Sunday, April 26, 2015

Miller weekend

I got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago informing me that Kiersten's artwork had made it into the Rockwood Art Exhibition. She was very excited to see her art on display. She was very secretive at first as to what type of artwork she had created. She did eventually let it slip that it was something she'd made out of clay.  
Here is her piece. She made a cute koala.
She said she wore the sunglasses because she is a celebrity with her art in the show. She's a funny girl. She saw some art there from a few of her other CCL buddies, so that was exciting for her as well.
After the art show, we took the girls to Six Flags. Kara wanted to use some allowance to play this ladder climbing game. She got farther up the ladder than I thought she would.
 But in the end she was unsuccessful at winning a giant stuffed cat. Alas.
I am always willing to ride the superman ride with her. I think it's lots of fun. Kiersten is now tall enough to ride, but hasn't done it yet. Maybe on our next visit!
Evie was finally tall and brave enough to ride the pandemonium roller coaster. She cried for much of it, and I didn't know her eyes could get so big. She really hated it, but tried to act like it had been fun once she got off. I don't think she'll want to do it again any time soon.
She also went to Six Flags yesterday for her daddy-daughter date. She came home really happy.

A picture Ben got of the girl scouts collecting April Showers donations. The girls are always so happy and great about doing this service project. I love my little daisies!
My front room is currently full of these fun gift baskets that will be raffled off at the school carnival on Friday. The kids just keep getting more excited, and when their friends are over, it's cute to see their reactions to all of the fun goodies. Evie is going to be very disappointed if she doesn't win the Disney basket. I keep telling her she'll probably have lots of competition, but she is just sure that it's hers. We got these beauties all wrapped up after collecting the April Showers donations yesterday. I'm relieved to have them wrapped, so the kids can stop messing with/touching the items.
Kara is still convinced that she's the luckiest kid in the world, so it will be interesting to see if her luck holds out for yet another year. I didn't buy that many raffle tickets, so they probably don't have the best chance at winning, but you never know.
Kara was hiding from me, because she didn't want to be tickled, and I finally located her eating a popsicle in the bathroom.
And that's how a weekend goes around here.  

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Snooze at the zoo

Kara's girl scout troop got to sleep at the zoo last week. They learned all about the different groups of vertebrates. Kara really enjoyed that part. She was not too amused when one of the high school volunteers told them fish were warm blooded. She and another girl were both quite upset about that.

They got to see and touch all kinds of pelts, bones, and other preserved animal specimens.
This is a jaguar paw.
They thought this emu foot was pretty neat.
They got to play some fun animal related games. Then they all got to enjoy some pizza and soda.

After dinner we got to explore the zoo in the dark. They girls had a great time seeing the reptiles and amphibians.
Kara took a page out of Evie's book, and decided one of the lizards was in love with her.
This vulture was actually terrifying at night. It spread it's wings all the way out, and I actually had to step away. I felt very anxious, and I definitely felt my heart start to race.
Not a good picture of the wing span, because I was trying to get away as fast as possible, but still trying to get a picture. It's interesting to realize that when feeling threatened, I will totally hide behind a group of girl scouts.

The floor was really really hard, and no one slept very well. I even took a sleeping pill, but still woke several times. The girls were still mostly in a good mood when they woke us up at 6:30 to visit the animals.

The otter was waiting for breakfast, so he was very lively, and kept coming right up to the girls. They all got a kick out of that.
We don't often see the tiger up and around, so Kara thought that was a real treat.
During the night hike there was a bunny in the jaguar enclosure. So in the morning, I was teasing Kara that the bone on that pallet was the bunny's leg. She wasn't amused.  
She insisted on carrying a map around, and still had no clue where on the map we were, or were headed.

We watched the kangaroos for a while. They were fun to observe.

The last stop was the stingray pool. It was the first day for it to be open. The girls had a great time in there petting the stingrays and sharks.

As soon as we got home, we had to hurry to get Kiersten over to softball practice. She looked so cute in her uniform, so I had to grab at least one picture.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Baseball and violin

On Monday I got to join Ben at the Cardinals home opener for a work thing. It was a great day, if a little breezy, but I'll take that over snow, rain, or scorching heat.

Our seats were pretty high up, but not too bad. And not as high up as the seats we'll be in when we go with girl scouts.
It's always fun to see the Clydesdales.

This bald eagle performed and it was all very exciting. I'm sure it sounds not that exciting, but it actually was kinda fun.
We lost, but it was still a great day!
Kiersten is star student this week. She got to color and fill out a poster about herself. It's at school so I don't have a picture. She also got to take her favorite book to share with the class. I knew she would pick this horse book. She reads it several times a week. Tomorrow she gets to bring an item in the mystery box, and give clues as to what is inside.
Our cherry tree is one of the last trees on the street to bloom each year, but I am always ecstatic when it finally does. It makes me happy just to look out the window, or drive up to my house. I would sit under it all day if not for the bees it attracts.
Tonight was Kara's violin concert at school. She has been very excited for this. She talks about her music class quite a lot.
All of the third graders looked so cute dressed up. They did a great job.
I did catch her chatting a few times instead of listening to what her music teacher was saying to the audience.
I felt like she was right on beat, and playing perfectly, but Ben insisted she was off a few times. I'm sure he is mistaken though. She played beautifully.
Ben got there a few minutes late, but she was happy when she spotted him in the audience. She was even happier when he gave her a long stemmed rose.
She really wants to take orchestra class next year and play the viola. We are torn because she would miss out on technology class, and that seems like an important class to take. So we'll see what we decide when we get a little more information about both classes. She really does have her heart set on it though.
It's been a pretty fantastic week around here!