School Musical Programs

A week ago Faith and Sawyer had their school music programs. This year they were back-to-back which was great in some ways but meant keeping Bex occupied during both. Fortunately he did really well and it was no problem. Both grandmas came and we always love that and are grateful they live close. Obviously, Faith's program was based after "Wicked". They had to order "Wicked" t-shirts for the program. Faith is in chorus. The 4th and 5th graders do the program together. They sang several songs from "Wicked" which brought me a great amount of joy since I have seen "Wicked" on Broadway twice and it is my favorite!!! Faith is in chorus which is why her face is painted green (I wasn't so thrilled with this idea). Faith also tried out for an individual part and make it!!! She sang a duet with the girl to your left of her and then the 6 sang together. Faith LOVES chorus and music class. She can actually sing really well and I was proud of her for trying out...I would have been way too chicken at her age. She did a great job! Sawyer's program was the 2nd and 3rd graders combined. Their theme was "Hero's". They sang about Lewis and Clark, Athletes, etc.. He is so fun to watch because he really enjoys singing and was up there and knew every single word. They had to wear red, white or blue. He looked so cute-like a little man. Eden's program is in Dec. and she has to wear pajamas for hers. I don't like to be told what my kids have to wear but it always ends up looking great. I have the cutest Christmas dress for Eden that I was looking forward to her wearing but I guess I will have to accept the pajamas. The kids have an amazing music teacher-she is extremely dedicated and the kids totally obey her. The programs are never a disappointment.

Eden

Eden lost her first top tooth last week. She was giddy with joy. She just turned 6 and has lost 3 teeth ... Sawyer is 8 1/2 and still only lost his 2 bottom teeth. He is starting to get a little disturbed. I felt a moment of sadness holding her top tooth. Her two top teeth have always been distinctive looking-very Chiclet-like. They have looked the same since the moment the appeared so it was a little sad they will be gone and that adult teeth will be taking their place. :(

Chicago

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of going to Chicago with 5 lovely friends. We were gone from Fri. morning until Sun. night. That is a very long time for me to be away from my family and I was a little bit nervous. However, I REALLY enjoyed myself. Kyle did great with the kids and they had a lot of fun. We took the train to and from Chicago which is wonderful. It is so easy and everyone can just relax and talk. We stayed in a beautiful hotel and was in a great location. On Friday night we saw Blue Man Group and it was amazing. I went in not knowing at all what to expect but it was hilarious and highly entertaining. Old Navy had all their winter coats 50% off and for the weekend you could get an add'l 30% off with an Old Navy card. Needless to say, we got ourselves some coats! We have an Old Navy here in town so it was funny that we were in Chicago shopping at Old Navy. On Sat. night we went to a dueling piano bar called "Howl at the Moon." This place was a blast!! These piano players are AMAZING!! They started with two college-age looking guys in t-shirts that can play the piano like no body's business AND sing. This place had come highly recommended to me so we had to check it out. Our friend, Kira, met us in Chicago on Sat. and she went with us. Three of the girls stayed in the hotel. The four of us that went loved it. On Sunday we walked around Navy Pier, ate a little and shopped a little and then headed home. Very fun...love my friends and looking forward to the next getaway.

Cuteness

I babysat Aleigha two days last week. She is so sweet and a great napper!! A good napper isn't something I know too much about....unfortunately. She and Bex are only a couple of weeks apart in age. They don't play together too much but this is such a cute photo of them together in the infamous Cozy Coupe Car. The other pics. of are Bex doing his serious art work. He loves to color and draw-he is happy with just a pencil although he would prefer markers (which he normally isn't allowed). He likes to lay on the kitchen table and draw. I really do dress him daily. For some reason it seems that most photos I take of him at home he is only wearing a diaper or pajamas.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009!!

With Eden's b-day and Halloween, I am looking forward to an uneventful week coming up! We had a very fun Halloween. It is always special to celebrate Halloween and Eden's b-day. We had trunk or treating at our church on Thurs. The kids had their school parade and party's on Fri. and then neighborhood trick or treating on Sat. We now have about 20 lbs.of candy :) I think I am actually getting sick of it. I volunteered to bring snacks for Eden's class and drinks for Sawyer's. The school was PACKED with parents and there was no flippin' place to park...plus it was pouring down flippin' rain!! I EVENTUALLY managed to get a parking spot and get Beckett and the goodies all in the school and carry an umbrella. The kids' classrooms are all in opposite directions in the school. Faith is in a portable this year (which is outside of the school building). I made it to all 3 party's and it is funny to see how almost every parent comes in for the kindergartners but in Faith's 5th grade class there were about 2 other parents. I guess the enthusiasm dwindles by 5th grade. I am happy Faith still likes me to make an appearance. Anyways, after all of that my hair looked terrible and I was sweaty :(. However, it is very fun to see 500 kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes! Halloween night was fun-Faith invited her friend, Megan, to go with us. They think they are hot stuff and wanted to "go alone". Of course, we didn't allow this but let them be across the street where we could still see them. Beckett cried when we put on his costume but was thrilled once we were outside. He was SO CUTE going door to door with his bag-he got the hang of it pretty quickly. In case you can't tell...Faith was a "hippie", Eden was "Gabriella from HSM", Sawyer was a "Wolf Ninja" and Bex was a "monkey." Faith's friends was a "candy corn witch." I really do love Halloween but we will still have candy for the next 6 months until I decide to throw the remaining out.

Happy 6th Birthday, Eden! CAN YOU SAY PAR-TAY?

Eden turned "6" on the 30th. I took treats into her class on the 29th because of their Halloween Party on the 30th. Eden loves school. I was in her class for the last 45 minutes of school and she was constantly flanked by her "peeps." She has 3 or 4 little girls in her class who are her very good friends. She also has Ava who is in a different class that is her best friend. She also really likes AJ and Alex. We have known AJ since he was a baby and Alex is a new friend. Eden is a very happy girl. She skips around and sing songs-she is ALL GIRL!! She loves boys. She loves make-up and pretty clothes although she wants to dress like a big girl for school-only wearing jeans and occasionally skirts. We had her birthday party on Halloween. It was a HSM dance party. It is the FIRST home party I have done for any of my kids. I didn't want to but she was insistent. We had 17 kids and they had a blast. We served lunch, had a "balloon artist" come, dancing, games, cake and present opening. I only had it go from 11-1:30 and it could have easily gone for another hour. It turned out really well and it was a lot of fun- although it made me lose sleep for several nights beforehand. We even borrowed a fog machine and laser light for the dancing. The fog machine made my pics. all turn out foggy that were taken in the basement. We got Eden another American Girl Doll. She said she needed 2 because Faith has 2. She told me her 1st doll would be jealous because her new one is prettier :) Faith have her her old digital camera-I was skeptical but Eden LOVES it and is everywhere snapping pictures. She received a special delivery of beautiful sugar cookies from a local bakery from Aunt Amy, Uncle Tyler and their girls. She also received many wonderful, generous gifts from her friends at her party! These should keep her busy for awhile. We love Eden so much. She is the "spunk" in our household. She is a drama queen. Faith has never been a drama queen so I guess we need one :) She makes us laugh all the time. I can't believe she is already "6" (going on "16"). We didn't find out her gender before she was born and I was SO HAPPY that we were blessed with another girl and that Faith would have a sister. Here are some photos of her class party and home party.