Beautiful Start to the Day

This is the scene that greeted me Monday morning when I arrived at school. With such a beautiful sunrise the day just has to be awesome.

A fun time

The girls and I were able to spend the day together. We started the morning by heading to McDonalds to pick up breakfast for Dad and take it to him at the high school. Of course, we had to have some also. After this we headed to Davenport. 1st stop was Scrapaganza to pick up the items from the classes we missed last week due to the car being down. I had forgotten that they were starting make and takes on Saturday morning so both girls were able to make a card and an ornament.

When they finished Mom was able to look around for a while and create a short wish list to give loved ones for Christmas. If you bring in the list on the paper from the store they will give the person buying a 15% discount. From here we went to Build a Bear (see earlier post) and then check out the Disney Store. After this we headed to the far end of the mall to see Santa (of course) and also to do a little shopping at Bears, Bobbles and More (yes presents for Kurt but shhhh don't tell him, it is a secret) After this back to the food court for lunch. The girls love eating at Chick Fli A. As we were walking back to the entrance where we came in at Kristen saw a cow (okay not a real one, but the one from Chick Fli A) She had to have her picture taken with him. The cow's handler then handed me a coupon for a free meal with purchase. Where were they 30 minutes ago? We left the mall and headed to Dancer's closet but they were closed so headed instead to Old Navy to spend a gift certificate that Sarah had received for her birthday. Even though she is picky she was able to find about 4 different sweaters that she will wear. Kristen is not near as picky but very fashion conscious and she also found an outfit that she thought was cute. From here a quick trip to Michaels where I was able to pick up a couple of items for my secret pal. We decide at this point to head back home making a short stop at Scrappin For Keep in Eldridge. I just discovered this store and even though they are not as friendly as Scrapaganza they have a large store with a slightly different selection of items. Handed Sarah the keys and we left to go home. Decided about half way home that we would stop and see Dad. He already knew that Sarah was driving as someone from DeWitt was on the way down to Clinton for the basketball game and told him that they passed his family but his wife was in the passenger seat and his daughter was driving. They did say not to worry as she was going the speed limit and they were driving a little fast. Stayed for 1/2 a game and then left to get the car unpacked and dad's presents hid before he gets home. Everyone enjoys having days like this together.

Build a Bear the sequel

Both girls received gift certificates for Build a Bear from Kurt's sisters for their birthdays. The original plan was to go down last Saturday and pick out a new friend but a broken water pump put a damper on that. We were able to get down there this morning and the girls had a blast picking out their new friends. Kristen even took her bear "Kristen" with her so that her first build a bear could pick out it's new sister. As you can see both girls had a blast. Thanks again to Aunt Jean and family and Aunt Ardith and family you gave the girls a great morning out.

Black Friday

Wow, I didn't realize that it has been so long since I posted. I have been swamped and very tired at night so just didn't take the time.

The Friday after Thanksgiving I always get up and go shopping. In the past I did it simply because it was one of the few times a year I could go without children. I always had to be home by 7:30 so that Kurt could leave for practice. Last year Sarah, as a teen , was allowed to get up and go with me. I still can't believe that she actually helped me pick out a present for her and had no idea. Not so this year. I wanted a new camera (with no lag time and a few other options) and she also wanted a camera. Walmart had several on sale and after finding out ahead of time what they were and researching the camera online I picked out two. A simple one for Sarah and then one for me. Sarah was actually able to get closer to the pallets than I was with the cart so she is the one who actually grabbed both camera's. She then had the gall to ask me if the one was for her. She knew that I had been eyeing the other camera and that I wanted a better camera. I did make her promise to be surprised Christmas Eve when we open presents. She is becoming a good shopper thanks to excursions like this. She is quickly learning to check prices and that not everything is a good buy. After leaving Walmart (I did pick up a few other things for other members of the family) we went to Kohl's. I only had a couple of things that I wanted to check on here, but after spending 45 minutes in the checkout lane I found a few things for Kurt for Christmas. After this Sarah wanted to check out Target, we walked in, she quickly found an item for 1.oo that she thought would be cute for her sister but then saw the line and decided that she didn't need the item and that it wasn't worth standing in line for that long. We wrapped up the day of shopping with breakfast at McDonalds and was home by 7:00 in the morning. All in all a good day.

Happy Birthday to ?

Last night we celebrated 3 birthdays. Sarah's was last month, but she is getting so busy with band and 4-H that it was hard to find a time for her birthday. I was having a hard time finding a date when Kurt's sister Ardith came up with the perfect solution. She said that there was no reason that Sarah couldn't share Austin and Kristen's party. Austin and Kristen's birthdays are only 6 days apart so we have been celebrating their special days together. It is much easier than trying to get together twice in a little over a weeks time. It also helps that the kids are such good friends. Kristen and Austin are just a year apart but have so many things in
common. Both kids love to color and create things. They could probably spend hours coloring. Austin is Kurt's sister Ardith's youngest son. She also has another boy Zachary. Both boys also love Sarah. She is just old enough that she can do things they can't and I think they look up to her a little bit because of it. Zach was asking Sarah what it was like to be able to drive. You could tell that he was already thinking about how fun it would be when he gets his permit in four years.
Kurt's older sister Jean and her husband Marv, his older brother Dean and my Mom were also there. Kurt's dad wasn't able to make it last night. The kids had a blast and now can't wait to go to Build A Bear. They wanted to head down to Davenport right after church today. Thanks Aunt Jean and Aunt Ardith.
Kristen was also thrilled to receive what she calls Older girl gifts. She is thinking that maybe she is growing up and able to do some older girl things. We gave her a CD player/AM/FM Radio, a Disney Jam's CD, and an Ariel

colorng desk. From Grandma she received a couple pair of earrings, and a bath set. She loves getting bath things as she is then like her older sister. She also received a pair of pig earrings from Ardith, Carl, and the boys. (Pigs are her favorite animal)

Sarah received a couple pair of earrngs from Ardith and family, and then from Grandma she received a gift certificate to Old Navy (she loves to shop there), a bracelet, and a Secret Keepers book.
Uncle Dean gave both girls some money. Thanks Uncle Dean.
Austin loved the football and Aguadots that we gave him. After opening presents the younger two had a blast creating designs and coloring pictures.

Thanks to all family members for a wonderful time together and the great gifts for the girls.

Trick or Treat

Kristen has been so excited this year as Halloween neared. For some reason she decided to be a dancer. This saved me much time and money since I didn't have to buy the material and sew the costume. All we had to do was send Kristen down to the basement and have her pick out an old costume that would fit her. Since Halloween was on a Wednesday this year the school party was very short. Once I was home from school, I took Kristen to HyVee. They have always had trick or treat at the store before the city's trick or treat time. The best part of trick or treating her is no candy. She got chips, cookies, apples, a balloon. After HyVee we came home. Everyone quickly ate supper and then Kristen had to put on some clothes underneath her costume. She wasn't happy, but it was cold and I would prefer keeping her warm and healthy versus cold. After trick or treating on Myra and Thorwaldsen Kristen was more than happy to come home. Myra was packed and when we went over a block to Thorwaldsen, they were saying that Kristen was the first one they had seen and it was an hour after trick or treat started. The entire time that I was out with Kristen, Sarah was at home handing out the candy from our house. I think she had a blast. It seems like she would much rather hand out candy than trick or treat anymore. Not sure what will happen next year as the 31st is on a Friday.