elle is anne frank

Elle's class did a wax museum project the first week of May. Her teacher has a big collection of the "Who was..." books. They were allowed to write down their top three picks and then she assigned them a character to read about and write a speech as if they were that person. They had to have a costume, and some props. The day of the wax museum people would come by and put a coin in their can and they would come to life, and read their speech.

Elle was assigned Anne Frank. She read her biography, and did a great job writing her speech! She was so excited to do this project, especially once we got the costume. I found this WWII era costume for girls on Amazon. One of the best things about this project was that it provided something to distract her from the fact that Reese, Copper, and I were leaving the day before. Chris was able to go up and get pictures and see her in action. She did wonderful!

Aren't they cute?!

Anne Frank and Dolly Parton

She had a great idea to put her notecards in her diary so it looked like she was reading from that.

cleveland april 2018

We finally got to make a trip to Cleveland to visit RV! It was long overdue and I wish we had more time to be there. Elle ended up staying in WV because she had a birthday sleepover and the Jr. Youth Rally at church. She had a good weekend too, but was certainly missed. It was a new season for us having one of our cubs have other activities apart from the nuclear family.

We drove up Friday evening and stayed at a nice hotel. Even though we were pushing bedtime Reese and Todd still had to go swim. RV met us at the hotel so we could have a little extra time with him.

Saturday morning we did breakfast at the hotel, then went to the Cleveland Children's Museum. It's in an old mansion, and they've done a fantastic job with it! They have a coat room where you can store all your items, which is nice so that you don't have lug everything around. The entry floor also has a great art room, with crafts set up ready to do; and there's an eating area if you want to bring food.

The bottom level had a wonderful wooden play structure, reading area, and air and water play room. I think the kids loved the water play the best.

The top floor has these fun tables for play, and tons of dolls from around the world and doll houses. Most are just to look at, but they have little flashlights the kids can use to search for the museums hidden logo in each one.

RV has always talked about the great thrift stores in Cleveland, and we ended up with a little extra time that evening to check one out. We found a few things we couldn't live without, including this great American Girl Doll game for Elle. We had a good time catching up with her on her weekend. She had a great time playing with friends at her sleepover, Jr. Youth Rally, and with some other church friends until we got home.

easter 2018

This year the kids had "spring break" right around Easter, really just Good Friday and Easter Monday, but it didn't line up with OVU's break so we planned to stay in WV. We wanted to go to NJ, but Copper hates the car still, and Kathy and Weston were so great to come to us. The kids also had missed so much school from the teacher work stoppage I really thought they might take away those days, but they didn't.

The weekend before, though, we particiapted in the egg hunt at OVU, and then went to the Mid-Ohio Valley Easter parade in downtown Parkersburg.

We went to Grand Central's egg hunt Saturday morning, then had Elle's party Saturday night. Then we decided to get donuts, church at Grand Central on Sunday morning, then our house the rest of the day. We at Mississippi pot roast because Kathy and weston got in town later than we anticipated and missed eating that before. We also had Pioneer Woman mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. And we had pie, but not from scratch this year. A birthday, and easter all in the same weekend was really too much.











The Easter bunny visited everyone, and the kids loved hiding eggs. We also played Elle's new board game, "Beat the Parents," a kids versus adults game about who knows Disney trivia better. Think the kids won, but can't remember.

We even took a walk because the weather was nice, but everyone was pretty tired by bedtime. It was a good day! One thing we can say is that WV is serious about holidays. They go all out for everything!

elle turns 9!

How can it be that Elle, our first baby, is 9?! A friend posted something not that long ago that her daughter who had turned nine commented that she was half way to 18. That is not lost on Chris and me. We both feel like we haven't had near enough time with Elle to have her be ready to go in the same amount of time. We feel like there's so much more to show her, and do with her.

For her birthday this year Chris took her to school with Todd and Reese and they all ate in the cafeteria with the Easter bunny. Then I took her lunch after my class. The big ones get to pick a few friends to go eat in the library with their family. I like that I get some time to see how she interacts with her friends. For being such an introvert she is a great friend! I wish I could be more like her.

Then for dinner she chose to Texas Roadhouse. She loves that you can throw the peanuts on the floor. And of course Texas runs deep in her! I got her to wear her made in Waco shirt.

She also wanted to have a softball party. We originally planned to have it at her school field, but it was still wet and cold here in WV. So we moved it to the church fellowship hall. She had a good turnout between school and church friends. Aunt Kathy and Weston got to come for Easter so it was nice to have some family too.

We had decent enough weather that we could take the kids out the playground for a bit and play a game of whiffle ball. We also made some softball cornhole ramps and had a baseball pinata. We ate concession type foods, and thanks to Aunt Kathy had two great looking softball cakes. Elle seemed to have a great time, which was what we were hoping for.

Elle loves reading, writing, dogs, Tsum Tsums, softball, and her stuffed animals and American Girl doll. She has become really responsible for the most part. She can't keep her room clean, and she's pretty sassy at times, but we really do love her!  She plays and loves on each of her siblings in her own special way. Of course she's used to being the boss. She has really excelled in school, even making it to the spelling bee! She has really gotten into her American Heritage Girls troop this year. I think knowing what to expect this time around has helped. She also loves doing origami, and anything crafty. She even joined the art club at school. She has grown so much in her Bible knowledge. Softball has been fun for her too, although she still gets nervous during games. She's clever, thoughtful, kind, fights for justice, and cautious. And of course she's beautiful inside and out!