Hallelujah Hop - Take 2!

This was Gracie's second year to be in the "Hop" (it's for the PreK 4 class and the kindergarten class) and she was very excited. JM had to stay home with the sitter for the evening performance, since it didn't start until 7:30 but Clara got to come this year.

So both girls got a new "poodle" skirt. They were very excited to choose their fabric and then I let them choose which applique they wanted since the pattern had a few choices. And they both ended up with Kitty "poodle" skirts.

Gracie had a grand time (again) and was almost as excited as the year before.   She was really proud of her speaking part (all of the older kids get bigger singing/speaking parts) and did an awesome job.  Sadly, I was too slow with the record button, so here's what she said with a picture.  And you should have heard the emphasis on the last line!!

"One of the verses we learned in chapel this year was John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever shall believe in him will have everlasting life.' AND I BELIEVE IT!"

This is her whole class before the show (1/4 of the kids in the show).  Mrs. Matejka, her teacher (on the left) is in charge of it all and does an unbelievable job.  The whole production takes an hour and the kids have to learn all the songs, hand motions and lines/cues.  Anyhow, you'll get to see a lot of Hallelujah Hop pictures over the next few years.  With Clara starting PreK 4 next year and then JM 2 years after that, we'll end up with a total of 6 consecutive performances in the family.

The next day the kids do the performance at a local nursing home.  This year Mimi & Pap came for that and it was great that they got to see Gracie "live."  Then we went back to the school for a "cast party" complete with the 50's theme.  Gracie got to show off her poodle skirt twirl some more ...

and then, it was back to our house with Mimi & Pap for another party for JM (he managed 3 parties for his 2nd birthday!).  And I'll cover that in another post!

Two Wheels!

Yes - that's right! Two wheels for both girls!

Of course, Mike had just spent an hour yesterday putting the training wheels back on their bikes so they could go around the block with him. I had been asking him to do it, too because the girls go pretty fast on those bikes with training wheels. Then I have to run (with JM in the jogging stroller) to keep up. Nothing like seeing your kids getting way ahead of you on their bikes and careening toward the ditch to make you run fast!!

And then this morning, Clara started off balancing on our third bike (bought it cheap at a garage sale with the idea of replacement parts) and then she got the hang of it, balancing and pedaling, after about half an hour. She was doing circle around that driveway like a pro.

It took a little longer to get Gracie warmed up to the idea, but after she had a while to decide for herself she suited up and headed out. She got discouraged more easily, but Mike took her into the shade of the driveway and had her going straight up and down. He helped her for a little bit and then she took off on her own, too.

I know it's hard for Gracie sometimes to see her sister accomplish these things at the same time, but I guess it's teaching her the lesson to persevere and not get discouraged!

I'm so proud of them both! Hopefully, in a few weeks I'll be jogging?/running along with them around the block and we'll be avoiding all the ditches. Mike found a bike ride in a month or so with a 9 mile route. We'll have to see if the kids would be ready for that (JM would get to ride in the trailer).

He's 2!

There's the birthday boy on his actual birthday, April 5th! (This was the best picture we got - everyone was still tired from the Easter trip to Amarillo, especially Mommy & Daddy!)

With his "poo-boo". Every bear is a Pooh bear.

The boys having a blast with the tike bike.

And the best of all, the 3 second video that always brings a smile to my face:

Strawberry Farm and Spur Ct

This is my first guest post! I didn't know it until this afternoon, but Mike composed a post about his day with the kids yesterday (I was off scrapbooking).  So I got a day off yesterday, a post for my blog, and breakfast in bed this morning (the girls initiated and helped with that, but JM wasn't allowed to help). What a nice Mother's Day!

Katherine
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We visited the Strawberry farm in Granbury this weekend. 

On the way we stopped by Spur Ct (Scott's old house) 

to see what it looks like these days.

After picking strawberries for an hour we drove back through Godley and stopped at the city park. The new playset was fun.

Everyone rode the merry go round even if their feet ouldn't reach the pedals.

 We were tired of mowing around the basketball goal so we just put it back up. It had been laying on the ground since 2007 when we built the playroom onto the house. We got this blue basketball for free at a garage sale.

Rest Stop Realization

On our way home from Amarillo we stopped at our usual rest area to play.  Thank goodness it was the perfect day - what are they thinking not putting a canopy above these playsets?  There isn't a real tree around for miles and the slides are dark green, a combination that equals *ouch* for little legs when the temperature gets above 80 or so.  Anyhow, it was hot on the playset, but not burn your legs hot, so everyone was able to have a blast!

Mike headed off to the playset with Gracie & JM first.  Here are a few snaps of the fun they had together:

Then watch out, here comes Clara!

Gracie headed off to play on her own while Clara took over hanging out with the little man.  They had a blast going down the biggest slide time and time again.   Here they are on their way up:

And my fave picture of the day:

I only wish John Michael would have gotten in it, but he had more important things to do, like go "drive" the fire engine on the other side of the playset.

So why did I title this the rest stop realization?  Take a look again at the first picture.  Notice all three children in one shot and no adult hovering nearby.  Mike and I both had the same "aha" moment at the rest stop, realizing that this was really the first time we had been out with all the kids and were able to just sit back, watch and enjoy.

What a treat to see them all growing up, especially John Michael, on the day before his second birthday!

Amarillo Again - My Wordless Wednesday!

Our trip to Amarillo

aka - visiting the animals.  At least when we were at Susie & Dave's.  Looking through the pictures was pretty amusing.  I didn't really filter out too many.  Most of them featured Maggie.  And then there was Sarah's hamster and then JM right below the other hamster (in its cage) in Katie's room.  So, here they are:

And just a note, JM didn't want to leave Katie's side.  We still get to hear about "Ka-ee . .. bye,bye."  He was very sad when we had to leave. 

Dinnertime madness

Or what happens when Mommy & Daddy decide they should just keep eating dinner regardless of what's happening at the other end of the table ...

I'm not sure what actually ended up in the salad bowl, but definitely some things that we didn't originally intend to be in there.  And it would be great if JM had really been interested in *eating* salad, but alas, he was only interested in the mechanics of it all.