at this moment in time...

As the year is about to end, I thought it would be fun to do a little time capsule type update about the girls. I hope any of you reading this might decide to do the same for your families on your blogs, websites, or even in a notebook. I would love to read about all of you and your families.

Starting with Karalee Ilyana

2010 accomplishments:
This year she turned 4, learned to read, performed on stage in a cinderella ballet, completed her first year of preschool and started her second, made a scrapbook, learned to use a camera, learned to add and subtract, and learned to play nintendo. She recently recieved her own nintendo ds, and loves playing with it. As of today, she weighs 37lbs, and is 44 1/2 inches tall.

special things about Kara:
she is very sweet. She cares about everyone, and is concerned when someone is sad or hurt. She is the smartest 4 year old I've ever met. She can grasp concepts very quickly, and she loves to learn. She is always reading everything she sees. I am often surprised by her ability to figure out words that would seem difficult to sound out. She is a tall girl with long legs. She grows out of pants at lightning speed, and never has a dress for long before it starts getting too short. She is very patient. She will patiently wait when we ask her too, and is very nice to her sisters. She loves helping with Evie, and lets Kiersten get away with a lot before she gets upset. She is my little helper. She loves doing housework with me, and is always asking for chores. Sometimes she asks me to write her a chore list, or she'll write up her own. She likes checking off all the things on the list, and excitedly asks me to come check her work. She is a stickler for rules, and always wants things to be done the "right" way. If I try to rush her in her cleaning or other tasks, she'll remind me that it needs to be done correctly, even if that takes a little longer.

and here are some answers to questions from kara herself about some of her favorite things:
favorite color-purple
favorite kind of animal- cats
favorite food- candy
favorite song- don't go breakin my heart
favorite movie- my little pony
favorite tv show- barney
best friend- Maya
favorite playtime activity- making block towers
favorite toy- Lucky the stuffed cat
favorite non play activity- math
if she could see anyone in the whole world right now, who would she pick?- Daddy
favorite outdoor activity- soccer
favorite outfit- yellow flower dress
favorite thing to do with mommy- scrapbook
favorite thing to do with daddy- hug and kiss
one food she doesn't like- spinach
one thing she doesn't like- daisy biting her

Kiersten Joy

2010 accomplishments:

This year, she turned 2, learned to ride a bike, learned the alphabet, learned to spell her name out loud, grew long enough hair to have hairstyles, decided she's a princess, counted to 18, got potty trained, and mastered eating with a fork and spoon. As of today she weighs 29lbs, and is 38 inches tall.

special things about Kiersten:

she is a little comedian. She is always saying the funniest things, and doing things to make everyone laugh. She loves putting on a show, and being silly. She also loves knock knock jokes and is constantly telling them. She is very loving. She always wants to cuddle, be held, and hug. She tells everyone she loves them on a daily basis, and will often go on and on telling me the long list of everyone she loves. she is a smart girl, and sometimes sneaky. If she thinks she can get away with something, she will definitely try it. One of her latest tricks is dumping her dinner or lunch in the trash or sink, and trying to convince us that she ate it all gone. She has a major sweet tooth and is always asking for candy and treats. She asks with such a sweet looking face, that it can be very hard to say no to her. she is very friendly. She loves having other kids to play with, and even adults. If we are around an adult woman, you can bet Kiersten is sitting in her lap, or begging to be picked up. She is loaded with energy and personality. She will let you know how she feels, whether it's super happy, or mad. She loves teasing people, especially Kara.

and some of Kiersten's favorites:
favorite color- purple
favorite kind of animal- dogs
favorite food- cereal
favorite song- my little pony theme song
favorite movie- sleeping beauty
favorite tv show- Dora the explorer
best friend- Kara
favorite playtime activity- playing barbies
favorite toy- dancing Mickey and purple teddy bear
favorite non play activity- dancing
if she could see anyone in the world right now, who would she pick?- daddy and papa
favorite outdoor activity- playing in the snow
favorite outfit- purple flower dress
favorite thing to do with mommy- paint fingernails
favorite thing to do with daddy- read books
one food she doesn't like- broccoli
one thing she doesn't like- time out and people being mean to her. Evangeline Rebecca

2010 accomplishments:

This year she was born, learned to roll over, learned to sit up, learned to crawl, started eating baby food, smiled for the first time, laughed for the first time, took her first car trip to Utah and Idaho, hated her carseat, doubled her weight, spit up hundreds of times, celebrated her first halloween, thanksgiving, and Christmas, and started sleeping through the night. As of today, she weighs 16lbs, and is 26 inches tall.

Special things about Evie:

She is a cheerful baby. She doesn't wake up and cry. She wakes up and starts giggling and cooing until I wake up too. she is fascinated by her sisters. She loves watching them play, and loves when they include her in the fun. She is an active baby. Even before she was crawling she loved to wriggle and squirm around. Now that she is mobile, she crawls everywhere and climbs all over. She has already started pulling herself up on things. She's not quite cruising yet, but I have no doubt she will be very soon. She loves her parents. She is always happy and excited to see either one of us. (me a little more). she seems to have a very social personality so far. she loves to eat. She is the cleanest baby I've ever fed. almost nothing gets back out of her mouth once it's gone in. She tries to get any food that we eat within her reach. She loves playing with toys. She especially likes teething toys right now, and we think her teeth are going to be making an appearance soon.

next year she might be able to answer questions about some of her favorite things too!

back to preschool

Today is Karalee's first day back at preschool. She has been so excited to see her teacher and friends, and to wear her new school clothes. She was up by 6 this morning wanting to start the day. Of course I was following her around with a camera this morning. She was eating breakfast, and I kept trying to take her picture. I told her to say cheese, but she just kept eating. After, she said, "mom, it's rude to say cheese with cereal in your mouth." I guess she was right about that. After breakfast, she was all about the pictures. She kept coming up with weird pictures she wanted me to take of her. I said we had to hurry and go to school, and she said, "oh... school...right. School rocks!" super cute girl. another funny thing she said while I was doing her hair was, "mom, another word for warm is cozy. you make me feel cozy mommy." then she said, "and barf is another word for puke. that guy from daddy's spaceballs movie is called barf."
this is one of her picture ideas. she wanted to make a heart with her hands.

and then, of course, Kiersten had to try to do the same thing.

ready for school. She was so excited all morning, and couldn't wait to get going. she said she is most excited to show her friends her new clothes, backpack, lunch box and shoes, and also to tell her teacher that she learned to read this summer. She is doing great with her reading.

showing off her cool new stuff. ben got her this backpack on the disney website, and it even has her name embroidered on the back. she told me that she loves her shirt because it's the most glamorous shirt she's ever had. you can't really see in the pictures, but it has sparkly little gems on it.

on the way to school, she kept saying, "everyone look for a building made from red building blocks." she also told me, "if you could drive fast like daddy, we would be there any second now." It's about a 25 minute drive. I was disappointed to find that my favorite route to school has tons of construction going on. so now I'll have to go up pacific highway, or go on the interstate. It's still easy to get there, but I just liked going the other way, with hardly any other cars to worry about or school zones to drive through.

she was happy to see several of her buddies from last year, and a few new friends. The classroom has been redecorated over the summer, and the kids were all ooing and aahing over all the changes. Kara jumped right in to start playing, so it was hard to get a picture of her once we were there. She immediately got complimented on her haircut as we walked in the door by her friend Peyton. I think she will have a fun school year. The parents of the new 3 year old students were all hovering around, not wanting to leave their kids, just like me last year. I only stayed long enough to pay the tuition and take kiersten to go potty. And I only cried a little on the way home. Last year, I pretty much cried the whole day. I'll miss her, but school is definitely a good thing for her. It has been nice to have her home for the summer, especially since having the baby, but it's good to come out of my newborn baby haze, and get back to regular life.

Kiersten baby update:

She is potty trained now, and only wears pullups at night. She stays dry some nights, but not often enough for me to feel good about her sleeping in panties yet. But that is definitely a goal she wants to attain. She is still working on learning her letters, and can count up to 16. She is such a sweetheart. She loves both of her sisters. When we left Kara at school this morning, she said, "I want Karalee. Karalee is my favorite." she cried a little, but was happy again by the time we got home. I was fumbling to get her out of her carseat for some reason, and she said, "mommy, you dwiving me cwazy!" I just love her personality. she doesn't take crap from anyone.

Evangeline update:

she is growing and getting chubby. I never knew diaper changes and baths could be so time consuming with all those fat rolls to clean out. We just love having a little fatty to cuddle with. She rolled over 3 times on saturday and once this morning. She is too young to be doing that! I was hoping her chubbiness would prevent her from being an early mover like the other 2, and she's already one upping them by rolling over at not even 9 weeks. I just hope she wont be walking by 7 months like Kiersten did. It's hard when they have the physical ability to walk, but not the mental capability to avoid running into everything. she is smiling more, but it's hard to get a picture of it, because she's so interested in the camera. I need to be more sneaky about it. She spent much of yesterday watching football with Ben, while I worked on some sewing projects. she was perfectly happy just to sit in his lap, or lay on the floor by him. She takes after her older sisters in her love of being naked. sometimes when she's crying, all she wants is to be stripped down to her diaper. This morning I realized we gave her the wrong name. We should have called her alarm clock, thanks to her ability to wake the entire house before 5 am with her screams. I'm used to being up with her, but the others were not too happy about it.

Ben and Becky update:

We're still working on getting into a new routine that includes Evie. Ben is still working hard, but tries to be home early when he can. The girls are always counting the days til the weekend, so they can spend time with him. Ben is thrilled that football season has started again, and is patiently waiting to buy the next video game he wants. I really thought he'd have bought it by now, but he has held off so far. I almost bought it for him yesterday, but then thought he might just not want it yet. We took all the toys out of the upstairs playroom, so it can be converted back into a nursery. Ben put Evie's crib together, and now i just need to finish putting the rest of it together. I am fitting in projects where I can. yesterday I made myself some skirts with elastic waist bands. I know it's a fashion no no, but I am between pant sizes right now, and frustrated with not fitting in any of my "big" clothes, or any of my "small" clothes. So I give up on pants for now. We bought a new eliptical, so I will wait and see how I like that before thinking about rejoining the gym. I know it takes me some time to lose weight after a baby, so I have to stop wishing I were one of "those" women. You know, the ones who drop all the weight immediately without even trying? They exist, and knowing some of them personally makes it harder not to be part of the club. But I am dropping my ding dong a day habit, and taking a glass of water to bed instead of chocolate milk. baby steps... Oh, I also got some new healthy cookbooks. But I've already been trying to cook healthy meals since Kara had her digestive problems, so the meals aren't all that different than what I'm already doing. it has given me a few new ideas and options I hadn't thought of on my own.