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