NEW CAMERA!!

Oh have I been waiting for this! It is a combo gift for my birthday, mother's day and our anniversary. I have researched so many cameras and didn't want to spend a fortune but I wanted a different view of things.

Above is Kayla taken outside in natural light in AV mode with a slower shutter speed

Yes, this is my kids eye! I was wondering if the camera would actually focus on an eye and I was hoping to catch her eye without her blinking... and it worked.

Shae and Cotton.

Taken inside with flash in portrait mode

Our mama thru the window with my new camera

I was practicing using the AV mode with the focus point

And her 5 little eggs!

This was taken in Super Macro Mode

This photo cracks me up! I was reading the manual to the camera last night in bed and I was trying out the Super Macro Mode feature and the lense was actually touching this hair clip while shooting this photo.

No flash / Super Macro Mode

It's just about show day!!!

The School's Out! cast ~ May 2nd 2009
Kayla has had the best experience doing this show! She loves every minute of it!

Kayla with "Troy" in the show

Their outfits of "I want it all". Here some of the cast are in costumes from past shows and pictured here is the munchkins from Wizard of Oz, the orphans from Annie and Annie herself.

A great article was put on Prescottenews today click here to read it.

What a Shock!

We all know how there are so many things to do yet so little time. A good friend of mine was telling about a list she had made and had her children number them in order of their favorite activities that they wanted to do.

So, I did just that! I made a list for each of the girls and they started with number one which was their most favorite activity that they wanted to continue to do next year.

I was in shock! Well... somewhat. Kayla's top 3 were 1) doing plays, 2) piano lessons and then 3) swimming. She actually listed guitar lessons as number 10 with Girl Scouts at number 12! She said that she wanted to try piano lessons then continue guitar the following year and that she likes playing guitar with me for now. How cute! And I had no idea that Girl Scouts would come in dead LAST!

I thought for sure Shae would have listed soccer for number one. But she listed Art Class as number one followed by soccer then swimming and plays. Out of her 9 activities dance and Girl Scouts came in last.

Even though that was a shock for me it helped me with their activities come fall.

Tragedy Struck Last Year but We Have New Hope!

I love this time of year! The leaves grow back on the trees and we start to hear and see lots of birds of all kinds. The other day the girls saw a Blue Jay and we have seen a few Red Robins around our backyard. We have had the pleasure to witness a couple checking out our bird house in the Plum Tree out back but no one has moved in yet.

Last year, we had 2 tragedies ... we had a bird that moved in our bird house and ants found her eggs and climbed up the tree and took over the nest. It was a sad sight as one baby bird just hatched and was barely peeking out of its egg and the ants were on it. We cried and had a burial!

Our second mama bird we watched every day through our window and the girls and I became very attached to her. She worked hard daily at making her nest in our fake little decoration tree next to our front door. The girls were amazed at her accomplishment!

Then when she was done she laid her eggs and sat on them day in and day out. And one night tragedy struck. Tom heard a rustle out front sometime in the night and the next morning I went to peek on her and the tree was knocked over with broken eggs on the ground. It was a sad sight as the mama and daddy robins were on our fountain safe but confused and mournful. They tweeted aggressively for hours and stayed close by with disappointment then left and never came back.

Pictured above is our new mama sitting on her nest as she always does every morning. I took the picture yesterday through the window.

We have great news!!! The spring weather has brought to us another mama bird. Last week a new mama and daddy have made our little decoration tree a place for their nest. Again, we watched diligently as the mama made her next. I took her 2 days. We even put some cotton outside under the tree that she was thankful for as it is embedded in and all around her nest. For the past 5 days every morning she has tweeted as loud as possible while sitting in her next as the daddy stays close by. Then she would leave and we would peek through the window and see a darling light blue egg.

Here is the picture of the 4 yesterday but since then we have another one with a total of 5 little blue eggs. We will watch and keep you posted and soon we are hoping for some new family members.

Back in time... the 1800's

We got a little taste of history today. What a great event for the homeschoolers to attend. There were over 80 children who attended with a waiting list of more. Some kids came from Yarnell, Tucson, Wickenburg and Phoenix.

Our first part of our tour started at 10am with the military and we became their volunteers to train and fight the Indians. This guy was a crack up. He was so "real" like that he was almost scary. Actually I looked over at the front row of smaller kids and 3 of them we about in tears. I had to tell them that he was pretending. : ) They learned what they had to eat (flat bread) and to reserve their water as their one canteen had to last 20 miles of marching to the next water hole. And that an Indian could shoot 10 arrows by the time a military guy could get his gun ready to shoot.

Next stop was to the old school house that had been moved from its original location to where it sits now in Prescott. The children learned to line up in 2 lines (girls and boys) and to greet the teacher the proper way.

All the actors for the tour did a great job at creating a real setting of many years ago. The children actually had a real 30 minute school lesson of spelling and learning about Arizona, Territories and Prescott then a little math.

Then we visited the Governor's Mansion and finally the transportation building. This coach was originally delivered to them with several bullet holes and blood from a hold up. The story goes that it has $27,000 cash on it when it was held up and the driver and one passenger were killed. It is now restored in its original condition of how it first was.

After lunch the kids had 11 activities to do including panning for gold, making clothes pin dolls and cloth dolls, petroglyphs and grinding corn and more.

At the end of the day the head of the Museum told me that we were one of her larger groups and the most well behaved children and great readers.

During our day I did notice a deaf man and woman signing across the way and later I introduced myself (signing) and we chatted for a bit and they were from Phoenix and he and his wife are both deaf and they have 2 hearing children that they homeschool. They were so happy to meet someone who could communicate with them. And the best part ... was that on the way home Kayla said that the coolest part of the day was watching me talk to that dad with my hands. : )

I will continue teaching sign with the girls more this summer as they seem to love it.

CHALK IT UP!

Prescott is a VERY Artistic town! There are so many talented people here with musical, art, dance and theatre talent. It is a fun place to live. There is always something interesting to see or do around town. After Kayla's rehearsals yesterday we stopped at the "Chalk It Up" annual art event. This is event encompasses art on the street with colored chalk. Several local artist created large murals on the street and they were awesome.

The parking lot is then marked out with tape so the community can create their own chalk murals. Shae is way into art so this was right up her alley. Kayla wasn't to sure about getting her hands dirty but she did it and did a great job.

During our art time we had some fine entertainment from Prescott including this lovely belly do a "belly dance" for us.

Shae proud of her "CHALK" hands!

Here are their pictures. Kayla's is on the left and Shae's on the right.

HAPPY EASTER!

Yes, we did the egg thing!
And yes, I ran out of boiled eggs and had to boil some more. What was I thinking ... I only boiled 7 eggs. How stupid! How can 2 kids split 7 eggs to color?

They each got a Easter basket. And no way did I and never have bought a premade Easter basket. I always reuse a wicker Basket and custom create/fill them. This year was funny as Kayla was at her show rehearsals ... I took Shae shopping and I bought one of those recycled shopping bags and as we were shopping I would just put things in that bag. I told the guy at the register to beep the items in the red bag and leave them in there. Shae was totally clueless. But now that she knows my secret I will have to shop alone next year.

We did the egg hunt and what a blast that was. While the girls hid in our master closet (yes, it is the closet but as big as a bedroom so they had room to breathe) Tom hid some eggs inside the house and then we both hid some outside. We must of had 100 eggs filled with money, gum, jelly beans, Rolos, and toys. We had so many cuz our 2 nephews and in laws were going to come up but due to our weird weather they changed their minds.

I would have to say that they missed out as the day ended up to be BEAUTIFUL!
After all that we decided to go to the movies and we went a little wild. First, and yes I said first... we saw "Mall Cop" ( so funny btw) then we ran to Wendy's and got Frosty's for all of us then we went and watched "Hotel for Dogs." The girls thought seeing 2 movies in one day was AWESOME but that is way too much sitting for me.
I have to add this. While at the movies Kayla looked over at Tom and she said, "Dad is asleep! This would be a good place for him to live."

Creative Side of me

So, most of you know me and how I am creative and artistic. I am always on the computer and I love to create things including digital scrapbooking and yearbook creating. Well, this past week I stepped up quite a bit for me and agreed to create a flyer for the show Kayla is going to be in. This is something I would usually ask my hubby, Tom to do ... but not this time. He already told me flat out to NOT volunteer him as designer. ha,ha,ha! So, I played with this for a bit and wala it was done. I was a bit proud and excited of how it turned out. So, now I am taking on the next project for the show and oh my goodness........... it's the PROGRAM.

It's only Wednesday .....

I can't believe it is only Wednesday and it seems like I have already finished the week. But .... oh no... I still have 3 more days left to go.

Today, was an exciting day for the Kayla and the cast of "Schools Out." They got a tour of the performance hall where they will be performing and the "big stage."

It was exciting to see "behind" the scenes. Kayla loved the girls dressing room as she said it was like a "real" movie star dressing room with the mirrors and little round light bulbs around them. The kids even got to walk "the bridge" way up high above the seats. Of course I didn't get to go on the "bridge" as I had on flip flops and no flip flops allowed.

Earlier this week Shae told me that she wanted a "fancy" hair do. So, thank God for the internet! I Googled "children's fancy hair styles" and this came up. Shae yelled "that is it!" So, luckily it had step by step instructions with pictures and it came out kind of good for the first time doing it. It is a double french criss cross braid.

This am we went to see our friend in a the play at PFAA "Cat in the Castle." It was a cute play and she did great! This town has lots of theatre and lots of stuff for youth.

In a days fun.....

Young Star Musical RUMMAGE sale

The kids did a little practicing during the rummage sale today. It was bright and sunny and oh my ..... no wind!

Some people say, "You are way too busy!" I totally know that but the important thing is that the kids don't feel stressed and are enjoying everyday of their lives. And I am naturally a busy person and always will be ...... I like it that way.

In and Out Burger field trip

We had a field trip yesterday and it was to "In and Out Burger." It was a great experience as well. We learned about their special large potatoes that are great for frying and are not in the stores. We learned about safety in the work place and that In and Out Burger is actually a great employer to work for. Their starting pay is more than average and at $10/ hr and if they maintain a safe / accident free and clean environment for 6 months that all staff get a gift. This time they all got a $75 gift card to Target. Cool huh! By the way, they are accident free so far for 3 years! Good job "In and Out" in Prescott!
The kids learned about their simple menu and got to each slice a potato for french fries. At the end was the best part... FREE hamburgers and pink lemonade for everyone!

Things I am thankful for ...

I am thankful for lots of things. A few pictures below will show you a few things from this week that made our days better. This one makes me smile! Kayla loves to write but when given an assignment on a topic say .... "Pioneer Days" that doesn't exactly excite her. I don't blame her as it didn't me either. So, I came up with the idea for her to create a newspaper and she is creating it by herself on Publisher and here she is typing away while at the same time creating her newspaper and yes one of the stories will be about the "Pioneer Days."

Oh, this is a good one. Yesterday, Shae and I went to the store while Kayla was rehearsing for High School Musical. These lovely boxes were displayed so nicely on a middle isle. Shae asks me "What are those, mom?" I say, "Oh, those are awesome!"

Shae: "Are those good for you to eat?"

Mom: "Well, no they really aren't but they taste good."

Shae: "Oh, we shouldn't get them then."

Mom: "It is okay to have them once in a while." : )

Once we got to the car Shae and I immediately opened the box and shared a package. We both agreed that they were pretty darn good. Mind you my children just recently discovered "Twinkies" and luckily didn't like them. Later, we offered one to Kayla and she hated them.

This is only PART of ONE box of goodies that I get from my great and dear friend who is like a sister to me. I am so thankful for her as she kindly packs up and ships to me a HUGE box about twice a year. It is like Christmas at our house when it arrives! Janey, we love you and miss you!

I am thankful for Shae for being a non-picky eater. This was her choice for dinner tonight. She said, " salad with black olives, yellow bell pepper, mini tomatoes, cucumber, avacado, sliced apples and of course a sizzled Hebrew National hot dog and with papaya on the side."

CHEERS! YUMMY!