Everybody sing: Weeeeee are the Champions, my friend!!!

WOOHOOO!!!

We hosted the league's Long Distance Championships for the northern teams this past weekend. Our results were combined with the results from the southern teams' meet from 3 weeks ago and WE WON!!! Most of our kids held their placings and we ended up with almost twice as many points as the second place team.

Bean had a great meet. She is a very young 13 in the 13-14 age group and her results are:

1500 Free -- BRONZE
800 Free -- SILVER
400 IM -- BRONZE

In each case, the people placed ahead of her were 14. Hmmm, could she be turning into a long-distance swimmer?

Pumpkin Farm

Bean and I took a girls' day (with Hubby still deployed, "girls" is kind of a given, but you know what I mean!) to go try a Gyro and then visit a pumpkin farm.

A good friend told us that we could actually get Gyros on FLATBREAD (instead of a big fat bread roll) at a kiosk in front of the local hardware store. They were awesome (although, I will remember for next time that when the nice girl asks me "do you want spicy?" the answer is "NOthankyouverymuch!" I hope eventually the feeling will return to my lips and tongue)! I can't wait for Hubby to get home so we can take him there.

After the yummy Gyros (aka Doner Kebap here in Germany), we headed out to find the pumpkin farm. After Pioneer Woman's posts last week about making your own pumpkin puree, I thought it would be a fun and loving gesture to make Hubby his favorite dessert really-really from scratch this year. The drive there was gorgeous!! I don't remember us having fall color like this any other year (maybe that means we'll have a *real* winter this year, please oh please oh please??). Here are some pics Bean took while we were driving: Even without my GPS, it was very easy to find. Here are some of the sights that greeted us once we got there:

Nope, I don't think we can take this one home!!!

We got one perfect carving pumpkin, 3 cooking pumpkins, a baby pumpkin for Bean to do something with that she won't tell me what it is, and some SUPER yummy pumpkin butter. It was a perfect fall day and I made some great memories with my girl. Thanks, Bean!!

Viva Espana!

We returned to Spain for another swim meet. The resort was every bit as beautiful as it was last year. The food was fab-O again and Bean had a great meet! We really wish Hubby could have been with us again (that way I could have had his cup of complimentary gazpacho! Yummy!). Here are Bean and Chiken chillin' by the pool at the resort (and refusing to pose for the camera, so this is what you get, girls!):

Happy 13th Birthday, Bean!!!

Wow! I can't believe there's actually a teenager in my house! Yikes!

We had a great day. Bean invited some of her best friends to go paintballing so she could try out the new paintball equipment she got from her Grandpa for her birthday. Some of the girls weren't too sure at first about shooting each other, but they all got into it eventually.

That's Emalion, Tiger, HB, Bean, Bear and Cookie all geared up like Warrior Chicks!

After paintball and lunch, everyone went home to shower and do a tick-check. Then, it was over to our house for pizza, cake and a sleepover! Bean had a great time with all her friends! Thanks everyone for making her segue into teenagerhood so much fun!

Last year of "Junior High" starts!!

We started 8th grade today. Everything went really well. We ended up deciding to put off Spanish until next year. Bean felt like she could handle it, but this Momma didn't feel like her Espanol was up to snuff for teaching without a net! We'll let Hubby handle that when he's home next year. Yay!!

The Schoolhouse Planner by TOS

SisterChick is giving away a free copy of the all-new, super-cool Schoolhouse Planner that was just released by The Old Schoolhouse. This planner looks to be everything you could possibly want to organize your home, your homeschool and, heck, even your life. Go forth and enter her contest!!

News

I've been trying to think about how to post what our past month has been like. How can I adequately describe what it was like for us, what it meant to us, to have Hubby here and then to have him leave again? The answer is that I can't. He was here for two weeks and he left two weeks ago and we can't wait to see him again.

Dance recital!!

Here is the video of Bean's Advanced Irish class' dance:



And here is the video of her Beginner Jazz routine:



I think she did a great job in both dances and I can't wait to see what she does next year!! Here is a video of the Elite Hip-hop class, which Bean hopes to take next year if the swim practice schedule works out the way we want. :o)

7th Grade is finished

Woohoo!! Bean finished up her last subject for 7th grade today. She's been finishing up subjects here and there for a few weeks now, but still had a wee bit of math left to finish the first half of her 2-year Pre-Algebra program. She did super well on her test, only missing one question. Way to go, Bean!!

Our plan is to start up 8th grade on August 4th with the following subjects:
* Sonlight's 1 year World History In Depth (this covers Bible study too)
* 2nd half of Chalkdust's Pre-Algebra
* Lightning Literature for 8th grade
* Apologia's Physical Science
* Bob Jones Spanish I
* Analytical Grammar

We are looking forward to her last year in "middle school".

Goodbye, Big Dawg

We received the sad news today that my parents had to put our Big Dawg to sleep. The vet was pretty sure she had a brain tumor based on her issues. She was almost 15 years old, which is pretty ancient for a Husky.

My favorite memories:
... when we brought her home as a pup, she was only 5 pounds, all ears and big, beautiful blue eyes

... her standing on top of snowbanks in upstate New York, surveying her "domain" like she was Queen of the North

... teaching her to lick my nose when I said "besame" (Spanish for "kiss me")

... her and my cat conspiring to steal my plate full of mac & cheese

... her and my cat working together to kill cockroaches in Mississippi

We love you, Big Dawg, and we will miss you! I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of this beautiful girl, but they are all pre-digital.

Finally!!

We've been waiting all season for a fun dance routine and here it is:

Kristi & Mark do the Cha Cha Cha:


Mark is my favorite of the professional dancers on the show. He always looks like he's having the time of his life and I love the expressions he gets on his face!

Our Favorite DWTS dances!!

Bean and I are huge fans of Dancing with the Stars. While we are enjoying this season a lot, we haven't seen anything that beats these dances for our all-time favorites:

Joey Fatone & Kym do the Jive:


Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne do the Samba:


Enjoy!

How to make an Apple Pie

My friend Krissie invited Bean over for a pie-crust making lesson. You have to know the back story, though. When I was about Bean's age, I told my mom (Hi, Mamma!) that I didn't like her pie crust because it was too flakey. No one ever told me that flakey was a goal in pie crusts!! Well, she's never *quite* forgiven me for that and so my pie crust skills involve getting one pre-made from the grocery store. Bean, being the dedicated baker she is, wanted to know how to make a *real* pie crust and, since Krissie knows how, let the baking begin!

What do you mean, "Roll it out flat and even?"

I'm getting the hang of this now!

Getting the crust into the pie plate proves to be a little tricky!

Sarah is wondering how much butter Bean plans to put on top of those apples.

Cleaning up after yourself is a VERY important part of this lesson.

Looking, and smelling, good!

A yummy and happy, smiley pie!!!

Excuse me, but my calendar says "April"!!!

Woke up this morning to find this:

For heaven's sake!! It's supposed to be 90 degrees in San Antonio today! Maybe it's time to move home?

Nah.

Silly girl + Camera + April Fool's Day = ??

Here's what you get when you combine a silly Bean and a camera with a timer on April 1st:

Feng Shui for the Schoolroom?

Okay, so something got into Bean today and she closed the door to the schoolroom and hung a sign on it saying that I was not allowed to enter. Kitty was allowed to go in, though, which seems grossly unfair to me!!

When she finally came out, she announced that she had "feng shui'd" the schoolroom. Here are the results:

I think she did a great job!! I don't know about any actual "feng shui" principles being applied, but I think the room is now ready for her to work in it every day and she'll be able to find things when she needs them.

Way to go, Bean!!

Winter is here . . .

. . .and it's only FOUR days after the offical start of SPRING!!

It is supposed to snow even more tomorrow. Bean is hoping that it will, so they will cancel co-op and she can have Speedy's family over for sledding and snow fun. Woohoo!

He is Risen!!

Happy Easter!

We woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground this morning! What is up with that? Now it looks like Christmas outside.

Bean and I had a great day together. We went to church with our friends, the Murphys. After church and Sunday School, we joined them for Easter dinner at another family's home. It was lovely. And, in case you are wondering, no, we are not sitting. She really IS almost as tall as me.

Bean's friend Sarah's grandmother sent cascarones for all the kids to enjoy. Since this is a tradition I remember fondly from growing up in Texas, I was so excited. The kids were kind of leery at first, but once Krissie showed them what to do, they were all on board with that! "You mean I can crack an egg over my friend's head and rub the confetti in while messing up their hair and NOT get in trouble? Yeah!!!"

Here are all the kids that were there to celebrate:

After we got home, Speedy's family invited us over for dessert. Bean had two (!) pieces of Sarah's friend Rylan's made-from-scratch chocolate cake already, so we just stopped by for a visit, but no dessert. It was great to see all of them, especially since it'd been a while since we'd all been together.

When we got home, Bean colored our Easter eggs. I think she did an awesome job!

It was a blessed day for us both.

He is risen, indeed!

Class Feis 2008

Bean's school had their class Feis this weekend. For someone who has been completely focused on swimming for the past six months, I thought Bean did VERY well. She even placed first in one dance: the Single Jig.

Speedy was brave enough to dance in a Family Freestyle with Bean & me. We did well and finished fourth. Thanks, Speedy! We couldn't have done it without you.

CHAMPS 2008!

Whew! The swim season is finally over. Bean had a great meet at CHAMPS and we had a fun time in Berlin. She was the Pentathlon Champion (fastest combined time during the season for 50 Free, 50 Fly, 50 Back, 50 Breast & 100 IM) for her age group. She also was the High Point and Overall Champion for her age group at CHAMPS. Tiger won her age group, too! Way to go, girls!! Here are the final results for Bean:

100 IM: gold medal

200 Free: gold medal

200 IM: gold medal

50 Free: silver medal (by only 0.03 seconds)

100 Free: gold medal

50 Fly: gold medal

Here is Bean getting one of her gold medals:

Here are Bean, Speedy and Speedy's brother & sister getting ready for the parade of teams:

Here we are trying not to freeze to death in front of the Brandenburg Gate: