Good Finds

I stayed out of Goodwill throughout January and part of February, but since I've allowed myself back in, I've found some fun games.
Who remembers Hangman?  This game was in great shape with all parts included. Hello $3.99.  Loads of fun happening with this game. Granny and Conleigh thorougly enjoyed themselves trying to top each other this weekend with words like Karate and Lilypad.

My other find was Goblet Jr.  I had heard about Goblet a couple of years ago from a friend at bunko. We bought the 'bigger' version for my nephew.  This Jr. version was waiting for me at GW for another $3.99.  It is great.  It is like tic-tac-toe but there are different size pieces so you can "top" someone to block them from winning.  Campbell can play too, and she can even win fair and square.

Gotta love a good deal...at least I do!!

On the what a deal note. I purchased this Pampered Chef doo-dad at a neighborhood garage sale last spring for 25 cents!!!  Why doesn't my daughter like the crust on bread? I didn't teach her that, but every time she brings home her lunchbox, the crusts are stuck in the sandwich tray.  This little ditty has eased my pain. Instead of trying to cut the crust off but leave a descent about of sandwich, now I push down and jiggle it a bit, and waa-laa, no crust!

And finally, a cute picture of a girl that I would never discount! Love this chick.

Shellacked!

My toes have been shellacked, and they like it! Shellack polish is the latest craze. It is supposed to last longer than normal nail polish.  I got it done on Friday, 2/24. Let's see how long they last.

They look black, but they are really deep purple. love!

Random pictures

Spirit night at chic-fil-a

cheerio/pipe cleaner bird feeders courtesy of kinder valentine's party.

Pretty tulips brought to me by my friend Kathleen.

Love this guy a lot!

New fun. Cash register paper taped to the floor to make art. Next stop the hall wall.

Moving Right Along

We finished basketball season. We began soccer season. We start baseball season this week.

Alex enjoyed his basketball team this year. He piqued early in the season and it was a good thing the season was finished now.

Campbell had fun in her first soccer game yesterday for Team Baltimore.  She even scored one of the two goals for her team.  It makes a big difference to be playing with friends from school.

Alex is already busy practicing baseball. I hear that he will start at first base. First game Thursday.

Peter flew away to Cleveland this morning. Cleveland. Why would someone schedule a meeting in Cleveland in February?

Thankfully, my mother-in-law was here to help keep the children alive. I was losing my mind with motherhood duties.  She made a good lunch and then I took a nap. Thank you Sarah.

Campbell had a friend over. Conleigh went to a friends and Alex chilled after baseball.

This evening we had a healthy dinner from Sonic then we watched the Amazing Race.

Last weekend my parents came to visit us in Austin. It was so nice to have them here.  They got to see Conleigh play the bells during church and watch Alex play ball.

This week we'll be getting Conleigh ready for the 3rd grade Living Museum which will be Friday morning. She has been writing a speech about William Shakespeare and has put together a great costume. I'll share a picture soon.

Also on Friday we'll celebrate Conleigh at a her 9th birthday party. We are going to the skating rink.

 I think we have 18 friends planning to skate with her.
Here we goooo....

Thursday

I met a friend for coffee this morning. No, I'm not a coffee drinker, but a shot of espresso with lots of chocolate works for me.   It was great to sit for an hour and just chat.  She asked me 'what do you want to do in 2012?' Great question. An answer didn't pop into my head.   I told her to go first (smile).  She did and I love that she takes an issue and really gets involved in it.  That is so important and was eye opening to me. Today. Today I realized that is what I need to do. Not just send money somewhere or donate some socks. I need to get involved in something and spend my time pursuing the end of the problem, if a problem is what I'm working on.  With that said, my friend told me of a meeting happening today at church at 2:00.  I decided to go.
At that meeting, we talked about 42 kids at a nearby elementary school who don't eat on the weekends unless they get food from the school on Fridays.  It was a preliminary meeting but a problem that can be solved with community effort. A mult-generational mission project for our church was one of the suggestions.  We could ask the older folks who may have time on a Friday to takeTthe bags of food to the school.  The Sunday school classes could divide the list of items and try to work a week ahead, so if we were short one week, we could take offering to shop to fill the gaps. I'm glad I went and really do want to follow through on this project.
I picked the kids up from school and we came home and played a new game I bought (at Goodwill).  Gobblet Jr.  It was a blast. Only 2 people play at a time, but it is fast and we all took turns.  The afternoon is so much more peaceful when the TV isn't on. I'm happy that the kids aren't immediately going for the tellie these days. They know that homework comes first.
I made dinner for some neighbors that have a new babe. I made chicken tetrazzini and I lucked out that it made a double batch, so I've got dinner for us ready for Friday night.
It was Spirit night for our school, so our family made our way to ChicFilA.  The classes all compete for the big panther mascot.  Another 1st grade class has consistently won this year, so Alex's class had put out a challenge to have the most classmates present, so they would win. They did it! The kids were all sweaty when we left. They had a great time seeing their friends.
What a good day! I hope yours was also a great one.

Happy Valentine's Day

Chocolate fever struck at our house again this morning!  Alex walked out of his room sneezing and coughing.  Look at what we saw:

I mean, the whole first grade had come down with something...

It was quite a site. The s'mores and massive amounts of candy seemed to heal all fevers by bath time this evening.
The Hardin crew looked mighty cute headed out to school this Valentine's day...

When Conleigh was in Kinder, she wore the shirt Campbell is wearing today.

After the kids were off to school, I hosted a small breakfast for a few of my favorite friends.  I was happy with how the dining table looked. I used dark brown burlap for the cloth and bought some red ribbon that I draped across the table. With white tulips and a few decorative hearts, the table looked really nice.

 Along with an egg casserole and blueberry french toast, I had mimosas and fruit with the finale being chocolate covered strawberries. It was really nice to have some friends over this morning.

This afternoon I went and put Campbell's class party together. It was pretty simple, so I went to each of the other kids classes too.  Peter brought home some chocolate and a sweet card. I surprised him with a new wedding ring. He lost his over a year ago and we just can't find it. I replaced it with one like he had before. Hopefully, this one will last at least 10 more years! :)

Random Thoughts

I love that my children use inflection when they pray.


My legs are so sore. I joined a gym, and my thighs are telling me about it.  Ouch!