Dress Rehearsal

Well after thinking I had showed up to dress rehearsal on the wrong night and coming within 1 minute of leaving, dress rehearsal went off fairly smoothly, although I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked as I video taped both of Hannah's dances and Parker's dance, since you can't tape or photograph during the actual recital and I never seem to get good pictures of them on stage. As predicted, I think the little ones will steal the show. Even with all the mistakes they made, they were simply adorable. I'll post those videos when I figure out how to do it more clearly. (Seems like the videos I have posted lately through YouTube are blurry.)

Parker and his friends are dancing to "Rockin Robin" and Hannah is dancing to "Won't You Charleston with Me" for tap (the green and purple costume)and "It's Raining Men" for jazz. I loved this dance of Hannah's. They had really big black umbrellas. It was really cool. I wasn't able to get a picture of Hannah with this group, as she had to run to do a super quick costume change. For the tap dance, she has to pretend to kiss Connor (her long time friend) and then ends the number by sitting on his lap. I told her that when she is a big star someday maybe I'll sell that video on Ebay. :-0

I can't wait until Saturday for the actual show.

Recognition

Last night was a special night for Hannah. She along with about 15 other students from our district were honored by the School Board and the Superintendent. This was in recognition of her Reflection's entries that placed at the state level. Her film featuring Mr. Squeaky & Mr. Bunny won 2nd place and her dance won Honorable Mention. We are so proud of her. She is looking forward to next year's competition!

Life Lessons

Okay being the mother of an almost teenager is not the easiest thing.
You try and teach your children important lessons about life. Lately Michael & I have been trying to get on Lucas about taking better care of himself, particularly his hair. He was blessed with a very thick head of hair that curls in every which direction. He thinks that he doesn't need to brush it because it will in his words "still look messy". I got tired of the morning battles over him not brushing his hair. My solution: have the hair cut so short you didn't need a brush. Needless to say, this probably wasn't the best approach. He cried for a long while after the haircut and was quite mad at me for ordering Michael to have his hair cut like this. He thought it made his face look fat. He was also so afraid of what the kids at school would say. Lesson learned on my part: self-image in middle school is an important thing and for a kid who already thinks most kids are mean to him, I didn't make things any better. After a few weeks of having this new haircut though, I think he is ready to become more acquainted with his hairbrush.

Furry Visitors

This weekend we had visitors of the furry-type. Hannah's second grade class
started the school year with 2 female guinea pigs. In early March, the 2nd graders got a mini sex-ed lesson. Turns out Margie wasn't a girl afterall, as along came a new member of the family. We got to have the new baby over spring break and it was amazing to see how alert a baby guinea pig is. During that visit we nick-named the baby "Squirt". The name seems to have stuck with the second graders. This was our final time to have all 3 guinea pigs before the end of the school year. Soon Angie will be having "an operation" to not have anymore babies and Squirt is going to be adopted. Hannah is not sure if she wants to maybe try and be one of the children trying for a chance to adopt Squirt. Mr. Bunny & Mr. Squeaky might get awful jealous.

Hard Work Pays Off!

Hannah had an exciting day today. Although she had passed Taekwondo testing a few weeks ago, today seemed even more special. Her black belt with her name embroidered on it finally came in. Her embroidered jacket with her name and school came in last week. So now she feels officially like a First Degree Decided Black Belt.

We are so proud of her accomplishment. Lucas is worried that she will catch up to him in belt levels, so hopefully this will light a fire under him. He didn't pass testing last time so he is still working on earning his Second Degree Black Belt. Now that Michael is better, he hopes to get back on track with the kids. Hannah is now a higher rank than him.

For our friends and family, if you can, please drop her a note or card about her accomplishment. It has been 3 years of hard work to get to this point, plus she would loves getting mail.

Catching Frogs

Well my youngest, Parker, has taken an interest in catching frogs and would love to spend every moment outside trying to catch them, well except when he is tired and then he just wants to watch Spongebob. We have two decorative ponds in front of our house that are connected by a stream. We have had bullforgs that have hung out for a few years. Occassionally they wonder into the backyard and go in the pool and need to be rescued before the chlorine does them in. We have recently discovered tadpoles in the stream and both Parker & Hannah have had to catch one temporarily to take into school. Parker named the tadpole he caught "George" and wanted us to put him in the fishtank. We convinced him to let him free so he could grow up to be a bullfrog. I love on a warm summer night listening to the bullfrogs.

Parker actually caught a small frog today and was trying to transfer him to a bucket. The frog had other ideas. It was cute watching him try to recapture the frog and his expression when the frog got away. I thought it was funny.