30 years

I turned 30 years old on the 17th. It was a good day. Evie and I went to breakfast after dropping the girls at school. We just played around all day, and I did as little housework as I was comfortable with. When the girls got home, they wanted to play games all afternoon for a birthday party. It was pretty fun and funny.When Ben got home, we went down to a private sale at morgan jewelers in Tacoma. I got a pretty new ring, but don't have a picture, as it was sent out for sizing. I also got some fun free stuff too. then we all went to dinner, and the girls were really well behaved. We didn't have room for dessert, which upset Kara because I had told her instead of a birthday cake i was going to have dessert at the restaurant. (she had wanted me to help her bake a cake earlier). So she was unhappy that I didn't have dessert, so Ben stopped at dairy queen and got an Ice cream cake, and we went home. I had a few gifts to open, and Kiersten was glad we woke her back up to see me open them all.
Posing with the jewelry bag. you can see my new feetie pajamas on the couch that Kiersten gave me. I wanted them so much to stay warm in our drafty house. the part I didn't think about was what a pain it is to go to the bathroom when wearing them. you can kind of also see the chore board I got from my mother in law, and my new purse. I should have gotten a better picture, but I was so ready for bed!Once Evie saw Ben taking my picture, she got right up on the fireplace to get her picture taken too. Her personality is getting so fun lately!More than half of the cake is still sitting in the freezer. I'm sure we'll finish it soon enough, though, if the girls would just finish their dinner so they can have dessert.I absolutely LOVE my card from Kara.

I guess I thought turning 30 would be upsetting, or hard, but it was actually great, and I don't feel the least bit sad about it. I think maybe if life wasn't turning out well, or if I were unhappy it might be upsetting. But my life is everything I could want it to be. I have an amazing husband that I adore and admire, 3 gorgeous, healthy girls who love me, and great family and friends. So I'm pretty happy to be where I am at 30 years.

space helmets and sassy soccer star

Ben recently decided to have a daddy-daughter date with each of the girls individually on the weekends. On saturday, he took Kiersten out for a movie, candy store, and other fun stuff. So that left me at home with Evie and Kara, who was determined to make our day fun at home. Right after breakfast, she made up a list of things to do, and told me we'd just keep checking fun things off the list til we ran out, or it was time for bed. One of the first things, was to have a party on mars. So she made these paper hats for us to use as helmets, and we all sat on her bed (the rocketship).

Evie's space helmet.

I let Kara take this picture, but I was trying to help her hold the camera still, and my helmet fall back at the last minute. I hoped I'd caught more of it than just a small corner, but I'm sure you get the idea what it looked like from seeing the others.

After the rocket ship landed on mars, we played a few games and watched "open season 3". According to Kara, it was the first movie the martians had ever seen. We had time for a few more fun activities before Ben and Kiersten got home, and then we went to a birthday party. I forgot the camera, but it was really fun. The girls had a blast, but were exhausted by the time we came home. They sure love those bounce houses, even Evie. Maybe we'll have to do that for one of their birthday parties.

On sunday, Ben helped his friend move, and took Kara and Kiersten with him to play with their little boy. So Evie and I went school clothes shopping without them. At first, I was kinda sad they would rather play with thier friend than go shopping with me, because it can be fun. But I have to admit that it was way easier, and faster with just Evie. We got everything they need, without them begging to get more stuff they don't need. we stopped at a sale Ben wanted me to check out, and still had time for a cinnabon and time to let Evie play in the kiddie area for a while. So it was a nice day. Monday was low key. We had Sandy and Jen over and Ben made burgers. It was a nice, relaxed afternoon.

Kara had her second soccer practice yesterday. She is loving it. There are 4 girls and 2 boys on her team, all 5 years old. They have their first game on saturday. The coach asked them for team name suggestions, and all he could get were "princesses", "fairies", and "charging unicorns". So he told them all to talk to their parents about it and come to practice on thursday with a few better suggestions. She is definitely the most aggressive/confident player so far. I'm sure the other kids will get more daring after another practice or 2. Kara was doing so well at dribbling, so the coach had her run around trying to steal the ball from the others as they practiced. The first time, as soon as she ran toward the others, they all kicked their ball out of bounds rather than face her. So he made them try again, and they all tried to keep dribbling, but she was able to get them all out. She was so proud to be chosen to steal the balls. It's all she talked about on the way home. Kiersten and Evie don't have as great of a time watching her practice in the heat for an hour. Hopefully as it starts to cool off a bit, they'll be a little happier. Here's a picture of my silly little poser before we left for practice. She's pretty proud of her "soccer clothes". I wish I could share the look on her face when we got her uniform yesterday, when she saw that it was black and gold, and more than a bit oversized. She said, "I only have to wear that to the games, right?"

and since Kiersten has no intention of being out-sassed by Kara, here is a picture of both of them, posing away.

little detectives

First, I'll just get this photo out of the way. the girls were playing keep away in their new room a few nights ago, and enjoying their recently downstacked bunk beds. Kiersten jumped right into the side railing, and this was the result. I can barely stand to look at this picture, it's so sad. But it looks much better now. She acted fine the rest of the night, and only remembers it now when she sees it in the mirror. I still feel awful about it though. My poor baby! Why are my kids suddenly getting hurt all the time?!? 2 things led to this blog entry. First, last weekend when we were packing up stuffed animals, we came across blue of blue's clues. The kids had obviously forgotten all about her, and were thrilled to see her and play with her again. The second thing, was last night. They were playing detectives, and going around the house with note pads writing down clues, and drawing pictures of clues. So the obvious thing for me to do, was to set up a game of blue's clues. They came down for breakfast and found blue on the counter with 2 notebooks and pens ready to go. It wasn't hard for them to figure out she wanted to play the game. She told me in my ear that she wanted us to find a friend for her to have a playdate with. They were also excited to be provided with paw print badges with their names on them to wear while we looked for clues.

Kiersten quickly found the first clue. It was on dad's tie. They both took it seriously and took a long time to draw their clues and then think about what it could mean. The second clue was on my face in a family photo. After that they were sure blue wanted me to wear dad's tie and play with her. But we decided to find the third clue. Kiersten spotted all 3 of the paw prints. The last one was on a closet door. (please excuse the moving mess in the background)

I didn't even get a chance to ask, "now what do we do?" before they both shouted, "thinking chair!!!" and ran off to their room to think about the clues. It only took a little help from me to get Kara to put together that dad's ties belong in mom's closet. and off they ran to check it out.

waiting in the closet was their favorite little stuffed puppy. turns out, that's who blue wanted to have a playdate with.

It went pretty well, but the 2 puppies did end up having a small spat, at which point, I decided we'd better go downstairs for breakfast. I could barely get the girls to sit in their chairs and eat. they keep excitedly talking about playing again, and what kind of mystery we can solve next. So this wasn't exactly planned to be an all day game, but it looks like it might last a little longer than I'd anticipated. (Kiersten just came upstairs and proudly announced that she will be wearing her blue's clues underwear today.)since Evie was napping during the game, I wanted to share a photo of her too. It looks like she is sleeping on this box, but she just blinked as I took the picture. She was climbing all over this box of old clothes, and I thought it was cute.

Children's museum in Portland

Yesterday we decided to drive down to the portland children's museum. Kara says that the water room was her favorite part. We did spend a lot of time in there.

Kiersten kept wanting me to check his breath to see if it smelled stinky or clean. I was saying it smelled good, but then she would spot a cootie bug, and get back to brushing.

Everyone had to take advantage of this photo op.

making stuff out of clay. The girls liked doing it, but once Ben and I started getting dirty from the clay, we were outta there.

Vicky was so nice to hold Evie most of the time so I could play with the girls. and I know how heavy that kid can feel after holding her for a while.

Kara told Ben she wanted her face painted like a puma. this was his creation. Though, after further questioning from Jason and me, I'm not convinced he even knows what a puma is. ;)

Kiersten didn't like her face paint, and wanted it off as soon as she looked in the mirror. I think she was expecting to look like she did on halloween when I put a little eyeshadow and lipstick on her.

I let Kiersten paint my face because I felt bad about how much she hated hers. I thought that stuff would wipe right off, but you really had to scrub to get it off.Evie was pretty good until the last part. Then she screamed in the car when we were leaving.

the girls liked digging in this rubber stuff.

after a few hours here, we met up with Ben's brother, Jason and his new wife, Lisa. Vicky had met her already, but it was Ben and my first time meeting her. She is really great. And the girls just loved her, especially Kiersten. We stopped by their house for a bit. I apparently missed out on fun times with their cat, as I stayed in the car to nurse Evie. Ben had to fight to get Kiersten to wear pants that morning. We didn't want her running around and climbing on things in a dress, so he made her wear pants, but agreed she could bring a dress to change into after. So Kara decided to bring a dress to change into also. The changed and got their faces cleaned, and then we went to Garlan and Jill's house. Sara and her family came over too, and we all went to dinner at a mongolian bbq place. It was pretty good. Kara loved sitting by her cousin Karen and playing with her. Kiersten was a little jealous of Kara having a friend. After dinner we went back to Garlan and Jill's for a while. Jason and Lisa had to get home, but Sara came back over and played games. It was a fun time, and we probably stayed later than we should have, but it's worth it when you are having that much fun. And I dominated at Boggle, of course. hehehe.

day at the park

I told Ben I would do a blog update today with pictures of the girls. I'm getting to it a little late, but hopefully he'll be able to see it tonight or tomorow. The girls have wanted to play games all week. This morning I let them play sesame street chutes and ladders. Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh got to play with them the second time, so I could get some housework done.

We went to Gonyea park today. I got happy meals for the girls. they were pretty excited about that. Those crowns were the toys that came with their meals. Kiersten was a lot more excited about it than Kara. Kara just kinda acted like, "big deal, one more crown..."

A bunch of pictures from the park.

Karalee is getting really good at pumping her legs, but Kiersten still needs to be pushed constantly. For some reason, they think it is just hilarious when they pass by each other.

Kara got bored of swinging, and pushed Kiersten for a while. I was very happy to get a break.

the first thing Kiersten said when she woke up this morning was, "I want my Daddy". I think they will be pretty excited to see him tomorrow night. Hopefully he is prepared to recieve lots of attention from both of them tomorrow night, and possibly all weekend.

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year's Eve at Troy and Shelly's house in Eagle Mountain. It was really fun to hang out with everyone. I really like this picture of Ben and Kiersten. The guys watching sports together. Josh, Dad, Kiersten, Ben, and maybe you can see Zac sitting on the floor.

Andrew, Jayden and Lathan playing their video games. They were really upset when Shelly took them away and said they had to do somthing else the rest of the night.

Addyson, Karalee, and Afton playing together. I have only a few pics of Kara because I barely saw her all night. She loved playing with Addy and Laynee, and threw a tantrum when it was time to leave because she wanted to have a sleep over.

Cash, Linkin, and Kiersten all wanted to play with bouncy balls, but even though there were more than enough for all of them, they still kept fighting over them.

I was surprised to walk into the kitchen to see Afton eating this huge jelly filled, frosted donut, and he even put cherry chocolates on top. He is just the cutest, sweetest kid.

more guy bonding time. Josh, Clint, and Ben STILL watching football instead of playing games with the rest of us. I guess some of the games would have been chaos with any more people playing, so it's okay.

waiting for the ball to drop. you can tell some people were getting really tired. Mom, Dad, and Chris on the couch, and Angie holding Kyrie in the chair.

2 of my favorite nieces, Makayla and Laynee.

I just adore my cute little niece, Rylynn. She is just the daintiest little thing. Kiersten did start to get a little jealous of her though, because I was holding her so much.

Happy 2010! It's fun to think what will happen this coming year. I hope it will be a fun filled and exciting year for all of us.