Some Random Pictures That I've Been Meaning to Post

The girls found a frog in the backyard.... Sam tried to wear it on her forehead again....

Allison attempted the forehead thing too, but poor frog kept falling to the ground. So she had to resort to just holding him.

On one of the last sunny and warm days in September - Konrad decided to squeeze in one more jet skiing adventure at the lake. Originally just Konrad was going, but Allison was determined to ride that jet ski with him, so we all packed up and went.

Kimber did her homework while we watched:

Sam and Lauren did some homework then played on the playground:

Allison is ready to get on the jet ski:

Coming back in after a long and fast ride. That child has no fear. You'll notice she was the only one that wanted to ride it. I was surprised Kimber didn't want to, she normally does, but opted out this time.

Oh, this is the before-the-hair-cut-picture:

Notice my nephew Jack in the background. He had to come with us to get her hair cut - he decided it took way too long. He is used to quick buzz cuts - not layers and all that stuff!

Here is the after-the-haircut-picture. I know it's blurry - I obviously didn't look that closely at it after I took it. Oh well, she how cute she is anyways?

Okay, I think I can finally empty my blog folder in my picture program. I'm all caught up!

My preschool classes endured a cold wet field trip to the farm/pumpkin patch today. One of these years I'm going to get a sunny day!!!! My legs have almost warmed up. I'm baking cookies trying to help the process :) At least my stomach will get warm!

The Music Man

Last week Kimber was in her first "real" play. She has done the little school ones, but this is the first makeup, hair, memorize lines, learn songs on the piano, learn dance moves, go to play practice up to 3 times a week, spend 5 hours at the church each night last week kinda play.

And she LOVED every minute of it!

Ready to go:
Makeup on:

Hanging out in the "girls" room with her friends. She is smiling like that b/c she is pretending she has a mouth full of mosquito's....(they were playing Curses)

Take a break from the game and really smile - meaning get rid of the mosquito's for a minute :)

Warm-ups on stage:

First scene - Iowa Stubborn:

She told me that she could never hold the note long enough, so she is probably faking :)

Her piano solo: Which I have to add we owe a big thank you to her real piano teacher. Last week on Tuesday they told her she wasn't going to be playing any of the songs, she would just pretend. She had learned 3 songs and we were so bummed that they had taken them all away from her. Deb Chesley called me at 5:00 on Wednesday night, the dress rehearsal/family watching show, and asked why she wasn't playing. I explained that they had taken it from her - not by her choice - and that she was really upset that she couldn't play. Deb fought for her. She talked to everyone she could and convinced them that she could do it. That there was no reason she couldn't do it! Thanks again Deb!!!! Thanks for believing in her and standing up for her. Sometimes you need someone besides mom fighting in your corner - luckily Kimber had that person. She played that song just perfectly!

"Hello Winthrop"

"He won't say my name b/c he's ashamed of his lisp"

"Why doesn't Winthrop talk to anyone?"

Winthrop will never love me! :)

Oops, sorry I called you an old maid!

"playing" her cross-hand piece:

crossing over to get that last note - we tried to convince her to really play it on the last night, I don't think she did though :)

"Good Night My Someone, Good Night"

76 Trombones (I think?)

One night they did pictures of the cast after the performance - this is at like 10:00-11:00 - I think she was done! (she's the one laying down :))

Can we go home yet???

The whole cast:Kimber may be our star performer. We all really enjoyed watching her. I thought the girls would get tired of it, but on the nights we left right after "her" scene, they had wanted to stay to see all of her other scenes as well.

We are all still walking around singing the songs and quoting the lines. :)

She is sad the next musical won't be for 3 years - can you believe she'll be 13 then????

More of Kimber's Birthday

Kimber's Family Party:

Still can't believe she's 10! :)

4 Tickets to 5th Avenue

You can get 4 tickets to 5th Ave Theatre for $93 through this deal:

Valid for one ticket (Tuesday-Friday Performances Only) to A Christmas Story: The Musical! (November 26-December 30), Vanities: A New Musical(February 4-April 3), Guys and Dolls (May 12-June 5), and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (July 8-31)

For those interested and not familiar with Living Social deals if you purchase one and then refer 3 other people then your original purchase is free. In this scenario (assuming that you will want to buy two tickets, not just one) you can purchase your own then refer your spouse for the second, then refer two people and your first one is free. If you don't plan on referring anyone else, then please purchase both of yours through a referal from Ashlee (using two different accounts).

When you purchase, use this link: http://livingsocial.com/deals/10865?ref=personalized-link-box-1862172&rpi=1862172. It is a little unclear when it expires. On the first email I sent to a few of you it said you would have 30 hours left to purchase, so that would be until 5am on Monday.

Konrad

We've Survived

We made it. We survived the play.

Actually, it is still happening, but I survived my part. I can't even count the number of heads I curled. My fingers are still slightly sore to the touch (my "magic" curling iron requires wearing a glove and actually holding the hair on to the hot barrel - thus the sore fingers). Tami jumped in and helped me out - couldn't have done it without her - thanks again!

Kimber did amazing. It was fun to watch her. I watched her scene each performance (but left right after it a couple times). She did great each time. I don't know where she came from - I don't think I could be paid to sing in front of an audience! She also played the piano and had quite a few lines. Maybe she's found her "thing"......

We took a bunch of pictures today - I'll post them later when I actually put them on the computer.

Yeah for the Music Man. It's been fun!

Also - I'm starting to feel sick - please cross your fingers that it is just because I am tired. I have too much going on tomorrow, Tuesday, and Thursday. I CAN NOT get sick!

Sneak Peak

It starts tonight (and runs through Saturday)! Come watch Kimber show off her skills!

Thanks Tami for snapping these last night at rehearsal.

(p.s. No worries, she will have tights on for the real performance and we need to find a big white or light blue bow....anyone have one? Or know how to make one?)

Sappy Sappy Sappy

Konrad and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary on Friday. He had planned to take the day off, had plans for Alli to be at my sisters all day, and we were going to do something fun. Too bad he didn't tell me though - I had planned on using that whole day to get ready for Kimber's party. Plus we had a Primary program practice and I had to sell popcorn at the girls' school. We were able to fit in lunch and an afternoon movie, though.

Our anniversary never really gets celebrated on the 15th anyways, that's Kimber's day. So we made plans to go out on Saturday - Konrad's parents took the girls over night, and we had a great time.

We went to McCormick and Schmick's in Bellevue....which I wasn't super excited about, but we had a gift card to use, so I figured the fact that it wouldn't cost us a thing was worth it. I don't like fish. I don't like steak. Figured I'd get a few sides (mashed potatoes, asparagus, a salad) and call it good. I ended up getting this really good chicken-kabob things, garlic mashed potatoes, and asparagus. It was all so yummy. Konrad enjoyed his meal as well. Plus our waiter was amazing (telling us we didn't need to order two sides of potatoes, b/c they were big enough to share, recommending a yummy dessert, etc). It was great. We also got to check out all the high schoolers on their homecoming dates. Pretty funny. We decided the boys looked like they were about 12 - we must be getting old!

After dinner we drove to Seattle to watch Theater Sports. We had bought tickets on Groupon - so it seemed like it was free (since it was already paid for :)) and the show was great. I just wish it wasn't so late :) A 10:30 start time is way past my bedtime!

The girls had fun at Grandma and Grandpas - but Allison was a stinker and was up from 12:00-3:00 - with a side ache and then ended up watching a whole movie that Grandma was hoping would put her to sleep. Let's just say this afternoon wasn't the most fun in our house - one tired 5 year old! Sorry to Ken and Sara for having to deal with that. She has NEVER been up for more than 5 minutes in the past 3-4 years. Of course being somewhere other than home, probably didn't help!

Anyways, I've started rambling. Basically I just wanted to do a little sappy - I Love Konrad post. I am so grateful for him. I am grateful for the fact that he is so patient, so caring, so forgiving, so un-judgemental, and such a hard worker. I am grateful that he cares so much about our girls and spends as much time with them as possible. I know they will grow up, knowing their dad loves them - they will have no questions about that. He is literally my best friend - don't know what I'd do without him!

We had a great weekend - birthday parties, anniversary dates, Primary Program over and done!!!!!!!! (whoo-hoo!!!!!), and even a Sunday afternoon nap to top it off.

Here's to this week....what fun will it bring???? (oh yeah, a week full of late nights, performing/watching the performing at the church - wish Kimber luck!!!)

Kimberlynn is 10!!!

People always say "I can't believe I have a ____ year old!" But really, I can't believe I have a 10 year old! I realized how old 10 is when I was placing 10 candles in her cupcakes - crazy. :)

She wanted a Spooky Halloween Party this year. So all her friends came dressed up. Konrad did an awesome job decorating the house - lot's of spider webs, spiders, ghosts, and other Halloween stuff.

She was also excited to have her party at night - not sure why that is so exciting, but for it was. She had 11 friends and 2 sisters to join in the fun.

A few of the girls at the beginning of the party. Can you tell who my girls are dressed up as?

Her creepy cupcakes. I made cake ball eyeballs. They didn't look pretty, but since they were supposed to be eyeballs they didn't need to be pretty right? How in the world do you dip a cake ball and have it come out smooth? I've seen it done, but was no where near it happening!

Pond Slime punch - complete with a frozen hand coming out of the bowl.

Cupcake tower:

Marshmallow game - using a straw to suck up marshmallows - who will get the most?

We learned a new trick thanks to this friend - blowing through a straw, while one end is tucked into your armpit - try it out, see what happens. We couldn't stop laughing!

Mummy wrap:

The whole party lined up to play Spider Toss (tossing spiders into a web - see who stays in the longest)

Kimber a.k.a. Daphne - getting ready to open presents:

Baby, Queen, Fashionista Vampiress, Velma, and Bee watching the present opening:

Checking it all out....

She got about 60+ silly bands...two armfuls!

Time for cake:

We cheered at 8:20 - the actual time Kimber was born:
A little stunting occurred:

Costume Fashion Show:

and of course - to top the night off - we taught the girls all about TPing. This is the only part of the party they'll remember. No worries, we are TPing a friends house - in fact that friend was TPing with us. :) We just figured we might as well use our Mummy Wrap toilet paper, rather than throwing it away :) :

We did explain to the girls that they could only do that if an adult was with them - and when they asked to prank call people we said NO WAY - see we aren't all that bad of an influence :) Konrad and I also went over and cleaned up the TP after the party - so really no harm was done AND the girls thought it was so exciting!

Facts about Kimber:

-She loves to sing

-She loves to be the center of attention

-She loves to read

-She loves to draw

-She likes to sleep in

-Hates getting out of bed

-Enjoys organizing her room - and gets frustrated that she can't keep it organized

-Loves to keep everything - which leads to the above problem

-Is in her first play - The Music Man, playing Amaryllis - it opens next Thursday - you should come watch her!

-Takes piano lessons

-Is the 4th grade Senator at her school

-Loves all things girly

Happy Birthday Kimber! We are glad you're in our family!

P.S. Happy Anniversary Konrad! :)