411 The Walters Bunch

T just couldn't let L pose by herself. L gets ready to open gifts. And not one was looking at the camera! She loves Petshops! Every time I turn around it seems the kids are getting older. I know how quickly they will be adults and I will no longer be able to see them and enjoy doing things with them on a daily basis. On that note though, I also get tired of having 3 parties for each child for their birthday. I now refer to it as birthday week, as in not just a day. If their actually birthday falls during the week, we celebrate as a family with a special outing and a birthday treat, so we can sing happy birthday. Because of D's work schedule, which we normally LOVE, our only option to celebrate with Grandma's, Grandpa's, and cousins is on Sunday. Most of our friends are busy on Sundays so we have an extended family party on a Sunday and then have a friend party during the afternoon later in the week. L had a great family party on Sunday. She enjoyed se

T just wanted to eat the treats! L was So happy her brownies placed 1st.   A's Italy Display. L's is the one on the top left. Irving holds a wonderful home school fair that we like to attend. It is always a lot of fun and we meet  home school friendly vendors, which basically means we get a ton of coupons to go and visit places during the slow period of businesses. I love it. This year A entered the cultural display, baking, art, and photography divisions. L entered the baking, photography, and art division. A studied Italy for her display. We spent a couple of weeks studying the culture and history of Italy. We read about 10 books on Italy and I know more about Italy than I ever thought I would! A decided to make peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss for her baking entry and draw a "fashion design" for her art entry. Of all the great photos that she took, the one she decided to enter was of our dirty dog sitting in her pen. I couldn&#

The weather this week has been nice. It has been wet, but the temperature is mild. Most schools are out this week for spring break. We cannot enjoy our normal outings because there are so many kids every where. The bunch is not getting this week off. Their spring break will come later, or maybe not all. I haven't really decided since we only have 7 weeks of school left. I might just let them end school a week early instead. However, this week was most definitely NOT an option. We have a Homeschool Fair coming up that the girls each have 4 projects that they are entering, so we are putting the finishing touches on those. We also are finishing up our Girl Scout Booth sales and  I have taken on the role of A's troop leader while the other leader is out tending to her dying father. I was the only other registered adult girl scout in the troop and how can you say no under the given circumstances. I also am planning 2 get togethers and have a daughter's birthday coming up.   

Another year of home school extra classes comes to an end. The kids put on an open house that we call the parade of classes. It is a very big deal. We do something similar at the conclusion of the fall semester, but the end of year presentation is the large one.  The spring one is held in the evening so all the working mom and dads (We have one family where the father stays home and schools and the mother goes to work). This is great way for the working spouses to be part of what the kids do all year. Our family had arranged weeks in advance for someone to cover D's last hour so he could attend. Unfortunately, that guy ended up calling in sick and some drunk couldn't wait 30 minutes until shift change to drive around so needless to say he was unable to attend. :( We watched the classes that wanted to put on a presentation. The school hires a lighting and sound guy and a DVD of the year is put together. L's music class sang for us. Afterwards, we enjoyed refreshments and w

As previously mentioned, one thing all my homeschooling friends and I love to do is to go places, that are usually very busy, during off times while most people are either at work or school. Today is no exception. With most of our work done (A has a report and poster on Italy she is working on that is a several day project), the bunch headed to the Galleria to attend a birthday party at the American Girl doll store. For those of you who have never been, the American Girl doll store is an experience in it self. The store can be so packed with people on weekends that just checking out with their extremely cute, albeit significantly over priced merchandise, can take upwards of 2 hours, even the bravest of shoppers might want to avoid it at Christmas time. The store is two floors. The first floor is anything a girl could want for the babies or the 18 inch dolls, which will run you either $50 or $100. They, of course, sell books about each girls life and adventures set in the specific time