Saving the Day!

Me: Hey, what are you guys doing?
Will: Saving the day!

These are their "saving the day outfits". Rainboots, necklaces, tape measure and (after the photo was snapped) sunglasses.

Apparently swinging necklaces drives the bad guys away.

Xander wasn't saving the day. He was just trying to stay awake and not to throw up (he wasn't winning that battle.)

Sorry for the late update again this week. I do have a couple of little stories saved up that will make this post more interesting. The big news of last week was the stomach flu that passed through our house. Tuesday morning we went on a field trip to the zoo with their preschool class. Xander was acting normal early that morning, but started to get quiet and clingy while we were at the zoo. When we were in the little animal building, Will said "I have to go potty." So, when I took Will potty, Xander started crying. I just brought him into the bathroom with us and when I asked him what was wrong he said "My tummy hurts." I pushed him into a stall where he promptly threw up )(thankfully into the toilet). I got the attention of one of their teachers in the hall and told them we were going to leave. They offered to find someone for Will and Grace to ride back to school with, but I though that was a bad idea, because I didn't want to drive a throwing up Xander in the car to pick them up. So, we went home (Will cried all the way back because he "didn't get to see enough of the zoo.") The last picture above is what Xander did for the rest of the day. Poor kid was pretty wiped out. He didn't throw up again until later that afternoon, but he had a pretty high fever, 102.8 for a while. I had a meeting that night and while I was gone, Grace started throwing up. Grandma Ellen graciously kept them the next day while I went to school. And, miraculously, Will never did get the stomach flu. He did, however, get a cold which set his asthma off a little. We've been doing treatments all week. I think he's pretty much over that, though.

Our other news is that I had a nice parent-teacher conference with their preschool teacher, Mrs. Thimijan, on Tuesday. We spent most of the time talking about our "shy" problem and what we could do about it. We didn't really come up with any concrete ideas, but we do know that they need to start being separated a little more, and do separate activities. We hope that would help them develop a little more independence. It is hard, though, to always separate them. Sometimes, it's just not feasible. So, we're going to try having them do something separate whenever it is possible. Mrs. Thimijan said next year she would always separate them as much as she could, even taking one out at a time to go play in the other preschool room. She has also tried to spend a little more 1:1 time with each of them to get them talking more to her. I'm a little scared, because she said that have many more "public appearances" next year. We're going to have to work on that.

Ellen tried to teach them a lesson on Wednesday and worked with Grace and Xander until they would talk appropriately (in that case, say thank you to Ellen's next door neighbor). They did eventualy talk to her, but this has got to change. I truly think in Grace's case, she just plays shy to get attention. I don't think she's actually scared of talking to strangers. Xander is a different case. I think he is truly shy and then incredibly stubborn on top of it. Chad summed it up best last Saturday when we were eating dinner with them. Xander didn't get to open the door, so he stood outside and pouted, wouldn't come in. We, of course, left him there and he stayed there for some time. And Chad said "Wow, his will-power is both admirable and frightening at the same time." So true, Chad. So true.

School is winding down. The kids' last day of preschool is Thursday, and my last day is June 4th. We are taking off for Kansas City on June 9th for a little family vacation. They are very excited for it. In fact, we are having a DVD player installed in the van tomorrow, just for a little peace and quiet on the drive. Grace said to me yesterday "Mommy, when we go to Kansas City, we have to drive east, then south to get there." I laughed then asked her how she knew that and she said "Grandma Pam told me." Will asked last week "Mommy, when to we go to Kansa?" I thought for a minute then said "You mean Kansas?" He said "No, Kansa City." I said "I think you mean Kansas, City." He said "Yeah, Kansas City." Xander said something similar to that a couple of months ago. I asked him to get his shoes on and he said "Which ones? Tenna?" It took me a little bit to realize he meant "tennis shoes". I love how their little minds think!!!

For not having much to say, that ended up to be a little long. Sorry Chad, please don't punish my next post by skimming, just because this one was too long!! :-)

Talented? You be the judge.

Here's some recent video of the kids showing off some talents. Are they exceptional? Maybe. Are they brilliant? Who knows. Are they cute? Absolutely. Enjoy!!



Xander has been able to count by tens and count to 100 for quite some time. I just have only know put part of that on video.

One day last week, Grace was playing the piano a lot. So, I just asked her if she wanted me to show her something. So, taking a cue from the Suzuki piano world, I taught her the rhythm "Miss-iss-ip-pi Hot Dog" with one finger. She played that for a long time then said "Mommy, teach me more." So, I showed her how to play it with each finger. Eventually she got it going up and down the five-finger pattern, pretty steadily. It's not really amazing to me that she can play this, plenty of 4 year olds can. It's more amazing to me how little time it took her to get it. I pretty much showed her once and she got it. She really likes playing this now, and does it several times a day.

Here is Will singing a funny song. He cracks me up when he sings these nonsense songs. Brian taught him this one. What a goof!! I think he is the king of singing nonsense. He does it all day long!

Spring Program

The kids had their spring "operetta" at Messiah on Saturday night. It involved the whole school, so it was a big production, with recorded music, costumes, skits and lighting. Very fancy. Their class got up to sing once and here are some pictures and video of what happened.

The second the lights went up, Grace started staring Will down and Xander clammed up. Will wanted to sing, but I think was feeling the pressure.

As Grandpa Dale put it, Grace is saying "Will, we've decided we're not going to sing. And if you know what's good for you, you'll stop."

Then, they left Will alone and he sort of sang, but they just stared straight ahead.

Good work, Will!!!

I have to say, I'm a little embarrassed about the whole thing, because all the other kids were doing it. Our kids were the only ones just standing there. (By the way, the whole school is also singing with them, so don't get too impressed that a bunch of preschoolers can sing that well!) We even talked for a long time beforehand about how they were going to actually sing. When I picked them up from their room after the concert Will came up to me and said in a little voice "Mommy, I singed." I just melted. He did such a good job. Their next public performance will be the bible school program (that I am directing). We're going to work on their stage presence before then!!!

So, here's the video. Enjoy!!

Spring Birthdays

Lisa & Camden

Looks like Will has Brian's shut-your-eyes-when-the-camera-flashes disease.

helping Grandma open her cards.

Brian, Will and cousin Carter.

Grace and Grandma Ellen

Here are a couple of good pictures from our family gathering last Sunday. Brian, Ellen and Chad all have birthdays within a month of each other. So, instead of celebrating 3 separate ones, we usually have one big party for all of them. We had a taco/fajita bar at Lisa's, dessert and the kids played. Fun time!!

playing with my new camera

Our new camera, a Canon Powershot G11, is AWESOME! It is still small and compact, but does a ton of things and takes the pictures in a huge resolution, something obscene like 10 megapixels. Here are just a few of the first pictures we shot.

The camera actually does this first one without Photo Shop. You can select a color and it will colorize everything in that color that it sees, but nothing else. Very neat!

Xander was especially photogenic this day! I am so excited for the better pictures that we will be taking with this new camera. I can't wait!!