Trick or Treat! Smell my feet!

Give me something good to eat!!

Katie is Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Madison is an American Idol singer.

Maddie at school ... wearing orange & black and sporting a side ponytail!! Wahoo!

Katie is learning how to sew. She's been begging me for months to teach her. I'm not the best sewer in the world, but I can teach her some basics. The rest her grandmothers are going to have to do. :D She's been sewing on felt squares sewing a house, learning how to start and stop, etc. She's loving every minute of it.

Parade picture

The girls made the online newspaper (not sure if they're in the actual paper or not), but here they are waiting patiently for the parade to start -- w/ their two close friends from dance.

Katie's play & Maddie's field trip

Katie did very well on her play that she had -- she was so nervous before it started, but she did great! Danan Hughes was her "Grandma" and when he came onstage, she tripped going backwards, and fell. Ha ha She said later she didn't realize he was so ... tall! She loves to act ... definitely a drama queen. :D Sorry for the fuzzy pictures .. I can't zoom in to take a picture, so when I crop it all off, it becomes fuzzy. GRR!!

Maddie had her first field trip as a Kindergartner last week. However, it came on a day it was supposed to rain, and they can't cancel. So off we go, and it's sprinkling. We go into a huge barn and learn all about the different kinds of pumpkins, etc. There's the Baby Boo pumpkin, the Cinderella pumpkin, and some other weird, odd names for pumpkins. Then we go to the animals, and pet them, then off to the tractor for a hay ride where the kids will pick up their pumpkin. However, there was a HUGE dark cloud coming, and I just knew it was full of rain and lightning, and it was. We were stuck in this circus tent for about 20 minutes while the teachers and pumpkin patch people decide what to do. Pouring down rain ... you should have seen these kids faces when we said we were going back. So so sad!! So we get to the entrance, and our bus is still not in line to pick us up. So I had to walk out to get her, in the pouring rain w/ my umbrella. She was taking a freaking NAP! Earlier she was smoking in the bus (had to take something back to the bus after we got off). not good! by the time we get back to the school, we're all soaked to the bone, literally.

I'm really surprised at the math Katie is learning in school -=- about medians. I don't remember learning about that until much later. Katie's teacher told me she herself was surprised at how much sooner kids are learning the harder things. She also said most of the time, the kids aren't ready, but it's how the schools are anymore. How scary! Katie's already had two field trips, one to the middle school (Science Center is there), and the other to Burr Oaks. Katie said she had the best day of her life there. I guess she was picked to be the assistant and help her out. She also touched a snake. On the nature walk they saw a baby snake, chipmunks (whoever sees those anymore?), squirrels, doe, and two turkeys. She was in heaven.

Madison has been learning about Ms. V & Ms. P, and the sounds they make. She's a very smart cookie, and she definitely remembers everything that's said even if she doesn't "appear" to be listening. So, watch out next time you say something and you don't think she's listening. She's very tricky. :D Trust me on this!

Most of you know we have a Mexican restaurant we love to go to: Lucia's. Well last week we went to eat dinner there, and Lucia (the owner) asked if the girls could go shopping w/ her. We were surprised (who asks OUR kids to go shopping? I don't even want to take them shopping!), and said OK. Three hours later she brings them home, and she's spoiled them rotten: each got an expensive Halloween costume, a toy they want (Maddie gets Baby Alive, aka Chucky's girlfriend), Katie picks out a shopping cart and a play microwave (I know, surprised me too), and then play shoes for Maddie & slippers for Maddie, oh, and ice cream at McDonald's and candy too. Spoiled them rotten ... for sure!

Baby Joshua & Maddie ...

St Louis Highland Games

Friday night the girls & I left for St Louis for their last Highland Dance competition of the year. We stayed at the Marriott hotel (WOW!!) b/c it had a wonderful discount for competitors of the Games this year. The girls were soo enchanted by how fancy everything was!! We got in the hotel about 8:30, and ate some dessert w/ another family who was also dancing on Saturday. Afterwards the girls went swimming in the indoor pool (coolest pool according to Katie b/c it had a huge glas partition separating it from an outside pool & inside pool. The next morning we had room service delivered to the room. Since there wasn't a McDonald's or another breakfast place around the hotel, we had to do something about b-fast. I noticed a kids breakfast was only $3.95, and had two eggs, fruit cup, hashbrowns, bacon & juice/milk == so we had a healthier breakfast than if we had donuts. :)

Saturday we left for the games. The games was in the Forest Park, which is a beautiful area in St Louis == where the zoo is, as well as a Natural History Musuem, etc. There were so many joggers, walkers, parachuters (yep, hang gliders?) -- it was really neat. Maddie went first in her competition, and had a hard time w/ her first dance, 16 pas de basques. She didn't really want to go up (nerves probably?), and of course the piper was moving along quite quickly for the speed of the music, so it threw her and a few other dancers completely off. She did her three dances, and they were then awarded: she got two second places and a fourth. Yay for Maddie!! After dancing, she changed into her capris, and commenced to climbing on the stands like a monkey. The thrill of her day.

Katie was next .... she is still a beginner, and so she was placed in the 8 and up age group for beginners, which had 10 dancers. The majority of the dancers were in their teens ... and VERY good too. The weather was so hot, sun was so strong and hot .... I felt bad for all the dancers. The organization for this competition didn't do a great job, and had hot bottled water for the girls, so they had nothing cold to drink. Anyways, Katie did 4 dances, and did a fantastic job!! Her teacher was there watching as well, and is also a judge around the US for other competitions. She was keeping tabs on who should win the medals, etc. Katie won first place for ALL her dances!! PLUS she won the Best Dancer Award for her age group!! YAY for Katie!! She was so proud of herself. I told her to do her personal best and have fun. Her teacher told us after the competition Katie was the best dancer out of all of them in her group!

We tried to go to the zoo after the competition, but it was SOOO packed, that we couldn't get it. We went on home and made it in good time. I think I'm all High School Musical'd out, if that makes sense. :) That's all we listened to on the way home. SIGH I've got "I'm Fabulous" running through my head at all hours of the day ....

This week the highlight will be Katie and her play == on the 11th. :D Her first play for that day is at 2:45 and then the other is at 7:00.

If you Where ....

The girls had their dance in McPherson a week and a half ago. Katie and Madison placed GREAT and did an awesome job! Katie had a few slip ups, but she placed two first places, one second place and one third place (and was disqualified from the last dance). Madison did three dances, and placed first place in all of them! Way to go girls!!

Katie has to write a poem every week, it appears. Her first one last week was this (I'm including the misspelling words too)

If You Where....
If you where a dolphin,
Would you die in a colfin?

If you where a pig,
Would you wear a wig?

If you where a chicken,
Would you eat chickenlicken?

If you where just you,
What would you do?

Her second poem this week .. and apparently it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not:

Rain is coming
Rain is splashing
I can hear my mother humming
Drip Drop the rain is hear
I just want to smere (smear?) the rain.

We leave this coming Friday night for St Louis. We'll be there until Sunday, enjoying the final Highland Dance Competition of the year on Saturday and enjoying our mini vacation on Sunday. Katie is still getting ready for her big play coming up in a week. She's so excited, and has informed me she has the most beautiful dress for her play. The school provides all the costumes, so we're excited to see her perform. She has all of her lines memorized. Katie also has been down w/ a bug ... I thought for sure it was strep after she had been complaining of sore throat, headache, stomachache for a few days. Last night I looked in her mouth and lo & behold I see the infamous markings of strep ... so I took her in to Urgent Care last night, and turns out it wasn't strep! I guess there's some horrible bug going around that mimics strep, but it isn't actually strep. The dr was very surprised as well b/c her throat was horrible. So, we're back to ibuprofen for her until she feels better.

The girls are also SOO into the new High School Musical 2 ... let me tell you that both Mike & I have the music coming out of our ears, and of course, we hear it in our dreams at night. The girls are sooo engrossed in this movie, and their music. Halloween is coming up, and Maddie wants to be Pippi Longstocking (got to figure this one out and how I'm going to do this) and Katie wants to be Hannah Montana ... ha ha ha! I wonder if they'll be something easier ... like a baby doll?

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Mike had his birthday last week. The girls were sooo excited to prepare for their daddy's birthday. He was sent to Dallas for a few days for a class for his new job, and so the girls and I worked on their candy gram. Daddy loves candy... we think. :) Maddie was so eager to help me tape the candy bars to the foam board, that she started to take the wrapper off one candy bar. She thought we had to tape the actual bar to the board. LOL

Madison has been learning her "popcorn" words at school. So far she knows the word "the" and "a". I started to volunteer at her class once a week. I most likely will not be helping her, but her classmates with their words, recognition of letter, etc. She also learned about Mr. M and his munchy mouth, who loves marshmallows (and something else). Mr. N is the next letter, and he has a noisy nose. :) Maddie also has homework every night -- 20 minutes of reading in which I read to her for 20 minutes, at least until she is able to read on her own.

Katie has been learning about the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the United States. She's been learning about the Judicial branch, Executive Branch, and the Legislature Branch of the government. I've been helping her, so I'm also refreshing my memory of what is what in this subject. Her grade will be taking a trip this year or next year to Jefferson City to attend the capital. Both girls started before & after school clubs this week. Both girls are doing a walking club, math yoga & ballroom dancing. Katie is doing cheerleading (I'm sure Maddie will want to join soon ... I can just tell).

Another piece of exciting news ... Katie is going to be one of the lead "actresses" for her grade's play! Her play is called "Heartland Hoedown", and she plays the part of Krista. She has been busy memorizing her lines, and she is a true drama queen, let me tell you! That will happen on October 11th, a Thursday night, so it's coming up!! Grandparents, mark your calendars!

The Greatest Show on Earth!!

My mom and I took the girls to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey (or whatever that name is) on Thursday night. I haven't been since I was like 10 years old -- and it was such a magical night for me at that age! I wanted the girls to experience that magical night. My mom loves the circus too .... so she came along for a great night. If you arrive 90 minutes before the show, you can see all the circus animals. I didn't realize how many pictures I took of the elephants until I downloaded them ... I think I like the elephants the best? LOL There was the smallest elephant that really looked like a baby, but he was 6 years old, and the other bigger elephants were 39 years old! WHOA! Anyways, saw the zebras (didn't remember seeing them during the circus though), horses, white tigers ... and I think that's it.

Then we went inside the arena and went to the floor where all the performers were on hand to do demonstrations, etc. There were these two clowns, I'll call them Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum ... who were just short men (thinking about it ... almost ALL the performers were short .. HMMM?), who in an odd way looked similar to each other. I'm wearing this hospital sticker on me, not realizing I have it on (see the picture w/ me and the girls in front of the sign). These two clowns come up to me and basically wanting my sticker -- so I gave it to them. Tweedle Dee put it on and they went around telling everybody to look at this sticker and pointing at his vest. ::rolling eyes:: Oh well .. guess you had to be there. Anways, got a picture of those guys ....

I was just shocked at the prices that's going for a stupid flashlight that will most likely die or get stepped on the minute you leave the arena == $20!! I bought the girls a $10 snow cone (GASP!) each, but it did come in a reusable water bottle. Katie got blue (see her blue teeth), Maddie got red. WORD OF CAUTION!! Do NOT give these to your kids if picture day is the next day!! (yep, Friday was picture day at school, and lo and behold, Maddie had a red mustache I could not get off and Katie had blue spots on her cheeks and her nose).

Anyways ... circus started, and we were just in AWE of it all! The audience wasn't just kids ... there were couples there without kids! Wow! Never thought of going w/o kids! Guess one will always be a kid at heart? Anyways, we saw 7 motorcycles in that small ball thing, 7 elephants that I thought was SO COOL! (they danced! They sat on footstools that made them look like they were sitting on the toilet! They held each other's tail! They DID IT ALL!) Then the 6 white tigers, then the little cats (Maddie just couldn't get enough of these cats and clapped her hands frantically!), then the dogs (Heard the "I want a dog now!"), then the horses & the guys who rode the horses. Oh, the Chinese acrobats (cool too), the girl who sat in a hoop in the middle of the air (I was so nervous for her until I saw the invisible strings holding her up in case she fell), oh, the flying trapeze guys .. also short people. Where do they find these short people with weird talents??

The girls said they had the best time of their life (OK, so did I!) -- it truly was a magical night to remember for the Nelson (and Grandma Debbie) girls! It also was The GREATEST Show on Earth! Totally lives up to its name!

Here's a great picture of Great Grandma Dee w/ the girls the day before she left for Florida. :)

"We LOVE our new cousin!"

The newest addition to the Keesee clan has arrived -- and the girls have been so ECSTATIC over baby Joshua! This past weekend we have enjoyed time with Grandma Dee (darn ... I forgot to get pictures Monday night of them w/ her!), and of course holding the baby. Joshua always seems to find a good place to snuggle w/ Madison.

Saturday night Mike got out the softballs & softball gloves w/ the girls, and we taught them how to throw a softball & catch. Katie is an all natural athlete ... we will probably have to add "needs to try softball" to her list of sports she can play naturally like an athlete. Maddie did really well throwing & catching as well! We were pleasantly surprised at how well throwing came naturally to them. Course, watch out when Katie throws... she throws a mean pitch. :D

The first weeks of school has now passed, and the girls are settling into a schedule at school. Maddie loves her Kindergarten teacher. There are 16 boys and 6 girls in her class. Every day the first week I kept asking her if she met any new friends. She said "nope". Finally the second week of school she happily exclaimed she met a friend -- but she only spoke Spanish. Ha ha Ha Can you imagine their conversations? Maddie only really knows the numbers in spanish. Madison also had a hard time at lunch. I guess they have assigned seats during lunch time, and she doesn't get to sit next to her friends. She sits next to a boy that she apparently isn't very fond of.

Katie is doing great in school as well. She has the same teacher as last year (her teacher moved up a grade). She is also starting Harry Potter for her reading. She loves school -- so I'm thrilled that getting them going for school isn't a big problem. She's already had her first spelling test of the school year -- and she really excells in spelling. VERY smart in spelling.

Mike took the girls swimming Saturday morning. It was with the young men's activity, so the girls were very left out when it came to having someone to swim with them. Katie said "it was ALL boys ... ick". Just wait a few years darling ... :) Boys won't be so "ick". :D

What a mess!

I have been avoiding Maddie's room like the plague. It was such a horrible horrible mess. In her closet I have all her toys boxed up individually: Strawberry Shortcake stuff is in one clear box, My Little Pony's in another, etc. Well, she tends to get these boxes down w/ the help of SOMEONE (uh-hum, wonder who?) and plays and never cleans up her messes. I kept warning her that if she didn't clean it up, I was going to do it. So today, on my one day off this week, I cleaned the little stinker's room. It took me three hours, 2 huge black bags full of toys we're getting rid of, two white garbage bags full of junk/trash, and one huge white bag full of clothes that no longer fit her or she refuses to wear.
Here are some before and after pics. I'm SO proud of myself ...

Before ...
After ...

Now, I just need to go through Katie's room. *laughing wickedly*
Here's Katie in her new outfit (shirt & tights) Aunt Tiffany found for her at Children's Place. Looks great on her Aunt Tiff!

First Day of School

Today ... my baby ... became a Kindergartner. :( I had been doing so well in these past few weeks of NOT thinking I was losing my baby to school. Today started off great. I took her pictures in front of the house like I had done w/ Katie this year and every other year when the first day of school rolled around. I walked Madison in to the school (at this time realized I had forgotten my camera -- so much for capturing her in school!), and took her to where she was to wait in line before the teacher came out to get the class. I realized then there were only 3 girls in the class -- the rest were boys. 15 boys to be exact. Maddie's going to have a lot of boyfriends (oh dear). Then, the dreaded moment. Mrs. Griner (her teacher) came out to greet the class. I quickly gave Maddie a hug goodbye and whispered the same little words I tell Katie every single morning "Do your best, make good choices and remember that I love you". She started leaving me! All the parents are frantically taking pictures as all the little kids are being shuffled into the classroom. Finally Maddie looked back at me, with a sad puppy dog look. I tried so HARD not to start tearing up ... then she disappeared. That's when the flood started. ::WAH:: Momma had a hard day realizing her little baby was growing up to be a big girl.

Madison had a great day at school. In fact, last May when I enrolled her, I enrolled her as Madison. The teachers heard me call her Maddie, and so they labeled everything w/ her name "Maddie". Madison did not like that one bit. In fact, she writes her name as Madison. SO ... I had to ask the teacher if it was possible to change from Maddie to Madison. :) LOL

Katie is having a great time in 4th grade. She has the same teacher as she had last year, Ms. Larson. Katie LOVES Ms. Larosn! So, Katie is thrilled to be back at school. I think she was getting tired of being home all the time.

Anyways .. here's that they have a great year ahead of them! Maddie will learn her "Popcorn" words (words that "pop" out in their reading, like "a" "the" "and", etc), learn to write and start to read. Katie will learn division this year, more reading, lots of writing and I think start geography this year.

Ethnic Festival

OK .. many apologies on my part for not posting as much. Still recovering from pneumonia & pleurisy, but I'm feeling a lot better (still hurting a bit and coughing up junk now that it's allergy season) ... so I'm ready to start posting again about the girls!

Friday night was our annual Ethnic Festival showcase. Every year Kansas City puts on an Ethnic Festival that showcases countries around the world. They're represented by people who live in KC and they make crafts, food, etc that you can buy as if you were in that country. They also showcase talent also, and those are 30 minutes blocks performed over 2 days and one night. It's a BLAST to go to this festival, and we can find food for about $1-3 to sample and try.
The girls have been dancing at this festival for the past 3 years, and the Pipe Band usually performs along w/ them, so that's a neat treat to watch and listen to also.
Here are some pics of our night:

This is my mom and the girls. They're eating crab rangoons & egg rolls. How very exotic of a food for them .. they eat them almost a few times a month. SIGH


This is Katie in the front w/ the white dress. She's dancing the Highland Fling. The other girls are wearing a traditional kilt outfit while Katie is wearing a National dress outfit. She danced another dance earlier that I couldn't get a good picture of, and she had to wear a national dress with that dance.



These are the "babies" of the dance group -- ranging in age from 4-6. Maddie is the 2nd from the left (w/o a vest on). They are dancing the basic pas de basques & highcuts.

The girls next competition will be in MacPherson, Kansas on September 22nd. :)

Sick again ....

Katie & Maddie have both been down w/ a cold. Coughing and hacking and all the crap. :( Early Sunday morning (1:30 a.m.) Katie woke up w/ an earache, so I gave her some Tylenol (can't have ibuprofen yet b/c of her laceration). Then gave her the home remedy of olive oil & rubbing alcohol (which didn't help). Then finally a warm compress. Then I put her back to bed. 3:30 rolls around and it still hurts, so I rewarm her compress back up and put her back to bed. 4:00 comes around, and it still hurts. By now I'm thinking "why didn't the tylenol work?" So I gave her some codeine left over for her kidney stone pain. That knocked her out. However in the morning she was still hurting pretty bad, which is very unusual for her b/c the pain usually goes away immediately w/ meds. So I take her to Urgent Care that afternoon, and turns out she had an ear infection so bad it made a small small hole in her eardrum b/c it had to get out!! OUCH! So, she's out of the water for 4-6 weeks (we just got out of ONE restriction and now we're back on another restriction? MAN!) -- unless she wears ear plugs. Gotta love those bright orange ear plugs. :) So, she's on 2 types of antibiotics & our "oh we hate this so much" prednisone for her coughing. When she gets sick, it triggers her asthma, and she has to go on prednisone (a steroid) to help her to stop. When Katie is on this medicine she's hard to live with. :) Off the wall outbursts, uncontrollable, etc.

Last night I took the girls to a kickball game and they had a blast! Katie just now learned how to play kickball not too long ago. She made a homerun. Maddie was so cute to watch. As soon as she kicked the ball she ran to 1st base. Then when the next person kicked the ball she stood there on first base and just clapped her hands and jumped up and down until someone yelled "RUN MADDIE!" so she starts her little run to 2nd base. Usually the person is at the base by the time she starts running. This happens at every single base. LOL She doesn't understand the game just yet, but she loves kicking the ball and loves to jump the line just to kick it and run.

Today is our first day of summer vacation for the girls. Their last day of summer school was yesterday (Monday). I now have off Tuesdays & Wednesdays, so we'll start our adventure today!!

Tell Katie to stop following me!

The girls have been in summer school since May 30th, and this is a "fun" summer school they can be a part of. On top of that, they earn money for even going to school: $100 if you don't miss a day, $75 if you miss one day, etc. So far they haven't miss a day of school as they are trying so hard to earn their $100! (Maddie would love to get an American Girl doll, and Katie wants a pool -- ha ha, the money is going towards school stuff). Anyways, this is the first time the girls have gone to school together. Maddie has been able to start a Kindergarten class to help the little ones just getting ready to start school learn about school, so she'll have a head start. I had Katie take her to her classroom every morning just to make sure Maddie got to her class fine. After a week Maddie started complaining that she can do it herself and didn't need help. I still wasn't very comfortable with Maddie being alone with all the big kids in that school, so I told Katie to "hang back" and watch her go into her class. This morning Maddie proceeds to tell me to "tell Katie to stop following me!". I asked her "what do you mean?". Maddie replied "well, she always follows me to my class and I can DO IT MYSELF!" (the bold meaning she really emphasized her feelings!). I looked at Katie and said in a quiet voice in which Maddie couldn't hear me "you were supposed to stay far back so she didn't see you!". So, today Maddie is going to her class all by herself. I'm already training Katie to be a secret FBI agent, starting with the fact of following someone discreetly. Perhaps I need to work on the discreetly part? ;)

The Little Girl Who Wouldn't Get Dressed

I thought since it's so hard nowadays to keep the family up on what's happening with the girls, I would just create a blog, to where the family can keep tabs this way! I'll post pictures here of the girls, tell you the funny things they do, the CRAZY things they do (and we know they do this a lot!), and anything else we want to share! One thing I do request is that this blog is for family eye's only. Please do not give this address out to anyone who is not related to us. :)

If you want to leave a message (where the comments box is), you'll have to get an email w/ google. Just go to http://www.google.com/ and sign up for an email. Once you have an email from them (it'll be @gmail.com), then you can sign in and leave a message for us!

Our first story of the day is about Maddie Moo .... this story I'll title "the little girl who wouldn't get dressed" the little stinker didn't know I was serious about sending her to school in her jammies!! After warning her for over an hour to get dressed, she flat out ignored me. I repeated myself many time telling her that I would send her to school in her jammies. Finally it was time to leave, and I picked up her shoes, my purse, my keys and of course, Maddie. :) Who, of course, started crying and screaming when she realized that I was serious. :) After five minutes of pure sobbing and of course, a few seconds of vomiting up her yogurt from crying so hard, she pleaded w/ me that she'll listen and put her clothes on. Let me tell you that I think this little girl has learned her lesson today! She even said this afternoon that she will always listen to Momma and put her clothes on.

Until the next time ... toodle loo!