plague tummy bug.  So thankful that after 12 hours at the office he will come home, see me looking like poop and order me off to bed so he can make dinner and take care of the kiddos.

Tomorrow is his first day traveling with his job.  I am dreading this.  I just don't want to say goodbye as silly as that seems.

The inner Lindsay has a hard time getting all worked up with the "what-ifs" of travel...specifically if I am not traveling with him.  I am trying to squelch the inner Lindsay but the gag reflex keeps kicking in so I think she is trying to get out one way or the other.  :)

Hope you've had a great weekend...I'd love to know what y'all have been up to!

Girl Scouts Thinking Day

This morning Emma had Thinking Day with her Girl Scout troop and their entire service unit (which is comprised of about 20 troops).  Thinking Day is when they study different countries and think outside of their little area.  

Last year each troop put on a skit or performance.  Each troop had a different country.   This year each troop represented a country and put together a table of things for the other troops.  The troops went around and had a scavenger hunt of facts from the tables.  It was a lot of fun!

 Here's Emma with one of her girlie friends...aren't they adorable???
 While Emma was off tasting foods from different cultures and finding her facts this was what Cal was doing. He made friends with a little boy and they took turns playing games on my phone...so cute!  I was really happy he was content doing that most of the time as there really was nothing else for him to do!

As a side note I would like to say that the only time the kids are allowed to play with handhelds (their gamers or our cell phones) is when we go somewhere and I have nothing else to do to keep them occupied. Other than that time I am opposed to a lot of screen time and not letting them play them all of the time keeps them desirable when I need them to work!

 China was the booth next to us and they all dressed up as little panda bears...so cute!  Took me a while to figure it out though and I kept asking other moms why the China table was dressed as mice!  Oops :)

 Hey crazy hair!  You're still adorable!  He's doing a great job guarding my purse...and apparently a crock pot lid!  Great job little Bud!

 This booth was adorable!  All of the little girls had scarves around their necks...very chic!  Emma didn't want a packzi at the Polish table (basically a doughnut) but was thrilled to death when France had bread and butter.  Her Daisy leader was chuckling that she'll turn down a doughnut but get excited about bread and butter!  That's our little girl :)

Doesn't this look fun?  It's  fron the Australia booth...bread with sprinkles and some type of frosting!

 Here's Emma holding hands with her friend and getting ready to join up for their Friendship Circle.  Adorable!  They all had so much fun and it is always a blast getting to see her in action with her friends.  I am so thankful for this Girl Scout troop that she has an opportunity to make friends!

Piano Kitty

Tonight while Cal was taking a bath I was cleaning his room (which is adjacent to the bath).

Cal always insists that I sing him "soft kitty" in all his Sheldon-ness.

But tonight Nick was washing him and he was not a happy camper.  Nick kept arguing that he wasn't going to sing "soft kitty".

Wasn't. Going. To. Do. It.

That's when I heard Nick start singing "Piano Man"

All with lyrics changed around about taking a bath.

Oh Lord, this family of mine is so silly!

Corn and Cheese Chowder Recipe

Sunday morning Cal was sick and we were unable to go to church.  

I am so thankful for a church that asks people to not bring their children into the children's programs if they have a cough or a runny nose.  LOVE that!!!  Not that I love staying home from church (booooo!) but I do appreciate that they are making sure to keep germies at bay in a place that they could so easy run rampant.  

Anywho, after watching the Pioneer Woman while I should have been in a pew, I decided to make corn chowder (because she did and I think she's fun), but I have a recipe of my own, y'all...

 First I chop 3/4 of an onion and I snip 1/2 cup (estimatingly) into a pan with 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Saute over medium-high heat until onions become translucent and the bacon renders its fat up for ya.

 While all of that is going on I chop 3/4 of a green pepper and 3/4 of a red pepper.  Dump in with a bag of frozen corn.  Sprinkle 3 tablespoons (or so) of flour onto everything and stir.  Now add 3 cups chicken stock (or for me as I was out, 3 cups of water and 3 bouillon cubes...its fancy up in here!)  Let simmer away...

You can grate the cheese to your hearts content while everything melds together in the pot, simmering gently away.  Use any cheese you like.  Use cheese to get rid of it. I don't care.  Just use cheese.  I think the one cheese that might give you fits though is Mozzarella just because of the stringyness of it when it's melted.  Maybe stay away from that guy.   I grate about 3 cups.  I dump about 2 and a half cups into the soup and reserve half a cup for sprinkling over bowls at the end. You want to turn your heat WAY down when you add the cheese.  You will also add 2 cups of half and half.  Or if you are me you can add 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of milk.  Do you know what cream and milk make?  Yep, you guessed it...half and half :)  You can also add 1/4 cup scallions (that's fancy for GREEN ONIONS)

Once the cheese has melted in the soup it's ready to eat.  Dig in folks.  You can sprinkle scallions and cheese on the top if you wish and enjoy!

Delish!  This recipe makes enough that we each had 2 bowls throughout the afternoon, Nick took it to work the next day for lunch, and I still have a large canning jar of it frozen in the freezer...perfect!

3 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup bacon, sliced with scissors
3/4 of a green pepper, chopped
3/4 of a red pepper, chopped
16 oz. bag frozen corn
3 tbsp. flour
3 c. chicken stock
1 c. milk
1 c. cream
1/3 c. green onions, sliced
3 c. shredded cheese

Chop onion and snip bacon into a pan with butter and olive oil.  Saute over medium-high heat until onions become translucent and the bacon renders its fat. Add peppers and bag of frozen corn.  Sprinkle flour onto everything and stir.  Now add chicken stock and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn heat down to low and add 2 1/2 cup of the cheese; reserve 1/2 cup of cheese for garnish. Add 2 cups of half and half.  Or if you are me you can add 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of milk.  You can also add 1/4 cup scallions at this time or just save them all for garnish.  Once cheese has melted and everything has warmed through it is ready to serve.  Refrigerate leftovers.  

Rocket Pack

I want a Rocket Pack!  

Cal is always saying this, poor dear.  But I have no clue how to make a rocket pack.  

Thank heavens he finally asked when Nick was home!  

Daddies always know how to make rocket packs, right?

  By the way, is there anything sweeter than a little boys imagination coming to life with the help of his Daddys hands?  I don't think so friends...

 Look at that sweet face!  He is so excited to finally have a rocket pack!  

And now I Think (think being the key word here...) that I know how to make it too...

 On giant rubber band.  One empty cheesy poof container, and one throw pillow, and...

 Voila!  A rocket pack fit for an astronaut!  I love little boys!

His imagination is taking him so many places these days!  

Blast off!!!

Watch Your Nose...Or Don't

Cal as we were walking into Target:

"It's so windy my nose is going to blow off!"

Said right before he ran into the door!

Oh my word, that little boy!

"It's so windy my nose is going to blow off!" Thunk.

I'm pretty smitten with him...nose or no nose :)

Scholastic Book Clubs for Homeschoolers!

With Cal in preshcool, we get the opportunity to order from their book order sheets from Scholastic.  We just got our new round of order forms and I was thinking of how much I was going to miss Book Orders when we are out of preschool and homeschooling both of them (if we homeschool Cal...that's still being sorted out!).  

Anyway, then I got the crazy idea...

Can homeschools get book orders?  

And the great news?   They can!!!  

No co-op, no minimum numbers, nothing! 

Just go to the Scholastic Book Clubs.  You can just make an account as a teacher, indicate your school as a homeschool and then select what grades your school is interested in.  

Then you can view all of the book orders for all grades and order away!  

Why am I am so excited about this you may ask? 

First of all, I love book orders! Isn't it exciting to get new books?  I always loved this in school and was kind of bummed the kiddos were going to miss out on this with being homeschooled.  I think  you can even request the newspapery order form booklets.  I may do that down the road so the kiddos can have it in their hands and tell me what they want to order.  

Secondly, they have crazy good prices on books.  Phonics sets, math games, coin and time telling books, history books...the works, they have so many items you can use in homeschool.  Not to mention all of the great fiction books you can order for free time reading.  

Here are some deals I've found I am planning on ordering:  

Abraham Lincoln , regularly $3.99...in the book order it's $1.00!  A buck!!!

E.B. White Treasury, regularly $20.48, on sale for $3.99

I am loving these prices in case you can't tell :)

You can check out the February order form for 1st graders here.  

The third thing that makes me so super excited about being able to use this book club is that there are Teacher benefits that you can use!  These appear to change monthly!!!  

This Month's benefit is that with a $20.00 or more order you get 10x bonus points and $20.00 to spend right away!  Did y'all get that?  Free books!!!  Plus they have a story app and you get 5 free non-fiction downloads to use!  I am envisioning this being really helpful with our science studies as I so often have a hard time finding a computer component for the areas we are studying.  Eek :)  

There are tons of other components to this too and I urge you to sign up and see for yourself!  I am so excited to get started in this as you earn points for free materials, there are coupons you can receive, they sell school supplies you can apply your saving too and so much more!  

Well I hope this was a help to you!  I'd love to know if you sign up and snag some deals I may not have found...you know me, always looking for deals!!!  

Happy Shopping dear friends!!! :)

Hobos

Let's talk Hobo's. 

Did you know my children think that basically anyone walking down the street is a hobo?

Mommy!  Check out that Hobo!  He's in a suit!

That's a lawyer, babe. 

Yesterday Emma asked me so do hobo's have teeth?

I have no idea where they get this stuff from, but it is too, too cute. 

Moreover, they call them hobo's like it's the 1920's or something...jumping train hobos are among us apparently.  Over dinner last night Nick politely tried to explain that "hobo's" don't like to be called hobo's, but maybe "homeless" was a better word...

I don't think he even made a dent. 

I love these children.  They crack me up and I love listening to them!

Hooray for Productive Sundays!

Sunday Cal woke up sick again!!!  Hacking, acting like he was going to cough up a lung, the works.  Luckily Nick didn't have to be at the office, so he was able to take Emma to church while I stayed at home with Sir Sick's a lot.  (that's his unofficial name heehee!)

Here's Emma all ready for church.  Isn't she just adorable?  She is really rocking the short hair these days.  And she was so super-duper excited that this was the last Sunday before Valentine's Day.  She's been waiting forever to wear this dress!  Love her! 

Here's Mister Sick's A lot  trying to get a little smile out.  Poor little man.  By the way, I've been curling my hair a lot like this lately...like it or hate it?  It actually takes me less time to curl all of my hair than it does to straighten my hair.  Weird I know.  But the curling business lasts a couple of days so that's cool too.

As much as it stinks not being able to go to church and having a little one sick, it was nice to get some extra snuggling time in and to be able to clean this place up a bit!

After Emma and Nick got home from church, I whipped up some corn and cheese chowda' and then we got to chopping crayons for our Valentine's Day gifts.

During naptime I started cleaning up our room that  is the kids play room, commonly called "the Blue Room".  Wanna guess what color it is?  It's like the White House all up in here, yo!

After naptime we dined on Waffles and Bacon for dinner.  I found this amazing waffle recipe over here at Momma Blogs Alot. Be sure to check the recipe out as it was super yummy and way easy!  I am always trying waffle recipes which have me separate the eggs and then fold in whipped egg whites.  As much as I love the end results of that, sometimes its just like "I'm a busy mom!  Enough is enough already!"  So I was on the hunt for an easier-peasier recipe.

After dinner we had a family game night of the Trouble board game and then some Mario Cart on the Wii.

Whew!  What a packed day!  We sure did manage to cram a lot into our day today as a family.  Tomorrow begins our week of Nick working 7 days in a row and, needless to say, I am less than thrilled about it :(  So I was really happy that we could spend some family time together.

Stay tuned this week!  I'll be posting a recipe for my Cheesy Corn Chowder and will also be posting on our fun Valentine crafts!

Please post on what you did this weekend...I'd love to hear from you!!! :)

Proud of Kazoo

If you notice anything about our little Emma-Kazoo, it may be that she has shorter hair.  Eleven inches shorter to be exact.  I am so super proud of her as Friday she got it in her head that she was ready to help a little girl with cancer out and wanted her hair chopped off.  So Sunday we took her to J.C. Penney's and got her hair cut.  (By the way did you know Penney's has free kids cuts on Sundays?  Ours was super easy to get into, by the way.  Saves SOOO much money between the two kiddos!)

So Emma's hair is going to Locks of Love and she is already talking about letting it grow out so she can do it again.  How cool is that?  You've all heard of Locks of Love, right?  It's an organization that makes wigs for Children who have lost their hair due to illness.  The minimum amount of hair they need to make a wig is 10 inches, so it has taken us quite a while!  But it was so worth it.  I'm so proud of Emma and her giving heart!

Today she wrote a letter to her cousin who's had a tummy bug.  I thought it was so sweet to see her write that she loves her and will be praying for her.  She always likes to do things for others to help them feel better or to know other's care for them.

Love my little God's girl!

What's a God girl you ask?  Well it's a club Emma and I started that we went through all of the attributes that Proverbs 31 talks about and we talked about how we can practice those in our everyday life.  We also made up secret signals for each other: one if we are proud of one another and another if the other needs a gentle reminder of how God wants us to behave.  So if you ever see Emma scrunching up her nose and itching it at me when I'm being naggy with Nick, now you know why :)

Anyway, thought I'd just take a few to brag on my little girl. She asked Jesus in her heart at the tender age of about 3 and a half and since then just has made us so proud.  She loves life and loves the Lord with her whole little heart.

Love her!!!