You know you have daughters when …

… you download the pictures from your camera and find 42 (literally 42!) pictures that look like this:

And now I have to wonder: what will the boys take pictures of when they’re old enough to have the camera?

Sarah’s 12th

 

With ballet practices getting more critical as we draw nearer to the recital, we decided to postpone Sarah’s birthday celebration from Thursday to Friday. In order to make her actual birthday a little special, I drove into town that morning and let her pick out a dozen donuts from Titus Bakery. We also stopped at the grocery store and bought lots of good breakfast food, then came home and had a big, late breakfast. Here is a picture of one of Titus Baker’s famous Pershing donuts with Trent’s strawberries neatly lined up beside it. Trent is still in the “line things up” phase of toddlerhood. :-)

So, on Thursday night and Friday, we whipped up her birthday meal:  Mock Lobster, mac ‘n cheese, green beans, Honey Wheat Sandwich Rolls, homemade applesauce, Baked Potato Wedges and chocolate pie and homemade ice cream. In addition to Grandma and Grandpa, we had another special guest: Uncle Kent, who is visiting and staying with Mom and Dad for a month.

Great shot of Uncle Kent, who is clearly enjoying Trent’s antics.

We also had some light entertainment: Rachel played a few of the songs she’s been working on “Trois Nocturnes” by Chopin and “Sonata No. 9 in E Major” by Beethoven, then some of the girls wanted to show Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Kent their recital costumes, so once they changed into them, we turned on their music and they performed their dances for us. Unfortunately, I only got a picture of Brooke in her costume. Refer to this post for the others. :-D

Once we got done with the Nutcracker performers, Trent wanted to do “his dance.” When asked what dance that was, he replied “Cars.” Which translates to “Life is a Highway,” which is the theme song for the movie. As soon as the music started, he started running at top speed around and around the dining room table with a very serious expression, telling us he was “Aqueen (“Lightening McQueen”) going around the racetrack.” I didn’t even think to take a picture, because I knew he would just be a blur, but now I’m thinking that would’ve been pretty funny!

Notable gifts included a beautiful dress, a slinky, a box of Gobstoppers, two Nancy Drew mysteries, “In Grandma’s Attic”, and “Millie’s Fiery Trial” which is the last book in the Millie series. The girls have been requesting it for awhile, but the books have been out of print. I was glad Erica found this online for a good deal; oftentimes, they’re outrageously priced. Grandma and Grandpa got her a little trunk, covered with flowers and filled with goodies like a sparkly picture frame, a sketchpad, notebook, pencils and a pencil sharpener.

Afterwards, we watched “Sound of Music,” which we also gave her for her birthday. We had the VHS, but wanted the DVD, since our VHS player doesn’t work. It’s been a while since we’ve watched it, so I don’t think the younger ones remembered it very well. During the thunderstorm scene, Grant climbed onto Mick’s lap and Trent climbed onto mine. :-D He also covered his ears whenever the Captain was talking and asked Rachel “Is he a bad guy?” Ha!

I just realized I put so many pictures in Sarah’s 10th birthday post, that it’s going to be hard not to duplicate what I put there. I’ll do my best. 

Happy 12th Birthday, Sarah!

“Winnie-the-Pooh’s Learn Your Alphabet”

 

Happy 3-year-old … in his faded Thomas feet pajamas … morning hair sticking up in the sunlight … enjoying a book all by himself … Mommy Bliss.  :-)

The Boy at the Barre

Things are getting exciting at ballet. We are just under 2 months away until the production of “The Nutcracker” and the costumes came in this week!

Sarah – a Chinese Dancer

Brooke – one of the Party Children

Olivia and Claire – Snow Angels

I took the boys with me last night because I knew they’d enjoy watching all the girls practicing. They also got to see Noah, who is playing the parts of Fritz and the Nutcracker Prince. Apparently, it was all very inspiring for Grant. At one point, between classes, we spotted him over at the barre. Amid all the tutus and glitter, there was my oldest boy standing in first position (Kelly noted that his feet were at a perfect 180⁰ angle – a little bit more than first position, actually :-). He was very carefully and slowly practicing plies and rond de jambes. I was so thankful I had my camera! And it didn’t seem to bother him in the least that we were watching. Oh so funny and sweet! The girls and I joked about the possibility of sneaking him to ballet classes in the future.  :-)

(Dear Adult Grant – I hope you’ll forgive me for posting these. Who knows, maybe when you’re reading this as an adult, you’ll be dancing with the Royal Ballet. I’m sure Daddy would like it if you were using those feet to kick field goals in Lucas Oil Stadium.)

Post-updating

OK, I just discovered this pretty cool feature about blogging. It’s possible to post something in the past! So even though I am a couple of months past the day we celebrated Brooke’s birthday, I can publish my blog post on the date we celebrated it! Makes it look like I’m much more on the ball than I actually am.  :-D  I also published 4 book reviews for books I read in January and February. I’m trying to keep up on my book reviews, because I want to keep a log of books I’ve read. And typing up the reviews and remembering that I read them all in less than 2 months helps me to realize why my blogging slacked off so much in January and February.  Oh yeah … I was reading! I’m glad I can account for at least some of my time.  :-)  So, for those with sharp eyes, you may notice me back-dating a blog post or two. ;-) 

A few pictures of a little of what we’ve been up to lately …

Listening to Rachel learning her latest repertoire. My favorite would either be Chopin’s “Trois Nocturnes” or Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 9 in E Major”, 2nd movement. She’s been working hard on these, and the others and has really been diligent about practicing her scales every day. Sometimes, we even find ourselves humming along with the scales. Ha!

Comparing pictures of Grant and Mick taken at the age of 5 years, 9 months. Definitely some similarities!

And just a few weeks after that picture was taken, Grant has sprouted facial hair already! How time does fly.

Shhhhh…

Apparently my blog is asleep.

The other day, one of the girls told me I needed a schedule to make sure I update my blog regularly. :-) Then she told me it had been over a month since I’d updated it. What?!  I couldn’t believe it! But I checked and found I’d written nothing during the month of February.*  I know we did do things in February. Let’s see, there was a birthday celebrated, the Olympics watched, meals made, diapers changed, kids carted around, books read, dark chocolate consumed… Let’s see, what else? We did things as wonderful and momentous as meeting our newest niece/cousin, Elianna



and as mundane and boring as filing our taxes (no picture).

Yesterday, I was talking to Minda and she told me that she checks mine and Kelly’s blogs every day to see if we’ve posted anything new. So, this post is for you, Minda!  So far in March, I’ve already topped my posting total for February, so that makes me officially on a roll. I’ll see if I can’t get another post or two up before Easter. 

* I have recently discovered the ability to post blog updates in the past.  So now there are a few February posts. Still need to add one for Erica's birthday, but that is in the works.  :-)

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot


Very interesting story about a woman whose cancer cells ("HeLa") were grown in culture in the 1950s and have been used in a myriad of ways in science and medicine since then, and all without her family's consent. This is an ambitious book which covers decades and was written over the course of ten years. At times, I got a little lost in the details of the science of genetics and had to push my way through some chapters, but I still enjoyed learning about the unique and difficult story of Henrietta Lacks and her family.

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