This is 7!

Evy has been asking to have her birthday party at Build-A-Bear for at least a year. This girl loves her stuffed animals!

Evy invited 4 friends and her sister for a Saturday afternoon party at Build-A-Bear.

These girls had a blast.

Being silly.

Evy picked a Princess Leia bear.

After Build-A-Bear we went back home for cake and ice cream. I wish the van ride would have been longer, it was hilarious to listen to this group of silly girls. 

Evy asked for a horse themed cake.

Dunkin' Donuts on the morning of her birthday.

Star Wars toys from Mom and Dad

Evy wanted snow skis for her birthday but I felt like a snow board would be a little more practical in the back yard. 

Last month we celebrated Evy's birthday with her cousins.

The Birthday Interview--Seven Years

Q: What is your favorite color?

A: Hot Pink

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: Ice Cream and Beanie Weenies

Q: Who is your best friend?

A: I have a lot. Heather, Emme, Addison, Kathryn, and Ellie.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do?

A: Go to the zoo, play with my Build-A-Bear and go ice skating

Q: What is your favorite song?

A:  Burning House by Cam

Blank Spaces by Taylor Swift

Good Girl and Two Black Cadillacs by Carrie Underwood

Q: What is your favorite treat?

A: Kit Kat

Q: What is your favorite drink?

A: Lemonade

Q: What is your favorite show or movie?

A: Star Wars

Q: What is your favorite toy?

A: Kiara and Princess Leia Build-A-Bear

Q: What is your favorite thing to do with your family?

A: Go ice skating and to the movie theatre

Q: Where is your favorite place to go?

A: Florida and Grandma Joan’s house

Q: What is your favorite book?

A: Little House on the Prairie and Buddy Files

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: Work at Petco and get the fishes out of the tank

Q: Are there any other things you want to tell me about being seven?

A: I can start to pick Will and Charlie up. I like to get presents on my birthday.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about school?

A: Recess. I like being outside and not sitting on my butt.

First Hair Cut

Will was getting a little duck tail in the back of his hair. It was his little baby curl and I didn't want to admit that it needed cut. After two friends mentioned his rat tail I figured it was probably time to get his first cut. So, off we went to my friend April. Will was unsure about the entire thing but he sat nicely on my lap while I entertained him with videos from my phone. His brow was furrowed the entire time and he kept looking at April, trying to figure out what she was doing. 

This is the front. "Before." Not much hair here to begin with. 

Here's his little duck tail. So cute. 

Sucker time. I don't think he knew what to do with the sucker as all of his blue gooey drool was just coming back out of his mouth and all over me. 

This is his after photo. No more rat tail.

Handsome boy

Wednesday

A typical Wednesday looks like:

 

A 6 a.m. workout with Autumn. Ok, it's actually more like 6:15 before I drag myself downstairs.

Charlie's lunch prep! Make sure I have 1 fruit, 1 veggie, 1 grain, 1 dairy, and 1 meat or meat substitute!

7:30 is wake up time for the girls!

Charlie insists that I carry her and her blankets (3 of them) out to the kitchen.

I allow about 30 minutes for breakfast because we have some slow eaters in this house.

I wake Will up around 8:00

8:30 drop off for Evy

8:50 drop off for Charlie.

Waiting for her classroom to open at 9 a.m.

Keeping Will entertained while we wait for Charlie's class to open. Notice the sticky note in my hand; I volunteered to bring sprinkles for their Halloween party. Had to write it down otherwise I would have forgotten before I got back to the car.

Quick stop at Target to see if we could find a small red barn for Evy's birthday cake theme/decorations.

This buddy sat (not really sat) through a 75 minute meeting at the children's museum. He tore apart an entire pack of gum keeping himself entertained.

Back home for lunch and lunch clean up before we have to pick up Charlie.

Clowning around while mom cleans up the breakfast and lunch messes.

By 1:15 we have picked Charlie up and are heading back home!

Charlie typically doesn't eat her lunch at school so she finishes it once we get back home.

 

After this I put Will down for a nap and Charlie had a friend over to play. Charlie's screaming woke Will up early from his nap. We picked Evy up from school and had the neighbor kids here to play. I made dinner, cleaned up dinner. We worked on home work and at 9 p.m. Scott and I got to watch Sunday's episode of the Walking Dead! Pretty exciting stuff.

Play Time!

 

I feel bad for our third child. Will gets schlepped from school drop offs to errands to appointments to meetings to dance class to gymnastics class and about another 20 places each week. During the week his morning routine is crib to highchair to car seat to stroller and back to car seat. He gets very little time to just run around and play on his own schedule. On Monday we had an hour of free time at home and I let him decide what he wanted to do. He started with the chalk and moved on to the swing set where he did the slide, swing, and sand box. He played so hard that his sweatshirt needed to be washed. Mission accomplished!

 

First Grade

 

I love that Evy's teacher sends us pictures from the classroom a few times each month. It's hard to get any details from Evy about her daily activities but from her teacher I learned that they read fairy tales this week and made Venn diagrams to compare and contrast the stories. They worked on using different strategies to add and subtract and in science they are learning about the smallest particle on earth, which is silt! Evy only tells me about recess and lunch.

 

 

Friday they celebrated Hawkeye spirit as it was UI Homecoming. The poor Iowa State fans who live in this school district have to hate it.

They made adjective "faces" by writing words that describe themselves.

These are their wolf pictures that they made during fairy tale week.

 

Sorting rocks in science. I saw this picture and freaked...Evy is wearing only her under shirt! She said she got too hot at recess.