Happenings from the past week...

They weren't kidding when they said "reading pays off"! We got a call las Tuesday from our library saying Evan and Kamri had won a prize from the raffle drawing. My kids participated in the summer reading program the library sponsors. At the end of the summer, after reading for a certain amount of time, they handed in their papers in exchange for a free book. They also got their names entered into a drawing for prizes. They scored - BIG!

I let Sara pretend she got the prize since Kamri doesn't realize anyway. Evan picked out this bug catcher. I tried to steer him toward another prize - this one is so big - but he had his mind set on this one.

This was the stash in the goody bag that Kamri/Sara won. A Bug's Life the movie, a book, pencils, stickers, a jumprope (that I was going to buy for her since she loved it so much last Monday), stamps, candy, and other random stuff. Not too shabby for a prize from our small library.

Here's a shout out to my loving husband. I got in the car Wednesday afternoon to pick up Sara from school. Playing on the "radio" was a song from Enchanted. Evan heard it and said "Enchanted!" It's not a song that is played on the radio so I was confused. I looked down and saw it wasn't the radio but I couldn't find a CD case anywhere. So, I took out the CD to make sure it really was a CD. I have been wanting it for a while (for me and for Sara). Ben went to buy it on his lunch break and put it in the car to play when I turned it on. Evan and I did the same thing to Sara when she got in the car after school. Her face lit up and she said "Enchanted!!" with a huge smile. Well, the song "How Does She Know" (from Enchanted) couldn't have summed it up any better. Love you, babe. (By the way, I even got him to sit down with my Friday night to watch the movie.)

Kamri had a mean patch of Eczema on the inside of her elbow and we couldn't get her to top digging at it. So we bandaged it up. She sat really well while Ben wrapped it. Then she sat and examined it for a second. But, it didn't seem to bother her at all. She went on running around.

Ben's mission companion came and stayed with us Saturday night before he made his way to the airport on his way back to Canada. The kids LOVE having visitors. They think it is so fun. We played soccer outside for a little bit. It was soon way too hot (for us)but it was fun while it lasted.

Remember how I said the kids love visitors. Well, our neighbor came over to play for a little bit and Kamri seemed to be in heaven. Evan loved having another little person around.

Here Kamri is modeling her new backpack. She thinks she's all grown up now. This is actually Sara's backpack but she loves to wear it because the big kids get to.

She'll wear it just about any time she can. She must be my daughter - she loves books.

Isn't she adorable? Look at that face - closely. This picture does not do it justice. I left the room for a minute yesterday. This is what I came back to find. Look closely. It might be hard to see, but there is syrup everywhere. She had climbed up onto the table, grabbed the syrup bottle, poured it all over the chair, and proceeded to play around in it. I walked back into the room, she looked up at me and said, "Mmmmm!" with a huge smile. What did I do, you ask? I grabbed my camera. She was already a mess anyway. It was all over her face, her hair, shirt, pants, the chair, the table, the floor. I was finding sticky spots all day. Lesson learned (hopefully) - DO NOT LEAVE FOOD UNATTENDED ON THE TABLE.

(This was not the first time she's gotten climbed onto the table to find something tasty. She's done it twice before. Each time the "tasty something" was one of my cakes - one being a wedding cake. I did not take the time to grab my camera at those times.)

I can get pigtails in her hair!! Very little ones, but they are there. I dressed her in overalls today so along with those and her pigtails she looked like she was ready to go out and milk some cows. So cute!! (Yes, I can still say that after the syrup incident mentioned above)

And look at those curls. I hope she doesn't lose them.