sing your heart out!

So....some people spend December going to Christmas parties....we spend December going to choir concerts for the kids. Kenzie performed tonight and she did just awesome! She accompanied for one of the songs. First time she has ever done that and she didn't make a single mistake! It was so good for her to see her piano practicing pay off. It was fun seeing her chat it up with her friends afterwards. I had forgotten that 7th grade girls hug EVERYONE! You don't wave and say "hey"...you must hug...even the random boy waving at you on his cell phone. WHAT?!?! The second he was out of earshot I was askin' "Who was THAT? And why a hug?" I am soooo in trouble!

ummm....lookin' all growed up!

mini-me

One more Christmas sing to go....I'll be postin' again on Monday!

first one down

Miss Lady lost her top front tooth last night. She is convinced she can wiggle the other one out by Monday...that way when her class sings "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" on Monday, "it will be true!" She came in this morning around 3:00 a.m. to show me her money and her tooth-shaped note from the Tooth Fairy. Of course, she took that opportunity to climb in bed with me and go right back to sleep...I was too tired to send her back.

writing notes for the tooth fairy...Lady was all concerned that the writing might be too big for the tooth fairy to read. Don't tiny fairies need tiny notes?

Lady is the one in the blue box (bed) waiting for the tooth fairy. She made a conscious decision to write "I like you" at the end. She was going to put "I love you" but decided she wasn't good enough friends to say love. Too funny! Maybe Lady will get lucky and have another tooth for her pillow by Sunday night!

super spy

Today while I was cleaning.....took a break for spy games. My hair dryer made the perfect "heat blaster gun". Of course, Jace blocked my heat blasts with his shield and I melted!

The days of imagination!

open your mouth and sing....or yawn...whichever.

Tonight was Maddy's first chorus concert. She's been practicing Tues. & Wed at 7:30 a.m. since September. All the hard work paid off tonight. She did a great job...and her expressions were priceless! She did have a case of the "yawns"...in fact...a couple of times she stopped singing and let out such a big yawn that I thought she might actually fall asleep. Anyone who know Maddy knows that tired and distracted come with the territory. She has taken life laid back and slow since the day she was born. And she wouldn't be Maddy any other way!

"When we get there we'll scream yeah!"....Polar Express.

"the first day after Chrismas, my true love and I had a fight. And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite!"

"the five gold rings were a big mistake and they turned my fingers green!"

"my true love, my true love, my true love gave to me!"

Like I said....her expressions were truly priceless! So proud of Maddy for just wanting to be exactly who she is!

and this is my baby?!

Last night we celebrated Jace's 5th birthday. The official day is tomorrow...so he will get some more partying on the real deal. Jace's birthday has kind of evolved into a feast of sorts along with presents. Ya know all those little holiday dips, breads, rolled-up-things-with-toothpicks, etc that you only make for the holidays? I make them all in one night. I grated 3 pounds of mozzarella between the dips and the manicotti and used up 3 tubs of cream cheese...yummy! If you ask Jace about the night he would absolutely say "it was the best birthday ever!" And how could it not be...spiderman costume, light savers, dart gun, spy watch, walkie-talkies, and an erector set (only took me 45 minutes to help him build the "easy" dune buggy).

feeling a little old now....how is it possible that my baby is 5?

we walkied and talkied all day long!

ya know what he is thinking..."ahhhh yeah!"

"you can call me muscles"

"yes ladies, I can save the day!"

Jace had the spidey costume on by 7:00 this morning. By 7:30 he was decked out in all his spy gear, along with two swords, a light saver, and a back pack with other supplies. The day continued with the changing of characters:

9:00 spiderman

10:30 spy guy

11:30 just Jace (didn't want to get lunch on his cool stuff)

11:45 super spy who can kill all bad guys

1:00 spidey with a light saver

This pattern continued until he was finally in pj's...and of course, the pj's were gone by the time he actually went to bed. I sure do love that boy! We are having so much fun just being home (well, we're not really home...we're everywhere else) together every day. Poor kid has never gotten much one on one with me, so these last few months have been so good for both of us. Happy #5 Jace!

one house....five kiddos

One gingerbread house + five kids = mom instantly transforming into a fairness referee....two kids can put the candy balls on the roof, two others can decorate the cookie men, someone else can put the lights on the tree, one of you can do the gumdrop/jellybean path, everyone can help with the coconut snow....now, could we all just sit back and breathe for one second?!

Here's to hoping they remember the family together time making the gingerbread house and not all of the whining about what is fair and who put on more candy!

look what i did!

Last night was our Reflections awards night. Usually the awards are fairly simple...sit in chairs, call up the winners, clap, take a picture, eat a cookie and go home. This year they tried the creative approach. They had us sit at the lunchroom tables. The tables were covered with paper and there was playdough, markers, pencils, stickers, etc. for the kids to decorate their tables. There was also a table full of snacks and treats. I think it all sounded great, but reality hit hard. The playdough was so sticky...it stuck to the table, fingers, clothes, floor...serious mess. The cupcakes were the huge Costco kind, with red and green frosting. Every one of my kids had lovely green/red teeth. I had them swish around some water to lessen the color before the awards were handed out. Needless to say, creative was more fun for the kids but I'm betting clean-up took forever!

"Can't open wide enough!"

"This green sugar is going to make my teeth a nice shade of green!"

"Hey...I'm not in pictures tonight! I'll eat whatever I want!"

Carter and Lady placed in the top three for their entries, photography and literature. Maddy was honorable mention for photography. All three were super excited that there projects went on to regionals. Maddy is already planning to enter "like every category. Then I'll have a better chance at winning more stuff!" And yes, I have explained that we do reflections for fun, not to win...but really, all every kid wants is a cheap trophy saying they won something.

While the kids were winning at reflections, Kenzie was getting ready for Young Women in Excellence night. She displayed a some pictures of herself with the horses at Courage Reins, along with her volunteer t-shirt. She shared some of her experiences with volunteering, so sweet. It was a fun night to honor the girls and all their hard work this year on their personal progress. Kenzie has set a goal to finish all of her personal progress by the time she is 13. Her 10 hour projects are finished, and she just has a few more experiences to complete. Apparently she is my daughter...such an overachiever...and of course, we couldn't be happier about that!