Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Black Hole Sun

We were invited up to the elementary school to watch the total eclipse with the kids. In the spring, they asked for RSVPs, and I only answered for one adult, so we only got one pair of solar glasses. Luckily a friend didn't need her reserved pair, and gave them to Ben to use. Kara's school told all the kids to wear black, so Kiersten and Evie decided to wear black as well. I just found my most moonish top. 
We got to do classroom visits, so I went to Evie's class and Ben went to Kiersten's as we had done the opposite on back to school night.
They walked out with their partner 5th grade class. Evie wanted to get a picture with her book buddy. They read together weekly. 
I wandered for a minute to find Kiersten since I hadn't visited her in her classroom. 
The 4th graders had super serious assignments about the eclipse to work on in the field. 

The second graders had a little book to show us.
They all had fun finding their buddies. 
I snuck Evie over to watch the eclipse with Ben and Kiersten. 

Everyone was excited when it started getting dark.
We didn't bring a camera, so just put the glasses in front of our phone for a picture, but they didn't turn out too exciting. You'll have to look elsewhere for your impressive eclipse photography.

I think their favorite part was getting to look without the glasses. There was a teacher with a bullhorn to tell them when to take them off and put them back on.
 It was pretty cool. 
We were not with Kara, so I don't have pictures of her, but the post is titled in her honor, since she would not stop singing Black Hole Sun for DAYS.

They're Too Cool For School

The second week in August is a hard time to go back to school. The girls are always excited and ready anyway. I thought Kara would have a hard time getting up at 6 every morning, since last year she only had to get up that early every other day. But it hasn't been too bad, and she almost never runs late. I suppose it's easier to get used to a schedule that is consistent. 

I walked her to the bus on the first day, and all of the other parents were there too, so I don't know why she was annoyed. But she did not want me to walk her down the next day. She asked me to stay in the house, so I said I'd walk half way to where I could see her get on the bus. We finally compromised that I could stand on the front porch. Sheesh, these kids... She hasn't been kidnapped yet, so I guess it's going okay.
Off to middle school!
The little girls got up much earlier than needed because they were so excited. That left us plenty of time to curl Kiersten's hair. Now that I see the picture, we'll have to do it again soon, I forgot how adorable it was. 

Evie was pretty excited to have the same teacher that Kara had for 2nd grade. It's the first time any of the girls have repeated a teacher. I just hope her teacher wasn't expecting a calm, quiet, math-loving bookworm like Kara. I'm never quite sure what to expect to hear from Evie's teacher at that first parent teacher conference.  I don't think anything would surprise me unless I heard she's very quiet and organized. 
She really wanted to take an umbrella to school. There was rain in the forecast, so I let her take it along.


These kids are all getting so big! We'll be 4 fewer at the bus stop next year. Maybe we'll have some new faces around by then.
We got a new bus driver this year. The girls were kind of sad, but they have warmed up to the new driver. She seems very nice. The timing is slightly different with having a new driver, but we've gotten used to a slightly adjusted schedule. We get 4 extra minutes in the morning now before we need to leave. 

It did in fact start raining after school. The little umbrella Evie had didn't help too much. I should have brought one of our large golf umbrellas, but I didn't expect it to start pouring like that. Kara was surprised to see us come in just soaking wet. Evie changed into pjs before I could get a picture of them. 
It was a successful first day back.
They wanted their picture taken again the next day before school. Mostly Kiersten wanted the picture because she is so proud of that little jacket. She saw it at the store a while back and really liked it, but it was too expensive. When she went on her birthday shopping spree, it was discounted some, but she still decided it was more than she was willing to spend. So when we went back to school shopping and she found it for $4, she was over the moon, and didn't stop talking about her amazing find for days. All the bus stop parents got to hear about it. It was definitely not jacket weather, but she just had to wear it anyway.

I have seen this fox in our yard plenty of times, but finally had my phone handy to take a picture. I wanted to show Ben how large it was. 
I thought she was posing for me. 
But it turned out she had spotted a rabbit. Which she did catch. Don't leave your cats outside neighbors.

Soccer Stars

Evie and Kiersten are playing soccer for Twin Oaks Christian School again this year. The first few practices are always rough when it's hot out, and everyone would rather be at the pool relaxing. 
Evie really wanted to try goalie again. But I think it's just not for her. She has a hard time staying in the goal and paying attention. It's better for her to be off chasing the ball. 


It is cute to watch her try. 
Maybe she will make a great goalie someday. Who knows? 
Kiersten played a pre-season tournament. It was only 3 games within the span of a week, so not too bad. We only had about a 30 minute drive for the games. 


They definitely got in some good running!
We had to wait around at the end for them to get their medals. 
Is it horrible that I don't even remember if they got first or second? I do remember they had to wait for the outcome of another game before they would know, but I guess I didn't care too much, or I would remember. 
We have an awesome group of sweet girls. They play so hard. 


She has so much fun, and loves doing something you couldn't pay me to do in such warm weather. She's a great sport too, always gets back up when she falls, and runs her hardest.
We took the girls for frozen custard at Ted Drewe's to celebrate Kiersten's soccer greatness since we were nearby. 
Kara was happy to get back to her martial arts. She felt rusty after having *GASP* 2 months off. She begged me to let her attend through the summer next year. We'll have to see what exactly we're doing travel-wise, because I don't want to pay for it if she's going to miss half of the month anyway. She just became a second degree brown belt on Friday, and has at least 4 months before she's allowed to test for first degree. After that, I think she has another 9-12 months before she can take her black belt exam. 
Here is some edible art courtesy of twizzler pull and peel and my kids. Isn't that fun?