Teacher Visit: Kira

One of the other traditions at *S* is that the teachers do a home visit. It's just a chance for them to have some one on one time with your kid, and they do whatever the kids want to do. In 2010 the Wii is what all the kids want the teachers to do with them. :) After showing Ms. S her bedroom they played bowling on the Wii. Kira is really bad at the Wii, but Ms. S was worse, and Kira won her first game ever! ;P

Thanks Ms. S, Kira had a great time!

Milwaukee Photoshoot

Kira and I decided to spend some girl time on Saturday.

Milwaukee is about as far away as Chicago for us, so we went north.

Someone recommended that we try the Historic Third Ward, so we we put it in the GPS and headed out.

On our way we were distracted by a HUGE antique shop (three floors of an entire building) and outdoor flea market all around it!

We got THE coolest thing EVER. I will post pics and blog about it later in the week. We are sharing it, and for $10 the happiness it  brings us for different reasons it was well worth the cost!

So while I had my pretty girl and my camera and some really great old brick buildings we did a mini photo-shoot.

Kira is such a great model and never tires of smiling for me. We had a blast. We also found an amazing paper shop that made me drool. It was called Broadway Paper. I didn't want to leave! We also used their wonderful red futon to take some pictures.

They were so nice I don't mind advertising for them a bit. (I'm sure they appreciate it, since my reader base of 12 lives mostly in Tucson. ;) )

And of course, I played with fun actions again in Photoshop because I can. If you grow tired of that. I apologize. The novelty of the new toy hasn't worn off yet and it's just fun for me to play. I'm easily entertained!

Two different "feels" for the red couch. Not sure which I prefer. You lose something with the color in the last one I think, but I like how it looks anyway. Kind of takes the focus off the color and puts it back on her? I don't know. What do you like best?

Some shots of The Historic Third Ward

And this last one is my favorite from the day! Thanks for looking! (And if anyone can tell me how to remove that darn glare from her lenses I would love you forever!)

Kira's Interview 2010

1. What is something mommy always says to you?
"I love you" 2010: "Keep your voice down"


2. What makes mommy happy?
"Me" 2010: "When I say I love you"


3. What makes mommy sad?
"When I'm away from her" 2010: "When someone dies in her family"


4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
"When you laugh at me" 2010:"When you tickle me"

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
"Me" 2010:" Ummm...sweet" (she sounded doubtful though, it was more like "Sweet?")


6. How old is your mommy
"I don't know, I know you are in the 30's" 2010:"33"

7. How tall is your mommy?
"5ft" 2010: "Umm 5.4"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"Be on the computer" 2010: "Be on the computer"

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around?
"Be on computer, watch t.v. and clean" 2010:"Works on the computer, and watches TV" (man, my kids think I'm so lazy!)

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
"A show. A ballet show"2010:"Being President...well *running* for President." (I said, "you don't think I'd win?" She just chuckled and looked away)

11. What is your mommy really good at?
"Cuddling me" 2010:"Editing Photo's"

12. What is your mommy not very good at?
"Doing yard work"2010:"I don't know"

13. What does your mommy do for a job?
"take care of me" 2010:"Take care of me and my brother"

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
"Shrimp" (She got this one, not sure where Evan came up with cake. I hate cake) 2010: "Healthy food"

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
"When you let me use your computer"2010: "When she cuddles with me"

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"You would be the little mermaid" 2010:"Hmmm...I don't know, who is your favorite character?" 

17. What do you and your mommy do together?
"Go swimming in the summer time, watch tv" 2010:"Hang out and cuddle"

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
"We the same skin, we wear earrings, we have rings, we like to do crafts" 2010:"We are both girls"

19. How are you and your mommy different?
"I watch tv alot and you just like the computer alot" 2010:"We have different colored hair"

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
"Because you give gifts to me" 2010:"She cuddles with me"

21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
"He goes to work to get money to pay to live in our house" 2010:"His voice"(I DO love his voice!)

22. Where is your mommys favorite place to go?
"Walmart" 2010:"Starbucks"

Some favorite shots of my girl.

Just for fun. :)
At 6, Evan is not very cooperative in getting his picture taken. And he always pastes on a goofy face or a really bad fake smile.

Kira though, is just fluid in her beauty. She doesn't even have to try. It makes it really fun to get snapshots of her just *being*.

More pictures from our American Girl experience!

Got the other camera out and so there are a few more pics. Plus I wanted to try to size them a little differently to see if I can keep this template.

Julie apparently had a gymnastic accident. Dr. Kira fixed her up, so no worries!

Here is our newest addition. Lanie!

Isn't this dessert darling!?

And so is this little girl! Gosh I love her!

A day in the life of an American Girl...

Our little American Girl managed to save $256 for a shopping spree at the American Girl Place, Chicago. Shawn and I gifted her money and a day out for Christmas, and the rest she saved up from other sources. :) (Mostly Great Grandma Bramblett! ) We started off at 8am and dropped Evan off to play with his friend George for the day. Then we headed downtown.  We started off with reservations for brunch. Kira had no idea we were going to do that, and jumped up and down and said "REALLY!!!! We get to EAT there too! This is going to be the best day of my life EVER!"

Here is the restaurant. The decor was darling, the dolls were given special seating and tea cups and saucers too, and the napkin rings are hair ties that the girls get to keep.
Kira ordered heart shaped pancakes and the appetizer was a mini-cinnamon bun and desert was a pot of white chocolate mousse with a flower in it and a butterfly cookie. So cute! (We won't discuss the cost of this meal. We paid for the experience for sure!)

After brunch we headed out to shop. Kira had a list of what she wanted and so we were on the hunt.

It really didn't take her long, even though there were tons of things in the store that weren't in the catalogue. She's a bit of a planner like her mama. ;)

 

Resting with daddy after all that shopping! 

Can you even believe this bag held it all!? Crazy amount of stuff in there!

The American Girl Store was celebrating the launch of Lanie, Girl of the Year. Kira has wanted a girl of the year for the last three years, but then waivers at the last minute and gets a different doll. So since she has Kit and Julie she decided that rather than take a chance she would buy Lanie with her own money. They were celebrating with a scavenger hunt, making a book mark and a nature book craft. She got to do all three activities and also she got to meet a turtle brought in by a museum. While she was looking at the turtle and petting it, one of the associates was taking pictures of her to send to corporate headquarters to show them how the day was going. (She was taking them on her camera phone and sending them that way.) Kira was perfect in her American Girl sweatshirt!

Bookmark making:

 

Nature book:

 

Scavenger hunt and prize for finishing!

 

 

By this time she was super tired and ready to go home so she could play with her new things. So we headed out. She fell asleep on the way home. It is hard to shop that much all at once. ;) I'll post a picture later of her with everything out, but she is busy playing with it right now, so that will have to wait. ;)

Here is Shawn aka "The Pack Mule".

Then we headed out, and paid for the parking. Eek!

 

Can you say OUCH! (I loathe the price of parking in Downtown. So obscene!)

Then just some misc. pics for fun!

Pretty darn fancy bathroom huh? Thought this was really cute. They think of everything there, in the stall is a holder for your doll!  And it's me! Of course I took a picture of it!

 

The back seat with all her stuff! 

And one very tired little girl on the way home.