Mad Science, early childhood style!

For Christmas, McKenna received a type of science project in a box, or something like that. From the the time she opened it, she and Ella both asked to do play with it nonstop. With packing and Alabama and a spy party all in the works my answer was, of course, "NO!"

Well, finally their persistence was rewarded.

The kit came with lots of fun and supposedly "nontoxic but not intended for human consumption" powders. There are directions for 7 experiments; so far, we have completed 3. We made purple water, red water and blue water. We also made fuzzy water. Then we added a chemical to make squishy jewels in all of those colors mentioned. It was a good sensory experiment but the whole part about gases, liquids and solids and acids and bases....yea, that didn't really sink in.

Some really old photos!

My Kindergarten class. I don't even remember the name of the teacher. I remember the names of the majority of the kids. I went through the system with most of them. I feel bad for the kid behind the tree. I bet his mom was furious at the photographer. Oh yeah, that's me in the white dress leaning with my arms on the rail. I had some serious bangs. This was taken in our school library. We had an awesome library with neat reading corners all over.

This is first grade. I am in the yellow dress right in the center. The girl behind me, Holly, became my best friend until about 8th-9th grade. Sadly, we just kinda went our own way. I don't even know what she is up to now.

Alright, this is 4th grade. And, I got a spanking on the first day of school with a wooden paddle. I was talking after the teacher gave me a warning. Yes, that was allowed back then. (At least, I think.) I am on the left side with the LONG hair in the pink shirt. It wasn't until about 1 year later that my great aunt (Cioci Jeanette) and grandfather convinced my mom to let me cut my hair. I was thankful that my Aunt Lenore had her scissors handy at just the precise moment.

Happy Birthday Poppy

Spy Training Camp

Maybe you remember the 5th birthday extravaganza? Well, for McKenna's 6th birthday she wanted to celebrate Spy style. So, after chatting with a few other moms and conducting extensive google searches, we were able to pull it off. Here's Agent McKenna (still in her pj's).

Honestly, Arthur and I aren't completely sure where she came up with this idea. Possibly from her friend Gabe.

The party was set up like a training camp. The invitations were sent to the agents and asked them to accept or deny their given mission (a.k.a. RSVP). Each of the games was titled Operation: XYZ. The directions and games were written in a classified folder!

Operation: Decoding

I wrote an alphabet code and a coded message that the agents in training had to decode in the form of a race.

Operation: Bomb Detonation

Arthur and I filled black balloons with confetti and stolen gems. The agents in training had to detonate, or pop, the balloons and collect the gems.

Operation: Investigation

There was a top secret, classified box on display. The agents in training had to handle the box without unwrapping it, and guess what was inside. I believe that Lily guessed first. It was a toy car that rolled around. Most of the kids did not move the box slow enough to hear the rolling inside.

Operation: Speed Challenge

This was a game of musical chairs. We downloaded some spy music off of Itunes.

Operation: Unwrap

Obviously, this was present time!

Operation: Eat The Magnifying Glass

The birthday cake (and cupcakes) were decorated to look like a magnifying glass with an eye in the middle.

Operation: Double Agent (Or Find the Enemy)

This game was a somewhat impromptu because of some extra time. Arthur, otherwise known as the double agent, stole one of the birthday gifts and left a ransom note. The agents had to find him. He hid under McKenna's bed!

Bomb Detonation


Decoding

The cake

Gift unwrapping. What creative wrapping paper!

The friends who came

Seriously, doesn't this look like it could be me and Lisa M.? Seriously! Click here and scroll way down to see a picture of me and Lisa-scroll way down! Really, our girls look too much like us! It's crazy.

A few agents made up their own disguises

The goodie bag

The Agents

I tried to tell all of the agents to say something specific to their parents:

Parent: How was the party? What did you do? Was it fun?

Agent: Sorry, Mom. That's classified information.

Caught ya!

The other night I caught McKenna reading a book to Ella in her bed. How cute?! I had to capture it on photo.

Birthday Poster

For McKenna's birthday, her teacher sent home a poster for McKenna to fill out/color. Here are a few pictures of it. She was able to share it with her friends at school the next day.

Family Birthday Party

Adrian's and McKenna's birthday are close together. We generally celebrate them together-just family. Here are a few pictures that I thought were worth posting.

Our Big Girl turns 6!

Big Goose, or McKenna is officially 6 years old today. She requested the following for her birthday: waffles like at Mammy's and PaPa's house for breakfast (the kind you put in the toaster), sledding, grilled cheese for lunch, cheese in the crust pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner and a spy party (happening next weekend).

Describing McKenna isn't too hard. She is smart, inquisitive, curious, cautiously adventurous, compassionate, nurturing, caring and a strong leader!

Happy Birthday Princess!

Also, Happy Birthday to Aunt Lenore! She shares a birthday with my daughter. Now I will NEVER forget her birthday.....I just might not remember to send a card! =)

McKenna's 5th party (Princess Party)

McKenna's 4th party (Strawberry Shortcake Party)
McKenna's 3rd party (Dora Party)

I don't have digital images on my hard drive of her 2nd and 1st birthday. They are somewhere on a CD and finding them right now (as I swim in newly accumulated things) might put me over the edge!

Happy Birthday, Adrian!

Today, my father in law turned....well, he said he was 39. I just wanted to put in a Happy Birthday message for him. We are traveling today from AL to MN. Watch for updates in the next 2 weeks.

Adrian is a hardworking, caring, bend over backwards for ya type of guy! I couldn't ask for a better father in law.

Christmas in Dixie

For Christmas, on my dad's side of the family we always get together with a turkey type traditional meal. We generally take a few photos. Here's one of the grand kids (that were present). McKenna wasn't feeling well, so she and I weren't at this shindig.

The girls love feeding the ducks in downtown Huntsville. One day while we were down we met Grandpa Higgins and fed the ducks. It was a beautiful out side!

We also went to Uncle Larry's place while we were down. Here's Ella holding cousin Parker! I think he was trying to kiss her.

Cousin Kendra and Parker and Ella

We also share a Christmas with my mom and Jim and Sara (or cioci). We wake up and open presents. Usually, Christmas music is playing in the background. Afterwards we eat a brunch. Mom always cooks lots of yummy foods.

Hmm, how do we open this one?