Just like Annie

This year Annie started playing fast pitch softball.

Her amazing coaches encouraged her to try out catcher.

She loves it.

When she gets home from practice she asks me to pitch 

(my wild pitches) as she practices.

She spends a loooooot of time like this:

So the boys spend a lot of time watching like this:

Monkeys See, Monkeys Do.

Gonna have some killer leg muscles.

Hamster Valentine Box Tips

Annie's Hamster Valentine Box

Tips

I know what you are thinking,

"That's a hamster?!  I thought it was a cat!"

But my girl wanted a hamster box.

So it's a hamster.  

Trust me it looked like a hamster in my head before we started.  

 Lucky you, you can now make a hamster OR a cat!

It's just paper Mache & slap on fur, so

there really aren't "directions" just some tips.

2 days needed.

The most helpful tip is what we papered over.

We stuffed 2 gallon ziplocs full of paper towels and duct taped them together.

Stuff it good!   It needs to be strong!

Don't worry when you remove them later just stack them up & you can still use them.

Then, they just Paper Mache.

When it is dry cut 3 side of a square (steak knife) to make 

a door flap in the belly & pull out the paper towels.

Use a glue gun to wrap with fur.

The front and back are tricky but you'll get the hang of it...wrap it like a gift, butting the colors up against each other. Start on the top and wrap downwards.  Anywhere the hamster was a little odd shaped we added folded paper towels under the fur to round him out.

Then, add your embellishments,

heart buttons & whiskers stolen from our broom.  

We used fun foam for the eyes & nose.  

Ears cut from fur with longer flaps in the back.

 I just freehand cut her name out of cardstock.

She loves her little hammy.

Even if it does look like a cat.

Always up to something...

Annie has her eye on a camera:

She has decided she want to be a photographer, and since she borrows my phone to take pictures...I agreed, 
she needs to save up for a camera.  
She's halfway there.

Her latest venture was a rootbeer stand.

Last week she got busy making signs,

washing down the stand,

and after 2 days of prep she opened for business!

It was a REALLY hot day.

For the first hour she waited patiently.

Rocco waved signs and hollered "Rootbeer for sale!"

Her only customer actually WAS Rocco.

After his one free rootbeer he spent 

3 bucks buying everyone another.

Annie was happy to take his money.

And Kit...

well he just drank,

and drank,

and drank rootbeer,

alllll afternoon.

And just when everyone was getting a little discouraged,

The customers started rolling in and everyone perked up.

The next hour she made 32 bucks! 

Thanks to some very very kind & generous tippers.

She's already scheming what she can do next.

And I'm sure she'll have her little Nikon before she knows it.

(Kit was sent in to brush his teeth)

Golden Girl

The 3 littlest boys & I just picked up these:

because today is Annie's Golden Birthday.

11 on the 11th.

So the table is set like this:

with her gifts wrapped in gold.

But she's not here.

She's here:

in North Dakota.

Doing this:

with Grandpa Doyle, Aunt Trish, Dad & 2 brothers.

And she's pretty good at it cause here is today's haul:

I won't see her on her birthday, 

so I sent her a birthday video 

& talked to her on the phone.

But it's okay, cause everyday is golden with this girl:

And when they roll into town on the morning train...

we'll be ready.

Annie:

image

The Time is Near...

The date has been set.  

The doctor told me to check into the hospital 
on Monday to meet this baby.

I'm having lots of contractions today so 
I'm hoping to make it through the weekend.

It's the first time I've not been anxious to just be done.

Maybe since it's the last one?

So, today was preparation day.

I washed and folded little pink & blue onsies for the hospital.

We dug the infant seat out of garage and

Annie helped me prepare the bassinet.

She seems to be thinking a lot 

about whether she's getting another brother or how things 

will change if she's no longer the only girl in the family.

The day seemed a little emotional for us both, so

after the work was done, we decided to have one last girls' day

 before the babe would be joining us.

First, we hit the outlets to buy some blues for our guys. 

(And of course, matching shirts for the boys to wear to the hospital.)

Frozen yogurt for lunch.

Then we saw

All the while the contractions were getting stronger 

& I was just hoping my water wouldn't break before 

our fun was done. 

We still had to hit the local Mall 

'cause she had a little money burning a hole in her wallet.

You can't go wrong when the girl you are hanging with has pandas on her nails and pulls money from her 

wiener dog wallet to pay for her lip-gloss.

And then guess what happened?

I saw a boy checking her out...

CHECKING HER OUT!

I sure didn't tell her, and sorry folks, but I I know you will find this hard to believe, but I didn't even snap his picture for you all. 

 I just wanted to say...She's 10 buddy.

I didn't.

What I did do was smile, as I watched her pay at Gap Kids for a little cupcake charm to add to her charm bracelet.  

Because yes, she is only 10 but she's so grown up too.

And who knows how things are going to change around here.

We had fun wondering if girl days would be 

forever changed come Monday.

Only God knows.

And we know His plan will be perfect.

Monday will be here before we know it...

...and now we finally are ready.

Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Our family's favorite book is 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Annie just read it for about the 5th time

for a book report.  They have book reports once a month

and her teacher gives them a lot of leeway, "Be Creative!"

So this month Annie decided to do a Power Point presentation on the characters in her book.  We had a LOT of fun.  A lot.

I'll spare you the full report but here are some of my favorite parts:

The church busybody we used is her 

Aunt Cake who also happens to be her gym teacher.

We slipped in pics of some unsuspecting classmates.

Elmer ~ The pastor's kid who is tired of being Joseph year after year.  Even as a teenager his dad still makes him.  (His mom helped me by snapping the pic but wouldn't tell him why :)

 Alice Wendelkin ~ The Angelic looking girl who plays Mary every year.  She is a bit of a goodie goodie. (Annie's BFF)

Herdman’s Cat

The mailman would not deliver any of the Herdman’s mail because of the cat.

It would attack anything it could see out of it’s one eye.

Now here is where the real hoodlums come in:

Ralph Herdman

Oldest Herdman Kid

Joseph - No one else dared to volunteer to be Joseph cause they didn't want to be beat up by Ralph.

Imogene Herdman

2^nd Oldest Herdman

She found out everyone’s weight in the nurses office and used the information to control and bully classmates.

Was smoking in the church bathroom.

Mary - Bullied Alice out of her standing Mary role by threatening to “shove a pussy willow so far down her ear that it will start to grow.”

LeRoy Herdman

3^rd oldest Herdman

Started his neighbor’s tool shed on fire with the Chemistry set he stole from the hardware store.

Got the Herdman clan to start attending church because he heard a rumor that there was unlimited dessert at church.

Wiseman- brought his families wrapped Christmas ham from the ladies aid basket, instead of frankincense, to the manger in the pageant.

   

Claude Herdman 

& Ollie Herdman

Herdmans number 4 & 5

Even the littlest Herdmans smoked.

Claude stole donuts from the fireman, who were putting out the shed fire, and stuffed them up his shirt.

Wiseman

Glayds Herdman

The youngest Herdman.

The angel of the Lord- the little church boys were afraid to be shepherds because they were afraid Gladys (being the angel of the Lord) would punch them & knock them out.

You survived our book report!

Annie has practiced her power point a million times 

& is so excited to show it to her class.

Now I love this book because it makes 

me feel like maybe my kids aren't SO wild.  

I mean our family is a crazy mess...
but hey...we're no Herdmans!

Pic from our own church Christmas pageant this year.

What's your family's favorite book?