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.