In Our Own Back Yard

So, we have lived in our current house for about 8 years now 

(that seems impossible) Our house is "on the lake." Actually, our neighborhood is on the lake. Our house faces the lake but we do not have a "lake view", which is not a big deal to us and was not the reason why we bought our house, but I do wish we would have bought our house on the other side of the street because it would have been a little less noisier because of the traffic but anyways this view right here is walkable from our house. 

We have about 3 different trails that lead down to the lake in our own neighborhood. I have been on the trail once to take Christmas pictures of the girls but never to the lake. 
I can't believe we have been missing this all these years! Otis would have loved to come explore down here.

I mean look at the view! 

Very pretty for a view in our own backyard, I'll take it!

There is a sitting area with a campfire pit, and you can even come camping down here.

You can even bring your fishing pole and fish. Justin and I said we are definitely gonna do some fishing this summer down here.

It was a nice day to take a hike too. The weather is finally starting to warm up.

My pretty girls :) 

As you walk further you finally come down to some rocks where you can bring chairs and set up to fish

We let the girls skip rocks for a long time before heading back to the house. 

I guess you never know what's out there until you get out there and explore!

World Thinking Day

Last Friday was Girl Scout World Thinking Day.

World Thinking Day is a yearly tradition that the entire service unit celebrates. Each troop is given a country where Girl Scouts participate in, the girls then have to learn about the Girl Scouts in that country, their traditions, what they eat and what they do. They make a poster board with pictures and decorate it, make swaps and a food/dessert or drink.  

This year World Thinking Day was at Academy Highschool 

The event starts with the girls walking in holding a flag of the country they are representing. Jewell's little Daisy group did not participate this year, so we got thrown in with the Brownies and was happy she was able to walk with them.

Jolee's group learned about Madagascar.

Then the troops are split up half of the girls will walk around and visit each country, picking up a swap and trying the food and learning a little bit about that country.

After they walked around to each booth then they switched, and it was their turn to talk about their poster

Here was Jolee's poster. They handed out cups of juice and a sweet bread

Jolee's group

Once Jewell was done, she sat on the steps and looked in her bag to see what all swaps she got and tasted all her yummy treats

The event took about an hour, we helped clean up and then it was time to go. 

They had a fun evening. 

Winter Blues Man

Eww do yall know how much I dislike cold winter weather, like a lot. These last three weeks have not been fun. It will be super cold for a few days then heat up a day or two and then back to blazing cold. This last week it was cold, rainy and the sun never came out. One morning we came out to go to school and there was ice pebbles on the ground.

This week it is nice weather in the 60's, the sun is shining and now I'm sick :( 

I thought I had the flu and tested myself for flu and Covid, but it was negative. I guess I got whatever nasty cold Jewell has. Jewell has had a cold for a few days now. I will have to say now that Jaina and Jolee are older our household isn’t as sick as it use to be. 

Punkin doesn't like the cold weather either. He likes to sit by the fire and snuggle with me.

Hehe. Jewell looks hilarious in this little play dough mask she made. LOL

Haha, I posted it on Facebook, and someone said she looks like the Chainsaw massacre and someone else wrote the elephant man, lol. She said it's to hide herself in public. I don't think she will blend in the very well with this mask. These are the things you do when your locked up in the house when you have the winter blues.

 

Valentine’s Day This Year

Happy Valentine's Day from my girls to you!

Thursday was Jewell's Valentine's Day party at school since they were out of school on Friday. It was super cold outside, but she was dressed and ready to go have some fun. 

She said she had a lot of fun and came home with a big sack of goodies.

We headed to Girl Scouts where she got to make a bird feeder 

She was so proud of her bird feeder. Justin hung it under the tree for her in the back yard.

Jewell has been talking about this sucker for an entire month. The school had a fund raiser and were selling these, but she couldn't get it until Valentine's Day. She was so excited to finally eat it.

Friday for Valentine's Day I worked, the girls were out of school and when I got home Justin had made steaks for dinner. After dinner then we all exchanged gifts. 

Justin got me and the girls all a box of my favorite candy, none other than Whitman's. 

Then I gave Justin his box of chocolates and then I gave all the girls a box of heart Hershey's and a bag of chocolate truffles. I also gave Jewell two Polly Pocket's, one even lighting up. Then I gave Jolee a butterfly decoration for her room and I gave Jaina a beach decoration for her room.  

Grandma DoDo and Richard sent the girls cards with money

And Allie gave the girls a bag of goodies. 

Jewell got some new dinosaurs, candy and snacks and some cards, a bell for her bicycle and her very own licensed plate for her bike 

Jolee got some "forevero O'shay" LOL and a gift card to eat out

And Jaina got the same thing a gift card and candy

The girls say thank you!

Oh, and I can't forget, Jolee gave me this sweet little vase of flowers. She has the sweetest and biggest heart. She loves giving gifts. My flowers are actually still alive next to my bed!

Happy V-Day everyone! 

 

Life Updates

Dentist appointments and more dentist appointments. Last week I took Jaina to the dentist, and she has several cavities she needs to get fixed, and she will be needing to remove her wisdom teeth soon. Jolee will have her dentist appointment next month and Jewell had her appointment last week. Jewell has a piece of her back molar that chipped off and there is a hole there now which now is developing a cavity so she will have to get her tooth fixed along with another small cavity. So, we will be in debt up to our eyeballs paying for all these teeth to get fixed, lol

Jewell was super excited to go to the dentist though. She was not nervous and loved the whole process. They took x-rays, checked her teeth and cleaned them. As far as her baby teeth she has a very small mouth, and all of her teeth are growing in sideways so she will definitely have to have braces. She was excited to not only get a goodie bag with a new toothbrush, but she got to pick out 4 stickers and a toy when she left.

School update on Jewell. She is blazing through kindergarten. She is now starting to read and is a great reader. She can put all of the sounds together and sound out the words. 

She has never gotten in trouble at school and all the teachers love her and talk about how sweet she is.

She has several friends at school and for the most part loves school but doesn't like going every day. She is always counting down the days to the weekend of the next holiday so she can sleep in, lol

She is just so precious!

Girl Scouts has been going great this year. Though we have missed a lot of meetings due to our schedule being so busy we do try and go when we can. She loves going, learning and doing crafts while she is there. 

She definitely needs a haircut!

Oh, and I am super happy to report this child has FINALLY started sleeping in her own bed. For the last 5 years she has pretty much been sleeping on her baby mattress next to our bed. She has always been scared to sleep in her room up until the last several weeks. I started putting her to bed at night and laying with her until she would fall asleep in her own bed. Then once she was asleep, I would leave the room. She would usually get up in the middle of the night and get on her mattress in our room until one night she slept in her bed the entire night. She woke up so proud of herself and said, "I slept in my bed all night like a big girl". I said, "yes you did!" and from that point on she has been sleeping in her room by herself except on the days when Justin is at the fire station, she will sleep with me so we are officially done with her baby mattress, and we can get rid of it! The LAST baby item of the last 16 years will officially be gone. Happy and sad all at the same time.