Person, place, or thing?

At daddy's birthday dinner tonight the kids were playing 20 questions. One round went a little like this.

Son: It's a thing
Daugter: What kind of thing?
Son: Um, it's something electronic that you carry with you and can charge.
Daughter: Is it a cell phone?
Son: Sort of. It's a kind of phone. It's made by AT&T.
Daugter: Is it a computer?
Son: No. Computers are made by HP.

Santa Clause is coming to Town

I enrolled Zoey in the Community Ed dance class again. The girl LOVES to dance. And this really is a cheap option and I happen to really like the teacher.

Tonight was supposed to be their Christmas recital, but a few weeks ago on a dance night we had a "blizzard" (hardly!!!!) and the school district cancelled all evening activities. So the teacher bumped the recital to next week, which is when we will be in Disneyland.

Which means I took my camera tonight and took lots of pictures as they practiced in their costumes.



Zoey is the only one wearing her Santa hat because they didn't stay on very well. But she had barrettes in her hair so we pinned hers on good.



And I only had my 50mm lens and the dance room isn't that big which means I couldn't get far enough back to get a picture of the whole class. But I got lots of cute close-ups of Zoey. :)





I also snuck a shot of the token boy in the class. Isn't he adorable?



And, of course, a video of the dance, which will melt even the heart of the Scroogiest Scrooge.



Thank you! Thank you!

Snow Fort

Forgive the crappy title. I'm tired and my brain refused to think of something clever.

Last week while I photographed my new nephew my brother-in-law entertained my kids in the backyard. He was appalled that they had never built a snow fort. And so, he built them a snow fort.



And then showed them how to make snow balls.





And then pushed them over into the snow????



All I know is that they played outside for 2 hours. Which means Uncle Justin is welcome at our house any time!!!!

Precious

I love how 3 year olds perceive things. I love how they talk, seriously. Today in our Language Arts lesson we read and discussed Rumpelstiltskin. After reading I asked them to illustrate a couple key parts of the story. My 3 year old kept coming and showing me his drawings of Rumpel-skeleton.

Why can't they stay 3 forever?

Missing the mark

Once upon a time....Zoey had a toothache. Well, it was less a toothache and more a mouth sore of some sort. It was bad enough at times that it would make her cry. So we had a LOT of this on hand to combat the problem.



At one point Zoey was crying again. The medicine had worn off and I was scrambling to find something to ease the pain.

Harrison was so tender and worried about his big sister and wanted to help. He dashed off to his room and returned with this:

History in action

This was our history lesson yesterday. You may not believe me now but this is Egypt.

First we smoothed out the dry land.



Then Adam etched the Nile through the middle of the land.



Then we put some rich, dark soil into the Nile's river bottom.



And then we let the learning begin.



Thank you grandma for whispering the answer.

The moral of the story, in order to make learning fun you have to make a big mess for mom to clean up by herself later.



Oh wait, is that the moral?

A tale of a witch and two skeletons

Lots of changes at our house in the month of October. But somewhere, in the midst of it all, we found the time to enjoy a few fall activities.

We ventured out to Wheeler Farm for their hay/corn maze and tractor ride. Which was highly over-priced but made the kids happy.

I took my camera with, ready to take some amazing fall pictures....and then discovered I had left my memory card at home in the computer. I believe it may be time to invest in whole slew of memory cards so that I always have one handy.

Luckily cell phones these days are also equipped with cameras. Perhaps not the amazing shots I was hoping for, but I still managed to at least preserve the memory.

The elusive rooster.





The hay/corm maze literally took 3 minutes. And it only took that long because I kept making them stop to take pictures. Wanted to get my money's worth, you know.







I think this was "mom, why do you take so many picture? This hay is making my butt itch!"



At least I have 1 child who is always willing to pose for a picture.





Later on in the month we met up with some friends at Gardner Village



It is an eclectic little shopping area that decorates for the season with witches. Lots and lots of witches.



My own little witch fit right in.



These are her favorite shoes ever! I have lost count of the number of times I have filled in the toes with a black sharpie.





We have a little tradition at our house. In the morning I ask the kids what kind of cereal they want to eat that day. My oldest will make a choice and I can ALWAYS count on the youngest to pick whatever it is his brother is having. Every single morning. So I was not the least bit surprised when he also wanted to dress exactly like his older brother for Halloween.









In their black stocking caps when you were walking behind them they just looked like thugs.



And then because I am all sorts of crazy we took the kids up to Ogden to their Haunted Dinosaur Park. Unlike Wheeler Farm it was worth every single penny.

I did have my camera this time but I suck at night time photography and didn't get any great shots. Just snap shots.



The dancing skeletons beneath the black light.



With the triceratops, in case you couldn't tell.





And just for fun, this is how little they were LAST time we came to the dinosaur park.



Need a closer look?



Can you even stand the cuteness?

Okay, back to the present



And that was all the fun this mom could stand for one month!



Grandma trying to get "the shot"

Prima Ballerina

Zoey recently completed a community ed dance class. She has been BEGGING to take dance lessons for months. For awhile I got out of it by saying she could only be in preschool OR dance, but not both. (because with 3 kids who has that kind of time and money? Really?)

So she patiently waited until preschool was over...


(Zoey with her cousin Moira at preschool graduation)

...and then started right back in with the questions. Usually it went something like this "mom, don't you think it's time for me to start ballet?"

I debated about a dance studio. But they can be expensive. And on top of the expensive class cost there is another charge for costumes. And they usually do a recital in December, and we're going to Disneyland for Christmas and will be out of town.

I also considered the possibility that even though she's been begging for dance lessons she'd lose interest in a month or two.

So-we went with community ed.

I did spring for ballet shoes, though. Because they were BOGO at Payless.


Getting Ready for the First day of dance class





She LOVED it!!! She looked forward to Tuesday. She talked ALL day about going to dance class. She would come home and practice. She was smitten.

At the end of the 6 weeks they did a little recital. The dance were all short because they'd only been in class for 6 weeks. But it was just right.

This movie was actually the practice in the dance room BEFORE the recital. Because during the actual recital she got put on the back row so the video isn't as good. This one was just taken with my iphone, the real camcorder in my bag still.



All my pictures from the day of the recital are from my iphone, too. I had decided to leave my good camera home, opting instead to take the camcorder (I can't work them both simultaneously. Go figure!) And then the good video I got was from my iphone anyway so I really should've left the camcorder home. But, you know. This is life as a mother.





A Prima Ballerina is born!