pizza and games

Yesterday, Ben gave Kara the option of going to the park for a picnic and to fly her kite, or going to Chuck E Cheese for pizza and games. After a lot of thinking and changing her mind a few times, she picked Chuck E Cheese. Kiersten got in a quick nap on the drive there. She loves that white kitty she is using as a pillow. They got to play games right away while we waited for our pizza to be ready. We looked through the newspaper before we left and found some coupons to use there. Ben sat with a calculator and checked all of the coupon combinations to make sure we got the best deal possible on food and tokens.

The last time we were there, we were surprised how much we liked the pizza. We hadn't been expecting it to be very good. But it was actually quite tasty. It must have been a fluke, because this time, the pizza was once again what you would expect to get at a kid's pizza place.

The girls usually never get soda, but have gotten to have rootbeer 3 times in the last week. They absolutely love it, and savor every drop. I hope they don't start expecting to get it all the time now.

play time. They had fun on all the slides, rides, and games. I also want to point out Kiersten's shirt. It is her favorite shirt. She wears it every time it is clean, and cries sometimes if it isn't. I get so tired of her wearing it all the time, so I will put it at the bottom of her drawer, but she has learned to search for it. She calls it her "fwoggy sirt". As tired as I get of her wearing it, I suppose it's kinda cute how much she loves it.

spider stomping game. Kara played this one 3 times.

Kiersten's favorite part of every game was getting the tickets. She even went around checking all the machines, and claiming all the tickets that had been left behind by someone else. She got at least 10 or more that way. Ben helped her win a bunch on this game, and she could hardly contain her excitement at seeing so many tickets coming out at once.

Of course, Kiersten loves the little toddler play area.

I think they ended up with a little under 800 tickets. they both got the exact same prize, pink cotton candy and a pink bracelet. They thought they were each going to get to eat their entire bag of cotton candy in the car on the way home. They were disappointed when I only opened one bag, and limited the amount they got to eat.

After we got home, I worked on digging up dandelions in our yard, and the girls rode their bikes and played with sidewalk chalk. An ice cream truck showed up, and I let them each buy a treat. They sure got spoiled yesterday, and I hope it was a fun day for them. Ben and I were both exhausted by the end of the night.

Mariner's game

We took the girls to a Mariner's game Wednesday night. As soon as I picked Kara up from school, we headed up to meet Ben at his office. He had an appointment that went long, and then we headed up to Seattle for the game. We only had to pay $6 for parking, and didn't have to walk very far. The tickets we had came with a complimentary hotdog and soda for each of us. Both girls were so excited about the hotdogs, and especially to have their own rootbeers.

It was around 55°, so I was glad I remembered to bring gloves for the girls. We also brought our big, pink Mariners blanket for them to cuddle under.

Ben wore a seattle seahawks sweatshirt, and a KC chiefs hat. some guy at the game told him that the chiefs are coming to play in seattle this year. Ben is already excited to go to the game. I looked it up, and they will be in town on Nov 28th. I hope he doesn't get tickets for it, and then call it my birthday gift!

Every time music was played, Kiersten would start dancing and jumping around happily. We both had our turn to have our laps stomped on.

Kara was really excited to sit by her friend, Gus, but I made her sit by me for a little while too.

They really didn't stay in their seats much, except for when they were eating dinner and treats. Kara was a lot more interested in the game than Kiersten was.

pitcher winding up.

The mariners beat the Orioles 4-1. The girls both got really excited at the end of the game when we won, and everyone was cheering. The game went fast. It only lasted about 2 hours, which was good for us, since it didn't start til 7. I thought we would be carrying sleeping girls out of there after 10 pm.

The girls both got baseball cards, and pocket schedules that they were pretty excited about. Also, if you go to the customer service area, they fill out a certificate for the kids to take home about the game. They didn't want to get their picture taken with the moose, though. Kara loved the energy and excitement of the game, and I think Kiersten's favorite part was getting to eat so much candy. They were really hyper in the car on the way home.

4/19/10

We've had a pretty uneventful week, but I still took a few pictures of the girls. Kara loves blowing bubbles for Kiersten to chase and pop. She's getting so big. She only has 7 weeks left of school, and then she'll stay home all summer. I'm sure she'll come up with lots of fun things to do to stay busy. She is still very into scrapbooking, drawing, playing her leapster, decorating anything I'll let her, practicing her writing and learning to spell words. She also loves practicing math. so far she is better at adding than subtracting. She sometimes tells us that she knows everything. It's kinda funny, and so cute. She likes feeding Daisy every morning, and likes being the one to clean up. Although, every time she cleans the livingroom, she likes to spread blankets out on the couches and tables. I always have to go back after and fold them all back up. She insists on setting the table every night, and sometimes she will let Kiersten help too. Today on the way home from school, she asked if she could color when we got home. I said if Kiersten fell asleep she could. I stopped at the mailbox, and between there and home, Kiersten fell asleep. Kara said, "mom, you're brilliant. I'm glad you got the mail so Kiersten would go asleep." I thought that was funny. I asked her what brilliant means, and she said, "repeat after me, brill-ee-ant. It means how you are so smart." how can you not laugh at that?

Kiersten is always so busy. She only takes one nap a day now, so I have to hurry to get as much done as i can while she sleeps. She loves wearing Kara's roller skates around the house. She has gotten better at skating than Kara. Practice makes perfect. She also loves getting decked out in protective gear if she's going to be venturing into the kitchen. She really likes helping me cook and bake lately. Almost on a daily basis, she asks to make cookies or cupcakes. I have to tell her no a lot, or we would have a never ending supply of goodies around. She is always moving chairs around to climb on, or anything that will help her climb higher. She can get straight up the kitchen cupboards and onto the counter without having to stand on anything. She has really been a daddy's girl lately, and is doing so well at sleeping in her own bed. She doesn't like that we have restricted her binky to bed and nap time. She will stash them when she wakes up, so she can get them later. I am always hunting for those binkys. I think I'll give her one more month before they have to go away completely.

my little sweetie today. if you tell her to say "cheese" she makes a weird face, so I've started telling her to say "candy" or "daddy", and get all these great, happy smiles.

4/13/10

We haven't quite gotten over our colds yet, but everyone is starting to feel a little better. The girls are mostly done with their coughs, and having a fun day to celebrate. Kara asked if I would take a picture of her cleaning her room. But when I went in there, they were already done cleaning, and busy playing. She got this spelling toy for her birthday from Grandma Van Sickle. she really likes playing with it.

Kiersten loves stuffed animals, especially bunnies.

All it took was one look out the window for Kara to notice it wasn't raining today. Of course, she asked if they could eat their lunch outside. I try to let them take advantage of the sunny days when we get them, and they are starting to be more and more frequent. This week is supposed to be pretty nice. It may seem strange to eat spaghetti outside, but it worked pretty well for them.

Kiersten wouldn't put her crackers down for a picture.

Kara was doing so much running around and jumping, that I started to feel tired just sitting there, watching her.

Kiersten loves finding clovers in the grass. She says, "look, I find a wucky!" (lucky). She always finds a few for me. Today she also picked a few blades of grass for me and said, "here. for you, mama." I love my new lounge chair. I am more willing to sit back there with them for longer now that I can be comfortable, and read while they play.Kara really wanted to find a 4 leaf clover today, but was unsuccesful. they were blowing bubbles, and one popped on my camera lense. I thought i had it cleaned off good, but now I can see some spots in the pictures. I'll have to go back and re clean it.

now the girls are having quiet time after so much playing in the sun. They defintely miss Daddy at work, but I'm glad they're enjoying their day so much. Hopefully it will be a nice weekend, and we can take them to the park to try out their new kites from the easter bunny!

4/8/10

I had my 26 week appointment today. It went pretty well. I am doing a much better with eating. She thinks I have been getting enough protein and enough food in general, so that's good. I'm glad I had the appointment, because I've had a cough and cold for a week and a half, and she prescribed me a zpack, so I can't wait to go pick up my prescription, and start feeling better! My sister Jackie was harassing me about taking a pregnant belly pic, so here it is. I guess I should have smiled, but owell, I don't feel like doing it over. I feel so huge, but am measuring right at 26. I definitely think I am carrying this baby higher than I did the others, and Ben thinks so too. I can hardly believe I have my whole third trimester ahead of me to keep getting bigger. I kinda forgot how huge I get by the end. cute Kiersten baby. She is just growing right up.

Kara is too. She thinks she is such a big girl. She is wanting to wear makeup, and caring about clothes and shoes already. Lately she has really been trying to help Kiersten learn to clean up better. She's a good sister.

Easter

We stayed up too late playing Dr. Mario on saturday night, so the girls were the first to wake up on Easter morning. I heard them playing, so I got up, and before long, they were begging me to let them wake up Daddy, so I did. What a fun way to wake up. cute little Tommy in his Easter outfit. He is just such a little sweetie.

The girls loved playing with Tommy. And I hope he liked the attention he got from both of them.

I really like this picture of the girls waiting to get outside to the eggs.

Kiersten got to pick out her easter dress this year. At the time, I was really trying to get her to like a different one, but she looked so adorable, so it turned out to be a great choice.

Kara also picked out her dress this year. She has been so excited to get to wear it. but not as excited as she was when she looked out the window and saw eggs everywhere.

The girls have loved having uncle Victor and aunt Nancy around this weekend.

family picture. I love Kiersten's impatient look.silly Kiersten pic.

Nancy helped Kiersten with her basket. At first, she was opening each egg as she picked it up, but she ended up getting lots of eggs anyway. I think she ended up finding $4.50 in quarters.

Kara is great at finding easter eggs. She made $5.50 in quarters.

the race only got a little competetive.posing with all the eggs they found. Nancy and Ben found their baskets at the same time.

mine was pretty easy to find.

The easter bunny brought lots of goodies for Tommy too.

the girls were thrilled with these little umbrellas.

Sutherland's.it's been so much fun having a little baby around. Especially such a charming little guy.

Kiersten wearing one of Kara's new headbands, and pouting about being cut off from more candy.

Poor Kiersten cried and cried after Ben left for work this morning. Then she started crying again when we left Kara at precshool. When we got home, I was making beds, and she went and started knocking on the guestroom door. I went to get her, and she said, "where Tommy go?" of course she got really upset again when I reminded her that he had gone home. She said she wanted to take a nap, and has been sleeping ever since. I hope I can cheer her up when she wakes up.