here's how they turned out!

We helped the girls carve their pumpkins last night. they both really liked it. Here is Kiersten scraping out the goop. This is the first year Kara wasn't grossed out by the inside of the pumpkin. She was actually willing to help scrape it out this year.
making sure it is all cleaned out.

Kiersten carving. I just let her hold the saw for the photo op, but she actually cut down a little bit. That's how the eyes ended up a bit uneven.

Ben helped Kara and I helped Kiersten. Kara told Ben just how she wanted hers to look. She would tell him what shape each feature should be, and then he would draw it on a piece of paper for her approval. I just did Kiersten's how I wanted, and she didn't care, as long as she got to help.

finished pumpkins on the porch. It was raining, so I just put them on my plant stand by the door, so the candles would stay lit.

here they are in all their glowing glory.

scrappy dappy doo

Kara loves to scrapbook with me. I just used to let her color while I worked on scrapbooks, but recently I've been letting her use stickers that I don't want, scissors, glue, and even a few pictures I happen to have duplicates of, or ones that I'm just not planning to use. Here are a few of her best pages so far.
you can see she messed up her name, but she didn't get upset, she just redid it the right way.

I don't even remember why I had the hat and shorts stickers, but Kara was very glad to use them.

I love this one. Even though all those animals look very much the same, they were all supposed to be different. I believe one was a cat, one a bunny, one a dog, and one a squirrel.

I printed up wallet sizes of Kara with some of the princesses at Disneyland to display in her bathroom. Since the wallets came 2 per sheet, she got to use the extra pictures.

I love her pink "mr. snowman"!

Here's the little cutie working on some halloween pages I printed out for her the other day.

pumpkin farm

I went with Kara's class on a field trip to a pumpkin farm yesterday. It was supposed to be monday, but it got postponed for rain. Some of the parents who had volunteered to drive, could no longer go with the day change, so I said I would drive. Here is their cute class arriving at the pumpkin farm. They each had a buddy to hold hands with every time we walked from place to place. Kara and her buddy just happened to be the two slowest walkers. The other kids would hustle along, and these two would lag behind, talking to each other and admiring everything they saw. I didn't mind, because I was usually back there with Kiersten anyway.
Kiersten wandering. She was trying to touch every pumpkin at first, but had to give up eventually.

Kiersten admiring a really big turkey. She was really cute with all the animals. She would wave and say "hi" while giggling, and for some of the animals, she would make their animal sound.

Kara and her buddy posing in the snow white exhibit. They had lots of little scenes set up with the pumpkins, especially lots of fairy tales and nursery rhyme themesAfter lunch, they all played on this big pile of wood chips. They were really soft from the rain. Here is Kara riding down the hill on a little car. Some of the kids were flipping over, and crashing, but no one cried or got seriously hurt. It was upsetting at first, then I realized they were not going to be injured.

Here is the class in the corn maze. It was themed with the story of the ginger bread man. The storyline was supposed to give you hints about the correct way to go, but the kids didn't really get that. We were lost in there FOREVER. It seemed like it to me because Kiersten was afraid and crying most of the time. We saw some of the displays in there 6 or 7 times, but eventually made it out.

Kiersten was my buddy for the day. She wouldn't wear her gloves at first, so I let another little girl wear them. When her hands started getting cold, another mom had these socks for her to use.

One of the kids pulling Kiersten in a wagon. This is the little girl that got to ride with us in our car.

I got stuck setting up the bowling pins over and over for all the kids to have a turn. Then they all started wanting another turn. I was stuck there for quite a while, before I could convince two of the boys that they could set up the pins on their own.

It was a fun day, and both of the girls got to buy a pumpkin. Kara got the biggest of her class. They each had to bring $2, and Kara spent $1.20 of hers. None of the other kids went over a dollar. They had to be able and willing to carry the pumpkins, so most of them went pretty small. Kiersten's only cost $0.65, so we used what was left of Kara's money. I'll post some pictures when we get them carved.

Tantrum!

I used to think that Kara threw tantrums. But she just got upset and cried over things. Sometimes she kept it up for a really long time, and it was really hard to deal with, but nothing like Kiersten. She has started throwing tantrums almost daily over the past week and a half. These tantrums are for no real reason. any little thing might set her off. She screams, and kicks, and rolls around on the ground. And there is absolutely nothing I can do until she has gotten it out of her system. If I try to pick her up, touch her at all, or even say anything, she gets worse til I back off. So now I know what a real tantrum is like, and I can say that Kara never really threw a tantrum. Silly me for getting so upset about her little crying fits. If I'd only known... sorry, I haven't vacuumed yet today. But I definitely will after seeing these pictures!
These pictures are at the end of the tantrum. She was finally calming down. I didn't get the camera in time to capture the real action. She was on her stomach, punching and kicking the floor as hard as she could and just screaming so loud. It was actually my taking her picture that got her to calm down. Wish I'd gotten the camera out sooner!
Yesterday's tantrum occured because her halloween costume arrived and she is afraid of it. I won't tell what it is, I'll keep that for a surprise in case I can actually get her to wear it on Halloween. She did better with it later that night when Ben was home. We kind of ganged up on her to get her to try it on. I am hoping that a few more times seeing it and trying it on will help her get over the scaryness. I swear, it's not really a scary costume though. But I'm not 18 months, so what do I really know anyway?

We love making stuff!

After spending the morning shopping at the supermall, we came home to make suckers for Kara to take to school. She is the class helper again today. Here she is getting ready to start.I used pastry bags this time instead of the double boiler. It was cleaner and easier. I also didn't have to worry about her being near the stove.
Making green eyeballs!
Kiersten didn't get to help, so she played with the play kitchen while we worked on them.

Here are a few of the finished suckers.

The candies without sucker sticks are supposed to be eyeballs. Kara made them 100% all by herself. I helped her do the actual suckers.

Kiersten enjoying the finished product.

Kara thought the eyeballs turned out yummy.

Here she is ready for school this morning. She took her tickle me cookie monster for show and tell. those are the suckers in the plastic bag. we just wrapped them in purple and orange cellophane.

Kiersten is terrified of cookie monster, really terrified. She screams and cries when he is turned on, and if she even sees him, she gets upset, and says, "scared!" so we try to keep him out of sight. A few nights ago, Kiersten wouldn't stay out of Kara's room. Kara doesn't like to shut the door, because then she can't get back out when she wants to. Kara was getting frustrated, until eventually, Kiersten joined us in the family room. I went to go to the bathroom, and saw that cookie monster was standing in Kara's open doorway. We thought that was pretty smart, and a little mean spirited of Kara to think of doing that, but it totally worked.

#2

Last night I went to bed in tears at midnight. It is getting so frustrating to get Kara to go #2. It stems from a year and a half ago, when she had a few rectal prolapses. Long story short, she pushed so hard that her rectum came outside of her body. It was painful for her, and I understand why. We got her constipation under control with miralax, and a diet recomended by her doctor. I don't think she actually remembers the prolapses, (although she might) but she definitely remembers that pooping hurts and is scary. I feel like I've tried everything. She was fine for 8 or nine months, and then around easter, it began to be a problem again. She just doesn't want to go. She no longer has a problem with the stools being hard, it's just that she always holds it in as long as possible, and then still tries to keep it in as it's forcing it's way out. Gross topic, I know, but I'll take any suggestions at this point. When I give her miralax, it turns to liquid and she has no choice in the matter of it coming out. She also has no time to get to the bathroom, and I don't want to be cleaning up anymore messes. But I can't just let her not go, because she could develop more serious health problems. I've been trying to reason with her, and explain that holding the poopie in makes it hurt, and letting it out makes it stop hurting, but that isn't working. She just screams and screams that she doesn't want it to come out. I've tried bribing her, but when she's on that toilet, there is nothing in the world that she wants enough to push the poopie out. Ben has even had to push on her stomach to make her go, which is the method I hate most, but have to admit, it sometimes works. But all of these things seem to be making the issue worse. Feeling like we're forcing her to go, is making her more stubborn about it. She's not afraid of the toilet, she does #1 with no issue, and proudly announces it every time. She is terrified of being left by me, and has nightmares about it, but I can't make myself use threats. It might actually work, but I just can't do that. She is obviously traumatized enough and I don't want to make it worse. If anyone has a suggestion for us to try, please let me know.
On to happier topics, here is a cute picture of Kara. She always chooses a stuffed animal to take grocery shopping, but is always sad that it has to wait in the car for us.
This is how I found her a few days ago. We are sick of the girls dragging blankets all over the house, so we have cut down on the blankets they have access to, and put them in different places. I got her ready for school, and while I was getting Kiersten ready she fell asleep on the couch with these throw pillows being the only blanket she could find.

Kara is learning to put her shoes on the correct feet. But sometimes she still mixes them up.

Ben took this picture last weekend. Both girls had gone to sleep in their own beds, but by morning, they both crawled in with me. Ben loves Kiersten's position in this picture.

This is what Kiersten looks like after dumping 2 cups of water on the floor, and not getting another one.

That's what is up with us lately. Kiersten and I have had a cold, which I think Ben is starting to get as well. The girls are really excited for halloween, and they are growing up so fast! I think I will volunteer to go to the pumpkin patch field trip with Kara's class. From what I understand, they will be going in vans, without carseats. If I offer to drive, I can make sure Kara at least will be in a carseat. I guess I should talk to her teacher and find out if that is really the case. I just can't see them transporting all those little kids without carseats, but I haven't seen any at the school. Maybe the parents will be told to leave their seats at school that day. I guess I wont know til I ask.

10/6/09

Friday night, we went to the halloween store to get costumes for the girls. We didn't end up with one for Kiersten, but we got Kara's, and mine. Kara had to pee while we were there, but they don't have a public restroom. Ben was asking one of the employees where the nearest place was that would have one, and she took one look at Kara, and said we could use their employee bathroom. On the way back there, a zombie was crawling across the floor and lunging at Kara. I don't think I've ever seen her so terrified. It was hard to catch her, but I did. She calmed down after I picked her up, but after that she just wanted out of the store. I have to say, I can see why they don't usually let customers use that bathroom. It was a pretty scary experience as well. Then we went to dinner at Ruby tuesday, and had barely any leftovers for once.
Saturday, I made Ben clean out the garage, while I packed away all of Kiersten's 12 month clothing, and Kara's 3T clothing. I also packed up more than half of their baby blankets. They still have around 15 that I left out for them, but we were getting sick of having blankets strewn everywhere, so hopefully it will be easier to contain them now. Then I had to go to the post office, and I had a load of things to donate to goodwill, then I stopped at the store for some things. I came home and made some banana bread, and got some items cleaned up to get posted on craigslist. The garage is looking really great now.
Sunday, Ben and Kiersten stayed home to watch football and cartoons, while I took Kara out and about. I haven't had much one on one time with her since she started preschool. First we went to lunch, and then we went shopping at the mall. I needed new pants, since I'm getting sick of wearing skirts and shorts all the time. I only had one pair of pants that fit, because I had given away all my "skinny pants" to good will after I had Kiersten, thinking I'd never get that small again. I found some great deals, and was happy with what I got, while actually sticking to a budget for once. Kara wanted to get something too, so I let her get one dress. I was tempted to let her get more stuff, but I was determined not to overspend. After we left the mall, I talked Kara into getting her hair trimmed. When she heard me mention it to Ben earlier that morning, I called it a haircut, and she freaked out. She started crying and saying she didn't want to get her hair cut off. After changing the term to "hair trim", and explaining to her how little would actually be coming off, she agreed, and actually got excited about it. She did become a bit hesitant when we got there and she saw scissors, but I reminded her that she was just getting a trim. It was a 20 minute wait, and she had to go to the bathroom, so I took her over to fred meyer to go. I also let her pick out a treat, and told her we would open it after her hair was done. When I told the stylist it was her first haircut, she wanted me to stand right next to the chair. After she got started, she realized Kara was not going to melt down, and said I could go sit. I heard parts of their conversation, and I could tell Kara was driving it. They talked about her bee sting, her school, and the upcoming trip to the pumpkin patch, and Kiersten. The stylist was very impressed with Kara for doing so well. Kara is thrilled about her trim. She doesn't realize it basically looks the same as before, just a little cleaner and straighter. Afterward, we went to wal-mart to get a movie that ben called and requested I buy, then we headed home. I got dinner made and cleaned out my car before we put the girls to bed. We watched the movie Changeling. Ben didn't think I would like it, and he was right. I was up all night thinking of the different oppurtunities someone might have to kidnap one of my kids.
Yesterday I took Kara to school, then came home and played with Kiersten until it was time to go to the gym. I was working out with one of the trainers, so of course I was late. I got stuck on the way there, waiting for a train. I've never once seen a train on those tracks before, and even wondered if they were still used. So I was a few minutes late, but I still had a little time for a warm up. I decided only to stay for the training session, and not work out another hour since I was there later than usual, and I didn't want Kiersten to be getting hungry. After lunch and nap time, we picked Kara up from school. She started crying and said she never wanted to go back. So I called the teacher to see if she knew what had happened, because I couldn't get an answer out of Kara. Mrs. Wright said the only thing she could think of, was when they were supposed to be practicing marching in line, Kara kept stopping up the line and then running forward and pushing the girl in front of her, so she had to sit out the rest of the time. But that had happened earlier in the day, and she said Kara had seemed to get over it. I couldn't get Kara to talk right then, and we needed to hurry to pick Ben up from his Dr.'s office. Of course Kara had to go potty, so I had to pull off the freeway for that. It took forever to get back on, but we got there around the time his surgery was to be finished. As I walked in the door, my phone rang, and I was trying to answer it while holding a thrashing Kiersten, and trying to hold Kara's hand, who also wanted to be held, and was whining about it. I dropped my phone and had to call ben back. I told him I was there, and would be up in a minute. I dragged the kids upstairs, and by the time I got there, he was calling me again. I guess he was anxious to leave, but we still ended up waiting for the doctor to come speak to us for another 15 minutes. They took 4 biopsies from his throat. They confirmed again that he has eosinophilic esophagitis, and also a hiatus hernia. He has a new prescription that he will be on indefinitely, and to make sure he actually remembers to take it, I am supposed to get him one of those grandpa pill cases with the days of the week. We'll have the biopsy results in about a week or so. He still needs to follow up with the allergy doctor as well. The Dr. dilated his throat again, but said if he starts having any trouble swallowing, they'll need to do it again. The only problem is that he never notices he has trouble swallowing until food is stuck in his throat. Hopefully the new prescription will help. We finally got Kara to talk about getting in trouble at school. She also told us how much fun she had, so she decided she does want to go to school. We reminded her that she needs to listen to the teacher, and when she gets in trouble, it's because she needs to learn. She said she will not push the other kids again. We stopped and got dinner, and then went home. Ben and Kiersten both crashed on the couch, so I just cleaned up the house, and let Kara play. A lady came to buy my diaper genie I put on craigslist. She actually paid me with 4 dollar bills and 10 dimes. I was glad she got it for such a great deal. she had 2 boys the same ages as my girls, and they were an obvioius handful for her, just trying to get from her car to my door. She said she thought her little boy was potty trained and gave hers away. but it turns out, he isn't quite potty trained and her hubby didn't want her buying another one brand new. After a while, Kara got bored and asked to make cookies, so I figured that was a good thing to do. She picked chocolate chip, and I was glad she picked an easy cookie. I clipped coupons while she watched the cookies bake through the little window on the oven door. By the time all the batches were done, it was time for bed, so I woke up Ben and sent him upstairs, and brought the girls up to bed too.
This morning I had to wake up early to take Ben to get his car from the Dr.'s office parking lot. His throat is still hurting, but he felt fine to drive to work. The girls both took early naps, and I'm just working on laundry. I am really sore from my workout yesterday. I can barely get up and down the stairs. But it's a good kind of sore, like the soreness of fat being burned away, ha!