Kiersten Joy- soccer star

Kiersten is playing soccer again this fall. I just realized when I uploaded the pictures that I didn't get a close up of her in her uniform. I'll have to get one next week. She is so proud to have gotten 10 goals in her first game. The team she played were all new to soccer, so it was easy for her to dominate. This past weekend she played a more experienced team with a few older kids. She still got 2 goals, and did really well. She also passed the ball a few times, which made be happy because it was something I talked to her about after getting all those goals the first week. Her team is the red dragons, (funny as her last team was the black dragons). And she is number 4. There is one other girl on her team, and Kiersten tries really hard to help her, which I think is very sweet. 

I am amazed at how much better she is than in the spring. confidence is her biggest area of improvement, and it has made a pretty big difference!

On friday the girls wanted to make fairy houses. So we found any leftover or empty box we could, and I let them go around the yard to gather leaves and stuff. 

Evie was the mastermind behind the idea, and I'm still not sure how she came up with it. 

Kiersten's fairy house. She even glued rocks to the top. 

Kara spent a lot of time helping with her friend's house, so hers is pretty basic, but she plans to make some more things for it. 

Evie's fairy house. she checks every morning to see if there is a fairy in there. One morning Kara put a "polly pocket" fairy in there, and that caused a big commotion, Evie and Kiersten were so excited. 

Chiefs vs. Cowboys

We took the girls to their first NFL game on Sunday. We originally intended to drive to Kansas City and back on the same day, but decided we'd be better off going on Saturday and staying in a hotel. Of course the girls were excited to get to go swimming. 

Kiersten was especially excited to see the game.She has been watching football with Ben to try to learn more about it. Though she is still confused about the difference between football and baseball, and the difference between the Chiefs and the Cardinals, much to Ben's chagrin. 

Evie started out pretty excited to be there, but was wanting to go home and take a nap by the 3rd quarter.

Kara had fun, but it seems like she really just enjoyed it because of the snacks. 

We showed up early so we could walk around the tailgating area. The girls won beads playing this bean bag toss. 

Evie didn't play, but ended up with some beads of her own.

I feel like this is the moment Ben has been dreaming of since we first found out I was pregnant with Kara in 2005.

More games. They won temporary tattoos and bouncy balls at this game. 

I had made hair bows for the girls, and Evie started crying because she didn't like hers. She insisted I make her 2 pink ones so she could wear pigtails. I think she was worried about the original one not matching her cheerleader outfit. 

Last year, Ben hit 4 out of 4 shots at this booth, but this time he only nailed one. hehehe

The girls really liked running through this obstacle course. I don't think they won anything for doing it. 

We ran into some cheerleaders in the gift shop and they noticed kiersten right away. So we had to get a picture. All three girls were just in awe of them. It was nice they spotted Kiersten right when they walked in, because within minutes there was a huge line of guys to meet them/get pictures. 

The girls all made out pretty well at the gift shop. Ben has a pretty hard time saying no to anything that says "chiefs" on it. 

This was by far Evie's favorite moment of the game, when the KC wolf came zip lining into the stadium. 

I complained that I was at a bad angle to try to get cheerleader pictures, so Ben took the camera and made sure we ended up with plenty. We had over 30 pictures just of cheerleaders. 

I was a few seconds too late to catch this touch down. 

We are so happy to have Alex Smith for our QB! Ben got Kara a Smith jersey to wear, and now she claims him as her favorite player. Kiersten got a booklet with all the players names and pictures, which is her current prized possession. She likes to go through it and read all their names, and has decided that Colquitt (the punter) is her favorite player. Evie does not have a favorite player. But she said that all of the cheerleaders are her favorite. 

We have tickets to go again in October, but can't decide if we should take all the girls or not. They all say they want to go, but there was certainly a lot of whining by the end. I guess it's all a matter if we can find somewhere else for them to be or not. 

Evie's first day of preschool

Evie finally had her first day of school. Though we have been having a grand time together the last few weeks, she has been very anxious to go to school. In the morning, she tried to get on the bus with her sisters, and was a little disappointed to learn that I would be driving her to school. 

She was so cute all morning. She came in to wake me up, and said, "Good morning Mommy, it's my first day of school!" The whole time we were getting everyone ready, she kept informing Kara and Kiersten that she had to get ready too. 

She is in the friendly frog class, and is very excited. She keeps reminding me that she no longer goes to the baby class. She did spot her teacher from last year, and didn't want to let go of her to go to class, but I'm sure she'll love her new teacher before long. 

She got to color, hear a story and play outside while the parents went to a meeting. she had so much fun. She is very proud that they have big kid chairs instead of the baby seats she had last year. There was a picnic afterward, and when we were leaving from that, she told me that she already learned so much at school.

This morning she did not want me to leaver her, so as soon as her teacher had a hold of her, I had to run out pretty quick. But when I picked her up, they said she did fine, and was happy all day. She was proud to tell me that she went potty 4 times and did not have any accidents at school. (which is good because thanks to Ben, she's under the impression that if you have accidents at school, you get kicked out). I can't believe she's such a grown up girl!

St. Louis zoo

Evie and I made a trip to the zoo last week. It was a hot day, so I was glad we got there early, and were done by lunch time. 

She thought it was hilarious that the puma was "naked". I guess after seeing the tigers, lions, and leopards, it does look a little bare. 

We usually skip the antelope section, but since it was just the 2 of us, I let her lead the way. When I showed her the batangs, she angrily said, "cows don't belong at the zoo! they go on the farm. Call Papa to come get the cows." She didn't seem to mind any of the petting zoo "farm" animals, though.

she was super impressed with this mountain goat on the rock. I tried to show her some others that were much higher up on a steeper rock wall, but she wouldn't look away from this guy.

sneaking up on a bird...

She loved the gorilla statue. She said that it thought she was a baby gorilla. 

This picture isn't great, but that orangutan was under a blanket, playing peek-a-boo with her. She loved that.

We tried to do a picture with the flamingos, but it looks like we didn't get many birds in the shot. 

hugging another statue. From the picture, it looks like she may have kissed it too, yikes!

She claimed one of the chicken coops as her new house. A chicken came in with her, and she angrily stormed out, saying it was time to find a new house. 

It was a perfect day for the splash pad. 

I never take the kids in the children's zoo part, and forgotten how fun it is in there. 

She got to pet some guinea pigs. As soon as she was done, she asked the handler if she could wash her hands. then she kept talking about how dirty animals are.

She was proud to be the size of a river otter. 

She wasn't worried about the goats being dirty. She made sure to brush all of them. For a while, she had 2 brushes going at once to make sure she got them all. She was fascinated by their poo, and kept asking the handlers a million goat poo questions. She ultimately decided it was all coming from one goat she dubbed, "the poopy goat".

Not sure what about the cave reminded her of being here with Nic, but she talked about him non stop while we were in there, and then didn't mention him again once we left. 

A fun day at the zoo. Hopefully we'll be back with the other girls soon.