My Dancing Queen

This year was Lil’ Miss’ first year of taking dance.  Sometimes she would fully participate and sometimes not.  When she felt like it, I was amazed at how well she could remember and perform the dances she was learning. 

Last night was her dance recital and I was anxious to see what she would do.  When she was feeling “shy” (her word) in class, she would just sit on the floor with her fingers in her mouth.  I was worried that she would would feel “shy” onstage and would sit there while all her friends danced.

Turns out she is a true performer!  She did a wonderful job, despite the recital being outside in less than ideal weather!

Mickey Mouse’s Birthday Party

(She’s third from the right)

She even was able to keep going during her other dance when she lost her hair bow!

All year she has been looking forward to getting a trophy. 

She was quite delighted to get a rose from her dad!

 

P.S. Here’s how little sister spent the recital:

The rhythm always gets her!

Boys and Girls

Hello, Blog!  Long time, no see!

Well, I’m going to save catching up for another day.

This past weekend, the boys went on a Fathers and Sons campout.  They had a great time hanging out and sleeping in the back of the van in 30 degree temperatures.

 

We girls decided that we would enjoy ourselves at home and have a girls’ night.  Of course it needed a theme, so we had a Fancy Nancy Soiree (that’s fancy for party)!

For dinner, we made mini pizzas and drank sparkling pink lemonade from china teacups.

And of course we didn’t forget to eat with our pinkies up!

We dressed in our fanciest outfits, complete with accessories.

For dessert we enjoyed Eiffel Tower cookie sundaes and chocolate dipped mini Oreo cookies. Everything was pink, of course!

After dinner, we danced to fancy music followed by swinging on the swings of our new swing set.

We concluded the evening with a couple of episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and then it was off to bed (in our own cozy beds).

Breakfast the next morning consisted of pink French toast (doesn’t everything sound fancier in French?).  All in all, I consider the party a big success!

And our boys made it home safely, though they did smell like they’d been hanging around a campfire for a couple of days!

Spooky…

The Babe has become a big Halloween fan.  She can spot a “punkin” from a mile away.  She also picked up the phrase “Ooh! Spooky!” and uses it appropriately.  When it came time to pick her costume, I thought Jasmine would be fun, but she had eyes only for “Rella.”  So Cinderella it was!

Lil’ Miss has known for quite awhile that she had to be Rapunzel for Halloween.  I struggled with how best to make the Rapunzel dress.  Here’s my interpretation:

Lil’ T and I had this conversation about his costume:

Lil’ T: Mom, I want to be someone from Harry Potter.  One of the bad guys.

Me: Oh, you could be Draco!

Lil’ T: No, I want to be Malfoy.

Big T: You’re both talking about the same person!

Good thing Big T is here to keep us straight! 

After Lil’ T decided to be Malfoy, Big T was willing to be Harry Potter, the boy who lived!  (I have always wanted to make a Harry Potter costume, what a treat to be able to make 2 characters from the series!)

 

We went trick-or-treating twice this year.  Once at Lincoln’s work (so fun, we’ll have to do it again!)  and then around the neighborhood.  Why is it always the kids who tire out first?  Oh well, less candy control later, right?

Lucky Number 7

Big T really enjoys Cub Scouts and especially the Pine Wood Derby.  He and his dad have a good time designing and working on the cars together.  This year was especially great because…

…he won first place!  Way to go!

 Lincoln actually helped create 3 Pine Wood Derby cars this year.  I’ll let you ask him how the other 2 did…

School already?!

Where did the summer go?  I’m having trouble believing it’s over because the temperature outside is still in the upper 90s.  Hmm…  Thank heavens for an air-conditioned school!

This year, Big T started 3rd grade.

He has a female English teacher and a male Spanish teacher.  I’m curious to see how he does with a male teacher.  I think Mr. Lott has  already made quite an impression because he is all Big T talks about.   Big T so far is very calm about school, an attitude that I hope continues.

 

Lil’ T just started 1st grade. 

He now goes to school all day.  I think he is most excited about eating lunch at school and has already sampled hot lunch.  He’s a fan!  He also has a female English teacher and a male Spanish teacher. 

The girls and I hang out at home or go shopping.  We are girls, after all!  Here’s hoping that we have a great school year!

10 Years: 10 Firsts

In honor of our 10th wedding anniversary, here is a list of some of the firsts we've shared in the 14 years we’ve been together.

1. First date:

 

2. First graduation:

 

3. First year of college:

 

4. First separation:  

 

5. First reunion:

 

6. First day as eternal companions:   

7. First baby:

 

8. First Bachelor degree and first “real” job:  

 

  9. First house: 

10. First high school reunion:

Thanks for 10 wonderful years of marriage, Honey!  Can’t wait to spend eternity with you!  Love you!

 

P.S.  Thanks to my mom and dad for letting us share our anniversary with them!  Congratulations on 38 years, Mom and Dad!

Go, Ninja, Go!

Lil’ T just celebrated his 6th birthday!  To make it extra special, he got to host a party for his friends.  He and Big T are big fans of the Ninjago LEGO sets, so that was his theme.  I made some simple invitations using one of the downloads from LEGO’s site:

In preparation for the party I made two dozen ninja star bean bags.  I made them out of felt and filled them with rice:

 

I also made a ninja headband for each guest using a roll of satin ribbon.  I made decals for the headbands with printable heat transfer paper, but unfortunately the decals didn’t stay on the satin very well!

The day of the party the ninjas demonstrated that they could follow orders with a game of “Sensei Wu Says.”

After that they practiced their skills in a ninja battle scrimmage with the ninja stars.  They were divided into two teams on either side of a rope line.  The battle objective was to clear their side of all ninja stars.  We set a timer for a couple of minutes and let the stars fly!

The next game was a hunt for the Golden Weapons:

First on their quest was the Shuriken of Ice.  In order to get to the Shuriken, the ninjas had to cross a frozen sea on chunks of iceberg (a.k.a. white paper plates).

Next the ninjas braved falling rocks (a.k.a. newspaper balls) as they sought out the Scythe of Quakes.

Then on to the Lightning Tunnel (a.k.a. a washing machine box draped with a fringed table cloth and I-Phone produced lightning)  to obtain the Nunchucks of Lightning.

And then the final weapon of the mission: the Sword of Fire!  The ninjas had to cross over a pit of lava (a.k.a a red plastic table cloth with a balance beam) to get to the magical sword.

After completing their quest, the ninjas were then,and only then, prepared to meet the enemy of all that is good: Lord Garmadon!

Don’t worry,  good prevailed and these fine ninjas were able to rid the world of such evil! (And they loaded their pockets with candy in the process!)

The ninjas then refreshed themselves with mock sushi (a.k.a. rice crispy treats wrapped in fruit roll-up) and ninja-topped cupcakes.

Each ninja left the party with a favor bag that included 2 ninja star bean bags, a mini LEGO set, a top, and a fortune cookie.

I received reports that the ninjas left feeling confident in their ninja skills and pleased with their efforts of the day!  I think the birthday boy thoroughly enjoyed himself, as well!