A change for carolyn

New hair.  Hopefully less drama over brushing it every morning.

It was long enough to donate.  She is pretty excited that someone who has lost their hair will get her hair on a wig.

Missing Teeth

Carolyn has lost three teeth in the past couple of weeks.  She says it is easier to eat now that they are gone, and not so wobbly.

Lizzie knocked out the latest one for her, with her forehead.  I think it was a special sister hug.

Girl scouts

Look who is a daisy!

Getting the uniform was probably the highlight of our week.

Neighborhood kids in the loft

This is the favorite hangout for the kids in the neighborhood.  Thank god steve made this so sturdy.

Bubble fun

Now those are bubbles!!

Fall fun

First stop -  Gardner village to see the witch displays

Just a sweet photo of friends and babies!

From sometime last winter.

Camp Carrie

Two nights away in a beautiful cabin that has no cell phone signal + with a handful of friends who like to laugh a lot = something that I need more often.  It was a rejuvenating weekend for me. 

   

The weekend is called Camp Carrie -- because it is Carrie's family that owns the cabin.  However, I should probably not call it a "cabin" because this home is nicer and bigger than our own homes.  Her family even owns their own snowcat that they use to get back to the cabin in the winter.  (I was driving it here! Well, pretending to.... in the garage!  And, yes, cocktails were probably fueling us.)

First Field Trip in First Grade

.... and fortunately, it was on a day I was not in the classroom, so I was able to join the class.  I was excited to go because now I have some faces to the names that Carolyn talks about, and I could see her interact with all of her new classmates.

We walked from school to the grocery store. We go to the grocery store nearly every week, but we never really think about it.  The kids were fascinated to see the big oven in the bakery, walk into the deep freeze in the storage room, look at the loading dock and the cardboard crusher, learn all about the funny kinds of produce and meats.   On our walk back to the school, the workers at Wendy's brought out a small frosty for each kid to enjoy.  That gave them enough energy to make the uphill walk back to their school.

The runner

I think carolyn might be a runner when she grows up.  She is fast and "looks" like a runner.  I did not realize this until I saw her running with her peers at her schools fun-run.

She was sad and tired at the end (laying down) because she had to go straight to the hospital and had been cut - off of food and water by that point in order to be sedated.  I will update later on the next round of health news.  It is really just more of the same.

Oktoberfest 2014

Snowbird Resort does an Oktoberfest each year.  It includes  beer drinking, german food, lots of good german music and entertainment, and overpriced rides for the kids and adults.  It is honestly a bit like going to an amusement park.  There is a mountain coaster, an alpine slide, bungee trampolines, sky-high flyers,etc.  The prices are like going to an amusement park, too!

The highlight has to be the activities inside the tent which are for all intent and purposes, free -- seeing Steve dance the polka with the girls is awfully sweet, and laughing while doing the chicken dance also brings many laughs.  There are also games and activities.  This year, Steve and our friend Michelle (in the white sweater) joined other adults on the stage for a cow-bell song.  A few years ago, Steve and I won some sort of couple's dance where we had to keep an egg between us.  Last year, Carolyn came close to winning the game of musical chairs.  And, this year, she won it!  She was ruthless and cunning.  I am pretty sure she knocked some kids out of the game, as she expertly and strategically slid her skinny little butt on to the chairs.  The prize was a ticket for the alpine slide, so she was determined to win.  

This year, we took the tram to the top of the mountain to hear the Alpen horns.  There was quite a bit of construction equipment at the top of the tram, but hearing the horns and seeing all of the scenery from up there is always a treat!

Friends

The other day,  we picked up Carolyn's friends named sevilla from her old school.   The girls had so much fun together.   Carolyn told sevilla all about her new school,  and sevilla told carolyn what it was like to be an elementary student at montessori. While we picked up sevilla,  carolyn was able to give hugs to get old teachers,  miss Karey and miss ruby.

They insisted on going to the zoo,  not necessarily to see the animals but to ride the train all by themselves.  

And look at their smiles.   These girls have some gappy smiles.

Buddha

This Buddha kept the girlsvvery busy at dinner the other night. ... Steve and I felt like we were on a date because the girls played in the restaurant gardens the whole time.  

Sleeping girls

Elizabeth often wanders in the middle of the night, sometimes ending up on the couch and often times snuggling with her sister.

Rainbows

We get the best rainbows in utah.  Oftentimes they stretch from end to end, making a full arc across the valley.  As we walked out of the shoe store the other day, there wad a bright rainbow right in front of us.   I told the girls to point to it.  Lizzie must not have fully understood the directions.  

Also note - we had just bought carolyn a new pair of tie shoes because she mastered the shoe tying thing.  Lizzie was throwing a fit in the stores because she wanted to wear Carolyn's boots, so that is what is on her feet.  And for some reason carolyn has on no shoes on at all!