Kindergarten Graduation

Paige is officially done with Kindergarten. She participated in the promotion (barely) and loved wearing the cap (not really) and stayed for the cookies at the end (definitely). Her teacher, Ms. Orness was great since Paige is a, uh-hem, challenging student. How many parents get a letter the first week :)
I am so proud of her. She will be going to Hutton in the Fall and even riding the bus with her friend, Sterling.

Easter

We enjoyed a quiet Easter at home. The girls awoke to the Easter Bunny leaving candy all over the house (I will need to have a chat with the Easter Bunny about next year and messes.) After getting all the candy, we went to church and then made a fabulous dinner of Prime Rib. Oma joined us too.

Hunting for Eggs

Our 5th annual Easter Egg Hunt was almost ruined by rain, which I guess is better than snow like last year. One of these years, it will actually be sunny and warm for Easter...oh wait...we live in Spokane where the weather can change hourly. But the kids don't care that it is snowing or raining or whatever, as long as there are eggs and candy everyone is happy!

Poor Belle...

Paige loves her kitty Belle. The cat is so patient and allows Paige to dress her up, put her in the stroller and shopping cart. During our winter snowstorm, she dragged the cat out and laid on her, rolled her around in the snow and tortured an indoor cat, outdoors.
So as I was doing my normal chores, I start to climb the stairs and Paige is holding Belle...like a baby. But wait not just like a baby but the cat was wearing a diaper and a onesie. Poor kitty. Seizing the moment, I told Paige that the cat was very unhappy (she was meowing, more like growling under her breath) but I wanted to get a picture of the cat, ou know for when Paige is older and I tell her how much she tortured the cat. The cat loves Paige so much and sleeps with her every night. When I go in to check on Paige, the cat meows at me, I think to let me know that Paige is okay.

Brynn's Hospital Visit

Brynn picked up a stomach bug and was sick all day Monday. She was still throwing up at 8pm when I called the doctor. Her blood sugars were holding steady at 200 but she wasn't keeping fluids down and hadn't gone to the bathroom in 9 hours. We headed over to Sacred Heart Pediatric ER. We were admitted because her ketones were very high and she didn't have any insulin to break down the sugars. They started her on IV fluids and she ate some yogurt and a popsicle. We were hoping to go home Tuesday but she developed a fever so we had to stay another night. By Wednesday afternoon she seemed to have her spirit back and running through the halls of the "doctor's house." She is slowly but surely returning to herself. The little bug hit her pretty hard. But she is our super trooper!

My pretty girls

We took a moment out and put on our Easter dresses and took pictures so that I could make Easter cards for the grandparents. Luckily the girls were in a picture taking mood and I got some great pictures.

Brynn's Crazy Outfits

Since Brynn started dressing herself about 8 months ago, she loves to change many times a day. Sometimes her outfits are little out there but at least she can take her clothes off and on by herself. Her are a few of her silly outfits.

Our Little Reader

Paige was a super reader for her class on Tuesday. That means she gets to go to the 4 year old class and read a book. Afterward she gets a certificate and "Super Reader" necklace. She is really beginning to get the reading thing. Sounding out words, looking at the pictures for context clues. She is almost done with Kindergarten and will be moving onto 1st grade at Hutton Elementary in the fall. My baby will be taking the bus to school. Sniff, sniff...while she is excited to go on the bus, I am a little nervous.

Potty Training

Brynn is, I would say, potty trained. She can go through several days in a row without an accident, but then sometimes when she is playing with Paige she will have an accident. She can also let me know when we are out running errands that she needs to go potty. But this is the dialogue we have when she comes downstairs in a new outfit:
"What happened to the clothes you had on?"
"I peed them," she replies
"Where did you pee them?"
"In my bedroom, on the floor."
"Are you supposed to go potty in the bedroom?"
"No, go potty in the toilet, don't go potty in me bedroom." (She is a wee bit Irish, ya know.)
So although she is doing great, I am soooo glad that we invested in one of those Spot Bot Cleaners from Bissell. That machine is a life saver when you have kids. I figure when we are through with potty training, sippy cups and playing kitchen with rela live water, we will have the carpets cleaned, until then, the little Spot Bot is getting a workout.

Aunt Courtney comes for a visit

Aunt Courtney came over from Seattle to visit her two cutest nieces, well they are her only nieces, so for now they hold the title for being the cutest. We enjoyed Olive Garden, shopping and a little Corned Beef and Cabbage. The girls love their Aunt Kiki!

Making Green Cupcakes

The girls and I got ready for St. Patrick's Day by baking some really tasty green cupcakes. We frosted and sprinkled them and then put them in the handy dandy cupcake holder from Grandma Janie. I think the girls did a fabulous job.

Beta Sigma Phi Valentine's Dance

Don and I attended the Beta Sigma Phi Valentine Dance. It was so much fun. We danced and danced! The best part of the evening is dressing up and having fun with my husband! I look forward to it every year.

Valentine's Day

Don had to work on Valentine's Day so we decided to have a picnic in the back of the van. The girls and I decorated it with heart garland, balloons, hearts and blankets. We bought a heart shaped pizza, bread sticks, grapes. We dressed up and went to Don's work and told him we were going out to dinner. She was very surprised when we went to the car and opened the back and there was a very decorated car. The girls were so excited to have a picnic in the car. We watched The Bee Movie and had a great valentine's day.

Happy New Year!!

After hanging out with friends on New Year's Eve (the girls stayed up until 1230am), we all slept in until 930am. It was splendid! We enjoyed breakfast, hockey and then an afternoon of sledding in our backyard and the six feet of snow. The girls had so much fun. Don enjoyed 2 days off and we had a great end to 2008 and fabulous start to 2009.

Merry Christmas

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home. Oma came over, after we got her unstuck on the big hill. It snowed of course and the girls played all day with their toys.