Party with the First Graders.



Yesterday I went to Kendall's classroom to help out with her holiday party.  The class made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.  I figured with all of my new experience,   I was perfect for the job.  It was a very good time.  Though I have only had children ages 0-6 thus far, I am pretty certain that 6 is my favorite age.  These kids were fantastic and loads of fun!  Here is Kendall with her finished house.  She ate about half of it on the way home and then complained about a stomach ache.

The kids had so much personality.  There was the boy that built an amazing house.  I had to ask him if he was really a construction worker in disguise.  The only problem is that his house collapsed at the end and he broke out crying.  Only a 6 year old boy could do that and still be considered the "cool kid".  There was the other boy who just sat and drank juice and ate his frosting out of the bag while each of the parents eventually built his house for him.  He seems to have it figured out.  Then there was the girl who basically said to heck with a house, I am going to make some gingerbread appetizers.  She frosted and decorated her graham crackers just like they were sugar cookies.  These kids were smart, capable, imaginative and absolutely hilarious!

Black Friday, Snoop Dog and Other Randomness...

I did not do any Black Friday shopping this year, but rather Thursday night shopping.  I am not quite sure what society is going to start coining that as (other than crazy).  I have never been much of a Black Friday shopper.  In fact, we usually host Thanksgiving for a crowd full of family and many of them head out at the crack of dawn to shop.  I stay behind and drink coffee.  The whole notion terrifies me, really.  I am a crowd phobe. 

However, this year there was quite a bargain on a gift that I cannot yet mention, so I braved the Thursday night crowd.  My only intended stop was Kohl's.  I must say the people were amazing.  Thankfully so, since I had to wait in the check out line for an hour and a half.  Not a short hour and a half, but rather slightly over.  I learned so many details about the lives of those around me.  Kind of bizarre and fun at the same time.  Oh, I did score the items in question (BONUS...for free even...excellent coupon)!   Since I was already out, I decided to shop all night.  I finally made it home at 1:30am. 

Kevin, I, and the girls decided to make gingerbread doghouses.  There were four in total and each one had a marshmallow snoopy to put on top.  It seems like a simple task to me, right?  Not so much.  Kevin decided to start assembling before laying out all of the pieces.  This SO went against my engineering brain.  I just went with the flow, because it was fun.  But seriously, our walls did not even meet with the roof and the roof did not really fit (because the walls were turned the wrong direction).  EGADS!

Good thing I had made a cognitive decision to let it go, or we could have had a real disaster on our hands.  I was talking with my sister and blaming the nonsense on the male species.  She started to laugh and said that she and Kevin are so much alike.  Jason and I are so much alike.  She would have dove right in and Jason would have planned the whole thing out methodically.  Hmm.  Now we have four super cute snoopy houses and a zeal to do it all again next year.  After all, we have experience now.

This was the outside temperature on our way to church this morning.  Seriously cold!

Mrs. Claus and The Tale of Two Girls.

Today the girls and I went swimming at the Y and then shopping at the mall.  We had a great time spritzing on perfumes and eating See's Candies.  They are at an age that these outings are becoming more fun and less work.  Sidney was dressed to the nines in her sun hat, over the shoulder homemade crocheted purse, tie-died capris and perfectly coordinating top.  I find it quite hilarious when Kendall calls her out on her attire.  Seriously Miss Kendall, not too much room to judge. 

We definitely stumbled across a golden opportunity.  Sidney is STILL terrified of Santa.  She will not even look his direction when we pass by the Santa area at the mall.  Today we walked by while he was "at the North Pole" according to Sidney.  Instead, Mrs. Claus was reading stories to the kids.  I was amazed that there were only about 5 kids sitting around to listen.  We found an area of rug and parked ourselves for a few stories.  After a bit, Sidney started crying.  Apparently, she was worried that Santa was going to come back.  Yes, this is what I would classify as an irrational fear.  However, Mrs. Claus took notice.  I quickly explained that Sidney was not a fan of the whole Santa thing.  Mrs. Claus was awesome.  She asked if Sidney wanted to come up and take a picture with her instead.  Photo opportunity!  It was awesome. 

After we left Mrs. Claus, we headed for the car.  On our way out, we saw Santa coming back from the "North Pole".  He decided to stop by the play area to say hello to the kids.  Sidney kept a safe distance away, while Kendall ran up to have a chat.  She got two hugs and two high-fives.  Wouldn't you know it...I could not get my camera out fast enough. 

Kevin came across a picture of the girls sledding last year.  He said it was one of his favorites as it shows each of their unique personalities. 

Kendall: eyes wide open, taking the world by storm.
Sidney:  eyes glued shut, not ready to see what is ahead of her.

The Best Halloween Yet.

Our church had a Halloween party this year.  We took the girls and had a fantastic time.  We ate hot dogs and lemonade before diving into the fun.  It was like an indoor carnival with games, jump houses and treats galore.

 

Is that a slingshot in Kendall's hand? 

The girls thought they were in Disneyland.  They could not believe they saw Snow White.  They were a bit shy about asking for a picture.

The girls participated in the cake walk.  We had made a couple of cakes to take to the party. 

We spotted one of our cakes leaving that night and asked for a picture.  Can you spot the real Jack-O-Lantern?

The girls wore themselves out in the bounce houses then sat down to check out all of their loot.

On the way home Kevin took them by the spooky house in our neighborhood.  They had to walk through a tunnel to get to the door.  Sidney made it about halfway through.  A nearby coffin opened then slammed shut.  She came flying out of the tunnel.  Kendall proceeded down the path.  A goblin told her that if she wanted some candy she had to ring the doorbell.  After ringing the doorbell, she was rewarded with a "whole Kit Kat".  Once she got her treat and started to leave, a masked monster came out from the corner to scare her.  Kendall screamed at the top of her lungs, then hung out for a few minutes to talk with the monster.  Go figure!

I loved the indoor party this year.  The girls had a great time and it was fun to actually enjoy all of the costumes, rather than see everyone in the dark all bundled up. 

Let the Fall Projects Begin!

The girls had been begging to play in the leaves, so Kevin took them to the park a few weeks ago.  They had a blast throwing leaves everywhere.

Kevin raked up a big mountain of leaves for them to hide in.

Now that the weather has started to cool, the indoor projects have begun.  We painted our dining room.  I love the colors!

 

Then we painted the sun room.  We both were not sure about this color at first.  It has grown on us quite quickly.  We find ourselves sitting in the sun room just to enjoy the bright colors. 

  

Now the tough decision is what to paint next?

Grandma School and The Class Sparkler.

Grandma Terrell has been doing preschool with Sidney, and it has been going very well.  The other morning she walked into the bathroom while I was getting ready for work and told me, "If I have 3 cookies and Kendall eats one, then I have 2 cookies."  She went on and on like this for several minutes.  Then she said, "I bet you didn't know that I knew math."  When I asked her if Grandma had taught her that, she replied, "No.  I just know it."  A regular baby genius...

Grandma school involves all sorts of fun activities like learning to make applesauce "the old fashioned way". 

Then there are the frequent trips to the park. 

 

I think that I would like to go to Grandma school.

Kendall and Sidney have been doing Awana this year.  Kendall has been working very hard to earn the title of "class sparkler".  Last week, her hard work paid off.

Here are all of the sparklers getting ready to lead the cheer.  Of course, Kendall had to strike a pose for the camera.

 

To earn class sparkler, she had to follow the four R's of respect (Respect God, Respect Others, Respect Leaders, Respect the Building).  Good work, Kendall!

The Sugar Coma.

Hannah joined us this weekend for a sleepover.  The girls had a very good time.  They crafted, played school, read books, colored and decorated cupcakes.  It was nonstop fun.  Kendall and  Sidney helped me shop for cupcake decorations in anticipation of the evening.  I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and provided all of the fixings for a jolly good sugar coma.  I am quite certain that they ate half the toppings in the process.  Their motto, "the more decorations, the better".

When they were done, each of the girls chose a cupcake to enjoy.

 

Sidney took her time, enjoying the snack.  All of the hard work left her with a bit of frosting in her hair.

The next morning, we went to church.  I helped out with Kendall's class.  We went to a nearby  neighborhood and passed out bags for a food drive.  The Boise Rescue Mission is in need of donations and contacted our church for help.  Their food supplies get low this time of year, as summer ends and the holiday giving has not yet begun. 

Though it is great to be able to have fun decorating cupcakes and enjoying the fruits of our labor, it is also important to remember those that are not as fortunate and help out where we can. 

Hilarious Hairdo Night.

Tonight was "Hilarious Hairdo" night at the church class the girls attend.  They were very excited.  Grandma helped them get started with hair ponies.  Then when I got off work, we started to spray away.  They thought they were pretty spectacular.

 

 Now to wash it out before tomorrow...

Great Minds Think Alike.

A few weeks back while I was getting ready for work, I heard a commercial for a Disney show that was coming to town.  I am not a huge fan of these types of events, but the cast of characters included all of the girls favorites.  Doc, Jake, Sofia - it does not get any better than that.  Apparently Kevin heard the same commercial, because he called me a few hours later with ticket prices, show times and lots of encouragement that the girls and I should go. 

 

As the event approached, the introvert in me started to dread the experience.  The crowds, the parking, the crying children...what had I gotten myself into?  This did not sound "magical".  Thankfully, the girls' excitement was contagious.  I consulted with my coworker who had taken his daughter to a show like this last year.  He gave me the scoop and warned me about the overpriced popcorn.

 

We arrived at the event and found our seats.  Kevin had scored us some good ones.  I am not overly tall, so we had opted out of the floor seats.  It was a good decision since the seats were folding chairs, and it would have been hard to see over the people in front of us.  However, we did score the front row of the second section.  WooHoo! 

 

We skipped the popcorn and bought over priced goblets instead.  Who could resist?

 

 

The costumes were great.  The girls sang along to all of the songs and had a fantastic time.  They could not outsmart Kendall though.  She informed me that Peter Pan was not flying but rather swinging by ropes.

Toward the end, Jake and his crew shot of tons of Gold Doubloons.  Instead of leaving the theater after the show, the logical thing to do was to go up to the front and gather up some gold.  The girls had a blast chasing the paper and loading up their goblets.

Sidney even managed to employ some help with her treasure hunt.

Needless to say, we really enjoyed ourselves.  I am glad that Kevin and I were on the same wavelength that day!

Saying Goodbye to Summer Vacation.

Summer vacation is officially over.  I took a few days off work to celebrate the end of summer with the girls.  We packed as much excitement into a few short days as humanly possible.  Their first request...Pojo's.  We rode the carousel, played video games, cashed in our tickets for cheesy prizes and rode the bumper cars.  The girls talked me into joining them on the bumper cars.  It was so much fun.  The girl operating the ride even gave us a complimentary ride.  I think we were laughing so hard, she could not help herself.

The second day, we hit the ice rink.  The girls even got to climb on the Zamboni machine.  The Steelhead mascot was skating.  Sidney kept chasing him around the rink claiming that she wanted to skate with him.  After about 20 minutes of chasing him, he finally turned to skate with her.  She screamed in holy terror and literally ran off the ice.  She refused to go back out until after he left.  All talk...no walk.

 

Next on our end of summer tour was Powell's Sweet Shoppe.  The girls each had a cotton candy coupon from the summer reading program.  I picked up some overpriced European candy to remind Kevin of our military days.

We found a pretty cool new park on one of our adventures.  I saw an awesome gardening idea for next year but failed to get a picture.  Someone had planted some colorful bell peppers in large pots in front of their house.  Love the idea!

What is a celebration without a little creativity?  I found this idea for race cars made from toilet paper rolls.  I helped the girls with the wheels and cutting the drivers hole.  Then I left them to their own devices.  Here are their cool creations.  They even managed to find some little people to fit in the car.

It is back to school for Kendall.  Sidney is doing preschool with Grandma.  Kevin is heavy into football and volleyball season.  I am off to my next work adventure.  The nights are getting cooler.  Bring on the fall!

Big First Grader!

Kendall started first grade this year.  Papa Mark picked out this dress for her.  She was very excited to wear it.  She had some very cute blue sandals (with heels) to wear with the dress, but at the very last minute she thought her spinner shoes were the best choice.  Who am I to argue?   

 

She loved her first day of school.  It is amazing how tired she has been after a full day of school.  Her good friend, Katenee, is in her class this year.  The two girls hit it off last year in kindergarten, but during the second week Katenee was moved into a new class that opened up.  They remained friends and have been squealing (literally) with  delight that they get to spend all day together this year. 

 

We took her to get pictures this week.  I cannot believe how grown up she is.  These are the cute blue sandals she was going to wear the first day.