Little Seamstress

With Emily's birthday approaching, I was busy working on a pennant for her birthday party one afternoon.  Kari came over and asked to use some of my scraps to "sew" with.  Well, this evolved into a wonderful little idea to make Emily a gift!  Kari came up with it all on her own--a pillow with felt flowers sewn onto it.  It was seewwww cute (yes, I'm so punny!).

 We looked up an easy tutorial on YouTube and got to work!  We did most of the work at home and then went to my mom's on Saturday to use her sewing machine and finish it up.

Here's the finished product!  She was so proud.  It was so much fun to do this project with Kari and spend some quality one-on-one time together.  (And, Emily LOVED it!)

Do Gooder

 This sweet girl goes to a wonderful preschool.  It's attached to an assisted living center.  Every now and then the classes go over to "the Village" and read stories or sing songs with the elderly people living there.

One afternoon, children from the various classes were invited to go sing some holiday songs.  One of Kari's sweet friends' moms offered to bring Kari as I wasn't going to be able to take her (both Juliana and Britta take naps in the afternoon).  Kari was so excited to go and all of the kids had a wonderful time.

The "singers" and their teachers.

Kari and her good friend, Ella

Bath time Fun!

As the weather has gotten chillier, we've had to get a bit more creative in the afternoons so the kids won't get too stir crazy and fight (well, more than they already do anyway).  So, one day I broke out the shaving cream and let the little girls have some fun "painting" in the bath.

 Then, not to be left out, the big kids wanted in on the fun!  (Bathing suits were required for them as they are getting older!)

 It was fun being "sneaky" and watching them play and really enjoying themselves.

Sisters, Sisters (like the song)

The littles and I get to spend a lot of time together and both Kari and Juliana have become quite photo happy.  "Take a picture of us, Mommy!"  And, of course, I comply!  They're just too cute!

 I know that in 5 years, these girls will do everything together.  Then, in 10-15 years they may not want to do anything together.  But then, in 20 years, they'll be as close as ever!  Gotta' love sisters!

More Funny Ju Ju

 Our little Juliana has quite the personality.  This was evident one morning at the library.  She got VERY upset with me because I told her we had to go to story time first before we could pick out books and movies.  (This was because we got there later than planned since a certain two-yr old, being two, likes to dawdle).

I finally got her settled down, but that didn't mean that she was pleased with me.  She decided that yes, she would participate in the story time songs, but no, she wasn't going to be happy about it.

"If you're happy and you know it...clap your hands??"  Right Ju Ju??

How Do You Watch TV?

Yeah, pretty sure she won't be too happy with me for posting this when she's a teen, but it's just too funny (and cute!) not to!

First (real) Bath

 Britt'a first real bath came a bit later than her siblings ever did.  (She'd previously only had sponge baths.)  Maybe it was because she's the fifth child and we were super busy.  But, I mostly held off because I wanted to make sure she was big enough for a bath and it would be a pleasant experience for her, rather than scary.

And, it did turn out (and continues) to be a pleasant experience!  Of course, our resident Little Mother, Kari, was right there to help out.  So cute!

We love nakies and bathtime!!

Pretty Little Dancer

Kari is continuing in dance this year.  She is such a pretty little dancer!  I got to go to visitor's night in November and watch her and her little class.  So cute!

 Kari has such pretty turn-out and pointed toes!

 STRETCH!!!

 She had her very own cheering section.  Juliana sat soooo still (a BIG change from last year) and it was also Britta's first time to dancing too :-).

 Kari's teacher, Mary Lorraine (also the studio's owner), does a wonderful job of engaging the girls and showing them what they need to be doing.

 Keeping the attention of all those little 3-5 yr olds is a lot of work!

She smiles!

At the beginning of November, Britta started smiling!!!  Thus, all of your hard work begins to be rewarded because no matter how hard and long your day has been, once you see that little smile, it's all worth it.  They are THAT wonderful.

Switch Witch

What do you do with all of that Halloween candy??  Technically, we could let the kids eat it (or, let's be honest, be sneaky and eat most of it yourself.)  But, having seen what the sugar rush does to my kids' behavior and, having just had a baby and wanting to lose weight, we had to get the candy out of our house FAST.  Enter the Switch Witch.

See, the kids all pick out their 10 favorite pieces of candy.  Then, we put the rest in a bag on the front porch a night or two after Halloween.  Then, the "Switch Witch" comes and takes the candy and leaves a toy for each child.  Now, when I first broached this idea with the kids, I was sure they wouldn't go for it.  Boy, was I wrong!  They jumped all over it and were so excited.  Even Christian, who hoards his candy and still has some from LAST Halloween.  (Never underestimate the power of a new toy!)

So, the kids were very excited the next morning.  The Switch Witch was smart and brought craft-type toys to keep everyone occupied most of Sunday morning.  (Cue the heavens opening and the Hallelujah chorus.)

We will definitely be taking the Switch Witch up on her offer next year!

Halloween Havoc

Christian's soccer team played in a BIG soccer tournament the weekend before Halloween.  Teams from all over Nebraska came for the fun--it was incredible!  (And the weather was incredible too so that made for an enjoyable Saturday for all!)  In keeping with the Halloween festivities, many of the kids, Christian included, painted their faces and spray-painted their hair.

Christian's team, Galaxy.  He's the last one on the right.  His best bud, Sullivan, is next to him.

Christian and his biggest cheerleader, Kari.
(She was a tad sad bc she wasn't allowed to be in the above team picture.)

 Here are some "action" shots.  Christian does very well at goalie!

Taking a big warm-up kick!

 The pictures below are of the other team taking a shot on goal (with Christian playing goalie).  He made the save!

Here's a cool shot of Sullivan (with Christian in goal).

 The team played well and the kids all had fun!  We love watching Christian play and improve his skills.  Go Evolution!

"Juliana's" Halloween Party

Juliana and Miss Mary, the story time librarian

 Juliana had been hearing so much about the big kids' school Halloween parties.  So, when I told her that we were going to the library for a special story time and trick-or-treating, she was super excited to go to "her" party!

Our library does a wonderful job of planning this event and a LOT of people show up.  After the story time, the kids all trick-or-treat through the library and then head outside to go trick-or-treat at the local businesses in downtown Papillion.  Sooo nice--we're so lucky to live in such a great town!

Here's our beauty doing the "Itsy-bitsy spider"

And here she is doing, "Slippery Fish," one of her favorites.