Listmania!

Greetings! Well, if you've checked my blog anytime in the past two months you've probably wondered where I drifted off to. Maybe you've thought Ugh! When will there be a new poll?! Or perhaps you've pondered Hasn't she done anything post-worthy in the past two months? In short, Yes! Yes, I have! But I have also been very busy with finishing up our school year.

I discovered about April that we were behind in our schooling, and we would not be finishing in the middle of May like I had originally planned. This was mostly due to the fact that we were participating in our local home school group's annual play. Now, I'm not complaining about being involved in the play; just stating the fact that once we went to two practices a week our school lessons went down to about three lessons a week. o_O This put us grossly behind. But after we finally had our play performance on May 15, the girls and I were able to buckle down with our lessons, and we finished school last Friday. Yay!

On to my actual blog post. ☺

♥♥♥♥♥ (Side note: I love when people add hearts to their Facebook postings. If you add at least one heart to your status post you can be assured that I will probably *like* your posting. Another side note: isn't it interesting that Facebook has changed the word "like" from a state-of-being verb to an action verb?)

Every school year I learn more as a teacher. I truly enjoy seeing the girls discover new facts and remember things I've taught them. And it's a blessing to be able to watch them grow and mature.

Now, I love lists. And since this post is titled "Listmania!" that means there is a list coming, and here it is: a compilation of 50 of the things I've learned or thought about, etc. throughout this school year. ☺

1. God's creation is simply amazing.
2. So many aspects of our natural world point to His hand in forming our earth.
3. Both the tallest and the oldest trees in the world can be found in California.
4. Bees see ultra-violet light the best.
5. Bees are fascinating.
6. But still scary.
7. Hummingbirds see ultra-red light the best.
8. I just spelled the word hummingbirds as "hummingbURds." :|
9. The English language is irritating.
10. The "schwa" sound is not necessary.
11. So are silent letters like "Kn" or "Gn" or "CK".
12. "Ph" should not be a sound.
13. Squanto used fish as fertilizer.
14. Squanto made a dandy corn-on-the-cob.
15. Louis the 14th had a chess board lawn.
16. He liked to use his noble court as the chess pieces.
17. The Native Americans had a lot of reasons to dislike European settlers.
18. There is a TON of home school material published.
19. My wonderful friend Lisa Jeske knows about a lot of it. ☺
20. It is wonderful to have a support group of fellow home schooling mothers.
21. No matter how good my intentions I am not able to start school before 9:30AM.
22. My two-year-old has the ability to greatly hinder our school lessons.
23. So does my six-year-old.
24. And my eight-year-old. **wink**
25. Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, and Barney the Dinosaur movies have become my school saviors.
26. Paige and Emma will try to sit by the toy room door so they can sneak a peak at whatever movie Abby is watching.
27. Neither of them realizes that I am fully aware of what they are doing by the door.
28. My basement is bitterly cold in the winter.
29. My girls and I do not like having school in our basement past November.
30. Having school upstairs in the living room is a workable alternative.
31. I ♥ Apologia Press.
32. Songs help Paige remember facts.
33. It's a blessing that she and I like to sing.
34. Emma truly understands Biblical concepts and ideas.
35. What's more she ENJOYS them and applies them in everyday situations.
36. My childrens' favorite subject is art.
37. I am not an artsy person.
38. I like using cardstock to make cheat-sheets for my girls.
39. I ♥ my laminator!
40. I have to ignore my phone during school.
41. I also have to ignore the computer.
42. By early May I had finally learned the best way to teach Science to my girls.
43. It's a good thing that copy paper is cheap.
44. Taking a few days instead of one day to complete annual testing works very well!
45. We enjoy our local library.
46. You can put together and perform a play in two month's time.
47. The play songs will get stuck in your head.
48. After the play is over you will continue to sing all those songs.
49. Every time Abby sees anything red, white, and blue she will think it's part of our play.
50. Watching children and young adults act and perform on stage is so much fun!

Toe Day!

...not to be confused with other holidays. ☺

For my birthday my generous aunt/godmother sent me a surprise birthday gift in the mail: two gift cards to a nail salon and one to Panera Bread. In honor of my 30th birthday she wanted my mom and I to be able to spend a day together doing something special. What a treat! My mom and I were floored! Right away Mom suggested we take Paige and Emma as well so they could join in the fun. The girls have never had a pedicure before.

Today the four of us went to Nails by Jordan and had our toes done. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch at Panera. (And I snagged some cinnamon crunch bagels and hazelnut cream cheese to go. Yum!) Then we shopped a little. Despite the un-Spring-like temperature of 35° and the blustery wind we had a great day! As soon as we got back home from our day with Mom Paige made her own nail salon in our bathroom! She even filled the bathtub up with warm water and laid out various lotions for our feet. Inventive! And now Emma wants to have a pedicure party for her birthday in the summer. :)

Emma kept laughing while the lady massaged or buffed her feet.

The four of us. This was the only group picture we had, and of course I closed my eyes. *sigh*

My stylist (or whatever you call him) told me that I was too sophisticated for a flower on my big toe. He made an intricate sweeping design-- complete with jewels--instead. I think he just wanted a nice tip. *laughing to myself* I'm kidding. He did a very nice job!

Wow! Is that ever a closeup of my big toes!?

Emma was the first one done. Here she is at the drying station.

They are so sweet in this picture!

"Hi, Mom!"

My face doubles as a reflective panel for lunar landing crafts.

Toes: Emma, me, and Paige. Mom and I thought for sure that Paige and Emma would choose wild colors for their toes, but they both chose reds like us. Actually, the color that Emma chose was exactly the one that Mom and I were eyeing. Em certainly has a flair for style!

Girls and I. It was just the right amount of cloudy to make us all squint our eyes, thus giving us the goofiest faces possible.

Hey! How did this picture end up last?! Well, Emma's smile is a great way to say, "Good bye!"

☺

Nothing on this video except a cute smile :)

I just love Abby's face when the video ends. ☺

Thievery starts young.

Video from 11/2010

Abigail is seen here taking "quoos" from Emma's dresser. "What are those?" you ask. Well, /that is Abby-language for "quarter".

[I realized yesterday that I should really use an actual camera more often instead of my camera phone. Then I'd have better quality photos and videos. But my phone is so handy. ☺]

Facebook Rules

I've been a member of Facebook now for over two years. I've logged a lot of posts, commented on oodles of pictures, been encouraged and/or challenged spiritually, laughed my head off countless times, and made many "friends".

My friend list is comprised of family, close friends, church members, former classmates and coworkers, home school group members, and acquaintances. It goes without saying that not all of those people are believers. As such we all have a different set of ethics and etiquette that we follow, and I can't expect everyone to act in accordance to MY standards.

But if I could have my druthers I'd make Facebook a place that is child-friendly and a haven for joy where much glory is given to God, and I'd have everyone abide by the following rules:

1. Don't swear. People who know me well know that I don't swear. So if you're going to comment on something that I wrote please don't type a curse word in the box. I don't appreciate it, and other people who are reading my posts don't appreciate it either. If you want to swear in your posts, that's your prerogative, and you have every right to do so. But please know that if you keep posting swear words in your status updates I'm either going to hide you or delete you.

2. Don't fight on Facebook. If you are having a dispute with your friend "@Cynthia Reynolds", resolve it away from Facebook. Don't type a status post that describes in much detail why Cynthia is such a jerk and how you no longer want to be her friend, etc. [hypothetical situation] Think of how many people will have seen your rant. If they are friends with Cynthia then you might be gathering enemies, and you're defaming your friend to people who don't know her; that isn't fair to Cynthia. Plus, when you inevitably make up you'll have wished you hadn't have said anything negative in the first place. THIS RULE APPLIES TO YOUR SPOUSE AS WELL. Feel free, though, to post about how you need prayer because you are having some difficulties with someone.

4. Don't post revealing pictures of yourself. Not everyone wants to see these type of pictures, and also anyone that you're friends with can easily click on that picture and save it to their computer. Now you no longer have control over who has a copy of that photo.

5. Please don't type graphically gross status posts. You're kids are sick, and that's all you can think about, so you write a status update about it. This is good because now people know to pray for you during this trial. But that's all you need to say. You don't have to go into graphic detail about just how sick they are and they messes they are leaving on your sofa or about the boils that are covering their bodies. [Oops. Now I disobeyed my own rule. But you get the picture...you REALLY get the picture.]

6. If you can't think of anything else to post other than something that falls into one of the above situations, then it's best not to post. My fail-safe rule is to either just leave my status blank or encourage others by posting a Bible verse. We can all use the Word of God at any time. ☺

I, Nicole Ann Sowers, solemnly promise to abide by these rules.

After a month-long hiatus I am finally posting something. ☺

Pictures of my girlies. ☺ Love them!

 Girls and I at our quarterly shopping trip to the Mall of America. Daddy got to join us! And we are extra thankful to Grandma Lori for watching Abby that day.

 Paige and Emma made a LEGO pyramid. They wanted me to submit this picture to the LEGO Magazine. Now that I think about it I never did that. Hmmm...

 Emma, my little fashion model, was trying to come up with a suitable Easter ensemble. After she found one she was pleased with she asked me to take pictures of her.

Paige's yearly piano recital was yesterday. She did so well! We were very pleased. Also it's kind of funny that Grandma Lori told Paige specifically to "smile", and as Paige walked up to the piano she looked very somber and disgruntled. Nerves maybe? Ah well. There's always next year. ☺ And we also thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the students perform. Thank you, Miss Ana!

Okie dokie artichokie.

David will be bummed. According to my last poll more people type "Okay" than "OK". (David types it as "OK".) Nobody types it as "O.K." I guess those extra periods are simply not necessary. As for myself, I use "Okay".

I'm sure though as long I don't "K-back" David he'll be fine. That probably needs explaining: you type a ridiculously long text to someone, and all they respond to you is "K". David and I have a rule: we have to either write "OK" or "Okay" or "Alright", etc.; no typing just "K". Ha ha!

Happy typing to you all!

I actually did something crafty.

Inspired by women at church I made transparent stars for our windows. ☺

I found vellum paper at Hobby Lobby and used that for the first two stars. Then for the final star I ordered kite paper online and have been using that instead. It works really well, and the stars are very cheery on our windows!