9/30/11

One day this week, I decided to make the girls' snack into a spider I had seen somewhere online. My grapes were huge, though, so the legs looked weird, and I did the face differently, but the girls really got a kick out of it.

Kara is still having soccer practice 2 nights a week. Some of the other younger teams have changed to only practicing one night a week. I secretly hoped that our team would do the same. But the kids are getting better at each practice.

Kiersten and Evie love playing on the playground during practice. Evie had so much fun this day. It was the last day before she started getting sick, so it's nice to see smiling pictures of her. All I've seen the last few days, is a sad, miserable face.

As we were about to leave for practice, I noticed Kiersten was in dress up clothes. I didn't have time to make her change, as we were already a bit late. So I let her wear her outfit to the practice. There happened to be another little sister on the playground wearing a tutu and fairy wings. They decided to play together right away, and spent the entire hour together.


They usually spend a lot of their time at practice fighting over snacks.

On wednesday, the girls wanted to do a project after school. So I let them make paper pumpkins. They both were so proud to get to use the paper cutter, and the stapeler.

Here they are with the finished pumpkins. Now Kara really wants to get out all the halloween decorations. I told her we'd probably do it this weekend.

Since Evie was too sick/too little to help, I made her a smaller pumpkin so she wouldn't feel left out. It was enough for her to get to touch the supplies and tools, and she ended up almost as happy about her pumpkin as the other 2.

I think they turned out really cute for such an easy project.

We ended up hanging them from the fans in their bedrooms.

Yesterday was Kiersten's first class helper day. She woke me up in the morning, all excited, and wanted to get her hair curled. Because she got dressed and ate breakfast so quickly, I had time to do the curls for her. She was so proud, i really should do it more often. She decided to take her baby zhu zhu pet for show and tell.

After school, she kept telling me that she was so special, and telling me excitedly about her day. When i tried to get her to tell Ben around bed time, she didn't really have much to say. I guess she was tired of talking about it.


Kara was class helper today. She ended up taking Kiersten's Ariel and Eric barbies. Ben tried to talk her out of it, but Kiersten was okay with it, so that's what she took. I'm sure Kiersten will want to bring prince Eric for show and tell herself, so the kids will just get to see him twice. Today was also their first field trip of the year. they got to ride a ferry boat. they both had lots of fun. I was glad I didn't volunteer to chaperone, because i ended up taking Evie to the doctor today, and she has a double ear infection. So I'm glad i didn't have her out and about, and crying the whole time.
After I took their picture together, Kiersten said, "mommy, you need to take a very special picture of just me on my best field trip day ever".

9/27/11

Kara has recently discovered our dance dance revolution game for the game cube. We hadn't played it in years, but when we moved, it surfaced, and she loves it. she's getting better each time she plays. She just graduated from easy to normal, and is quite proud of the accomplishment.

A few days ago, I didn't know where Kiersten had gone. She was there one minute, and then next, I couldn't find her. Since the baby gate was up, I knew she was upstairs, and after a minute of looking around and callling for her, I heard a giggle and saw the pillows on the couch moving. She thought it was pretty clever.

Last night I was putting Kara and Kiersten to bed. While I was tuckingKiersten in, Evie made herself comfortable in Kara's room. I just had to get a picture of it. Kara thought it was hilarious, and was thrilled when she thought Evie was going to have a sleep over. Unfortunately for her, Evie lost interest in being there after less than 5 minutes.

Evangeline is wearing her first ponytail today. I was waiting til she had more hair to try it, but she is so obsessed with the other girls getting their hair done, and always wants hers brushed too. This morning, she came to me all excited with a brush and comb and sat happily in my lap, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to try. She loved it, and sat really still (for her). she was so excited when she saw her little hairbow in the mirror.

Puyallup fair

On sunday we went to the Puyallup fair with some friends. We didn't take tons of pictures, but we did get a couple. The kids loved the petting zoo. Evie was so cute, tackling a baby goat, and thinking she could pull it over. Here's the bigger girls petting a duckling.
It was rainy, but not too bad, just a drizzle mostly. Evie was very happy to get out of the stroller for lunch.

Since Kiersten ate her lunch, she got to get some cotton candy. She shared a little with Kara, but she made sure Kara remembered it was hers. As soon as she got it, Kara asked for her burger so she could finish eating it, and get a treat too.

Evie did pretty well being stuck in the stroller for most of the time. We definitely knew when she was ready to go home, though.

The kids riding the carousel. They saw it right when we got there, but we made them wait to ride until we were on our way out. Poor Zac ended up getting scared and crying during the ride. It was so sad.

It only took a week for us to get tired of the girls backpacks being thrown around everywhere. I wanted to get a cute coat rack for their rooms, but i couldn't find anything I liked. So I bought these hooks, and painted them. Then I bought cheap little wooden shapes, and painted those, and glued them on to look cuter. I love how they turned out, and the girls were super excited when they saw them.

this one is in Karalee's room. Ben didn't hang it crooked on the wall, I just took a crooked picture.

This is the one in Kiersten's room. I don't know what I was thinking, taking these pictures at such weird angles. it was kinda late at night though, so maybe that explains it.

school: week one

The girls had a great first week of school. Kara got 100% on her spelling test, and won an award for star speller. Kiersten was so proud to bring home a certificate saying she completed her first week of preschool. It had a pencil taped to it, which she calls her "prize pencil". she hasn't let me sharpen it for her yet, and it is still proudly taped to the certificate on the fridge. Since they have been mostly in new clothes all week, they've been wanting their picture taken every morning before school. Here's Kara, excited for her day as class helper. She took her my little pony hot air balloon for show and tell.

They both loved these shirts, because you can't see in the picture, but the buttons are sparkly and shiny.


On friday, I said we didn't have time for a picture, and Kiersten got upset, and asked, "how will I know if Aunt Nancy likes my boots?"


On saturday, we wanted to make sure Kara ate a good breakfast, so she'd have energy for her soccer game. So I did pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I decided it would be fun to jazz it up a little, which is something I've been trying to do a little on the weekends lately. For Kiersten's plate, I tried my best to make it look like a sun. I saw something similar to this online, but had to make my own adjustments, of course. Kiersten thought it was hilarious.

I destroyed the eggs trying to make Kiersten's sun rays, so I couldn't do the same for Kara. So I got the idea to try to make hers look like a bird. It's standing on a branch. Ben couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, but Kara knew right away. I wish I'd taken pics of some of the other things I've done lately, such as a pb&j sandwich looking like a watermelon slice, and a grilled cheese to look like an ice cream cone.
Evie loves playing with Kara's old backpack so she can be just like her sisters.
On saturday, it was Evie's daddy daughter day. She was so excited to get to go with him. He took her to the rhododendron gardens and took her to buy candy and a balloon. He had more fun than he thought he would.

We didn't take pics of Kara's soccer game on saturday, but she did much better. Her energy was way higher, and she scored her teams only goal. She was a lot more willing to get in the cluster and take the ball away. It was raining the whole time, so Kiersten and Evie were a little whiny, but they still had fun too. Kara got knocked down a few times. The first time, she started crying, but after that, she made a point to be tough and stay out on the field. After the game her coach told Ben that he thinks she has a natural skill for soccer, and encouraged us to keep her in it.

While Ben and Evie were gone on saturday, Kara made a family apple tree. I thought it was pretty cute. That's me to the left, the pink paper is a drawn picture of Kiersten, Ben is floating in the middle, the monkey sticker is supposed to be Evie, and the tiny picture in the apple on the trunk is Kara. I thought it was a cute thing to do.
Kara's 2 best buddies at school are Alex and Devin, both boys who have been in school with her the last 2 years. Her teacher told me that Devin keeps writing I love Kara on his work, and I thought that was so cute. Then Kara came home from school with a mobile she made. when I turned it over, it said "I love Devin" on the back in 2 places. I laughed about it, but Ben didn't think it was very funny. He confronted her about it. At first she said she didn't know who wrote it, but eventually admitted it was her. He warned her not to love boys or say she loves them, and she got really upset about it. I tried to step in, but she could tell he really meant it. Later she came to me crying that daddy wont let her be friends with Devin and Alex anymore. I explained that's not true. He is glad for her to have friends, as long as she doesn't think they are "boyfriends". He told her she can say or write that she likes them, but he doesn't like her saying she loves any boy but daddy, or her grandpas. I think he needs to deal with the subject more gently in the future, so she doesn't feel like she's getting in trouble about it. Later, she showed him a picture she made, on which she had written, "I sort of like Alex and Devin".
The other thing he didn't like is this picture Alex made for her. It's a picture of her saying, "hi alex" and him saying "hi Kara". He is giving her a flower, and at the bottom, it says, "they kist". Again, I thought it was kind of cute, but Ben wasn't happy about it. Poor Kara...

first day of school

The much anticipated first day of school is finally here! The girls were so excited last night to help me pack their lunches and set out their clothes for the morning. Karalee even insisted on setting her alarm clock to wake her up. Kiersten will be doing the preschool program and Kara will be one of 5 kids in the kindergarten program. I am relieved there are other kindergarteners in the class. In Kara's first year of preschool, there was only 1 kindergartener, and she seemed to be doing more babysitting than learning. So I'm glad that Kara will have a group of peers her own age to learn with. Kiersten is really excited to show her teacher that she can write her name.

They are also excited about their new shoes and backpacks. I guess I didn't get that great of a picture. Kiersten's is my little pony.

Kara has a Mario Kart backpack, featuring princess Peach. She also has a lunch box to match, which she is pretty excited about.

arriving at school

Kiersten has been dreaming of the day that she would be staying at school with Kara, instead of spending the day with boring, old mommy. She immediately started introducing herself to her new friends, and even told Mrs. Wright that she isn't going to have any accidents today. I hope that's true! Her shirt had a detatchable necklace and chains, which she broke off on the way to school. She was really upset about it, and crying. I think I can fix it though. I wasn't to worried about it, because I got that shirt for $4.00.

Kara immediately went into "big sister" mode. Being overprotective, bossy, and extra sweet to Kiersten all at once. I've warned her several times not to boss Kiersten around at school, but I knew she would. I also know her teacher wont let her get away with it too much. She's had siblings in her school at the same time before.

On saturday, Kara had her first soccer game. Here are the Tigers waiting patiently on the bench and cheering their teammates on the field. Kara is to the right.

It took her a few minutes to be willing to go after the ball. She seemed to be worried about being rude to the other team, by taking it away. Ben and the coach both had to tell her it was okay.

She did better in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of play. by the last quarter, she was hot, tired, and upset, and didn't want to go back on the field. She just wanted to sit in the shade eating snacks. Ben has lots of ideas what he wants to work on with her. We also decided that next week, she needs to have a bigger breakfast than just a bowl of cereal to keep her energy level up better. I think all of the kids will do better next week, now they've played an actual game instead of just practicing and doing drills.