Field Day 2016

First grade Field Day is in the books!

It was HOT and crazy, but oh so FUN! Both girls had a blast and both girls played hard! They especially liked the water games and a surprise visit from Gamas! Momma especially liked seeing their big smiles and that they were both so exhausted that they were out cold by 7:30 without any trouble! 

Keags cute class with Mrs Evans

Keags cute group with Mrs Rothermels class. 

Riley's cute class including Ms Granny who came to help! She is just amazing! 

Miss Keagan rocked Field Day! 

Her face!

And Miss Riley rocked Field Day too!

These smiles never get old!

Oh Happy Day!

Oh happy day! 

Not only are we thankful today to live and love our country and so thankful for those who fight to protect it, but there are so many other reasons to be happy today!

Only four more days of school left and tomorrow is Field Day! 

The first swim of the season today! 

Campbell's birthday party last week! 

Walking into Keagan's classroom the other day and seeing this that made my heart swell!! She wrote "I love mom!" 

Getting our dance costumes! I'm still amazed I got it off Riley. We had only talked about it 27 times beforehand that she would have to take it off! 

Riley's KILLER outfit that she totally rocked at HEB this morning! She has worn some pretty crazy outfits but this may be the best. She is wearing her diaper, her swimsuit, then a leotard, fuzzy pajama pants AND a jammie skirt as a shawl! Boom! 

And this...definitely this! 

Garden in a Glove

A little while ago, Mrs Rothermel helped Keagan's class make a garden in a glove for science class. They took a plastic glove and put water soaked cotton balls in each finger tip with a different seed in the middle of each. Then they taped it on the window and waited for the seeds to sprout. Once they did, Keagan took her infant garden straight to her Uncle Todd. He was once a farmer ya know! And Keags was smart enough to know her mom would have killed it. 

Todd transferred the seedlings into a pot and every day we have watched them grow. Several weeks ago Keagan picked the radish. And today she harvested the cucumber! It was a little spikey with very white flesh inside and as fresh as I have ever had! We peeled it and Keagan sliced it for dinner! She was so proud of her little cucumber and I was so proud of her! But above all I am thankful for our wonderful little village! How incredibly blessed we are to have great teachers and wonderful uncles! 

Go BIG or Go Home

Big things have been going on with the Kikuchi girls! Momma Kikuchi just hasn't sat down and blogged about it. Let's see if I can remember it all. I know I'm probably skipping a whole bunch but this is what I got...

Last Wednesday Keags pulled out one of her front teeth at school! Sweet Mrs Rothermel sent me a pic and I was so surprised. It hadn't even been on my radar because it wasnt that lose! 

Then when I was getting ready for work the very next morning she came in with the other front tooth in hand! Now all she wants for summer is her two front teeth! 

She looks so stinkin cute and so stinkin old that I can't stand it! That night after she got out of the bath she said "mom don't you think I am a little too old for panties with characters on them? Can you buy me some plain colored panties?" I then immediately commanded her to put on the Elsa panties and not bring this up again until she is 16!! Too old! 

Riley had a big cardiology appointment last Friday. She did incredibly well! She was almost even happy to have an ECHO and an EKG done! She is such a warrior!! And she continues to amaze me as she smiles thru it all! 

That night I actually went to a girls night out! Taryn already couldn't join us so she kept the girls. Nikki organized a really fun paint night and we all had a blast! Not to mention we all walked away with surprisingly decent paintings! 

Last night we had Reagan for a little girl time. Us four girls went to Chill the milkshake bar after dinner. Just at dinner with Sa and Todd we talked about how amazing it would be if Riley could drink thru a straw. Well apparently a milkshake is a really good motivator because for the very first time EVER Riley sucked thru a straw!!!! This is SO huge!! We have literally been working on this in both speech therapy and occupational therapy on and off for FOUR YEARS!! And yesterday she just did it at Chill without me even paying much attention!! I may have cried! This girl of mine is a rockstar!!   I'm not sure it will translate immediately to liquids because the milkshake stayed in the straw, but it's a fantastic start!! 

Today Keagan did a load of laundry for the first time! Oh an she also did this! I'm raisin them right!!

This week was a L O N G week at work and busy craziness at home! Working, mommying, and doing my calling as 1st counselor in the Relief Society (women's ministry) can all be very challenging. I've pretty much just admitted to myself that as school winds down its going to just be crazy with a capital K! Two more weeks. We can do it! With Memorial Day coming that only means 9 more days of school! Until then I'm sure we will go BIG or go home like we have been doing here lately. I guess right now there is really no other way for a Kikuchi girl! Hopefully momma Kikuchi survives to document it. 

One Year Older

What a great birthday! Simple and low maintenance just like I wanted it! 

A little bit of work. 

Laying on the couch to catch up on Survivor (my fave).

An awesome pedicure and massage with the bestie Taryn.

A super fun meeting/mixer for my new school Mahaffey where I got to meet a whole bunch of amazing new friends while Nana fed and bathed the girls.

More thoughtful birthday wishes then I can count and sweet cards, treats and beautiful flowers from amazingly thoughtful friends, visiting teachers, home teachers and my girls with help from their dad! 

My absolute favorites of Eienstein Bagels veggie shmear and an RJ Goodies cake from Sa and Todd!!

And the sweetest impromptu (just coincidence they were all at my house when I got home from the work thing) little birthday party ever! Nana, my babies, the Frenchs and Miss Nikki all sang to me and helped me enjoy my cake. I loved it! 

And then the night ended pretty much how my life goes...crazy! We wrapped it all up with LOTS of giggles, a birthday dance performance for me and a dog pile of children on Miss Taryn! 

37 is starting out pretty darn good! 

Bad Momma

This weekend was not my finest hour as a mom! 

I don't even think of it often, because I've never done it any other way because I was divorced when the girls were so young, but for so many reasons this weekend I wished I wasn't flying solo in this parenting gig. After actually deciding to take a girls night out on Friday night I paid for it greatly all day Saturday. Going to bed so late meant the girls took the whining, arguing, crying and epic meltdowns to a whole new level. And unfortunately my patience did not rise to the occasion. So I may have raised my voice more then once or twice. Saturday was the worst of it but we also barely survived  a long Sunday at home with a runny nosed and sneezing buckets Miss Riley. And then something happened that reminded me it's all worth it! 

Miss Riley often decides who says family prayer at bedtime. Tonight she decided it was her turn and she enlisted Keagan as her helper. Keagan would say a sentence and then ask Riley to "repeat" it. In the middle of her short prayer she paused and then said "and I thank thee so much for my sister!" Miss Riley then "repeated" that as loud and with as much gusto as she possibly could. 

And I am filled with gratitude! 

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father saw fit to let me borrow these girls from heaven. I'm so thankful that when I'm beyond exhausted and driven to bawling my eyes out in the shower that He will help me go on. I'm so thankful that tomorrow I can try again and that the reward for my efforts is the sweetest hugs and kisses I could ever imagine. 

Even when it's hard, really, really, REALLY hard, I am thankful! 

Best Yet!

Today was the best Mother's Day I've ever had! I am feeling very thankful tonight! 

I am so thankful Nana woke up early and put breakfast together with the girls! They had a plan but Keags ended up being the one to wake up Nana. Nana said Keags was so excited and so sweet about doing this for me! They treated me to my very first breakfast in bed and it was sure yummy! I also got a breakfast show from Miss Keagan. Nana was also so thoughtful and got a picture of the Houston temple during the floods and a gift card for the girls to give me! They totally spoiled me and I appreciated it so much!!

They know me well! 

I'm SO thankful for the handmade gifts the girls made at school! What wonderful teachers they have! It's my absolute favorite part of Mothers Day! Riley made me the sweetest jar with her handprint on it and Keags made the sweetest handprint flowers and filled out the best survey! I will seriously cherish these gifts forever!! 

She is spot on! 

I'm so thankful for a wonderful day at church where the girls sang with all the primary kids! They even signed to "Mother I Love You" and I cherished it! 

I'm thankful we got to talk to Hermana Foster this afternoon! It was absolutely amazing to see her face, see her laugh and hear how well she is doing! When we closed after more then an hour she prayed for us in Spanish and I was so overcome with happiness that she is doing so well but also overcome in missing her! 

I'm so thankful Todd made a great dinner for us, including the Frenchs and we ended the day laughing and being together! Sa gave me a beautiful necklace with the girls names on it that I love! And several sweet friends including Emily, Nikki and Taryn and others remembered me on this day with beautiful flowers, my favorite pistachio ice cream, notes and texts! I'm so thankful to feel so loved! 

And I'm most thankful, SO incredibly thankful, that the Lord entrusted me to be Keagan and Rileys mom! What a sacred privilege that I don't take lightly! I am screwing it up all the time but I am sincerely trying my best and using the Lord as my partner in all of this! If there is one thing I know I am doing as a mom I know I am loving my girls! Oh how I love them dearly and consider myself so blessed to be there mom, today and everyday. 

Happy Mother's Day 2016! I am so thankful! 

BRILLiant

We have been having so much fun at Brill lately! 

Last Friday was the Boosterathon! That meant all last week the girls were hyped up by the Boosterathon team and earned prizes for lap pledges. Then once Friday finally came it was time for the fun run/fundraiser/one big party! Keagan was amazing and did 42 laps! Riley also did great. Her and I did 16 laps! It was awesome! 

Then this week was Children's Book Week. We had fun dress up days but best part was the Character Parade on Thursday! So much fun! Keagan was determined to dress up like "Biscuit." I have to admit that on the night before I came up with a pretty decent costume for that. We got the perfect furry fabric at the Hob Lob and a tiger tail and springy headband. Sa helped me hot glue the heck out it all, we added a red ribbon around her neck as a collar and we were good to go! She was the cutest ever! And so was her darling sister who of course was princess Anna! Who else? She even got a new cape for her second Anna costume and has worn it as much as possible since!

Look how cute our teachers are!!

All the fun memories we have made at Brill, all the support and love we have all received there and all the incredible people, teachers, kids and families there made yesterday incredibly hard! Yesterday I told my bosses and many of our teachers and friends that I got a job at Mahaffey, the new elementary school our old principal Dayna is opening up this fall. That means all three of us will be going there next year. It is an incredible opportunity for both girls so I'm super excited about it, but we will miss Brill and all those amazing people tremendously!!! 

A part of our hearts will forever be BRILLiant.