Softball and Carnival

Kiersten had her first softball game last week. She was nervous to play. She didn't get a hit, but she did learn a lot, and figured out what she needs to work on practicing.

Isn't she adorable in her uniform?

She got to be the catcher for one inning. She seemed to like that.

She had another game on Saturday morning. Before the game they got team pictures taken.

She's such a cutie-wootie.

My Evie is a cutie-wootie too.

And so is Karalee. The kids have been so excited for their school carnival. It turned out great, and we had amazing weather. I was thrilled to get to learn to make cotton candy.

Evie was thrilled to get a ladybug headband. I should have gotten more pictures, but I spent most of the night in the cafeteria doing the raffle baskets. They all had a great time, though.

After we cleaned up from the carnival, we stayed to decorate the girls' teachers' doors for teacher appreciation week. Kara's teacher got a Muffin themed door.

I love how Kiersten's teacher's door turned out. I was pretty frustrated with my printer getting everything ready, but it was worth it how cute it turned out.

While we were working on the doors, the kids got very excited and started screaming about a mouse. I did not believe them at first. I didn't really want to believe them.

But lo and behold, there really was a gross little mouse. It was not very scared of the kids. I'm amazed I got this picture, because I was reaching around the corner without wanting to step foot in the bathroom. Worst part, the custodian was not all that surprised to see that there was a mouse roaming the halls.

Tonight we went to see the Cardinals game with some of the girl scouts. We met up for dinner before heading over to the stadium. The girls were pretty silly.

It was a nice night for a game.

Not really sure why I couldn't manage to look at the camera for my own selfie, but there ya go.

The game started at 7, so we made it about half way through the game, before we had to leave to get the girls to bed. They had a great time.

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.  

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.