Beauty and the Beast

Payden was in a play at her school this year, Beauty and the Beast. She was a narrator and also in a few scenes singing and dancing. She worked HARD on this play, lots of practice time logged in. Sometimes she wouldn't come home after school until 7pm. She had a lot of fun, and the play was amazing. I can't believe they pulled off what they did. For an elementary school, nothing short of stunning.

My pretty girl!

I don't like falling

We took the girls skiing a couple of times this season, even the little ones. Ava liked it more the second time, but Corrine really took to it. It was so adorable to see her skiing all by herself.

Today in the car, she said to me "Mom, can we go skiing again? I really like skiing. But I don't like falling."

So cute!

St. Patricks Day 2012

We didn't do much for the day, except make sure we were all wearing green. We did have a completely green dinner though, with gold coins to boot. Pleased the little kids, and thats all that mattered!

Cupid

Tonight in the bath, Ava says to me:

"Mom, what is the name of that baby that doesn't wear a diaper and spits water out his mouth?"

Me: "Ummm, Cupid?"

Ava: "Yeah, Cupid! We are pretending we are Cupid; watch!"

Then she proceeds to suck up a mouthful of water, stand up, hold her arms like she is holding a bow and arrow, shoots the bow and spits out the water.

Hilarious! Ninny was doing it too, so cute!

Valentines Day 2011

We had our usual "I love you" pancakes. I got up early to accomplish it, and was glad I did. The girls have gotten used to this, and I think would have been dissapointed without it.


Payden had a dance at school that day, so she was wearing a dress. She danced with boys!


Ava and Corrine loved the cherries.

And Michaela made sure I wasn't left out; she made me mine! It was very sweet.

That afternoon when everyone got home, we got to work cleaning up and decorating. The little girls took charge of the table. Ava washed it off, then put the table cloth on. Then they made decorations, set it, and put stickers on the glasses. I really didn't give them much direction!

Then we couldn't wait to give gifts. Ava had seen this heart box of chocolates in the store, and wanted so badly to get it for me that I let them buy it for me. (Read: I paid for my own Valentines present!) But she wanted to give it to me, and I will never forget her sweetness about it. I will keep that box forever.

Michaela and a new scarf and fuzzy socks.

Ava and Ninny got some little toys.

Payden with her hat and fuzzy socks.

We lit the candles and served dinner. Shrimp, fish, asparagus and the best company I could ever ask for.

After dinner, we made our own disco ball and put on a dance. Everyone danced and had so much fun, until Ava dropped Ninny on her head. She was ok, but the moment was kind of broken, so we moved on to other activities!

Our disco ball; a balloon covered in foil and sparkly stickers, hung from the ceiling and lit up with flashlights!

For an activity, we covered pink marsmallows in chocolate and dipped it in toppings.

Yummy and pretty. I also made heart shaped custards for dessert, but they didn't hold their shape so no picture! They tasted good, though.

And then, to top off a wonderful night, a neighbor came over with a tray of goodies, one for each of us. She said that she thinks of me being alone, and wanted to let me know she was thinking of me. She also said that she loves me and wants to keep me here! I was flattered and touched. I don't know if she knows how much her kind gesture meant to me.

The only problem with this fabulous day is that now I have a counter full of goodies and candies! Willpower!

New Years Eve 2011

For New Years Eve, we stayed home and celebrated with our traditional appetizer dinner. Ava got sick while at Walmart purchasing our food, and as soon as we got home she started throwing up. Poor thing. She wanted so bad to come out and join our celebration. We included her from her bed!

Walmart was out of all their fun new years stuff, so we improvised. We made our own noise makers with metal measuring cups and spoons. We had our countdown at nine so Ava could get some rest and Ninny could go to bed. Then the older girls and I stayed up till midnight.


Poor baby, using her noisemaker from bed!


We also had silly spray, which was fun.

Gotcha!

The pro. Notice the glove. She put that on because the can was contaminated. It was such because I had been cleaning up puke, and touched the can. Nevermind that I washed my hands!

Our New Years toast.

Here is sad little Ava. Her ginger ale didn't stay where it was supposed to.

Happy New Year!

Ice skating

While PJ and Jackie were here for Christmas break, we went ice skating at the rec center. We all had so much fun, I am sure we will be going again!

Me and Ninny. She had to take a few breaks and sat with Grandma, who was taking the pictures.

They had these little walker things for the kids who didn't know how to skate. Ninny couldn't make hers go by herself, but she had no problem being pushed around as fast as you could push her! That was quite a work out.


Here is Ava on hers. She was cruising with this thing! She would run, fall down, get up, run some more, fall down, over and over. She was having fun and didn't seem to mind falling down until at the end when she got tired.

PJ was kind of funny; when he got on the ice he said "whoa." Then, "I don't like this... I don't like this at all..." We were all cracking up. He held my hand while we skated around, and after a while did warm up.

Me and Ninny!

Michaela and Payden got right out there no problem, even though they had never been before.

Here is PJ's first moments. He stayed very close to the wall for a while.

Ava running on the tips of her skates!

I think I also remember PJ saying something like, "this is wrong"!

Michaela really liked it too, although she got some uncomfortable skates and got a bruise and a blister.

We skated for about 2 hours and it was such a good time. We even got to see the zamboni thing grooming the ice.
Here is my cutie pie!