Kids Annual Talent Night at the church

For the last three years all of our kids have participated in the annual Kids talent night at our church.  This year the boys decided they would all like to do something different so we tried to come up with things that each of them liked.  Jaron was going to do a monologue, but unfortunate for him his parents waited till the last minute to find him one.  So after playing around with Buddy (our dog) and showing the kids some of the tricks he can do, we thought a dog training show would be cute.  The initial plan was for Jaron to bring in Buddy and Lydia to perform different tricks and do some slap stick in between.  Well last night at rehearsal, Buddy was extremely uncooperative.  So we thought we would just have Lydia do it. 

We practice for about 40 minutes this afternoon on the stage in the sanctuary and Lydia did it every time, well then tonight as soon as she discovered there was a crowd she changed her mind.  Jaron was crushed.  He really wanted to do his act.  Evan came and whispered in my ear that he would do it so Jaron could go on stage.  It was a condensed version, but they got the job done.  I was proud of Evan for helping his brother out and for not caring to wear part of Lydia's pink costume. 

Evan did an arting (what he likes to call it) piece where he drew a picture while music was playing.  Evan practiced several times before his performance and I thought he did a great job.  He was under the pressure to complete his picture in about three minutes and he did it with ease and confidence.  I believe he is on his way to becoming a great little artist.

Ethan did a martial arts piece to "Eye of the Tiger".  He has been taking classes this fall and really loves it.  I thought it would be good for his self-confidence and I've been proven right.  He was great up there and everyone got a "kick" out of him.

They all concluded with a song, but I didn't want to over do it...hahaha.  I hope you enjoy the show as much as we did.

The Boys first day of school...

Jaron - 3rd grade, Evan - 1st grade, Ethan - Kindergarten

"You're a good man, Charlie Brown"

Did you ever orchestrate home theater performances with your siblings when you were young.  I remember we would make my parents come out to the backyard for our circus acts on the swing set.  Crystal and I would lip sync into hairbrushes and she would choreograph the dance moves.  I never understood why my parents didn't seem as excited as us to watch our hard work pay off.  I mean we would spend all day practicing (now I realize that was my parents favorite part of it all - it kept us very busy).  Well today I got my own private performance of "You're a good man, Charlie Brown) - special effects and all.  The boys made Snoopy's Dog house, Snoopy's Ears (out of one of Lydia's headbands) and Charlie Brown's shirt.  Just in case your wondering the cast included: Jaron as Schroeder,  Ethan as Snoopy and Evan as Charlie Brown.  They were very excited once they persuaded me up into the Attic (their bedroom) to see their rendition, and reminded me that I needed to clap and laugh between acts (there were several).  They also announced at the beginning of the show that I should silence cellphones and dismiss myself if any young children were crying.  I was a terrible theater patron though, because I answered my phone during the performance.   I apologized and I think they added a number to make up for it.  Anyway at the end I gave a standing ovation, but didn't yell encore, instead I did the next best thing, I told them they had to do the show for Daddy when he got home from work.  Why let me be the only one to enjoy it, right?

Fishin' with Friends

Ethan says goodbye to Mrs. Nutzhorn

Not to steal Evan's thunder, but Ethan said goodbye to his K4 teacher tonight and it was too cute.  I asked him to stand by her to take a picture and he automatically put rabbit ears behind his own head.  We just laughed and then I proceeded to tell him that he should take a nice picture first and then we would get a goofy one, this is what we ended up with...

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Yesterday Ethan turned five years old.  He has been pretty excited about the whole prospect of being five and we have been reminding him daily for the last couple of weeks that he only had so many days left of being four.  On Saturday night Jaron told him that he only had a few hours left of being four and Ethan simply said, "well then I better enjoy them."

Above he is looking very serious about the boat that Papa and Gramma picked out for him.  He was thrilled even though you can't tell by his facial expression.  He keeps asking when we can go try it out, but we haven't had a chance yet.
Above is the basketball hoop cookies I made for his Sunday School class and K4 class luncheon party.  They are sugar cookies with white icing on half to look like a backboard. There is a mini cupcake for the hoop and a chocolate basketball.  I thought they came out pretty cute.  I made the icing and orange decorating gel myself.  Ethan got a real kick out of them.

This is Ethan reading during open house for our school last Thursday night.  He is in the K4 class and is doing quite well.  His teacher said that the home school experience that he had during sabbatical really helped me to excel this last semester.  It is quite an amazing thing to listen to your four year old read.  My prayer is that all my children acquire a love for reading.

Is that a rock in your ear or are you just hard of hearing?

We do our weekly paper route on Wednes-

days after 

school.  Today we had a little bit of a detour because we were going to visit some apartments to take pictures to send to the new pastor and his wife that are coming to join us in ministry in the next couple of months (breathe) so that they can make a decision on where they would like to live.  We were half way there when Ethan said "Mom, I have a rock in my ear."  I was wrapped up in talking with Glen when Ethan repeated, "Mom, I have a rock in my ear."  This time I took notice and said, "What did you just say?" (maybe I had something in my ear?)  "Mom, I have a rock in my ear."  I proceeded to ask him how it got there and the story went a little bit like this..."I was at school, laying on my mat during rest time and there was a rock on the floor.  I picked it up and stuck it in my ear."  "Ethan!! undo your seat belt and come up here so daddy can look in your ear."  Half believing what he said..."Yep, there's a rock in there alright,"  Glen said.  

Thankfully our doctor is a good friend and Glen called him and asked if he was still in his office.  We raced over and Glen and Ethan went in to see him.  Fourty-five minutes later, Glen and Ethan emerged from the doctor's office with a plate full of brownies and a tiny pebble for the scrapbook.

We're Home!!!

We got home around 5 pm this evening and when we put the kids down at 8 - they were out in 2 minutes or less.  The boys didn't want to sleep in their room tonight so I let them sleep in our office - on the futon.  As I sit here typing there is a symphony of snoring going on behind me.  That's Evan on the left and Jaron is under Goofy on the right - and you can't see Ethan because he is curled up under the blanket, but its a 3 brass band behind me singing me a lullaby.

When we pulled up to our house we caught some of our friends from church hanging a big banner and balloons welcoming us home.  It was nice to see smiling faces and be reminded that we were missed.  

So now the unpacking begins...  Have you ever noticed that unpacking takes just as long, if not longer than packing?  I'm sure I will have something to say about it in the next few days.  But I guess for now, I'll catch some zzzzzzzzz.  Goodnight.