Summer Highlights

We have had a fun filled summer so far. Can’t believe we start school again in 4 weeks! Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to.

Audrey, our gymnast wanna be, practiced doing front flips in our pool. She did this over and over.

Lori made her own puppet theater and put on a puppet show for my family. She is quite the story teller!

Here is Natalie modeling her button she made at the Des Moines Art Festival.

It was a very hot day for a July 4 parade, but we went anyways. We drank lots of ice water!

We had the privilege of seeing my good friend Anissa, her husband Mark and their adorable son Nolan. The girls had a blast playing with and entertaining Nolan.

Audrey and Lori took semi private swimming lessons this year. They had a blast and learned how to tread water, jump in deep water and come back up, back float, and various other swim strokes. Now they are swimming machines!

And last, but not least, Lori has been wanting to learn how to sew on my sewing machine. Since it has been so darn hot here, I decided there was no better time than the present. Lori made a few pillows for their dolls and stuffed animals. We ordered a book called Sewing School and Lori is excited to learn how to make her own skirt as well as one for her doll.

We’ve had a great summer! We hope you are enjoying yours too!

Happy Birthday Audrey!!

Yesterday, May 31, was Audrey’s 6th Birthday. We celebrated her big day by going to Reiman Gardens with Grandpa and Grandma Philpott. Before we left for the gardens, Audrey got to open one of her gifts. A new scooter!

Audrey had been anxiously awaiting this new scooter for some time now.

Reiman Gardens is a delightful garden display in Ames, Iowa right next to Hilton Coliseum where the Cyclones play.

We began at the butterfly garden exhibit where you can interact with all the different butterflies.Sometimes they even land on you to say hello.

This Blue Morpho landed on my dad to say, “Hello.”

A Wood Nymph landed on my mom. Apparently he/she was looking for food because he/she was tickling my mom with its proboscis.

Here are a few other butterflies we saw there.

After the butterfly exhibit we attempted to walk around the gardens in the rain and 60 degree weather. We all got cold quickly so we didn’t last long, but we did manage to see a couple of the Lego exhibits they had around the gardens.

There are several thousand Legos in each of these creatures.

The girls got to try their hand at making their own Lego displays.

We ended our trip to Ames with a stop at Hickory Park for a yummy lunch and of course dessert.

It was a fun birthday celebration!

 

 

 

 

Lori’s Debut

 

On May 1, 2012, Lori made her debut as an actress. Our homeschool group’s drama class put on a play called Good Manners. A wicked sorceress cast a spell on good manners and two noble knights were on a quest to take manners back. Lori played a scientist who advised people to please not pick their noses and wash their hands before touching tableware.

She preformed her lines beautifully as well as the song she and her fellow scientist sang together.

During intermission, Lori and her fellow thespians served us hors d'oeuvres, and after the play they served us dessert.

It was a wonderful night and we cant’ wait to see Lori in her next play this coming fall!

Go Upward!

Lori has finally found her calling in life, cheerleading. After many failed attempts at getting her to dance, I hesitantly suggested cheerleading this winter. To my great surprise she gave me an adamant YES!

She is taking her new found love through an organization called Upward.She is currently cheering for basketball games,  and in the fall she will be cheering for soccer.

Our whole family knows her cheers by heart because she is constantly practicing them and teaching them to her sisters.

It is so fun to finally see her excited about participating in something. We are proud of you Lori!

Baked Oatmeal Recipe

This is one of my favorite dishes to make for a weekend breakfast. I double the recipe so we have plenty of leftovers to eat off of for a few days.

Recipe:

*1/2 cup butter                     *1/2 C Brwn Sugar

2 eggs (beaten)                     2 1/2 C oatmeal

1 T Baking Powder

1 Cup Milk

*I substitute applesauce for the butter.

* The original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar.

Directions:

Cream butter (or applesauce) and sugar. Add 2 eggs and beat. Mix Oatmeal, baking powder, and salt together and add to creamed mixture alternately with cold milk. Pour into 8 X 8 pan (or 9 X 13 if doubling). Top with brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

We like to add nuts, craisins, and a little milk to ours when we eat it.

Hope you enjoy!

The Mitchell’s’ Christmas Adventures

Christmas came and went rather quickly around here, but we had a fun December preparing for it. Here are some of the highlights of our holiday season.

Decorating the Christmas tree, and it also appears to be crazy outfit day as well. It is our tradition to put the tree up Thanksgiving weekend.

We made Christmas stars out of cardboard, foil, and lots and lots of glitter. Did I mention they used LOTS of glitter?

We did a lapbook on the Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett, and then of course had to make some gingerbread of our own.

Lori and Audrey’s choir put on a Christmas program for the families about week before Christmas. Audrey didn’t pick her nose once this year.

On Christmas Eve, we attempted to put together some gingerbread houses from a kit we bought at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately we didn’t read the directions first, so our houses looked like they’d been hit by tornados. The kids enjoyed licking frosting off their fingers though.

Last, but not least, came Christmas day and the girls finally got to open their presents. Here are Nat and Audrey sporting some new dresses from Grandma Mitchell.

Lori thought Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell had given her a can opener, but it was really her long hoped for camera. Tricked you!

And here is John with his favorite Christmas gift. Stuff tastes like turpentine!

Happy New Year!

 

 

Are You Ready for Winter?

Learning about how animals get ready for winter is an interesting topic, but it’s even better when you can pretend to be those animals. That’s what we and few of our friends did today at the Kuehn Conservation Center’s nature program.

First, a few of the kids got to dress up as animals that tough winter out, hibernate,and migrate. The naturalist helped the kids think about what teach type of animal does to survive winter.

Next, the kids got to pretend to be squirrels by making a nest under a tree and then grabbing a nut one at a time to bring back to their nest. Then they got to touch and see other animals native to Iowa and learn about how they survive winter.

Finally, after a hike in the woods to build more nests, they got to crack open some hickory nuts with rocks and eat them.

As an added bonus, there was an Indian tepee the kids could explore and play in.

What a fun way to relish in a gorgeous November day, learning about and exploring God’s creation.