Little Scientist

Natalie is quite the little scientist these days.  She's been taking an after school enrichment class offered by a really cool non profit, Scientific Adventures for Girls, owned by a good friend of ours.  It's a forensic science study and they meet for 90 minutes each week and solve mysteries by collecting data and clues from the "scene of the crime" (which is cleverly set up by the instructor, complete with police caution tape).  The crimes range from hypothetically missing bikes to hypothetically missing diamonds and dinosaur bones.  She's loving it.

She had the option of participating in the school science fair this year and she and Corey spent one weekend researching and conducting an experiment using different pulley configurations to demonstrate mechanical advantage.

 She insisted on putting a "photo signature"

on her board.  Naturally, she had to make her

signature peace sign in the picture, too!

 I love the diagram.

It turned out great.  She started with a pretty heavy 12.5 pound bucket of sand that wasn't easy for her to lift using both hands.  Using a combination of pulleys, she was able to get the force needed down to 2.5 pounds and could lift the heavy bucket with just her finger.  She demonstrated it for her class and then set it up all by herself in the school cafeteria for the science fair last Wednesday evening and demonstrated it for parents, too.  Brave and brilliant little nine year old we have here.

 Here we are at the actual science fair...still loving peace.

Artistic Sense and Sensitivity

Audrey not only beats to her own drum, she leads her own band.  And it's mostly very sweet spirited music she makes...with maybe a note or two of sassy.

 For her valentines this year, she opted not to use stamps,

stickers, crayons, sequins, glue, or any of the other gobs

of crafty tid-bits at her disposal.  Instead, she drew

this character on most of the 27 cards she made.

In case you're wondering...this is Valentine Santa.

 And this is Valentine Santa's sidekick, Valentine Caterpillar.

Wearing a top hat.  I think the choice of headwear

was partly inspired by a President's Day

art project involving Abe Lincoln.

And here's our little (one eighth?) Greek Girl Scout 

showing off her name in Greek letters.  

We went to a Girl Scouts International Faire

today and it was one of the coolest events 

I've been to recently.  She was able to visit booths 

representing 20 different countries, have her

passport stamped, and do a craft or activity 

at each stop.  Super fun.

And she's still just as sensitive, this one.  We have to buy special seamless socks for her, all of her clothes have to feel like pjs and she has taken to snipping off the tags on EVERYTHING herself.  I noticed the other day that she even addresses this "itchy" clothes concern with her new American Girl doll, Samantha.  Samantha has some fancy dresses which Audrey likes to dress her in, but she 

doesn't think Samantha should suffer for style.  I noticed the other day that Audrey had put a soft,

long sleeved cotton t-shirt under Samantha's party dress.  This is exactly how Audrey would wear a dress like this...not letting a bit of it actually touch her skin.  So sweet.

Girl Scout Father Daughter Dance

Last weekend was our school's annual Girl Scout Father Daughter Dance.  It is such a sweet event and this time it was sweet, squared.  Corey had a date on each arm this year as Audrey is a Girl Scout now, too.  I worked the check in desk and I'm so happy I did because or else I would have missed watching them dance together.  They had fun in the photo booth, at the sweets table, making cards for each other at the craft center and dancing on the dance floor.

Amazing Place

We hiked in the open space up behind our house last weekend.  We have lived a hop, skip and a jump from this open space for nearly three years and yet we've never explored it thoroughly.  For shame! It is such gorgeous land, dotted with limestone boulders, olive trees and those amazing California oaks I love so much.  Have I mentioned how much these oaks amaze me?

When the branches are low enough for the children to climb aboard we simply can't stop them.  They weave their way up as high as their legs will let them go.  And they look sooooo tiny when they're surrounded by these enormous, gnarly, outstretched branches.  We decided if this tree was in our yard, our kids would lose the ability to walk upright on two legs as they'd spend so much time climbing this tree that they'd begin to walk like apes when on the ground.

And this GREEN amazes me.  We've lived here during mostly brown, drought years, so it is joyous to see all this vibrant winter green surrounding us.

 Awesome hike.  Beautiful, clear day!

Which, funny enough, turned into a dark, gray, cloudy and rainy

day within 20 minutes after we returned home from this hike.

And just a shot of my totem tree and Audrey.

Birthday Party

Natalie's party this year was so much fun. Partly because it involved an art project.  Partly because it involved the coolest collection of 8 and 9 year old girls that I have the pleasure of knowing.  And partly because we planned it on a whim less than two weeks prior and didn't stress much at all over it.

Just a great day from start to finish.  She had seven friends join us and they did a paper mosaic decoupage project on canvases.  Natalie's sample one was her first initial so most of the girls chose to do the same.  They all turned out so cute and the girls had such a blast crafting and creating together while listening to Pop 20 Kids Bop on repeat (I've had my fill of of that disc for the next calendar year!).

 Then we enjoyed snacks, cupcakes and sent everyone out the door with their project (almost dry) and ready to hang in their bedrooms. Because Natalie had made one for herself as a practice run, she chose to spend her birthday party time making one for Audrey.  Super special (it's the one  on the bottom row, far left!)

 This girl could plan her own party. She decorated the cupcakes herself and led the charge with the party decorating all morning.  A little leader, that she is.

I say this after almost every party, 

but this one wasone of my favorites. 

Such an awesome way to bring in number 9!

Happy 9, Natalie!

It's hard to believe but our little groundhog is 9 today!  Wow!! She came into this world on her due date and has kept us on track ever since!

She has it all together, this one.  She likes to be on time everywhere and has turned over a new, very organized leaf lately.  We deep cleaned her room almost two months ago and she has kept it spic and span ever since.  It turns out she was a neat freak all along...she just also happens to be a pack rat collector, too.  But once we got the collections (from shells to rocks to pencils to jewelry) put away in an orderly way, she has been a lot more calm, cool and collected herself.

She's a lover of tradition!  She makes sure the holiday decorations are in the same place each Christmas, favorite festivities get scheduled each year, grace gets said at dinner each evening, and  the same bedtime routine we started when she was still in diapers is strictly adhered to 8 years later.  While she's not a fan of a spontaneous schedule curve ball, she will rally when needed (usually), especially when she's asked to be a helper.

 She's artistic to her core!  This girl can paint, draw, sketch, doodle, craft, color, and chalk ALL. DAY. LONG.  She sees the world with an artist's eye and produces work that seems far beyond her years.

She's a fashionista, too!  This girl can put the most adorable outfits together.  She has her own, unique style; I don't see anyone at school dressed quite like her.  Which I love.  I call her style "bohemian bling-tastic" and I think that about sums it up. Regardless if she's home in play clothes or at school in one of her favorite outfits, she is ALWAYS wearing a sparkly necklace.  In her case, accessorizing is not an option.  It is mandatory.  My style, or lack thereof,  continues to be a crushing disappointment to her.

She's got it all this one:  brains, beauty, blonde and braces.  Oh, and she'll likely be tall, too.  So, she really will be able to take over the world one day. She announced at dinner the other night that she's going to run for president one day.  Not sure I'm as excited about that one as I probably ought to be but the White House does fit her style quite nicely!  And I guess I'd love to have my girl surrounded by body guards for life.

Love you, sweet, sassy, sparkly girl.  You are a shining light!