Muffins with Mom

Every February, our school hosts a "Muffins with Mom."  This is a great activity where the children invite their Moms to come before school to spend time together and enjoy some yummy muffins.  Last year I missed "Muffins with Mom" because I was in the hospital on bed rest.  This year I was so thankful I could go with Hunter and Savannah.  It was such a treat to be able to spend some quality time with them.  We sat on a blanket and munched on muffins and talked about school, friends, and our favorite books.  After missing so many things last year, I am so much more aware now of the many blessings I have and the things I am able to do.  I try not to take things for granted, like going to Muffins with Mom.  I love these special moments I can have with my children.

Madison is 4 years old!

The theme of the whole day was PAJAMAS!  She stayed in her pajamas for the whole day (she did change into this new Ariel nightgown for her birthday party).

We started the birthday morning with a yummy crepe birthday breakfast with our friends, The Hills.

Later that evening, Madison had some friends over for a Pajama Birthday Party.  She originally wanted a slumber party but we settled on having a few friends come over in their pajamas and we could play some games.  

First, we had Pizza!

Next we played "Pass the Teddy Bear"--where you pass a teddy bear around the circle then when the music stops the person holding the teddy bear gets to choose a present out of a basket.  

Then we played "Musical Sleeping Bags"--everyone hopped around on sleeping bags spread out all over the floor but when the music stops they had to find a sleeping bag and sit on it.

Next we tossed our favorite stuffed animals back and forth with a partner, starting out close to each other, then stepping back, toss, etc. (like tossing a water balloon). 

Then we played "Madison Blackout Bingo"--we played bingo with a card of pictures of Madison and clip art of her favorite things.  When all the spaces were covered we all yelled "Happy Birthday Madison!!!"

Next we played "Sleeping Bag Relay"--we divided into two groups, then one girl from each team races to a sleeping bag, climbs in, gets out then races back to the next person in line.

Then we played "Popcorn"--the kids pretended they were popcorn kernals and their sleeping bags were a hot pan.  Savannah kept the beat, starting out slow then fast!!!

Next, we had cake and ice cream--Slumber Party Cake!!!

Then, we had "Bedtime Stories"--Hunter read to the girls

It was a fun filled birthday!  Happy Birthday Madison.  I love you!!!

Love Notes

It's February!  Time to pull out the mailboxes......

At the beginning of February I pull out our Valentine Mailboxes.  We then spend the next two weeks sending love notes to each other.  I love this tradition!

Eliza loving her love note to pieces!

The Princess And The Pea

This has been busy week!  Starting Monday, Savannah and Hunter auditioned for a part in a local children's theatre production of "The Princess and the Pea."  Savannah has been waiting for months to audition.  She talked Hunter into coming with her and auditioning too. There were a total of 121 children audition, ranging from the ages of 6-18 years.  Only 62 children would be cast.  We were at the auditions for 3 hours, of which Savannah and Hunter maybe only auditioned for a fourth of the time because there were so many other children there--so we mainly waited and waited and waited!  After 3 hours, the directors got on stage and read out which children were casted.  The end results....Hunter was cast as one of the "dust bunnies" and Savannah did not get a part.  Poor Savannah was devastated!  Hunter kept saying over and over again, "I can't believe you didn't get a part Savannah.  I thought for sure you would get a part and I wouldn't!"  It was a very long evening.  I was torn between my desire to show Hunter my enthusiasm for him and comforting Savannah.

And as amazing as children are, by the end of the evening, Savannah said to me, "Mom, I have the most important part of the play!"  I looked at her confused and asked her what she meant by that.  And she said, "I am part of the audience!  Without the audience there could be no play!"  

Wow!  Now there is someone with the glass half full perspective!  Once again, my children teach me more about life then I feel I could.  Thank you Savannah for teaching me to look on the bright side of things when I feel like things don't go the way I want them to.

So the rest of the week was full of rehearsals for Hunter.  The production of "The Princess and the Pea" is part of a traveling Children's Theatre, which only is there in town for a week.  So practices start Monday night and go right up to the performances on Saturday--afternoon and evening.  Hunter started rehearsals Wednesday night.  He was exhausted every night!

We went as a family to watch the Saturday's matinee performance then I went back again for the evening performance.  Hunter was adorable!  He danced and sang on the stage--highly entertaining!  My favorite part was when he would stop in the middle of one the dust bunnies group dance and put his hand up to shade his eyes from the bright lights and start searching for us in the crowd.  Then he would remember that he was on stage and needed to play his part and he would begin dancing and singing again.  He was repeat this through out the song/dance. When he finally did see us in the audience, he began waving and smiling with the biggest grin--that's our Hunter!  (And yes, he did the same thing for the evening performance)

Here is a short video of Hunter finding me in the audience.  I couldn't tape during the actual performance to show you what I described above, but you can get a small taste of what I meant.  I wish the video was bigger so you can see him better.  He is on the front row, second in, sitting down.

Here are some pictures of Hunter as a "Dust Bunny"

When I finished taking pictures of Hunter he said, 

"Mom, look I can turn into a "dust pumpkin!"

The whole cast

After the evening performance, he excitedly came running towards me with something in his hand.  

Hunter:  "Mom, I won, I won!" 

Me:  "What did you win, Hunter?"

Hunter:  "I won the reward for being the best actor and being the best actor back stage"

Me:  "That's great!  How did you act back stage?"

Hunter:  "I was helpful.  There was another dust bunny who was afraid to go on stage in front of so many people but I comforted her and told her that it would be okay."

Good job, my sweet Hunter!

Here he is with his prize--a heart shaped ring pop!  

The Role of a Baby Sister

Savannah is always coming up with an idea for a play and pulling her brother and sister into performing it.  This time she wanted to surprise us with her play, so she took Hunter, Madison  and even Eliza upstairs to practice.  When I went upstairs to check on Eliza, this is what I found.....

Eliza playing the role as the baby fairy

In case you are wondering where Savannah got such an amazing costume, you can personally thank Sherbet for lending Eliza the fairy costume.

You gotta love Build-a-Bear clothes!

Sunday Morning

With a new year also comes a new church time.  Now that we have church in the afternoon, I am quickly discovering I need to find things for the kids to do so they will first of all stop teasing each other constantly and then after I stop them from teasing each other,  I don't keep hearing them say "I'm bored" or "Is it time to get ready for church yet?"  So this morning I pulled out the legos.   There is just something so magical about legos.  Whenever I play with them it always takes me back to being a kid and going over to my cousins home in California and seeing the amazing creations they would build with legos then trying to build some amazing new thing.  Even now I can't help but start playing with them with the kids.  Good times!  

Here are some pictures and quotes I heard from the kids....

"Mom, that's a super cool ship!" --Hunter

(Glad to know I can still make a pretty cool spaceship....I haven't lost my touch.  Plus, it's always nice to have one of your kids think you are a pretty neat mom who can make some "super cool" things)

"Thanks for helping me Hunter.  I'm not going to shoot you"

--Madison

(see what happens when you play nice with Darth Vader,

 he is no longer a threat...)

While I was building my ship, Madison handed me a lego with an eye on it.  

"Here Mom, you can have this eye gun but don't shoot at me because I'm bad.  I'm Darth Vader"

(I love how she was being so sweet to share with me but also covering her bases to ensure I didn't use the weapon she was giving me to get her.)

Madison's spaceship

Hunter working on his spaceship

Here is a little glimpse of the type of play going on.  They, of course, right before I turned on the camera were being hilarious as Madison was trying to get the Star Wars characters to celebrate Christmas and Hunter did not think that was appropriate star wars play, but by the time I got the the camera they are on to something else.  Anyway enjoy.....

And where was Savannah during all this...video chatting with her friend  (who she was going to see in a few short hours at church)  :)

Happy New Year!

I was sad this week to finally take down the Christmas decorations.  I love to listen to the song "I cried the day that I take the tree down" from The Forgotten Carols, as I take my decorations down for more of a dramatic effect, plus it's a fun song to sing as loud as you can!  Anyway, usually I feel kind of depressed because my house looks so ordinary without the tree and lights, etc.  However, this year for Christmas I got professional pictures taken of the kids.  Usually I take their pictures outside, but I thought it might be nice to go somewhere inside this year because of Eliza (I didn't really want to make her sit outside while I try to capture the perfect moment in the freezing cold).  And so I love looking at my new wall with pictures of all four kids....