Bowling & the Fine Arts

Who is enjoying this FABULOUS weather? WE ARE!!!! Over the last week or two we have been busy little bees, flitting here and there. We visited my cousin Katie's family to see their newest addition...Sawyer Henry. He was adorable! Kimberly kept saying how cute and wrinkly he was ;-)

Card I made for the newest Grothaus family member...Sawyer!

We took the kids bowling, always a favorite activity for our family. Lexus beat all of us! Austin loves using the ramp to help his bowling ball knock down the pins.

Kimberly, Austin, Lexus

When I bowl it is hit or miss, so all the kids get bowling advice from Randy.

Last Thursday, Kimberly showed off all her hard work at school at Fine Arts Night. We watched her video biography of her as Cleopatra VII. Great Job Kimberly! She shared many fantastic things with us like her version of "The Mitten" by Jan Brett - hers was " The Lunchbox". Her teacher sent in the whole class' stories and we now have a hardbound book of them all to keep! She even drew a portrait of herself as Cleopatra and created artwork of the Cat in the Hat, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. We are so proud of all she has accomplished this year!!!

Click to enlarge and read her version "The Lunchbox"

Birthdays, Cleopatra, & Square Dancing

Randy turned 35 last Monday, we celebrated with a delicious ice cream cake, his favorite dinner, and some awesome presents. Our favorite present to give him was the "Bazinga" t-shirt. If you watch the show "The Big Bang Theory" you know why this is so funny!!!

Kimberly's class has been working on biographies of famous people; she was Cleopatra the VII. They had to do research and memorize 10 facts about their person for a video they made for Fine Arts night. She did a really fabulous job!

They videotaped them behind the picture frame...how cute!

Kimberly and Randy attended the Girl Scout Father-Daughter Square Dance on Tuesday night. always a favorite event for both to attend. They do-si-do'ed, promenaded, and swung their partner till their feet hurt all while looking cowboy chic!

Don't they make a cute pair!

Lexus @ Mardi Gras

We are sooooo thankful that everyone we know was not harmed during the storms on Friday!!! It was a little scary on Friday as we setup for the 6th grade dance and they ordered the Tornado Warning. We quickly went home and got prepared to wait out the storm. Austin and Kimberly were pretty frightened. Thankfully, the sun came back out and we were all safe and sound.

Lexus attended the 6th Grade Mardi Gras Dance on Friday night with a group of her girlfriends. They had fun accessorizing with masks and lots of colorful beaded necklaces. We found her mask online for only $12.

Lexus, Shelby, Abby, Audrey, and Savannah

 I was so excited when I found her dress for only $16 and we got her heels for only $16 too! Lexus is definitely a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, but she pleasantly surprised me when she picked out these strappy, silver heels to wear to the dance. I have to say she looked pretty FABULOUS for the dance!

The shoes Lexus picked out to wear! Too Cute!

Lexus & Shelby...love the masks!

 It was great watching Lexus and her friends get down on the dance floor and really enjoying themselves at the dance.

Lexus & Savannah

 Here are some more of  those fabulous birthday cards and two flower cards...

Tomorrow is Randy's 35th birthday and we can't wait to celebrate with him. We are making a cake and have found some fun gifts to shower him with ;-)

Getting Crafty...

Pinterest has inspired me again to make some FABULOUS cards similiar to the ones I pinned! I really love how each of the cards turned out. The flower stamp is a set that I borrowed from Dana and am falling in love with. I don't mind the tedious cutting out of it either; in fact it is rather therapeutic (relieves the stress). Call me crazy, but it does! You may get a little sick of seeing the banner "Happy" birthday cards. They are too easy to make and I got a little carried away.

I have more to come, but right now most of my time is being spent on sixth grade projects. When did homework become something for parents and no longer something just for students???

Thanks again to everyone who ordered Girl Scout cookies from Kimberly, she really appreciates it!!!

Banners are a great use of scrap paper!

If you can't tell by this and the next 2 cards, I love my circle background stamp set.

I haven't stamped any saying on these yet; could be used for anything!

Legos & Valentines

While I spent last Friday at Target waiting with my BFF Jenny to buy Breaking Dawn - Part 1, my kids were creating Lego masterpieces. Kimberly made the American flag and a luxury bath house. Austin made a little scene of Lego people, a horse and a safe full of money. Lexus made a cute house, unfortunately she forgot to take a pic of it.

 Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends and family!!! Austin had fun celebrating Valentine's Day with his classmates/teachers at school. Kimberly also had fun at her Valentine's Day party making lovebugs, playing games, and watching 2 Valentine's videos.



Kimberly and her friend McKenna

 Kimberly got to make art using Valentine conversation hearts!

 My wonderful husband brought me home these gorgeous flowers for Valentine's Day! Even better, he brought Lexus a new puzzle, Kimberly a new Ken outfit and Austin a new snowplow truck for Valentine's Day...he is so thoughtful!!!

Fun @ Library and Trip to Art Museum

The last 2 weeks our family has been fighting sinus infections from mild to severe. I kept Randy and I up for 4 nights with no sleep due to a cough I couldn't control. I was so happy to finally get some some codeine and get a good nights sleep (ironically Randy started coughing that same night).

A week or two ago the kids' participated in a "Minute To Win It" Night at the library. There were several stations around the room and each team was competing to win the most stations. The girls competed on a team with our neighbor Brendan.

Brendan, Lexus, & Kimberly

Lexus trying to put a playing card in bucket.

Kimberly shaking ping pong balls out of box tied to her waist.

Can you think of nothing better to do on a Friday night than to defrost your freezer and fridge??? Oh the fun Randy & I had ;-)

Austin is quickly becoming the little gamer at our house, wanting to play Kirby on the Wii 24 hours a day. While I admit he has gotten pretty good at playing the game; I had to tell him yesterday that he was being put on "Kirby Lockdown" - meaning he could only play it for a little bit in the morning and a little bit more at night if he played with one of his sisters.

Kimberly made her 1st Confession this past Monday night! She was a little nervous, but relieved when she came out realizing it wasn't bad at all. She was so proud of the lamb she made; it's the one with hot pink ballet shoes, pearl jewelry, and purple bows.

I was so excited to go with Kimberly's class on a field trip to the Cincy Art Museum. We had an excellent guide for the first half and the kids were genuinely interested in all the art work. The second half, we had to go on a scavenger hunt with a camera and find pieces of art that fit specific descriptions like "artwork that uses warm colors" or "artwork using geometric shapes". We had a fabulous group of 2 girls & 3 boys!

Kimberly and Natalie

Learning about the Underground Railroad.

Our group rocked!!!

Here are some examples of our scavenger hunt photos. I didn't notice until I downloaded them on the computer, that Kimberly is "posed" in every picture. I thought it was funny and cute how she always has a hand flipped out or something.

Artwork in cool colors

Artwork used in religious ceremony

 

Sculpture made from Clay

Kimberly was so excited about the Art Museum she asked if we could go back as a family and see the rest of it!