Bow holders

Now that the girls have their own bathrooms, one bow board wasn't working out so well. So I decided to make a few new bow hangers for them. I just bought wood cut outs to paint. The girls really wanted to help paint. At first I did not want to let them, because I thought they would turn out looking pretty sloppy. But they were so excited to paint, I couldn't turn them down. So I let them paint their  own, and I helped draw designs on them for a guide. they actually did pretty well, and no one made a mess.

Kiersten was painting giant globs at first, but as soon as I had her watch how Kara was doing it, she caught on, and did much better. I did have a few little touch ups on hers after she was done, but I was impressed how well she was able to paint inside the lines I made for her to follow.

I just stapled some grosgrain ribbon to the backs, and they turned out super cute. I did the lady bug for Evie, since she was asleep. Kara made the heart almost entirely by herself, and Kiersten made the butterfly one with my help. now they are hanging in their bathrooms full of bows from top to bottom. 

Accident prone Evangeline

Evie somehow pulled her elbow again last week. We seriously have no idea how it happened. She just walked oven to Ben, threw herself on the floor and started crying and saying "OW!". so he brought her up to me, and she fell asleep. We thought it had to do with her tooth she was cutting, but every time she rolled over she would start to cry again. I took her back down to Ben, and he noticed she was not using her arm, and crying every time it was touched. So I took her into the ER to get it re set. I will never take her to the ER again for a pulled elbow. Just like back in October, they tried over and over and couldn't get it back in place. So decided that it must be fractured, and wanted x rays. I really didn't feel it was broken, but they wanted the xrays anyway. So I got to hold her down on the x ray table again, and make her cry and scream so they could take x rays which backed me up that she didn't have a broken bone. So again, just like back in October, they ended up giving up and sending us home. So that was 4 hours wasted, and spent torturing and upsetting her, that she would have been much more comfortable at home. I fully appreciate and respect those who work in the ER, but I just did not like how they kept acting like I didn't know what I was talking about, and just wouldn't hear me out. I'm her mother, I know her. I know how this injury was last time, and I knew her arm was not broken. So next time, I'll just wait til the next morning and get her into the ortho dr. to get it popped back in.

The next morning, Ben took her to the ortho to get it fixed up, and they took care of her. She was happy and using her arm again by the time they left the office. I think she might have done it on the stairs. I've seen her a few times walking down the stairs, and slip, then grabbing onto the hand rail to catch herself. We don't know for sure, but that's my best guess. Poor thing is always getting hurt! she was just recovering from getting her head scraped by falling out the front door, then this happened, and a few days later, Kara was chasing her to tickle her, and she fell and hit her head in the same spot she already has a scar, a bump, and a scab. She also bit her lip, and bled all over herself and me. I feel like just wrapping her up in bubble wrap every morning.

I didn't take any other pictures this week. I got really swamped with house projects and a bunch of orders in my etsy shop. I am caught up now, and Kara is done with school, so hopefully we'll have some fun pictures coming up soon. I'm especially excited to post pictures of the girl's room makeovers when we finish them up. Kara and Kiersten's rooms are looking really cute, but Evie's isn't even started yet.

Kindergarten grad!

These sisters sure love getting their pictures taken together. For every picture I take of them, there are probably at least 5-6 times I have to tell them no, we don't have time for pictures right now. At least i know their childhood will be well documented.

Today was Kara's kindergarten graduation. (even though she still has school for 4 more days next week.) She was disappointed that Daddy couldn't make it, but excited for the little girls and me to show up there. The kids recited a little poem, and we watched a slideshow of all the events throughout the year. The teacher did a good job of getting pictures of Kara in there too, even though she's only been in class for 2 weeks. She has taken pictures of her about everyday, and just randomly inserted them along with the other kids. Every time A picture of Kara came on screen, Evie would excitedly shriek, "wook! Kawa!" all the kids thought that was funny.

Almost all the kids in her class live in our neighborhood. I was surprised that several of the parents came right up to me, knew who we were, and exactly where we lived, and had heard about us from other neighbors. One lady even knew my and the kids' names.

She got a graduation certificate, and her teacher pulled me aside after to say that she hasn't had much time to assess Kara, but from what she's seen, she will be fine for first grade. I didn't say anything, but I wasn't at all worried about her readiness for first grade. She is pretty far ahead of the work I've seen coming home, so I know she'll be fine.

After the ceremony, the parents could choose to take the kids home, or let them stay for PE. Kara wanted to stay, so I let her. Right as we were walking out of our house to get her from the bus stop, Evie fell and bloodied her head, so I quickly ran inside to get her cleaned up and calmed down. then I put on a movie for Kiersten and set Evie by her to watch while I ran to the bus by myself. Right as I was out of my yard, I saw the bus drive past me, and I looked down the street but didn't see Kara. I walked down there to make sure, but she was not there. So I waited for the bus to come back by, as it has to go to the end of our street, and turn around to get out of the neighborhood. I thought the bus driver saw me, and I waved so she'd stop, but she just drove by. So I thought she must not have seen me after all. I called the school to see if she was still there, or if the driver was going to take her back, and they didn't have her, and they called to driver who said she had gotten off the bus at the stop. So I started panicking and told them she wasn't there. We figured she must have gotten off at the wrong stop, as the teacher supervises them onto the bus to make sure everyone gets on the right one. I ran back home to check on the girls, and make sure Evie was okay, and was going to start driving around looking for Kara, when I got a call back from the bus depot saying they had her and were bringing her back. So I went back to the bus stop to wait. I ended up waiting almost 15 minutes for her, and when she showed up, the driver told me that Kara had fallen asleep, and slouched down onto the seat. So she thought she got off at her stop, and had seen me, and thought it was weird she didn't see Kara with me, but figured maybe I let her play at a friends house or she had run ahead of me. When she got back to the depot, she spotted Kara asleep in her seat, and woke her up. Poor Kara was really upset about it. She wouldn't talk to the driver, or answer any questions. Even I couldn't get a word out of her the whole walk home. Once we were in the house, I opened her backpack, and found some popcorn she'd brought home. As soon as she saw it, she cheered right up, and got back to her normal self. She seems to be over it already, and says she still wants to ride the bus. 

Mother's day and birdfeeder update

On mother's day we got milkshakes and fries, and drove to a nearby park for a fun family walk. I did not wear very sensible shoes, but we all had a nice day. The girls gave me new charms for my charm bracelet, and Ben cooked burgers for everyone.

Vic and Nancy were in town for Vic to go to some baseball games. The girls threw a "party". Kiersten planned it, and put Kara in charge of games. We played pin the tail on the donkey, chutes and ladders, the ladybug game, and candy land. I don't know how I managed to not take more pictures, but I guess I just got distracted by all the fun.

Kiersten asked me to be in charge of snacks, so we had watermelon, pineapple, and chex mix. I did make an ice cream dessert too, but it isn't in the picture. It turned out good, but I have already thought of some ways to make it better.

This is what Kiersten's bird feeder looked like the next morning after she set it out. there wasn't a single speck of birdseed left on the roll.

but some did get spilled on the ground, and we caught this little cardinal enjoying the mess. I didn't have to sweep it up, it was all gone by the end of the day.

For Kiersten's daddy daughter date, Ben let her pick out a real bird feeder from the store. They also made a bird house, but I forgot to get a picture of it. The birds have LOVED this feeder. Ben put almost the whole bag of birdseed in, and it is already almost gone. We thought it would last at least a month! So we probably wont keep it full all the time, but I'm sure the girls will want to fill it up every few months. It has been kind of fun to see all the different birds close up. We have even seen a good sized bald eagle in the backyard a few times (not using the bird feeder of course). but the girls have gotten pretty excited about that, and some deer and bunnies we see occasionally.

Kiersten's bird feeder

Kiersten wanted me to take a picture of this beetle so Daddy will believe her that he needs to respray the outside of the house for bugs. She was really upset about seeing him on the window. She said that he was trying to show us his bum.

Kiersten has been so jealous of Kara this week, going to a new school, meeting new friends, losing a tooth, etc. She has been bugging me for a week to make a bird feeder like the one she saw made on Nick jr. I have been putting her off because I've been so busy unpacking, organizing, and such. But today I decided to force the time into our day so she could feel special and happy. So during Evie's nap, we got to work. This is what we used:

We used an empty toilet paper roll, peanut butter, bird seed, a baking sheet, a frisbee, a glue gun, and ribbon (not pictured). I told her to get the empty roll I had set aside in my bathroom. When she came back down she explained that it took a while to get all the paper off. I guess she didn't look in my bathroom, and instead took all the paper off the roll in her bathroom. I asked her where she put it all, and she said, "I flushed it a little at a time down the toilet, so it wouldn't get all stuck together." So we had to have a talk about being wasteful.



The first step was to spread peanut butter onto the roll.



Next, I spread birdseed onto the baking sheet and let her roll it onto the sides.



The commercial she's been seeing says to hang it with a ribbon and you're done. But I decided to hot glue the toilet paper roll onto a small frisbee the kids got at the fair and never play with. Then I let Kiersten choose some ribbon to glue around the edge. She picked this cute owl ribbon. I made a quick bow and glued that on too. Then we filled the frisbee up with more bird seed. She even crawled on the floor making sure she got every single kernel into the bird feeder.  

And that's it. She took her lovely bird feeder outside and set it on the deck. I might move it down to the ground level, so we don't get even more bird poo up there.

She sat outside staring at it and waiting for birds to come, until I convinced her to come inside and just watch out the window. She has been keeping watch all afternoon to see the birds use it, but so far, it has just been attracting a few bees. (another reason we might have to move it so Ben doesn't freak out every time he sees one).

Milestones for Karalee

we successfully got moved into our new house on friday. I spent a good amount of time at the apartment packing the stuff we had there, while Ben was directing the movers. The movers unpacked all the boxes for us, so we just had to put it all away. It is a little daunting to see the counters, tables, and beds just full of stuff. But we have been diligently plugging away. I'm doing most of the unpacking/putting away, and Ben is putting stuff together that the movers didn't, and doing all of the neccessary "handy work". Of course he has already been busy getting all his tvs and sound systems wired up and running. I did get a surprise yesterday when I went to drain the kitchen sink, a pipe was broken and the kitchen got flooded. Ben fixed it temporarily, but we'll still need to get a plumber out to fix it more permanently. Our next door neighbors are really nice and have a 4 year old girl and a 1 year old girl, just a few days older than Evie. So the girls have had fun playing over there a couple of times. I also met another down the street neighbor who has a 7 or 8 year old girl, a 5 year old girl, and an 18 month old boy. The older girl offered to walk Kara home from the bus stop, which Kara really wants me to let her. I'll have to discuss that with Ben. The kitchen is painted, and we are getting ready to do Kiersten's room next. We can't get the chairs we planned on for the sitting room, because the company that makes them just suddenly went out of business. So instead we ordered the rest of our livingroom furniture. We already had the couches and Evie's bedroom furniture delivered on saturday, so I am anxious to have the livingroom finished by the end of the week. I don't have very many pictures this week, but had to get a few.

Evie has been wearing these shades all the time lately. She has even gone to bed wearing them. And when we go out, she points them out to people so she'll get compliments.

Since I took a picture of Evie with her sunglasses, Kiersten wanted her picture taken as well. She was enjoying some nerds at the table. She got a small box at Chuck E Cheese, which Ben opened, and then flung all over the seat of the car. So he bought her a big box to make up for it.
Kara's first day at her new school was monday. I did decide to let her ride the bus, but the first 2 days, we had to take her there, and then the bus brought her home. She is beyond thrilled about riding the bus. She thinks that is super cool, and Kiersten is super jealous about it.
  So far she has loved school, and is coming home happy and excited. There are 2 boys that sit behind her on the bus that have been pestering her. They'll say, "Kara!", and then hide down when she turns around. Yesterday they were kicking her seat, and then hiding. I told her that boys sometimes just do dumb stuff, and she felt a little better. When Ben got home he told her they were trying to get her attention, and that probably means they like her, or think she's cute, and that made her feel a lot better. Today was nice because the bus picked her up from our house, so I didn't have to get everyone ready. I got a call from the school nurse about an hour before school was over, saying that she ran into the monkey bars and hit her head. She sounded fine, and the nurse thought she was fine, so I had her sent back to class. She is definitely milking her bandaged hands and scratched face, and Kiersten is happy to be her little nurse. 
  Of course because Kara got her picture taken on her first day of school, Kiersten had to get a picture too.
  When I went to the bus stop to get Kara today, I was expecting her to be a bit pouty like the last 2 days because of those boys. But instead, she stepped off, grinning from ear to ear. As she came across the street, she was trying to show me something tiny and white. Turns out her loose tooth finally fell out on the ride home. She is so excited to lose her first tooth, and immediately placed it in her tooth fairy bag.

We bought a house today

We closed on our new house this morning. We are so anxious to move in. We get all of our stuff delivered from storage on friday. After the closing, i took the girls to Kara's new school to get her registered. She is so excited, and they all seem excited to be getting her. She is going to be in kindergarten for the last 14 days of the year. But that's better than me trying to teach her. I feel like she just already knows everything I try to teach her. She will have to go in the afternoon, and there are only 10 other kids in her class. Her teacher seemed really nice, and is happy to have another girl. I guess she mostly has boys in that class. She really wants to ride the bus, but I worry about letting her. Ben said we should let her, so I'll think about it this weekend. The teacher gets them off and on the bus, and I would take her to the stop and pick her up. The registrar told me that the bus just stops at most of the kids houses, so we'll see. Kiersten is a little jealous. Everyone thought Kiersten would be starting in the fall, and were surprised when I said she just turned 4. a couple people we met assumed she was the kindergartener before they saw Kara. So she was proud to look so old. After the school, I took the girls to lunch, and to the post office, and then we headed to the new house to meet the painter and let him in. He wasn't sure if we bought enough paint, but I haven't heard from him, so everything must be going fine so far. I am really excited to have Kara's school 3 minutes away. We are going to save tons in gas money, and 2 hours driving per day. Evie will love that. She always hated getting in the car to pick the girls up from school. I'm also excited to have a JoAnn, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, post office, grocery store, and tons of restaurants within a few minutes of our house. It will feel like such a luxury not to have a 30 minute drive to go anywhere. Get ready for a TON of pictures. I didn't even post half of what I took. But I think it will be fun after we are settled in, have paint finished, and all of the furniture we need to compare the before and afters. I also tried to get more pics of the yard for the people who have asked about it. so here ya go :)

The girls are so excited to move into our new home!

the deck off the kitchen

the other side of the deck. we didn't know when we saw the house before that it has a sunsetter awning that covers most of the deck when extended.

the kids are really excited about the yard. Every time we've been there, Kara wants to roll down the hill for some reason.

this is on the other side of the fence/retaining wall. so we'll not want the girls getting back there.

house from the back

we may put a hot tub down here in a few years. we'll see...

walking out from basement.

this is only half of the storage room. I am pretty excited to have storage like this :)

this is going to be the craft room/ extra guest room. I have big plans for this room, they just might not happen right away.

the guest room. aren't you all excited to come visit us so you can stay here?

this is the downstairs bathroom. I didn't realize the sellers were leaving that white shelf thing, but it will come in handy.

basement. I say it's a tv room/playroom. Ben thinks it's a tv room/pool table room. so stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Kara's room.

She is excited about her large closet. She asked me if she could get a little desk to do her homework in there. I think she'll have plenty of space in her room for a desk, though.

Kiersten is the most excited about her own room. This is the first time since she was a baby she will not be sharing with anyone. She can't wait to paint it pink. I don't know why she kept curtseying for every picture.

she is really excited to have her own bathroom. I'll have to go through all their hair stuff and divvy it up so they don't fight.

Kara said this hallway is called "girls' hallway". just thought that was silly.

Evie's room. She also has a door to her bathroom from her room.

Kara and Evie share a Jack and Jill bathroom. So they each have their own sink/vanity room, but they share a toilet/tub area. Ben really thinks this will be important as they get older. I know that they will always get along, and wouldn't fight over bathrooms.

this is the master bedroom, looking out of the bathroom. you can see we have his and hers closets on either side, so that will be nice. The sellers left all of the window treatments, which we weren't expecting. I don't like most of them, but think we might keep them for a while so we don't have to buy new ones right away.

master from hall door

master bath

dining room. I am eager to get a rug in here after living in an apartment with a carpeted dining area. It is impossible for Evie not to make a mess. I'm even considering putting down a big sheet of plastic for the next year or so.

those stairs are right as you walk in the front door. they also go down into the livingroom. That carpet runner will be going away very soon. I thought it was glued down, but it was only at the top. So hopefully it wont be hard to take out.

The girls all love going up and down the stairs over and over.

this is the front sitting room. the french doors lead into the livingroom. This might end up being an office too.

"powder room" on the main level.

livingroom. you can see our new tv hanging above the fireplace. And Ben still thinks we need to buy another new one. grrr...

view of livingroom from kitchen. We're not sure why there is a wet bar right next to the kitchen, but it's there, so I'm sure we'll make use of it. Notice the cut out above the bar. I wanted to put decor in there, but Ben wants to put a tv. Seems silly to me, since you can easily see that one from the livingroom already.

kitchen. I didn't realize they were leaving the barstools for us. So that may be one less thing we have to buy. I'll probably replace or recover the cushions though. The painter is there now removing all that wallpaper, so the next time we see it, it will be nicely painted. the stove on the island is probably going to be replaced eventually as well. I am worried about the kids being able to touch it from the stools, so we are considering induction burners, but we'll see later.

kids making themselves comfortable in the new kitchen within minutes of getting there. under those cabinets you can see behind them, is an intercom system, which we haven't been able to figure out yet. But it also is a stereo, so I might keep it just for that.

laundry room. the sellers had their washer/dryer on pedestals, but ours just sit on the floor. so I think that unpainted part of the wall might show. Our realtor found a lot of paint labeled in the storage area, so I'm sure we can get that small area finished up. I hope to get that floor replaced eventually too. Luckily we're planning to stay at least 10 years, so we have time to do things here and there.