Dash point beach

A few beach pictures from the other day. We bought the girls some new beach toys, so I decided to take them to the beach. I'm glad we went on the day we did, because it's been in the 90's ever since, and I'd have been miserable. Mom stretching her legs while Kiersten was filling a bucket with water.

Kara usually just wants to play in the sand, and wont go in the water much. I was surprised that this time she actually got in the waves a few times.

Ben came after he got off work and met us there. I brought him a change of clothes, but forgot sandals, so he had to go barefoot. I don't think it was too much of a problem for him though. Here he is "helping" the girls build a sand castle.

Kara stamping out a starfish pattern in the sand.

Kiersten would spend all her time in the water if we'd let her. We had to keep bringing her in. She doesn't get scared of the waves at all.

Kara insisted on bringing this chair. I wished I had brought mine too. I had to sit on the uncomfortable ground the whole time. I got tons of stares. I'm conviced people thought I was a beached whale. I actually thought my belly was looking smaller that day, but I saw a few pics that my mom took of me, and I thought, "no wonder people were staring". I'm pretty enormous.

Kiersten loves dressing up. This was her outfit today. The tutu had a piece ripping off, so I cut it, and gave her a little headband. She loves being a "ballerina princess". or any type of princess, for that matter. Kara loves helping her dress up. I think she prefers dressing Kiersten up, to playing dress up herself.

Kara has been teaching her some ballet. Here she is trying to do a pose. She is so cute galloping around the room and saying, "chasse! chasse!" you'd have to hear it in her baby voice to know how cute it really is.

The ballet teacher with her student.

Independence day

We've done fireworks in the front yard with the girls a few times this weekend. I only took pictures on saturday night though. They loved this army guy that parachuted down from the sky.

Of course sparklers were a big hit, as always.

yesterday, we picked up Grandma Boot from the airport, and then after lunch, we took the girls to a parade in Burien. As soon as we got there, an old man came over and gave the girls free hats. He said they were to protect from the sun, but it was cloudy and cool the whole time. Perfect parade weather.

Kiersten was so excited to wear a pretty dress with pockets, but she got sick right after we left the airport, so we had to buy her a new shirt from target. She still looked cute though.

It was nice to be right at the very beginning of the parade. The girls got free flags to wave, and tons of candy. So the girls loved it of course. Kara liked seeing the dance groups and cheerleaders.

We came home for dinner, and watched Red Cliff. (which is 5 1/2 hours long). So by the time it was over, it was dark enough for fireworks. It's nice to be able to sit in our yard and just watch all the neighborhood fireworks. Some of our neighbors must shell out hundreds for the firework shows they put on. The girls both really liked it. My mom said it is like living inside the stadium of fire. Kiersten had no problem falling asleep, but all the loud fireworks kept Kara up a little later than I'd have liked. It was a fun independence day. I was glad that the baby didn't come. Ben has been saying for weeks that he thought she would come on the 4th, but I didn't want her to, so looks like I got my way for once. :) I have my next dr. appt on friday, so I'll probably be updating again soon. I've really been wanting the baby to stay in, but now that my mom's here, I'm okay with her being born any time. I hope she comes before or while Lana is here next week, so she'll be able to see the baby when she's here. I'm sure she'll be glad to see the rest of us, but it would be a little sad for her to be here for a week, and have to leave without meeting the new little one.

Daddy's home

Ben has been off work yesterday and today, and doesn't have to go back until tuesday. When Kara woke up yesterday morning, she said, "daddy stays home with us for 5 days!" she was pretty excited. So we've been trying to do fun things with the girls that we wont want to or be able to do when the baby arrives. Yesterday we took the girls to the zoo, and spent a good amount of the day there. It was pretty fun, but we didn't take the camera, since we've been there tons of times recently. After the zoo, I had my 38 week dr's appt. so Ben took the girls to run a few errands and to sonic for slushy drinks while I was at the appt. We relaxed most of the evening, and then set off a few fireworks for the girls that night. Kiersten was super cute saying, "wow! look mommy! a green one!" etc. They both loved it, and so did some of the neighbor kids. They kept shouting across the street for us to do more. It didn't bother me, but Ben got a little annoyed.
Today, we decided to take the girls to play putt putt. We went to a course we hadn't been to before, called the putting zoo. We could choose the movement and obstacle course, or the tubes and water course. We did the water one. It was pretty fun. Both girls did great for the first 9 holes. After that, Kiersten kinda lost interest, and I was ready to be done by the 14th hole, but Ben made us stay and finish. He beat me by 2 points in the end, even though I had a hole in one. Kara started out doing well, but after she decided to golf without assistance, she started doing a lot worse.

Ben the master of min golf.

We let a few groups of older boys get past us, so we weren't holding them up, so the girls sat for a rest for a few minutes.

Kiersten really loved this waterfall. She played in it while I took Kara for a potty break.

mini golf at 9 months pregnant. I still did pretty well, but it was hard to bend down to pick up my ball. I kept trying to get Ben and the girls to pick it up and set it down for me. I'm sure it got annoying.

They loved throwing rocks in the water, after this hole, is when Kiersten stopped caring about golfing.

After putt putt, we stopped at mcdonald's and got ice cream cones. They were super tasty! both girls fell asleep on the way home, and got pretty good naps, but Kara is awake now, and wanted to scrapbook. (which she ALWAYS wants to do when Kiersten is sleeping.) So I think I will go join her.

My mom is coming on sunday. I will feel so much better once she's here, because I wont have to worry about having backup babysitters in place, or who will drive me to the hospital if i go into labor next week while Ben is at work. And I'm just looking forward to seeing her! Our new little baby will be here pretty soon, and I think we're pretty much ready for her when she decides to come!

father's day

I think Ben enjoyed his father's day this year. We woke up early to go to the morning showing of Toy Story 3. The girls were both so good, and sat through the whole thing without acting up at all. After the movie, we went to Ben's favorite mexican restaurant for lunch. It was yummy, but we got in and out of there pretty fast. i guess we were all full of popcorn from the movie. When we came home, the girls were excited to give Ben their gifts. Kara also made up a short father's day song for him. Kiersten picked out his Elmo card for him, and Kara got to pick out the envelope for it.

I let the girls wrap their own gifts. They did a pretty decent job, though it was hard for me not to jump in and do it "right". but I controlled myself, and let them do it. I got Ben what he wanted for father's day, but I also took the girls to the store, and let them each pick out something special they wanted to get for him. Kara got him a Mariner's hat.

Kiersten got him a Mr. Goodbar. as soon as I told them they got to pick out a gift, she started saying she wanted to get him candy. She actually picked out a regular hershey bar, but I got her to switch to the mr. goodbar by saying, "let's pick one with a pretty color. How about the yellow one?" She totally went for that, so I was glad he could get something he would like to eat.

I just thought this was a cute picture of Kiersten. After bath time, I got her dressed, and she said, "where's the camera?" I told her it was put away, and she said, "you take my picture pweeeze, mommy?" so of course I couldn't say no to that.

last day of school

First, I just liked this picture of Kiersten. She asked if she could take her nap on my bed the other day. I set her on top of the pillows with her own blanket, and when I came in to check if she'd fallen asleep, I found that she had unmade one side of the bed and gotten in. She looked so cute. Kara on her last day of school. She made a card for her teacher. That's the paper that she's holding.

She has grown 2 inches since she started school, and only gained 1 pound.

posing in front of her school. She has been saying the last few days that she was glad to be done with school. We tried to explain that she wont see her friends and teacher, so she needed to have lots of fun on her last day. She just insisted that she wasn't going to be sad or miss anyone. But when I picked her up from school, she started crying and didn't want to leave. She begged me to let her go to summer school, and insisted that all the other kids are going to summer school. I just explained that we are going to be having the new baby arrive soon, so we need to take a break from school until the fall. She seems to be okay with it now, although she has brought it up several times today that she no longer gets to go to school or ballet.

Kiersten got this bug sprinkler for her birthday in march. It was finally sunny enough that we let them try it out on saturday after we got home from a birthday party. Ben counted at least 7 pregnant women at the birthday party, so I was in good company, and also got to see some Seattle friends we haven't seen in quite a while.

This morning I woke up to find Kiersten getting into my makeup in the bathroom. I sent her down to play with Kara while I cleaned it all up. (you can see some still on her face). When I came down, I had every intention of lecturing her about getting into things, but I forgot when I saw the two of them cuddled together on the couch like this.

36 weeks along in the pregnancy now! I am having my first dr. appt. to get "checked" tomorrow. So not looking too forward to that, but definitely looking forward to the baby coming soon.