Prima Ballerina!

Julia loved her recital today!  She has been taking ballet this semester with her friend Addie and it's been great.  There isn't much she enjoys more than being with a bunch of little girls...the dancing is just a bonus.  Wish I had a camera Friday night for the rehearsal.  Beforehand, her teacher put on the Frozen soundtrack and the parents watched a room full of little pink ballerinas dancing and singing their hearts out to "Let it Go."  So adorable.

I love that her teacher emphasizes character and also that the recital is not a big overdramatic expensive long production.  It was very sweet and the only tense part was trying to get there on time and then me forgetting her shoes!  Here are some pictures from today and I'll try to get movies up soon.

"Smiling" (??) for her pre-recital picture.  You may be able to see her sparkly lip gloss I let her wear, which she was so excited about.

 I know I'm biased, but she is just beautiful!

 Addie and Julia

 Dancing with "my other ballerinas", as Julia calls them, before the show.

 Julia's class dance

 Julia moping over to the other side after one of the little girls "told me to move in a mean way".  I think she was on the wrong side and didn't like being told so one bit.

 Her "solo".  It took forever for her to get across the floor and she looked at her feet the whole time, but hey- she did it!

 Flowers from Nanny and Pa.  She loved them and then told me she was giving them to me and then decided we would share.  She is very sensitive to people getting left out!

 Group pictures at the end.  Somebody's sleepy.

 Miss Cooperative herself.  The teacher gave her the cooperative award, no matter the grumpy face Julia was making as she received it:)

Almost Summer Fun!

We've had lots of fun outings lately and sure are enjoying nice weather, friends, and lots of daylight.  Still 3 more weeks of school, but feels like summer!

1) Tornado warning retreat to the basement turned into a costume dance party

 (Elsa's power to "froze" v. Iron Man's machine gun)

 2) Baseball game- Daddy and Gray time

 3) Picnic with my girls

 4) Baseball game birthday party.  Both boys loved playing in the game in their own ways...Joshua in his "must hit a home run" serious way and Gray in his silly, giggly, "I'm going to be a professional baseball player when I grow up" way.  And Julia LOVED hanging out with one of her best buds, the birthday boy's little sister.  They even held the bat together and made a hit.  But mostly laughed and danced and talked and held hands.

 5) Cookout with folks from church.  Some old friends and some new...with about 20 kids.  Julia did her typical frown at the adults and smile and grab the hand of the little girl closest to her age.  There was a 5 year old and 3 year old and she had the best time hanging out with them.  She is a total social butterfly as long as she's with little girls.  All our kids were so, so happy to be hanging out with a big group of children and I'm really glad we went.

 6) Memorial Day cookout at Nanny and Pa's.  Always great to be with family!!

 Audrey cracking us up as usual...and being sweet to hang out with Julia.

You're worth so much more...

So based on a friend from college's recommendation (Jeannie- Brooke Moody), I bought this kids' cd and we've been listening to it this week.  There is one song about how God cares for the flowers and the birds so we shouldn't worry b/c we're worth so much more to him and he'll take care of us too.  This song was running through my head all day long yesterday and was very encouraging as different worries/complaints/desires came to mind.  As I'm weeding the garden, I keep hearing the song and remembering what Jesus said about sparrows.  Good message to ponder.  Flash forward to 11 pm.  

I had just fallen asleep when I hear Matt and Gray come home from a baseball game.  I wake up to Gray's excited voice that there's a bird in the house and then it comes flying over my head as I cower in fear.  (Really.)  It is a little sparrow.

"Don't you worry about a thing....you don't have petals and wings...you're worth so much more to the God who made everything," goes through my head as I crouch behind the covers.  "Hmm", I think. "God is trying to tell me something?  He has this little birdie in the palm of his hand, caring for it, and he'll care for me too?"

We cannot get this bird out for what seems like an eternity.  We open all the windows and take out the screens.  Matt finds the bird in a corner of my closet and then he jumps back scaring me to death as it flies at his head up to another hideout.  (Meanwhile I'm hiding myself...over in a corner with a full length mirror as my shield.  If you've seen The Office, I'm picturing Meredith and Dwight with the bat incident.)

Finally Matt captures the bird in his jacket.  It's the middle of the night, he's been taking out the contents of my closet, trying to sweet talk the bird, dodging the bird, dealing with his wimp of a wife and so when he finally catches it, he just dumps it out the window, with the highest priority of keeping it from flying back in.

Well the bird did not fly back in.  In went splat on the pavement.  Bye, bye birdie.  We were slightly stunned by this whole incident and I lay awake for quite awhile, coming down from my fear adrenaline I suppose.  My biggest thoughts were, "What it the world would I do if Matt wasn't here?" and "I am so glad we skipped that bird exhibit at the DC zoo where apparently they are so friendly that they land on your head."  and "Hmm, maybe that message I thought was from God wasn't what I imagined it was...because that little birdie went splat."

I can still hear that song in my head.  I guess regardless I can be glad I'm worth more than that bird!

Mother's Day-Mudder's Day-Muh's Day...depending on who you ask

Wanted to share some pictures from our day.  Didn't take any till this afternoon, so no classic "Mom and kids before church" shots, but that's alright.  We had a great breakfast this morning courtesy of Matt and the kids gave me some of their creations from school.

Actually I never got Gray's because he doesn't know where it is, but upon seeing the piggy bank Joshua made for me, he was very intent on making one for me too.  I had to do most of it, but it's the thought that counts!  Joshua's teacher amazed me in that his gift to me was a notebook of self-portraits, one from each month since he's been in school.  That's planning ahead!  Matt got me a new glasses case from 10,000 Villages and I also got a new purse from there last night.

We went to church and I enjoyed holding babies in the nursery.  I'm far enough removed from the baby stage that I like snuggling little ones again, but am also relieved to be able to give them back to their parents!  It was nice to also see a friend at church who moved last year but was back visiting family.

After church we gathered with Matt's family at Stacy's for a delicious lunch with an incredible (and a bit too big) piece of rich chocolate cake for dessert.  Loved it.

This afternoon we had flag football.  The first hour is practice and Julia and I sit on a blanket and pass the time.  She LOVES umbrellas, watching the cheerleaders, and singing/dancing in the field.

 The boys before the game...ready to play!!

 Coach Matt planning the plays.

 Gray as the center.  He had a good run that propelled the team towards a big touchdown!

 Joshua as quarterback...This throw was caught and run in for the touchdown.

 Joshua as center.  Gray playing with his mouthpiece.

 Both boys as the rushers.  They intimidated the quarterback and Joshua had a game-saving flag pull in the last play of the game.

 Pep talk from Coach Matt.  This was our most exciting game to date.  Think there are 4 more left.

Sound bites

(Upon finding a chewed up piece of gum in her closet)
Julia, indignantly:  Someone chewed up this gum and spit it out in my closet!!  That is just gross!!.... (quietly) Oh, that must have been me.  I guess I forgot.

Julia, playing with her baby:  1, 2, 3,.......twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-thirty!  Ready or not, here I come!

A twenty minute argument with Gray in which he insisted that he knows as much as me.  One of his strongest reasons for his position was that he already decided he would think that so he shouldn't change his mind.  The most stubborn child I have ever known.

After the above argument, which ended with Gray being sent to his room for being really rude, Julia said, "Mama, Night-Night still loves Gray, she just wishes he didn't do that."  My thoughts, exactly, Night-Night.

The sounds of disgustedness after smelling the plastic eggs Joshua brought down from his room...that had real eggs inside them, which we dyed almost a month ago. And then Gray says, "Uh, Mama?  I don't know where my egg is.  I think it's in my treasures."  More lovely smells to be found!

Me:  Remember you need to brush your teeth after those gummy fish oils so you don't get a cavity.
Gray:  But I want silver teeth.
Me:  No, you don't want that.  A lot of times with cavities you have to get a shot in your mouth.
Gray:  Oh.  Well can you paint my teeth silver and gold?

The sounds of all three kids having a roaring competition.  Yikes my ears!

After a fight between Joshua and Gray,
Me:  Okay you both need to apologize.
Gray, exasperatedly:  Why do I have to apologize?!  I never do anything wrong!
Well, at least he's not hiding how he really feels.

Then, after Joshua apologized,
Me:  Okay, go ahead Gray.
Gray:  Dear God, Thank you for our food and...oh wait.
Sometimes that boy is just completely in his own world!

Week in Review

Well we've slowly gotten back to normal after the big DC trip.  It was a bit of a change to go back to just us after 4 straight days of being a party of 14!  Most of us came home to normal life- school, tutoring, housework, gardening, etc.  But Matt got to come back to "summer" break and he is thoroughly enjoying having a little freedom.  He finished semester 1 with flying colors and will have to gear up for semester 2 mid-May.  I think the highlight of his break has been kicking booty on the basketball court with Randy last weekend.

We enjoyed one out of the ordinary event on Saturday, as we went to see a local private school's production of Shrek the Musical.  The kids loved it!  Anyone in a skirt was Julia's favorite and they all kept talking about wanting to go back.  Joshua really wanted to get autographs of the characters, but only if I did it for him.

I've been setting out some pepper and tomato plants, cutting the last of the spinach, and watching new flowers bloom.

The irises were transplanted from our old house and before that from Cindy and Barnette's old house and waaay before that from Cindy's grandmother's house in Ohio.

These babies sure know how to take over the place.  I planted a few scraggly ones from Cindy's front yard last year and voila!  There are more than I can count now.

Yesterday Gray and Julia had a check-up.  Both are doing just fine-- average weight, a little short, high BMI (especially Julia, which is hilarious to me since she's tiny).  Julia was very excited about her appointment and was cooperative (though slow and shy) as her vision and hearing were checked.  Joshua watched on the sidelines and talked my ear off and kept giggling at how cute Julia was.  He loves her to pieces and kept trying to kiss her when she was getting a break from the tests.  Of course all the happiness came to an end when the shots were given.  Gray was fine, but Julia got one that really hurts and she was beside herself.  She has brought up the ordeal about every hour since then and keeps reminding me that I should tell the doctor never to give her a shot that hurts again.

As Frozen-fever continues in our house, Julia has been playing Frozen with whoever will cooperate--her little friends, her dolls, and Daddy.  Here she is demonstrating what Elsa "doos when she frozes Prince Hans".  She also frozes us if we let her:)  And she commented this morning, "Fine!  When I'm 18 I'm going to make my real name change to Elsa."  Well, then.

She has been very into spelling things lately (usually that means she tells you one letter of a word).  And she's also had multiple dramatic meltdowns because her dress "isn't even beautiful" or her hair is not the way Rhapsody's hair is.  Is there any way she's getting all that out of her system at 4 and we won't have to deal with it when she's 13?

Gray has been on a seriously sweet kick lately.  Sure, he's always up to his old antics, but he's been finding lots of time to show his love.  I got out of the car the other day and found this on the wall by the garage:

Then today he added this note to our thankful window:

And followed by making this heart for me, which says, "if you don't want this give it to me.":