Catching up on some pics...

Here are a few pictures of the things that have been going on ...


The last day of school... Maddie's favorite teacher...








The picture I took of Katie w/ the t-shirt her class gave her.




Katie's teacher at the "Light up the Night" event at school.

Here is Maddie with her 'Princess Leia' look. She loves her hair in these buns on the side of her head! To the right of the picture is Maddie's best friend ~ Lorelai. Oh how she misses her!











We tried experimenting with rag rollers made out of rags (former crib sheet). Let me tell you it took FOREVER to get these girls' hair in these rags, and they turned out soooo curly. They both hated it at first, but once it loosened up a bit, it wasn't too bad.

We went on a fantastic picnic the day before Easter with Grandma & Grandpa Nelson. It was a tad bit chilly on this day, so we ate really fast and had a quick egg hunt, then we went to the Liberty Jail. One fun fact about the Jail is that Papa Nelson's mother & grandmother served their LDS Mission here in Independence, MO. They lived in the home that was build over the jail (it's torn down now), but I tried to take a picture of the home they once lived in.

We took Grandma Polly to the new Bass Pro Shop in Independence. Very neat & big inside! Daddy would have LOVED to see some of the huge elk inside this store! Yikes! Katie's catching up to Grandma Polly! Slow down Katie!!

The New School

Monday the girls started their new school. Both Madison and I walked Katie to her new class with the guidance counselor. Her class is 20 kids total: 10 girls and 10 boys even. She has an amazing teacher, and I've heard much about her, so I think Katie will have a great 2 months here. Madison came home with me and we did odds and ends at the house until it was time for her to go to school. I dropped her off at school at 12:20 ... she goes to the afternoon kindergarten. A few tears were shedded, and I walked her back to her class. I had heard about this huge ordeal of picking up the kids and dropping them off. The bus system costs about $340 a kid to ride the bus all year... yikes! No wonder so many parents opt to drop and pick their kids up! I went to pick them up, and they don't get out until 3:40... parents start lining up at 3:00!! I got there about 3:20, and got my space in line (in the car). I learned my lesson though, so Tuesday I parked the car and picked both girls up outside ~ totally not a time waster if you do it that way!

Anyways, Katie and Madison had a great first day. Everyone is so friendly, and there is always a smile to be found at the school. We learned immediately that Katie is pretty far behind in her math at this school. They are already doing triple digits multiplications... among other things, so the amount of homework and explanations we have to do for Katie every night so far is pretty long. Hopefully she'll get some extra help at school, and we might have to get a tutor for her to catch her up to speed. I'm always leery of helping her b/c it seems the way I learned at school how to do things is not the way it's taught anymore. I would just confuse her even more.

Madison... she's a funny one. I asked her yesterday if she's learning anything new. She said "no.". I asked her if she already knew the stuff they were teaching. She said "no." So, I really have no clue what she's learning. I do have a parent/teacher conference set up for her next week... all parents do w/ the Kindergartners.

Both girls are emailing and getting letters from their friends at school. Katie received a t-shirt from her class, and so I took a picture of her wearing it and a "THANK YOU I MISS YOU TOO" sign that she's holding. We printed it out, and sent it to her school so they could know she got her package. They do miss their friends horribly.

We love our new ward .. there are LOTS of little girls for both girls to play with! In fact, I think there are more girls than boys. I don't know though, it just seems that way. At church, Mike and I walked into Sunday School, and we saw Sister Littlewood.. she and her family had moved out shortly after we came to 1st Ward. It was great to see a familiar face.

I took up Jazzercise, in the effort to lose weight and to bring myself back in touch with "me". I've gone two days so far, and my knees hurt already! It's a great workout though!

Just a quick note....

Had to take Katie in to the dr yesterday afternoon. I thought she had a UTI, but it came back negative. Her urine has blood in it, and it hurts her to pee, and she pees a lot. Definitely signs of a UTI... but since her past history has kidney stones, the dr thinks it might be stones moving. We are supposed to get her in to her kidney doctor soon to find out why she has blood in her urine. Keep her in your prayers, if you can.

Our new digs!!

I'm at my parents' house, so I was able to upload some pictures of our new place, so you can get an idea of our new place! We're enjoying the apartment, and all the amenities the complex has to offer .... so far we haven't used anything (except the computer room and the playground), but we're excited for the warmer weather to come visit so we can use the pool & playground more often! Katie wants a volleyball now, so she can learn how to play volleyball (we have sand volleyball), and of course, she's been begging for tennis lessons. Uncle Wes is coming to visit on Wednesday night and is going to play tennis.

I enrolled the girls in their new school on Monday. I about fell over when I saw there was a FEE to be a part of this school district!! $80 dollars a year! GASP! That was just the learning resource fee. There is a $10 fee for something else, a $2 fee for each kid for weekly folders, a $5 for binders w/ daily journals. After I got them enrolled, I asked the secretaries more in depth about this $80 fee (which would be $160 total for us). They said it was broken down by quarters, but all was due upfront at the beginning of the year. Since spring break starts on Thursday, they only had 2 days left of 3rd quarter. I would have had to pay $40 per kid since they technically would've entered in during the 3rd quarter. They *suggested* not coming until after spring break, and save $40.00 ($20 a kid), so that is what we're doing. My girls are going to have a full two weeks vacation. Wished we were sitting on a beach somewhere... anyone want to invite us. :D

On to our apartment pics...

This is the first thing you see when you head up our stairs from the front door.

This is our living room w/ the dining room behind it (see the big clock)

This is the other side of the living room

Dining room

Giant bathtub that everyone loves to death.... (but no one wants to clean)

This is looking at my kitchen.

I now have the comments enabled so anyone can comment... please let me know if you're reading! Just add your name at the end of your comment. :)

A New Chapter in our Life

So much has been going on in our life, and our poor little blog has been neglected!

Next week our life officially changes. We will be making the first of at least two moves for this year. The first move is still local, then in the summer we will be moving to San Antonio. The girls are really excited to move to Kansas first of all... and they're slowly getting excited about Texas. Katie will be the first to say that she'll have a hard time being away from her grandparents. But, we'll visit, they'll come visit, not to mention family can stay connected via the webcam, so hopefully it won't be as hard as we're anticipating.


On to the updates on the girls... Maddie is now missing FOUR teeth! We always tease her by putting our pinky fingers in her mouth, and she chomps down on them and of course, doesn't bite us b/c she doesn't have four teeth. She lost her second tooth at Katie's birthday party, then her third tooth a few minutes later just fell out on its own. (thanks Kasey for pulling them out! I've got a weak stomach when it comes to teeth). Her fourth tooth came out within a week or two later while at another birthday party. She's still struggling with her stuttering, but is currently working with a speech therapist to help her overcome her struggles. Every once in awhile, you can hear her just chattering away to her baby dolls (she's such a good little momma) and she doesn't stutter at all.

Another fun thing that we're learning about Madison: we're on a one level apartment (basically). She was always afraid to go upstairs at our house alone, so her toys would hardly get played with. Now, when we go to the apartment, she never comes out of her room. She loves to play with her Sweet Street toys and oh yes, her baby dolls. Her American Girl doll (thanks cousin Kasey!) is now being dressed over and over and over again (oh, and all of her other 50 dolls are being dressed too ~ the girl does not have a shortage in dolls!).

She's been working extremely hard with her "popcorn" words, and constantly amazes us with the books we pull out for her to read ... she can read them!! Sadly, when we move, she will be going from a full day Kindergarten to a half day Kindergarten class. I'm not sure she will know what's going on! But, since I am quitting my job to be with her during the half day she will be home, I know we'll have some amazing times together. I remembered my times with my mom growing up, and remembered how often she took the time to be with me, to do things with me and taught me much. I always hope I can be the type of mother to my children that my mother was to me.

Katie celebrated her 10th birthday bash at the ice skating rink. She had a few of her friends come and join her for this festivity. It was a very fun (and cold) day!!

Katie's been learning the recorder... man, just that word brings chills up and down my back! I couldn't believe it when she brought her music to me and her recorder, and was having difficulty playing "Hot Cross Buns" ... I didn't even look at her music, I just showed her. I remembered from my elementary school days how to play! Maybe the new school doesn't play the recorder? One can hope. :)

This past Saturday we spent the afternoon unloading stuff, and I took the girls to the playground to play. Katie was worried about making friends, and finally, after an hour, a few girls showed up who were around Katie's age. She was very relieved to know she had some friends! Maddie just played in the sand volleyball pit ... happily content with her sand and oblivious to the mess she was making (no one her age was out playing).

heck back in often ... now that we're moving away from family and friends, I will update often on the family. I know this is basically the girls' stuff, but I will post about the entire family's adventures as well. :)

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?