Katie

This is what happens when Katie gets ahold of my phone. She should know better, she knows I like to blog stuff like this.

Katie's Fall Choir Concert

Katie loves singing in choir.  Their fall concert they did some fun music that and I got to accompany them on the piano too.  Emily loved going to school each day when I would go and practice with the choir.  She would get to see her sister and buddy Carson would meet us after choir and parade his sister around the lunch room, showing her off to all of his friends.

I love to see the kids singing in choir and enjoying themselves.

Katie plays b-ball...

Katie is playing with on the Autumn Faire YW basketball team this year. She is having fun. It was fun to watch her and the team play. They played a very good game and were beat at the last minute of a very close game!

Painted faces...

Emily is being transformed into a ladybug. We have been to a few events where there is a booth offering face painting. Emily becomes every shy around those she doesn't know and so she never gets her face painted. So I decided to buy face paints so we could do it at home where she is more comfortable.

Katie was very happy to paint her sister's face.a

Kristina had to get in on the fun too.

Silly girls....

Now all the girls have curls...

Katie has been bugging me to cut her hair. I kept putting her off. Then she started asking about perming her hair. I should have just given her the hair cut! :) Last Monday they were out of school for President's day and we went to three stores to find a perming kit. You cannot buy them at Walmart or Shopko. I was going to go to Walgreens next when I thought of Sally's Beauty Supply. That is where we found our kit for all of $5.99! I got two kits and a bunch of rollers and we were out the door with enough perm solution for two girls! I did one perm on Monday and one perm on Tuesday. They don't have the tight poodle perm, just a nice wave giving them some nice body and they feel like they have some curl. Lucky for Emily she was born with naturally curly hair, perfect ringlets. I just get hers a little wet and she is good to go!

Visions of sugerplums....

Katie and Carson have spent quite a bit of time right under the tree today. I am not sure why, but they were quiet and getting along so why not?

Katie's First Choir Concert....

Katie has sung in her school choir this year and this was her first Christmas concert in Middle School. She actually smiled at us across the gym as we were snapping hundreds of photos that evening. The kids did a nice job performing! It was fun to see her up there too.

November Birthdays...

This was the year for having friends over for a birthday party. I usually keep it to family since we have so many birthdays so very close together. In fact we have about 1 a week starting with Emily on Oct. 23 and then Jonny, Kristina, and then Katie on Nov. 24th.

With the Thanksgiving break during the week of Katie's birthday we had a combined party for Kristina and Katie and their friends. They all ate pizza and watched Toy Story 3 on the wall. All the movie candy they could eat too.

And then the requested ice cream birthday cake too!

Cool boots....

Katie recently purchased these cool boots with some of her birthday money.

Halloween 2010

The ward has a Trunk-Or-Treat each year at the neighborhood park, just a block or two from our house. It is great to get all the stops done in one place! This year was Katie's last year as a trick-or-treater since she turns 12 in November. Our family rule is you are done trick-or-treating when you are 12. Emily, however has another 9 years of this fun stuff. I still get candy for all the big kids so no one misses out on getting some sweet treats!

See ya soon....

Katie left today on her first solo adventure (traveling without us) on a trip to California with her Grandparents. They are enroute to picking up cousins and bringing them to Washington for their summer visit with their Dad. I filled her iPod with new music, gave her some money and treats, made sure she had her toothbrush and some good reading material, and had to giver her a shorter haircut too (only because she asked for it to be shorter). She even dressed the part of visiting California by wearing her Micky Mouse sweatshirt, though she won't be going to Disneyland this trip. Cute girl!!! Have fun.....now who is going to give Emily her bath?

Funny girls....

I am not sure why they did this...just looked fun I suppose!

Girls will be girls...

Aren't they cute?

Rummy....

My sister and I learned how to play 7 card Rummy from our Grandpa Haller when we were kids. We would play games with him everytime we visisted. Today my sister and I still play this game. Now the children have started learning this game and play with their Grandma any chance they get. And now they are playing with each other for countless games, one after another. Today I found Jonny and Logan on the floor, near their computers, taking a break from school and playing Rummy.

Goofy.....

Katie is preparing a biography report for the living portait museum the students present in March. Papa Jack had sent some items to help with her costume as she is portraying a Naval officer, Grace Hopper. I told Grandpa that we would send photos of her wearing her new stuff. When the camera comes out at our house the goofy kids emerge! Katie is one of the goofiest when the camera is turned her way! You will notice, behind Katie is many shots, other children vying their shot at being captured being goofy too!!

November Birthdays...

(Jonny's 15th Birthday)

We have 3 birthdays in the month of November, all about one week apart. By Thanksgiving we have celebrated 5 birthdays since September 1st. I really love decorating cakes and I get some good practice in this time of the year.

(Kristina's 13th Birthday)

The kids get to choose their kind of cake and their favorite dinner too. As they are getting older there is more variety to the choices. Jonny wanted pizza for dinner, Kristina wanted Aunt Tami's homemade noodles in homemade chicken soup. And Katie wanted my homemade bread bowls with homemade broccoli & cheddar soup.

(Katie's 11th Birthday)

Katie chose an ice cream cake made by Aunt Tami. I got to write on it but that is it! Whew... (Katie received gifts too, I just don't know why we didn't get pictures...birthday burnout maybe, sorry Katie!)

Steve was in Arizona for Jonny and Kristina's birthdays and so he participated in the celebrations via Google Video Chat! It was fun when he showed them their gifts over the video. After 12 hours of intense driving Steve made it back to actually eat some of Katie's ice cream cake! Having Daddy home was a great present for all!!

Back to School....

On August 17th, with tissue boxes in hand and backpacks packed full, the kids boarded their buses headed back to school. This is our last year for grade school (for a couple of years anyway), our last year before I have a high schooler, the last year of split bus schedules, our last year of senior primary (until Emily gets up there). It is Emily's first year in nusery at church. It is the first year that Emily waves and says goodbye as the kids get on the bus. The first year for Kristina in Middle School. The first year that Katie and Carson are not in the same class. The first year that Jonny liked the first week of school. The first year that we don't go to the fair!

We have been to two class presentations since school has started. Carson gave his "I am an Influencial American" presentation during the first week of school and Katie gave hers at the beginning of this second week of school.

Goofy kids....

Girls go to Table Rock

Last Saturday the girls went with our friends, the Moxleys, and climbed Table Rock in Boise.  They had so much fun and they look so cute sitting here overlooking Boise!  Thanks Carol for taking the girls and the photo too!

Prisoner Gets Out.....

We recently received our prize from Gogurt, the Flip video camera. The kids were all excited to make a movie and Katie was the first to present her script for production.

We finally did it....

 

The girls(Katie) have been begging for quite awhile to get their ears pierced.  I finally gave in after Katie had continued, for about a month, showing me how responsible she was.  I checked around on the prices of piercing ears and found that the cheapest way of doing it was buying self-piercing kits at the beauty supply store.  How hard can it be right?  When it came time to do it I marked their ears and then I chickened out.  Luckily we were with my sister and she was more than willing to do it!  What are Aunt's for anyway if they don't pierce their niece's ears right?