Friday, June 18, 2010

Slumber Party

For Kendal's 7th and 8th birthdays, we had her parties at one of our local pools. Lots of fun and the kids love it, but decided to change it up for her #9 birthday and have it at the house. Not only was it at the house, but it was a SLUMBER PARTY!!!!! Her first ever! A somewhat unlimited guest list at the pool...no big deal. A big deal when it's a slumber party at your house. Not sure what I was thinking when I allowed her to invite 13 little girls. Not a typo...THIRTEEN!!!! I guess some of what I was thinking was that most of these girls, while I know them from being in her class occasionally and going on field trips, their parents don't know us so they probably wouldn't be able to stay the night. That is our philosophy on sleep overs, but we are apparently "not the norm". Out of the 13 invitations, one girl couldn't come because of prior plans and one could come for the evening, but couldn't stay the night because they were going out of town. So, that means that there was Kendal, 11 of her friends, Payton, Bransyn and one of their little friends that ended up staying the night as well. Grand total of 15 (16 for a few hours) little girls running through our not-so-big house. It was LOUD, to say the least. :)

the whole gang




the whole gang...again

acting nuts (they all actually are :) )
some trashed, I mean played, in Kendal's room :)
some watched movies in the playroom, sort of

Bsyn hanging with the big girls

Payton crashed early...early being around 10



Around midnight, I finally told them that they needed to get settled on their sleeping bags and start winding down. Jeff had to work the next morning and the last thing I needed was for them to wake him up, surprisingly, they never did. I told them that they could watch a movie and/or talk quietly but that the noise level had to go WAY down, then I got my pillows and blanket and settled in on the couch to hopefully get some sleep. As you can imagine, it didn't take long for it to get louder, a little louder and yet even louder.
Notice Bsyn at the front of the pic (with the monkey blanket), she was still going strong when I told everyone to get settled at midnight. It didn't take her long though and she was OUT!

Some went to sleep pretty quickly, others I don't think had any intention of going to sleep. At TWO A.M., I finally took my pillows and blanket and laid down on the playroom floor as well. That did the trick! Everyone was QUIET and went to sleep. I even managed to doze off and when I woke up an hour later, had to say a little prayer that I could make it up off the floor. I WAS SORE! I am not a kid anymore and sleeping on the hard floor at my age...not a smart move! :) I managed to make it up and drag my belongings back to the couch where I got in a few hours of restless sleep before getting up to make everyone a pancake, scrambled eggs and sausage breakfast. I thought I would have plenty of time to get breakfast made and maybe even have to wake them up to eat. Boy, was I wrong! I have seriously forgotten what it is to be a kid. The first few came out a little before 7 and the rest were close behind. I hadn't consumed enough coffee yet so I really wasn't ready to see those sweet, sleep deprived, disheveled little faces so I told them to get their things together, get dressed and go outside and play till breakfast was ready. I should have had an 8:00 pick up instead of 9:00.... By 9:15, all the sweet, darling, little angels were gone and then the mad dash to get everything cleaned up and back in order began because even though we were all functioning on less than the recommended amount of sleep, we were meeting friends at the pool. Priorities, right?! :)
We spent a few hours at the pool, where as always, we had fun with our friends. The plan when we got home, was to get bathed and then have left over pizza and birthday cake and watch a movie. That did not happen for a couple of exhausted little girls!
This is how I found Bransyn after her bath. I sent her to her room to get her PJ's (which she has tucked under her) and when she was taking too long to come back, I went to see what was taking her so long. I get her half awake to get her dressed and ask her if she wants to eat or go to bed. She wants to go to bed. In the mean time, Payton has already been bathed and is dressed for bed and REALLY wants to eat. She is our dramatic, "I'm going to throw up if I don't eat right now" child. I tell her she has to wait a few more minutes so I can get the sheets back on Bsyn's bed so she can go to bed. A few minutes was too long...
She was sound asleep when I came out of their room. They both were in bed by 5:30 and slept until 7:30ish the next morning. They were obviously WAY tired! Kendal, on the other hand, stayed up watching movies until I made her go to bed at 10:30. She slept until 9:30, very late for her.
Four bandaids, two ice packs, some tears (some from the birthday girl herself) and one splinter, but overall, it was a very good slumber party. They were loud and obnoxious, but very good at polite and everyone seemed to have fun together. Kendal said she had a lot of fun. I am not opposed to any more slumber parties, but next time the guest list will be considerably smaller! :)
Until next time...

Thursday, June 17, 2010

School's Out For Summer!

The girls' last day of school was one week ago. I'm not real sure what the point is to the "last day" other than to say they were in school for so many days of the year. The last day consists of no real academia just some "play time", lunch and class parties. The girls did not want to miss their class parties though! It was a little trickier this year having two in school. I had to divide my time between the two. It'll be interesting when Bransyn starts Kindergarten, how I'm going to swing three parties. Although, when Bransyn starts school, Kendal will be in 5th (say it ain't so!) and the last thing she'll probably want is her Mama showing up in her classroom. Let me tell ya...that'll just be a sad day for me, if that's the case!

first party...Kendal's class


playing sight word bingo

yummy snacks

their teacher, Ms. F telling them goodbye, she will be at a different school next year :(

Off to Payton's class...
making sure her sister has an umbrella in her hair too

little friends...hard to believe they will be in 1st grade next year


"look Mama, a lifesaver ring"

Payton being cheeky, Bransyn raiding the snack table :)
The school year was a success! Kendal had her first experience with TAKS testing (BLAHHHH!!) which involved reading and math. Math is a struggle for her, especially testing and she passed her Math TAKS as well as her reading TAKS. WOOOO HOOOO!! Thank you, God!! That was a huge answer to prayer!!!
Payton loved school and despite my worrying about her being a young 5 starting out, she did very well. She still can't read fully on her own, but we will continue to work on that over the summer.
We are all glad that summer vacation has arrived, although I dread it as well. We were home less than an hour on that last day of school, the girls were playing in their pool, I was on the phone with my mom and was already having the fighting and crying going on. Thankfully, it's been better, if that continued....it would make for a very looooong summer! Of course, it helps that they have stayed busy this week. Payton and Kendal have been going to W.O.W. week at the church I work at. Payton goes from 9-12 and Kendal is there from 9-3. Then all three of them have been going to VBS in the evenings at our friend's church. They will probably crash and burn this weekend. :)
With trips to the pool, hanging out with friends, my part-time job I am doing over the summer and some other fun activities, hopefully that'll keep them occupied and non-annoying to each other which brings peace to me. :)
Enjoy your summer!!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Kindergarten Graduate

Today, Payton graduated from Kindergarten. Although, they no longer have a graduation ceremony like they did with all the classes together when Kendal was in Kindergarten. Now, it's each class in their own rooms with the teacher and no principal. Now it's called Kindergarten Recognition. No matter how they do it or what they call it, it was still a special moment for our middle girl and her Mama and Daddy. :)

waiting with her friends

her teacher, Ms. L telling us all what a great year it was

getting her diploma and her award for her willingness to help others
Ms. L took the time to say something sweet about each child

reading her card

cute girls

Payton loved her teacher and loved school. She was given the option of coming home with us at 1:30 or staying until school got out. She wanted to stay. She would come home from school each day begging to do her homework, even on days when she didn't have any. I hope that trend continues throughout the rest of her school days! We are so proud of our little "graduate"!
Until next time...

Monday, June 7, 2010

Kendal turns 9

Kendal now has only one year left of the single digit age. Today she turned 9. I'm not sure where all the years have gone, each one seems to pass quicker than the year before. I am not ready for the two digit age. She is growing up way too fast, I want to keep her little for just awhile longer.

Since the girls are still in school, we celebrated her birthday as a family yesterday. It was a great day.

excited about a check from Grandma and Papa W

opening her present from us

She doesn't really quite know what's happening since her gift seems to be her tennis shoes that she has been wearing the last couple of months. Jeff told her we were to poor to buy a gift so her shoes were her gift. After few seconds of the "I got shafted" look, I told her to see what was under the shoes.

still a little confused

Still not too sure what's happening. She has been wanting roller skates, but we felt that she should be there to try them on and pick out the ones she wanted. We still wanted her to be able to open something and thought this was the way to do it plus it was a little fun to see her face when she pulled out her cruddy tennis shoes. :)

Very happy now. Even got the arm pump and a big "YESSSSSSSS!!!!"

She told us before we left the house that she wanted black and red ones. She got what she wanted!

Trying them out...as best as she could with them attached together

She is much more confident in them standing still than moving. She is very wobbly and needs to be held onto. She spent most of her time in them walking in the grass. :)
Skates in red and black were purchased then it was off to eat. Birthday girls choice...Red Robin, a family favorite!


Apparently the roller skate shopping (one store, one pair tried on) was too much for Payton and Bransyn to handle. They crashed on the way to Red Robin.


Everyone is awake and ready for food

She got sung to and was given the birthday sundae and three balloons which she shared both with her sisters. What a great big sister!!!

YUMMMMMMYYYYY!!!
We will be celebrating with her friends on Fri. night at our house for a SLUMBER PARTY!!! 13 invitations were given out, 6 yes RSVP's and haven't heard either way from the remaining 7. Could be interesting...and LOUD!! :)
Until next time...

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Pajamamamarama

This past Friday night, Payton and I went to my work church (as the girls call it) for their mommy-daughter Pajamamamarama, which is a sleepover at the church for girls entering or completing Kindergarten and their Mamas. It was a 50's style theme and we had a lot of fun!

Dressed in our 50's style and ready to go


she danced with Elvis ;-)

ate hot dogs with friends

watched some teenage girls show us a couple of 50's style dances



got to do a few moves herself

she was having so much fun

being taught the hand jive

yummy treats in the chocolate fountain

decorated a pillow

her finished work

sang a little karaoke

went on a walk through some dark hallways upstairs with flashlights

played in the bounce house

had fun with friends

did not want to wake up in the morning

waffle and sausage breakfast before heading home
I did not get much sleep that night because I spent most of the night trying to keep her from grinding her teeth. She is a horrible teeth grinder, just like me when I was a kid. I was worried she would keep everyone else awake so I was constantly (or so it felt) grabbing her jaw, shaking her or trying to open her mouth. With all that, it's amazing that she got any sleep. LOL! It sounds more horrible than it actually was, I was being as gentle as possible. :) The sleep deprivation was well worth it to spend that time with her without her sisters around.
Until next time...