Big Jobs

Josh has decided that we need to do a big cleaning job each Saturday as a family. It takes a few hours each time, but I am loving it. I've tried doing it with the girls in the past but it's just too much on my own. With Josh and I working together to divide and conquer and keep the girls involved, it has turned out to be a huge success. I feel like our home is cleaner than it has been since we moved in six years ago and the girls are learning to appreciate the time and effort it take to get things clean. I can't wait until we've done the entire house.

Region Inspirations

Since Kali and Sadie both won 1st place in their school Inspirations Program, their work moved on to the region level. Earlier this week we were given an invitation to attend the region awards ceremony and tonight we found out that Sadie's dance piece got an honorable mention and Kali's won 1st place. Sadie was bummed that hers didn't come with a medal and Kali was pretty excited that she won until she realized that hers was the only submission. She won by default. I'm curious to see how she does at the state level.

Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at school. I saw someone else do a donut in their daughter's hair not long ago and suggested it to Sadie. She loved the idea and was all smiles when she saw what it looked like. After school she couldn't stop talking about all the attention she got. She said some of the teachers even took pictures with her.

Kali requested blue hair with pink curly pipe cleaners. It also turned out very cute but I think she was a little disappointed that she didn't get as much attention.

Inspirations Winners

Kali and Sadie both entered the Choreography/Dance category for their school Inspirations Contest and both won. Because their school is so small, no one else entered the category for either of their age divisions. Thankfully they were in different age divisions because they were both super excited to have a 1st place medal. They especially liked the attention they got from their classmates. Sadie couldn't stop talking about how everyone at school wanted to sit by her the rest of the day. And Kali said that it took her a long time to get back to her seat during the assembly because everyone wanted to give her a high five.

Discovery Recital

Kali and Sadie got to perform for us tonight what they've been working on in Discovery over the last five weeks. Sadie participated in a class called Princess Camp and performed a dance to the song Do You Want to Build a Snowman. They had some really cute choreography and Sadie did great.

Kali participated in a class called Show Time and performed to Jellicle Cats from the musical Cats. She got to both sing the lyrics and do some acting/choreography. Not only did she make an adorable cat but she did an amazing job performing. She's very gifted at being dramatic and I can't wait until she can participate in a school play.

Princess Camp

Sadie is doing a class called Princess Camp for this session of Discovery. She is learning how to be a princess and today they were focusing on how they talk and walk. Sadie did such a good job walking with a clipboard on her head. She was so proud that she was the only one to walk around the chair and back without dropping it a single time.

Hairdos

Sadie always has to see her hair from the back. So here are a few hairdos that we've tried over the last several months.

Christmas Dance Recital

I love that Sadie and her cousin get to be in dance together. Here they're practicing their splits. Check out the pained expressions on their faces.

Although this isn't a video of the dance, you get a feel for it from these four pictures. Sadie did an awesome job. I love her face in each picture because you can tell she's giving it her all. It's almost as though she's taking on a new character. It's so cute.

Primary Program Sunday

I look forward to the Primary Program every year and this year was no exception. There is so much to be learned from the mouth of babes. The only difference this year is that I'm the CTR 4 teacher so I was up front singing with the children and redirecting their attention. It was a lot of fun. Kali and Sadie both had very short speaking parts in the program and did a wonderful job saying them. Kali and another boy in her class also had the privilege of playing prelude for the meeting. She chose to play "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet". She was nervous but did great. I was so proud of her. She was also asked to sing a duet with another boy in her class. They sang the fourth verse of "I Am a Child of God" and it sounded beautiful. 

Halloween Dance Recital

Today our Halloween activity was watching Sadie do her Halloween dance. All the girls dressed up in their costumes and performed for the parents. Kate and Sadie are in the same dance class and they got to dance side by side. They did such a good job.

Witches Brew

My mom has a witch's pot that Sadie has been obsessed with so she finally bought one to give to her. Sadie could hardly wait to get home to make her own brew. My mom started giving her suggestions of what to put in it and gave her several things to add. She ended up adding lucky charms, popcorn, pretzels, fish crackers, dried mangos and cocoa roos--probably one of the more interesting concoctions I've ever seen, but the girls loved it (until the next day when they decided it wasn't that good of a mix after all).

Life in a Castle

Sadie is learning about life in a castle for this session of Discovery. She got to see all sorts of swords and daggers. They talked about armor and she got to try on a vest made out of chainmail which was very very heavy.

She made her own crown, castle, sword and shield and one day her teacher even took them outside and shot candy at them from a catapult.

Soccer

It's soccer time again! We missed out on soccer with Kali this year because she chose to do gymnastics instead. And this may be the last year we do it with Sadie. The schedules are just getting too hectic. It's unfortunate because Josh and I both have a love for soccer. One particular game this season, Sadie's coach asked her if she wanted to play goalie. Of course she said yes. I immediately felt nervous for her knowing that she didn't have a clue about what she needed to do let alone what she could and could not do as goalie. So I ran over to her and gave her a quick run down.

She didn't do too bad considering the first time she went for the ball, one of the kids kicked her hand and the ref didn't do anything about it. If I would have been in her shoes, I probably would have been too afraid to try and stop any more balls. But she kept at it. They still scored a few goals on her, but she gave it a valiant effort.



Sadie also got to play with Weston again this year. I love this picture of the two of them playing defender. I don't think they won a single game, but they ran a lot and seemed to enjoy themselves.

Teeth

Sadie has been dying to lose a tooth for such a long time. Kali lost her first tooth in the beginning of her kindergarten year and here Sadie is in 1st grade and still nothing. Well, she finally realized that she had two loose teeth. She couldn't stop wiggling them and came home from school today showing us how she could move them forward with just her tongue. She decided that she wanted Josh to pull them out. When he got home from work, he gave them a tug and of course they started bleeding. Sadie saw the blood and immediately started crying. By the time they were both hanging on by a thread, she was sobbing. We told her she had a choice, to either deal with them hanging from her mouth or let Dad finish the job. She decided to be tough. With one more pull, they were out. How cool is that--to lose two teeth at the very same time! And little did we know, the new ones were already growing in behind the baby teeth and one of them is practically sideways. She is definitely going to need braces in the future.

Gymnastics

Sadie got a chance to try out gymnastics at Academy West through her school Discovery program. After her first week, all she could talk about was the rope and the foam pit which didn't sound much like gymnastics to me.

When I went to help out, I realized that they were the only two things that didn't seem like your typical gymnastics activities. They also did the bars and beams and somersaults. They just weren't as memorable to the kids. I must admit, though, that it was pretty fun to watch her climb the rope. Also the teacher commented on how well Sadie did on the beam. Maybe we'll end up with two gymnasts in the future.

The last week there the kids got to put on a performance to show us what they had learned. It was like a mini routine on each of the four events: floor, beam, vault and uneven bars. The floor routine was the somersaults down wedges and cartwheels. The beam event included walking along the beams forward and backwards. For the vault, they ran as fast as they could and jumped into the foam pit and they did pull ups and little flips over the bars for the uneven bars. Afterward, they were given medals which made them all so happy. They were so proud of themselves. It was super cute!

First Day of School

We now have a 1st grader and a 3rd grader. Kali and Sadie were so excited to return to school to see their friends and begin a new school year. They don't get to see their school friends all that often because they go to a charter school and live too far from them to have regular playdates. They were also excited because we've only heart great things about their teachers. I have a good feeling about this year because even after enduring the most boring day of school (full of rules and explanations), they both said they loved it. Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that Sadie just likes the fact that she gets to eat lunch at school.

Swim Lesson

Well, we had another successful session of swim. Even though I only put my girls in one session a year, Kali was able to pass her level and even dove off the diving board which wasn't a requirement (only jumping off feet first and swimming to the side). Swimming the full length of the pool was quite a challenge for her, but her swim teacher was the best she's ever had and helped her succeed.

Sadie wasn't able to pass her class, but she really enjoyed being in the water and wasn't afraid to try anything. She just needs a little more practice.

Seven Peaks

We bought the Pass of All Passes this year and have gone to Seven Peaks twice now. Unfortunately this is the only picture we have from either trip and we didn't even take it, Brady did. I wasn't able to go the second time due to my surgery, but the girls had a blast. This time was per Sadie's request. She wanted to go swimming for her birthday. And even though it wasn't on her birthday, it was close enough.

Sadie

Josh had scouts on Sadie's birthday so we invited family over the night before for cake and ice cream. Sadie requested a castle cake and loved how it turned out.

She was all smiles the morning of her birthday and loved opening her presents. It always makes you feel good when you get a good reaction, especially when you're struggling to know what to get them.

Here's the goods.

I have no idea where her desire for a guitar came from, but she's been asking for one for quite some time now. Kali and Ashlyn got her that. And Josh and I got her the jewelry box. She loves little knick knacks has been storing them in an old broken jewelry box. She loves her new one.

Then on the evening of her birthday, we used a leftover cupcake for her candles and sang to her before Josh headed off to scouts. She didn't seem to mind one bit.

Disney Dance Recital

This year the theme for Kali's and Sadie's dance recital was Disney. Sadie danced to The Happy Working Song from Enchanted. She got to dress up as a maid and looked so cute. One of her favorite parts was dusting the other dancer's feet.

Kali's dance was choreographed to The Second Star to the Right from Peter Pan. She also seemed to have a favorite dance move, the very first one that she got to repeat several times. For her dance pictures, the photographer asked if anyone could do a leg extension. Kali and one other girl said they could, so she did a sweet looking leg extension for the group picture. Between that and her splits, she is one flexible girl. Most people only dream of having that kind of flexibility.