the anatomy of a princess

Yesterday was our very first parent-teacher conference for Kiernan. I was eager to go & hear about how she's doing in class & with the other students. She's always been very personable, but still, you never know.

We didn't learn anything too surprising, it was all very generic:
"She's a very sweet girl blah blah blah, get's along well with others, blah blah, gets all of her work done, blah blah." The usual.

Then we got to her samples of work; Letters-good, numbers-good, comprehention-good, and finally her storytelling skills. For this they drew pictures & added a word or two. The teacher had 4-5 samples of her work. So she asked a question & the kids would journal about it, for example:
What do you want to be when you grow up? *picture of a princess*
Who is you favorite tv charachter? *picture of a princess*
Find something in our classroom & write about it. *picture of a princess*
It's free writing today, write about anything you like. *picture of a princess*

You see where I'm going with this right?

Well, while I do wish that Kiernan could find other areas of interest I don't have a problem with all of the princesses, per se. I have more of a problem with the pictures themselves. First, let me say that Mike was at this meeting also, watching the clock the whole time as far as I could tell, but there nonetheless. As the "princess" pictures flip by I am begininng to see a recurring theme...they are all ANATOMICALLY CORRECT! They are all girls, so I'm sure you can imagine which part of the anatomy I'm talking about.
Here let me attempt to give you an example (they are essentially elaborate stick figures, by the way) try this:

...(:
/OO\
.../\

Do you get what I mean?!?!?
EVERY PICTURE!!!! I was dying & trying NOT to look at Mike because I knew he'd loose it.
My question is...where did this come from??? She certainly wasn't imitating me. *i wish* Is that how she see's the princesses? Does she notice all cleveage? Do you need those to be a princess?

Is it possible for something to be hilarious & terrifying all at the same time?

All I can say is... mortifying. No one said a word during the meeting about "them" but I was dying to ask if other kids do that? Maybe she learned it in class? But I was a little afraid that she would be the only one. Well, here's hoping that she grows out of this phase. SOON.

Halloween II

I forgot to mention earlier that I convinced my sister to join out little Star Wars theme for Halloween. So here they are, oldest to youngest are: Jordyn as Padme, Jacob as Han Solo, Evan as Luke Skywalker, Kiernan as Princess Leia, and Lukie as Darth Vadar!

I have to say, the funnest part of the evening was watching Luke, he made a fab Darth! He loved Halloween, the candy especially! Can you tell by his face?
Leia was a bit worse for the wear by the end of the evening, but it was all in the name of fun.

Eeanie Meanie Halloweenie

What a great Halloween we had this year! Alot of activities to keep up with though. As I was walking the kids into the school Friday holding 2 carved pumpkins, a cupcake carrier, my camera, Kiernans backpack and car keyes I remember thinking "Did my Mom do this?". I seriously can't remember. We do all of these things for the kids & in the end I don't think they remember? Now if we DIDN'T do it I know they'd remember that!

Well, here's a glimpse into a few of our Halloween festivities...enjoy!

I really hope you can tell who they are! I made Kiernans & most of Jakes. No one knew who Jake was (Han Solo) unless he was with Kiernan, then it would click. He was disappointed when people would ask who he was so I finally told him to stand by his sister all day & he'd be fine. It worked.

He had a really cool holster that you can't see in the pic...the clothes were pretty close.

Recognize the pose? Mike had her do that when I wasn't looking. It's genius...my favorite pic of the day!

Kiernan & her best friend Abbi. They were darling!

Pumpkin Carving 101

Every year my parents host a pumkin carving contest at their house. The family, friends, and neighbors come by to share yummy soups & other fall foods, then we all get carving. My parents set up the kitchen for food and the garage for carving. All of the carving supplies are provided by them, all you need is to bring a pumpkin!

This year it was a little smaller party than normal because of my dads knee surgery, but we still had a fun time. In the end all of the pumpkins are lined up and everybody votes on two kids winners & two adult winners...there are even real prizes provided by my parents! This year Kiernan won a gift certificate to target...she was thrilled.

The concentration is heavy & it actually gets quiet because everyone is hard at work.

Auntie Michelle had strong focus, I guss that's why she's one of the winners.

I sat at the kids table. All I can say is thank goodness for kid proof carving knives! I thought I was going to loose an eye. Evan especially got into it with a "power knife", the dang thing ran on a battery to saw back & forth!

The final products...

Kiernan

Jacob

Shelby

Purple People Eaters

When we had dance class this week the teacher told us to bring the girls Halloween costumes to class. I was very apprehensive about taking Kiernans actual costume (white satin, head to toe) in to sit on the dirty dance room floor, so she took Cinderella instead. I have really gotten my moneys worth out of that costume! Let's see...2 Halloweens, 2 amusement parks, a birthday, dozens of great pictures, and one happy little girl. Worth every penny! (Just don't ask how many actual pennies it cost me)

About halfway through class they came out, got dressed up & took the mommies back inside for a quick musical number that they'd whipped together the week before. While Kiernan is a bit easily distracted, overall it was a very cute surprise. Luckily mom had the camera for once! Enjoy!

BOYS!

Jacob had soccer practice yesterday.

There was ONE puddle in the field.

A girl would never end up like this.

BOYS.

Pickin' Punkins!

This week was our Kindergarten trip to the pumpkin patch. In a fit of nostalgia I decided to go to the patch with Kiernans class. I remember loving the trips to pick pumpkins as a kid. The farmers would be out in the field to cut them off of the vine for you & you'd haul it back all covered in dirt, weeds and pumpkin snot. Those were the days.

I have to admit I was a bit disollusioned when we got there and I saw the giant boxes of pumpkins sitting out in the fields. They weren't filling the boxes...they were filling the "field". It really wasn't that big of a "field" either. Was it actually like this when we were kids and we just didn't know? Small fields filled with harvested, washed and pruned pumpkins strategically placed to look like they grew there? Gah! I guess it's true, what you don't know really won't hurt you. (Until you grow up, realize you were lied to by your parents, teachers AND farmers you don't even know...THEN you're scarred for life. )

Here is the class in the hats the teachers got for them for field trips. While I admit that its was a bit of genious on the teachers part because we could find those kids anywhere within a half mile, I was a bit saddened that it clashed with Kiernans "fall overalls" and matching sweater ensemble with coordinating brown mary janes. :) *just kidding*

Here she is on the Hay Ride...minus the hay apparently. One would think that if you're going to call it a Hay Ride that there would actually be some HAY there! Not so much. Maybe the financial markets are so bad that Hay Rides all over the country are doing hayless. Who knows?

My Princess Pumpkin Picker! She found a good one. It must have come in from Mexico before she "picked" it in the "field".

By 11am she was toast. No one brought the snacks so we had a crop of cranky kindergarteners whining to go home. Apparently the magic of a pumpkin patch only lasts so long.

Tag. You're it!

Stefanie tagged me with an easy one. I was supposed to go to my pictures and get the 4th picture in the 4th picture file. I admit I was nervous because I have some totally lame-o pictures in there. Like pictures of fabric, or towels....Boring!

Luckily it wasn't a nasty pic without makeup or hair done either. Here it is...Bella's birthday party. My good friend Tracy, whom I've known since high school (possibly longer since we went to the same elementary school), was having her daughter Bella's 1st birthday party. Jake, K and I went & had a really fun time with the gang.

Okay, while I try to pull myself together to actually blog about current goings on around here I tag Tracy, Melanie, Amber, and Natalie (Messick). Four people to find your 4th file folder and post the 4th picture in that file...no cheating (luckily I didn't have to) :)

P.S. Sorry for the blogging dry spell, my camera has been out of commission & I don't like blogging without pictures. It's not as fun. I'll be back in business hopefully this weekend.

Texas Update

We've had several inquirys about how our friends in Houston have fared during Hurricane Ike. I've been in contact with Melanie quite a bit, it's sounding pretty crazy. Here are some Blog updates from friends on how things are going, in case you were curious:

http://www.melanie-rossifamily.blogspot.com/
http://sugarpom.blogspot.com/

Everybody is well & we're so relieved! We're thinking of you guys!!!

Happy Birthday Kiernan!

My baby is 5 years old...when did this happen? I'm not okay with it. I still look at her and see a sassy 2 year old, all smiles & baby talk. We had her party at my parents house, it's just the perfect place for a party! My mom & dad have put so much work into the yard and it's totally paid off, at least for us kids. I'd say my sisters and I have had twice as many parties here as my parents have...thanks guys! I did get the "lecture" from my dad about a week before the party. It sounded very similar to the lectures I recieved when we had friends over to hang out in high school. It was something along the lines of: This is our (my parents) house, we're letting you use it, it's not our party, which means it's not our mess, which means there will be no mess left when you leave...right?
It was a fair lecture, I just laughed that I was even getting it, I truly felt 16 again (which actually is kind of nice, since most days I feel about 80).

The theme was kind of random...essentially it was a pool party. The cake was actually supposed to be cupcakes with sharks on them. I had a few issues making them. Have you ever cried over a cupcake? I worked on the stupid things for hours...the sharks were too heavy for the cupcakes so they kept nosediving off of the top onto the counter. Refrost, refreeze, redip, redry... dive! 3 cake mixes, 4 cans of frosting, and 2 mental breakdowns later it looked like a Deadliest Catch massacre on my kitchen counter. If you've never taken a pair of scissors to a cake out of sheer frustration, you haven't lived. :) Out of 18 attempted sharks you can see the survivors on the cake. It was cute in the end, but I'm still scraping frosting off of the kitchen counters.

Yes, I made the tutu. Isn't it darling? An hour to make, 5 minutes on the kid...at least I got a picture.
I swagged the backyard in pink tulle and Gerbera Daisys. It was way over the top for a pool party, but you know me. I only got pictures ofthe canopy, but the pool fence was swagged, the big umbrellas were decorated...we LOVE tulle!
It was a fun night, lots of family, friends, food, presents, tulle, flowers, swimming, chatting, and more. Thanks everyone who came, we love you all!

If you've got it call me!

Aaaack!

I can't find my camera!!

Kiernan's birthday pics...the sharks, the swimming, the poolside tutu, GONE.

It's gotta be here somewhere. I'll keep looking. :(

Back to school

Kindergarten! We made it.

This week Jake & Kiernan started school together for the first time. Kiernan did really great & seems to really like her class. Luckily she has lots of friends that she already knows in her class so thats a lot of fun for her. She's been very careful with her wardrobe choices, and I've still been able to put her in pants which is nice. She's such a disaster when she wears dresses, her skirts are always in the air. She fiddles with her clothes alot. On top of all of the new school drama it is also Kiernans birthday. She is the first kid to take cupcakes to school, so we wanted to make them fun for the first week. I borrowed an idea from my sisters Hello Cupcake Book & made sunflower cupcakes with little red M&M ladybugs...so cute!

Jake is in a really good class this year with a lot of great kids, we're really looking forward to a great year.

It's an illness..

Seriously. Somebdy should stop me.

I ironed a swimsuit today.

For Kiernan.

Gah!

Drama-Rama

Just a few hours ago I had a thought. LITERALLY, two hours ago I was happily watching tv thinking, "Hey, Kiernan hasn't had any accidents for several months?! Whew. She must have finally grown out of that stage. YAY."

That was a few hours ago.

I was cooking dinner tonight talking on the phone with Michelle when all of the sudden I hear hysterical screaming from Jakes room. I don't immediately get off the phone, because really, this isn't the first time I've heard screaming coming from that room. Well, Jake comes running into the kitchen looking a little panicked & yells at me that "Mom, Kiernan's stuck!"

*pause* Stuck? Okay, stuck really can mean several things here. Foot stuck in a shoe? Hand stuck in a drawer? Leg stuck in some pants? Or, in one case a few years ago, head stuck in a chair slat. (Also Kiernan, in case you were wondering) Well, I put the screaming together with Jakes statement & hustled into Jakes room to find this...





Apparently, "stuck" means K tried to get something from behind the big heavy dresser & somehow twisted around enough to get wedged in nice & tight. I imagine it's the same kind of magic she used when she got the nut "stuck" on her finger last summer. It sounds like an easy fix...but it's not. The dresser was so heavy I couldn't budge it an inch! I tried to move her, but she was nice & tight. I'm sorry to say that as I poked & prodded to try to get her out of this mess I could not stop laughing! Is that bad? Am I a horrible mother? Finally I had to call Mike (one of many such calls that I have made to him over the years).

Me: I need you to come home now. *hysterical screaming in the background*
Mike: What. Why?
Me: Kiernan is stuck, just come home please. *giggle*
Mike: How...*laugh* did she *snicker* do it this time?
Me: *snort* If you come home you'll see... *hysterical screaming continues*
Mike: Did you get pictures*guffaw*?
Me: JUST COME HOME!! Hee.

Well, what else was there to do while we waited for dad to rescue us, than to get some pics. She really was okay, just REALLY mad at Jake. Apparently there was something HE wanted back there & he told her to get it because she was smaller. Apparently not small enough.

60 years together...

Congratulations Grandma & Poppy on 60 Years Together!!

Last week was the culmination of many weeks of intense party planning by my family, to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of my moms parents. We love Grandma & Poppy for so many reasons...not the least of which is how much they love us! When I was gone they would always tell me how much they missed us & wished we were here. Now that we're home they never fail to tell me how glad they are that I'm back. They have been constant companions & we often see them holding hands & constantly asking after each other. Here are some pics from the 40's themed evening, hope you enjoy.

The theme was 1940's with a USO spin, because it was during WWII. The colors were red, white & blue. The cake was lovely, I got it from Eddie's Bakery & we were very pleased.

NOTE: Navy Blue buttercream icing=Navy blue teeth, Navy blue fingers, Navy blue coating on the kitchen sink and Navy blue colored chilren for the rest of the evening. I was in charge of the cake & opted for icing because it was $40 less than fondant. In retrospect, turning the elegant party guests into giant Smurfs, while entertaining, was probably not the way to go. I was cutting & serving and WHOA, that stuff's like napalm. Sticks to EVERYTHING it touches, I was scraping blue from under my fingernails for a week.

The great grandchildren. What you can't see in this picture is the appetizer table directly in front of them. Once they figured out it was there they were in for the long haul.

The grandchildren. My sisters & grandparents. We had such a fun time (mostly) doing this for them & were so happy that they enjoyed their evening. I'm glad I was here to celebrate with them.
Dinner. An elegant affair in the living room...Stefanie managed to find plenty of crystal & china to do things up right. Her tables were gorgeous, my food was pretty dang good & didn't Michelle look lovely? :) *whispering* p.s. that's her boyfriend greg sitting across from her.

Opening presents with lots of help from the great grandchildren...

Me, Stef & Luke in our 40's gear. Admittedly the paci wasn't quite "era appropriate", but I wasn't going to argue with him. Look, we're smiling! If it's not a surprise to you that we're happliy cheek to cheek, then you need to call me more often! Stef & me planning a party together is a bit like...ummm, uhhh, well I don't really know. Any body watch Desperate Housewives? Bree & Katherine...yeah, like that. Luv ya sister!!!

Mom & I relaxing, notice the rotating fan behing us? Yeah baby, that's why I'm sitting there. Whew, party over.