It had been a loooooong time since I stopped by one of my favorite Monday Muse sites: Miss Aimee over in Artsyville. While there, I saw she had posted a new weekword: Flavor.  I hear that word and I think of big international festivals with lots of food, music, dancing, and more food from different cultures. However, yesterday afternoon, while enjoying the quintessential summer playdate at a friend’s – sunshine and  sprinklers in the backyard. So after making wet butt print art on the fence, the kiddos chilled out with a frozen treat. It was the first time either of my girls ate a Fudgesicle (or is it Fudgsicle?) and the results were hilarious, and full of flavor!

And thank goodness there was a handy sprinkler nearby for cleanup afterwards!

So it was just a perfectly wonderful moment this weekend when Miss A discovered she enjoyed the pure bliss that can be found in some quiet time with a book.

We took a little trip to the Botanic Gardens (that’s the place the girls are frolicking in the current title bar pics) and while the husband took Lil’ G on a stroll through the apple orchard, Miss A and I found a couple of chairs by the lake and settled in to read for a bit.

It was awesome. We were shaded by a lovely little arbor, there was a nice misty breeze from the fountain on the lake, and Miss A, my super talkative-chatty-squirmy daughter, relaxed in her chair with her book and didn’t say a peep.

I can totally handle more moments like that.

If this is what having a 7 year old will be like, I’m diggin’ it big time!

Now pardon me, I need to find a new book to read.

Sound like it might get a little stressful? It did.

So it was a moment of joyous excitement when we found out that Miss A had been accepted into a local charter school. We had hoped to enroll her there for junior high (after homeschooling her through 5th grade, but decided since the chances of getting in the school were so slim, we should start trying now).

Well, the stars aligned and things worked out in just such a way that a spot became available for her this year. We jumped at the opportunity, and I’m so glad we did.

Adjusting to life  in “regular school” (though this school is so far from regular, I don’t think it can really be called that – which is one of the reasons we like it so much) took some work for both Miss A and myself, but overall I have to say I am very happy with the switch.

One of the “benefits” of no longer being Miss A’s teacher for everything, is that now I can join the ranks of all the other moms who get treated to special surprise school projects on Mother’s Day!

Miss A made me a lovely Mother’s Day painting in art class, a card with a picture of the family and a poem written inside…

and a really neat card with a note written in Spanish!

She was so proud to present me with all her surprises, and I was so proud of her.

To all mothers – while we are the ones being appreciated today, may you appreciate your home, your family, and your life everyday (and take advantage of your special day in every way you can)!

Personally, I think he enjoys making her flip out.

Do all fathers share that? Do they all get a secret thrill out completely ticking their kids off just by repeating an oft-used and much hated turn of phrase?

I know my Dad did. Ugh. Even now I can hear him telling me “I can’t never did do anything.” You’d think, as much as that phrase annoyed me, I’d stop saying “I can’t!”

But guess what, I was a kid…”I can’t” is pretty much par for the course.

I get what he was saying, I get the message he was trying to teach me about not giving up. As an adult I can even appreciate the witty wording…but still…to this day that phrase raises my hackles.

Miss A says “I can’t” all the time. It is incredibly frustrating and I want her to cut it out and at least try her best…but I’ll tell you what…

I am VERY proud to say that I have never, not ever, responded by telling her “I can’t never did do anything.”

I just can’t do it.

As a homechool kid, it took some effort to get her involved in a troop – last year I was lucky enough to know another homeschool mom who was a troop leader and invited Aishtyn into the troop. This year that wasn’t an option, so I begged our way into another friend’s troop. It’s a good thing, because the charter school Miss A was just accepted into doesn’t have a Girl Scout troop either.

I love Girl Scouts, Miss A makes new friends, learns how to be a good citizen, and has fun doing all sorts of activities and crafts. (Like Christmas Caroling with these really cool home-made flame-less “candles” I have to show you how they made these sometime, they are really neat!)

This year, Miss A will take part in that classic Girl Scout tradition – COOKIE SELLING.

My idea of selling Girl Scout cookies involved setting up shop in front of a bookstore or StarBucks and letting the incredibly charming Miss A sell away.

Apparently, you can’t do that. To sell in commercial locations, the whole troop needs to be involved.

Plan B: the plan I think many girls implement – is to give the list to their parents to take to work. Um…no…there is no way the husband is pimping cookies at work. I know him, and he just won’t do it. (Thanks Dad, for helping me sell enough cookies when I was a kid to stack boxes higher than my head!)

So I guess it will have to be the “classic” method. Door to door solicitation. Which would be fine except for the fact that we live in the MidWest and it’s the start of January.

And therein lies my gripe with Girl Scout Cookie time.

Aside from asking girls to trek through snow and subzero temps to peddle Peanut Butter Patties, I question the wisdom of this choice for other reasons.

January? Really?

What makes you think that trying to sell people cookies the same week they are all making resolutions to lose weight and eat healthy is a good idea? Everyone just dropped all their extra cash on a gym membership or fancy piece of exercise equipment…they will have no dough left for a $4 box of Tag-a-whatevers!

And if they didn’t spend money on the above, they are probably still broke from the holidays. Not to mention completely cookied out from all the seasonal goodies and treats.

This is Miss A’s first year, so maybe I am unaware – do they sell cookies again at other times of the year?

And just to clarify, I love Girl Scouts, this is not a negative comment on them – it’s just one mom’s gripe.

Now, who wants to buy some cookies?

Miss A and her homeschool buddy Mr. J (whom you may remember from the Hawaii proposal) were the first to get behind the mic. These two are anything but shy: both loquacious and precocious, it was sure to be interesting.

My favorite moments (aside from their unsolicited commentary on Michael Jackson) included Miss A singing Feliz Navidad, and Mr J blowing the d.j.’s away by spotting Bob Rivers’ name on their title screen.

Here it is: On the air with Miss A and Mr J!

I apologize for the shaky video at first, I’ve only used my new Flip (thanks Joyce!) a few times and am still getting the hang of it it gets better later on!

And click HERE for an audio clip to skip all the extra stuff and just hear how they sounded on-air.

Hope you all had a holly jolly holiday full of love, laughter, and lots of great memories!

Aside from the fact that we’d have no money left for college (or next month’s electric bill), some stuff she asks for is very spur of the moment, Gimme! Gimme! – and that’s the kind of stuff I know she can simply do without. For the most part, though, I make sure she gets what she really wants – and will go out of my way (like ordering Charlie and Lola dolls from the UK, or digging up vintage Littlest Pet Shops on E-bay) to find and buy something if she sticks with a particular request for awhile.

Here are the two items she asked for from Santa this year:

She saw this at a friend's house and calls it a "Dog Dress Up Set." Thanks Christine for helping me locate this!

Front and center you can see the dolphin I managed to find on e-bay...apparently Sea World put out a series of LPS toys in the '90s.

Overall, I think I earn my gold Mama star in the gift department. Our Santa policy is that you can only ask for one or two things from the big man in red, because he has a lot of kids to take care of, and there just isn’t room for too many toys per kid in his sack. This way, she keeps her list with Santa (whether writing a letter to him or sitting on his lap) short and sweet – and I know the things she asks for from him are what she REALLY wants, more than anything, and that’s what I will work extra hard to make sure she finds on Christmas morning.

So I kinda brought the difficult toy hunt upon myself, because it seems Miss A has decided that if a toy can be found in a store, than that doesn’t go on the Santa list. For example, she originally planned to ask Santa for one of those FurReal cats…but then she saw it in a certain store that starts with a W and told me, “I’m not going to ask Santa for that. If it’s here in the store, you can get it for me!”

That kid is sharp.

I have to admit, I like our Santa policy – sure it can make me have to frantically hunt for things not commonly sold in stores – but it also lets my husband and I enjoy the lion’s share of credit for presents.

And yes, I admit to enjoying basking in the glow of juvenile gift gratification.

One of Miss A's craft projects from last Thanksgiving.

One of the wonderful things about homeschooling is that it gives me an excuse to make all the fun little crafty things I used to love creating when I was a kid. From cotton ball Santa Beards to handprint turkeys, I really enjoy making holiday craft projects with Miss A (and Lil’ G is starting to want to get in on the action too, now).

If you enjoy all the messy fun of glitter and glue, construction paper and crayons, popsicle sticks and googly eyes – and you don’t mind your holiday decorations consisting of freakishly odd shaped turkeys and pumpkins, then you’ll appreciate the following resource: a really neat little craft website, Crafty Crow posted a wonderful collection of Thanksgiving craft ideas all in one spot; go see what kind of Turkey Crafts you think you would enjoy, and have some gobbley-good fun (yes, I just typed that).

KCW is a delightful site that creates free newsletters full of all sorts of crafty goodness and great ideas for projects you can do at home with your kids. Based out of Australia, the site is always a fun place to visit.

I just discovered KCW earlier this year, so this will be my first time trying the card exchange. Site creator Amber does a much better job explaining the details so don’t waste your time here - go check it out! The deadline to sign up for the exchange is November 18th.