Pretty in Pink

I always dreamed I would have a house full of boys. I even argued with the ultrasound ladies when they told me both of my children were girls. This is our life (and laundry) now

and I wouldn't change a thing! Because I've still got this one who has a little bit of tom-boy in her (even with a big pink hair bow)

This week in review....

So....here it is Friday. Another week down, 11 more to go until summer break. I'm officially in teacher mode these days. I am praying for Spring break to quickly arrive and then longing for summer break. I have visions of me and the girls at their grandparents' pool every single day in the warm weather. There is a trip to the beach planned and lots of exciting things happening to us personally. Here lately I'm just loaded with emotion.

My sweet husband is taking me here tomorrow night....

For those of you who don't know, this is Harry Connick, Jr. He was my first Jazz love. Before I discovered Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday and even Michael Buble (some of my other favorites), I started listening to this handsome guy. His voice and this mastery over the keyboard is unmatched. I am so excited. A nice dinner, a little Harry, a night alone with the hubby. That's a perfect night in my book.

And speaking of the hubby....this gift was a huge surprise. For years, we have not really celebrated Valentine's day. We both always say "oh, Valentine's day is silly." But secretly, deep down inside, I'm really like every other woman in the world. I want someone to declare their undying love to me with a frivolous gift and mushy card. So after I told some girlfriends the other night at supper club how I was not expecting anything this year, my perfect, wonderful husband pulled out all the stops and presented me with these concert tickets. I am so excited!

Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction

I want to invite you all to Tipton Christian Academy's first annual Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction. We are working our fingers to the bone trying to get all the details worked out and I know it is going to be an exciting event! All the classes are performing and we have some great items donated for the auction.

When: Saturday, March 6th
6:30 dinner begins
5:30 doors open for silent auction

Where: Tipton Christian Academy

tickets are $6.50 each and we will have take-out meals available. If you are interested just call or email me and I will get tickets to you!

Seriously?!

Who knew I would have the opportunity to blog about so much snow? This has been crazy. I think we've been to school something like 4 days in all of February. I just love it. I love the snow, I love playing in it---it's just the cold I'm not too fond of. We have definitely gotten the most out of this unusual weather, though. Lots of snow cream, snowman building and sledding. I have washed snow clothes a million times and my wood floors are covered in muddy footprints. Oh, well! It's worth it to watch the girls have so much fun.

I have not been feeling well lately and I was dreading getting out to build the snowman pictured above. But, oh, how it did wonders for my mind and soul. It was great acting like a kid and making the girls so happy. At the end of the adventure, my smile was a big as the snowman's!

Is There a Violinist in our Future?

We sure hope so! Erik and I have always wanted our children to learn how to play the violin. It's an instrument we both wished we could have played growing up. We both took piano lessons but only I stuck with it for the long haul. Close to 13 years to be exact. Ella had been on a waiting list at a local music school for quite some time until we got the call right after Christmas that a spot had opened up. We were so excited. I took her to the big city and we rented the tiniest violin! It was so funny. And I did say rent--even the smallest violins are $600 (at least) to purchase.

Ella has not started practicing on the real violin yet. There is so much technique to be learned. I had to laugh as we left our first lesson and I had visions of The Karate Kid swimming in my head. Ella is learning muscle memory skills that will help her shoulders rest, her elbows relax and her wrist move in ways it is not accustomed to moving. She does several "wax on wax off" maneuvers that make me laugh as I think of Ralph Macchio practicing with Mr. Miyagi.

She has a Mrs. Melanie instead of a Karate Guru and practices with a butter box taped to a paint stir stick instead of doing kicks in a floating boat. She was told tonight that if she continues to practice all week, she might get to play on the real violin next week. She is so excited!

This is Ella the day we went to get her violin. She smiled for hours just thinking about it.

Ella standing on her foot position mat practicing her violin hold.

The "practice violin" as we call it. She has to be able to hold this in place with her neck and shoulder muscles for 6 minutes. You should try it. It's not as easy as one might think!

Our future concert violinist honing her performance skills.

Lucy's Turn

Being the youngest often has its privileges. But it can also have some definite drawbacks, as well. For instance, Lucy most always gets to go to the parties that Ella is invited to (perk) but seldom ever gets invited to any by herself (drawback). Well, there's a first time for everything I guess. Lucy went to her friend Knox's party (sans sister) the other weekend. She was so excited. It was at a local Taekwondo school and she had a blast. When we got there she ran through the door and yelled "Knox, I'm finally here."

(these pictures were taken with my mobile phone so please excuse the quality)

This picture cracks me up! They had a mini-lesson as part of the party. She took it so seriously and really tried hard to keep up with the older kids.

Have I Mentioned.....

That we love the Wii? After a recent basketball game we had some friends over for some Wii time and pizza.

Sarah and Brad are our next door neighbors and we are so blessed to have them close. Sarah loves to dance and Brad spends a lot of time honing his skills as a guitar player in between shifts at work.

Our friend Matt is an actual, real-life drummer but has absolutely no ability to play the Rock Band drums. Its actually a funny site. He gets so mad at himself. I guess a real drummer needs to cut loose and follow no music.

The kids are going to get in on the action--everytime!

Kristen is a beautiful singer with loads of talent.

Kristen and Sarah having some laughs.

A house full of kids

It's the Global Warming

Really...it is. ha!

I wonder if Al Gore has been watching the weather patterns lately? Because here in our home town it has been snowing its tail off! Today I had scheduled a day off from school to go to a couple of doctor appointments. I was going to have lunch with my sister and do a little window shopping. I even went to school yesterday to get my room all ready for the week and my sub. I got up this morning and took a shower, got ready and never looked outside. Right before I was going to wake up the girls my friend Amanda and my sister both texted me about the weather.

What in the world?!?!?! I had no idea. I had not turned on the tv yet and I definitely had not looked out the window. I was so shocked. I had not even heard about possible snow. This is crazy! I will enjoy my day off from school, but I sure hope this does not affect our Spring Break!

Happy Groundhog's Day

Clearly a holiday that we have not spent much time celebrating before, I decided to do something cute for my class and the girls' classes. Teaching 4 year-olds puts new emphasis on all those inconsequential "holidays." Due to White Death 2010 we missed the actual Groundhog's Day, so these were a day late. They still turned out cute, none the less.