In the fall

I just realized the other day that I have not updated with pictures all month so far.

Evie has been having such a good time in school. It's fun to see her so excited to be learning. They are really focusing on their names, so she's been spelling hers out in any way she can think of lately.

I am in charge of staff appreciation at school this year. Here is what I did for custodian appreciation day. I put gift cards into these pockets I made out of Ben's old shirts. I felt badly, and thought they turned out lame, but now it's been a few weeks, I can look back at the picture and see that they weren't as horrible as I thought.

I put the gift card pockets inside of little mason jars and used loose yarn to fluff them up to look cuter. They are still not my favorite, but they turned out all right, and I did get some ideas for next time what I would do better.

Kiersten was supposed to write about someone who works in the neighborhood for a school assignment. I got a chuckle when I saw her paper. It became even more funny when she saw it and freaked out, because it was actually Kara who added the bottom half about having spelled "helth" incorrectly.

Ben ordered Kiersten a #2 jersey for her favorite player. Wires were crossed and she ended up getting 2 blank jerseys instead. They are sending the corrected order, but let us keep the blank jerseys, so we bought some iron on letters and numbers for the girls to personalize them. I couldn't get Kiersten to stand up straight for this picture. So I told Kara to stand sassy too. She pulled her hands out from behind her back. Super sassy...

Kiersten chose #83 because that was how old Grandma Howard lived to be. Kara chose #24 because that is the date of her birthday.

This was the only letter set that had all of the letters we needed for Kiersten's name. So we had to go a little larger than I would have otherwise liked. E's and N's were in very short supply.

The girls were thrilled to get Halloween cards from their cousins in Idaho. It really made their day.

I got busy making chocolate suckers for bus driver appreciation day. I am excited about how they are turning out. I will get a picture of everything assembled together.

Evie is star student this week, so she got to make a poster to take to school on Monday. Luckily, I wrote it on the calendar, and Ben saw at 11PM the night prior, so we hurried and got everything glued on. She was able to finish it up before school Monday morning. We had a busy weekend, and I totally forgot about making it.

On the 11th we were in KC for the Chiefs game. The big girls wore the jerseys they made. They were excited to get beads at the parade.

Our seats are easy to find, since we're supposed to have seat #8, and it doesn't exist in this row. Mysterious.

I like when we have nice weather.

Kiersten loves watching Dustin Colquitt practice before the game. She will be devastated if he ever leaves the team. She just adores him. Ben thinks it's kind of weird to love the punter, but he has important plays in every game. I think she also likes him because he's kinda cute.

A candid shot of Evie and I waiting for the game to begin.

The only part I don't like about our seats is the heat from the flames when the team is running on field. It feels like it's being blown straight in our faces. The girls do find it exciting though.

They lost again, and it's hard for the girls to leave happily, especially when it's a last second loss. But it's good for them to get used to disappointment and learn sportsmanship. Sometimes people act horribly on the way out, but mostly not. It's easy to point out the poor sports, and tell the girls that's not how we should act.

Evie and Keirsten have started a dance class and are really enjoying it so far.

Kiersten scored a goal at her soccer game a few weeks ago. Ben took Evie on a daddy-daughter date, so I took these two out for lunch and a celebratory ice cream cone.

We also headed over to the library for some reading time. I found the computers hard to use, and would prefer just to use an old fashioned card catalog. Kara was able to figure it out though.

A few days ago, Kara called me frantically into her bathroom. She was upset and said, "This is what happens when I try to get fancy with my hair, mom!" It was hard not to laugh, but I did help her fix it.