The Fish Shirt

Well, we had to make our weekly Target run today. It was a very uneventful trip until we got home. While there, I saw some cute, cute, cute shirts and matching shorts for Harrison. He picked out a fish shirt with green shorts to match. I told him that he was going to look so cute wearing his new outfit to his buddy Alex's birthday party tomorrow. He wholeheartedly agreed! Fast forward a few hours to when we arrived home:

"I want to wear my new fish shirt NOW!!!"

Dancing Queen

Caitlin has been our little "Dancing Queen" ever since she was old enough to move her little feet to the music, and I knew that I had a future dancer on my hands. Sure enough, that has been what she has gravitated towards. She has given soccer and gymnastics a try, but dance is IT!! She is in her fifth year of ballet and tap and her second year of jazz. She loves them all! We got the pictures back today of her in her recital costumes, and I couldn't wait to post them. I think she looks like an absolute doll, but I am a little biased...

This close-up is my favorite!

This is her ballet costume. They are dancing to "Tomorrow" from Annie.

She is a horse in "Barnyard Boogie" in her tap costume. There are also pigs, cows, farmers, and chicks in this number. I think we lucked out on being a horse!

The jazz number is "Glamorous," and I think every one of the girls loves it the best! They look so cute up there together with their huge glasses on!

So now we are ready for the big recital on Memorial Day weekend!

A Hard Day

I had a really hard day yesterday which turned into a sleepless, yet crowded night in our bedroom with the thunderstorms, and then a rough day at school with 18 terrified first-graders crammed into a narrow hallway during the tornado warnings!! Wow! I'm glad it's all over for now!
The bad part of yesterday stems from a conference I had with the principal at Caitlin's school. I haven't written anything so far about Caitlin's dyslexia because she has had the very best tutor who taught her how to cope with her learning problem, but some things have happenend lately that just made me want to cry. Thus the conference. Let me give you a little history: Caitlin was diagnosed in 1st grade with dyslexia thanks to her wonderful teacher who spotted the symptoms. She started working with this great tutor at my school who really turned things around for her. Caitlin had a superb 2nd grade teacher who I cannot even begin to describe for you. It was like God knew just exactly what she and I needed and placed her right in our path. Well, after that summer her tutor said that Caitlin should be fine in 3rd grade. But just to be sure that she would be well taken care of, Randy and I had an instructional plan drawn up for her 3rd grade teacher to follow. (These are called BBSST plans, by the way, and by law, it is a requirement for the teacher to follow it.) Well, 3rd grade ain't so easy!! It's down-right hard if you want to know the hard truth, and we have been having to help Caitlin A LOT every single night. Now don't get me wrong...I love working with my daughter and I know that is my job as a her parent. But I don't think it is fair to an eight-year-old to have to sit through 7 hours of school only to have to come home to 2-3 hours of work! So after everything had finally built up this entire school year, I met with the principal yesterday after school. It was a great meeting, but it took a lot out of me! I just don't like those kinds of meetings AT ALL!
So...I think I need to be pampered:) Good thing this weekend is Mother's Day!!

Kitchen Tour

I have been following a great blog, Kelly's Korner, and she recently started a "Show Us Where You Live" series. Every week she will pick a new room in the house to showcase. I am a few days behind (as it is supposed to be a Friday thing), but we have been trying to keep Caitlin and Harrison busy since we have been quarantined due to this Swine Flu business. Anyway, the theme this week is Kitchens. So I thought I would show you mine.

This is the view from the Dining Room. You can't really see it, but the dish towel on the oven says "Roll Tide." It usually changes with the seasons, but that one is our favorite!

I never thought I would have so much on my refrigerator, but with young children it is a necessity! I really don't like my countertops, so we are saving to get granite.

I collect Arthur Court, and here are a few of my pieces proudly displayed.

This is the baker's rack Randy's parents gave us when we moved into our house. I love keeping family pictures out on it. I try very, very hard to keep it clutter-free, but as you can see...it is a losing battle! The door leads into our laundry/pantry.

This is our eating area. We eat more than breakfast here, so I don't call it a breakfast nook! It's a very busy place as you can see. The picnic table in the corner is for the kids' crafts and Play-doh activities--helps with the mess. I absolutely LOVE the tile on the floor! That was one of the main things I pushed for when we built the house.
So that's my kitchen--a place where me and my little chefs are every single day of our lives!

Saturday Scenes

On Saturday (our third day off from school), it was STILL raining. We decided to break quarantine and venture out of the boring house. We went to breakfast, and then it was off to Wal-Mart! Caitlin and Harrison each had money to spend. Whew! That took awhile. After picking out the perfect ball and candy, Harrison was overjoyed. Caitlin spent hers on goggles and a shorts outfit--a girl after my own heart! We then came home, and Randy spent a good part of the day performing science experiments with them. Here they are making a homemade lava lamp...

This one shows how fast air is released from a balloon. It has a technical name, but I don't know it!
After all this science fun, we shipped them off to my parents (Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa's house) so that we could go see a movie. (We needed a little adult quiet time by this time!) And we ended up running into our friends, Heather and Jason and their family. Jason has been in California working for the past 3 weeks, so it was nice to see him. After the movie, Randy and I met my parents and kids at Rosie's for a delicious Mexican meal. Yum! There we saw some more friends, Kim and her two girls. I think everyone was getting a little stir crazy over the Swine Flu Quarantine and just had to get out!

When we got home, Randy and I put up the tent in the living room so that Caitlin and Harrison could go "camping." They have been wanting to go camping for some time, but this was the best we could do with the rainy weather! They also got to watch a movie while laying inside their tent.

Don't they look like the cutest little campers in there?!

So it ended up being a fun Saturday after all!!!

Two Off Days (and how we kept busy)

Since we surprisingly had 2 days off from school, we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. We were pretty much told to stay at home, though, so that the flu bug wouldn't be spread anymore than it already has been. So this is a little of what we did to keep busy.

Thursday was easy because it was such a beautiful day. We played outside a LOT with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, scooters, and had many, many races.....


Some little girl also perfected climbing over the fence!



Friday was a totally different story! The rain started before we ever got out of bed. Randy and I looked at each other and said, "Oh, no!" We both knew that this meant keeping two active children inside ALL day long!!! Well, we played with ALL of our toys....

...made a yummy batch of brownies...

...and used these a LOT!

Any suggestions for tomorrow?!

Swine Flu Update

Okay...I'm getting a little paranoid about this Swine Flu business. Especially since my next-door neighbor now has a confirmed case of it. But hopefully with a little quarantine, a LOT of handwashing, we will all be fine. Just in case, though, here's a picture I found on another blog of what NOT to do....