Enjoy!
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Ronnie came to visit!
Since we have moved to Arizona, we have not had many visitors. However, Ronnie's work provided a conference for him in Scottsdale, and that meant that we got to visit! We had a great time catching up. I only wish we had more time to spend together, that the random rainstorm didn't come while he was here, and that we could've seen the rest of his cute little family. While I didn't get the camera out for pictures, I did capture this spontaneous fun Ronnie had on the trampoline during a break from his conference and a break in the weather...
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Chess
Kara joined her school's Chess team... she's been going to tournaments. This past Thursday was at the Jr High closest to our house (although it's not the one she attends). I decided to go and watch her play.
She is new to the game of Chess, and like most things she feels a lot more confident than maybe she ought to be. She has a hard time being patient enough to think through her moves, so in tournament play she rushes and has not had much success.
However, this tournament was a little different. It was the first tournament after she had been working with her Russian Chess champion coach, Nikolai. I helped remind her of some of the strategies she was taught by Nikolai. She came away with her first win in a tournament! :) Her smiling face says how excited she was to finally win in a tournament setting!
She is new to the game of Chess, and like most things she feels a lot more confident than maybe she ought to be. She has a hard time being patient enough to think through her moves, so in tournament play she rushes and has not had much success.
However, this tournament was a little different. It was the first tournament after she had been working with her Russian Chess champion coach, Nikolai. I helped remind her of some of the strategies she was taught by Nikolai. She came away with her first win in a tournament! :) Her smiling face says how excited she was to finally win in a tournament setting!
over 10 years in the making...
I finally finished Brooke's baby blanket!
I was excited while we were expecting Brooke to know ahead of time that she would be a girl... that meant that I could skip the gender neutral colors that I used for Kara's baby blanket. However, in doing this project, I learned that I like working on projects that are all one piece, even if you have to change colors. This blanket required making 35 octagons, 20 squares, stitching them together, then filling in the gaps and putting on a border. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was still working and put on bedrest. Having a 2 year old at home didn't help much. I finished the octagons, but put the blanket away to finish another time before I was all the way done.
Fast forward a couple of years... I found the pieces to the blanket, but I had lost the pattern book. I tried searching craft stores and online for it for the next couple of years, but had no luck. At one point I decided I would stitch together the octagons and make up my own pattern from there. I got stuck and frustrated and put it back away.
Two moves later, I found the pattern again! And the pieces! So finally last week I set out to finish this... Brooke was very excited to see me working on it!
And here are the pictures of the finished blanket! I'm going to wash it and then Brooke can enjoy it! One more seriously old project that's finished nagging me!
I was excited while we were expecting Brooke to know ahead of time that she would be a girl... that meant that I could skip the gender neutral colors that I used for Kara's baby blanket. However, in doing this project, I learned that I like working on projects that are all one piece, even if you have to change colors. This blanket required making 35 octagons, 20 squares, stitching them together, then filling in the gaps and putting on a border. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was still working and put on bedrest. Having a 2 year old at home didn't help much. I finished the octagons, but put the blanket away to finish another time before I was all the way done.
Fast forward a couple of years... I found the pieces to the blanket, but I had lost the pattern book. I tried searching craft stores and online for it for the next couple of years, but had no luck. At one point I decided I would stitch together the octagons and make up my own pattern from there. I got stuck and frustrated and put it back away.
Two moves later, I found the pattern again! And the pieces! So finally last week I set out to finish this... Brooke was very excited to see me working on it!
And here are the pictures of the finished blanket! I'm going to wash it and then Brooke can enjoy it! One more seriously old project that's finished nagging me!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Happy Halloween!
I sometimes surprise myself with how long I go between blog postings. I have some updates for the past two months to do, but for now, we'll start with Halloween day (more postings later will come with carving of pumpkins, Trunk or Treat, Jeff's class party... they'll be dated earlier, so scroll backwards for those updates later!).
This year Kara wanted to be a "dark fairy" and had to dictate much about how to make her tutu and how her eye makeup should be done. Brooke let us keep it simple and chose a costume on clearance we found a couple of months ago. Even Kara agrees that Brooke made the cutest Little Red Riding Hood ever! Amber was a hot dog once again and stole all of the attention while trick or treating with the girls. Jeff even got in on the act this year - other teachers at his school convinced him he needed to dress up and get the kids excited (which completely worked!). He was kind of a tough guy... I'm not sure what to call his costume for sure, but the kids loved it!
Some pictures:
This year Kara wanted to be a "dark fairy" and had to dictate much about how to make her tutu and how her eye makeup should be done. Brooke let us keep it simple and chose a costume on clearance we found a couple of months ago. Even Kara agrees that Brooke made the cutest Little Red Riding Hood ever! Amber was a hot dog once again and stole all of the attention while trick or treating with the girls. Jeff even got in on the act this year - other teachers at his school convinced him he needed to dress up and get the kids excited (which completely worked!). He was kind of a tough guy... I'm not sure what to call his costume for sure, but the kids loved it!
Some pictures:
Jeff's Class Halloween Party
I have to say that Jeff is the most awesome 1st grade teacher ever! At least his class thought so after this awesome Halloween day at school! It was a modified day, so the kids were at school a shorter amount of time than a normal school day. In the morning, the kids came in, colored a fun Halloween packet, played a fun Jack-o-Latern game with their spelling words, and decorated treat bags for the party in the afternoon. Some of these kids are refugees or homeless and did not come to school with a costume. They all wanted to go on the costume parade, so I brought in some face paints and painted (poorly in some cases) the kids who wanted face paint so they could participate. It was a blast! I hope I'll be able to go in to school with Jeff every year and make it a tradition!
After the parade, the kids went to lunch. When they came back from lunch, we broke out all of the treats the kids brought to share, along with some treats from Mr. Stevens. They enjoyed their treats, watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, and then it was time to go home. Some of the kids were so excited! And they loved Mr. Stevens costume! Although many of them found not the hairdo or the fake tattoos strange at all (I guess since most of their parents have those things?), but the black nails were the funniest part to them. Those nails were the idea of Kara & Brooke. The principal thought Jeff's costume was awesome... so much so that he took a picture of him and posted it to the school's facebook page!
Here are some pictures of the fun!
After the parade, the kids went to lunch. When they came back from lunch, we broke out all of the treats the kids brought to share, along with some treats from Mr. Stevens. They enjoyed their treats, watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, and then it was time to go home. Some of the kids were so excited! And they loved Mr. Stevens costume! Although many of them found not the hairdo or the fake tattoos strange at all (I guess since most of their parents have those things?), but the black nails were the funniest part to them. Those nails were the idea of Kara & Brooke. The principal thought Jeff's costume was awesome... so much so that he took a picture of him and posted it to the school's facebook page!
Here are some pictures of the fun!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Pumpkin Carving
So we forgot about buying pumpkins until the last minute this year. I guess it's what happens when the kids get older and they don't pester me every two minutes about when we're going to carve them. We had to take what we could find, which wasn't much. The pumpkins were all going a little soft and were larger than we wanted, but beggars can't be choosers, right? The kids still had fun...
Jeff did not plan on doing a pumpkin this year, but then remembered that he had a teacher once who brought a carved one in to school and lit it when we was in first or second grade. He remembered how awesome it was to see it all lit up in his class and how excited he got over it. He decided he wanted to be able to do the same thing for the kids in his class, so he picked a pattern (which was VERY hard) and away he went.
This year the kids did not need any help scraping out the insides (until Brooke got rashy on her arms at the end, then I finished scraping it for her), transferring the patterns over, or carving. I got to relax while they were all busy... it was great!
Jeff's was a haunted house, Brooke's was a silly face, and Kara's was a mummy. I think they all turned out really cool!
Here are some pictures of the scraping, carving, finished pieces before being lit up, and the finished pieces all lit up:
Jeff did not plan on doing a pumpkin this year, but then remembered that he had a teacher once who brought a carved one in to school and lit it when we was in first or second grade. He remembered how awesome it was to see it all lit up in his class and how excited he got over it. He decided he wanted to be able to do the same thing for the kids in his class, so he picked a pattern (which was VERY hard) and away he went.
This year the kids did not need any help scraping out the insides (until Brooke got rashy on her arms at the end, then I finished scraping it for her), transferring the patterns over, or carving. I got to relax while they were all busy... it was great!
Jeff's was a haunted house, Brooke's was a silly face, and Kara's was a mummy. I think they all turned out really cool!
Here are some pictures of the scraping, carving, finished pieces before being lit up, and the finished pieces all lit up:
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Trunk or Treat
We have been fortunate to move in to an area where our church group puts on a fun fall family event, this year combined with a trunk or treat! There were bounce houses, games, food, and then once it got dark, the trunk or treating began (like trick or treating, but the kids go from car to car to get the treats). There was also a sounds system playing fun music for dancing, which Kara got into! A little girl was off to the side and it was fun to watch her mimic Kara's dance moves!
Some pictures of the fun!
Some pictures of the fun!
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