Easy Bandana Dress

I sewed this dress for Braxtyn out of a pink bandanna and some ribbon. I also did one in Red White and Blue fabric that turned out even cuter!

Arbor Day (This Friday)

Trees. Where would we be without them? Without wood, shade, paper, barbecue, and so much more . . . the world would be a much different place if God had not created trees. (Especially the infamous “tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil” in the Garden of Eden, but let’s not go there now.) Did you know trees are mentioned in some 340 verses in 40 of the 66 books of the Bible?

According to the Arbor Day Foundation (arborday.org) the U.S. version of Arbor Day began in 1874 in the young state of Nebraska. It’s estimated more than a million trees were planted that first Arbor Day, and the idea caught on. While (U.S.) National Arbor Day is this Friday, each state celebrates its own Arbor Day according to the best planting time.

Americans are not the only ones who celebrate trees: more than 30 countries around the world, from Australia to Yemin, observe some sort of Arbor Day. Our friends to the north celebrate Maple Leaf Day in September, and some provinces hold their own days. What’s the best way to celebrate? The Arbor Day Foundation has a list of suggestions from holding a contest to taking a hike. Or, of course, you could always plant a tree!
(Courtesy of Women of Faith blog)

Graham and Gunny's driving lessons

Graham's lessons on Gunny are going so well! Miss Susan, is working with all of us, teaching us how to do halter showing and driving Gunny behind the wagon. Graham is so very much in his element when he is out there. He is probably the only child I've met that every day will go out and feed his horse and clean his stall with a smile on his face!

Break

We are on break and I had so many plans for our four weeks off...what happened? Its gone and only a few projects are actually done.
1. I caught up on my blog
2. I ordered and prepared for next year's school year
3. I prepared three weeks out of the three months of lesson plans :(
4. Laundry is caught up, but that lasts all of one day
5. Gardening
6. The house did receive some spring cleaning...


What I did not get done:

Dress making for the girls
Mortgage paperwork
Painting Cozy's room
new light fixtures for the school room and Cozy's room
A month's worth of dinners made and frozen

I still have 3 1/2 days to do it... This is where I make my husband crazy, some of these projects include him.

Oh well here are a few pics of the fun we had instead!

The dentist

I braved the dentist with three of the four. They all did so well! Even Braxtyn, who I was most concerned about. She put on a brave face while she watched her brothers go ahead of her and then she jumped in the chair to have her teeth cleaned. They all actually said they enjoyed it! Toys and new tooth brushes helped that and no cavities!

Home school stuff

It's that time of year when I start thinking about the next school year. We are break for April and I wont get another break until July, so I'm ordering and planning early. Saxon has 35% off all their books and www.Christianbookclearinghouse and www.Abekabook.com has free shipping.

I have started a home school blog to keep track of what each child is doing and what curriculum I'm using and I will try to keep it updated as to how I like it. I'm trying to choose learning methods that will work good for each child and yet stay cohesive with my teaching plan so I'm not too confused.

http://zimmermannhss.blogspot.com/

I'm trying some new stuff with Graham this year, Explode the Code on line. Doni has been using it and the boys seem to really like it. I'm loving Story of the World history, it works for each age child and it cycles back through at different learning levels. I also really like Stick Figuring Through the Bible and The Word and Song Bible for bible curriculum. Abeka has worked well for Noah for writing, spelling and English so we are sticking to it and I'm starting Braxtyn a a little early because of her interest level. Anyways, it is listed out on the other blog in better detail.

Sunday at Starbucks...

No, I did not go to church on Sunday... I ditched. I had a fairly good reason, anyways, I have been working with a girl competing for Miss Rodeo Arizona and I had to go support her. It was a nice morning I spent with my mom and I got to see many good friends that I ride with and use to rodeo queen with. Well, afterward we went to get a coffee at Starbucks and when we went in we started talking to this very nice lady and just hit it off, well while we were having this loud conversation laughing and such, another lady in line looks at me and says, Brooke is that you? I of course say yes and smile at her very unfamiliar face. She reaches across to me and embraces me in a huge hug and says she is so glad to see me and asks me how the baby is. I of course I automatically smile and say she's fine. She proceeds to tell me she is Monica's mother.....hmmm....I know I don't know a Monica, but this lady certainly knows me. I'm feeling terrible and go outside with my mom and we continue our conversation with our new friend the photographer who asks me to do a photo shoot for her portfolio and we exchange business cards. I tell my mom that I have no idea who that woman is and I feel terrible. Well Monica's mother comes out of Starbucks and says, how old is your baby boy? I tell her SHE's nine months, the woman stops and says, I don't think you are who I think you are. I just start laughing and tell her I'm relieved because I have no idea who she is and I know I don't know a Monica. But I was wondering, how do you know my name? She just starts laughing and tells me her daughter's business partner is named Brooke and just had a baby boy! She then asks me if she can take a picture of me with her phone so she can tell the other Brooke she has a twin!

It's not every day that you walk into Starbucks, make a new friend who wants you take your pictures and then find out you have a twin with the same name as you and get your picture taken...

Easter 2010

Not the best picture of Cozy, but the only one of her little tutu

Braxtyn's outfit was made by my friend Shanda and the boys picked out their own ties!

Cozy was not going for this picture at all!

Baking Easter goodies with Braxtyn! I made her this apron for Christmas

The Main and Zimmermann Family Adventures

Silly girl!

Little twin girls

The boys catching crawdads

Cooking hot dogs

The big catch

Rachel on Gunny

Micah or Mustard as the kids call him!

Josh on Arlo

We have had so much fun playing with our friends, Micheal, Debbie, Daniel, Josh, Rachel, Micah and Luke.
We babysat for Micheal and Debbie while they went to see a movie, so we decided to go horseback riding. We also had a great day in Dugas for a picnic and BBQ. We are always coming up with fun adventures together!

Uncle Josh's wedding

The kids were all in My brother's wedding. They were so cute and so excited to be a part of this special day. We love our Aunt Brittany and have been excited to have her officially part of the family!

Finding myself behind again....

As I sit here trying to catch up on my blog and pictures, Cozy, is crawling under my desk eating envelopes and pulling out my internet cable, Noah is reading to me and Graham and Braxtyn are outside roping the roping dummy in cowboy hats. Its a beautiful warm and windy April day. My roses are blooming and the irises are peeking out their purple faces. I have planted my garden, three times as much this year. However, I think it might not be as pretty, due to having a newborn baby I did not mulch as well and the soil is not as ripe. The rain has been a blessing and a curse, the weeds are the curse. Daniel spent most the day last Saturday pulling, raking, hoeing and weed eating them. The chickens are in laying mode and we have more than we know what to do with, so we are at the farmer's market every other Friday selling them. The boys are enjoying making money for their efforts with the chickens.

Noah is playing baseball for seven weeks, he is loving it and we look forward to Wednesdays each week to watch his games. Noah is finally going to start piano lesson when baseball season is over, he is very excited to learn.

Graham is taking lessons with his horse Gunny at Susan's house. She is teaching him how to halter show and drive a cart. Last week Graham took me on a ride. He was so proud that he can drive Gunny and take his mom on a ride.

Braxtyn is enjoying her riding as well, she is riding Arlo and Gunny all by herself and is already standing on Arlo (I'm nearby of course), the girl is fearless!

Cozette is 9 1/2 months old, she is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on everything. She loves to smile and laugh, she is saying mama, da, mo (more) and hi. She can wave and clap and sign for more. Here is a cute video of Cozy on the beach while we were in N.C.




We are taking a few weeks off in April, this is our year round school schedule and it allows the kids some outdoor play during the nice months in Arizona. I prefer school during the hot months of summer. I will hopefully get some things caught up and spring cleaning is a daily occurrence.