Elise & Mason's activities

A glimpse of what Elise does in her Modern dance class:

And a normal morning with Mason:

Ruth and her music

We discovered this past week that Ruth loooooves to boogy to music...but only if she gets to hold the phone. She's been quite fussy this past week, so we have indulged her.

If we take away the phone, or there is too long of a pause between songs, she kind of freaks out. Aah, to be the adored baby! :)

At one point this week, the only thing that would make her happy was to be put in the lego holder and pushed around the house while listening to music.

Elise & Lincoln partnering

It's always fun when grandparents come!

As I mentioned before, my mom got into town about 16 hours before Trevor came into the world. She was here for 12 wonderful days. My plan for after I had TD was to do nothing but take care of him for about a week. My mom took care of everything else--cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, hair cuts, carving pumpkins, reading, field trips, and painting the front room, hall and kitchen/dining room. So, she did way more than I ever do! :o) In fact, I made a list of things for her to do--like cleaning my fridge--and she was glad I had that list! Crazy woman!

Monday night she gave all the boys haircuts (don't worry--Lincoln still has curls!):

She took the older 3 kids to the circus:

And because she didn't have enough to do, she washed walls and painted:

She took all of us to the apple orchard--my first venture out of the house:

She did school with the kids. Notice Mason's concentration? Mom made him hold his pencil correctly, and it was kind of tricky for him...:

She took Elise to ballet:

And the older kids to the St. Paul LDS Temple, and Catholic Cathedral:

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of perhaps the most surprising thing to me: how Lincoln took to his Grammy! I spent several days in bed with the baby, and Lincoln got croup, so couldn't really be near us. In fact, everybody got croup on Tuesday--the day TD was born. Not fun. Sammy was so bad we took him to the ER (but ended up only at Urgent Care) on Thursday. But back to Lincoln and Grammy...

The day that Mom took the older kids to the temple Lincoln cried and cried when he realized he didn't get to go. He was so sad! His face about broke Grammy's heart! She put him down for his nap before she left, but wasn't back by the time he got up. I went in to get him when he woke up, hoping for some snuggles, but he wriggled out of my arms and ran out of the room calling, "MA! Mama!", looking for my mom!

With the croup he started waking up at night, and my angel mother would get up with him (and Sammy). Even after he was over his cough he kept waking up and Mom would rock him and sing him back to sleep. Funny thing, since Mom has left Lincoln has slept through the night as usual. Stephen and I figure that he really liked that time alone with his Grammy. :o)

She carved pumpkins with the kiddos:

             

And read lots and lots and lots of books!

Stephen and I introduced Mom to our new favorite show, "White Collar", and we watched quite a few episodes with our new projector, compliments of my dad. :o) No more watching movies on my little laptop screen!

Speaking of my daddy-o, he stopped by for a couple of days on his way back from Germany! We went to the Science Museum with him yesterday--Mason loved. having him there to do experiments with--and at home to solder and desolder with him. We went out for dinner at Famous Dave's rib house, and he took the kids out for donuts this morning. And of course they wrestled and tickled. :o)

Come back soon, Grammy & Papa!!

Day 13: Marimbas!

My grandpa clued us in to a Marimba festival being held near OSU, so on Sunday after church we headed over for some great music. 

The kids listened for awhile, then broke off into their true interests...

...Mason found the electrical box...

...Elise danced around, in true Corvallis-ite fashion...

...and Sammy played with sticks and found a very cool yellow spider.

It was a relaxing afternoon!

Funny thing

Just yesterday I read in my cousin's blog about how she hates fundraisers, and I commented on how I do, too. Guess what? Today I found out that since Elise is going to be in the Nutracker this December, she has to sell at least 12 raffle tickets by the end of the month. I figured I'd do what my cousin did--buy them all myself--until I saw the price tag: $5/each. OUCH. Guess I'm going to have to send my children begging for money. Or maybe I'll choke up the cash. I despise fundraisers!!

Brotherly love

So you know that Elise is a dancer. It is in her blood. One of my biggest worries moving away from Miss Amber was finding another ballet studio like hers. I think I found it.

However, that is completely beside the point I'm writing about...

I decided to teach piano lessons again to pay for Elise's dance classes. Elise will babysit the boys while I teach, thus "earning" her dance lessons. The kids know that we aren't making an incredible amount of money while in school, so Elise decided to sell her My Little Pony castle and ponies to buy new dance shoes. My boys have the biggest hearts, and Mason decided he would make robots and sell them in the front yard to help pay for Elise's lessons. Sammy wants to sell his blankies to chip in as well. They are willing to sell their favorite toys so that Elise can dance.

I love that my kids are willing to sacrifice for each other.

If I Only Had a Heart

Elise performed the part of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz in her ballet recital. Enjoy the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlcVxvW8h2k

And Robot Mason...

And here is Sammy! BAM!

It's amazing what a cape can do for a little boy!

More fun videos!

Stephen must be home! I'm not so cool...here's our little Miss Elise!