Caitlyn Quote

Caitlyn, listening to the radio, not so long ago as you might think...:), "Oh! Is it 'Meteorologist Matt Hinkin?!?' All this time I have been thinking it was 'meteorologist man Hinkin.'"

Bwahahahaha. This totally cracked me up.

Keegan Quote

"Well, you don't have to worry about being bound and gagged because Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys always un-gag themselves right away."

11th Birthday Party!

Kelsey turned eleven and had a ...

She had a lot of fun picking and choosing games and checking out Pinterest for ideas :).
After much thought, the invitations...

it was between this one, one that looked like a tickets and a message in a balloon.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For games, we decided on Duck Wars, Plinko, Car Race, Ball Toss, and a couple of others.

We played "Guess how many gummy bears are in the jar?"....

...which Kelsey ended up winning!

Seventy-one gummy bears,if you wondered :). She guessed sixty-five. Most kids guessed around fifty.

Brooklin guessed three :).

As people arrived, they picked up a bag which contained one ticket for each game, plus two extras, so they could replay their favorites.

They made their guess for the candy jar, then went downstairs

 to start the games! At each game, each girl could win a number of tickets.



The ball toss was pretty popular. The top row was worth ten tickets, with various values for green, purple, and sides, down to one ticket for the bottom row.

 







The cars were powered by balloons, which Caitlyn repeatedly inflated :). Unfortunately, one car fizzled out about halfway through the games, so we substituted an extra game of Duck Wars for some guests.


 

High five!

We had fun making the Plinko board! It was peppered with golf tees to make the discs' descents unpredictable.

 

 

In Duck Wars, two people each had a squirt bottle. The goal was to move the duck to the other end of the container. Whoever got the duck to touch the other end won that round.



After all these tickets had been played, we had one final game - starring Sweetie The Birthday Dog. We adapted this idea from a book we had read. Each person chose a dog treat and placed it on the floor next to a ticket with her name on it.

 Then I brought down Sweetie (who had been in a bedroom to prevent her from getting too excited,) turned her in a circle, then let her go. The girls whose treats she ate first won tickets.

 

Sweetie thought this was a great game!

 

Then it was time to count and redeem tickets!

 

 

 

 

Finally, we ate...

 

 

 

....and opened presents!

 

Kelsey is always so appreciative and gives everyone hugs :).

 

This picture is missing Brooklin, Elayna, and Olivia, but I love it, anyway.
Such a great group of girls!

I am so thankful for the good friends Kelsey has and for everyone who made her birthday so much fun.

 

Happy birthday, Kelse!

Sweet moment

I love this picture!

 

 

I already posted this on Facebook,but I love it and wanted to post it here, too :). So, sorry if you've seen it before (but not really because it's worth seeing twice ;).

Brooklin was being a monster, "scaring" Kelsey.

Such a cute moment between two precious girls.

Kelsey Quote

Caitlyn, talking about a family get together, "...and I had a whole conversation with Uncle Junior."
Kelsey, "You mean Uncle junior was there?"

Caitlyn Quote

"Look at that truck! [pick-up truck painted all over with deer antlers] No wonder it's for sale."

Caitlyn Quote

When Caitlyn dances, no surprise, I take pictures. Instead of admiring my lovely dancing daughter, she has a tendency to use my wonderful pictures to critique herself. Looking through some pictures I took of her dress rehearsal, she commented, with feeling, "Oh. I will definitely cross my sous-sus tomorrow."

Kelsey's kid of the 2000's Quote

Kelsey, answering a workbook question about where to locate certain information, "I think the answer they are looking for is 'almanac,' but personally, I think Google would be quicker."

Brooklin Quote

"This bunny needs to go to jail because he's a bad bunny."

Random Catching Up

*On April Fool's Day, Kelsey set the clocks forward one hour, then innocently commented (as I do nearly every day,) "Boy, this morning sure has gone by quickly," causing me to quickly glance up at the clock, then gasp in dismay. She totally got me on that one.
Caitlyn fixed Kelsey's hair in a nice bun, then pinned a Christmas tree barrette on the back of it.
Kelsey put (all natural, non-petroleum based :) RED food coloring in Keegan's water bottle for soccer.

*You know those great friends that I keep being so excited about? Well, not so great  news about some of them... since we moved, a little over a year ago, we became fast friends with an awesome family. Their daughters were Keegan's and Kelsey's great friends, and the mom was my great friend. We love them! They moved away  :(. That stinks. We are so glad we got to have great-friend-almost-neighbors for a year. We are glad for them that they got to move back to their previous home. We are glad the dad has a great job. But the leaving stinks. Blevins family, you rock!

*My niece, Laura, and her husband, Mike, parents of the much adored Brooklin are moving away this month. And they are taking Brooklin with them. This stinks. We are proud of Mike's promotion. We are so glad we have gotten to spend time with Brooklin regularly and get to know her better this past year! But the leaving stinks :(.

*This is altogether too much leaving. It stinks. A lot. I am instituting a new rule that no one we love can move away from us. And perhaps that the people we love whom we left when we moved here must move close to us now. This is simply a heads up so no one is surprised if the rule affects your future plans.

*Bill is having surgery in the morning. Relatively minor, but surgery nonetheless. This will hopefully be a one day deal. On a purely selfish note, I am not looking forward to arriving at the hospital at the crack of dawn.

*I am coaching soccer. Only if you know me will you understand the humor in that fact. It is a testament to the love of my children and my joy in spending time with them, regardless of what we are doing. I am reading many books and web sites and learning much about soccer training and strategy in the process :)!Our team is ORANGE.

*Kelsey very adorably read some Bible verses in church tonite. I got 13 seconds of it videoed on my phone, but can't get it to load on to the computer. You will just have to accept my word that it was sweet.

*Aside from all the stinking, life is good. Caitlyn's next dance performance is Saturday. Soccer games also start Saturday. Kelsey's birthday is quickly approaching. Keegan and Kelsey have their first ever school testing next week. We are looking forward to visits from two wonderful out-of-town families next week. Life is good.

Brooklin Quote

Brooklin to Kelsey, "Are you the grumpy old troll?"

Morning with Rylie

We were so happy to get to spend some time with this cutie, Rylie, daughter of a beautiful girl whom I used to baby-sit years ago.

 She is SO SWEET! And has a great smile, which she shared generously.

 She was very interested in the books we showed her, which made us smile :). Also in her toys, us, and the pattern of the couch. We were flattered anyway :).

 Of course, she was also very sweet sleeping.

So, super precious! So thankful we got to spend some time with her!

Brooklin Quote

Playing at the toy kitchen (so kindly given to us by our awesome friends :) who moved away :'(  )
Kelsey, "I need to bake my cake."
Brooklin, "No! Don't bake it, it might freeze!"

Different Strokes Quote

After a school experience...
Keegan, "Cow eye ball dissections are cool!"
Enthusiastic air fist bump from Keegan! Distinctly unenthusiastic fist held out by Caitlyn.
Kelsey, "Glad that I didn't have to watch it!" Enthusiastic air fist bump between Caitlyn and Kelsey!
Keegan, "Dissections rock!"
Keegan enthusiastically fist bumps herself!
Caitlyn [you must be on Facebook to fully appreciate this comment,] "Sitting on the couch with your leg in the air rocks!" 
Enthusiastic air fist bump between Caitlyn and Kelsey!
Everyone collapses laughing.

Speaking of random questions...

Questions heard around the house recently... "What does it feel like when another car hits you?"  "Why is the church of Seventh Day Adventist called that?" "When you were a child, did you go to public Easter Egg hunts?" "What were the scores of the Lady Vols games we went to?" "Do Mormons believe Mormon was another prophet?" "If you were totally frozen, like so frozen you couldn't even breathe, for three minutes, could you still think?" "Why are most models blond?" "Don't you put catsup in meatballs?""Do you think I would use an I-pod or and I-pad more?"  And finally, "Why do most people sneeze twice when they sneeze?"