The Brains of the Family

I decided to do a quick blog post about Caitie's school stuff since it's been a while.  I might do a more detailed one in the future, when I find the time and I can get to all my pics.  I can get to a few pics, but most of them are on a drive that needs fixin', so I'm limited on what I can post right now.

Caitie takes after me as far as her eyes and skin tone, and she has her daddy's long and lean look, with some smarts thrown in, but she's far above us as far as academics go... She made straight A's all through her elementary school years.  She was on the Principal's Honor Roll year after year.  She was in an advanced reading class called Sage, which gave her the opportunity to go to a place called Astrocamp that's located in southern California.  She went there twice, once in 5th grade and again in 6th grade, and loved it both times; the trip lasted three days each time.  There was ziplining, a sky coaster, hiking, space night with telescopes, space build in a pool, and a lot of neat space type experiments, etc.  She went on another three-day trip to Big Sur California with the 6th grade class back in September 2017.  They spent a lot of time at the beach and did all kinds of fun things on that trip.  She also went on a day trip to the Grand Canyon in the 4th grade, and went on a lot of neat local field trips in her other classes through the years.  She was in clubs, and ran for Historian of the 6th grade class; she didn't win, but it was a fun, learning experience for her.  She had a great elementary school experience.

She's in the 7th grade this year, at a new school, of which she is in three advanced classes:  Reading, Science, and Social Studies.  She's in a coding club after school.  Michael and I haven't a clue what she's learning in school anymore due to her homework looking like a foreign language to us.  This is the last week of the first quarter, and I just checked her grades online... she made all A's this quarter.  So yes, she's the brains of this family, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

(see below for the 'summertime means blueberry smoothies' post)
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Summertime Means Blueberry Smoothies

It's summer, it's hot, kids like to eat tons of ice cream to keep cool and, of course, for it's yummy sweetness, but it's not good to have tons of ice cream all summer long, so I sometimes make my girls blueberry smoothies.  The smoothies are cold, sweet (in a good way, not all sugar), and yummy.  If you want to try this tasty treat, here are the ingredients...

The amount of each ingredient is up to you, I don't measure, but I'll give you an idea of what I put each time:

Frozen Blueberries (you can use other frozen berries as well) - I use a small blender and I put about three or four handfuls of small-sized frozen blueberries

A big scoop of Peanut Butter - I would like to use almond butter, but the girls like peanut butter best

Several Fresh Spinach Leaves

Half of an Avocado - cut in cubes

About half a handful of unsalted Walnuts

Half of a six-ounce size container of Blueberry Yogurt (or berry of your choice)

Around a tablespoon of Honey

Around a tablespoon of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Around one cup of Milk, maybe a little less or a little more, depends on how thick you want it

Just throw all the ingredients into a blender and pulse several times, and there ya go... a cold, sweet, refreshing, and most importantly, healthy smoothie.  At least it's better than extra sweet ice cream.  ha

I don't give them a huge amount, I fill about half of a regular sized mason jar, which is just the right amount for them.

I took a quick pic of today's blueberry smoothies with my smartphone.  It's a refreshing treat after playin' in the pool.  :)

Enjoy!  :)

(see below for the "first time standing" post)
     
     
     
     
     

First Time Standing

The girls and I stayed up all night to see this cutie be born.  She's a Caspian foal.  The Caspian breed is a smaller size horse, but they're bigger than ponies.  She was born around 4:30am this morning.  She was born on her mother's birthday; how sweet is that.  :)  They're both named Taliyeh, the foal is Taliyeh III (her nickname is lilty); the mother has given birth to five other foals as well, Taliyeh III is her sixth foal.  The foal is a little underweight and weak, but she's doing fine.

Here is Taliyeh III (lilty) standing for the first time.  Click the 'play' button below to view the short video clip.



Just wanted to share a happy moment this bright, early, sunny, already gettin' hot, Arizona mornin'.  Have a good one, everyone!  :)

(see below for the "daddy's day" post)
     
     
     
     
     

Daddy's Day

I took a few pics with my smart phone yesterday, on Father's Day. Just thought I would add them here real quick.

Caitie braiding Bailey's hair before getting in the pool.

Love Bailey's red and white gingham swimsuit. I love most things gingham, especially in red and white.

Caitie has a NASA swimsuit. She's into space stuff. She was wanting it for a trip she took back in April to a place called AstroCamp, but Target didn't have it in stock then, so she had to get a different one for the trip. It was back in stock at Target recently, so we grabbed one.

We had a barbecue and went swimming for Father's Day. Here's Bailey "jumpin' into summer". When the pool goes up, it's officially summer here at the Hawk household. Michael, with a little help from me, put the pool up the weekend before last, but we couldn't use it because there was a piece missing to the pump. The piece finally arrived and Michael was able to put it on yesterday, so the pool is finally ready to get into. The new pool from last year had to be thrown out when trying to take it down after summer last year. It didn't come apart easily and ended up tearing in places. So this is a brand new pool; and yes, we bought the same one, we couldn't find another one that fit our needs like this one. Hopefully we'll figure out a way to take it down without it tearing this time.

The weather has been so nice lately, and wasn't super hot like it usually is this time of year, so the pool water hadn't heated up much yet and was a bit cool when first getting in, so Caitie floated around on the 'donut' floatie, as we like to call it, before getting all the way in the water.

The girls with their daddy. :)

Our cat Simon relaxing on top of Michael's father's day gifts.

We included these flip flops as one of Michael's father's day gifts, and we just had to get some for ourselves as well. Instead of having to stand in our yard to feel the grass between our toes, we just wear these and save ourselves from having to exert energy and walk outside. Yes, we're that lazy. Now if someone would just invent a perfume that smelled like freshly cut grass.

These are actual shoes, but they're made of synthetic grass, so there's no need to mow or water them. ha And no, we don't actually have these shoes, but if they were real grass, I would definitely own a pair. ;)

(see below for the "it's time to celebrate!" post)

     

     

     

     

     

It's time to celebrate!

(see below for the 'Christmas shopping and bein' silly' post)