The blame game

Kara has started to blame people for things she does. I know this is a normal phase for her to be going through, but it still sort of shocks me. Of course there is the typical blaming of Kiersten for making messes, or for example, for pulling down all of her decorative letters off the wall the other day. (Kiersten could definitely NOT reach them.) But what surprises me, is the out of the blue, ridiculous blaming. A few days ago she woke up and immediately started saying that daddy took her cup. She looked all over the house and couldn't find it, so she was determined to convince me that he had hidden it. She kept bringing it up for several hours. She would just suddenly say, "daddy is a stinker-pot. He hide my cuppy mom!" or something similar. When he came home from work, she still thought he had done something wrong. Kinda funny though. Yesterday while we were on our way to go grocery shopping, she said, "Papa Howard stole my bike mom!" She said it in such an angry way. I told her that he didn't, but she was sure of it. She kept saying how he was so naughty and needed to go to time out. When I was checking out, she told the checker, "my papa is so mean. He took my bike." the cashier said something like, "oh, He took your bike? oh no." and then she said, "and he kicked my butt." I started laughing and said, " no he didn't. he's at his house in Utah, you silly girl." The cashier still looked at me pretty funny though. Of course she was thrilled to see her bike when we got home, but I don't like her telling people things like that. What if someone takes her seriously and thinks there is a real butt-kicking problem? (or whatever else she decides to say.) Finally, this morning she told me that daddy got into her easter candy. I know she did it, because I caught her with it last night and took it away. we had a talk about it and everything. So I told her, no, that daddy was gone to work, and didn't get into her candy. Then she tried to say Kiersten did it. Which would be believable if Kiersten hadn't already gone to bed, and if I hadn't caught her red handed. So I had a talk with her about lying, which she's been talked to about before, so that covers getting into the candy. I'm not thinking she needs to be disciplined about the other, random blaming, she isn't really being naughty, but I need to figure something out to get her to seperate her imagination from reality. She has seemed to really be convinced that these things happened, and pretty upset about it.

my little dancer

The day Kara has been waiting for finally arrived. She got to go to her first dance class today. I originally wanted her to do the toe, tap, and tumble class, but we were out of town for the first class. so I switched her to a pre-ballet class. She was excited enough to get to wear her new dance clothes and have her hair done up. when we got to the class, she was triple thrilled about it. The teacher made us wait outside, but I peeked in the window a few times, and she looked like she was behaving well and having fun. After the class, the teacher told me that Kara followed directions very well and understood everything she was asked to do. She also commented that Kara had a really nice quality leotard and tights. Who new there was a difference? Not me. So we have Ben to thank for getting them for her on his way home from work. All of the little ballerinas were so cute. Kara introduced me to her friend, "Soapy". I repeated it and she said, yes, that was her name. I'm guessing her name is Sophie. I'll figure it out next week.
Kiersten can't get left out of the blog!
She and Kara have been fighting over these sunglasses all day. They are Kara's, but Kiersten has decided that she likes them too.
Kara trying to hug the biggest squirmer on earth!

Easter Sunday

cute egg hunters on Easter sunday. Here they are ready to go with their cousin Nicole. there were tons of eggs and toys for them to find. It took quite a while.

Ben helping Kiersten.

Me and my cute Easter baby! She had such a fun day.

This didn't turn out as nice as our picture up at the top of the blog, but I thought it was a fun picture.

Saturday in provo

We went to provo on saturday for an egg hunt and easter games at my parents house. There were 15 kids and 11 adults! Here is Ben enjoying lunch with the neices and nephews. An easter egg hunt in the rain. Kiersten wasn't supposed to be in this hunt, since there was a seperate baby hunt, but she still picked up a few eggs.

Nic trying to steal the spotlight, and Kara's basket!

the baby hunt was inside. Kiersten was the biggest and most dominant. The others had to crawl to the eggs.

Here is a picture of the adults. You can even kinda see Zac if you look at the bright flash reflecting in the mirror.

It was a rainy day. Addyson still looks beautiful though! As you can kinda see in the background, a lot of people were dressed more for a funeral than Easter!

Ben holding Rylynn. He had her asleep and then I made her cry, so he was trying to calm her back down again. She is so itty bitty!

we leave tomorrow

See how excited Kiersten and Kara are to be going to Salt Lake tomorrow?

this is just a pic of Kara doing some wierd dance. She requested I take her picture, and then she did this silly air guitar-type dance.

Ben heard a commotion in the playroom, and went in to check on Kiersten. He found her on the table, and instead of getting her safely down, went and got the camera.

Kara loves going to the park. She has been asking to go pretty much on a daily basis the last few weeks. She is so good at climbing.

They went down the slide together, so cute.

Here they are swinging. Kiersten only likes it if she can see Kara swinging next to her. The second Kara is done, Kiersten suddenly hates the swing.

This is one of the first times she has gone down all by herself. we also got a cute video of her sliding like such a big girl!

zoo pics

If it seems like we go to the zoo all the time, that's because we do go all the time. The girls love it, so that makes it worth it to me to take them.

they sure had fun watching the tiger. It was pacing and waiting for it's lunch. It kept walking right up to the glass to look at all of us.

this is one of the first times we've gotten some good pictures of kiersten at the zoo. instead of just sitting in the stroller, or falling asleep, she actually was watching the animals. It was especially cute when she would point and laugh. It was the busiest I have ever seen this zoo before. Most likely since it was the first warm weekend in quite a while.

Kara's friend Jill...

Kara is always talking about her friend Jill at the gym. She wants to invite her over all the time, and always has stories about her when we get home from there. I haven't ever seen Jill, but I didn't think it was too strange, because I usually have my kids in the babysitting area for at least 2 hours, and several kids come and go. But there are a few of the same kids I see all the time, and I thought it was a little wierd that she doesn't talk about any of them. So today we were at lunch, and Kara insisted I needed to give a plate to Jill. I asked her, "who's Jill?" and she said, "my friend Jill, she sitting by you." That is the first time it has ever clicked that this might be an imaginary friend. So I put a plate there, and then Kara said, "Jill is my favorite color, green!" So I'm not completely sure that the Jill she talks about at the gym is imaginary, but it would certainly explain why I've never seen a kid named Jill when I drop them off and pick them up. (not that the kids always introduce themselves anyway) There is a sign in sheet with the kids names, but I haven't really looked at it too close before. We'll see if she brings her up again. It seems like if she had an imaginary friend, she would talk about her in other places or stories than just a girl she plays with at one specific time and place. I also don't really know why she would have come up with the name Jill, maybe it is a real kid afterall, and Kara just happened to be thinking about her today. I'll have to pay attention and see if green, pizza loving Jill sticks around or not.