Spring of 2020

Grace had the honor of displaying items again for the Highland Retreat Auction.  Glen had the chance, but he did not want to hold things up for people to see.  I am glad that Grace enjoys this type of thing and has the chances to do it.

Here is just a cute picture of Grace reading a book to Carol's dog.

 

March 5, 2020 School Performance

In March the 4th graders had their music performance.  Grace and her good friend Andrew were some of the student announcers who introduced the music and told a little about each song.

Grace sang with her class, she also played a song on her recorder.

In addition to all of that she also played rhythm with drum sticks on the floor for a song.  It seemed like she was all over the place, doing everything during this performance.  But she was enjoying it all!
 

1/30/2020 Tea Party

Grace is in girl's club at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church.  And one of the special events that they do each year is that they hold a tea party for the girls and some of the women in their lives.  So this year Grace took me (mom) and Grandma Sue. 

We took our tea pot, special tea cups, hats, and scarves.  There were snacks and tea for us to enjoy.

It was a really fun event to participate in and share with Grandma Sue, I think we will have many more special events with her now that she is living close to us.

 

1/25/2020 Pinewood Derby

 We had another pinewood derby with the Boy Scouts.  Grace made an arrow and Glen made a flaming race car.  We won a few heats, but we did not place in the derby as a whole.  However the kids had a great time making their cars and decorating.  Each time we do the pinewood derby we learn some new things, maybe next time we will do better.

Maker's Space

At the Children's Museum there is a Maker's Space for children 8 years old and older.  Now that Glen is old enough, Grace, Glen and I went to the maker's space.

 I sat in the corner and read my book while Glen and Grace made stop motion movies in their movie light boxes.  Glen made a great movie about a car crash.

 Then both Grace and Glen were trained on the sewing machine.  Grace made a zipper pouch while Glen made a pocket.  They were so proud of their accomplishments.

I can not wait to go there more often.  This is a great place for the kids to explore different skills.

Glen is 8

Glen, my sweet, contemplative, cuddly boy is now 8 years old!

He wanted a brownie for his cake.  So he got a brownie with chocolate cool whip on top.

Not much happened as far as a celebration.  We had a meal of your choice with a desert of your choice.  And of course you got the special red plate because it was your birthday.

 Glen is in 2nd grade.  He is in Cub scouts.  He is also taking his first year of piano lessons.  He loves Minecraft, Zelda, and many other games.

Carol and Amy's present for Glen was a golden ticket to go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Broadway High School.  They also got him the book and a chocolate bar.  We read the book before we went to the musical.  Then we enjoyed the musical.

 Glen had many of the characters sign his book after the play.  Glen was star struck with all of the actors.

 And they got a picture with Veruca Salt.

It was a really great time.

1. How old are you? 8

2. Who is your best friend?  Adam and Dean

3. What is your favorite thing to do?  Play in my room

4. What is your favorite color?  Red

5. What is your favorite food? Pizza

6. What do you like to do with your family?  Play outside with Grace 

7. What is your favorite toy? Legos

8. What do you want to be when you grow up? A builder

9. What makes you happy? His stuffed cat 

10.  What makes you sad?  Having to leave his toys for the day

11.  What is your favorite show to watch? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

12.  What is your favorite book? Minecraft

13.  What do you love to learn about? Math

14.  What is the best part of your birthday? Cake

15.  Where do you like to go?  Arkansas

16.  Who was your teacher?  Mrs. Clanton and Mrs. Ours

17.  What is your favorite treat? Rice cakes

18.  What do you think about right before you fall asleep? Reading  

19.  If you could meet anyone famous, who would it be?  George Washington

20.  What was your favorite birthday present?  Harry Potter Legos

Christmas in Arkansas

We had the joy of spending Christmas 2019 in West Memphis, Arkansas with Matt's family.  There are so many things that we love to do when we visit there.  One of those things is to see the Peabody Ducks at the Peabody Hotel.  This year when we went, we took along Ellie.

  The kids love the decorations.  They also love seeing the ducks come from the elevator, down the red carpet, and into the fountain.

  I made sure to read John Philip Duck to the kids while we were on vacation since it is all about the Peabody Ducks at the Peabody Hotel.

 After seeing the ducks we had a great time seeing all of the duck items that you can get from the gift shop.  They have everything that you can imagine, and it all has ducks on it!

 There are even duck prints all up and down the sidewalk outside of the hotel.  Each has a name of an actor or actress.  This was one name that I recognized so the kids compared their feet to the duck feet.  They are not smiling well because the sun was bright and in their eyes.

 Once we got home, the kids all decorated a part of a gingerbread village.  Glen made the gingerbread house.  Grace made a gingerbread train, and Ellie made a gingerbread dog house.  They were all so unique and each had fun working on their own project.

 This year we had the joy to also go to the zoo lights in West Memphis.  The local zoo puts up a great lighting display throughout the zoo.  Then they open up the zoo in the evening to see the display and maybe even some animals!

 When we walked into the zoo they even had fake snow blowing on us as we entered.  There was also a laser light show being played on the walls of the buildings in the entry way.

 So many fun lights to see like castles, gingerbread houses, and many other things.

 We also got to go into some of the buildings to do experiments.  Here Grace is a walrus and Glen is an explorer.

 Here Grace is the explorer and Glen is the walrus.

  At the reptile house, Grace fell in love with the biggest snake that they had in the building.  It was decided quickly that animal would NOT become a pet in our house...EVER!  We did see some great lizards, snakes, bats, and many other animals.

 The three older grandkids (Jackson did not join us on this adventure)

These three had so much fun together.  They even pulled out a board game or two.  I am so glad that they have so much fun together during holidays.

With Peabody Hotel, Zoo lights, and visiting and playing it was a great trip.  Grace and Glen did end up with fevers and did not feel well at the end but we still enjoyed time together.