Summer Surprise Box Day 3

Day 3 was exciting, as the girls were chomping at the bit to open their gifts, yet we somehow managed to wait until almost lunchtime!

Their Day 3 picks! All on their own, they picked different ones!

Hannah got some playdoh and the Cailyn got a lovely necklace, that matches her dress up dress perfectly!

Isaac's pick for day 3

Isaac got a Diamondback's Hat!

Cookies...

Hey, Jen here: We started our first week of summer break this week. I didn't want it to be a whole 2 months of just sitting around, watching TV and doing nothing in particular. So, I sat down and made a list of fun things I wanted to do or try with the kids. One of those things was to finally use one of the packages of real Nestle Tollhouse morsels I brought back with me from my time in the States.

Now, I have to admit, I'm not a great mom when it comes to involving the girls in the kitchen. The mess and disorganization stresses me out, and it's just "easier" to do it all myself. But, I knew they'd love making these together. So, I got everything together and out on the table beforehand. We all got gussied up in our aprons and hairbands and set to work.

I couldn't believe how smoothly it went, and how much fun we ALL had! I was so proud of them as they took turns, helped each other, and praised each other throughout the process. All I did was read out what we needed to do with each step. I helped Cailyn measure out the items, and only helped Hannah if she really needed it. Other than that, they did it ALL themselves.

I tried really hard not to train them to make cookies my way (aka, eat half the batter before you even put it on the baking sheet). And we did have to switch spoons a few times b/c someone couldn't resist the urge to sneak a lick. We did each get a spoon to lick when it was done, and of course a warm cookie at the end.

It was the perfect way to kick off our summer and I'm SO glad we did it all together!

Everything is set!

Cailyn carefully pouring the flour

...and stirring it up

Hannah's turn!

Such concentration...

You can almost hear a 'Homer Simpson' groan - mmmmm...cookies....

Carefully cracking the egg...so proud she did it all by herself!

Hannah proud of the finished mix...Cailyn - well...yeah...

Time to enjoy!

Long, long days...

So, I blogged several times in the winter about how amazed I was at how early the sun goes down; missing seeing the sun setting over the ocean at 4:00 in the afternoon. Well, short winter days mean we also get very long summer days as well. With the amazing weather we've had this week, the sky has been bright well past 9 in the evening, with traces of daylight still visible past 11. It's just amazing to me. The evenings feel odd at times; we find ourselves having to keep close eyes on the time because dinner time just doesn't feel like dinner time, and there have been a couple days when the girls got to stay up quite late because we lost track! Well, last night I was in the office on skype with a friend of mine at almost 11 when I looked outside and saw the sunset. The colors were amazing, and I just had to get out and try to capture the scene. I came pretty close...

So if you've ever wondered

Ok....time for my very first blog...here goes nothing.

Alright, so this summer has been an interesting one. Since I've been working with this group of teenagers, they've been after me to do something crazy with my hair. I tried doing something with an incintive, or make them "earn" whatever they were wanting me to do. Well, this year, along with another adult I work with, we decided to go ahead and do it. We got mohawks!!! So, if you've ever wondered what I would look like with a mohawk, here you go. FYI, I no longer have it...once in a lifetime thing, you know?

Seth