Bowling

The week before school started for Lyla we met some church friends at the local bowling alley for a game. They have been running a special all summer that entitles each child to a free game of bowling every day of the summer! You would think we would have been there a couple times a week! But, no, this was the first time we took advantage of the offer. I don't know why! We should have been doing this all summer. Anyway, we finally made it over there and the kids loved it, of course.

The bowling alley was full of what seemed to be serious bowlers there practicing for real! They kept staring at us with our loud kids running all over the place! Our kiddos were very enthusiastic and anxious for it to be their turn. They basically all stood on the "alley area" (probably not the technical term) the whole time waiting for their turns! They played two games and then we went to Chick-fil-a.

By the way, I need in a lesson in how to take pictures in a bowling alley. For one thing, the lighting is aweful! And then the kids are moving so fast and I'm behind them! It's impossible to get a picture of their faces as they bowl. This is the best I could get...

They all stood here the whole time! Amazingly, there was only one set of smashed fingers between the balls.

I think this is my favorite picture.

I think I caught Jackson with a mouthful of goldfish! Oops!

I'm not sure if Seth was mad about something here or not. I think he actually had a good time but I caught him off guard in this picture. :)

Grace's first belt graduation

Grace started karate with Lyla back in the spring. She loves it. As sweet and gentle as she is, she really kicks and punches hard. I have to say she gives it her best shot out there. I think it's great for her confidence and assertiveness. She had her first belt promotion a couple of weeks ago. I'm very proud of how hard she works out there!

Eric was out of town so I was there by myself. I had the video camera and my regular camera and both of them ran out of battery power about 5 minutes into the ceremony! Bad Mama! Luckily, my friends Stephanie and Greg were there too. Max was also graduating and I had Greg get a picture of Grace and Mr. Klapheke after the ceremony with her new belt. When I get that picture from him I'll add it to the post. For right now, this is what I have.

Grace is kicking in the front of the line in this picture.

Lyla took this picture...

The High Dive

Grace's friend, Sara Kathryn, took us to swim at their club, Sequoia, a few weeks ago. There is a high dive and a low dive there. The girls were fearless and jumped off with what seemed to be no thought at all. I don't know why I was surprised. They're pretty good swimmers now and this was the first time I had taken them swimming with friends and sat on the side while they went everywhere without me! It felt very strange and a little scary. I was watching, of course, but still! They love to swim and had a great time. Here are the few pictures I got that evening.

I love this picture. Grace is looking at me from a distance while sitting with her friend like a little teenager or something!

I love laughing pictures. They're always my favorite!

Here's Lyla! She looks so little. She tries so hard to keep up with the big kids.

First day of 2nd Grade

Grace started school the week before last. She's never excited to start school. She doesn't mind it when she's there, she just doesn't want the fun, play all day, swimming, summertime to end. I don't blame her. My kids are not morning people either (especially Lyla), so when summer comes they sleep in. Nothing crazy but they're not getting up at 6:45am! But getting up for school every morning is an adjustment.

Anyway, Grace did fine with school starting. She wasn't thrilled, but she made it. She seems to have a nice teacher that Grace describes as "nice but serious". Ms. Peterson has been at Hunter's Bend since it opened, from what I've heard. I can't believe Grace is in 2nd grade already. I love this age. I wish I could freeze her right here. Sweet, sweet, sweet and still childlike and imaginative.

The Monday evening before school started, we went to the mall to buy school shoes. I do not understand Grace. She loves clothes. She changes outfits 2-3 times a day and that doesn't include pajamas. The weird thing is that she does NOT like to shop! She definitely has an opinion about what I bring home to her but she doesn't want to be the one to go pick them out. She needs a personal shopper. My point is, the shoe shopping expedition wasn't the most fun experience and I ended taking the 2 pairs of shoes I bought that night back! What we do still have is the little pink stuffed animal that Grace is holding in the first picture. Mimi was with us so they talked Mimi into buying them a toy, which is what they always choose over clothes shopping! We found these little weird looking animals in Claire's Boutique. It took forever, the music in Claire's was very loud, we left with headaches and Mimi and I were quite frustrated. But, as Mimi said, we should be glad they still want toys. Yes, that's right. We do need to appreciate that fact. Soon all of the toys will be put away and electronics, UGGS, COACH purses and skinny jeans will be what they will want (not that they will get those things!!!). Anyway, that's the story on the little stuffed animal in the picture.

Here's is our big 2nd grader...Grace Elaine! Mrs. Peterson

Look at those books!!!! This is serious!

Her own little desk!

The Clubhouse

One afternoon at Joni's house the girls discovered that Joni had emptied the front closet. They quickly decided it could be their clubhouse. They put tape on the walls inside to write things on, and put signs outside. They also taped a baby phone to the wall because you have to type in the code to get in the door, of course. They also made up a little ritual they do when they enter the clubhouse together. They put their first two fingers in a bowl of water and then touch their chest with the fingers. Then they repeat something together. I never quite figured out what they were saying. There was too much laughing and stopping and starting for me to understand what they were saying. They worked for a long time to get the clubhouse ready. I don't know that they have even played with it since then. It's all about the process!

Williamson County Fair

We went to the fair with Joni, Larry, Reesi and Elye this year. Our girls have different ideas of what you do at a fair though. Grace and Lyla want to ride the rides. Reesi does not want to ride rides. We stayed with them for a long time though. The first thing we did was sign the girls up for a kids "tractor pull" and "tractor race". Joni said these were the kinds of things they do when they go to the fair. Lyla and Reesi were in the race together. Lyla won the first heat. She was happy about that. On the final heat of the race she was right behind another little boy. He came right up to the finish line but stopped and didn't actually cross it. Lyla kept going and actually crossed the line. The little boy "won" the race. Lyla was very upset with this outcome. He didn't cross the line! I agreed with her but what can you do? She wanted me to talk to the officials and tell them she won. She was mad for a while about that. Then Grace was in the big kid tractor pull. She had to ride this little tractor while pulling something behind it that would pull against her and make it hard to pull. She didn't win but she was fine with it. Next we went to the Purity Dairy barn where the kids go through a farm and gather eggs, brush a sheep, plant the corn, gather vegetables, milk the cow, etc. and then sell it all at a store in the end. They get money for their items and get to buy milk or an ice cream sandwich. After that we quickly walked through the real animals and saw an enormous pig that had given birth to babies that morning! They were pretty cute. After all of that we split up and went on to the rides. Grace and Lyla talked us into letting them get in these huge blown up balls that float on the water. That's what they really wanted to do but it was $5 each for about 5 minutes. We said they could do that or get ice cream. They chose that over ice cream. (crazy kids!) So, after waiting about 20 minutes they got in the balls and loved it. That was the best "ride" of the night. Then we went on a handful of rides and had to call it quits b/c the tickets are super expensive. Last year we got a discouted price on the unlimited ride wrist bands through Eric's work, which was great! This year we weren't going to be able to go on the discounted wrist band night so we had to pay full price for our rides. The girls had a good time but we did learn to come on the night they can ride more rides! That's what they like about the fair the most. These pictures are in backward order.