Playing Around

After several years of not attending a single play, I was treated to 2 plays in a single day yesterday.  What a treat!  I absolutely love watching plays, and it just hasn't been in the budget for awhile so this was such a fun day. 

First, Ashtyn's Pre-school went on a field trip to see Cinderella (the Rodgers & Hammerstein version).  She has never been to a play before, and for her first one to be Cinderella was just magical.  She was so excited to get to go.  Her face literally glowed through the whole performance.  She clapped so hard after every song.  It was such a joy to get to experience it with her.  For a small theatre they really did an amazing job on the production.  The kids were wowed by the magical fireworks and smoke the fairy godmother used when she did her magic.  Cinderella was just as beautiful as Ashtyn had hoped.  What a fun field trip!  For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, The Round Barn Theatre is doing the show until Decmber 31st.  And yes, you adults will enjoy it too.

Second, we were invited to a private showing of White Christmas.  Now you must understand that White Christmas has to be one of the best movies ever made.  If you haven't seen it, go find it!  So I was just thrilled when the invitation came several weeks ago.  I think I was probably the first person to RSVP for it I was so excited (not to mention it was free and they served us dinner and dessert as well).  This one was done at a small local theater, but they did a great job!  Joshua told me that my face was glowing through it like I had said Ashtyn's glowed through the Cinderella play.  It was a great evening!


So I accomplished nothing yesterday, but had a really great day.  It was just what I needed.   I wonder if  I'll ever get to see two plays in one day again. . . .

Food Drive

Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the annual food drive at the clinic.  It is always so touching to see the generous donations that people bring in.  You all are the best!  The Food Bank appreciates all of your gifts as well.

Colten's Proud To Be Me Questionnaire

Colten will be student of the week next week for his 1st grade class.  He had to fill out a questionnaire about himself, and I thought I'd share a few of his answers since they made me smile.

A hobby I enjoy is "snowball fights"
The best thing about me is "God loves me."
The next best thing about me is " I'm handsome."
I think I need to improve at "cleaning up my toys."

Christmas Extravaganza 2010

Well, it has started.  Joshua is working on this year's Christmas lights. . .

So far he's done the roof work.  It has to come in phases, and now since we had our first snow yesterday he's going to want to wait until it warms up and that melts before he goes on to his second phase.  I'll be sure to post pictures once it's completed.

Update:  Ok, somehow I never got a great picture of the lights this year.  But here's one that I did take.

Halloween 2010

As Jaden would be quick to tell you, Halloween is his favorite holiday of the year with Christmas running a close second.  He just LOVES Halloween.  I don't know if it's because his birthday is only 1 week before it, or if it's just because he loves monsters and scary stuff.  Probably a combination of the two.  Every year he complains that we just don't have enough Halloween decorations in the house.

Our neighbors a few houses down do Halloween in a big way.  I've never seen so many halloween decorations!  So every year they have a costume party at their house a day or two before Halloween.  Jaden (and the others too) get so excited about it.  Last year Joshua and I didn't dress up and were literally the only one's there not in costume.  So this year we felt like we had to dress up.  I went as a Egyptian Queen Mummy/Ghost thing. . . sorry I wouldn't let Joshua take any pictures.  Joshua wore his baseball player outfit that he wore for work.  It was a fun party, even if Joshua and I do tend to get worn out quickly at social events.
On Sunday the kids were of course all about trick-or-treating.  It was hard to wait for the appointed time (around here they have a two hour block of time in which you are allowed to trick-or-treat).  Ashtyn became upset that Colten was able to have his face painted for his costume and not her, so we quickly put a butterfly on her face as well.  We went with some neighborhood friends and had a fun time.   The weather was actually pretty nice, so at least Colten, Ashtyn and I managed to trick-or-treat for the full 2 hours.  Now we just have to figure out how to get rid of all this candy!

It's been forever

Ok, it's been a long time since I've posted, almost a year in fact!  I've just been so busy I haven't had time to keep up with it all.  I promise to try to get back in the swing of things now though.

So what have we been up to?
Jaden is now in 4th grade.  He's growing up so fast and becoming a wonderful young man.  Last weekend we went to Chicago to celebrate his 9th birthday.  We finally went to the Museum of Science and Industry there and had a wonderful time.  Jaden especially loved getting to tour the U-505 there.  He's really become interested in WWII lately and this few perfectly into this interest.  He still wants to be a volcanologist when he grows up.  His current loves (besides Volcanoes) are Star Wars and Bakugan.  He started piano lessons this fall and is really enjoying those, especially since his teacher got him Star Wars music for him to learn to play.  For his birthday he requested a Millenium Falcon Cake so this is what I created for him.

Colten is in 1st grade this year.  He's so full of activity, definitely our social one.  He loves school, and his teacher gave a glowing report at parent teacher conferences this week.  He loves everything, and wants to try everything, especially if someone else is doing it. He's looking forward to basketball season starting soon.

Ashtyn is 4 going on 14.  She's in preschool 3 afternoons a week this year, and loves getting to see her friends.  She sings and dances where ever she goes, and refuses to wear anything but dresses.  She loves to sit and talk, play dress up, and play with her favorite toy, her american girl doll that we finally broke down and got her.  

I've been a bit overwhelmed with putting in more hours at the clinic the last few months.  Hopefully that will start to slowly decrease some soon.  My first priority is still the family.  I'm loving watching the kids grow up.  I have taken time for myself this year to self teach myself cake decorating.  I've had a wonderful friend who has joined me in this and we've had a great time working through various techniques and styles together.
Joshua is keeping busy at the clinic.  They added a third doctor this fall and it's wonderful to have an extra Doctor for patients to be able to get in with.  Joshua is still in the planning stages for this year's Christmas lights, I guess we'll have to wait and see if he does anything new or not this year. lol.

Christmas 2010 card

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

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