Kristen and Kate had their spring recital this afternoon! Kate played two pieces on the piano and Kristen played one piece and sang one piece. I can not say enough nice things about Ms Michele, she is an incredible artist and works with Kristen on voice lessons, when she only takes piano. I can not tell you how PROUD I am of their talents! Kristen has an incredible voice and had many many compliments that she received and I don't care if I am an American Idol mom, but my girl can SING!! A lady after the show, told her that "no matter what you do in life, don't you ever stop singing, you have talent." KJ was glowing. Kate played the entertainer which is a very difficult piece and she did an awesome, awesome job. I can not tell Kate how GREAT a musician she is, but she always seems to stand in her sister's limelight, but compared to her peers, she is incredible. I had tears in my eyes for both of them and only another mom can know how my heart was about to burst out of my chest!
For Kate's musical talent, I am going to steal a story from my little sisters, Sara and Amy, when Sara was in high school she never thought she was good enough a basketball player, because she always compared herself to her sister. They are very different players, but BOTH incredible basketball players. It was not until years after college that my little sister Sara said to me, damn I was a REALLY good player, but didn't know it because I was always comparing myself to Amy. And to take NOTHING away from Amy, because she was (is) an incredible athlete and so much fun to watch and she was ALWAYS very supportive of her older sister. I have told this story to Kate, many times when it comes to music and I can only hope that a bit of it sinks in. Raising sisters is the funnest (yes, I know I make up words-luv ya Brandi ;-) and most challenging part of my life right now. I wouldn't trade it for a thing and I can only hope that some of my "mommy-lectures" sink in (yes, I am sure Sara and Amy are rolling their eyes and my two girls will do the same when they read this!)...lol...anyway, it was a great afternoon. Thanks to Bushia and Eric and the boys for coming and being supportive (and for sitting through all those 4 years olds!). Great job girls!!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Applesauce
For Kristen's final project for FACTS (ok glorified name for home ec ...lol), she had to make applesause from scratch. It turned out fabulous. Only problem is that it took about an hour to make a tiny little jar that would cost 53 cents at the store (ok that is mom's crass attitude) as Kristen said it is SO much better than anything you can buy!
Last day of school
kids had a very successful year. Hard to believe that we now have a
3rd, 5th, and 7th grader!!!! I have not figured out how to send more
than one picture at a time on my phone, yet, so The next post will be
Kate and her friends at the assemby.
Baseball
base after his TRIPLE! It was a huge hit over the centerfielders head!
Awesome! He also had a hit (pop fly to the pitcher, that was dropped)
and a walk on a 3-2 pitch ( good eye ;-). He was the catcher most of
the game and did a incredible job! And I know he doesn't want me to
say this but he also wore a "cup" for the first time... LOL, he made
it about an hour before it had to come off, sigh the joys of boys ;-).
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Memorial Day Weekend
On Friday night and Saturday we spent the day helping Chutka move out of her house. Here is the truck in a variety of packing stages! Chutka and her family have officially moved in with us until they find a house in Phoenix. Kristen, Kate and Wil were big helpers during the move. Saturday evening we went to Uncle David's to swim in his pool.
On Sunday and Monday we went to our friend's lake house. It was a small lake but a lot of fun!
Here is Wil doing sparklers, right before dark. We shot off lots of fireworks after dark and Kristen sang the national anthem for all the guests there.
Here is a view from the lake house back porch. The closest dock is theirs.
Here are the daddies hanging out on the back porch. We had fresh fried catfish for dinner!
Here are the boys taking a rest in the hammock. Yes, it only lasted long enough for me to take the pictures.
Here is where Kate and Wil and Adam spent most of the trip, jumping on the raft and playing in the lake.
The kids all took turns on the little one horse power jet ski (LOL, ok so it was really a raft with a very small battery powered motor that you could swim a LOT faster than, but still fun!)
All of the kids fished and fished. Lots of blue gill were caught and released.
Kate caught TWO super large (is that a word?) catfish, this is #2.
Here they are fishing from the bank and then the dock. All of them baited their own hooks. 
Here is the first catfish Kate caught! It was definitely a keeper!
There was lots of hanging out by the fire and s'mores eaten and general hanging out in the hammock. We enjoyed the visit!
On Sunday and Monday we went to our friend's lake house. It was a small lake but a lot of fun! 
Here is Wil doing sparklers, right before dark. We shot off lots of fireworks after dark and Kristen sang the national anthem for all the guests there.
Here is a view from the lake house back porch. The closest dock is theirs.
Here are the daddies hanging out on the back porch. We had fresh fried catfish for dinner!Here are the boys taking a rest in the hammock. Yes, it only lasted long enough for me to take the pictures.
Here is where Kate and Wil and Adam spent most of the trip, jumping on the raft and playing in the lake.
The kids all took turns on the little one horse power jet ski (LOL, ok so it was really a raft with a very small battery powered motor that you could swim a LOT faster than, but still fun!)
All of the kids fished and fished. Lots of blue gill were caught and released.
Kate caught TWO super large (is that a word?) catfish, this is #2.
Here they are fishing from the bank and then the dock. All of them baited their own hooks. 
Here is the first catfish Kate caught! It was definitely a keeper!
There was lots of hanging out by the fire and s'mores eaten and general hanging out in the hammock. We enjoyed the visit!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Nathaniel's 4th birthday
The kids had a great time jumping in the bouncer in the back yard!
Kristen choir
was presented at the end of the year choir concert!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Injured reserve
walk and three RBIs! Way to go Wil!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Weekend update...
This weekend was the school's spirit festival. Here is Kristen with her friends getting ride bracelets to ride unlimited rides.
And then here is Wil and Kristen standing in line before the rides even opened because they wanted to be the first ones on the rides. All three rode rides from 10 am until 9 pm (with a short break for Nathaniel's birthday party :-) Mom and Dad worked the prize redemption for 2+ hours, crazy!
On Friday Kate had her poetry tea at school. Here she is reading from her book of original poetry.
And here is her class doing a choral recital of a poem they memorized.
They worked with a local writer who came to her class and read poems to them and talked about what inspired him to write poetry. He signed copies of his book for the kids during the performance. Kate did a GREAT job and we were very impressed with her poise during her reading of her poems, she did a great job in front of an audience, we are very proud of her!
And then here is Wil and Kristen standing in line before the rides even opened because they wanted to be the first ones on the rides. All three rode rides from 10 am until 9 pm (with a short break for Nathaniel's birthday party :-) Mom and Dad worked the prize redemption for 2+ hours, crazy!
On Friday Kate had her poetry tea at school. Here she is reading from her book of original poetry.
And here is her class doing a choral recital of a poem they memorized.
They worked with a local writer who came to her class and read poems to them and talked about what inspired him to write poetry. He signed copies of his book for the kids during the performance. Kate did a GREAT job and we were very impressed with her poise during her reading of her poems, she did a great job in front of an audience, we are very proud of her!
Kristen and I had our "date" night. We went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, where after hearing the specials of lamb and rabbit she declared she was going to be a vegetarian! Then we went to the symphony. It was a great night! The lead violinist is a parent of one of my students and she took the time to talk to the kids during intermission. Kristen was very impressed (and looked very grown up, she is the one in the green dress)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Catcher
base. He had a great time!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cardinal gameS...yes two
We attended two Cardinal games in one week! On Monday Kristen and a special choir from her school sang "God Bless America" before the Cardinal game! We were ALL very excited and happy for her. Her teachers did a fabulous job and Kristen was featured on the JUMBO tron singing loudly and her dimple glowing ;-). (Yes I was super proud)!
During batting practice Kate got a ball!!
In the family pavilion, Wil threw a pitch 41 mph! Everyone was impressed as there were much bigger boys there throwing in the low 30s ;-).
Towards the end of the game, the center fielder went head first into the wall. It was very scary, but he turned out to be not permanently damaged.
Bushia came to the game with us to show her support for KJ and of course bought nachos and drinks for everyone! :)
Then on Wednesday, Kate and Wil's school won a Fred Bird Character counts award and the teachers and students received free tickets to the game! So Kate and Wil and I went to the game early (we took one of my students, Savannah too). 
Wil caught FOUR baseballs during batting practice! 
He was super excited! Evan Meek threw all of the balls to him and I have to say what a great guy he was as he specifically gave balls to many of the kids who were in right field and he was complimentary of Wil's manners and for Wil bringing his glove to the game!! Here is Wil with some of his classmates.
Wil caught FOUR baseballs during batting practice! He was super excited! Evan Meek threw all of the balls to him and I have to say what a great guy he was as he specifically gave balls to many of the kids who were in right field and he was complimentary of Wil's manners and for Wil bringing his glove to the game!! Here is Wil with some of his classmates.And here is the dance he was doing after he caught his last baseball. He could not have been more excited the entire evening!
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