kiddie expert videos

without further ado...

kid experts, part one & three

The last week of school, each student submits a video showing their expertise on a subject.  The girls are submitting their expert videos on Highland Dancing.  Before I post their videos, here are a few photos of them over that past year and a half.
  

Cubs, Flags, Stars, and Pretty Ladies

My sweet boy is a Cub Scout.  He gets to help with the Flag Ceremony at school, once a month, and he just loves being a part of it.  

For the past two months, he's been chosen as a Star Student at the assembly - once for Music and once for exhibiting the core value of the month, respect. This is his Music Teacher and Sunshine's choir director.

This is a picture of his face, when he heard them call his name the first month.  Nice monster teeth, Buddy!

Here he is with a gorgeous woman, posing as his mother.  Oh, wait.  That's me.  :)

With his handsome Daddy!

mix-and-match day

The Kindergarten won a fundraising contest at school this month and we rewarded with a Mix-and-Match Day. 

Polly put her outfit together last night and we added some accessories this morning to really mix things up.   

Pollyanna wore one heart sock and one striped sock, under one pink cowgirl boot and one black boot. 

One hand's nails were painted in gold and the other hand's nails were painted in pink.  

One half of her hair was french braided and tied off with a patriotic ribbon.  The other side was in a bun, adored with a grey/black leopard print flower pin. 

hello, spring

Are there songs that transport you to a specific time and place?  

Is there a song that makes you remember the feeling of grass poking up through a picnic blanket, while the sun warms your face and a light breeze tickles past you?  Mmmmmm, I love spring.

Listen to this haunting cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams by Dana Williams & Leighton Meester and be swept into the promise of spring and the beauty of tragic love. 

a little Napolean, a teasing brother/father, and crushed dreams

Lil' Mama strikes a pose like no other.  Like Napolean with one hand on her six year old hip, her little Buddha belly stuck out, and one leg pointed at the camera, she commands respect and exudes a confidence she doesn't actually feel.  I love my girl. She's so tough, in spite of her paralyzing shyness, and so clever, while also being so funny.   

Of course, since this is Pollyanna's signature pose in every.single.photo we take, it's caused some hilarity among Don and myself.  Since Don grew up with five sisters, he's always keen to tease our girls and decided to spoof Pollyanna in the photo below.  

When I was growing up in a family with only girls, I always wanted an older brother.  As I learned from watching The Brady Bunch, an older brother would serve three important purposes: he would drive me places in his cool car, stand up for me against bullies I never had, and introduce me to cute, older boys. 

Now, let's fast forward a decade to when I went home with Don for the first time and saw him with a few of his five adult sisters. I'll never forget standing in his mom's kitchen cooking and the boys (adult male children) came in and started razzing their sisters about something absurd.  Like, it wasn't even funny, but they kept laughing with each other and going on and on with their dumb joke.  The girls, seasoned veterans of the Brother vs. Sister War, looked at them like they were fools (they were) and proceeded to ignore them.  Finally, Don's mom kicked them out of the kitchen after smiling at them like they were adorable (they weren't).  

I stood there at the stove dumbfounded that my sweet Donsito was an annoying brother.  I couldn't believe that my gold-hatted, high-bouncing love could be such a brat. But it was true and I learned that day that having a brother may not have been as exciting and fulfilling as it looked like it was on The Brady Bunch. Was my Donny more like Alex P. Keaton than Greg Brady?!?  Yes, yes he was! :( 

After living with and being related to Don for over a decade, my poor sister Rebekah has also learned this lesson about having a brother. Though, she probably knew already, because she's smart like that.  

Oh, Donny, you're so funny!  I love you!
*kisses*

a yearly disaster

happy april fool's day!

So, this is my kids' favorite holiday.  They plan for it for days and talk about it for a year.  
This morning, Pollyanna was so excited to tell her teacher that she broke her wrist at dance last night. Her wrist was wrapped with paper towels and then covered with pink clip wrap.  It looked good and she went off to school pumped up!  
Fast forward 15 minutes.
Pollyanna's teacher calls my cell phone and tells me that Molly is crying and trying to take off her cast.  She said that Polly told her that I said she could take it off at school.  I start laughing hysterically at this point that my ultra-shy child has frozen telling her OWN April Fool's Day joke, which reminded me of the 100th Day of School fiasco. 
Pollyanna was supposed to dress like a 100 year old on the 100th day of school.  She had big plans and wanted the piece de resistance to be showing up to school with GG's walker.  I'm always up for a good time, so we agreed and Don drove her to school with her walker.  
Fast forward 5 minutes.  
Don calls me that she is growling at him in front of the school because she doesn't want to use the walker.  So, I'm envisioning Don at the school fighting with a Kindergartner and trying to make her take this walker into the building. *lol*  
Dear me.  
These people must think we're looney tune.  
I explained Pollyanna's failed joke to her teacher, who did laugh, but I was so embarrassed, while also laughing hysterically.  
I can only imagine what the other children's teachers think. 
Sunshine made Don write her teacher a note that said she couldn't take the state-mandated standardized STAAR test because she broke her arm. 
Who knows what Buddy's teacher thinks about the eye makeup I put on, so he could look like he had black eyes?  
Eegads.
We're just such nerds!  I can't help it. I think about not letting them do it and then it seems really funny to me and I just CAN NOT convince myself to talk them out of it. 

surrey with a fringe on top

...or rather..Sunshine with a Fringe on Top

After years of begging, Sunshine is now the proud bearer of Zooey Deschanel bangs.  
She's spent hours looking at herself in front of the mirror, giggling and posing. 

None of her friends knew that she was going to get a haircut and it was a surprise for Picture Day.  She said that the girls were really excited to see such a big change and everyone liked them. A few of her friends had to do a double take, because they didn't recognized her.  One of them thought they were "clip-on" bangs. The consensus among adults is that this hairstyle makes her look MUCH too old.  :(  

 

the Judicial Branch is better!!!!

Sunshine was supposed to prepare a speech to give in class, as part of her Social Studies term project.  The topic was to argue which branch of the government was more powerful.  

Sunshine was concerned that the teacher didn't always have time for all of the speeches and she didn't want to lose out on performing her speech in front of the class. (Sunshine likes to be on stage.) So, she decided that we should record her speech, because the teacher would probably show that first and they wouldn't run out of time.  But then, Sunshine decided that it would be better to do a comedy sketch, instead of a real argument. Then, she decided that it would be even better if she was in costume, so she grabbed her Marie Antoinette wig, a black sequin top, nerd glasses, and my black drapes.  Then, she decided that the video would be more entertaining if she used a fabulous accent. Then, she decided that her character needed props, and she raided her father's workshop and bookshelf.   

And so, this hilarious video was born. 

It really is a great representation of Sunshine's true personality.  She's such a hard worker and so eager to please that some people never see her goofy side, but she really is the most hilarious person.  She's totally comfortable being "ugly" and doing physical comedy, but you have to see past her love of the color pink and frills to realize it.  I love it.  I love that she's comfortable enough to do this in front of a camera.  I love that she's always wanted to be in theater and be a performer, and she really will do it.  She's fabulous and I wish I had her joie de vivre. 

35 and glad to be alive!

...belatedly posted...

We spent Don's birthday in Memphis this year!  Whenever we go somewhere new, Don and my dad like to talk about any culinary landmark in the area.  When my parents called that morning to wish him, Happy Birthday, Don charged my dad with finding the perfect place to have his birthday lunch.  

My dad spent hours diligently searching pages of the Food Network and found ____, made infamous by Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Since it had no drive-in and it didn't seem like a diner, I'm going to say that Tom's was a dive.  No offence intended, of course.  :)

 The youngest children munched on extra-cheesy mac 'n cheese. 

Sunshine and Don tried their notorious Rib Tips. 

(Please note the authentic Memphis BBQ sauce on Don's chin.)

We finished off the day with a selection of Tom's finest sweets - sweet potato pie (Polly's favorite), peach cobbler and strawberry shortcake.  

Later that night, we had ice cream from Dairy Queen...in Missouri.  

a short stop in Hope

...belatedly posted...

The thing that I love MOST about being married to Don is that he is ALWAYS up for a good adventure.  He loves to have fun!  He looks forward to good times!  He's always ready to jump in and be happy!  Isn't that a great personality trait?  I just love it about him!  The other fabulous effect of his joie de vivre is that our kids are always ready to go on an adventure, as well.  If we tell them that something is exciting, they believe us and find it exciting.  If we tell them that they'll have a great time, they find a way to make it a great time. These things all make it very easy to go on vacation together.  Yippee!!!

We went on a road trip in November that took us too all sorts of fun places we had never been before.  Our first stop was at Hope, Arkansas, which is the birthplace of President Clinton.  It was eye-opening to see that he really meant it when he said that he knew where the average American was coming from, because he really is from small-town, any-town, every-town USA.  His remarkable education and rise to political power are stunning, considering what humble beginnings he had.  

President Clinton's father (Blythe) died while his mother was pregnant and they moved in with his grandparents.  He lived there until his mother was remarried to Mr. Clinton and visited there often. Mrs. Clinton was a night nurse, so President Clinton spent quite a bit of time there and said that he learned to read in that kitchen. Several of his future Cabinet members, such as Mack McLarty, Vince Foster, and David Watkins, also grew up in Hope.  We thought that was interesting. I really enjoyed seeing his mother's dressing table, which had artwork, clocks and toiletries just like ones that were in my home and my grandmother's home when I was growing up.  It was really fun to see. 

And without further ado, the photos of the children in and around his grandparent's home, which is a part of the National Parks System.  (One more stamp for our passports!)

facing the future and

looking forward to a wonderful new year.

sunshine in the winter

This is Sunshine's last year in elementary school.  Can you believe that?  It seems like just yesterday that someone my mom's age told me that time would fly and she would be grown up, before I knew it.  And now, here she is...growing into a young woman.  
I feel blessed that she is so kind and unaffected. She's able to have a good time wherever she is and seeks out the best in every situation.  This fall, we've learned that she's stronger than we knew, as she has risen to the academic and social challenge of going to a new school.

Here are the photos of Sunshine at her class' Winter Giving Party:

same bat cave, different bat channel

Here is the Winter Giving Party, Kindergarten-style.  You'll notice the plethora of adults present.  That's how you know it's a Kindergarten event.  :)