Poor Sadie!!!

Here is a picture of her ear. under those staples is a very swollen ear. She broke a blood vessel in her ear lobe and the non-surgical treatments were not working so we had to go this route.

I dropped off a dog and got back a baboon! LOL - Poor Sadie had 2 surgeries on Friday. This is a picture of her back side. They removed her cork skrew tail because it kept getting infected (typical of the breed) and had a terrible odor. All of the black that you see is stitches.

Showers of Blessings

Friends came far and wide to celebrate this special day.

This past weekend Victoria's aunt and mother gave her a beautiful shower. I wish I had a better camera because the pictures I took do not give the event justice. I am in awe at all the time and effort that went into such a special day. The candy bar

The theme for the bridal shower was "Audrey Hepburn- Breakfast at Tiffanys" Tiffany Blue showered the entire house! It was so beautiful!

This counter had pictures of women on both sides of the family that were married

This is my mothers wedding picture.

Hanging up the shower umbrella

This was the food bar, which I have to say was out of this world!

More Tiffany BLUE

The Bride to be

This is Victoria's sister. She is standing in front of the cake table and the TV behind her is playing "Breakfast at Tiffanys"

Some of the guest

The cake was amazing!

Opening up gifts

Victoria's mom and aunt

Victoria and her mom

Apple Picking

I had high ambitions for apple picking this year. My plan was to can as many jars as possible of apple sauce. I even bought a pretty expensive little gadget that purees the apples. Unfortunatly, I did not buy enough apples (thinking I would use the first patch for pies and go back for more) the problem is I never got back to the orchard. So, I guess it will have to wait until next year!

The kids enjoying the "fruits" of their labor.

YUmmmmY.............................

Goodness!

Climbing apple trees (which we found out later we were not supposed

to do)

After we picked apples we stopped at the little store by the orchard and got some goodies. Then we went to the mall and bought Isabella's dress for Cristian and Victoria's wedding! It was a fun day.

Tea time with the bears.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to sneak in her mommy and Daddy's bed in the middle of the night. One day momma said, "If you sleep in your own bed all night for a week I will take you to the store to make your very own bear" It was a deal and little Isabella stuck to the deal. Heart came home to live among all the other bears and what better way to get them all acquainted than throwing a lovely..... Tea Party!

Welcome to the bear family Miss Heart

Would you like one lump our two Miss white bear?

Three months and counting......

Volcanoes and Earthquakes at the Davis House

We have been studying earthquakes and volcanoes in science. This is Mateo making a structure to see how long it will withstand an earthquake. (a kid shaking it back and forth!) made out of marshmellows and linguini- fun to make and even edible!

My serous builders!

More building- even Isabella is interested and gets in on it.

Here is the composite volcanoe made out of newspaper, paper towel roll and lots of tape. Izzy wanted her own volcanoe so the boys took a dollar store megaphone and covered it with playdo!

A fun school day. The next day the kids had fun pouring baking soda and vinegar into their valcanoes and shaking their earthquake structure until it fell apart.

Reward System

I thought I would talk a little about our reward system. My kids don't get any kind of allowance. Instead- they earn "Stars" for work well done. When I am grading their papers I give a check, check plus, or a check minus. 3 check pluses gives them a star. A check minus means they have to correct the work that was done. If they get an 85 or better on a test they get 2 stars. They also earn stars for other things that may go over and beyond what is the norm. The stars can be traded in for money, treats or trips. I have from time to time taken stars away for bad behavior or attitudes. I have tried many "reward" systems in the past but this is the one that works the best and we have stuck with.

I did learn early on that the only way to make a reward system work is to stick with it. Sometimes it is a bother to remember to give out the stars (I draw a star on an index card and put it in the little homemade envelope that you see in the picture) but in the end it is worth it. The reward system is also great for those times when you are at the store and they ask for something. I always tell them that they can purchase an item with their "star" money. It amazes me how much they ponder about their purchase when they are paying for it!

This year I am planning on adding tithing to our star system. Once they turn their stars in for cash I will help them calculate home much of that money is a tithe.

I am always open to better systems. I am not sure my high schooler is crazy about this system so I may work out something different for him in the near future.