Kindergarten~ a year in review

Since First Grade is already in full swing, let's take a moment to reminisce about Kindergarten.  We were thankful to find a nearby Classical Conversations Community following our move back to Texas. It was something familiar to the girls as our Florida born babes were surrounded by unfamiliar things. We kicked off schooling at home right after our first CC day & the girls were very excited! 

Implementing Classical Conversations at home:

Simply stated, Charlotte has a love for Geography...makes me wonder if she will be an adventurous young lady with a passport someday.  We introduced continents to Eloise in the same way Charlotte learned them when she was four. A map, play dough & some little flags.

Charlotte worked on what we call "blob mapping" which is basically drawing the general shape of each continent in the proper place in& eventually in relation to the prime meridian & equator. She spent enough time tracing it over the past year that she can draw it from memory. Eloise's favorite part of Geography was the dry erase markers & one of my favorite parts of Eloise is her facial expressions. 

Maps, maps & more maps! Our Geography covered 120 locations & features with a focus on the USA.  We learned all the states & capitals, many mountain ranges, rivers & lakes. Eloise was tired of the "baby class" & tagged along with me to Charlotte's class for the second semester. At three & a half she drove Charlotte crazy when we would work on our maps of the USA & I would say the capital & they would name the state. Eloise was faster than fast & proud of it!

Our goal was to start in the mornings with reviewing the memory work from CC with this fancy board I made. It was used about half the time & was really helpful....I'm actually not sure why I stopped but we still made it & learned our memory work without it. We included the boys strapped in their highchairs for most of this portion since they were highly entertained by our silly songs & hand motions. They actually memorized the six parts of the circulatory system with hand motions by 18 months of age. HILARIOUS. 

Classical Conversations weekly for 24 weeks:

We were part of a CC Community that met on Thursday mornings & Charlotte was in a class with kids that were 4-5 and a couple that turned 6 rather early in the year.  Her tutor, Mrs. S was the highlight of Charlotte's time there. She did an incredible job capturing the attention of eight busy bodies & engaging them in learning all sorts of fun things. I'm thinking they were jumping like bunnies for this one : ) One of the kid's favorite things was coming up with voices such as robot, monster, opera singer or the very favorite for my girls, the mousy voice. Since it is our goal to recite each portion of the memory work seven times, voices add some excitement. 

For the first semester our focus for science was on human anatomy which I loved. It was so simple to teach with my background & Charlotte really enjoyed exploring more about this subject through books. Each week they colored & cut out different organs & on week 12 they put them together on their own life size human body. Her's is still hanging in her room & will probably be there until she is at least eleven.

One of the many things we love in class each week is presentation time. Charlotte was confident early on this past year which made it all the more fun to help her prepare & watch her stand up tall, speak loud enough for all to hear & answer questions from her audience.  One week she was assigned to talk about her favorite state & as the picture reveals, she spoke about Florida. 

Another super cute one that would make her Aussie family proud....

For Fine Arts we started with basic drawing, moved on to tin whistles (always a favorite in the littlest class) which included basic music theory, great artists & their masterpieces & last but not least, classical composers. During the last six weeks we welcomed an organist from the church where we were meeting followed by a a cellist from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Both were amazing & I came home trying to convince Rob to let me take cello lessons. Here is Charlotte with her beloved tin whistle.  It's hidden very well when at home & when it is not, it gets washed about a million times. She made some sweet little friends including Gracie who she was happy to exchange Valentine cards with at the class party.  Also, a picture of the girls working on an art project. 

Charlotte actually became very interested in Georgia O'Keeffe & her style...if that's what you call it. She drew a certain flower & colored it with colored pencils about 100 times over the course of a week & could identify a Georgia O'Keeffe piece of artwork when out & about.

Over all for Classical Conversations Cycle 3 we were exposed to & worked to memorize:

• 161 events & people in a chronological timeline
• 24 history sentences including the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution & The Bill of Rights
• 44 U.S. Presidents
• 120 locations & geographical features with emphasis on the United States
• 24 science facts including elements of the periodic table & human anatomy
• Latin rules & vocabulary including John 1:1-7 in Latin
• English grammar & facts including the principal parts of 11 irregular verbs
• Multiplication tables up to 15x15, common squares & cubes, basic geometry formulas & unit conversions

Rob, me & the girls enjoyed a fun morning at the Perot Museum & also spent many a day with the family at the zoo learning all about animals & eating popcorn & Dippin' Dots. 

Over Christmas Robby & I worked on setting up a better equipped area to teach/learn for little people who can't reach the kitchen table well enough to write legibly.  I always wanted to ride the school bus to school but never had the opportunity since we lived so close. Now my kids can ; ) 

I want to record that at this point in time, the playroom/schoolroom only looks like this about once a month when we actually pick everything up at one time & run the vacuum. All the cute magnets of the alphabet & numbers were chewed on & threatened to be swallowed so they have since been removed. This picture is a nice goal though of the benefit of keeping a clean & organized home. 

A focus for this year as a family was to memorize & learn about the Fruit of the Spirit so I was delighted to find this free printable on a blog. 

It has been so very helpful in encouraging & correcting our children, even the boys. To kneel down with them to ask "was that kind or gentle?" or remind them by saying, "you need to practice patience & self control" relates scripture to real life & easily reminds us of our inability to be perfect & need for Jesus. We are also using these words when helping each other reconcile about every 5 minutes it seems ; ) It usually goes like this, "I'm sorry for biting (hitting, pushing, you name it) you. I should have been gentle & kind, will  you please forgive me?" Even the boys know all nine when we are regularly practicing. 

Along with the CC memory work, we are responsible for adding math, reading, spelling & handwriting instruction. Some choose to utilize curriculum & I'm guessing for early years some tried & true home school moms just know what to do & when. I definitely fall into the category of "just tell me what to do, how to do it & I will get it done." This being my first go around, I was looking for simplicity & found it. Kindergarten is pretty simple anyway ; )

MATH:

For Math we almost completed Saxon level 1. Charlotte made her lessons look simple, at least until the last couple months where they have become more challenging.  She learned all about the calendar, patterns, subtraction, addition of two digit numbers, telling time, counting money & many other things.  She loves to write & practiced writing all the names of the numbers on the dry erase board. 

A fun part of our Math curriculum was setting up a store which occurred way more often than the book suggested. Thanks to Uncle Scott & Uncle Kyle they had a cash register that not only "spoke" English but also French & Spanish...Eloise always switched it to one of those. They gathered all sorts of items from our pantry, made price tags, filled the drawer with coins & made receipts. The goal was for Charlotte to add the two digit numbers on her own before typing the problem into the cash register which I'm pretty sure happened about a quarter of the time.  Eloise was cracking me up talking on the microphone to the customers about what was on sale or notifying them that the store would be closing in "20 40 minutes" or something strange to us, normal to her.  

We have about five lessons left before we move onto Level 2. I thought about trying a different curriculum just to see what it was like but considering the fact that Charlotte understands this one, works well with the style etc, we made the decision to stick with it since we will have enough change this fall when Arlo joins us. It is awesome that her reading has taken off enough to where I can circle the problems I know she can read & have her complete them while I put the boys down for a nap. She sometimes surprises me & does more than assigned.  Each lesson has an instruction portion, a 25 question addition or subtraction worksheet (what reminds me of a timed test in elementary school) & a worksheet that has about 6-10 problems on it covering previous material.  Instead of always going in that order which I did for almost the entire year, I now stay a day behind on the worksheets & have her complete what she can while I either clean the kitchen or get the boys settled & then I help her finish, make corrections & move into instruction for the next lesson.  There are assessments, both oral & written every 5th & 10th lesson which is another thing I love. It clearly reveals what she is struggling with & we can pause in between lessons & work hard to master the content before moving on, that way she never gets behind.  

Handwriting:

For handwriting she completed Handwriting without Tears in less than a month when I had planned to make it last the whole Fall. She just loves to write & took off so I let her run with it. Her letter formation changed drastically & words became easier to read in a short amount of time. Once we completed that book we moved onto a writing journal that also had space for drawing & added copy work which we both enjoyed.  The journal assignments would be something like writing a sentence about your favorite food or something you like to do, writing about people in the bible etc. We did an animal alphabet which turned out SO cute. Each day she would write the next letter & what animal it stood for. The pictures were my favorite. For copy work we used a print out of the scripture we memorized for CC, John 1:1-1-7 She copied all the verses a few times through & would read them back to me. We also memorized this in Latin but she didn't have to transcribe it ; ) When the weather was just lovely, Charlotte enjoyed doing her writing outside by herself. I was a tad jealous thinking I would enjoy being assigned to write something while alone....in the great outdoors. 

Reading:

I am not sure why but I was SUPER intimidated to teach someone how to read! I can read well & don't even remember how I was taught so surely I could have figured something out on my own ; ) Again, I did some searching to find a curriculum that would fit our family & learning styles well.I landed on All About Reading.  It has a multi-sensory approach, open & go lessons, fun & engaging games to review material & is mastery based.We started this in August, a month after Charlotte turned five. She knew all of her letters & just a handful of sounds. I hit the ground running after studying up but Charlotte was just not ready. I tried for a couple of weeks to just explore the possibility of completing a lesson to no avail. I spoke with a few women that recommended just putting it away for a month & trying again. I thought "No way! This is Kindergarten, we must move forward." What fabulous advice though that I am glad I took to heart. A month later, she was interested & easy to teach. We took our time through lessons, played our games a lot, she taught Eloise & the boys what sounds letters make or names of things that start with a certain letter & at the completion of Level 1, we had a budding reader that could not put down a book! The readers for this curriculum are fabulous. Three came with Level 1 with each containing somewhere around 10 stories so it looks like a chapter book, she loved that. Overall, I have been really impressed with the outcome & at the beginning of First Grade, we have moved onto Level 2. 

Spelling: 

We did not do anything special for spelling this past year as far as curriculum goes. As she learned the sounds of letters, we began sounding out the words she desired to write in her journal. This caused some serious frustration on her part because she would much rather me tell her how to spell each word so it can be written perfectly.  By the end of the year, she was comfortable trying her best before the two of us working together. We are starting All About Spelling this year which is from All About Learning Press just like our reading curriculum & look forward to seeing how it will go. 

It was harder to keep three siblings occupied throughout our schoolwork than it was to teach a kindergartner. Eloise was easier to entertain at three turning four than two almost two year olds.

Eloise, Owen & Anson- The Nest class of 2029 & 2031 respectfully. Robby & I just calculated when these kids would be 18 & laughed outloud...it sounds SO futuristic!

Now all of the previously listed curriculum choices & assigned work may sound like a lot but here is how our usual day is broken down:

• CC memory work review- 15 minutes after breakfast & anytime we are in the car
• Handwriting- 10-15 minutes in the morning
• Math & Reading lessons- 30 minutes each in the afternoon
• Reading out loud- Char to us- 15 minutes later in the day or evening

This totals about an hour & forty five minutes which leaves plenty of time for this....

A friend & roommate from college came in from New Mexico to visit family & stopped by to see us. Her sweet Sarah & Charlotte are just about a month apart in age. Tessa started the first CC campus in her town & was the director. I was & am so proud of her as that is a big undertaking. How special to be on the same road many years later.

Walking this road in a community of other like minded people is such an encouragement. There are some REALLY hard moments whether it be days full of whining & complaining (me included), disobedience, horrible attitudes or just rambunctious two year old twins whose goal at this point in life is to destroy things or injure themselves. I am worn out & I look back our checklist & feel like it was a horrible day because we didn't get certain assignments done. 

Education is so much more than learning about history, science, reading, math, spelling, language etc. It is also about learning though life experiences both exciting & mundane in the context of a family engaging with others. It is about knowing what it takes to run a household, how to care for a newborn & how to work hard amongst lots of distractions. It is about playing & enjoying what God has given us. It is about dealing with sin, both your own & someone else's, It is about reconciliation & reminding each other of the gospel. It is about using those light bulb moments to point a child to a greater understanding of who God is, how he works & increase their adoration of Him.

One of our primary reasons we have chosen to educate at home alongside Classical Conversations is to provide the foundation for a biblical worldview, to help our children know God & equip them to make Him known wherever they are & whatever they are doing once they leave our Nest .  An article I read recently from a Classical Conversations publication  (under the Subject Integration title) helped me understand in more depth how all the pieces of what we are studying fit together & reveal more of God's story through all of time. What a way to think about learning! 

I should drop the idea of a "perfect" home school day  (because mine has a lot of checked boxes next to subjects) & pray that my focus would be to shepherd our children's hearts to know & love the Lord through our studies. As challenging as days feel, I look at the faces of these children entrusted to our care, try to imagine what joy precious Arlo will bring to our family & continue to ask the Lord for wisdom as we move forward through the years of bringing up our little brood. 

Some family faves: Henderson~Ziel~Shiach

It is always sweet to look back upon years of relationships with people from various times & places. Over the course of a couple months we were able to spend time with some very special people. 

Graeme & Anita are the couple that Rob lived with when he was in Australia, he proposed to me in their home, they have prayed for us & love us. The feeling is mutual. They usually make it over to the US once every 2-3 years & we are always excited for their arrival! This visit was a quick one & they stayed with Bob & Jeannine which I am positive was much more restful than sleeping here ; ) The four of them spent an entire day & evening with us & we had a wonderful time. It took about 3 seconds for the girls to remember how much they loved their Aussie "grandparents" & they quickly convinced them for a cuddle on the couch. They got their blankets & were cozy in no time at all! The girls were in charge of picking a movie & chose The Rescuers Down Under....perfectly appropriate. 

We took a walk down to the creek & I will say five adults on four kids is so easy!

I had to include a picture of the boys with Grammy & Papa.

We cooked a delicious Tex-Mex meal & ate with Rob when he got home from work that afternoon followed by a quick photoshoot on the front lawn.

They always come bearing gifts that we love including little Uggies for the kiddos, Aussie stuffed animals & various other items. This time was no different! One special gift this time was for Arlo. Anita came across a large piece of cowboy fabric that is just darling & will fit right into the corral for the buckaroos. I hope to make a quilt or blanket or some swaddling clothes....that might be the easiest ; ) Speaking of those stuffed animals, our collection includes a koala, kangaroo, wombat, emu & a kookaburra. I love them all but this morning around 5:45am, two little guys hopped in my bed & I was too tired to take them back. I told them if they made any noise they would be headed back to their beds. They took my advice & were quiet but little did I know, the kookaburra had hitched a ride & was soon making his presence known. Taken from the San Diego Zoo website page about kookaburras..."The call sounds like a variety of trills, chortles, belly laughs, and hoots. It starts and ends with a low chuckle and has a shrieking "laugh" in the middle." Isn't that exactly what you want to hear when you are attempting to sleep after having already been awakened twice in the past 5 hours? I was soooooo irritated & actually threw that kookaburra across the room setting off one more "shrieking laugh." Anson was deeply offended & went to retrieve him right away. He is hidden tonight : )  We love all their gifts, even the kookaburra ; )  The countdown is on until they buy another set of plane tickets!

The next family that we were able to catch up with are the Ziels.  Words cannot describe how special this family is to us. We knew them for all but 3 months of our time in Orlando & spent oodles of time together. They moved from Orlando to Colorado in early June & planned their route to stay at the Nest partway through the drive. The girls just about died when we told them who would be sleeping over! Anna & Clara were just 4 & 2 when we met them & Alex was about a month away from being born. What a crazy time for our lives to intersect! Cathy was my go-to mama for questions or a shoulder to cry on, a major encouragement to me & wife to a husband that was a good friend to Rob. We were sooooo sad to say farewell when we left Orlando & had not seen them in a year until their van pulled up! Happy Day for all involved!

One extra sweet thing regarding this family. A few months ago I was talking to the girls about how you can call families by their last name such as "the Valentines"  & I mentioned that this family is called "the Ziels." Eloise looked completely shocked & said "Their last name isn't Valentine? But they are our family so we should all have the same name!" She was actually a little aggravated by this point in the conversation. What a wonderful thing to remember though for a little one that moved just before her third birthday! They did feel like our family & as I shared with the girls, they are our family in Christ that we will someday spend an eternity with. A quick visit was so refreshing & made me miss them even more than I did before. Colorado is definitely on the list for a family trip!

Last but certainly not least is my friend of nearly 25 years & my maid of honor who now lives within 15 minutes of our home! Lisa & her husband Euan welcomed a precious baby boy named Liam in April. I had a doctors appointment the morning that we expected she would be in labor & planned to swing by for a quick visit. I texted to ask which room she was in & received a picture of a beautiful baby boy with a message that said "Can't wait for you to meet Liam!" I about fell out of my chair & could hardly wait to leave my appointment. I raced up to Mother-Baby & walked into a moment that will forever be special to me. I got to meet Liam when he was only a couple hours old which is something I never imagined would happen after all the years we have spent living in different cities. My heart felt so full snuggling this baby boy & watching a friend I have known since I was eight enjoying her first few hours of motherhood. Euan took the picture below & I love that you can see my mini baby bump. We didn't even know it was Arlo yet, Liam's buddy come October!

Their family of three joined us for an evening in June. The guys watched the Stanley Cup Final & you can guess who Euan was rooting for. Those two acted like Liam was the youngest of five kids & let all four of ours take turns getting snuggles. The boys talk about Liam often especially when we talk about Arlo being born & they will say "so yittle, yike Yiam!" Precious!

You would think it would have been easy to catch the gorgeous mommy of "yittle Yiam" but apparently she was good at avoiding the lens ; )

We look back over years of forming friendships, the addition of children, moves, tears, celebrations & everything in between. We look back & are thankful, we look forward knowing that God's story isn't over yet & we are thankful still.

Celebrating Charlotte- 6 years old!

Charlotte Grace has been six for nearly a month now & all the celebrating is over but boy was it a two week long shindig of sweet treats & outings! It all started on the 4th of July. We happened to be down in Kingwood visiting my parents. The uncles came over bearing gifts. The funniest part was when Charlotte opened the gift from Uncle Scott that happened to be a skirt she already had along with a shirt she had in a different color. I had already shared that information with the gift giver. Charlotte was actually very polite but Eloise jumped in & reminded Charlotte very loudly that she already had that skirt. Ha! It made us laugh. Uncle Kyle scored big with wrapping up some super cute athletic shorts & T-shirt. Some weeks she has worn them for 4 days straight begging me not to wash them. She also received a beautiful charm bracelet & some $$ for Barnes & Noble. She likes to receive gifts...don't we all? 

We decided to start birthday month off right with a cupcake made by Aunt Sharon & some birthday singing. Aunt Sharon iced all the cupcakes & brought sprinkles for the girls to decorate with. I am sure you can imagine which sister was particular & which coated every centimeter in sugar while proceeding to lick the rest off her fingers & out of the bowl (see crazy eyes below). We didn't care though....it was birthday month & we all like to be sugared up! The "6" candle was one my mom had used for either me or my brothers & looked pretty large & in charge on the cupcake as the sweet girl blew it out. 

Grammy & Papa spent an afternoon & evening with us the following week to celebrate before they left for Orlando. We went all out & stuck a candle in a cookie. She didn't mind at all! 

We took a short hiatus from celebrating until the day before the big day when she got to go on a surprise date with her Daddy. She was thrilled & got ready super duper fast. She hugged us all goodbye then hopped in the big red truck which is a treat in itself for the kids since only three carseats fit meaning they never ride in it : ) 

First stop was to pick out her first "grown up" bible. Since Charlotte started reading she is always on the look out for books with ZERO pictures. She cannot read all the words but skims every page for the ones she can read. This was cute at the beginning when she would say "it says 'the' or 'it'" over & over. She is far beyond that now but still as cute as she can be. We read the Jesus Storybook often with our bunch & absolutely love it. As the girls are growing and asking more questions, we have started to read from our bibles the scripture that correlates with whatever story we are reading. The most common question is "did that really happen? Was that person real?" It is so exciting to have these conversations with them & it has led to Charlotte asking to take my bible to her bed to read at night. She was excited to pick out her very own dark purple with a pretty design on the front bible. We had a good laugh one evening when there was still some noise coming from the girl's room FAR past bedtime & when Rob went to check it out Charlotte was saying "I just want to read my bible!" He came out & said "Can you really tell someone to stop reading their bible?" We are praying for those pages to be worn out as she reads & learns more about Jesus.  Next stop was to see Inside Out & filled their bellies up with movie treats. They both loved it & want the rest of us to see it. Last stop was to eat lunch at Chili's which along with Chuy's is a favorite place to eat for this six year old. GREAT day out & about with a dad who loves his little lady.

While they were away, we were very busy getting ready for an evening celebration with friends. I took the other three with me to Party City & a bookstore where we stocked up on decor & Eloise picked out a gift. The best part was when we returned to the Expedition after shopping for over an hour & found the rear door open exposing our froggy potty the boys used about ten times each before we could even get out of the car. As we all say, I'm losing my marbles. I was glad to see the carseats, a double stroller, a pack n play & of course the beloved froggy potty. Once home, the little guys went to sleep while Elo & I got down to business. I just melt looking back at pictures that seem as though they were just taken.

Eloise was a great helper & wanted to do everything by herself. I had to figure out a way to play along. We made it, the decor was up just in time for the birthday girl to walk back in the door sharing about all the fun they had on their date. That evening, two families we have come to know & love through church joined us for dinner & cake. Between our three families there are 12 kids that are 7 & under. Super loud & fun. They all enjoy each other & we enjoyed visiting & watching. We had burgers & hotdogs with all the fixins. The kids picnicked on the floor, the moms were in the kitchen & the dads were found sitting in the child size chairs at the playroom table. I SO wish I would have taken a picture of that.  

 

Our oven went out the night before which some might think it would be an inconvenience but like the optimist I am, I found it quite convenient & quickly ordered my most favorite cake in the whole wide world. Nothing but the best for Char! It was was from Nothing Bundt Cakes, double chocolaty chip with the classic icing. Seriously delicious & all of us agreed. 

If there is anything Charlotte truly hates in life right now it is being the center of attention. She told me the day of the party that she wanted to cancel it & that no one was allowed to come over. I was shocked because she is always begging to hang out with these families. I asked a few questions & found that she did not want them to come because she did not want anyone to sing the happy birthday song. Sweet, shy girl. We decided not to cancel the party & shared with a group of confused kids that instead of singing happy birthday, we were all going to yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" before she blew out the candle. It was short & sweet & kept a special girl comfortable in her own skin. 

 Here's the whole crew being super compliant with the photographer ; )

We stayed up late, crashed then woke up on July 13th reminiscing of a very special day when we met our little bundle of joy for the first time. Perfectly sweet & perfectly chubby. 

We enjoyed breakfast then moved right along to gift opening.  Eloise was SOOOOO excited to give Charlotte her gift which included some bookmarks she spent about 30 minutes picking out while the trunk of my car was wide open. She was even more excited that Char loved the bookmarks & gave her a big hug.

We did the shopping for the boys & got an etch a sketch which has been a big hit of course....has been for many years right?  Charlotte kept thanking them & even though they didn't know what was going on, they received multiple hugs & responded with grins.

Charlotte got to work right away on her first drawing. Within minutes she came to show me & Eloise blurted out "That looks just like California Char!" "That" being the only thing other than straight lines. I guess our US geography focus is paying off ; )  I have enjoyed the etch a sketch too & am perfecting the shape of Texas.

After the morning celebration, Robby headed to work & G.Gran came over to deliver a gift & keep the younger three kids while Charlotte & I went on a date. Her gift from G.Gran was super fun. She got a book about gardening, pots, a watering can, gloves, potting soil & a starter sunflower seed. She & Paw Paw went to pick out some seeds & she got to work. All are potted & being watered mostly every day. It has offered some good lessons in discipline when she has skipped a day & looked outside to see some major drooping. It's been a hot few weeks! All are looking great today : )  

The two of us hopped in the car which is an incredibly quick process with a big girl who rides in a booster & buckles herself! We headed over to an outdoor mall to spend some birthday money, grab lunch & treat her to her very first pedicure. 

A few laughable moments:

• We were in Old Navy looking at a dress. I grabbed two sizes to see which fit better. Not even thinking about the change from grabbing things in 4T or 5T to trying outfits on I said, "alright, let's go to the fitting room!" She panicked & said loudly "I AM NOT TAKING MY CLOTHES OFF!" That is exactly what you want your child to say in a public place ; ) She hid inside a clothes rack until I coaxed her out saying that maybe she could try it on over her clothes which is exactly what we did. 
• She made out like a bandit with Barnes & Noble money & just about wore me out looking for the perfect things. She really enjoys maps whether looking at them, tracing or freehand drawing them so she was intent on buying a geography book. I asked at the desk & they led us to a section that had about 12 books total. The one she fell in love with was basically a geography textbook that was more detailed than any maps I have seen. The only drawback was it cost $30 of her $50. The nice man led her to the children's section & showed her an atlas more appropriate for her age. She would have none of it & was happy to spend that much on her favorite book. She spent the rest on a travel coloring book, go figure & about 10 more bookmarks. They have kept her busy for hours.
• Last stop was a darling little girls salon & spa. I had prepped her about what to expect for a pedicure but apparently it wasn't enough. She was apprehensive about the pink foamy bubbles until the sweet lady started distracting her with questions. The straw that broke the camel's back was when she rubbed sparkly lotion all over her legs. I saw Charlotte tense up & she tried to be okay with it but all of the sudden her face got really serious & she said "I'm not so sure about those sparkles all over my legs. Actually, I really don't like them at all." Ha! Later she told me "I really liked my pedicure but am so sorry I told that lady I didn't like the sparkles. That wasn't very kind. I tried to make it better when I told her how much I liked the sparkles on my toes." She was so cute. The finished product looked fabulous complete with a toe ring. 

Lunch was at Sonic which was a little gross since it was 1,000 degrees at our outdoor mall. One perk was that Charlotte scored some super cool sunglasses.

Bad news was that I got completely dehydrated & by the time we stopped at one more store on the way home I told Charlotte that if I collapsed on the ground & was unable to speak she should tell the person helping me that I didn't drink enough water. She asked me about every 3 seconds if it was really going to happen. Poor dear, I really had her worried. Thankfully I made it home & did my collapsing on the couch. I felt so dizzy, threw up & took a few hours of drinking water to start feeling well again. All worth it though!

Last bit on the birthday. Charlotte had asked Rob if she could stay up all night long on her birthday. He said "absolutely!" Once the other kiddos were in bed, we talked about the night she was born & how special she was. We moved to the couch & she thought we should watch a movie so we rented "Night at the Museum." I was dozing off until she said she was hungry so we all moved to the kitchen table & enjoyed some ice cream & birthday cake. We finished the movie & she was still pretty chipper. The rest of our evening was comprised of having an etch a sketch competition, working a puzzle & playing a game where we describe animals & guess what they are. We were approaching midnight. If I had taken photos of our nocturnal party they would have shown Charlotte bouncing of the walls, Robby fighting falling asleep & me scowling at Robby mouthing, "This is all your fault." All of the sudden she exclaimed she was really tired & asked if we could have a sleepover in our bed. We jumped for joy & thought I don't care where you sleep, let's just get there as fast as possible! 

It was a wonderful few weeks of celebrating our sweet Charlotte. Six has been a great year for her so far! Six sounds big but seven, oh my! Can't believe that one is next!