Third B-day

I am not known for watching my children grow up gracefully. In reality, I kick and scream and fight against it as hard as I can.

Now, not only are my babies growing up way too quickly, but my little great-niece, Brooklin is doing the same thing!

 The former "Baby Brooklin" has had her third birthday!

We gave her presents one day when she was at our house  - some toys and a Dora blanket,

 made with much love by Kelsey.

 I had warned Kelse that the blanket would be something that was enjoyed over time, while the toys would be what she would play with immediately.

 
 
 

Just goes to show (once again) how much I know.

She was crazy over the blanket.

^^^Those big smiles^^^

are all for this.

 Brooklin wanted Keegan to "be the prince" using the Dora blanket and Keegan, a good sport as usual, did just that.

 
 

Brooklin joined in as the princess, and a great time was had by all.

She did play with the toys a bit, too :).

 

And from her actual party -

Lots of pink and princess finery, just as it should have been.

 

Happy third birthday, Brooklin!

We love you!

AWANA Games, part 2

 

Love these girls :)!

 The second part of the AWANA games involved physical games in the gym. Seven churches competed. Bean bag tosses, sprints, relays, tug-of-war - We got trounced overall, but it was still fun. :)
Kelsey in the three-legged race.

 and a sprint.

Keegan and Mya (on your left) in the three way tug-of-war. Neither of them are at all large or bulky and I did not imagine they had a chance.

 I hadn't, however, counted on their sheer grit and determination.

They pulled and tugged,

and tugged and pulled,

and flat out would NOT give up.

This tug-of-war went on and on and on!

 Here you can see Keegan glancing behind her. Each team had a bean bag they were trying to reach.

See how this looks like two against four?

As you may have guessed, finally, FINALLY, Keegan made a lunge and grabbed their bean bag, claiming first place for our team. I was so proud of their perseverance!
 
In a relay - Haley hands off to Kelsey...

and Kelsey hands off to Keegan.

A very full, neat day. So thankful for all the folks who did so much work so the kids could have such a good experience.

Happy Pi Day!

slightly after the fact :).

Thursday, March 14th, 3-14, was pi day! In honor of the math value (which rounds to 3.14,) we replaced our regular math with a pi day celebration.

Pi, in case you have forgotten, is the value used to find the area and circumference of a circle. so we celebrated with many circular things.

Above, the girls made the pi symbol then decorated around the edge of their plates with as many digits and they wanted. (Again, in case you've forgotten, pi is irrational, never ending.)

Keegan was motivated to write small and include a lot of digits! 

We served round foods, including cookies, grapes, cucumbers, blueberries, and, all in the name of learning, of course, pie!

 We read books about pi (they thought Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi was more strange than fun,) measured, divided and figured to see if we could prove pi (we measured a stool, a small coffee lid, and a bowl and came pretty close. Our average was 3.2,) guessed when 3.14 minutes were up, and took 3.14 minutes to memorize as many digits as we could. Interestingly, all three girls and I got between 20 and 27 digits correct. I was surprised we were so close to each other.

 

Who says math is no fun?

Wordless Wednesday - My Sweet Girls

AWANA Games, part 1

AWANA Games

The Quiz!

Each week, Keegan and Kelsey attend AWANA, memorizing Bible verses, questions and answers, and playing games. They have worked hard and each completed an entire book this school year.

Saturday, our church hosted an AWANA games competition with other churches. In the morning was a quiz. Each church brought a team to be quizzed on each book (four total.) They started the quiz with book four. Our quiz team was Keegan and good friend Mya. At first I thought the girls were really stressing, with Keegan totally keeping her eyes down and Mya covering her face.

Then I heard the people running the game telling the kids to do that so they wouldn't see what answer the other teams were choosing. Ooooooooh.

The first section was multiple choice questions. Teams could discuss the answer among themselves before deciding.

 

Love this expression on Keegan's face. I don't think she was sure about this answer!

 Then came the speed round. Teams buzzed in as soon as they thought they knew the answer. Then one person stood up and gave the answer into a microphone. I thought that was an accomplishment whether the answer was correct or not!

Keegan and Mya had a little trouble with their buzzer. Sometimes it didn't work, sometimes whoever had it did not know the answer and the other person did, but wasn't sure how to buzz. Finally, with a bit of help from their coach, they got in great position, so either could buzz as needed :).

 

Then came the second group.(The children were divided by the last book they had completed.) Yes, that is Kelsey on your right... that little child, all alone, against all those other teams!

Kelsey studied hard and knew her material very well. Nevertheless, I was a bit intimidated for her when they called her group and all of these other kids came up (teams of 3, 4, and 5 or 6,) against my one little Rosie Posie!



Well, no need to worry. She rocked!

She scored a perfect score on the multiple choice, then went on to be the first "team" to quiz out (answer the maximum number of questions allowed) in the speed round. She was awesome.

And perfectly composed, unlike her mom, haha.

All of the teams did great and it was a lot of fun. I was proud of everyone for their hard work and excited to see these kids excited about their Bible knowledge.

Both Keegan and Mya and Kelsey tied for first place in their competition, then got squeezed out in the tie-breakers by teams with faster fingers.

So proud of these girls!

Then it was a break for lunch and off to the gym for games...

Valentine's Day Party!

<3 <3 <3 

 Better late than never... pictures of our home school group's Valentine's Day party

Kelsey's Valentine holder! 

 

Keegan's (less traditional) Valentine holder!



Brooklin likes the icing on the cookie

 

A smiling-for-the-camera smile on the left and a little more genuine smile on the right :).



 

And the age-old tradition - opening the Valentines and checking them out with your friends. Keegan and Kelsey, their friends, and Brooklin loving being right in there with the big girls :). My girls have such sweet friends now and they all get along so well. I love it! Love it, love it, love it. (Just in case you aren't a FB friend and have missed the last 20 times I've stated that :).)

Gym Class

Group shot - Kelsey is next to the teacher, one of my best friends, and surrounded by her best friends. (I love the sweet friends Kelsey and Keegan have now!)
All through this school year, Keegan and Kelsey have been attending gym class twice a week. Some days Brooklin comes along, too. While she stays to the side with me most of the time, she joins Keegan or Kelsey when the group does Bible verses and floor exercises. Here, Keegan and Brooklin doing sit-ups :).

 

To start class, they do a variety of exercises across the floor including frog jumps, running, side shuffles, and, as Kelsey demonstrates below, bear crawls.

After the across-the-floor exercises, they sit in a circle (enter Brooklin) and work on a memory verse. They also do some sit-ups, jumping jacks, push-ups, and other floor exercises.

Finally, they play games, run races, or jump rope. A surprising number of the kids have learned how to jump double dutch, which I consider pretty impressive. I have "helped" turn the ropes once or twice and found it plenty challenging from the outside!

 

  A huge shout out and thanks to Rachel for providing all these kiddos with fun and exercise all year long!

 

Silly shot (love those.)