Spring Chorus Concert

This past Thursday was Ashley's Spring Chorus Concert. She is in Beginner Chorus and has really enjoyed it this past year although she did not select Chorus II as an elective for next year. She did really well and looked so beautiful and grown up on stage with the rest of the girls. There are three different chorus groups which some songs are sung all together or in their individual groups. The first song was amazing with the entire chorus. I don't remember the name they put in the program but it was Sail Away and was a great open to the evening. They finished the evening with the song by Jason Mraz "I'm Yours". You could tell they didn't have a lot of time to practice as it was a bit off compared to the first one but it was still good - especially for middle school students. I wish I had the program with me so I could list all the songs but only remember the opening and closing songs since they are familiar.

Unfortunately I did not check my batteries before we left the house so I had a dead camera for the evening. I was able to capture a picture of her afterwards on my cell phone when we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate her doing such a great job!

Smiley Charts

Jack's been having a tough time with school recently (as well as home). So we had to go meet with the teacher last Monday to find out what's been going on and see what we can do to improve his behavior. The teacher suggested a Smiley Chart where he gets a Happy face, Middle face or Sad face for different things throughout the day. Ashley had the same thing in First grade - so we were ok with it. The first 2 days weren't too great, but then by Wednesday things started to pick up. We also got back on routine at home which has helped him tremendously as well! Wednesday night during his bath I made a deal with him if he could get one day with all Happy Smiley faces we would go to the Yellow Store (Dollar General) and buy him his fishing pole. Thursday he almost made it but then on Friday WOW he got them all! And let me tell you - that little boy was SO proud of himself!! What a difference a Smiley Chart can make (and being back on routine at home too)!

Peanut Butter

Last Friday we went out for Family night as usual. Although we attempted to go to Cici's since it was Jack's pick for getting all Smileys at school, but it was WAY too packed. John and I were trying to think of other places to go and for some strange reason Five Guys Burgers popped into my head. John liked it and the kids too so off we went. While sitting and eating Jack discovered that they also had peanuts in the shells. He was watching kids at the table next to us break them open and decided he wanted to try it too. They have little paper trays (they look like french fry trays) that you scoop the peanuts into and bring back to your table. Needless to say Jack had a blast doing this and was fascinated by the peanuts inside the shells. I suggested he try one which was met with a scrunched up face response. I told him that is where peanut butter comes from and that then sounded like a good idea to him. He tried one and was amazed that this little thing no bigger than the top of his finger tasted so good! He proceeded to break a few more peanuts and put them in a ketchup cup and declare them his peanut butter. He wanted to bring them home and carried them with him for the rest of the night. It's so much fun to watch them when they learn new things and then are proud of their new discovery!

Ashley's 11th Birthday 6.13.09

This year Ashley's birthday fell on a Saturday so we were able to have her party on her actual birthday. She chose to have it at the roller rink, which surprised her Uncle Stephen and Aunt Jennifer because after they took her roller skating the last time she swore she'd never do it again. Ashley originally wanted a mermaid cake, however that was close to impossible for me to figure out to do so we compromised and went with her 2nd choice which was a tiger. It didn't turn out the way I had wanted, but she still loved it and that's all that mattered. She had a blast! She had a good number of friends show up and they rolled around the rink for a good hour before her party started. They had pizza, soda and ice pops before we sang and had cake. Ashley got to open her presents and out of all of them her favorite was a cocker spaniel WebKinz from her friend Olivia.

Although I know it's part of life I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Ashley is 11 years old! It's so hard to believe that all this time has passed by and there's time I feel that I've missed out on things even though I've been there every day with her. She's growing up so fast and we can't do anything to stop it. I tease her all the time about her stopping but she always responds that she can't - she's supposed to keep growing. Why can't we just stop them from passing a certain age? I guess it's so we can look back and cherish our memories - but still, I wish I could just freeze time ..... Happy Birthday Ashley - We Love You!

Ashley & Jack's Graduation June 2009

In June both kids finished school. Ashley completed 5th grade and Jack completed preschool. Although Ashley completed elementary school, she did not have an official graduation like Jack did from his preschool. So the night of Jack's graduation I made cakes for each of them because we wanted to congratulate Ashley on doing a great job of moving on to middle school. We had a small party with family and it was a great time had by all.

Where to start

I can't believe how much time has passed since I posted last. I have been meaning to, but didn't really realize that it's been since May! Obviously a lot has been going on, and unfortunately with not updating regularly the cutesy little things are mostly lost - but I can still post the big things.

Culture or Corruption

About two weeks ago Ashley came home from school and in our "How was your day" discussion she told me that one of her teachers was going to be bringing in a movie for the kids to watch the next day. When I asked her what movie she told me "Newsies". Although I have it in my VHS collection it's never been one I put in for the kids to watch, however there are a few tunes that I have on the computer and sing along to regularly. So when she told me that they were going to be watching the movie I told her that was the movie where the strange songs that Mommy sings randomly around the house. I also pulled out the movie and showed her the beginning scene with one of the songs and she was really looking forward to it the next day. When she got home she said they didn't watch Newsies because another student brought in Shrek the Third. So again during our "How was your day" conversation she asked me if we could watch it when we got home. I figured it was a Disney movie, no problem - it would be fun to go down memory lane since I can't remember the last time I had watched it.

So when we got home and dinner was made we sat at the coffee table and put the movie in. I figured the kids would watch it and probably lose interest halfway through if I was lucky to make it that far. To my surprise they both LOVED it and they are now both randomly singing the songs from the movie. It has now become Jack's night night movie and he watches it every night. His favorite part is when the song "I'm the King of New York" comes on but since it's so far in the movie he never makes it that far. But he makes up for it because he sings the one line over and over again all day long. Although we're still working on his pronounciation. He sings it as "I'm the King of mumble York" but it's all jumbled together, it's cute to listen to. His other favorite part is when one of the characters is singing he does a motion with his hands which Jack imitates when he tries to sing that part of the song too.

Ashley has also now been exposed to "Singin in the Rain" starring the great Gene Kelly. So since we were on the musical kick she had asked about the movie with the "Yes Yes Yes - No No No" scene. Although we kept her up past her bed time, she was schooled in yet another musical. She enjoyed it, not as much as Newsies though.

I figured we'll give it some time for the kids to move past Newsies and I'll introduce their next musical. I think it's culture but John thinks it's corruption.