Princess Festival

On June 18 (yes, I'm a little behind) we joined our cousins at the Princess Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We had gone to the Princess Festival a couple of years ago and loved it, and Kasidee was excited to be old enough to be included this year. It is a festival sponsored by "In Our Own Quiet Way," a local charity that does amazing work for impoverished areas of Kenya. While the little girls (and a few little boys!) get to dress up, meet princes and princesses, and go on adventures, they also learn that a true princess is caring and helps other people. It was a fun adventure!


WITH ARIEL

WITH "THE WICKED STEPSISTERS"

PRETTY PRINCESSES


"RAPUNZEL KIERA"

KIERA AND RAPUNZEL

MAKENNA WITH THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA

ALICE AND THE MAD HATTER

COUSINS (PLUS ONE GIRL WE DON'T KNOW!)

Princess Dance Camp

For the summer, I let the girls each choose one summer recreation class (besides swimming lessons.) The one Kasidee chose was "Princess Dance Camp." It was 3 days in a row for 2 hours each and she had so much fun. She was a little hesitant to not have Mommy there with her, but she was glad to have her preschool friend (and our neighbor) Jenna with her. They learned a little dance, made a craft each day, and had a snack each day. I wish I could have been a little one too for those days!

Today was the "final performance," and the 7 little princess were so cute and did such a good job! At the end, they were each presented with a certificate. Kasidee's reads, "The Dance Factory hereby proclaims on this 16th day of June 2011 Princess Kasidee to be an official Princess of the Royal Palace for completing princess training at Princess Dance Camp 2011." It was signed by both Miss Sarah (the teacher) and "Fairy Godmother." Pretty impressive, eh?

Independent

Kasidee, like most 3-almost-4-year-olds, takes pride in doing things all by herself. Except for wiping her bum and sometimes walking up the stairs instead of being carried, but that's a whole other subject. The other night she told me she would get ready for bed all by herself. She told me to think of some jammies that she could wear and that she would be right back. A few minutes later she reappeared with her jammies on. She said, "Was these jammies a good choice? Was you thoughting of these ones?" : )

Park Day

Even though my BFF lives over an hour away, we've been trying to put more of a priority on our friendship - we've been trying to get together each month. Our husbands and kids get along really well, and it's been fun to be able to catch up on each other's lives. Saturday they came up this way and we had a picnic at the park. Such a pleasant summer evening, and we couldn't resist getting a few cute pics:





Joshua trying on a cute hat he found:


I just love it when they get sand in their hair!

Project

I like projects. I don't mind working hard, for a long time, on something. It can even be sweaty, dirty, hard labor - like cleaning out the garage or putting in a garden. Of course, I prefer the kind of projects that transform something blah (or stressful) into something pretty. I guess that's why I love a good organization project or home improvement project.

But I don't really like the kind of projects that HAVE to be done without some sort of "pretty" or "fun" benefit to it. It's kind of like when you get your car fixed. It costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time - and perhaps hundreds of dollars later it doesn't look any different. Not quite as exciting as spending that money and time on painting a room or getting new furniture.

Well, we had one of "THOSE" projects recently. A couple of weeks ago I walked into the guest room and smelled an overwhelming BAD SMELL (not really musty, but more like a stinky B.O. smell. Yuck.) I couldn't figure it out, but when I mentioned it to Quentin he panicked. Just like he suspected, water had been seeping into that room - for who knows how long. We pulled up the carpet in 1/4 of the room and aired it out for a few days. All seems well, but we don't want this happening again. Upon close inspection, Quentin discovered that the downspout on the front corner of our house was plugged up with mud. So all that rain we got the last couple of months was just piling up and seeping into the foundation.

So...Quentin has been replacing the corrugated tubing that runs from the downspout - and he's running it all the way from the front corner of the house to the very west end of our property near our garden. He's been digging a trench about 18 inches deep all the way along the length of our yard - over 100 feet! I think I've counted at least 30 hours of hard work. And he's just. about. done. Check it out:




(The tubing runs next to our shed)


I'm so happy Quentin is such a "handy man" and knows how to do practically anything. Or if he doesn't know how to do something, he's not afraid to figure it out. And he always does it right. Yay Quentin! Anyway, he's been working hard. And this is how the girls helped out:

Magnetic Me!

So we woke up today with a free day ahead of us. After chores were done, the girls suggested we check out the "I'm Bored Basket." In there was a project to make customized magnetic "paper dolls." I had done this years ago when Kiera was little. But the girls were so excited to each have their own - little magnetic versions of themselves with tiny replicas of their own clothes! How cool is that?! So we got to work, dressing up and taking pictures. Then I printed the pics out on magnetic sheets, cut them out and voila - check it out: (Click on the pic to see it better.)

"I'm Bored Basket"

Just before school ended, I created an "I'm Bored Basket." Aside from the girls' craft drawers, I filled a basket with things I've clipped out of magazines over the years - things I thought would be fun to do someday. And isn't summer a perfect time for those "Someday Projects?" It's filled with project ideas like painted rocks, flower fairies, clay creatures, art projects, yard games, magic tricks, puppet show ideas, jewelry projects, etc. I also filled it with And I also listed fun websites (check out www.thetoymaker.com) and included a list of fun places to go. So I guess now I'm prepared. Whenever I hear "Mommmm, I'm bored!" I can point to the "I'm Bored Basket" and they can figure out something fun to do. (P.S. I also created one for me - all those fun "Someday Projects" that I haven't found time for yet. While the girls are busy doing something from their basket, maybe I can do something from mine!)

Sidewalk Chalk Festival

Yesterday, our First Official Day of Summer Vacation was kind of a bummer. Kiera didn't feel very good, so we ended up spending most of the day just puttering and hanging out around the house. We were happy to have a visit from Granny, and Kiera began perking up. For dinner we went to Cafe Rio but then Kiera started not feeling good again. So...it was a rather quiet day.

But today made up for yesterday. Kiera woke up feeling back to normal, and we were ready to have some fun!

My endlessly creative neighbor and friend Kate (over at www.mykidseatoffthefloor.blogspot.com) invited some of the neighborhood kids to a Sidewalk Chalk Festival in her yard. Lots of friends, chalk, popsicles and lemonade. And perfect weather. Just what we needed!










Then this afternoon, Kiera and her friends set up a Teddy Bear Preschool and had a blast playing. Later, we headed over to the library for a puppet show. Then we worked a bit in the yard and went to a neighborhood wedding reception outside. Now THIS is the kind of summer day we've been looking forward to!

Sleepy Head

I know a few weeks ago I posted a picture of Kasidee sprawled out, asleep, on the couch. She really does have a bed, and she usually takes a nap every day. But now that she's getting older, her naps are a little more sporadic - I never know when she's going to be tired enough to zonk out...or where she'll zonk out. The other day we had a busy day and there wasn't a quiet moment for her to take a nap. I ended up taking her for a short ride and she promptly fell asleep. But it was almost 7:00 p.m. and she hadn't had dinner yet. So I woke her up when we got home and encouraged her to eat her dinner. I put her on the chair at the counter and she put her head down and fell asleep. Poor thing - but so cute!

Snow in June?

With the crazy weather we've been having, it's very likely that we'd get snow in June. But I have a picture of a different kind of "snow." Every year the cotton trees in our neighborhood make flurries all over. Sometimes it can be quite annoying (cotton flying in every time we open the door) but I think it's kind of pretty. I always feel like I'm living in a snowglobe as the cotton just swirls around. This shows some of the cotton flying around (see all the little dots on the black roofs?):


and this pic shows some of it that has piled up in my front yard. The girls like gathering it and making cotton balls. So pretty!

Funnies

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks what my kids say is funny. But nevertheless, I gotta write it down so I won't forget.

The other day I was quietly crying as a result of some sad news. Kasidee saw me, put her arms around me and held me tight. After awhile she pulled away, looked at my face and said, "When YOU cry, MY eyes get water in them."

Makenna: "There's a boy in my class with our same last name!"
Quentin: "Oh - is it Stephens with a 'PH'?"
Makenna: "No, it's with a VH."

Kasidee: "I want to be a ballerina when I grow up. No wait - I just want to be a children. Forever."

Kiera wasn't feeling good and asked for some water. Kasidee piped up and said, "I want to give it to her!" I said, "Oh, that would be nice - thank you!" Kasidee smiled and said, "I'm a BIG sister!"

Happy Summer!

Today was the last day of school. To help kick off summer, Kiera and Makenna had a little party - 15 little girls from school watching a movie in the theater room. I realized a few months ago that, even though we've had the theater room done for about a year now, our girls haven't had an "official" party with their friends watching a movie in that room. We've had family over and some of our grown-up friends with their kids over, but not a party with just the girls' friends. So we invited a few of their friends from school over and watched Gnomeo and Juliet. Popcorn, Tootsie Rolls, licorice and lots of laughs. And lots of smiles that summer is finally here! Wahoo!

Grape Smasher

The event I've been hearing all about this whole school year finally came today. Each third grader was required to create a grape smasher. They needed to include at least 2 simple machines (lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined planes, etc.) Kiera designed quite an elaborate system that included not only 2, but 10, simple machines. With a "little" help from Quentin, they got it done. The grape was hoisted from a pulley in a little "elevator" then rolled down 3 inclined planes into a holder next to a brick wedge. Then when Kiera pulled a pin, a lever with a rock glued onto the end would smash against the wedge thereby smashing the grape. How cool is that?! Today was the big day where all the third grade classes could show off how their grape smashers work. It was fun!

Bring It On

Okay, I'm ready for summer. Finally. After preschool graduation a couple of weeks ago, I cleaned out the preschool room - it looks like a theater room now! Anyway, after that I got motivated to clean the rest of my house. You know, things that I probably should do more often but usually only get around to doing maybe once a year, if I'm lucky. Like cleaning my fuzzy blinds. And fuzzy baseboards. And dusting inside my curio. Things that no one else may even notice - but it's amazing how even though the room may not look any different than before, to me it just feels good and seems to sparkle (in my eyes anyway.)

So I've been taking a couple of rooms every day and "heavy duty" cleaning everywhere - top to bottom, inside and out. It has felt good. There might be some people who think I like to clean. It's true that I love the result of a clean house. But cleaning is hard work, and it's pretty boring too. I can easily overlook dusty blinds and a sticky floor and delve into organizing a closet or drawer. For some weird reason, I get a "high" out of organizing and dejunking. But it's the actual cleaning part that I don't like. But having preschool end and having summer around the corner has motivated me to "get 'er done." That way, maybe I won't feel guilty when I'm playing and relaxing - after all, isn't that what summer is for?! Oh sure, there will still be things to clean and projects to do, and the girls will definitely have household things to do, but now that the big stuff is done and out of the way, I'll be more likely to sip lemonade and read a book! Ahhhhh.... Oh wait. I've still got to clean out the garage. Dang.

Memorial Day

It's almost the very last day of May and this is what we woke up to:


Crazy weather. It's been more rainy and cold these past couple of months than I remember it ever being. Not that I'm really complaining. Those of you who know me well know that I love rainy days - they're cozy, "comfort" days. But I think I'm ready for some nice weather now.

Yesterday we visited our 2 grandpa's graves and today we had planned on going on a nice, long bike ride and doing a geocache. Too cold. We'll have to figure something else out. Later Mom and Grandma will come over for a "pretend barbecue" (since we don't do meat) so that will be something to look forward to! Roasted veggies, baked beans, corn on the cob, rolls, watermelon, macaroni salad, potato salad, chips...Yum!

Happy Memorial Day!

Ward Campout

Friday night we went to our ward campout. The weather held out and the night wasn't too cold - thank goodness. I went camping a lot when I was a kid and it's something I'm glad our girls like to do too. We had a fun time but unfortunately my camera batteries died 2 pictures into it. Isn't that how it goes? But we were able to charge it by nighttime and got a couple of good pics. The bishop's son took over 400 pictures while there so maybe we can swipe some from him sometime!

THE KIDS LOVED FINDING A MOTH BY THE LANTERN...



KASIDEE AND HER FRIEND TIM

Field Trip

Today I got to go with Makenna on her class field trip. I love field trips - it's a fun activity that I didn't have to plan or make arrangements for. I don't even have to drive - I just show up and feel like I'm a kid playing hooky!

Today we went to Sweet's Candy Factory for a tour. It was really interesting to see how they make jelly beans (they swirl around in what looks like a cement mixer), chocolate, taffy and cinnamon bears. I never knew that the molds for cinnamon bears are actually made out of cornstarch - how weird is that? Anyway, we couldn't take cameras in the tour (they even made us wear hairnets and take off all jewelry.)

After that we went to Vertis Printing to see how they print newspaper inserts. The kids loved seeing the HUGE rolls of paper. And it was fun to see them print all red, then all blue, then all yellow, then all black (maybe not in that order) to get the colors they want.

Then we went to the park for lunch and to play, and I got a kick out of some of the kids who wore their hairnets (from the candy factory) and earplugs (from the printing place) the whole day!

Anyway, I wasn't able to get very many good pictures, but I thought this was cute. This was my group holding hands "just because we're friends."

Toothless

So Makenna's poor mouth has been a little unstable lately. She has about 5 or 6 loose teeth. Yesterday in church she wiggled one of her teeth and it popped right out! She thought that was pretty cool, and the Primary President gave her a tiny plastic bag to put it in. Later that night, Makenna showed me one of her other loose teeth. She said, "Wouldn't that be cool if this one came out too?" I said, "Well, keep wiggling it - you never know." About 2 minutes later she was yelping that it came out too! Wow - 2 lost teeth in one day! I'm sure the Tooth Fairy will be excited about that!


Now if we can just get rid of that yucky top tooth that's been hanging there for months....

Say What?

I just about burst out laughing when I saw Kasidee come out of her Primary class yesterday. Isn't this just adorable? I love the sweet, simple lessons these kids are learning!

To Garden...?

This is our fifth summer in this house, and we've never had a real garden here even though there's a nice garden plot. Reasons:

2007 - We were trying to get settled in our new house, plus looking forward to our new baby Kasidee.

2008 - We planted tomatoes and carrots and watered them 3 times a DAY (Quentin's idea.) Needless to say, our little plants drowned and nothing survived.

2009 - Trimmed our apple trees right before we left for Disneyland. Trimmings from 10 apple trees can make quite a big pile, and we missed the city pick-up for green waste. So we piled the branches in our garden area, vowing to take them to the dump soon.

2010 - Added our new apple tree trimmings to last year's pile, making a massive pile. I mean, really - the pile was basically as big as our shed.

THIS YEAR - We've decided to take back the yard. Almost 2 months ago Quentin trimmed the apple trees and we began hauling the branches from this year and the last 2 years up to the curb for the city pick-up (Quentin had fun pulling the 5 trailer loads with the 4-wheeler!). Then we spent a couple of hours hand-picking the tiny branches out of the garden, then tilling the garden. And today we finally got to plant our garden!

We have no clue what we're doing, so we'll see what happens. We thought about not announcing our garden plans in case it doesn't work. But now I guess everyone knows, so hopefully it will work out. If not, maybe we'll educate ourselves before trying the garden thing again.

Anyway, we planted cantaloupe,carrots, onions, zucchini, corn, peas, peppers, and 4 kinds of tomato plants - early girl, cherry, grape and yellow pear. And I also have a little herb garden with rosemary, cilantro, basil, chives and parsley (I didn't want the parsley but bought it thinking it was cilantro. Dang.) And in the front, I planted a small pot of geraniums and snapdragons, plus a hosta and cactus my mom gave me. So it's been a planting day! Now we'll sip lemonade the rest of the summer and go out in August to gather our harvest. Wait - what's that? We have to weed and water the garden too? I thought all the hard work was done! : )

We Did It!

Today was preschool graduation! I was so very proud of sweet Kasidee (she was so excited!) and all of the preschool kids. And I have to admit that I was proud of Jill (my preschool partner) and me too! We started months ago to prepare for this event, and everything ended up going so smoothly. There had been sleepless nights thinking about the details and worrying that something would go wrong. There were lots of hours spent teaching songs, preparing the program, buying supplies, making caps and diplomas.... Whew. But once everything was done and we were in the moment, I kind of got teary-eyed. I have grown to love these kids - it's such a fun age - and have enjoyed seeing them learn and grow and develop. I feel honored that I was able to be one of their first teachers in a lifetime of learning!

So...now I'm ready for a little break during summer, but I'm looking forward to a new class in the fall!

CUTE KASIDEE


WAITING FOR ALL THE KIDS TO ARRIVE


KASIDEE'S PART


THE KIDS WATCHING THE SLIDESHOW THAT QUENTIN AND HIS BROTHER CORBIN FINISHED AT ABOUT 3:00 IN THE MORNING!!


QUENTIN SURPRISED ME WITH FLOWERS!

Makenna's Boot

Saturday evening, Makenna came inside from playing outside at her cousin's house, complaining that her foot hurt. We put her in a chair, and I half expected her to get up and run off soon after. But she stayed in the chair for quite awhile and kept saying her foot really hurt. We checked it out, put ice on it, and told her to just be still.

So the next day, Sunday, she hopped around on her good foot while she got ready for church. Quentin carried her into sacrament meeting, but Makenna hopped to her Primary class. And on Monday I carried her into school, but she hopped around in class - and her teacher even gave her a piggyback ride to lunch.

So...we guessed that Makenna wasn't just doing the hopping for the drama or for attention. There really was something wrong. Instacare told us that they could look at it but that we would ultimately have to see an orthopaedic specialist for treatment. So after phone calls to about 4 orthopaedic specialists, the earliest appointment we could get was Wednesday morning.

So yesterday morning the doc felt her foot and took x-rays. There was a big bump on her hurt foot but he said that could be normal in a developing child. So he took an x-ray of her good foot - it had the same bump. So he didn't think it was broken but that most likely her bone had gotten bruised (this wouldn't show as a bruise on the skin however.) So he gave her a "boot" to wear. The doc said a bruise should heal within a couple of weeks and she'll be back to normal - if not, I'll have to take her in again.

Yesterday she said it still "stinged" when she tried to walk on the boot, so she hopped around all day. But this afternoon we noticed she tried walking on it gently - and now she's walking on it most of the time. I just have to say that she has been such a trooper. How frustrating it would be to have to hop everywhere you go - even while everyone at school and church are staring at you! Makenna said her good leg gets really tired hopping around all day. But she has done it with a smile (and a little cane that Quentin found at the D.I.!) - and it looks like her foot will heal just fine soon!

Sleepy Head

This is how I found Kasidee yesterday afternoon. Guess she was T.I.R.E.D!