My Middle School Girls

Yesterday Paige came home from school with a note from the school counselor. This is what it said:
Congratulations! Your child has been nominated by her teachers to be a member of the Welcome Committee. This is an honor, as the teachers are asked to select only 8 students from each grade level that will represent the student body. The selected students will welcome the new students to our school by helping them get their books and ID, giving them a tour of the school and sitting with them at lunch....
Paige was so excited, and I was so pleased too! Out of the entire 8th grade, she was one of 8 chosen by the teachers. How cool is that!!

Today Zoe came home from school with a note from the counselor. It said the same thing!!!
I am so happy with my girls that they have made such a good impression on their teachers.
The Carmack Girls are Representing at NWISD!

The best margherita recipe!

Margherita Pizza
I found the recipe here at The Sisters Cafe.
It is so so so yummy! We have made it twice now. Their pizza dough recipe is the best I've tried too!
Make this!!!

Even my girlies that don't like tomatoes like this pizza. :)

(so does Ezra)

Fashion Show

My girls are Supermodels!
;)

Amelia's school program that she works for was asked to provide models for a back to school fashion show at Belk. She needed a few extra super cute girls, and she knew where to find them. :) They had so much fun. I loved watching them practice their walks and poses for a few days before the show. Here are a few pictures.

Miles made cookies.

And they were so yummy! Can you see the huge bite he's taking in the background? :)
Miles' Snickerdoodles

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
2 t. vinegar
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 3/4 c. flour
3 1/2 T. sugar
3 1/2 t. cinnamon

Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix in vinegar, baking soda, salt and flour until well combined. Make small balls of dough and roll in cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 400 for 8 minutes. Let them sit on the pan for about 5 minutes. Eat. Enjoy!

Zoe had a birthday!!!

She's 11 now!
Zoe wants to be a chef when she grows up, so of course for her birthday she wanted to try a new recipe. Together we made some yummy cream puffs. They turned out really good. Everybody loved them. She also requested steak, mashed potatoes, and homemade rolls.
She loves her new green scooter. Now her and her BFF can be seen riding through the neighborhood on their matching rides. :)
Happy Birthday Zoe!
Our family is so lucky and blessed to have you. You are the giggliest girl ever, and nobody can stay in a bad mood for long around you. I love it!

Library Books

My family loves to go to the library. We go once a week, and each person chooses two books. That means we have to keep track of ten books at a time. I decided that we needed a specific spot to store them while they weren't being read. I wanted a permanent spot, we had tried the book bags, but then we had to look for the books and book bag when it was time to return them. So I had an idea.
This dresser in my entryway/hall is hiding it.
Here it is! I found the vintage wire basket at the little antique store in town for a few dollars. I got the two knobs at Home depot for less than a dollar. I used a Cricut to cut out the vinyl. It was such an easy project. I love it!
And I love that the kids actually use it! No more lost library books around here! :)
*I didn't have any vinyl in that aqua color. All I had was black and white. Spray paint to the rescue. :) I cut out the vinyl first, then sprayed each piece. Worked perfectly!

sweet sister

This girl can be such a tender-heart. Last week, Paige, Livee, Miles and I went to Grapevine Mills Mall. Paige wanted to shop a little, so she brought her wallet with forty dollars of her babysitting money. Well, she accidentally left her wallet in a bathroom. Five minutes later we went back and it was gone. Of course Paige was pretty bummed. We all were. We checked at lost and found, and gave them our information in case somebody turned it in. (haven't heard anything) We went home and a little later Paige left to go to a Young Women activity. This is what she found when she got home:
Livee had put her savings into a little bowl, wrote this note and put it on Paige's dresser. When Paige showed me, it brought tears to my eyes. What a sweet sister!

t-shirts

Tiffany and I made these super fun bleach t-shirts. They were really easy too. First, borrow your favorite neighbors Cricut. (unless you are lucky enough to have one of your own) Next, cut out any words or cute images on cardstock. Then, using spray adhesive, stick your cut-outs onto your shirts. Make sure all edges are pressed down firmly. After that, take your shirts and a spray bottle of bleach outside and spray away. That's it.
We did take it one step further with Paige's and Livee's. We just googled altered t-shirts, found some tutorials on YouTube, then just started snipping away. This was the first time we tried it and I can't wait to make some more now that Zoe is home. You guys gotta try it!

The 4th

I feel so blessed to live in the USA!!!
What a great reason to celebrate!

Tiffany, Kodi and Degan were here for the weekend, so we got together with Cousin Kellie for a picnic at Lake Grapevine. We found a cute little wooded area where we ate an early dinner. There were lots of trails for the kids to explore. They loved it!

A little later, Livee needed to find a little girls room. (no roughing it in the woods for that girl :) So we packed up and tried to find a better area for watching the fireworks later. We ended up finding a perfect spot. The kids played in the water for hours. They were really good entertainment for Tiff and I, and the other people sitting around us. They splashed and danced and ran and laughed and embarrassed their moms (Tiffany) all night long. It was just a fun, easy day.

I love you USA!

Awards

Can you believe this girl is going into Middle school?! It just doesn't seem right. For some reason my camera was on a weird setting and I couldn't figure out why my pictures were blurry in time to fix it. I still had to include this pic of Zoe in a skirt. It's been years since that happened. This is also a picture of her Very Best Friend. (VBF?)

This is another of Zoe's and Livee's very good friends, Mckay. She lives right across the street and is also one of my favorite girls in my Primary class. Zoe's teachers always tell me that they wish they could have a class full of kids just like her. She got lots of awards including Hall of Fame, Citizenship, and Excellence in Citizenship. She had a very good year and passed all of her TAKS tests, two of them with commended scores (and one of those was 100%) I am sad to be sending her off to middle school, but very pleased with her great elementary school experience!
This is the face of a kid who did not want to be woken up early. Especially when he found out that there were donuts waiting at home from Uncle Tad.
Livee also had a great year! She had really good teachers and improved greatly in all her subjects. She walked away with a whole packet full of awards.

One of those was very cool:

The school focuses on a few different character traits throughout the year. And at the end of the year her teacher thought Livee was a good representative of Honesty.

It was a very good school year for all the girls. I am so thankful for that! Now only two more years until the little man can start.