Grace's 1st Recital

Grace had her first recital on Tuesday evening. She did great! She was pretty much the only one who paid attention to the teacher and actually did the dance instead of just doing her own thing like many of the other little girls did. I am trying desperately to upload the video, but apparently I'm not technologically competent enough to hit a button and attatch a file... So, it looks like I'm going to have to settle for pictures.

She had such a good time, and had no "stage fright" - she just got up there and did her thing. It wasn't perfect, but she did her best - and that's all that matters.

Ha! Ha! I won!!! After 3 days of trying I've finally found a way to share the video! So, here it is...



Grace is the little blondie in the back - pretty much the only one doing the dance. Made her mommy and daddy proud...

(The first 2 minutes or so is her dance, the rest is the finale in which you can't see her, but I couldn't figure out how to delete it...)

What a mess!

A few weeks ago Grace said that she wanted to do some fingerpainting. I agreed as Tristan was taking a nap. All was well until Tristan woke up and decided he was going to join in on the fun...

This is the result:

Then, while trying to get a decent family picture for our Christmas card - this is what I had to deal with:

And finally, a few cute ones just for fun. After we get the tree up and decorated, David likes to lay under it with the kids and just look at all the lights and ornaments.

As I've said before, Tristan loves to help...

My little angels...

One Proud Mama

I was talking to Grace's ballet teacher on Tuesday when she told me that she wanted to move Grace to a different class. I told her, "Sure, that's not a problem. I was going to ask you about that after the recital anyway." I thought I'd like to get her in the class with the 4 and 5 year old girls now that she's 4, but didn't want her to have to learn a new dance before the recital. But Loren, her instructor, informed me that it wouldn't be the regular 4-5 class, she wanted Grace to be in the teacher placed group! Talk about a proud moment for this mama -I was walking on air the rest of the day. We are so proud of her! And, as long as she enjoys it, we'll continue with her lessons and encourage her to do her best.

I'm Thankful

I just wanted to acknowledge some of the things that I am thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving:

- My God, who has proven to me that when I have faith and give Him complete control of my life great things are possible.

- My wonderful children who are a blessing to me everyday.

- My incredible husband who gives me more than I deserve, and loves me more than I ever thought anyone could.

- My family and friends who have been so uplifting and supportive during our time of sorrow (but why should I be surprised??).

- Having my husband home for the holidays.

- Living in the wonderful USA - God bless America!

- All of our military (past and present) serving at home and abroad - thank you for your service.

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you all are having a wonderful day.

Turkey fingerpainted by Grace 11/26/08

(She did this all by herself, with no input from me. She said she was going to paint a turkey, and she did)

Handy Helpers

We have been doing all sorts of projects lately, from Christmas decorations for the yard to little projects for the kids. Here are some pics of our "handy helpers".

David and the kids built a wooden airplane and jeep. It required painting prior to putting them together, so I had them in old t-shirts to avoid too big of a mess. I was successful in not getting the shirts too dirty, but Tristan ended up with blue hair...

David has also been cutting out some "yard art" for our Christmas decorations. Grace was out assisting him one day:

Then it was Tristan's turn to help, but he decided that he needed to work on his tricycle instead:

Oh, Christmas Tree

Yes, it is 6 days before Thanksgiving and we have some Christmas decorations up (right along with my Thanksgiving ones). David loves to decorate for Christmas, so this year we decided to get the kids their own trees for their rooms. We have searched and searched for ones that don't look so fake, and I finally found a pair of pre-lit 4 footers that fit the bill - and for under $40! Well, I knew the sale wouldn't last forever and I bought them yesterday. My husband, being the Christmas freak that he is decided that they needed to go up TODAY. So, the kids now have Christmas trees for night lights...

Right now there's only tinsel (purple - of course) and garland (wooden, with fish and bobbers) on them, as I refused to get the ornaments out tonight... that will have to wait until Thursday or Friday.

Caution - Small parts

Having kids, we've all read "Caution - small parts, not for children under 3". Well, I've never been too concerned with that statement because I've never had a child who made me think I needed to worry... until last night. I was sitting in my rocker making a grocery list while Grace and Tristan were sitting on the floor playing. I wasn't paying much attention to them because they were getting along just fine. Then Grace speaks up and says "Mommy, Tristan put Aurora's shoe in his nose." Mind you, Aurora's shoe belongs to a doll that is about 3 inches tall, and who's foot is about 1/4 inch long - and it fits perfectly in a 2 year old's nostril. This shoe is also pink, which makes it rather difficult to see in said nostril. So, I take Tristan back to his room, lay him on his bed and proceed to try to remove this shoe with a pair of tweezers. He thinks that this is funny, and he's flailing his arms and giggling because it "tickles" when the tweezers are in his nose. I did finally remove Aurora's shoe after several attempts (dang slippery shoe!) and life is now back to normal. I'm just glad Grace saw him do this or who knows what would have happened - little boys spend a lot of time with their fingers up their nose...

Grace with one of her Halloween suckers

Not much else has been going on - just hanging out around the house when we're not running about to one of Grace's activities. I find life is a little easier on me these days if I stay busy...