The girls celebrated Dr. Suess day at school, and were very excited to come home and tell Evie all about it.

Kara had an idea to make a count down calendar to count the days til we all see daddy and move to St. Louis. So I let them color strips of plain white paper to make a paper chain advent calendar.

Kiersten's strips all had so much detail. She only did about half as many as Kara did.

Here they are with the finished paper chain. I was going to print out a picture of Ben's face for the top, but got feeling lazy, and just wrote the words, "moving day". sorry Ben. Luckily Evie was aslep while they did this, so it went well.

When Evie woke from her nap, she was pretty excited about the calendar.

Since my mom is here, we decided to go to church today. The girls all got to pick out their lovely dresses. Evie is big enough for nursery now. i don't know how it went because I just introduced her to the teacher, and then plopped her in a chair andhustled out of the room. I figured it'd go like when she goes to the dayccare at the gym. She cries til she can't see me anymore, or gets distracted by a toy or another kid. She sure was happy to see me when I came in to pick her up.

Kiersten thought daddy would like to see a silly picture. so here it is.

4/14/11

Instead of staying on the couch for her nap, she moved the coffee table clear across the room, and curled up on the floor to sleep. She had the rug rolled up over her bum like a blanket, but it rolled back down right before i took the picture. You can still see the corner in the act of rolling back. If it were me, I'd prefer to sleep on the couch. Kara feeds Daisy every day. Sometimes I let Kiersten put water in her dish. A few days ago, I gave her the tall pink cup with water so she could give it to Daisy. I was unloading the dishwasher and feeding Evie simultaneously, and didn't notice the cups she snagged out of the dishwasher until I turned around and saw this set up. She said each cup was for a different stuffed animal, and that Daisy would have to learn to share. Silly girl. There were a few drops of water actually in the cat dish.

Evie is fascinated by Daisy, but still too nervous to get close enough to touch. Daisy was sniffing her a few weeks ago, and touched her nose to Evie's hand, which resulted in a panicked, screaming baby. But yesterday they enjoyed sitting and looking out the window together.

is there anything cuter than a 3 year old in overalls? perhaps a 3 year old in overalls with adorable dimples...

The bigger girls are always so helpful with getting Evie ready to go. I grabbed the camera just in time to catch the last 2 seconds of smiling before she started screaming and trying to rip these off.

We were headed out the door to go to Evie's Dr. appointment, but Kara begged to take a silly family picture. I said okay, just a quick one, and this is how it turned out. Kara ran to look at it, and declared, "this is perfect. Daddy is going to love seeing this!" So I felt obligated to share it with everyone else too. Evie needs to work on her silly faces, though.

they're tutu cute

Kara and I made this adorable tutu together. It was fun and really simple to make. I totally plan on making more of them with her as soon as I get to the fabric store. I was trying to get her to put on some shorts under it, but she refused. It was kinda funny. at least she had on tights and underwear with it! she later took it off when some relief society ladies were over, and just came downstairs in the shirt and tights! taking a bow.

She has been begging to take another ballet class, but I want to wait til the summer. I told her she can take a swim class again, and now she asks me about it every day after school. I need to remember to get her signed up soon.

At preschool, they had a story book party. They brought in a book at the beginning of the week, and then on friday, they all dressed up like a character from their book. Wal-mart had this cute elmo costume on clearance for $3, so I sent in a sesame street book with her.

She wore it around for several days right after we got it.

Poor Kiersten was so jealous! who wants to dress up like a princess when big sister gets to dress up like the great elmo?

Kara loves showing off her new clothes she got for her birthday. This is the pose she does when she's trying to look "lovely". It's the funniest thing.

and of course, one of her famous funny faces!

She even asked me to get a picture of her on my lap. Good thing my camera has a timer so I can cave in to her demands. ALthough I had to be talked into it, I really do like this picture, and I'm sure it's one I'll always love looking at.

Kiersten is waking up with crazy hair-do's just like Kara used to. I love that she is following in Kara's hairy footsteps. Well, with the exception of the curls Kara always had, but Kierstens hair is adorable in it's own straight, messy way.

I went back for the cookie monster costume so they could dress up together. Kiersten was thrilled to get to be elmo! A few days ago I was in wal-mart, and these are not on clearance any more. Maybe the ones they have now are slightly different or something, but I'm glad I got these on clearance when I did. The costumes like this are $15 now!

so sick and so silly

We have been sick around here for the last few weeks, so we haven't been out doing too much. Kiersten and I have both been sick twice now, and I think Ben is starting to get his second round of it. The only one who has stayed healthy is Kara. I think that's strange because Kiersten got a flu shot, but Kara didn't get one because her pediatricians office ran out before I could get her in. She did puke in the bathtub yesterday, but that was not because of being sick. she was just grossed out by Kiersten licking some snot that was running out of her nose. She didn't get much of it before I was right there with a kleenex, but it was enough for Kara to blow chunks. Then after I had them out of the puke water and cleaned up, she brought it up again, and the thought made her puke a little more, at least in the toilet that time. She was fine the rest of the day, and still has no runny nose or cough of her own thankfully. I guess she just has a low tolerance for yucky stuff.
Here's a yucky-nose picture of my poor little Kiersten. at least little kids can still have fun and be happy when they're sick.

Kara making funny faces this morning before school.

this is one of her favorite things to do. She really thinks she is so hilarious.

also, I think she just likes getting her picture taken and will come up with any reason to be photographed.

and here she is looking "lovely" (the word she used as she made this pose)

visit with the Howards!

We flew out to Salt lake late friday night to see Ben's grandparents. It was a fun weekend for all of us. The only bad part was when Grandpa Howard started shaking uncontrollably. We were all really worried, and he seemed scared, so Ben and Grandma took him to the hospital. It turned out that he had pneumonia. Luckily he recovered even faster than they thought he would, and he is home safe now. it was just a nerve wracking few hours waiting to hear if he was okay. I'm glad we were there to help Grandma make the decision that he needed to go, and for Ben to be able to take them there, and help her get around.

Before we left, the girls were helping me pack for the weekend. Kara wanted pictures of her funny faces she likes to do. So here are a couple of them. The dirty face makes them even sillier.

Then the girls decided to start trying on all of my shoes.

They both think it is so much fun. But Kara didn't think it was too fun we we got home and I made her clean up all the shoes.

Kara loves helping drag the suitcase. that's the main reason I always pack her own little bag with treats and games and toys. we could fit all that in our carry-on bag, but I want her to have something to carry around the airport.

More silly faces at the Howard's!

Kara spent a lot of time following Grandpa around and asking questions. Of course, I had to do a bit of interpreting for him. She was very concerned while he was in the hospital over night, and very excited to see him arrive home okay.

Grandma was thrilled that Kara wanted to put together this states puzzle she found. She said she likes to keep these types of learning toys around, but they don't get used too often.

Of course the girls got spoiled with snacks and drinks while we were there. Here is Kiersten enjoying a juice box.

It was really nice to just hang out, play games, and relax with them. It was just like old times when we lived in SLC, and would go over there every week. It was fun to have the girls interact with their great-grandpa more than they usually get to.

We wanted a picture of all of us together before we left for the airport. I wish we could visit more often!

(I know that shirt is way baggy on me, but I was just grabbing something comfy for traveling, and I forgot this had been a nursing shirt, so it got way stretched out. I had to be careful bending forward at the airport, he he he)