december jam

this past week has been jam-packed with things going on. On top of everything, Kiersten has had croup and Evie has an upper respiratory infection. So that has not been the greatest, but they both have managed to stay mostly happy through the sick times. I think Kiersten is starting to be better. Today there was no vomiting or fever. Kara has been fine so far, and hopefully wont get sick at all.

Kara made Christmas suckers to share with her classmates. Kiersten got to help for the first time ever. She did better than I expected. Here they are enjoying some of them.
Evie is such a big girl. I have started her on fruits and veggies now. Here she is trying to use the spoon on her own, unsuccesfully. She has really started loving food, and tries to eat anything we eat while holding her. If we aren't holding her, and she sees us eating, she just lunges forward with her mouth open and a frantic look in her eyes.
this is how she looks when the food is gone and she's upset that I've stopped shoveling it in.

now that she's such a good sitter-upper, she doesn't have to take lay down baths anymore. She loves looking at herself in the mirror, and also splashing with her hands.

I like this one of her looking in the mirror.

she is getting around so well. I'd call it more of a wriggle than a crawl, though.

sometimes she likes sitting in the splits. She is so proud to be able to get into a sitting position all by herself. She beams with pride every time she does it. (which is like, 30 times a day)

you'd hardly know she was sick, if not for the running nose, horrible coughing and raspy breathing. she is still so happy.

Kiersten was no longer contagious as of friday, so she is happy to play with Evie again. I was trying to keep them away from each other as much as possible so Evie wouldn't get croup and end up even sicker than she is.

Kara's class Christmas party was friday. They did a singing and dancing performance for us. Kara is in the pink dress if you can't spot her.

They held up their books in front of their faces the whole time they were singing, but the words weren't even in the books. it was just pictures to remind them which song came next. I wish Kara hadn't held hers up the whole time. I took video, but only got a few glimpses of her face.

Mrs. Wright is always dressing up for holidays and the kids love it. She's a fun teacher.

Kiersten refused to wear her shoes because it was raining, so she insisted on her rain boots.

After the party, we drove up to meet Ben at Black Angus for his birthday dinner. We had several people come over to tell us they thought Evie was cute, and a few to tell us all the girls were cute.

When we got home, we let Ben open his birthday gift early. He went right upstairs to start playing it.

Today is Ben's 29th birthday. Every year after my birthday, I have a month of teasing to endure. He calls me an old lady and teases me about having robbed the cradle. Now he is 29 too, and the teasing will stop for another 11 months, until I turn 30. I'm sure that one will be extra fun for him. He dislikes cake, so I made him a birthday rice krispie treat. I could only find those 2 candles, so we decided each candle represents 14.5 years.

blowing out the candles. I hope his wish comes true!

It was taking too long to load the videos from Kara's christmas recital on here, but I did post them to facebook if you want to see.

crazy around here

just wanted to update with some pictures for Ben to see while he's in salt lake. Just in case he doesn't miss us enough already.
Evangeline loves baths, just like both of her sisters did. She especially loves getting her head cleaned. We finally got out the baby swing for her. She likes looking at all the different lights, and toys on it. I got these cute overalls at the store for just $3.

here she is doing her baby push ups. she is getting better and better all the time.

Kara joining Evie for tummy time.

more swinging.

The girls did a project with water colors the other day. Kiersten painted her face like this, and then was horrified when she saw herself in the mirror. she started crying and begging to have it cleaned off.

We also got out our farm play yard for the baby. It seemed like she was getting bored laying around all the time. She loves looking in the mirror the most. the girls always want to play with her, but I think she prefers when they leave her alone.

getting ready for a nap. she's pretty good about going down for naps when I want her to. she's a pretty good baby all around. She's definitely my easiest newborn. I don't know if that's because of her, or because of me.

The girls after their bath today. they sure miss their daddy, and I get to hear about how much they miss him all day.

funny faces. Kara loves making funny faces. Kiersten isn't very original. She usually just copies whatever Kara is doing. (which, honestly, is usually this same type of thing.)

bunkety-beds

First, I just wanted to share this picture of kiersten in the bathtub. She likes to stay in until the last bit of water has drained so she can play as long as possible. Bath time is the happiest time around our house.The girls' new bunkbeds were delivered today! Kara has been asking all morning when they would be here. I told her to watch out the window for a large truck. They were about 20 minutes late for the time frame they gave me, but I knew the second they pulled up. Kara started yelling, "the bunkety bunkbeds are here!"
Kiersten checking out her new bed. She was going down for a nap when they arrived, so she was a little groggy at first, but soon got excited, and the nap didn't happen.

Kara posing on her bed. The delivery guys put Kara's mattress on bottom and Kiersten's on top, but niether girl seemed to mind. I plan on getting them some new bedding soon anyway to coordinate better.

they both love climbing the ladder. I let them play for a bit, then told them that from now on I don't want them playing up there during the day.

Kara keeps reminding Kiersten that the top bunk is hers. She was also really excited about the drawers. In the store, we had talked about putting their pajamas and socks in them. Kara immediately started moving her things over to the new drawers as soon as she noticed them. Then she helped Kiersten get her jammies out of her old dresser.

Kiersten looking down from the top bunk.

I also want to say that both girls picked out their own outfits today. I usually let them on days we aren't going anywhere. Just in case anyone was wondering about their less than attractive clothes.

6/16/09

Last week i had a $10 off coupon to use at kohl's, which happens to be right by Ben's new office. The girls were so excited to go up and visit Daddy. Here's a couple pictures of them getting ready to leave.

both girls love story time. they do sometimes fight over the books though.

We let Kiersten spend a few nights in Kara's room. We are thinking about moving her in there, and we wanted to see how it would work out for them. They both started out excited about it, but both nights, Kiersten woke up crying.

ready to fall asleep watching a movie together.

Ben gave the girls a bath on saturday. I am usually the one who does it, but they were sure excited to have daddy in there with them. after the baths, we went to a birthday party for Kara's friend Evan. It was about an hour drive to get there. We all had a pretty fun time. Of course Kara acted a bit crazy the whole time we were there. Kiersten fell on some stairs and got a sad little owie on her head. Ben thought it was hilarious, I'm still not sure why.

this picture really shows how much Kiersten is thinning out. It's a combination of her starting to eat a little less and this crazy growth spurt she's having. she has gotten so tall. she can reach things off the counter so easily, and even reach door knobs.

she loves playing with Daisy. the poor thing is always trying to get away from her, but Kiersten seems to be finding her more easily lately. Luckily for Daisy, Kiersten is finally learning to pet nice instead of just pulling fur.

We worked a lot in the yard on sunday. I'll have to take a picture of the backyard. Ben built the girls a play area back there for the slide and toys. he filled it up with rubber mulch, and they both think it is just the neatest thing. I cut down the dying tulips in our front flower bed, and we added more soil and I planted some new flowers. Our lilys are sooo tall this year. It actually looks a little strange right now, because they are so much higher than everything else. I don't remember them being so large last year. But I do remember that they only bloomed for a few weeks, so it wont look wierd for too long, I guess. we also made a little stone border around our shrubs on the sides of the garage. it turned out kinda cute. we still have a few things to do, especially in the back, but hopefully it'll all be done soon and we can just enjoy being out there and not having to work so hard.