I celebrated my 33rd birthday and I know I'm getting pretty old. I'm starting to feel it...and see the wrinkles. :( That said, it was one of my favorite birthdays of all time. I had a great, peaceful day with the kids, Carter wished me a "happy birthday" at least 100 times, and to top it all off John got me the camera I've been wanting, wishing, hoping for (for many years). And I love it!
Emily has had a busy month with a field trip to the zoo (which she came home alive from, thank goodness!), a donut date with dad, and a banana split party at gymnastics for getting her splits. She also has lots of playdates with girls from her class. She is turning out to be quite social and is constantly setting up playdates and passing out her phone number to her friends at school. :)
She also got to spend lots of extra time with her bestest friend Lizzie while Lizzie's parents were out of town. They had a blast having long afternoons of imaginative, creative "lizzie and emily" type of fun. They made dandelion rings one day, and created pictures out of leaves, flowers,etc.. to give Aunt Kandace. So darling! Love these two girls and their happy little imaginations!
Kelsie had her school choir performance. She loves singing and is quite happy and animated when she performs. It was fun to watch her!
The girls started soccer season which has pretty much consumed the rest of our month! John is coaching Emily's team and loving it. They are doing great so far! 
Kelsie is playing in an all girls league this year. It has been good for her and we are enjoying the change.
Carter is going through a TENT phase. Okay--it's a phase that has lasted a couple of months and isn't letting up. He wants to sleep in his tent every night and have quiet time in there too. He plays so happily in his make shift tent and even stays quietly in his room at "nap" time!
Matson has become a human vacuum cleaner. He can find the smallest speck on the ground and it immediately goes in his mouth. He is fast! I spend a ridiculous amount of time retrieving his latest treasure from his mouth. Outside time is especially fun...wood chips, grass, and rocks...he thinks they are all delicious! He is a busy little guy!
We tried something new for conference. The kids each had a set of pictures of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 that we had used earlier in the week for a matching game at FHE. They put them on popsicle sticks and decorated a podium (paper cup). As the speakers came up they found the speaker and stuck it into the podium. The really enjoyed it and we'll probably make it a tradition. Their decorated podiums were my favorite part of course. Emily drew a picture of the temple and wrote, "I am going thur sum day". I LOVE sound spelling! 
Emily loves to draw, color, write, create...you get the drift. She spend hours coloring and has an impressive portfolio that takes up half of her room. Recently she has started drawing pictures for each of my preschoolers and leaving them in their cubbies for them to find when they come to school. They love it and a couple of kids have written notes back to her which she just loves! 
The latest fad in Kelsie's class is to wear an apron to school! First of all, you have to understand that Kelsie's teacher wears a toolbelt at school everyday. This might seeem a little strange at first, but once you've been in his classroom you don't question anything. He is amazing and uses the toolbelt to hold all of his teaching tools he uses through the day. Anyway, a girl showed up at school with a trendy apron and used the pockets for pencils, highlighers, etc... All the kids were impressed and wanted one too. She started selling aprons for the girls and toolbelts for the boys. Day by day more kids were showing up with aprons/toolbelts they'd made or buying one from her. I think about half of the kids have them now. And that just proves that you never know what will catch on with kids! 
