school: week one

The girls had a great first week of school. Kara got 100% on her spelling test, and won an award for star speller. Kiersten was so proud to bring home a certificate saying she completed her first week of preschool. It had a pencil taped to it, which she calls her "prize pencil". she hasn't let me sharpen it for her yet, and it is still proudly taped to the certificate on the fridge. Since they have been mostly in new clothes all week, they've been wanting their picture taken every morning before school. Here's Kara, excited for her day as class helper. She took her my little pony hot air balloon for show and tell.

They both loved these shirts, because you can't see in the picture, but the buttons are sparkly and shiny.


On friday, I said we didn't have time for a picture, and Kiersten got upset, and asked, "how will I know if Aunt Nancy likes my boots?"


On saturday, we wanted to make sure Kara ate a good breakfast, so she'd have energy for her soccer game. So I did pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I decided it would be fun to jazz it up a little, which is something I've been trying to do a little on the weekends lately. For Kiersten's plate, I tried my best to make it look like a sun. I saw something similar to this online, but had to make my own adjustments, of course. Kiersten thought it was hilarious.

I destroyed the eggs trying to make Kiersten's sun rays, so I couldn't do the same for Kara. So I got the idea to try to make hers look like a bird. It's standing on a branch. Ben couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, but Kara knew right away. I wish I'd taken pics of some of the other things I've done lately, such as a pb&j sandwich looking like a watermelon slice, and a grilled cheese to look like an ice cream cone.
Evie loves playing with Kara's old backpack so she can be just like her sisters.
On saturday, it was Evie's daddy daughter day. She was so excited to get to go with him. He took her to the rhododendron gardens and took her to buy candy and a balloon. He had more fun than he thought he would.

We didn't take pics of Kara's soccer game on saturday, but she did much better. Her energy was way higher, and she scored her teams only goal. She was a lot more willing to get in the cluster and take the ball away. It was raining the whole time, so Kiersten and Evie were a little whiny, but they still had fun too. Kara got knocked down a few times. The first time, she started crying, but after that, she made a point to be tough and stay out on the field. After the game her coach told Ben that he thinks she has a natural skill for soccer, and encouraged us to keep her in it.

While Ben and Evie were gone on saturday, Kara made a family apple tree. I thought it was pretty cute. That's me to the left, the pink paper is a drawn picture of Kiersten, Ben is floating in the middle, the monkey sticker is supposed to be Evie, and the tiny picture in the apple on the trunk is Kara. I thought it was a cute thing to do.
Kara's 2 best buddies at school are Alex and Devin, both boys who have been in school with her the last 2 years. Her teacher told me that Devin keeps writing I love Kara on his work, and I thought that was so cute. Then Kara came home from school with a mobile she made. when I turned it over, it said "I love Devin" on the back in 2 places. I laughed about it, but Ben didn't think it was very funny. He confronted her about it. At first she said she didn't know who wrote it, but eventually admitted it was her. He warned her not to love boys or say she loves them, and she got really upset about it. I tried to step in, but she could tell he really meant it. Later she came to me crying that daddy wont let her be friends with Devin and Alex anymore. I explained that's not true. He is glad for her to have friends, as long as she doesn't think they are "boyfriends". He told her she can say or write that she likes them, but he doesn't like her saying she loves any boy but daddy, or her grandpas. I think he needs to deal with the subject more gently in the future, so she doesn't feel like she's getting in trouble about it. Later, she showed him a picture she made, on which she had written, "I sort of like Alex and Devin".
The other thing he didn't like is this picture Alex made for her. It's a picture of her saying, "hi alex" and him saying "hi Kara". He is giving her a flower, and at the bottom, it says, "they kist". Again, I thought it was kind of cute, but Ben wasn't happy about it. Poor Kara...

painting pumpkins

We got these litte pumpkins at the store for the girls to paint. This is how Kiersten looked before she painted. This is how she looked after. I don't know why she felt the need to paint her own face too, but she did.

Kara was being a bit of a perfectionist. She wanted to paint very specific things, and was a little upset when it was harder than she expected.

Kara's pumpkins are to the left and Kiersten's are to the right. If you can't tell, I did the one in the middle. It's supposed to be a scarecrow, though I later realized it needed eyebrows. Oh well.

They each did 2 pumpkins in the amount of time that I did just one. I meant to save one for Ben to paint, but it turns out he didn't want to have to do one anyway, so it was okay that the girts each did 2.

posing with their finished masterpieces. I think we will still get large pumpkins to carve later in the month.

The next day after we did the pumpkin painting, there was a knock on the door after lunch. It was the sherrif and 2 other police officers. They said they were in pursuit of burglars who had just broken into a house down the street. They had been seen jumping over my next door neighbor's fence and running down the street. So they thought they had been through my backyard. I told them I hadn't heard anything, but they searched the backyard and found a bracelet that had been dropped. Apparently they were dropping what they had stolen all through the yards they ran through. It really bothers me that they were in my yard. If it happened the day before, I would have been out their with the kids when they came running through. Ben left work early so he could get Kara from school. i didn't feel comfortable leaving the house while they were still roaming around the neighborhood. But they were arrested and taken away not long after I talked to Ben. I've been feeling a little less comfortable with our safety the past few days. I didn't realize how easy it was to get into our backyard. But I'm glad those burglars got caught, and I hope they wont just get out in a few months to start breaking into houses again.

I don't often dress the girls to match with each other. It's just not my thing. So it sure surprised Ben yesterday, when they both came out of their room wearing the same outfit.
he had to get a picture of the matchiness.

I took them for a walk to the gas station to pick out treats for doing a good job of cleaning their room. The lady at the gas station took one look at them and exclaimed, "twins! I love twins! You're so lucky." ya I don't know too many sets of twins that would have this big of a height difference at such a young age, but that's okay. I think that may be one of the reasons I don't usually dress them alike.

my Evie was lookin cute, as usual.

The girls playing together with their leapsters in their room. I like it best when they get along like this.