School days

 Rielee after we dropped her off this morning.  All of the kids play outside until the bell rings.

Ava and Harper were thrilled with these new puppies this morning.  Ava said hers was named "Ballerina" and Harper called hers "Belle".   They were disappointed that they can't take them to school for show and tell until Friday, they really wanted to take them today.  Our school day mornings are going so smoothly.  The girls eagerly dress themselves, then eat breakfast with Rielee, I comb their hair while they are eating, then they brush their teeth and play until its time to go.  Having Rielee here really helps, they follow her lead and want to be just  like her.  After we drop Rielee off they are impatient to get to their school and repeatedly ask "are we at our school yet?"

Crafty girls

 

Ava and Harper made Halloween crafts today at Rielee's.  They made necklaces first, Rielee said they all matched which signified that they are the "Gourde girls".  Then Des helped them make mummy candle holders.  They thought the tea lights were really neat. 

After that they made owls out of felt and pompoms.   They spent the rest of the day taking turns playing at Rielee's or here and putting out Halloween decorations.  Papa took them all to rent videos for the evening, they got Sleeping Beauty and Everyone's Hero.

Queen Ava, Parker's football & Auna volleyball

Our morning was uneventful, the girls mostly did crafts, painted and played Barbies.  Ava cracked us up though when she got all dolled up in her "queen" dress, complete with crooked crown and wings, and put on a hula hoop show for us.  It was a short one, right before naptime when she didn't have much energy left to entertain, but she gave it her all and then finished with 3 deep bows and a curtsy. 

This is Parker kicking one of several PATs in a very lopsided win over Monticello this afternoon, they were up 38-0 when we left in the middle of the 3rd quarter to go to Auna's home volleyball match against LaCenter. 

The Pirates won 2-1 and Auna played great.

Ava's turn to be the helper

 Ava was all smiles when she saw her picture on the bulletin board outside their room - she was the helper today! 

They had their first lesson on the Bible today.  On the way home I asked Harper what she learned about Jesus, she said that he is Mrs. Dolan's friend, and her friend, Papa's friend, my friend, Ava's friend, and she kept naming names till she finally ended with "he's everybody's friend".  She was paying attention.

Cards for Emmy

eating cookies and showing off their cards

The girls worked hard on their birthday cards for Emmy and we also made a video of them singing "Happy Birthday" to her and emailed it to her.  She said it made her day and they sing a lot better than the rest of the family.

Emmy's party

 Emmy came home after her match last night to have an early birthday party with family.  Grandma Mary made her cake, the infamous chocolate cake that the Dolan clan all love.  Now I know why, it is decadent and delicious.

No, Emmy isn't sad in this picture, actually she is laughing at the pathetic rendition of "Happy Birthday" the family serenaded her with.  Half of us called her Auna for some reason and it went downhill from there!  It was pretty bad.  Emmy said as you get older (lamenting her old age of 22) you get less respect on your birthday!  It was a fun party.

Emmy volleyball

We went to Kalama this morning to watch Des and Gabe compete in the Sand Blaster 5k Extreme Fun Run.  It was quite a course, ending in a huge water slide.  Rielee and Parker rode home with us and then Rielee spent most of the afternoon hanging out, organizing the play kitchen and playing restaurant.  She went with us to Lacey in the evening to watch Emmy's team play at St. Martins.   

   It was a fun match, they won in 3 and Emmy had 9 kills.

The girls posed for a picture afterwards. Rielee ended up spending the night with us so she could get back to the kitchen.

Bridget, making sprinkles

The twins had a successful week of pre-school, they love it so much.  They are beaming when we drop them off and pick them up.  Two days this week they drew pictures to take to their teacher.  Today Harper drew a picture of the teacher and Ava drew a picture of herself.  Their drawings are getting more detailed, often with clothes now and Ava gave herself curly hair. 

After school, we went to Aunt Cathy's to give Bridget a birthday present.  Ava and Harper made a bee-line for the toys, they missed all of Cathy's fun stuff.  Bridget opened her present and sat at the table playing with it while Ava and Harper busied themselves with the dollhouses, kitchen, and easel. 

 One day last week during naptime we were watching Sandra Lee, the girls favorite cooking show, they call her "the pretty lady" and they like that she always has a fancy dessert on the counter and everything is color coordinated to match her clothes.  She was making sugar cookies and showed how to make your own sprinkles by putting sugar and food coloring in a baggie and squishing it around.  Harper was so excited and told me that we had to try it, after all, sprinkles are one of their favorite things.  So today we did it and the girls had so much fun.

They only problem was that, oops, the cookies were so good that there were only 2 left for them to take home!  We have lots of sprinkles left over, though, so more cookies next week!

No long hair for me

Ava brought a Barbie from home today, one with long blonde hair with purple sparkly streaks in it.  I told her that I was going to grow my hair long and make it blonde, just like her doll.  She and Harper looked shocked, then got irate and told me I couldn't do it!  I said I was going to put purple in it, too.  No!   They said Grandma Barb doesn't have long hair, Grandma Cookie doesn't have long hair, their Mom doesn't have long hair, so I could not have long hair!  I said Lexi has long hair, and they simultaneously started stroking their own hair and said they wanted their hair just like Lexi's, and look how long their hair was getting, and then they each had me pull the curl out of a strand down their back to see how long it was!  Too funny!

Twins baking, Auna volleyball

Right after breakfast, Ava reminded me that I promised they could make cupcakes today.  Harper was cute, she picked up the box and very seriously "read" the list of ingredients and then told us "you just mix it all together and bake them!"  They took a bath while the cupcakes were baking, then frosted, decorated and gave some to Alan & Vera and Laury and Will.  They took very long naps, Ava's was 4 hours, which was good since they are fighting colds.

                                                             

We took the girls home in the afternoon, then went to Washougal to watch Auna and the Pirates win!  Auna is also fighting a cold and ear infection but she didn't want to miss her match, and she still played well.

Lil' Squatch Fun Run

Rielee lined up and ready to go at the Lil' Squatch Fun Run today, it's the kid's version of the Ash Kicker.  They started with Kindergarten at 9, and went up a grade every hour, 3rd grade started at noon. 

She had so much fun, jumping over the obstacles, then running like mad in between,

through a muddy pipe,

the suds made her happy,

one last maze and she was done!

Except it was so much fun she went through it about a half dozen times total, this is actually her second trip across the finish line!

No school today for the twins

 Harper woke up at 4 with a fever and runny nose, she took some Tylenol and then felt better.  Ava woke up at 2, restless, went back to bed and then got up at 5, she was a little warm but nothing like Harper.  We think maybe they had a reaction to their vaccinations yesterday. 

They were drawing, cutting and gluing and it was still dark out.   They didn't want to eat until Rielee came over, then they had a little oatmeal and toast with her.  They played happily until they hit a wall about 9:30, then napped until 1:30.  Harper woke with a fever again and she wasn't about to take any more Tylenol.   Papa had to go to town and buy a syringe so we could squirt some in her mouth.

Harper was using Kleenex as blankets for her Barbie dolls when Ava got the idea to use it as a road for her cars.  She didn't get dressed until afternoon, it was a lazy day.

Parker's 1st football game

 Parker, #55,  had his first 8th grade game today, they beat Huntington 14-0.  Parker played well and kicked a PAT.

Ava and Harper played with Rielee at the game, they are sporting band aids on their arms from their 4 year check-up this morning.  It was a traumatic one with  2 shots in each arm.  The good news was - no more shots until they are 11, with the exception of a yearly flu shot.  They are healthy girls and growing normally.
 Harper's band aid count went to 5 when she fell down at the game and hurt her knee.

Harper is the Star Helper

 Harper got to be the helper at school today, her picture was on the bulletin board, they all wear that green fuzzy hat in the "Shine Time" picture.

 Teacher Christina traced their hands for a project when they first got there while Mrs. Dolan helped a boy with his.

 Coming out after school they are always full of smiles.

I wanted a picture of Harper's "Star Helper" sticker so they jumped up on the risers outside the classroom to pose,  but you can barely see it on her shirt.  She said she got to hold the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Princess Baby, bubbles, Lexi's volleyball

 Ava took Princess Baby for a ride today.  She is so happy to have her baby back, she had been missing for a long time, but recently found by Mom in a wayward  backpack.  They rode to the playfort and then Harper got to ride along and they went to visit Alan and Vera. 

 

Harper was doing some serious bubble blowing this afternoon.

Ava was using the one-eyed method.

We went to watch Lexi's team play at Mountain View tonight.  Union won 25-11, 22-25, 15-12.  It was a fun match to watch, they have a good team and came from way behind a couple of times. 

4-wheeling cuties

Ava and Harper had a good day at school, they started learning sign language and remembered all the signs they worked on in class.  After lunch, they couldn't wait to get outside and play.  They did some pretty realistic 4-wheeling in their Jeep this afternoon.  We took  them over to Gabe and Des's to the little hill that Papa rides them up and down on the lawnmower.  They loved it and would scream so loud when they went down!

They just kept going, around and around...

until they were getting so tired and goofy that they weren't steering very well.  Then it was time to pose for a picture and park that puppy.

In the evening, Parker and I went to watch James play in Kelso.  Good game but they lost 13-12.

Cycle ride

Parker called this morning to see if Papa was interested in going for a cycle ride again, they went for one yesterday to Rose Valley and around Longview.   Papa said sure, they rode up to the South Fork of the river and around Toutle.  They are hoping to take a longer trip one day.  Last night Des and the kids came over and we watched the live stream of the Gonzaga Invitational, Macee didn't play but it was a good match and fun to see her cheering for the team on the sidelines.  Auna was over, too, she entertained Rielee while we were watching volleyball, playing restaurant with her. 

Our new school year routine

 We have a backseat full of girls as we first drop off Rielee and then take the twins to pre-school.  It was kind of  a noisy ride, I only had to say "inside voices please" about a half dozen times as they would squeal happily about one funny thing after another...

Quick hugs and kisses, drop-off is a strict and orderly affair at her school and you don't dawdle.

Parker's 1st day, Ava's pj's

Yesterday was Parker's 1st day at Coweeman.  He said it went well and he wasn't that  nervous. 

Ava was so excited to show me the Barbie pajamas she got from Grandma Barb, she did a slow unzip of her jacket and a "TA-DAH!" 

1st day of school for Rielee, Ava, Harper

 Such excited girls!  Rielee was ready for her 1st day at Butler Acres and the twins were ready for pre-school.  In fact, they could hardly wait, they kept asking if it was time to go.

 They went right to the kitchen and Harper set the table with cake, the other set of twins showed up, that's them on the left, but there wasn't any socializing yet.

Saying good-bye to Dad after he gave them a little pep talk.  They were fine when we left, no tears, except a few from Mom.

When we picked them up, they came running out, so excited, Harper said "it is SO fun there!"

Rielee had a great day, too, she loves her new school.

Auna's 1st day, Rielee's meet the teacher night

 Auna came over this morning before school and her 1st day of 8th grade, she looked so cute!  Ava posed with her but Harper didn't feel like it.

This evening we went to see Rielee's new school so we would know where to drop her off and pick her up if need be.  She looks a little apprehensive in the picture but she was excited, they had lots of computers in the room and her teacher was very nice.