Talent show performance

The kids did a little number in our church's talent show tonight. It's called Chopsticks Rag. It has a little "acting" in it. That was a little out of their comfort zones, but they did a great job. The audience laughing and cheering helped get them into it. Enjoy!

OK - it's been a while since I posted. Be warned - this is a lot of pictures!

OK - So the winter and early spring got away from me and I didn't post anything. Let me try to catch up now and give my apologies for being so negligent with the blog.

In late January, we had our annual Pinewood Derby again. All three of the kids made cars, which Brian was thrilled with! The boys didn't place this year, but they still had fun. Grace's car got 2nd place in the "junior" category (which is just a term for younger sisters who are not in scouts). Here are some pictures from that day.

 The whole troop with their fearless leaders (and that term is not used loosely - those boys are a handful!). Brian and Greg.

Then we were into February. All the while, just trucking along with our weekly schedules of piano, homework, karate for Will, dance for Grace, church choir, scouts and all the other million little things we do in a week! The boys did swimming lessons in the winter, Grace sold Girl Scout cookies (we didn't try very hard but ended up selling more than we did last year!) and Grace did a round of gymnastics at the Y. Xander finished up chess club for the year and Grace performed in her first play about the Wizard of Oz. Her speaking part starts at about 3:40.

Here are their homemade Valentine's. I thought they ended up pretty cute and photo worthy. The kids did most of the work on them and we found the ideas together on Pinterest!

March was a fun month. We had some nice weather and did a few fun things around Spring Break. My mom was super generous and bought us tickets to take the kids to see STOMP at the Lied Center. Kara and Sebastian were supposed to go, but ended up not being able to at the last minute, so Lisa and Carter went with us. It was fun. I'd seen it twice before, so it wasn't new to me, but the kids really loved it! We also went to the Shrine Circus during spring break (no pictures, sorry!) and Sebastian went with us. We had a fun afternoon out.

Before the show!

Later in March, the kids participated in a children's choir festival (see previous post) and sang at the Lied Center - that was exciting! The kids also perfomed at school for Heritage Night - but I didn't get any photo or videos, there were soooo many people there. It is a night at their school to celebrate all the different heritages people have. There were some neat displays, food, artwork, clothing and artifacts from people's ancestors. The 3rd graders contribute by performing dances from around the world. It was pretty cute - and they did a great job! Soccer started in late March, and that always adds a level of complication to our schedule, because we have to make 2 practices and 2 games each week. So far we are making it work, and have actually had some practices and games canceled because of rain!

The we rolled into April and I could hardly believe it was already Easter. We somehow ended up being in charge of the multiples club Easter egg hunt Easter weekend (again!). The kids helped me set up by hiding eggs for the little kids. They liked that part. I hid eggs for the big kids and they got a good amount of candy. That was a nice relaxing weekend, since soccer was canceled. We did go to church on Friday and then spent Easter Sunday at the Niebuhrs (see other post). 

Here are some pictures from the multiples club Easter egg hunt.

Our last bit of news is that Xander is two months in to his new appliance and it was a hard road to start. This appliance called a Biobloc really relies on the patient wearing it correctly and almost 24 hours a day! He was pretty sore at first, but then apparently figured out a way to compensate and ended up wearing it wrong for a whole month and actually lost some development. My dad put some blocks on it (that white stuff on the ends) so he can't do anything but hold his mouth in the right position. It was pretty painful at first, I guess. He seems to be better with it now. He actually said to me one day "I wish I had a time machine. Then I could go back in time one month and tell myself to wear the appliance right so grandpa wouldn't put these white things on it." A good lesson in consequences!

Grace gets her braces off this Friday and this appliance will arrive for her in about a month. Will gets his braces off in early May and then the same for him. Hopefully they'll all have only 6-8 months of wearing this huge thing and then they'll be good!

OK - Easter pictures coming soon then I will be caught up!

Singing at the Lied Center!

Sorry about the less than great pictures! It was really bright out! So the kids were invited by the music director at our church to sing in a children's choir festival on Saturday, March 21st. They spent the morning at First Plymouth learning the songs and doing some other fun activities (the kids got to play handbells and see their big pipe organ). Then they had to meet up with the group at the Lied Center in the evening to participate in the "Nebraska Sings" concert. It was a concert made up of choirs from Nebraska. It was really neat to see the kids up on that big stage singing in their first big choir (they sing in the children's choir at church but there's only 9 of them!). The concert was nice, it ran a little late (we got home at 10:45) but I think the kids had a great time. Xander tried not to admit it, but he enjoyed singing on the big stage. He said to me later "I'll never tell you I had a good time!" Grace has performed at the Lied Center twice now and has a dance recital there again next month. She will have officially performed there more times than me! They professionally recorded the concert. If I ever get a recording or see it on You Tube, I'll post it!