Rally, Swimming and more Girl Scouts

N and C were here at 7:30 AM and we were out the door by 9 AM to get to the Paul Ryan rally.  My kids knew what to expect - standing in line for a long time and then sit inside for a long time and then hear a speaker but N and C didn't know.

When we drove up to the school where the rally was being held they was a huge line and C said, "Looks like we are too late."

I said, "no, that is line that we are going to get into."

We found a parking spot quickly thanks to a nice man telling us which street to go down and then we headed toward the line.  My kids were ready for the line but they also remembered the long line 2 weeks ago for the Romney rally where we didn't get in so I started hearing the whining.

"We aren't going to get in.  Are we going to get in this time?  I don't know to stand here if we aren't going in."

Luckily, the line moved quickly.  So quickly I had to call the kids off the field where they were playing because I was getting so far away from them.

 All the kids standing in line - we weren't at the end here - everyone just moved away when the camera came out.

 We made it into the building and then we heard there was standing room only.  I got a little worried because it was 10:15 and Ryan wasn't speaking until 11:30 but we go seats.  They were wanting to fill the floor first to make sure the rally looked full but they shouldn't have worried.  President Obama and Biden might not be able to fill an auditorium but Ryan can.

Finally, the rally started and it was fantastic.  There was a lot of applause and cheering throughout the speech.  The best line by an audience member, "Look no teleprompter!"  That got a cheer and a laugh from everyone.  Ryan enjoyed it too and laughed.

After the rally, we drove home - the kids ate lunch in the car.  When we got home, everyone went to quiet time for about 20 minutes and then we headed to the pool.  I didn't get to swim because I had to stay dressed and cleaned because I had to attend a Back to School Night for our neighborhood school to recruit new scouts.

I have to say, I am still very happy with my decision to homeschool.  Between the craziness of the event to the rude kids and behavior that even the administrators couldn't control, I don't want my kids there.  The event led to a lot of discussions about poor behavior and why we don't act the way some of those kids act.  My 3 agreed.  I also didn't like how they organized the event.

Everyone came in and went to their classrooms to drop off school supplies and then the parents stayed in the classroom while the kids went to the art room to do a project or to the gym to watch a movie.  (yep a movie at school).  Now after the event the parents were supposed to go to either the art room or the gym to pick up their kids but the kids didn't listen and stay where they were supposed to so it was mad chaos afterwards.  At the first wave, I probably saw 9 kids crying because they couldn't find their parents.  One of them was a neighbor kid who is starting kindergarten - mom was not happy that her child was crying and upset before school has even started.  Not a good experience for your first at your school.

I was only supposed to help set up the Girl Scout table but we ended up staying the entire event.  The other woman I was supposed to work with brought little kisses to bring kids over - did they ever bring the kids over.  At first, we were letting just anyone take a chocolate but then we quickly realized that the same kids kept coming by so we stopped them.  Then some kids starting asking to have a chocolate, so I responded with, "are you interested in Girl Scouts?"  This made the boys drop the candy and it got some girls to stop and hear about Girl Scouts.  One girl who was probably a 6th grader, asked if she could have one - I asked my question and she said yes. So I said she could have one, she went to take a huge handful and I said, "you may have one."

"What if I am already a Girl Scout?" she asks.

"You may have one."

"That isn't fair." and she storms off.

I just shook my head.

Skylar did a fantastic job of recruiting girls.  She had a box top full of some of the goodies we had on the table and she would walk up to people with young girls and ask them if they were interested in Girl Scouts.  Several of them said yes and she brought them over to the table.  She loves to talk to people.  Skylar even told me later on that she really liked talking to all the people.

We got home after 6:30 and the kids played outside while I made dinner.  Guess who they played with?  Yep, N and C.

Happy 5th Birthday Skylar!

Cairn woke Skylar up early this morning so she could get to unwrapping presents.  Here are the kids helping Skylar open her gifts from Cappy and Nana and Mom and Dad.

 A pretty new dress that Skylar loves!

 New fairy princess pj's.

After opening presents, we had chocolate chocolate chip pancakes, took showers, cleaned the house and decorated for the party and then Skylar had piano class.  After piano we returned for the party.

First, they colored Rapunzel pages until everyone arrived and had met each other.

Then we changed rooms and played charades.  It is fun to watch the older kids perform versus the younger ones.  The older ones really get into it and perform big movements and can think of many ways to represent their item but the younger ones do things small and can only think of one way.  They will repeat the same movement over and over so I had to ask questions to get them to guess the right answer or we would still be playing.

 After charades we went outside to play with the parachute and play with bubbles.

Then we came inside for our magic show performed by 8 year old A.  First, she made a nickel much much smaller and then while she cleaned up she found a rather large nickel

 Here is the audience as A performs her magic.

The second trick involved the kids learning how to divide.  First, the large die.

 Then it was divided into very small dice.

The third trick was Skylar got to pick a color and then A guessed it.

 Just handsome Andrew!

 The last trick was putting scarfs into a bowl and they magically changed into lollipops.

After the magic show we opened present while we waited for the ice cream to soften.

Skylar got a necklace making kit.

 A stamp set

 A game called Headbandz and a paint book

 and a sticker book.

Then we had cake, ice cream and fruit.  I didn't get any pictures of the cake since I was carrying it to the birthday girl.  After cake, everyone left and we spent time playing with her new toys.

Skylar asked for angel hair pasta for dinner and we worked on finishing up our cake and fruit.  Ice cream we  will save for another day.

Skylar is growing up to be such a wonderful child.  She is sweet, thoughtful and caring.  She can encourage just about anyone to try with her soft and soothing voice but she can also be super stubborn.  She doesn't give up easily unless she is tired.

She knows how to read 10 sight words such as all, are, is, you; and can read CVC words
She can count to 49,
She can recognize her numbers to 29,
She can cut a straight line,
She can write and spell her name correctly,
She loves art,
She is a natural piano player and easily learns new songs,

She loves to play make-believe with her sister but loves to play games with her brother.
She is slight and delicate but super strong.
She loves books.
She will sit and work through puzzles for hours - she now works on 100 to 200 piece puzzles.

She is a wonder and I still love to watch and admire all her talents everyday.  I love you BB!