Illahee writers celebration

 This morning we got to go to a writers celebration in Ava and Harper's room.   We learned how we can help our students with their writing and also watched a video on ways to help them with reading.  One of their teachers, Mrs. Davis, is a reading specialist and she shared a lot of information.

 The kids got their writing folders out and read their stories to us.  One of Ava's was about how she helps Mommy.

 Harper wrote one about their trip to Disneyland.

They have a checklist in their folders of everything they need to include in their stories. 

At the end the teacher handed out blank story pages and the kids had to think of the next story they planned to write. 

 It was a fun to see the girls in their classroom, they love school and it shows, they pay attention to their teachers and are very well-behaved.   

Rielee volleyball, Ava Harper scooters

 We watched Rielee play volleyball Sunday morning.  She played libero for the first matches. She was happy when she got to play front row after awhile, she likes to set the ball.  Her team struggled some, but had some wins by the end of the day.  She was happy about it, but a little tired this morning when I took her to sewing class (no school today).  Later I gave Parker a ride to and from basketball practice and enjoyed having time to visit with him in the car.

Harper and Ava came up at noon Sunday to spend the night with us.  They got busy right away playing dress-up, but when the sun came out they were ready to go for a scooter ride.  Harper bit it racing down from Laury and David's driveway, fortunately she stayed on the driveway while her scooter landed off on the side.  When Ava and I caught up to her she was standing there rubbing her backside and reassured us that she wasn't hurt, a little sore maybe, but no tears.  That was the end of the scooter riding for the day, they went inside to play dress-up,  Barbies and store.

Rielee's sock monkey

 Rielee came over today and we finished her sock monkey's dress.   She was happy to get it done  because Mom was painting her room that same blue today, now sock monkey will match.  Next project is a suit for boy sock monkey with a vest made of the blue satin.

This is how they travel together, need some helmets though.

New nighties

Just out of the bath last night and modeling the new nighties they got for Christmas.   They were happy because these go all the way to the floor, their old ones were getting pretty short.  Then they found some Princess tattoos I thought I had hidden from them in a drawer,  Ava wanted hers on her neck and Harper on her hand, no!-they got them on their arms where their shirts would cover them.

This morning we were talking about dreams because Harper woke up with a nightmare last night but couldn't remember it.  Ava said she has "little" dreams but no one ever talks or does anything in them, which makes her unhappy. 

All Barbies

We met Charb at Will's game at Clackamas C.C. Saturday afternoon (SWOCC lost but Will was high scorer with 19, he was fun to watch) and then brought the girls home with us to stay a couple of nights, since there's no school Monday.  Rielee came over to spend the night, too.  All three were tired, they played Ponies,  watched a couple of Barbie movies and were out by 10.  Ava had her Princess puppies sleeping on my little pillow (a Christmas gift from them) beside her but then decided she needed it more, I guess, and fell asleep with it.  They got up early this morning,  made Seahawk cookies,  played Ponies then went to Rielee's and played Barbies all afternoon.  They came home for dinner, then went back in the evening and played for another hour.  They have plans for our Barbies tomorrow, like actually dressing them, since the only thing they've done with them the last few months is take baths. 

Rielee's slideshow

 After Parker's game tonight (they lost to Prairie in OT), Rielee was excited to show us a slideshow she made at school on Google Drive.  

 It was 9 pages of all her favorite things, food, sports, etc.,

and the last page was cousins but she didn't have pictures, it's still a work in progress but very cute.

Homework

 I got to help the girls with homework Wednesday.  Rielee's was reading comprehension and some math story problems.  She didn't need much help and finished everything quickly once she took her time and concentrated, working quietly at the playroom desk helped. 

Harper and Ava couldn't wait to read for me as soon as they got here.  But first Harper filled me in on the "GOTCHA" she got from her teacher for being the first in the class to sit down at her desk and start reading in the morning.  She was so proud of herself!  They also had a homework page with a list of different shapes, they were to find something around the house in each shape, write down where they found it and then describe it, the parent could write that part.  They had done most of it with Daddy.  They found the shapes easily, describing them was more challenging.  They also practiced  their sight words and did great on those. 

more football

We had the Dolans over to watch the National Championship Game tonight.  Emmy was up also, helping with Rielee's club volleyball team.  She's smiling here but had just been making faces while Dad and Uncle gave her a bad time over something really stupid...

Auna watched the game in between texts.

Seahawk game cakes

 Ava and Harper came up Saturday to stay the night with us.   We had the Dolans over to watch the Seahawk game and the girls made cakes to serve for dessert.  Once again, Auna bravely let the girls do her makeup.

Emmy and Dan came to visit the "twinners" as Emmy calls them this morning, as did Rielee and friend Nettie.  The girls had fun playing Moms and babies and store, and did lots of dancing and singing.

Dance party

 Harper brought her puppy up yesterday to see her Mama Big Dog, it was quite a reunion.  The twins were full of stories about school on the way here.  Ava had bumped her head, on her scar, which made it just a bright red.  She said she cried a little but didn't go to the nurse.  It was her 2nd head bump of the week, Kelly got a call on the first one  (Papa was jokingly calling her "Hammerhead").  Their other news was the cupcakes they got for a classmate's birthday.  Oh, and it was music day and they learned a new song.  They sure love their school.

The girls had a dance party, first just listening to the music stations on TV, but then Harper got the iPad and some speakers for more volume so they could listen to their music.  They got some good exercise, I tried to join in but they were freaked out at the sight of me dancing so I left them alone.  Asked the twins this morning if they thought I was a good dancer, both said "uh, no Grandma."

Auna's club volleyball

Auna had her first club volleyball tournament today, she's on Cowlitz 16's  Asics team this year.  She played great and they won the tournament.  Laury said Auna's team is made up of girls from 7 different high schools, most are local but one is from Napavine and one from Astoria. 

Rielee's volleyball

 Rielee played in her first volleyball tournament today.  She's playing on a 12-U Aces team coached by Jeni O'Neil, who coaches the Kalama high school team.

Emmy came to help Jeni with the team, you can just barely see Rielee in the middle of this picture, since she's one of the youngest and smaller girls.  Rielee did well, she was so excited and enthusiastic to finally be playing volleyball, it's was fun to watch.  And she said later they only lost 2 sets all day.

Makeup Ravens

 Auna let the girls do her makeup yesterday.  I asked what they were going to call their makeup business, how about the "Makeup Mavens"?  Harper said they had to be the Ravens because at their school they're the Illahee Ravens.  They played Anna and Elsa all morning.

Our New Year's Eve was uneventful, the girls had a hard time going to sleep, they were really missing Mama.  They wanted a bowl of cereal so while they were eating we made a list of things to do in the morning, the first being "make donuts".  They went to sleep after that.  First thing they said in the morning was "OUR LIST, DONUTS!" so right after breakfast, we made some.  We had a fun New Years Day, playing and watching football in the afternoon with the Dolans.

Harper scootering down the driveway today as fast as she can go while cautious Ava walks hers down.