Happy St Patrick's Day!

We "celebrated" by wearing our green clothes while having green 'shakes' using green straws sitting on a green blanket in the green grass. :)

And in case you are interested... the 'shakes' are a mixture of sprite and lime flavored sherbert. Yum!

Jump Rope for Heart

Last week before school let out for Spring Break, Brooke participated in the national fundraiser, Jump Rope for Heart. Basically, it involves finding sponsors to support her jump-roping endeavors. That money is then passed on to the American Heart Association. Brooke raised $100 and jumped in honor of both of her great grandfathers. :) Here's just a couple of pictures from the event.

School pictures

So, I'm a photographer, right? That's what I do! In my not-so "spare time" anyway. My kids have been posing and modeling for me for at least the last 5 years or so. And they are pretty durn good at it, if I do say so myself.

So, when it came time for school picture day, I sent Brenna in her cute little outfit, her hair fixed nicely and reminded her how to show her beautiful smile. I knew she'd be fine. She's used to it.

Then I go pick her up from school that day and her teachers were like...."ummm.... wellllll.... Brenna was kind of the ONLY kid that did NOT smile. As in she REFUSED to smile." Apparently, she wasn't grumpy. She wasn't crying. She even carried on a conversation with the photographer. But the second he got behind the camera, she froze, gave him her stoic look, like... I am not about to smile for you dude.

REALLY!?!?! Is this MY kid??? Hmmph! But she was dressed SOOOO cute?!?!

What's funny is...it's strangely reminiscent of Brooke's school picture when she was that age. And guess what else? It was the SAME photographer that took Brooke's picture back then (that was when she was at a different preschool - the one I taught at).

So what's a photographer mom to do? I brought her home, to MY studio, dressed in the same outfit, with her hair not as super cute (after being at school playing all day after the pictures), and took her picture.

Then I waited until the pictures from the school photographer came back and prepared my side by side.

Funny, huh? :P

And, while I'm on the topic.... I'm not sure if I ever shared Brooke's school picture from this past Fall. No? Ok.. well, here it is.

One of the many perks of volunteering all the time at the school? I was there for school picture day and actually saw it right as she took it, so I knew SHE did good and I didn't have to do any 'retakes' with her. :-) She's already since taken another "Spring" school picture (since when do they do TWO a year?!?) that we should be getting back soon. It has a more interesting background and such. I'll try to remember to share that one sooner. ;)

Softball

So, Brooke decided she wanted to play softball this year (spring). Like, she really really REALLY wanted to play softball. Why? I don't know. She had never picked up a glove, swung a bat, or even really knew what it was about. But she desperately wanted to play. (to this day I still have no idea why it originally sounded intriguing to her) So who am I to thwart her enthusiasm?? It is relatively cheap through the City sports league. And who knows? She might turn out to really like it?

And she does. Really like it, that is. Her coach is great. Seriously. It's "just" a dad, but he is fun, yet serious about teaching them the game. He's understanding and helpful and encouraging. I don't think we could've gotten a better coach. So thankful for that. Brooke is the only one on her team (the Americans, by the way) that has not played before. And yet, after one practice, she was doing pretty good for never having touched a softball, bat or glove before! By the second practice, she was wanting to practice all the time at home! So much so, she talked my mom into buying her some 'gear' - a bat and ball, namely (she had a glove). And after now the third practice, her coach has already talked about how much she has improved. 3 practices only!

She loves it. She loves her teammates, is making new friends, loves the game and playing, likes her coach...just everything about it. Who knew? She's the oldest on her team (at almost 7 on a 6 and under team), but that is ok, since its her first time. Plus she doesn't have to be out sooo late like the older leagues do. Starting at the 8 and under league, they practice much later.

Its so far so good! We are looking forward to her first game in just about a week! :)

And a short video of her taking batting practice. Doesn't she look so little out there?!?!

Spring has sprung!

Despite the fact that it is BARELY March, I already have peaches on my peach tree! And, a lot! Dozens, in fact. Crazy isn't it???

I was a little surprised to see almost all the jasmine coming back in, after such a harsh dry summer and after a few slight freezes too (that we did nothing to protect them from). I lost a couple, so when I went to Lowe's to get some other stuff, I was looking to replace those. I wanted just small (and cheap!) starter plants. Couldn't find them. The cheapest were HUGE and were $28! I don't think so. Well, dug a little deeper into the store and found some on clearance for $7 that were even huger! :)

And, the jasmine plants are for a purpose...not just to be pretty. I plant them behind our fruit trees to get the bees to come to pollinate the fruit trees! There is a method to my madness. :)

So, while I was home with the girls and Brad, there were a few pretty days outside. I decided to tackle the garden and flower beds myself. Dumb me. Its a LOT of work for one person. Probably b/c we let it go over the winter months so it is like starting from scratch every spring. Most years we pair up and Brad helps prep the garden (which is the hard part honestly) and I do the planting and prettying. But he was sick. And I thought.. Eh, I can do this. Pfft!

I did it. But holy cow! My arms were sore the next day. No rake would work. Not even a hoe was strong enough. I had to use a pick axe to till up the garden. Then rake it out, then pull out the remaining weeds, then finally get to planting. Whew! I'm still tired. :P

Anyway, but I got it all done. Flower beds too! (and those take the same amount of work, trust me).

The garden...

1/4 or more of the garden is planted underground, so you may not see that many 'plants' yet, but they are there! It should be a full garden soon. :)

The final day I was out working on it was the day Brenna started to feel a little better and actually WANTED to be outside with me. She helped. A little. Or at least pretended to. ;)

And we have a tiny flower bed next to their swing set that they usually get to do whatever they want with. This year, since everyone was sick, I just picked some flowers. But Brenna got to feeling better, so she helped plant them at least.

Then, Brooke got home from school and WANTED to help with the front flower bed.

This poor little flower bed needs some leveling. I know. But....sigh.... it ain't happening this year.

And this morning, I went out and the lillies had started opening up! So pretty! :)

Too bad the rest of the yard still looks like this... (thanks to the City tearing up our yard...ugh)...

Random-ness

Ok... so, again. Some of this pictures are old(er). But I do like to go back and share at some point. So here ya go! Let me lump them all into one post together. :P

I talk a lot about Brooke's reading. But Brenna is reading too! She is further behind than Brooke was at her age, but not b/c of her own fault. Remember her preschool teacher retired??? Yea. Kinda left her hanging. But we still go see her once a week for some private 'lessons'. Brenna LOVES going to see her and her dog. And she loves seeing Brenna. :) And Brenna is doing great working with her! She is starting to read "big words" , "trick words" and more. She is well beyond her three letter words, on to four and more. She's learned about how different letters together make different sounds (like the 'ee' in 'sleep' makes a different sound than just an 'e' by itself...that kinda stuff).

If you can't tell from the below picture, Brooke enjoys reading mysteries most. She's even started her own. :)

Mrs Happ?!?! Oh no! She's the principal!!! :O LOL

Also, we got her rating sheet back from the Solo Festival she was in a couple of weeks ago. Superior ratings across the board! On both her pieces of music. She was soooo nervous the morning of and actually froze up on one of them before we left the house. Literally could. not. play. it. But it was time to go, we went and she played them beautifully for the judge. Yay Brooke!

Now, on to Guild for her! Where she has to have SEVEN!!! pieces of music memorized (well) and play for a judge, along with ALL the scales and she has to transpose a piece of music. Solo Festival was just the warm-up! :o

Last week, Friday, was the famous Dr Seuss's birthday! Brooke's school 'celebrated' some by doing some fun activities during the day. We celebrated by having green eggs and ham for breakfast (this was one of the days Brenna was sick, so she passed on breakfast ;).....

Also, the week leading up to Dr Seuss's birthday, Brooke's teacher had pulled out Dr Seuss books at school, so Brooke did the same at home. Of course, most she reads through very quickly, but it warmed my heart to see her reading every one to her sister. :)

While the girls and dads were sick around here, I got busy crafting it up for the coming up birthdays. Every year I 'make' them the numbers (to get their picture taken with). I buy the numbers at Hobby Lobby (they are cheap cardboard...not wood), then paint them solid white. Then use wood letters, paint them (pink and purple respectively), and glue them onto the numbers. After the pictures, they stay up in their room for the remainder of the year. I wonder when they will be too old (read: too cool) for this. :/

I also try to have some cute sort of matching (but not exactly the same matching) outfits made for them to wear on their birthdays and to have pictures made in. This year instead of paying someone to do it, I did it myself. The pics are kinda hard to read (it was taken with my cell phone and the flash is awful), but it has their ages (4 and 7) and then their names under the appropriate number.

While I was in Hobby Lobby, I found this iron-on on clearance for 49 cents! So I snagged it and bought a third blank shirt to use for it (and coincidentally the shirts were 3 for __ something. I can't remember. But you had to buy 3). Kinda cute for my budding softball player (more on that later) huh? For super cheap too!