Queen Jinga Mbandi

On Friday, the 6th graders held their traditional "Wax Museum". They had each written reports on historical figures, and then they had to dress up as their person. They memorized a 20 second summary of the person's life, which they would recite upon request. Kenzie did a great job as an African war queen...homemade bow and all!

...three squirrels and the big, black bear...

After several weeks of preparation, Carter's 2nd grade class treated the parents to a sock puppet show. The class was divided into 4 groups. One person was chosen to write the play. Carter's group wrote "Three Squirrels and the Big, Black Bear" (a twist on the 3 Little Pigs). Carter played the part of the big black bear (who should have sounded very scary, but his little voice was just as high pitched as ever). They used a real theater, complete with microphones. The kids added in a few improv jokes and kept us all laughing. Carter was so proud of himself!

This is the big black bear, along with one of the squirrels (the one that built a house of straw) and Miss Pig...who actually had a date with bear...long story that I won't bore you with, but it was very funny!

Keep your socks on!

After 5 years of complaining about traffic patterns upstairs, we finally upgraded to real floors...yippee! The price for this.... no shoes, no bare feet, no food/liquid, no toys, no furniture, no barstools, no table, and no shed for Tim (again)....since Saturday! The final finish coat went on today, so we can move back in to the kitchen/family room on Monday. And yes, the hassle will absolutely be worth it!

Daddy-Daughter Date

Last night was Maddy's first official activity-days-sponsored daddy daughter date with just dad (wow! that was a wordy beginning!). Kenzie and Maddy have always had to "share" dad for these nights, but with Kenzie turning 12, Maddy got the night all to herself. I came and did pictures for all the girls...so cute! They had hot dogs, chips, and root beer floats. To finish the night, a girl in our ward came and taught them 50's style dance moves. Maddy came home, collapsed on the couch and said "Mom, that was the best night of my life!"

...do you ever wonder...

Do you ever wonder if you are spending too much time at your local Carl's Jr.? I'm pretty sure Lindsey and I do. We have a weekly "date" on Wednesday's at 12:25 (love those nice Kindergarten pick up times, mine is 12:08). Anyway...I was cleaning out Jace's junk drawer on Friday, and I found three Kung Fu Panda Bears. Now I know have have tossed several of these already....either they are muliplying or Carl's Jr. is getting rich off of my kids...Maybe the weather will warm up (right!) and we can finally go back to the park!

oh happy day!

Today was birthday #6 for Miss Laityn. We planned a big dinner/party for Sunday night with grandma, papa, and all the cousins....unfortunately, the 3-days-of-fever started at our house last week, and Lady woke up with 104 fever on Sunday morning. Bummer! She stayed home with Tim and Jace (also fever struck) while the rest of us took the enchiladas to grandma's non-infected house. Lady did get to open a present from mom and dad...still didn't make up for missing her party....and cake.... The fever broke Tuesday, so today we celebrated lots! At school, Laityn got to wear the birthday crown and bring home the birthday bag...as she put it "Mom! I gots lots of stuffs in my bag cause it was my birthday!"

For dinner, Lady picked "food you can eat with your fingers". We dined on pb & j (cut up in squares), diced apples with peanut butter for dipping, ham & cream cheese roll ups, and totinos pizza rolls (which were not nearly as good as I remember them being when I was a kid). Sticking with the finger food theme, I made PF Chang's lettuce wraps for us older people...YUM! I'll have to post that recipe later. Lady upwrapped her second gift...a flower fairy book and fairy doll... Maddy informed me that book was better than all her fairy books (seriously! she has at least 4 different books on fairies) so she told Lady they will have to read it together. I am all for that!

Lady paged through her book for a good 30 minutes before konking out for the night. Happy birthday girlie!

Throwback Thursday

Since today is Lady's birthday, I thought there should be a picture of her from her early-ish days. She was about 2 months old in this picture. We drove the kids to California to see Tim's parents. On the way, we stopped at Julie & Ron's for Ronald's birthday....this is where the pictures were taken. And I must say...dang cute kids!