Mystery Party

Heiress Jewel Rockefeller"s father gave her an expensive ruby bracelet. Jewel has been flaunting it at many public functions. At a weekend gala she was spotted wearing the rubies and dancing with Britt Beckham"s boyfriend, NFL star Freddie Foote! (See center photo, Jewel (Amy) and Freddie (Paul)). Today the bracelet is missing, which of the 8 suspects stole it? (picture at left, left to right: Amy, Joelyn, Chrys, Jessica, Krysta, Abby, Rianna, Kymbel)

Krysta had the idea several months ago that she wanted to host a murder mystery party--not really a murder, just a crime. Bruce came up with the concept and helped write it and I finished it up and put it together. When Krysta invited the girls she told them their character so they came dressed and acting like the person. The athlete taped her name to the back of her shirt and the equestrian came with horse barrettes, horse head band, a horse shirt and a notepad covered in horse stickers. she had also googled "horse facts" that she told others randomly, "Did you know that a baby horse is called a colt?". I was the boarding house matron, Alison was the maid (so the house was nice and tidy when we got done) and Camille was the policeman. (right photo) Without knowing, Krysta had assigned herself to be the thief. Which turned out to be quite funny when she was the one who discovered the final clue that proved she did it! It was a fun, loud, giggly night.

Homework

I came back from picking up Tricia from school today and found this.... It was so cute that I couldn't resist taking a picture. Camille and Krysta both were all set up and doing their homework. They were laughing as Camille read from her driver's handbook. Apparently there are rules of the road that are so obvious they are hilarious.
For several years there have been little hormonies at work making everything another sister did annoying. What fun to be able to enjoy each other again.
Also note their favorite homework spot. It's straight in from the front door--for any visitor to look at the clutter, and it also blocks access to my bedroom, the laundry room and the garage. I've suggested alternate locations--in the same room there is a table, with chairs and also a counter, with chairs. How about the bedroom or the family room? Nope. This is the best thinking spot in the house.

Days of '47 Float Party

Free uncrowded parking--
drinking fountains and handy restrooms.
Floats, floats and floats.
Creators on hand proudly showing beginning to end.
The sketches, the scale, the raw chicken wire, dense foam and glitter--pounds and pounds of glitter
and the final works of art up close and every angle.
A marching band, clowns, balloon creations, face painting, and cinnamon toffee nut smells.
All in the air-conditioned expo center
Next year you're all invited.
It's the best parade of the season!

What girls need

A few months ago I asked the question, "What do girls need?" I got many great answers at the time.

On Sunday Krysta came home from church so excited for girls camp. "Candice is going to make sure we can go canoeing this year and we're going to certify or something like that and look at constellations and help cook..." She loved that plans were being made and there were fun things to look forward to. (And I love that someone found a camp certification manual this year.)

Tricia often asks me at bedtime what we are doing the next day. It's happening so often that I am consciously trying to think up things to tell her to so she can look forward to it. I caught a glimpse of her calendar and realized that she is labeling events herself--birthdays, holidays, fun events at school. We have been having Achievement days right after school on the first and third friday of each month. With this regular schedule our attendance has been very high. Tricia had pre-labeled her calendar with several more months of achievement days even though they hadn't been planned by the leaders yet.

So, girls need things they can look forward to. I'll bet they wouldn't mind a surprise here and there but when they know things in advance they get to enjoy the event longer.

Krysta

The best way to describe Krysta is busy. We had gone to our dentist in AF that morning and on the way home we decided to stop in at IKEA because we'd never been there. (Do we know how to have a good time or what?) While we were there the girls found this "containment unit" for Tricia's growing herd of stuffed animal horses. This is how I found Krysta. She had all the equipment she needed out; stud-finder, hooks, hammer, etc. She had filled the unit and was hanging it all by herself.

Krysta helping out

On Sunday, I decided to let Tricia have a bath in my jetted tub. Bruce was gone, Camille was still asleep so eventually Krysta got lonely and wandered in. I asked her if she would stay with Tricia while I went and got Tricia's church clothes and if she would take care of any emergency that arose--but of course nothing would go wrong because Tricia was comfortably laying in the tub, feet against the side wall with just a skiff of bubbles that the jets were making. I walked to her room, choose out clothes--seriously, I could not have been gone even two minutes when I heard Tricia scream "AAAAAAHHHH!". I hurried to the bathroom. The entire tub was covered in at least a foot of bubbles and they were climbing up the walls. All I could see were bubbles until I was right next to the tub and saw a little face in there too. Krysta had added body wash to the tub and when the bubbles got out of hand she stood there calmly scooping bubbles off of Tricia's face.

Merman Blaine

Katrina has been helping me this morning learn how to blog and insert pictures. This is really just a test. Tricia, Krysta and Camille have been doing some creative play. They spread out blue blankets and created a fisherman, alot of mermaids, and (to the dismay of all of our Ken dolls) a couple of mermen.