~Day 243: First Time Cracking Eggs...Step by Step.

Cailee helped Dad cook brunch today.  He showed her how to crack eggs and then just let her go on her own.

 

Deep concentration.

 

Just cracked it.

I got it!  And she did not get any shells in the bowl.

Eww... now it's on her fingers.  And yes, she licked her fingers.  We were not fast enough to stop her.  We have since explained you don't do that.  

She helped crack many more and was very proud of herself.  I was proud of her too!  I have a hard time letting my kids near eggs.  This proved me wrong.  They can do it.  Good job Beans.

~Day 242: Ohhhh the Personalities

I walked outside this morning and this was the view that greeted me.  She has quite the opinion of what she will wear and not wear.  This is her latest getup.  And she loves to pose..... as usual.

 

Both Cailee and Brookie got new jammies today.  They had to show them off.  Once BrookLynn started to pose, Cailee had to pose as well.  Love these girls.

~Day 241: Gauntlet #3 and the Photo Bomber

Ashton began book #3 tonight.  Two days after finishing book #2.  He was spurred on by the revelation that his dad finished book 2 before him.  We keep giving him a bad time that he didn't want to read the books. He is adamant that he just wants to finish the challenge.... Sure sure.  He also has extra incentive, in that his aunt Alissa has taken up the challenge as well.  She started a few days and a book behind, but Ashton loves the competition.  Ashton is certain he can remain ahead of her.  We shall see.  This is turning into such a fun thing to watch!

Ashton is relaxing after school. And Brookie sure loves the camera.  

Cailee is enjoying her corn on the cob.  Lounging on my chair.  Brookie wanted to be in the shot too. So there she is.

~Day 240: Bunco in Hawaii

Bunco #8.  Great night!  Hawaiian theme.  Lots of laughs tonight.  Hello Kitty was the 'ghost.'  The ghost really hated me, I think, because I didn't win much when it was my partner.  But the best was when our new member, Stella, was trying to roll sevens... Her line was: "Is it sevens now?"  

Think about it.  What number does the die go up to? 

~Day 239: No Glasses; More Gauntlet

This morning Cailee had her 6 year health check up.  I had them check her vision.  They said one eye was 20/30 and the other was 20/50!  Holy crap that is bad.  

I have been a little concerned with Cailee's vision ever since her Kindergarten teacher said she got really close to the papers she was reading.  She continued to monitor her, but nothing was ever really wrong. 

So I got her in this afternoon to be checked with an eye doc and turns out she is more like 20/25.  Hmm.  So after having her do several tests, dilation among them, she looked good.  What a relief.  She was excited to get new glasses (or get a cute case to carry them in) but she was also ok with not getting them.  I'm sure glad she is not getting them.

She fell asleep on the way home... poor tired girl.

The Gauntlet: Book 2- 

Ashton is keeping up with the Harry Potter bargain he made with Nick.  He is already finished with book one, and Nick brought him book two.  He wasn't sure he was going to read it, but he is already pretty invested in it.  Love this little man and his reading!  (He started book one on the 24th.  He beat Nick and finished the book first.  No surprise there. He would have been done sooner if school and sleep did not get in the way.  He is a fast reader!)

~Day 238: Not only no...

....but hell no.

Saw this in the grocery store today.  The top picture should explain how I feel about this.  It's August!

~Day 237: My face is attached.....

.... to my body.  That was Cailee's big announcement.  I'm so glad she figured that out.  I was worried for a minute...

The Goof.

~Day 236: The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown Down

Ashton is reading Harry Potter  Finally.  We have been trying to get him to read the series forever.  He is stuck on Rick Riordan books and anything mythology, which is fine.  But we have been having a difficult time expanding his repertoire. (we had this issue with his reading of encyclopedias and non-fiction books.  then he discovered mythology and Riordan)

I am excited that he loves to read to so much, but I know he would like to read something else once in awhile if he would give it a try.  Nick challenged Ashton tonight to read Harry Potter.  Nick said that he would also read the book at the same time, and they would race to finish it.  After they are done, they would have a movie night and watch the movie to see how different it was from the book.

We will see how long this challenge goes on.

~Day 235: Jeez! What's in this?

Nick was out taking pictures of his sister and her hubby tonight.  (Pregnancy pics!  so excited!) Nick has a large 'mobile' golf bag he found that has wheels on it.  He has most of his camera equipment in that bag.  That means his heavy lights, heavy light stands, sand bags, etc.  Heavy, expensive stuff (except for the sand). So this bag is fabulous because it makes it easier to take all of his equipment to each photo shoot.

The kids heard daddy come home and went out to help him bring in his equipment.  This is the view that greeted me.

Above: Ashton is trying to show us he can lift heavy stuff like his sisters.  Brookie thinks that looking backwards will give her more strength, while laughing hysterically.  And Cailee can't decide if she wants to finish her chicken nugget or carry the bag.

Below:  Ashton is laughing because this scene really is hilarious and BrookLynn looks scary.  Brookie looks like she is in pain, or is that guy on Raiders of the Lost Ark whose face explodes when he looks into the Ark.  And Cailee finally got her chicken nugget stuffed into her mouth AND is able to help carry.

I sure love the personalities on these monkeys!

~Day 234: Twinners and Triplets

 

Tonight was the school's health fair.  Cailee had been bugging me all week to let them go.  The ONLY reason she wanted to go was to get her face painted.  The girls changed their minds over and over again about what was going to be painted on their faces. And their arms.

BrookLynn always meets friends wherever she goes.  Tonight she ran into Avery.  The three stood in line together and ended up getting the same things.  They are all kitties.  They all have Olaf on their right arms.  And they all have sparkly snowflakes on the left arms.

The girls ran together tonight all over the gym.  With each table we stopped at, we seemed to add another girl to our brood.  Someone asked me if all 5 of them were mine... oh heavens no.  My hair has enough grays with three....

~Day 233: Sillies

 

Cailee said something really funny.  So I decided to take her picture.  BrookLynn wanted to be in it, so it took several shots to get the perfect photo bomb.  And now I can't remember what cute thing Cailee said that inspired me to take her picture... crap.

~Day 232: Busy Busy

BrookLynn is busy doing her homework.  She is usually pretty excited to do it.   I hope she is still excited six months into school.

Ashton is busy playing his mythology game.  Anything mythology, he loves.  Today the game rolled out a new god... a Mayan god.  He always concentrates so hard.  He is very enthusiastic to learn new things.

~Day 231: That's It

Another Pack Meeting rolls around tonight.  Ashton received one award.  After the cub master gave him that award, Ashton stood there for a minute, like he was waiting for another award.  The cub master said, "That's it!" It was funny.

 

Cailee and I were trying to be entertained while things were set up for the night's activities.

Brookie had to go sit with the other girls.  The social little one.

~Day 230: Music Therapy

I just played the piano for an hour tonight...Very rare for me for the last few years. Ok, more than a few.  A lot of years.  It's so therapeutic.  I wasn't playing anything hard.  I was playing old familiar flowy and soothing songs.  The kids were getting ready for bed.  And then kids were hopefully sleeping in their bed through the 'noise.'  But I kept playing anyway.   I don't do that enough.   I hope my kids decide they want to continue learning and also enjoy it, without me forcing them to. 

I remember laying in bed at night when I was younger and listening to my mom or dad play and I would fall asleep to that.  I guess I was hoping my kids were doing the same tonight.  They kind of had a rough night.  All of us had a rough night.  I hope the music soothed them even a little bit.  I know it helped me.   I love my monkeys.

~Day 229: Sunday Storm

Tonight we got a pretty good storm.  We stood outside for a long time watching it roll in.  It was pretty fascinating to watch the clouds and lightening and dust.  It started to sprinkle and the girls were trying to catch rain drops in their mouths.

Nick stole Cailee and ran out in the rain with her.  She has a cute little squeal.  I was out in the rain too.  Those raindrops were huge.  I even played in the puddles for a minute, before the lightening got worse.  I love the rain.

Of course the kids had to get out their umbrellas and walk in the rain.  Ashton was worried the wind would blow his umbrella away...the wind was blowing pretty good.

The kids have been dying to see "Muppets Most Wanted."  Earlier this afternoon we watched it... at least I did.  The girls kept jumping around on the new bean bags and Ashton was playing a game online.  I thought it was a cute movie.  But then I have always loved the Muppets.  Nick ditched us and watched something on his own in the bedroom.  He is not a fan of them.  He just doesn't know what he is missing.

~Day 228: Eventful Day

 

The girls started the day going to a birthday party at the movie theater.  I stayed with them and we saw the new "Planes" movie.  It was cute!  We took their friend Lucy with us to the next phase of the party.  They went to their friend's house for presents and cupcakes.  I think they had fun!

Then they were able to play with their other friend Joslyn.  They each have a Build-A-Bear pony and love to play dress-up and fashion show with them.  Later in the afternoon they were all invited to go play at Lucy's house for a couple of hours.  They had a very eventful day! Now they are sound asleep.  Good night.

~Day 227: Learning to Sew

For a long time, BrookLynn has been making her own doll or stuffed animal clothes with material and... tape.  I told her she needed to learn how to make clothes with a needle and thread.  Am I the ideal candidate to teach her?  Nope.  But I think I know enough to get her by.

I started her on plastic canvas and yarn, because of the larger size holes.  I thought she should learn to use a needle first.  Of course Cailee wanted to learn.  So I have both girls learning to use a needle while they stitch letters of the alphabet.  It's fun to watch them learn something new, and to see their concentration. 

~Day 226: Day Sky/Night Sky

 

Tonight the sky had an interesting color to it.  It was not dark, but it was not light.   At first we thought it was a dust storm coming in.  But it wasn't.  It was kind of a muted light.  I don't know how to describe it.  It was pretty neat.

The girls came outside and were observing the sky.  To the east, the sky was very dark.  To the west, it was very bright.  They called it Day and Night Sky.  Brookie is pointing to the Night and Cailee is pointing to the Day.

This picture kind of shows the differences in the sky.  It was very pretty.  I felt like I was surrounded by a blanket or pillows or something.  It was peaceful.

~Day 225: The Dictionary Was Broken

BrookLynn had the assignment tonight to use the dictionary to look up her spelling words to find out what they meant.  She was excited to learn to use the dictionary.  I thought she was getting the hang of it.  She came to word 'zip.'  She couldn't find it.  I tried to tell her again how to look it up.  Again she said she couldn't find it.

I took the book to prove to her it was in there.  What dictionary didn't have the word 'zip?'  She was right!  It wasn't there!  What kind of broken dictionary doesn't have the small word 'zip?'

We went and got another dictionary.  That one wasn't broken.  I felt bad that I didn't believe her.  I'm glad to know that we shouldn't use that dictionary anymore.  It made a liar out of me...

~Day 224: I like it!!

 

We had another monsoon storm today.  Cailee has been dying to play in the rain, but we always seem to miss the good storms.  Finally today she was rewarded for her patience.  We went out and played in the rain!  She told me, "I like it!"

 

It was pretty windy out.  Brookie couldn't quite get her hood on and her hair was whipping all over the place.  It was fun.

 

I made Ashton go outside before he went to scouts.  The rain was coming down and it was a little chilly.

Watching the storm roll in... I love seeing the walls of dust.

~Day 223: And so it begins...

 

First day of piano lessons.  Both Cailee and Brookie have never had lessons before.  They were so excited to start.  It's been too long... should have began much, much sooner.

Brookie couldn't wait to get home and practice already.  I'm so glad they are excited about learning.  I hope it lasts.  I'm not looking forward to the fights... and I know they will come.

I feel bad I didn't get a picture of Ashton playing.  He is excited as well.  He already has the plan to practice in the mornings before school.  I'm excited to see where this goes.

~Day 222: Creating at its best.

 

Brookie spent a lot of time in her room today.  This is one of the things she came up with.  It is her own shopping cart.  She used different items she found in the house and put them together.

 

Later she and Cailee took over another part of the house.  They crossed off the entrance into the kitchen to make the finish line for the races their toys were having.  It was hard to get a shot of the white finish line writing, but it says (in their words): "hanted race trake.  be ware  gousts live here.  be war be war." They even made their own stop and go flags.  Love their imaginations!