Just to document the event

I picked up the girls tonight and Reagan informed me that she needed $5 to join the Chess Club, because she went to Chess Club today and loved it. I replied with something sarcastic of course since I have been trying to get her to just try the one club she can join as a First grader since September. September. Of course she tried it 2 weeks before winter break. And apparently she went today because a friend of hers decided to give it a try. I guess beggers can not be choosers. But I still used the event to remind of her of the words spoken in September by one very wise person about the fun that something like Chess Club could be on winter recess days when the highs are only in the mid-twenties.

So we may start to play Chess with the new found favorite game of Uno!

Just a quick note

Not sure that I have passed this on....

On Saturday when I was taking the girls to Stillwater we got behind a car with two ladies in the front seat. They were both wearing large red hats. I mentioned them to the girls and started to tell them about the red hat groups. We decided that they were on their way to a holiday party and eventually got the chance to pass them. As we did I saw that they were waring feather boas as well. Reagan decided that they had to be going to something fancy. I asked Avery what she thought, she replied with "probably so, they have on their glasses and their wrinkles".

I need to add that she does not want me to mention this to anyone...but I think it is too funny not to share.

What happens on a field trip....

Does not always stay on a field trip. Jason picked Reagan up from school today after her field trip. This is what she looked like when I got home and with half of it cleaned up. Most of the first grade class did their own face paint.

She was excited to go on her field trip to the Children's Science Museum, but even more excited when she found out that we were not able to go with her. I asked her how it was, she said it was great and throughout the evening she kept asking me if I wanted to hear about the rest of her day. I also asked her why it was more fun without a parent there....her response was that she was in control.

She does not know, I had a contact inside the school calling me with updates. She just thinks she had all of the control.

Taos trip Feb 09

Here is a little clip of our trip last year to ski in New Mexico. Mostly of Reagan, but you can see Avery in the first few seconds as well as most of the rest of us. This video makes me laugh, everytime, now only if we had video of Avery and her lack of control from the shoulders down.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35ymmf9f8yA&feature=youtube_gdata

First grade math

Just for your viewing pleasure.....take a glimpse at some 1st grade math. Reagan seems to know the answers. Now if I only understood the method.

#6. Which sentences with 5 and 10 tell about the model.

OOOOO
OO

a. 5+2 = 7 c. 3+2= 5
7+3= 10 5+2= 7

b. 5+2= 7 d. 5+0= 5
6+4= 10 2+0= 2


#8 Mel counts 8 ants. Zema counts 5 ants. Which tells how many ants in all?

a. 5+3 = 8
b. 8+2= 10
c. 10+3 = 13
d 10+5 = 15


So who loves first grade math??? Me, not so much. That would be shown by 1 minus the group total. I will work towards a model to show that.

What ever happened to one number plus or minus another is fill in the blank?

Happy Halloween

Here are some pictures of the girls that Mom took on Halloween before our annual trip to Haunt the Zoo. A sweet girl from Kansas and a crazy hippee full of attitude and joined us this year.

Avery's book buddie

Avery came home with a book buddie bag yesterday. This is a big step in the land of Kindergarten. Last week she went to the library and was allowed to actually check out a book and bring it home. So to start the nightly reading homework we witnesses during Reagan's Kindergarten year was a large step for our curly haired, blue eyed friend. She was rather excited. The book was titled "We Go Out." I was in their room working with Reagan on her clothes for today while Avery, who could not wait, started to read. I did not think much of it until I heard her read the following sentence. "We go out to the aquarium." What? Aquarium? I was not even sure how to spell aquarium.

I asked her to read the page again and then asked if she had read that book earlier in class or with Mrs. McRay. She had. Nice try. I chose a page in the middle, covered up the picture and asked her to read. After she guessed at every word of "We go to the pool" wrong, she asked me to let her see the pictures so that she could read it again. She was so proud of herself and so am I, even if she was looking at the pictures.

Rolling on into Tuesday

Our good news continued from Monday and rolled right into Tuesday. Today I picked up Reagan with a great big golden A taped to her shirt. Needless to say she was very excited. Jason and Reagan forgot to take a picture before she changed for bed but here she is with a picture and her A. Their trip to the dentist went well today too. They both came home with another dollar for being in the no cavity club. But we were told that braces are in our future. Whhooo hoooooo.

Whene're You Make a Promise

Reagan and Avery are learning the Girl Scout Law with the rest of the their Daisy friends by learning a story of a magic garden that has flower characters that each represent a part of the Law. Every now and then they surprise me by commenting on that story and set of characters and the morals and or values that they represent. So I know that they are getting it. Getting the story, loving the characters but at the same time absorbing a set of rules to live by. I like this set of rules, I like the Girl Scout Law as well as the Girl Scout Promise and what they stand for. I wish we all lived more like Girls Scouts, or Boy Scouts for that matter. But to my point....I sat through a training class on Saturday for Troop Leaders and during the award luncheon I heard a song that I believe was written in the 1940's that I really liked and will probably end up teaching my own troop. Just because making a promise is important and I think sometimes we all forget that. I think that sometimes I may forget and am thankful that I was able to be reminded. So now I am reminding you.

Whene're you make a promise,
Consider well its importance.
And when made
Engrave it upon your heart.

Not so bad for a Monday

We ended the school day with two, actually three very exciting accomplishments.

Avery was selected as Artist of the Day in her art class today. This honor, with its capital letter A cut in a bright shade of yellow is rather sought after by the Baskin girls who love their new art teacher as much as their art class. Reagan was excited to see the 'A' on Avery's shirt and then reminded me she has made E's on every assignment and is growing a bit impatient. Which is probably why she was not selected as the Terrific kid for last week since the life principle they were working on was Patience. Here is a picture of Avery with the piece that earned her the Golden A. Note the use of color, shapes, lines and apples. All part of the past weeks curriculum.

Reagan had her first spelling test on Friday and her second math test as well. She did great! She missed only one question on her math test, which she mentioned on the way home before I got to take a peek at it. And due to her deciding to go the extra mile on the spelling test and learn the bonus words she came home with a 102%. That is one hundred and two percent!! Spring Spelling Bee here we come!! She has already made her flash cards for this weeks words and was able to do them by herself....so we may be up for a repeat this Friday!

They are so smart and so very creative and I just love everything about them, including their new chic looks.

Your word is: Spelling Test

Well that is actually two words, but today we will enter the world of Spelling Tests. Whooo-hooooo! Reagan will have 10 words each week and 5 bonus words if she so chooses. She told me on Tuesday she would rather not choose the bonus, I informed her that she should to get ready for the spring spelling bee. She then asked if I had ever been in a spelling bee which I have not so I chose not to take this opportunity to tell her about wonderful things like spell check and calculators. I am saving that for another day and then steered the conversation back to how fun spelling can be. So in short we drove home, talked about her day and I lied. That Parent of the Year award is soooo mine.

On top of that she has a math test tomorrow.....she may need the force sent to her. We went over the information for both, she went straight to sleep and now I up with the butterflies.

Wish us all luck. For the tester and the test preper(just made a new word, I wonder if it will be in the spelling bee) oh and for Avery. She has a walkathon tomorrow and will be forced to wear her Nike's which she just hates with a passion. And we all know how particular she is about her wardrobe. We may need luck and a few dozen prayers....

My Bad

Less than 5 hours ago this little phrase entered our world. Thank you elementary school!
We are also living "ha ha, word" which is just as lovely and the word "seriously" thrown in a few hundred times each day. I can not wait for the word "no" to pop up at the end of questions. Like in "do you want to go with us or no?"
I guess these are the times we are living in. Not such bad times overall, seriously.....

Children 1 : parents 0

On the way home from school today I learned that Avery had been to the office with a headache. I asked her what had happened and was told that she went to the office and Jennie told her to take it easy for a while, lay down and then took her temperature. A while later she went back to class. So I asked her how she was feeling now that her school day was over and she said that her head still hurt and that she thought some chocolate cake would make it feel better.....or some Diet Dr Pepper....."just like you had for your headache the other day, remember". As they would say....I was busted.

Quote of the day

"You have to learn to read Avery, it is just part of being in Kindergarten" - Reagan on the way home this evening.

imaginations strike again....

We have been home for about 45 minutes, its cold, rainy and cloudy outside....but inside the girls are playing 'friends' and are going on an 'interview' are dressed up in way too much makeup, fancy up-do's and swimsuits and are having a picnic in the living room.

I wonder what types of jobs they are interviewing for??

One is the loneliest number

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know.....

This time I took the tooth straight to the box and then straight to the night stand....plus its 9 and bedtime....I think the chances of the Tooth Fairy actually getting this tooth are looking good!

Reagan is going into picture day tomorrow with both of them missing. Let's hope for no retakes!

Why marketing works...

Today Jason went into town and picked up some pizzas from Domino's for us to have at lunch and dinner since we were going to be in a hurry to get to Back to School. A few hours later I went to get the girls from school. Avery got in and before we left the school told me that the car smelled like "a hot and ready". She is so funny. Or since we are talking Little Cesar's maybe I should say she is "funny funny".

Sisters will be sisters

Tonight Jason and I went to Back to School night at Deer Creek....loads of fun.

After the presentation in Reagan's class we stayed to visit with her teacher who had a funny story. She knows Reagan from last year but did not know that she had a sister at the school or who she was. Today both of their classes were out on the playground at the same time for a little while. They were both on some type of climbing toy and Reagan was apparently not going fast enough for Avery and from what we heard from both teachers was that Avery was telling her to move and to hurry up. I guess rather loudly and maybe not so politely. The two teachers were standing close together and Reagan's started to go and 'fix' the problem when Avery's teacher told her that they were sisters and would probably be just fine.

They do not really bicker at home but I guess the life on the playground is a whole other ballgame.

I told them they were "sooo busted". I wonder how many stories like this we will hear over the next nine months.

Cardboard Boat Regatta

Edmond's first annual Cardboard Boat Regatta

Stuart, Sean and team took the Pride of Fleet Award!!

Just for fun, think/sing "Kung Fu Fighting"


Everybody was Cardboard Boat Racing...

Those boys were fast as lightening...

In fact, it was a little bit frightening....

But they rowed with expert timing...

Everybody was Cardboard Boat Racing....and had just enough fun to fill a three hour tour....

No back to school blues here....

It was cold, wet and rainy but that in no way dampened the excitement of Reagan and Avery on their first day of school. We have bought and 'set off' confetti shooters on the first morning for the past two years. This year we were not as together in the count down.....hopefully they can work on that at school. :o)

Here some pictures of our Elementary school students!!!

Lost tooth

Reagan lost her tooth while she was brushing her teeth this morning and surprisingly enough, it did not hurt. Go figure. Here is snaggle tooth Reagan.

Catching some rays

In August, in Oklahoma, after 8pm, in the last spot of sun in the yard. Does this fall into the category of fake baking?

And the Best Supporting Actress Award goes to....

Avery Marie, the little sister, for her supporting role in the great saga of the ever loosening first tooth of Reagan Baskin. Avery's portrayal of the little sister has gone from casually interested to the point of tears over Reagan and Reagan's incredibly ever loosening tooth. Avery has been quoted asking Reagan to "pull that thing out so she will know what it's like". She was also heard stating "Because it will be awesome!" Sources have confirmed that the younger Baskin has not been this interested in anything Reagan has done in the last 5 years.

Reagan is scared, to the point of tears, as well. The tooth is starting to turn a bit of a darker shade, slants in 45 degree angels in every direction and is starting to mess up her speech.

It has been just a like a night at the movies tonight....action, drama, suspense, tears, laughter, deception and even the rumor of a sequel set to run daily until the Tooth Fairy makes a cameo appearance. Speaking on the condition of anonymity an inside source has the funds ready to go and is just waiting on the call.

Just to be prepared, Avery has set the tooth box on Reagan's night stand....just in case something goes bump in the night.

Twas the night before school

Twas the night before school
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
not even a mouse.

The backpacks were laid on the black bench with care,
In hopes that they will make it all the way to the care(silent e).

The children are resting with ready confetti in their beds
While visions of bologna, mustard and pickle sandwiches dance in their heads.

Let's hope there is no clatter tonight....not sure that I am ready to 'spring' from my bed.
Or for that matter I prefer to not see a jolly old elf just yet either. But in the spirit of it all...
Happy first day of school to all and to all a good night.

First day of school pics tomorrow. They have their clothes ready, have asked for pancakes, we read Oh the Places you will Go just like last year, sprinkled the Ready Confetti under their pillows now if only Reagan will go to sleep.

Avery the new Deer Creek Antler

Roller Derby 09 pictures

The pictures are not really all that great, but here they are.

Roller Derby 09

The girls and I are spending the week cramming. Cramming in everything we can into the last week of our summer vacation. And we plan to be busy. On Tuesday we decided to try roller skating. The girls were given skates on their last birthday and have done okay around the kitchen and pool table but today was the day to try it on the slick floor. After going to Avery's picture appt we headed to Yukon and talked about our last trip there that was not so pleasant and involved a canon and cherry pie....but we paid the toll and went to Yukon anyway.

We stopped at McDonalds across the street for a quick lunch. I noticed there were a lot of flies, but its August, the doors are always open and there is food and kids there so I really did not worry about it. But at this McDonalds, I saw a first....a customer walked in with a bag, ordered a coke and sat down, pulled out a paper and a fly swatter....true story. I wonder if I have seen it all now?

Anyway, back to Yukon on Wheels. We got our tickets, I got my skates, which are still brown with orange wheels and went to get a locker. Avery thought that was cool, skates, locker and a special key! The girls did a great job. They hugged the carpet wall for a while, but Reagan left it shortly and really did pretty well. Avery....well some of you have seen Avery ski....think of her on short skis....short skis that do not prevent her from crossing them. She was a mess, the two of us laughed all afternoon. Her once white shorts, are not sort of cream. Reagan fell a couple of times, Avery tripped me once but she takes the cake on wipeouts, hands down.

A parent commented on Avery's style of skating....she runs on her stops/toes for several feet and then coasts....then runs on her stops/toes and coasts....its very, very funny. I had trouble seeing from the tears.

Here are some pictures of the two of them. Notice nothing has changed.....

And just in case you are wondering....There is still a door and hallway that keeps the sunlight from getting in, the carpet is still wild, the place still smells of feet, teeanagers and their cheap cologne, popcorn and that yellow runny stuff they serve with chips. The lights are also the same, in the middle is a big star with different colored lights with disco balls and fun lighting everywhere except the bathroom where you can barely see. They still play limbo, the corner game and end with a couples skate. The same crowd is even still there...the oh so cool looking teenagers that race and weave in and out of the slow skaters, the older people that can not leave the skating scene acting like the oh so cool teeanagers and even the boy playing air guitar on the bench. Seriously. It's a time warp....maybe it has something to do with that heavy door that keeps out the light.

Avery wants to go back tomorrow but my shoulders are so sore from holding the two of them up that we may need to take a break. I know they had fun and it was the best couples skate I can remember. It was a great trip, great to see them try something new, great to play together and great to stop by Sonic happy hour on our way out of that odd little town.

Tomorrow we are going to go for something artistic....a trip to the pottery place, the western heritage museum and maybe the zoo. Oh and to get the pictures that we forgot to pick up after our Daisy meeting. They are great pictures, coming to mailbox near you shortly.

The camera batteries just died as I tried to load the pics....I will put them up tomorrow. Hopefully they will be woth the wait. I have not even looked at them.

Enjoy

Avery has picked up a new phrase, not sure where it came from. Maybe from a waitress somewhere or an infomerical. She ads the word enjoy to phrases several times a day. Sometimes with an expression just like this. So enjoy!

Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Cody, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole

Loaded and ready to go!

Is there a better way to start off a trip thru Kansas and Nebraska than a trip to Krispy Kreme? Probably not.

It was nearly two hours on the road before the first “are we there yet” was asked. Avery is pretty sure that the middle of nowhere and Kansas are the same place. I have to agree with her. The first day was a long, long drive. But on Day 2 we picked up Jason in South Dakota and drove to see the Presidents heads aka Mount Rushmore. We went back later that night to watch a night time show that was a disappointment but Mom caught a great picture of the kids using the binoculars.

We stayed at a great resort in Keystone, SD and went on a tour of a working gold mine and the panned for gold afterwards. Water + rocks +bowels + shovel = a great day on vacation for the girls and Carter. They each found several flakes and other precious gems that are now sitting, freshly washed on the kitchen counter.

Crazy Horse, Three Crazy kids.

Devils Tower on the way to Cody, WY.

While we were in Cody, WY we went to the nightly rodeo since all three kids were sporting new boots and cowboy/girl tops. It was cold and rained off and on. Reagan volunteered for the calf scramble. She walked right into the arena and lined up with the dozens of other kids. I decided to step on the inside of the arena just in case. Then I saw the young cows they were passing on as calves and looked at the bleachers to see if Jason was in cardiac arrest. They released three rather large calves that all ran right by me and straight to the back, right passed the crowd with Reagan in the middle. I am glad she has the courage to volunteer and join group activities….but I don’t think I will introduce her to Running with the Bulls in Spain just yet. Here is a picture of Avery telling her how crazy she was.

Yellowstone National Park.

Here is the list of what we saw or proof of….buffalo, the tail end of one moose, rabbits, deer, something like a pelican, antelope, elk, and some type of squirrel and snowmen tracks. Dad tried explaining a spot of grass where a few deer had been to Reagan and Avery and then found where a family had emptied their cooler. He told them a snowman had just walked by, snowman droppings. For a second, they almost believed him.

We also stayed to watch Old Faithful.

From Yellowstone we went to Jackson Hole, WY and stayed for a couple of days. Down on the square they collect the antlers from the elk and build arches for each corner. Reagan found this statue of an Indian; I am not really sure what pose this is supposed to be.

From Jackson Hole and the Tetons, which were really cool, we headed home through the middle of nowhere and more buffalo, a snowball fight alongside the road in Medicine Bow National Forest, lunch in Estes Park, one more hotel stop and our first time to use a pool, more middle of nowhere and finally home. We traveled across 6 states and crossed the Continental Divide several times. Vacation over…..until next time.

The End.

She said...she said

Actually it should be She said “said”….this is a not so new game that the girls have been playing a lot of recently, especially over the nearly 2000 miles that they traveled last week. It usually happens in the car, usually with their best babies or some stuffed toys and of course happens in the land of imagination where they both spend an enormous amount of time. They are each at least one character and each have lines to say…but here is the twist….Reagan makes up all of the lines….including Avery’s. So she will have her toy say to Avery’s “Do you want to go to a swim party today with our friends said of course I would love to and I am going to wear a new suit” Then Avery says “of course I would love to and I am going to wear a new suit”. Notice the duplication/repeat?

It happens all the time. Avery used to never get a word in at all, now she does but her lines are given to her. It’s hard being the little sister.
Reagan may be a great screen writer some day, she gives Avery the lines but also includes stage directions, mood, timing etc and Avery never misses a beat. Never….
On this trip Carter was buckled into his seat between them and stuck in the story…sort of like watching a tennis match…I am not sure that he was bored, entertained or confused….either way we watched most all of it minus the popcorn and sticky theater floor.

School supplies

On the way to Hot Springs we stopped in Clarksville at the Wal-Mart to let Avery use the restroom. While Avery and I were in the store I noticed that the pallets of school supplies were in the aisles so I stopped and dramatically asked Avery to look over there....markers, glue, paper, crayons...school supplies! I then asked her if she knew who got to buy school supplies this year. She smiled with her entire face the way only Avery can do and then rolled her eyes as if she was embarrassed or maybe it was because I was so not cool....anyway….On Monday we made the trip to Wal-Mart to buy a cart full of supplies. The girls were excited and double checked their list. We also made a trip to the mall to buy Avery her new 'ready to go' to Kindergarten backpack and lunch box. I will try to send a picture tomorrow. Reagan asked for a messenger bag this year and we found one online. She should have her new zebra print bag in 10 days. School starts in less than one month. In one month we will be a family with "school aged" kids....what ever happened to the family with the two cute little blondes. I kinda miss them.
Someone please stop the clock.

Reagan wants to know...

On the way to Tball practice Reagan asked.....If someone is allergic to fish, can they swim in a lake?
Does anyone have any ideas?

This is why I do not get to listen to the radio. We discuss things like fish allergies, the types of grass growing in fields and how it is different from Winter Rye, how electricity travels in the power lines if their Grandparents met Noah....I promise I do not make this stuff up.....

Girls only day...

We started today with a list of errands to run and in the middle of them one of the girls reminded me that we had not had a 'girls only day' in a long time. A 'girls only day' is usually a Saturday when Jason is at work and the girls and I run errands, do some window shopping, make a Sonic run and stay in town for the majority of the day. That was today and it was GREAT even if our feet are tired. I do not think we have had a girls only day since before Memorial Day....it was way overdue and we did let Jason join us for Sam's club and lunch.

T Ball - day 1

This picture was taken on the way to the their very first game. If they ask, of course they won. It was Avery's idea to add in the bike since it has so much to do with her TBall 'match'.
One thing at a time...