Girl Scout Camp

This past Saturday, I took Addy & her Girl Scout troop to camp for the day.

We left Sienna around 7:15 & arrived at Camp Wind-e-mere around 8:00 which gave the girls some time to trade SWAPS with girls from other troops before opening ceremonies. (SWAPS stands for Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere & they are little trinkets that the girls make & trade with other girl scouts.) Addy had lots of fun trading SWAPS & her favorite was a balloon with a happy face drawn on it.

Around 8:45, we walked over to the flag circle for the opening ceremony.

After that, we had a couple hours before our first session started so we went for a hike & explored the campgrounds. 

This is some of our troop standing atop Chigger Hill during our hike.

Since Addy & her troop are all first year Daisies, we did not spend the night at camp. But a lot of older troops did. So during our hike, we stopped at several campsites & the other girl scouts let our troop come in & see their sleeping quarters. So they got to see inside of some tepees, flats, and tents. And here is Addy sitting in one of those tents.

After our hike, we ate lunch & then waited for our first session to start.

Our first session was a service project & it was to pick up brush along the trail to Chigger Hill. All the girls were given a pair of gardening gloves to wear. Addy got a pair of sticky orange gloves. 

She said they made her a tree frog & tried to use them to climb a tree. (It did not work by the way.)

As you can see from the pictures, Addy did great during the service project. She was very engaged & seemed to really enjoy picking up the sticks & helping out. I was so proud of her!

Once the girls had filled the wagon with sticks from the trail, the leader of the service project pulled it over to a big open area & our girls then separated the sticks by size. They sticks were to be used to make campfires later that night.

After the girls completed their service project, we moved on to the next session which was learning how to build a fire. The volunteer taught the girls about the different kinds of sticks used in a fire; kindling, tender & logs. Then she had the girls go search Chigger Hill & see if they could find some of each.

This log was so big that it took 3 girls to carry it!

After collecting wood, the girls were shown how to make an "A" with the wood as a base & taught the rest of the basics for building a fire.

Our 3rd session for the day was Addy's favorite! It was lead by this lady, Chickadoo Suz.

Chickadoo Suz had chickens

and the girls were able to pet them.

And then they made a chicken out of a pinecone & fake feathers.

Addy had her 'C' that day & C is for chicken! How perfect was that!

Here's Addy's finished chicken. As always, my little artist did a super job!

The last session of the day was to play games & sing songs. There were bubbles

and hula hoops

and empty cookie boxes to use as building blocks that they could play with. 

And since it was the last session, Addy & her troop got to stomp on all the boxes & flatten them. Here they are waiting til the count of 3.

And here they are stomping!

And then they learned a few camp songs. 

Addy and the rest of our girls were all pretty exhausted after a long day at camp, so we didn't make them go to the bridging ceremony, especially since they were are not bridging this year! So instead, we let them play a few games with an older troop for the last hour of the day. Here they are playing a game called 'Little Sally Walker.' Addy participated for a little bit & then she came & sat in my lap & drew pictures on some paper I had.

And here is a final picture of our troop, Daisy Troop 3124. What an awesome bunch of girls!

Addy was really upset when we left camp. (She was exhausted & she really didn't eat anything for lunch, just snacks throughout the day and I'm sure both of these added to her crankiness.) She was insistent that we stay and make s'mores & sleep in a tent. 

Hopefully next year baby girl, hopefully next year!

The Weekend Before Last

The weekend before last Nick was out of town on a boys golf trip. That means I had the kids by myself all weekend. And let me tell you, it was a BUSY weekend! Here's what we did...

Friday night we went to an outdoor movie night at Addy's school. The PTO set up a big blow up screen & played Wreck It Ralph. 

We got there about an hour before the movie started and met up with our Girl Scout troop. We sat on blankets on the ground & ate popcorn & candy. About 30 minutes into the show, Alex was ready to go. He leaned over to me & said "Mommy, this movie is dangerous. We need to go home." So we did. But we sure had a lot of fun while we were there.


Saturday morning, Addy had a baseball game. As always, she played great & really enjoyed herself. And this time, they had more Angels in the Outfield to help out with the kids so that us parents could sit back and watch. Here is Addy with her awesome Angel Will.


After the game, we ran up to the pet store to look at the animals. Addy could stay & watch the mice all day long.


Look at this little guy. We almost brought him home!


Sunday we went downtown to the Houston Autism Festival.

The kids got their faces painted while I looked at the booths and got some information on different therapy centers in Houston.


Alex got his face painted like a Ninja Turtle & Addy got her's painted like a cow. She's 'mooing' in this picture.


After the Autism Festival, we walked across the street to the Houston Aquarium. It was our first time to go there. Of course Addy loved seeing all the aquatic animals but I was not very impressed.

And since I was disappointed with the Aquarium & it was on the way home, we went to the zoo. My plan was to first check out the parking lot & see how busy it was, but Addy saw the zoo signs & then we really didn't have a choice anymore.

We rode the carousel

and looked at the animals & fed the giraffes. Sadly my phone went dead early on so I didn't get to take very many pictures at the zoo.

Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end of the weekend & ready for Daddy to get home.

Southeast Texas State Fair

A couple of weeks ago Nick & I took the kids to the Southeast Texas State Fair in Beaumont.

First we rode the ferris wheel.

And then the carousel.

Then we went over to the kids section and let them ride a few rides by themselves.

Then we rode this little roller coaster. They really wanted to ride the big Crazy Mouse roller coaster, but Alex was too short. Oh well, maybe next year.

Then we rode the spinning bears ride. The kids enjoyed it but it made me sick to my stomach. There was way too much spinning in a very small warm space. 

The kids got some ice cream.

And of course we had to bring Addy to see the animals. Here she is in the petting zoo petting a goat. She knew what every animal was, including the water buffalo. (By the way, I didn't know that it was a water buffalo until she told me. But then again, I'm not the animal expert that Addy is.)

And here she is petting a show cow. (Is that right, show cow? Are the animals that the FFA kids raise called show animals? Maybe I should ask Addy, she would probably know, lol!)

And a turkey.

And a bunny. (The rabbits were so cute that I have totally been thinking about getting her one as a pet since we went to the fair. )

The temperature was just right +  it wasn't too crowded + we ate food on a stick + blew way too much money = a perfect afternoon at the Southeast Texas State Fair

Can't wait til next year!

Happy Easter

I guess since Easter was 2 weeks ago I should finally share some pictures with you guys.

We usually go visit both Nick's & my parents for Easter but this year Addy was sick so we ended up staying home & celebrating with just the 4 of us. (And it was a good thing that we decided to stay home because by the end of the day, I had caught it & was sick too.)

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Saturday night the Easter Bunny hopped by to drop off the kids' Easter baskets. He left Alex some Chuggington trains & a Switch & Go Dino & he left Addy some Baby Einstein DVDs & a few books about animals.

They loved it all! Great job Easter Bunny!

After checking out their Easter baskets, the kids spent the rest of the morning dying eggs.

And then it was time for lunch.

The worst part of missing Easter with our families was that I had to cook! (Well, it wasn't really the worst part, but it did suck!) It was my first time to make a ham but it was really easy & turned out great. I also made mashed potatoes, broccoli, rolls & used a few of the eggs the kids dyed to make deviled eggs.

After lunch, the kids hunted Easter eggs in the backyard.

Here's a video of Alex looking for eggs.

And here's one of Addy.

And a few pictures too.

And here they are checking out their loot!

And for dessert I made an Easter Bunny cake and the kids helped decorate it.

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A few days before Easter, Alex had his playgroup Easter party. Here are a few pictures from that...

World Autism Awareness Day

Tuesday April 2nd was the 6th annual World Autism Awareness Day! 

In honor of the day, Nick, the kids & I all wore blue shirts for the day & I painted my fingernails blue. And after school I brought the kids to Build A Bear so that Addy could make one of their new blue Autism Speaks bears. (And they each also made a My Little Pony Build A Bear.)

Not only did we celebrate World Autism Awareness Day, we are also lighting it up blue all April long in hopes of raising awareness. So all this month we will have out our door hanger, 

our yard signs

and our blue lights.

I hope you'll join us in lighting it up blue all April long!