2011 girls update

Tomorrow is the last day of 2011, so I want to update about the girls again this year.

Karalee Ilyana:

Special things about Kara:

She is so smart and always looking for things to learn. she seems to be interested in everything. She has gotten good enough at nintendo that she can beat me at several games (without me letting her win on purpose). She takes her role as oldest sister very seriously, and reports back to me if she thinks anyone is doing something they shouldn't be. She also likes to encourage Kiersten to help clean up. She loves making friends, and always asks if she can have play dates. She is still a rule follower, and can get a little upset if she feels the rules are being broken by someone, especially herself.

2011 accomplishments:

This year Kara played on a soccer team, started kindergarten, had her first crush, became a star speller at school, counted to 1000, learned to make suckers by herself, rode a horse on her own, was a flower girls in Katie's wedding, got her own room, learned to swim (pretty well), and was tall enough to ride almost all of the rides and disneyland and seaworld.

Here are her favorite things. I used the same questions I asked her last year. It was kinda funny to see some of the different answers, and some things that haven't changed.

favorite color-pink
favorite animal-cat
favorite food- mac and cheese
favorite song- "wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have you"
favorite game- disney universe
favorite movie- Frosty the snowman
favorite tv show-strawberry shortcake
best friend- Kiersten ( I was surprised she said that)
favorite playtime activity- playing my little ponies
favorite toy- Strawberry shortcake doll
favortie non playtime activity- making snowflakes
if she could see anyone in the world at this moment- Daddy
favorite outdoor activity- playing rapunzel on the swing set
favortie outfit-black and grey dress she wears at least once a week
favorite thing to do with mommy- make projects
favorite thing to do with daddy- play nintendo
one food she doesn't like-spinach
one thing she doesn't like- her sisters making messes

as of today, Kara weighs 42lbs and is 49 inches tall.

Kiersten Joy:

Special things about Kiersten:

She is such a sweet little thing. She loves all of her dolls and stuffed animals, and takes great care of them. She hates other people fighting, (though she doesn't seem to mind doing it herself). She is fascinated with people being in love, movies about love, and books about falling in love. she is already looking out for her own future prince. She is very clever, and picks up on everything. She is happy to be doing whatever Kara, Ben or I happen to be doing, even if it doesn't really include her. She will gladly sit and watch Kara and Ben play nintendo, and is content to pretend she is playing too. She just wants to be with the rest of us. She is the snuggliest kid ever. Instead of sitting by me on the couch, she keeps scooting closer, and trying to climb up on top of me. Ben calls her the ultimate space invader. She tries to hug all of her classmates everyday when we leave school, though some of the boys run away from her. She also would hug Kara's soccer teammates this fall when we left practice and scream that she loved them.

2011 accomplishments:

This year Kiersten started preschool, learned to write her name, counted to 100, learned to spell a handfull of words, danced and sang in a recital, learned to use scizzors, started cleaning her own room, and started helping with housework. She also was a flower girl in her aunt Katie's wedding.

Kiersten's favorite things:

Favorite color-green

favorite animal- white cats

favorite food- french fries

favorite song- "Once upon a dream"

favorite game- hide and seek

favorite movie- the little mermaid

favorite tv show- strawberry shortcake

best friend-mommy

favorite playtime activity- playing barbies

favorite toy- wedding princess polly pocket dolls

favortie non playtime activity- coloring with crayons

person she wishes she could see right now- Papa

favorite outdoor activity-bouncing balls

favorite outfit- purple flower skirt

favorite thing to do with mommy- paint

favorite thing to do with daddy- go to the candy store

one food she doesn't like-brussel sprouts

one thing she doesn't like- Evie hitting her

Kiersten is 34lbs and is 40 1/2 inches tall.

Evangeline Rebecca:

Special things about Evie:

She is a happy little girl. She know she is the baby, and feels that everyone is around to amuse her or do things for her. She loves fruit, and we have had to start keeping our fruit bowl higher, so she doesn't just help herself. She loves to push our little stool around the kitchen to reach up onto the counters. She loves candy and if she sees anyone go near the cupboard where we keep snacks, she very vocally requests a snack too. She really likes to watch tv. We never worried about the girls' tv watching at that age, but Evie would sit in front of the tv all day if we let her. She loves to mess up the girls while they're tidying up. If she sees them in the play area putting toys away, she runs over as fast as she can to throw something on the floor. She thinks she is very funny when she does naughty things. she gets a big grin and snickers at you when she does somthing she knows she isn't supposed to.

2011 accomplishments:

this year Evie turned 1, learned to walk, learned to run, learned to jump, started dancing (especially the hotdog dance), learned to say mama, dad, Kara, mine, clubhouse, hotdog, need help, apple, and a few more words that escape me at the moment. She grew some hair, and celebrated her first valentines day, and easter. She sort of learned to brush her teeth and hair.

I know some of Evie's favorite things for sure, and others I just have a pretty good guess.

favorite color-anything bright

favorite animal-she really likes birds and squirrels

favorite food-fruit (especially apples, pears, and bananas)

favorite song-Mickey's hot dog song

favorite game-peek a boo

favorite movie-Mickey's Christmas carol

favorite tv show-Mickey mouse clubhouse

best friend-toss up between mommy and daddy

favorite playtime activity-throwing toys on the floor

favorite toy-babydoll

favorite non playtime activity- watching tv

person she'd most like to see right now-probably her daddy

favorite outdoor activity-sliding

favorite outfit- she loves any fancy dress the twirls and is fluffy

favorite thing to do with mommy-cuddle

favorite thing to do with daddy- climb all over him

one food she doesn't like- any kind of meat

one thing she doesn't like- being hugged/held down by Kiersten

Evie weighs 23lbs and is 32inches tall.

Happy New Year everyone!

Family Christmas Eve

We aren't always able to be with family on Christmas, so this year, it was a special treat to have Kerry and Lana with us for the holiday. Ben took them to a few stores early saturday morning, so the girls and I had lots of time for projects and games. The girls asked to have their picture taken together in their dresses. I am not usually a fan of siblings in matching clothing, so this year I decided to challenge myself and match the girls. They all looked so adorable. And they even sorta liked having the same dress.They got to decorate their cookie we made the previous day. It got interesting.This is how it turned out. I was secretly relieved they ran out of sprinkles. I don't think it would get eaten, if it were all covered in that much frosting and sprinkles.I decided to let the girls help make a centerpiece for dinner. I pulled out all these items, and just started letting them pick things out and tell me where to glue it. I was surprised Kara really had an eye for balance, and kept it looking just about how I'd have done it myself.They love making place cards for everyone when we have holiday dinners. In this picture Kiersten started crying because she had accidentally written, "bad" instead of dad. We were able to fix it though.Kiersten got to make cards for mom, dad, and herself, since those are the names she knows how to spell.Kara did the rest of the cards.Once Ben got home with Evie, I got a picture of my three lovelies. He said Evie got many compliments at the store.One moment everyone was smiling and posing, and the next Evie was screaming her head off. I guess it was an effective way to put an end to the picture taking.Kara was distracted with something, so Kiersten took the initiative to set the table herself this year. She just started asking me for plates, glasses, etc, and she did a great job. She was so proud. She thought very hard about her seating arrangement.Ready to eat.We always open a gift on Christmas Eve. Since Evie is the littlest, she got to go first. She ripped off a bit of paper, and ran to the kitchen to throw it away. Then she came back and did the same thing again. So I brought in a trash bag so she could open it without leaving a mess. She is just so funny.We ordered their jammies from the online disney store. Our order arrived, and Evie's jammies didn't have her name embroidered on them. So Ben called to complain. They said they were out of those jammies, but would send her an embroidered bathrobe. A few days later, we got a package with 3 more sets of jammies, this time all with names. then a few days later, we got another package with the robe. So they all ended up with 2 sets of identical jammies, (except one of Evie's doesn't have her name). Plus Evie had the robe. the girls thought it was pretty funny to get 2 nightgowns that were just the same.Papa and Grams both got new robes.Ben loved his ninja turtle pants. He only wears his christmas pajamas once, so I got him the cheapest ones I could find. But just look how happy they made him.bundled up baby. The robe is her favorite part.gorgeous little girl.Bed time beauty.Leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus. Kara even wrote him a sweet little note.We always go for a drive to see the neighborhood Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. Evie and Kiersten fell asleep rather quickly, but Karalee was awake for over an hour of driving. So we went home and put her to bed. She only came out once to go to the bathroom. When we were going to bed around 11:30, I checked in on her and she was still awake. I have no idea how late she stayed up.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning is sure fun with 3 excited little girls. Ben was woken by Evie at 3:30, and never went back to bed. It was nice to have the dishes all put away out of the dishwasher, and everything else perfect when I woke in the morning. Kiersten was up at 7. she was able to wake Evie and me successfully, but Kara didn't want to get up. So I went down and got Ben, Kerry and Lana, who were watching a movie, and we let Kiersten and Evie come find their stockings and gifts from Santa. I was worried about that shopping cart Evie got. She loved her last one, but it just kept falling apart, so Santa brought her a new one. She wanted nothing to do with it when she saw it. But today she has loved it, and pushed all her things around in it, so I guess she likes it afterall. She only cared about those tubes of mini m&m's. once she saw those, she wanted them opened, and didn't care about the rest of her goodies. She carried them around til after breakfast, I think Ben distracted her long enough to make them disappear.

Kara woke 45 minutes to an hour after the other girls. She was really cute and excited about everything. Kiersten had her stocking emptied, and tried to show her everything in there in about 15 seconds.

Evie kind of loves/fears this bunny from Grandma Howard.

I knew Kara would love this doll, but I am surprised how much. It hasn't left her side since she opened it.

The girls were opening everything so fast. Kerry and Ben had a hard time keeping up with getting things out of the packaging.

Evie's new baby doll is probably her favorite gift. It is constantly being fed and put to bed all day long.

Kara's big gift from us, was her own camera. I was looking through it this morning and she has some pretty cute pictures. I got her a memory card today, so now she'll be able to take as many pictures as she wants.

We gave Kiersten this story telling Belle. She is pretty fascinated with everything it can do. She's also worried about her perfect curls getting smashed.

We gave Evie this fun discovery table. She was getting sleepy, and laid on the box, so I couldn't get it open for her. She wouldn't get off for quite a while.

Being a little tired, she was not cooperative for her picture with gifts. This was the best we could get.

Kiersten with all of her fun things. I know a few things got left out of the picture, in the chaos of our livingroom, or Kara playing with her stuff. you can kind of see her santa gift in her lap. It's a set of little disney princesses in wedding gowns marrying their princes. She is in love with those things.

Kara is pretty pleased with her spread as well. Her santa was that my little pony next to her on the couch.

the girls made all of us play twister.

This morning Evie kept wanting to wear the little glasses that came with one of her baby dolls.

Her new favorite toy. Kara has the cutest picture on her camera of Evie kissing her baby this morning. I guess she was carrying it around and stopping every few steps to give a kiss.

Hope you all had a merry Christmas this year!

the week before Christmas

The girls have been having so much fun this week, being out of school. Here they are jumping on some bubble wrap that came in a package from my parents. Notice they each put on one shoe to help them pop it.Ben got these littel masks for them to color. Kara is a reindeer.Kiersten is a snowman. Evie had an elf one, but I didn't get a picture.We also made little tiny gingerbread houses. That was a huge hit.Ben also got them these ornaments. They colored in the area meant to put a picture, but I'll probably add pictures in later. This is the one Kiersten made.There's usually quite a difference in Kara's coloring, and Kiersten's. Kiersten is getting better lately, though. This is obviously Kara's.On another day we decorated stockings for Papa and Grams. The girls have just been thrilled about them coming to spend Christmas with us this year.Kiersten tried so hard, but her decorations all turned into blobs. Papa and Grams loved the stockings when they arrived yesterday morning. The girls were very eager to show them.Here is some of the candy the girls helped me make. I didn't remember to take a picture til it was already mostly gone.making chocolate suckers. Kara did a very good job on some of hers. Good enough that I put some of them on the plate I sent to work with Ben.Here are some cute foam ornaments the girls made. Kiersten actually wrote "Anna" on her snowman, because that was what the picture on the packaging said. Kara kept making fun of her for it. I just had her write her own name on the back, and we decided her snowman is named Anna.Kara's santa and snowman.Yesterday they got to help me bake a giant snowman cookie. We did chocolate chip. They haven't decorated it yet, so I don't have a picture of the finished product. They were great at helping me clean off the spatula and beater. Who needs a dishwasher?Since Kerry and Lana are here, we decided to go to zoo lights last night. It wasn't nearly as cold as the last 2 years. It was crazy busy though. Here's our little group, sans Ben.Notice Papa is smiling while being smacked in the face by a light wand. He's a great sport!Evie really enjoyed the lights. She was so cute running around and pointing and jabbering excitedly.Our annual picture in front of the purple and green tree.The girls are so excited for Santa to come tonight. Kara keeps pestering me about the gifts under the tree that say, "Christmas Eve". You really can't sneak anything past her. We have 3-4 more projects to do today, and I also need to get the girls running around a lot so they'll be extra tired tonight. Kara is on a kick of trying to stay up all night. She tries it at least once a week, and resists going to bed almost every night. I think she'll be willing to go to bed tonight, but I do suspect she may try to stay awake in her room. So I especially want to get her super tired.