School Carnival

Last night was Mira's school carnival. It was a lot of fun, with games for the kids, a raffle, and a gift basket silent auction. We're sure they are going to deliver the new grill we tried to win in the raffle any minute now!

Mira broke a board with her hand!
And so did Amelia!
Amelia threw a hula hoop over a stuffed dog!
Here is Mira trying to win an iCarly poster by throwing a football through a hole. She almost got it, but not quite. (Birthday gift idea!)
They had a hair painting station that Mira and Amelia just had to try! Voi-la! The results: Mira picked pink and blue pigtails with glitter:
Amelia picked pigtail buns and a combination of pink, purple, and blue for her hair. And glitter, of course!
Of course, the carnival was right before bedtime, so both girls insisted on sleeping in their new hair style!

And no carnival at a school wouldn't be complete without a visit to the "nurse"! All the kids came out looking worse for the wear than when they went in. They all loved the new bloody bandage!
It was a really fun family evening. Tonight: date night for me and Chris!

The Ultimate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookie!

What do you do when your husband is away on a golf trip and you are snowed in the house with two little girls? You bake! Mira, Amelia, and I whipped up a batch of the best cookies in the world. And because I like you, I'm going to share the recipe!

Ultimate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies

What you need:
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3 cups quick-cooking OR old fashioned oats
1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup craisins
1 bag milk chocolate chips


What you do:
First, find the cutest little helper you can.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Add baking soda, vanilla, salt, and eggs. Mix thoroughly.
Add flour and mix. Add oatmeal and mix.

Then stir in by hand craisins and chocolate chips.
Use a cookie scoop and put the balls on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 11 minutes.
Tip #1: Because I like flatter cookies rather than thick ones, with about 2 minutes to go in cooking time, I raise the cookie sheet in the oven and drop it on the rack. It flattens the cookies out a little. I learned that trick from my mom!

Tip #2: I take the cookies out of the oven just before they are actually done to prevent overcooking. They finish up cooking on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack.
One satisfied customer!

Conferences and a funny

Mira: Mom, if we have any old tire lying around, find a tree and get a rope. Tire swing!

I'll get right on that. Unfortunately, we don't have a tree large enough to support a tire or a little girl who wants to swing on it!

Last night I went to Mira's last first grade conference for the year. She received a glowing report from her teacher. Chris and I are so proud! She was called "a model student" and "a delight to have in the classroom." Ms. Lawson shared with us some test scores and said that the goal is to have the children reading 60 words per minute by the end of the year. Mira can currently read 100 words per minute. She's doing well in math and seems to understand the concepts. It's great to hear how well she is doing in school. Ms. Lawson really enjoys having Mira in the class.

Great job, Mira! We love you!

Amelia learns to swim

Amelia took the "plunge" today and started swimming lessons! We love how much progress Mira has made in the past year (we think she's actually a fish!) and want Amelia to have some swimming skills before the summer pool and lake season begins in a few months.

Amelia did well for the most part. She was a little afraid at first, and even cried a little, but her instructor Amy coaxed her away from the platform and helped her float on her back. It was really fun to see! (To be fair, it was a rather chaotic lesson, for they started in a different pool when a suspicious brown floating object was found in the big pool. Then they moved to the pool they were supposed to be in midway through the lesson.)

Scared and crying a little!
Here she goes!
High-five from the teacher:
And my sweet family:
We are looking forward to another fun weekend, this time at a family birthday party, complete with swimming at their house! (Don't worry, it's an indoor pool.) Valentine's Day next week. Did you tell your sweetie you love him or her today?

New art and Uh-Oh.

Mira completed her third art class this past weekend. They are doing all sorts of winter art scenes and this week they used a combination of glue, glitter, and shaving cream to make snow! Once the concoction dried, it was a bit like puffy paint and gave the artwork texture. Here is Mira displaying her creation:

And I have an uh-oh. Mira showed me a note she had written and planned to give to her former boyfriend, Isaac. It says, "Did you like are first kiss? If you did let's do it again. I am sorey I chas you at reses." (Spelling errors are so cute with little kids!)
Uggh. I'm not loving the way she keeps thinking about kissing boys. I just ask her to try to wait a little bit longer until she is older. Fortunately, Isaac isn't interested in kissing right now. (Stay strong, Isaac!)

Wanamingo Bingo Mingo Flingo!

Somehow, our wonderful winter gathering yesterday has adopted the name the Wanamingo Bingo Mingo Flingo! Works for me! (I think it was courtesy of cousin Sarah.) Here are a few photos of the event yesterday. So many people were taking photos, so I hope you are all able to post your photos as well.

We all donated prizes for the kids for the Fish Pond. It was a huge hit!
Amelia loved her Fish Pond prize:
Playing cards:
Miles, our newest addition:
The Yahtzee players:
My handsome husband:
Michelle, Margene, and Val. We dubbed them "The Lunch Ladies" for all the hard work they did setting up the meal:
Justin and Mandy:

Me and Kelly:
Katie, Casey, and Bekki:
It was a wonderful day with Bingo, cards, Yahtzee, bean bag game, Fish Pond, and two concerts! Michael played some great music, and Ben played the trumpet. Both were wonderful!

Looking forward to this family tradition next year!