Some fun the last few weeks...

On January 29th, Joshua got to participate in the county wide 4-6th grade spelling bee.  It was held at COS.
He looked so handsome and even though he was nervous, did his very best and we were very proud of him.

The fifth grade gets to go to an outdoor school/camp in May. They earn money by selling tickets to a lasagna dinner in early February. 
Between the tickets sold prior to the dinner and at the door, as well as desserts sold and auctioned off, they made the $5,800 that they needed to go ot the camp.
Joshua worked so hard!!  He was great during the dinner serving, etc., but I was even more impressed come 6:30 p.m. when it was clean up time (and he hadn't been home since 7:40 that morning when he caught the bus)  and he was still going strong helping clear tables, fold up and put away tables and chairs, and doing whatever he could to help out.

One of the most exciting things about 1st grade - making rockets!!  Nathaniel made the coolest & tallest rocket - it ROCKED!!
He used water bottles, Lifewater bottles, a Powerade bottle (can you tell we'd had someone sick earlier in the week), Dad's Nexium bottles and Mom's potassium bottles (thank goodness for our prescriptions, right?) plus a cone for the top.
He had drawn a plan of it beforehand and colored each section how he wanted it painted and the teacher later spray painted it for him.

Tuesday morning, right before we were getting ready to head to Etna so I could help in Joshua's science lab this is what greeted me - Miss Grace in her baby stroller (her Christmas present from great-grandma Donna) - she looked so cute...then it was time to get out and she was STUCK!!  I told her she might have to wait until Daddy got home so he could get her out - that wasn't an idea that she thought was very good. She told me I'd just have to try and get her out...well, we did manage to get her out and she has decided that maybe that isn't the best place for her to sit and she'd leave it for Maggie (her favorite baby doll) and others.

Snow White - complete with tiara.  I can't remember what inspired her to but on her Snow White costume the other day - maybe she'd been watching Sofia the First again.
Anyway, she curtsied and was quite regal for awhile.

Miss Grace

Grace decided to unpack all the cat food out of the box...then she proceeded to stack them in large towers - each flavor in its own stack.
As she finishes she informs me, "Mama...I missing a cat food." I told her that we'd opened it to feed Shadow.  That answer did not make her happy. She told me that she neeeeeeeded it to finish her bulding.
She didn't get it...it was in the 'frig and would have made the house smell fishy :)

Sunday Grace discovered jewelry. I can't remember how it began, but I'd had my jewelry box down and she asked me something and the next thing I know, we're searching through my jewelry box for something special for her. I told her I've been saving all my little girl jewelry for years in hopes I'd have a girl some day.
The first thing she saw that she "neeeeeeeded" was a Blueberry Muffin (as in Strawberry Shortcake's best friend...the original early 80s version...I remember getting it when I was in third grade (1981) and I believe I'm wearing it in my school picture that year)
Then she told me she "neeeeeeded" a necklace...and I found a Tinkerbell necklace that my mom gave to me when I was a little girl (but older than grace) that was hers...and it's on a long chain so we could just slip it over Grace's head...she was ecstatic.
Her next request surprised me, because I didn't know she knew what they were but she "neeeeeded" a bracelet...and I found one that is a blue heart with a rose in the center (there is a necklace somewhere in that box...this was more jewelry that my mom had give me that had been hers first...I'm just continuing the passing down tradition).  Then she "neeeeeeeded" one for her other wrist. So I found a gold teddy bear charm type bracelet.
Life was wonderful. She hurried off to show Daddy and her boys.
They were properly impressed with her finery and riches.
Then I found a gold (of course none of this is real gold) teddy bear ring that I gave her...she hadn't realized it, but she "neeeeeeded" it to complete her ensemble.
She was quite happy to pose for me and show off all her "pretties"...yep, she'll be 3 in 8 days...she's growing up fast.