Guess who passed the swim test!

(Anna is pointing to her hand "stamp", indicating her new status.)

This is our very motivated swimmer....at our pool you have to swim the length of the pool without stopping or touching the side to be able to dive off the board or go down the "deep-end" slide.

For Anna (who isn't quite ready to do either) it was more about "passing the test" then what it allows her to do!

Way to go Anna!......really by the time she passed the test on Monday, she had swam 5 or 6 lengths of the pool practicing!

If you had asked me if she could pass the test THIS summer I would have said, "no way", but she was ready on Monday to try.

She continues to measure herself at the lily-pads to see if she is tall enough......but of that I am certain - she will not grow 4 inches in the next 2 weeks.....but I still let her go and check each day we go to that pool.  On vacation she was able to do the lily-pads at the Wisconsin Dell's pool and she stayed at that activity for over an hour.  For the record - it is harder than it looks....which I know from experience.

Cousin Cubes.....Merry Christmas 2014......a little early for once

First....let's give credit where credit is due.  I did not think of this idea on my own and these ladies (see website below) had great instructions.......I was looking for a simple craft the kids could make for their cousins for Christmas and boy did we find it.

http://thefrugalgirls.com/2012/04/diy-photo-cube.html

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Anna and I started painting blocks last night.  

Carolyn jumped in to help glue the pictures on today.

Later Joel came with me to the store (to pick up a few more blocks) and thought he might like a cube (Anna and Carolyn each had one by this time while making the cousin’s gifts)…..and then we decided it wasn’t fair that the focus was on the girl cousins, so we bought some neon paint to make some blocks for the older boy cousins.  

Matthew was gone all afternoon and evening at marching band camp, but pitched in at the end of the night when I thought I couldn’t possible finish the last couple of pictures.  He indicated that he and Mike (similar aged cousin) probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture...so we skipped them.  

 

So all in all we made 22 cubes….132 pictures….and only 3 pictures left over and the need to search for one extra shot to be appropriate for the right person (we made cubes for both Grandmothers and my sister as well).

Before you give me too much credit for being the early bird....please know the gift (photos later) I am making for the sisters/nieces was supposed to be given in 2012.....but is only now getting finished.  I started in January thinking if I just made one a month I could get done....I am ahead of schedule, but know the fall is a busy time!

The kids and I have a 3rd craft of the summer, but its great reveal will only be after a few packages are delivered......

VBS

This year was the family's 9th year celebrating at Vacation Bible School.  (last year we missed because of vacation and I think we did every other year since Matthew finished kindergarten.  I will have to look to see if we started a year earlier....I am not sure!)  This year's theme was Weird Animals.  Matthew, Carolyn and I were crew leaders with kids going into 1st grade.  (I didn't want Anna having a sibling leading her group, but my older kids are best leading younger kids.)  Next year Joel will be a crew leader....I can hardly believe it!

Game Days

Our family is the perfect age for board games.  Everyone can play and we have some pretty good ones.  

My personal favorite "Blokus"

Matthew got this from us 2 years ago after I saw my freshman year college room-mate (also Ken's sister's sister-in-law) playing it our niece's wedding.  Regarding that connection...let's just say "it's a small world after all".  You should agree...especially when you add the twist that 10 years before I was a freshman, my sister was assigned to be her sister's room-mate.....ok I digress.

I love Blokus and everyone in my family loves Blokus....if you don't own it you should....which is why I have bought this game to give as a gift 4 times.  If you lived in Iowa, I would probably be giving your kid this game at their next birthday party....ha ha!

Anna loves: 

Carolyn loves: 

Joel's favorite (although he hasn't played it much).....I am guessing it is Ken's favorite too:

Matthew's favorite:

So I am writing this post for 2 reasons.  

#1 to remember our favorite games in 2014

#2 to tell a funny story about today's game "Wits and Wages"

ok - 3 reasons - to encourage you to share your family's favorite game with me!

 ok - so back to #2.  Today we were playing Wits and Wages for the first time.  This s a game recommended by Dave Ramsey, although I am not sure exactly why since it isn't really about budgeting.  I think Dave would be extremely happy though as I bought this game for < $5 ....so I was even budget conscious, which makes me laugh because I have been completely ignoring any concept of a budget for months.

Here is our funny picture playing this game.  

The first 2 rounds were without Carolyn as she had a baby-sitting job.......can you believe it.  This was her 3rd gig!  She really likes it and loves earning money.  So here is a picture when Carolyn joined us for the game later.  We had to get it quick as people were in good spirits and were trying to "photo bomb" the picture.....thank goodness for digital!

Wits and Wagers is a cool game because you don't need to know the right answer....you just need to bet on the person's answer who you think is right.

Anna stated several times, "I don't know what you mean" for the questions (like "when was the movie Casablanca released?")....but she still could enjoy the game.

One question was "when was the first winter Olympics?"  I was off by 100 years and Matthew thought it was since I was born.....I am not that old!  Joel however guessed the exact year. (1924 by the way)  We were amazed.

The best question was "how many cards are there in a deck of Uno cards"?  We all bet on Matthew's answer because he made an UNO/Jenga mix game this spring.  (112 I think...)  It was funny because we all piled our chips on Matthew's answer....guess you had to be there....it was hysterical!

Anyway - fun was had by all!

Joel was the big winner

I realized as I posted Anna’s birthday pictures that I hadn’t posted Joel’s birthday pictures.  I do have some, but they must be in the normal camera ……  so here is a picture of Joel after he learned he won the Easter Basket from Village Inn!  Have you ever seen a happy kid?  You would have thought it was an IPAD - his smile was so large.

I will try to post birthday pictures once I have some time to spend with the camera….but we already discussed my bad blogging habits.  I am just happy to have a cute picture of Joel readily available on MY IPAD!

Happy Birthday Anna

Anna is now seven.  I can hardly believe it.  She had a great birthday - even receiving a balloon headband from Joel's 3rd grade teacher!  Doesn't it just scream "today is my birthday"?  She chose a strawberry cake with strawberry icing and princess decorations.  I made a little path between the castles.  Luckily she is easy to please.  She received lego kits for her gift.  I have a picture of her starting them.  Once she is done I will show you both pics.....well maybe - as I a haven't been the best blogger.

We did it!

 A few weeks ago we go the garden planted!  The side was then replaced to keep out the many rabbits that roam our neighborhood.  Last year they actually ate through the plastic - so we doubled up in the low-lying areas.  The wood planks let us get to the middle without walking in the mud!

We took our first bike-ride to the swimming pool.  It is 2 miles away and we have never done this before.  Now Anna is an experienced rider and the big kids and I each have a big enough bike.  It took Anna and I a long time!  Matthew and Joel actually stopped at the library for over 15 minutes before heading home and still got home when we did.  Still Anna did great!