Celebrating Every Moment: 2009

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Pucker Up

Remember wax lips? I loved these as a kid and I still think THEY. ARE. AWESOME! Thanks, Sue, for the waxy smiles—the kids love 'em.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

At the kids' school, they give out what are called "Great News Awards." When a teacher notices a student doing something great, showing excellent schoolwork, etc., they send home these notes. V, being the overachiever that she is, has amassed quite a collection of these. (We had to get a magnet clip to hold the stack on the fridge.) H has been very aware of this and has mentioned in the past about how she hopes she'll get one when she goes to this school. (It's a big deal to her.) So just imagine the joy on her face when she brought this home her second week of school...

Super Rhino

Yesterday I was plucking thorns off of roses from the garden to give to a neighbor. H carefully picked up a large thorn, placed it on top of her nose (like a rhinoceros) and said...

Mom, I'm a rhinoceros. Hey! Now I can really fight crime!!

How you get from rhino to crime fighter, I don't know. I wish I could see inside that funny noggin of hers and how those wheels turn.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A New School Year

First Day of School.

H is a first grader this year and V is now in fourth grade.

They were both excited to go to school this morning.

As always, pictures by the front door…

But the following pictures show what they were doing before I convinced them to stand straight and smile (to compare their growth from year to year). It's pretty clear what they were particularly pleased with…

H is showing you her new blue tennis shoes. They SPARKLE!

V wanted a picture of her backpack. It only has one strap—which makes it much cooler.

End of Summer

It's been such a happy summer. Here's a few little peaks at the last bit of the girls' summer…

We hiked in to Marion Lake. It was H's first hike in and her strong little legs led the way the entire five miles. V had fun showing us all her favorite spots from her last hike in.

There was a weekend at the beach with the obligatory marine science center, sand castles, light house, and s'mores.

Summer would not have been complete without a "Surprise! It's banana split ice cream sundaes for dinner" night. A favorite tradition at our house.

I think we had chicken quesadillas for dessert.

Dessert is optional on ice cream dinner night, of course.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Big Sister

(Warning: I am about to talk about how great this kid is. Yes, more mommy-bragging about our awesome kids. Sorry, I can't help it.)

For H's birthday weekend, we had a lot of fun things planned. We'd be going to the park, riding horses, playing games, eating cake–several times. Fun things for V to look forward to playing and chowing down on too. Not to mention plenty of opportunity for a sister to potentially get a little jealous.

The thing is, despite all that, she was more interested in making it a fun birthday for her sister.

Ahead of time she had made a sweet birthday card and constructed a special birthday crown for her sis. Without prompting, she wanted to go to the stable early to set up. She was intent on wanting to help with the games rather than playing them.

Even when pin the tail on the pony became pin the tail on V.

She helped the kids in the games and stood by to help H read the handwriting on her cards.

In making it a special weekend for her sissy, she showed how special she is and what makes her an awesome big sister.

Charitable Contributions

…and the recipient of today's lemonade stand earnings goes to the Humane Society!

*Update: Oops, that was worded badly. Rest assured we're not donating the kids to the Humane Society, just the quarters.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Happy! Birthday

Happy birthday big six-year-old!

Your first smile showed up on the day you were born. We thought it was a fluke (or gas) but the smiles kept coming. When you were very little, if you thought anyone in the room might be sad, you would climb up on their lap and say "happy!" You continue to bring smiles to everyone around you and happiness to everyone who is blessed to call you daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, friend….

It was a big birthday weekend.

We had a birthday picnic in the park and an afternoon at Champoeg with Grandpa, Maga, Erik, Audra, and Henry.

We had our family birthday dinner on a cheetah table—

you asked for ribs of course.

We had cake and ice cream (swirl) with Grandma and Grandpa.

The next day,

we cowgirled up for a party at a stable with your best buddies and Nana and Tom…

…and your birthday wish—you all rode horses!

Happy birthday big girl.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sewn with Love

Ta da!

H wanted to sew a heart pillow for our cat yesterday. She stitched it all by herself with only a little help from mom to tie the knots.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs

V likes to make signs. Something as simple as "let's watch a movie tonight" and suddenly, there are directional signs in the hallway, tickets, a ticket booth, an entry welcome sign, etc.

Needless to say, we go through a lot of tape.

Monday, August 10, 2009

1800's Children's Jobs

A couple weeks ago, we spent the day at Champoeg where they were demonstrating some of the jobs that children would have done back in the 1800's. It was the perfect day trip for our little history buff.

They washed clothes… (recognize the cute prairie girl standing next to them?)

Combed and spun wool…

Carved soap…

H was pretty shy up to this point and needed convincing to try things out. UNTIL we came to this lady's table who was working on sewing projects. H's eyes lit up.

Both girls made little corn-filled pillows (like a bean bag). H was so excited, and wanted to do it herself–"no help please." She was focused and whip-stitching like a pro.