the best night evah!!!

my girls, like so many other girls i know, love high school musical. they know a majority of the songs and love to dance and sing along. so, the other night when my very sweet and generous friend christy won free tickets to high school musical the ice tour and took us instead of her boys it was like the most exciting night of their young little lives!! seriously - so much fun! i didn't tell the girls where we were going, mostly because i didn't want to listen to them squeal all day long and partly because i wanted to make it as exciting as possible. when we drove by the venue and bella saw the signs she was practically speechless; a major first for her.

the skaters were amazing. i can't even imagine being in that kind of shape. what a work out! the picture above is the only halfway decent one i got with my limited photograpy skills. they just wouldn't stop moving long enough for a good shot and my camera is just too slow!
i told the girls that they could have one thing to share. of course they picked the cotton candy with the big shiny ryan hat.

the girls striking a pose with christy after the show.

the excitement of the night exerted so much energy out of them that this is what they looked like when we pulled into the driveway. since that night, the first words out of bella's mouth to everyone that she sees is about going to HSM on ice and how it was the best night of her life. so thanks christy for sharing your tickets with us! the girls will never forget it!

new loves

• pickles - brooke and lily are addicted to pickles. they can't get enough! lily can eat 3 to 4 pickles in one setting.

• turkey pepperoni - besides pickles, all lily wants to eat these days is turkey pepperoni. over the weekend she ate an entire package. turkey pepperoni has less fat than regular but it has a lot more spice in it so i'm kind of surprised at how much she likes it.

• fashion - bella is totally into fashion these days. she loves to try and put her own combinations together. most of the time she does well. but - she loves to wear magenta colored sweatpants with this little brown skirt. that one i'm not feeling so much.

• abstract art - brendan has discovered abstract art and has been trying to create his own masterpieces. it's a fine line between abstract and scribbles and he's working hard to differentiate between the two.

sunday funnies - not the newspaper kind

sunday's are a great source of entertainment for our family. it seems like there is something about that particular day of the week that turns our kiddos into slightly crazy people. today was no exception. we got to church a little late and had to sit on the back pew. in our church, the back row is seperate from the other pews. there is a huge space between the pew in front of us and behind us is the sliding partition. to lily this "space" meant that she had freedom to roam where ever she wanted. this of course included walking behind the pew and pushing on the partition. and since there is such a huge space between the pews all of her activities are in clear view. next time we are late and the only spaces available are those, we will just sit in the foyer. at the end of church lily was missing her sweater. i went to the nursery to pick it up where they informed me that she continually tried to strip and kept asking everyone to "please take my clothes off". nice. let's hope she outgrows that phase soon. she strips at home all the time but that's the first time we have had a problem in public. thank goodness i put her in a dress with a lot of buttons! oh well, at least she provided the entertainment in the nursery today!!

relinquishing control - sort of

brooke's first preschool homework assignment is due this week. it's a fun project called about me. last year they did a similar thing where they made mini me's. at the meet and greet a few of the parents were discussing the project and how last year it was impossible for most of us to just let them do it. i think all brooke got to do on her's was color this one little area and i finished the rest for her. i decided that this year i would be better. i would let it be her project, she could do all the drawing, coloring, etc. and i started out well. when she drew all of us with purple hair and no bodies i didn't say a thing.

but then when she went to draw chick-fil-a and it turned into a swirly purple blob i..... just....couldn't.....take it.....any....more. a little intervention is ok right?? and if i personally don't do it for her then i'm still letting her be in control?? so i enlisted bella's help. brooke told her what she wanted and bella drew and colored it for her. at least that way you can tell what the picture is supposed to be.
PLUS it made for some good ol sisterly bonding time. they had a great time working on it together and it still has a childish feel to it that makes it endearing. of course the bad part of not doing it for her is the fear that she will be the only kid there with an unpolished masterpiece. although, i don't think that's something that they even pick up on. it's just something that we parents care about.
in the end brookes favorites are:

color - pink

food - fruit loops

animal - mokey

place - chick-fil-a

to do - go to the zoo

when she grows up she wants to be a ballerina

if she could have one wish she would wish for a pony

Matchy - Matchy

I love it when my kids match each other or at least color coordinate. It creates such a polished and classic look. Now don't misunderstand me, I am not one of those moms that drives all over town trying desperately to match everyone up. At least not very often anyway. But, it is a look that I like. Especially with the girls because I can only do that with them for so long and then they won't think it's fun or cute anymore. This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids. Easter morning 2007 everyone matchy matchy in lavender.

I found out this week that there is one kind of matchy matchy I do not like at all. It's called "blackeye and eye trauma matchy".
Brooke got hers while jumping on the tramp and colliding with another little girl. This is our first real accident on the tramp. When I saw her I thought for sure we were on our way to the emergency room with a concussion. For days it was so swollen she could hardly open her eye. I felt so bad for her!
Lily got her's while being naughty at the store. She was over tired which for her turns the mischievous meter up a few notches. Add in an empty display table, a girl that is so fast she seems to have wings on her feet, likes to climb and the result is a cut that starts right along the crease of the eye. So far it is not discolored but I am sure it will be in the next few days. With two little girls sporting such lovely facial trauma Larry and I have decided that it is best not to take them out anywhere together for awhile. I can already see the stares and here peoples whisperings as we pass by in my head. "Did you see those two girls?? I wonder what is going on in that house?....." Good times......good times.....

Is It Really Time To Go Back To School??

Today was Brendan and Bella's first day back at school. Normally I am more than ready for this day to occur but for some reason this time I am not feeling it. It seems like they should have more summertime fun. But alas, it is not to be. And surprisingly they seemed ready to go back.

This is going to be a big year for Brendan. His last year of elementary school. In Colorado middle school starts at 6th grade. This is not something that I am happy about, but unless we move within the next year there is not a lot I can do about it. As a fifth grader I think he kind of feels the way seniors do. You know, big man on campus, older than everyone, that kind of stuff. It should be really exciting for him. And Bella is really looking forward to 3rd grade and the challenges it brings. She has been out of school since the end of May and has really missed her friends. Always the social butterfly that one! We have had a lot going on around here, but she still has missed her school friends. Since we are talking about Bella I have to share with you her new little boo boo. Before we left town for vacation we did some school supply shopping, but didn't get it all done because the supplies were not out yet. So yesterday late afternoon I loaded up the kids and we went to get the last little bit done. As we got out of the car the wind started to pickup and it was blowing pretty hard. I was putting Lily into the cart when the wind grabbed the list out of my hand and blew it away. It went right past Bella so I asked her to go get it. She was running full speed ahead when she fell face down. At first she was quiet so I thought that either she hadn't really hurt herself, or she was knocked unconscious, hard to tell at that point. And then the wailing began. I could tell from how she was crying that she was really hurt. I started to make my way over there with Lily and Brooke in tow and the crying kept getting louder and louder. There was a lady that was much closer to Bella than me and I thought for a second maybe she was going to be a good Samaritan and help out. Instead, she looked down at Bella and kept on walking and talking on her cell phone. I uttered a little something about karma under my breath and proceeded over to poor screaming Bella. I got her picked up and her side was a total mess. We quickly hurried home where thankfully Larry was waiting for us. Here is a picture of her injury.
It is kind of hard to see, but the big cut is actually pretty deep and really wide. We debated about whether or not she needed to go to the dr to get stitches. In the end Larry decided that he could butterfly it together. We will know later on today if that was the correct decision or not. Our friend from down the street is a dr and is going to take a look at it when she gets home from school. Thanks Dr. J! I am sure it is probably ok, but I have such a hard time telling whether or not stitches are required. I think if it wasn't so wide she would be better off but if I take my pinky finger from the joint to the tip it's about half that wide, maybe a little bit less. And of course it is really super sore because she hit it right on the bone and there was no fat to cushion the fall. Larry and I keep telling her that she has to stop getting hurt in ways that leave scars or she is going to ruin her modeling career! Just Kidding. I am glad that she didn't break anything but she is going to be hurting for awhile I think.