Braces

Today Mikayla got a partial set of braces on her top teeth.  She has been so worried about having this done.  Afraid that it was going to hurt.  But everything went just fine.  The plan is to have a full set put on in about 5 years once she has done some more growing.

I told her she looks like she has the vampire teeth on that you see at Halloween time.

She chose pink and neon green rubber bands this time.  You really can't see them here.  We will need to get a better picture later.  She is still trying to get use to them.  Not wanting to smile.

Literacy Night

Every year during Dr. Seuss week the girls' school has a literacy night.  At literacy night, each person that comes gets a slice of pizza, a bottle of water, a rootbeer float and popcorn.  Each child that comes gets a free book, a book bag, pencil,  and a book mark.  They also have several different activities for the kids to do.  This year the theme was "wild about books" so everything was centered around animals.  Each activity had something to do with animals.  They made animal necklaces, animal finger prints, clay animals, animal print book bags, bear cub cupcakes, monkey mix (trail mix), etc.  Each class also made an animal themed exhibit to decorate the cafeteria.  They also have the bookfair going on so parents and children can purchase books.  Here are some pictures from the event.  Unfortunately, only Ashlee and I got to attend for a little bit because Mikayla was at home sick.

Ashlee's Class did the underwater theme.  Ashlee made this turtle.

Mikayla's class did the dinosaur theme.  Mikayla made this egg.

Dance-A-Thon

Alyssa, Ashlee, Allison and Mikayla

Ashlee and Mikayla as 80's girls

Thursday at school the girls had a Dance-A-Thon.  They got to dress-up from their favorite music era.  There were awards given to the best dancer, best costume, most money raised and the class with the most participation.  Usually they do a jog-a-thon, but due to the wet weather they decided to do a dance-a-thon instead.  Ashlee and Mikayla were not happy about having a dance-a-thon.  But after they got some "costumes" they were a bit more excited about the whole thing.  Ashlee didn't care for it.  She said she can't dance.  Mikayla loved it.  She said she wanted to keep dancing.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I went on line a couple of weeks ago to look for a chicken and rice soup recipe. I found a Turkey and Wild Rice Soup recipe. But I also found this recipe too. So I had to try it. Here is the recipe.

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)
1 pkg Double Stuffed Oreo's

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a seperate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies. VERY LARGE Cookies.

While they were cooking, if the Oreo was coming through the cookie dough, I rearranged the dough around Oreo.

Valentines Day

On Valentine's day the girls and I got our hair done. Had a quick lunch at Wendy's and then came home to prepare a Valentine's dinner for John.

Ashlee cut off about 4 inches hair. Here is her new hair style.

Our dinner wasn't anything fancy. We tried to make the table look" festive on a budget." Mikayla cut out paper hearts and wrote little sayings on each of them. The plates were $1.99 at Target. We already had the cups, napkins and tablecloth. I had got the girls a little somthing for Valentines Day (those are their bags on the table).

Mikayla made this note for John and had it on his plate waiting for him.

The girls hid and when John came home they yelled "Suprise." Dinner consisted of pork chops, potato's, salad, bread and jello. Ashlee made valentine cupcakes for desert.

Beauty and the Beast

Ashlee and Mikayla's school has been working on performing the play Beauty and the Beast for a little over 5 months now. Tonight we got to see the perfomance. Ashlee and Mikayla were villagers. The play was an hour and a half long, but very well done. Especially when you consider the fact that the whole play consisted of Kindergarten thru Fifth graders. The costumes and props were great. All the actors had their lines memorized. My mom said it was better than a play she saw performed by college students several years ago.

Family

This weekend LB was in town for the Tulare Farm Show. Saturday night Danny, Teresa, Sam, Heidi, Carlee, Preston and Audrey came over for dinner. Teresa brought valentines for the kids. The kids loved their valentine goodies. Watching them open their valentines, reminded me of Christmas. They were so excited to open them and began eating their goodies right away.

Carlee taking pictures with Ashlee's digital camera

Preston taking pictures