April 16 to 22

 04.15.12  We spent part of our afternoon on Sunday watching moths fly around the lilac bush.  I found out later that they were actually butterflies called Red Admirals.  The kids took the camera outside and took pictures.  Most of these pictures were taken by the kids.  Dave took the picture of the kids taking pictures of themselves.

"Where's my water?"  All three of us where playing the same game on different items.  We were having 'family togetherness'.  Dave thought it was pretty funny and took this pictures.  I love that Esther is wanting in on the action.

04.21.12  Kirsten's team won their game today.  I kind of felt bad for the other team.  We won 6 to 0, one of the points was scored by the other team kicking the ball in to our net.  A couple of the boys on Kirsten's team were really good and scored the bulk of the goals.

Esther has a new trick, she likes to go down the stairs forward facing.  I don't mind it when she is at the bottom but worry the whole time when she is at the top of the stairs.  It comes in handy when you want to take a vacuum down the stairs.

04.22.12  Today I was called and set apart as the first counselor in the Primary Presidency.  It was quite the adventure to watch the primary in action today.  I feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of things we have to do each week.  I am sure it will become easier and hopefully the kids will give us a little bit of a break since we are new.  I am excited to work with the sisters in the presidency and know that we can be instruments in God's hands to teach the children to Choose the Right and to follow Jesus. 

April 9 to 15

04.11.12  Kirsten and her friend Alex were dressing up in goofy things.  I missed the really funny ones but these are pretty silly. 

04.12.12 The first and second grade classes presented a spring concert at the middle school.  It was called "Teach the World to Sing."  This performance was for the parents and siblings.  It was a collection of songs from different countries.  The songs they sang were Los Pollitos, Did You Ever See A Lassie, London Bridge, Frere Jacques, Funiculi, Funicula, Sakura Sakra and Kumbaya.  The kids did a wonderful job.  Kirsten was quite nervous about the whole thing.  She said that at the school practices they had done just fine and so it had calmed her nerves a little bit.  After the concert she mentioned that they had messed the last part of the last song.  I hadn't noticed and I am sure pretty much most people didn't notice at all.  Her music teacher is Mrs Roth and she did a wonderful job teaching and directing the children.

Esther has figured out how to get up on the table, which is really handy if you are still hungry after breakfast.  This is some leftover breakfast that Esther got up and served herself.  I am pretty sure it was not warm and it probably wasn't all that good with out syrup on it.  Her other trick is to shake salt all over the table.  I guess I need to be a better housekeeper to keep her from eating and drinking from the table after we are done.

04.14.12  Dave took these pictures while Kirsten's soccer team was getting pictures done.  Her team is called the Goldfish.  Today was the first game and also picture day.  It was nice to go and watch her play.  She is a little timid but really has a good time playing.  We had missed a couple practices and so she was a unsure of all the rules and exactly what was going to happen.  The referees where learning along with the kids and so the game was a learning experience for all those who were new to the game.  Kirsten's team tied the game at 1-1 in the first half of the game but the other team went on to win with two more goals.  The final score was 3 -1 for the other team.  Kirsten's coach gave them a small bag of goldfish and a Caprisun.  That made up for the loss and she came home a pretty happy camper.  We played around in the yard for the rest of the afternoon trying to get the ball past each other to make a goal.

Kirsten playing soccer!

04.15.12  This morning I let the kids shape the pancakes.  We had dogs, cars, butterflies, banana, a K a P, an E, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and a flag.  They had fun doing both the making and the eating part.

April 1 to 8

This week has been fun as we got to the end.  Not so fun the first part.  Esther and I have had a horrible cold virus that has pretty much stopped us from doing much.  But we have been feeling better the last couple of days and it is a good thing.  We have had a lot of things we have been doing.

Like:

 Dyeing hard boiled eggs on Friday afternoon.  This is one of those traditions that we all love to do.  We had one of those wax crayons to draw designs on our eggs and we loved doing that.  I even showed the kids how to make eggs with 2 or 3 colors on them.  We worked on the eggs for a little bit and had a pretty fun time.

Saturday morning we looked for Easter eggs and found what was in our baskets.  Kirsten was pretty excited about her toy.  Peter thought he had been cheated since he got one car and Kirsten got 7 or 8 little squinkies.  Esther didn't seem to care but thought it was pretty cool to find the eggs and open them up.  She didn't want to put them in the basket.  Just shake them or eat the contents.

Sunday morning the girls had new Easter dresses that I wanted to get pictures of.  Our lilac bush/tree is in full bloom and so I wanted to do pictures before church.  It was pretty bright out there but I think the pictures turned out okay.  As you can see Esther was having none of it.  She was just having fun exploring the area instead of posing for pictures.  What beautiful kids.  They are so sweet and fun.  And isn't that lilac bush beautiful.  It makes me sneeze but I love seeing it from my kitchen.  It towers above my 6 foot fence by 5 or 6 feet.  It is magnificent to behold.

Sunday night after a fun family home evening tonight in remembrance of the true meaning of Easter, we went outside and roasted peeps.  Thanks to a suggestion from Kirsten's primary teacher (thanks Naomi) we went out and toasted up some peeps.  We had found some branches from someone's tree behind our fence, near our lilac bush, and decided to cut it up and burn it in our fire pit.  It was a fun conclusion to a beautiful day.  I love the picture of Esther stuffing the peep in her mouth.  She has a horrible sweet tooth like her mom and will eat anything with sugar in it.  Even more so if it is chocolate.

Spring Break March 24 to 31

Anderson Milwaukee Spring Break 2012

A lot of swimming, sleeping, watching TV and a trip to the city.

On Monday afternoon we decided to leave on Tuesday afternoon to catch up with Dave who was in Milwaukee for a conference.  Our original plan was to leave Wednesday morning but the kids were anxious to go and mom had nothing keeping her home.  So we left after a nice lunch at the Parker's house and a little time playing with the new toys we brought them for their birthdays.  (No pictures - I forgot to bring my camera in.)

Our room opened to the swimming pools.  They had three pools - a kiddie pool with a slide, the main pool and a hot tub connected to the main pool.  The kids loved it.  They would peek out the window every time they heard someone in the pool area.  It was interesting to play in the pool with the three kids.  They wanted to go in at every opportunity.  Which would have been fine with me except that what had started as allergies on Tuesday night turned into a full blown cold for me.  I didn't feel like swimming all that much.  I was able to let the kids play while I watched one afternoon while Esther was in the room.  She wanted to be in the pool as much as the other two.  She is a true water baby.  Thursday they played for a couple hours in the pool after we got back from the city.  I was glad when Dave finally showed up.  Esther was cold and I wanted to get out. 

 Dave snapped this picture the first night we were there.  They kids were pretty funny to see how they slept.  Kirsten didn't like Peter in her bed because he talked.  I am pretty sure Peter would have complained about how Kirsten didn't stay in one spot.  They were actually pretty good about it and enjoyed being away from home.

Some times this is how it was.  The three or four of us on the couch watching TV.  I don't think the kids realized that Dave was taking the picture.  It was a way for me to keep the kid busy instead of being in the pool.

I took the three kids into the city on Thursday to the Brinn Children's museum.  It is right in the city near the lake.  We had a good time playing in the different areas of the museum.  I think Esther's favorite part was the dance board.  You had to step on the different lighted blocks in time with the music.  I don't know if she really understood what you were supposed to do but she loved the music and even when we were in a different area, she would stop what she was doing and head back over to the squares when the music began to play again.  
There was a pretty cool area that was designed like a little city.  It had a shopping store, a post office, an auto shop and many other neat areas.  Ether loved the little shopping cart and pushed that around for a little while.  Peter as enamored with the auto shop.  He liked that you could take the wheels off the car, the license plates off and get under the car.  It was probably his favorite spot.  Kirsten loved exploring all areas of the town and other places in the museum.  She now has a better understanding of how things work and can read most signs and learn more as she goes around.

These buildings and pictures are around the museum.  It was not real warm when we were there and so we didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked.  The first picture is an art museum that was right next to the children's museum.  It looked like a big boat.  It was a real nice city and it would be fun to go exploring again.  We came home on Friday morning.

03.31.12  On Saturday we went to the annual Lunch with the Easter Bunny at the Village IV Clubhouse.  The kids were not "IN" to posing with the Bunny.  So I snapped a quick shot as we were leaving the clubhouse.  Esther had fallen asleep before we were supposed to leave and I think she is getting my cold and so we left her home with dad.  They had pizza we could eat and the kids played a couple games.  Including a cake walk.  I really think it is funny that they play that one until they win.  They play it over and over again while the other game is just throwing a ball into buckets.  They get a prize every time they do that one.  I guess it is a matter of perspective.  We got upstairs and grabbed our 6 eggs and then waited until they said we could get more.  I think both kids ended up with 10 or 15 eggs.  They thought that was pretty cool and have been eating the candy every chance they get.

Mar 19th to 24th

 03.21.12  Peter and his friend Justin are playing in the sandbox.  I tried numerous times to get Justin to turn around but this is the best you get.  He was busy digging.  These two were pretty funny.  Here it is a nice warm day and they are wanting to play Wii or watch a video.  I told them no and I think Justin thought I was being mean.  He just didn't get it.  It is a play date - YOU PLAY!!  You never know when it is going to be this nice again.

This week has been Spirit week at school.  Today was crazy hair day and Kirsten wanted a bunch of braids.  I think it is pretty crazy looking.  Her teacher said she thought it looked like Cindy Loo Who on the Grinch that stole Christmas.  I guess it does.

Last weekend I had craft group and we made rag quilts.  I had left overs and I told Kirsten I would teach her how to make it and so we worked on one on 03.21.12.  It took us most of the afternoon and she sewed most of the lines.  I just monitored from the back.  I then cut it and washed it for her.  Well Peter was not to be out done.  I found some fabric I had made PJ's out of and had a bunch extra for him.  I cut it out and figured I would need to help him more then Kirsten.  But was I wrong.  He sewed almost the whole thing while Kirsten was at school on 03.22.12.  It was fun to help him learn how to sew.  I was a pretty proud mama.  I also got to see one of my students complete her blanket this week.  She brought it over to show me.  It made me happy that someone was learning a new skill and completing a project.  Way to go DEBBIE!!

03.22.12  Meadowview had a open house at the school where you could go and see all the things the kids had been working on.  We stopped in Peter's class and he showed us his new smart board the class has and how he signs in.  As a class project they had planted grass and drawn rainbows to put inside.  It was pretty cute to see him in his class room.
Kirsten's class had on the smart board their artwork and their voices saying what they had drawn.  Kirsten was pretty excited to show me, but warned me that she said her name really quickly at the end.  I was proud of my little girl.  She had different art projects in the hallway that we stopped and took pictures of.    I was pretty surprised when I saw her desk.  It was almost spotless.  I know they cleaned up today before we got there.  I am pretty sure it doesn't always look like this.
Afterwards we went to the gym and had ice cream.  Esther was pretty good at helping herself as you can see.  She is becoming more and more self sufficient. 

Here are close ups of the pictures from Kirsten's class.  Enjoy.  (Sorry some of them are blurry, I didn't have my good camera.)