Shall we backtrack to Christmas?

Ho Ho Ho!

That's all that needs to be said for Christmas right?  It was a good season.  I made Lillian a new color-wheel quilt, and some other stuff...

Here is Anthony, by the Christmas tree, with his long curly hair.  I gave a little sob when I saw these photos.  Why did we cut it?

 Here are some running around outside this winter or maybe spring pictures.

I like those kids.

Do you ever get tired of hearing about my camera issues?

Well, the camera again is pretty caput.  But maybe blogging will inspire me to at least get those photos trapped in there downloaded.

But I'll post a photo.  That's a start.

Here is Molly, being Scout at the start of the show.  She says "Miss Maudie, this is an old neighborhood, ain't it?"

Miss Maudie says:  "Been here longer than the town"

Scout says:  No, I mean the folks on our street are all OLD.

Don't worry, I'll post more pictures, but won't be rehearsing the whole show.  

In the intervening days since we got our lives back from Maycomb, Alabama, I've been putting the kids to bed, trimming their nails, checking on teeth brushing, and trying to catch up on sleep.  I've read a lot, watched less TV than I'd like, and have now made it back to my aerobics class 3 times!

Why do school libraries stay closed all summer?

Thanks to our principal, another parent volunteer, our media assistant and me, ours doesn't anymore!!
Because of a cool pilot program, we got a little funding (very little) to operate a library morning each Tuesday this summer.  Some nice teachers like above did storytimes.

Kids did crafts.  (I was in charge of that)

They read books with reading buddies (Molly is above, right)

And played board games, wrote reviews of books they read.

Most importantly, they checked out books!

It is probably the easiest volunteer chairing I've ever done.  It almost planned itself, the kids who came were self selected--wanted to be there, and we never had to ask anyone to ever leave.  The parents and teachers were helpful, and I learned how to check out books on the SK system.  So--dream come true.

Are we swinging through life?

So we've been up to lots of stuff.  Roland and Lillian are playing flag football again.  Wesley isn't coaching, which is kind of a big deal to him.  I hope he can handle the loss of control.

Anthony has grown a molar, and is working on the other three simultaneously.  He is constantly climbing on to chairs and tables, and making a merry mess.  He says 'uh-oh' constantly (it applies a lot), and is working on other words.  He says the phrase 'shut the door' (which we can interpret) to the kids if they don't shut the baby gate or the garage door.

Who was Dionysus?

 

Molly was invited to attend North's Dionysus Awards night.  Their reinvigorated drama club hosted a night akin to the Tony's 'with categories for best musical number, best lead actor, etc.  We also voted online.

  'Put on a Happy Face' was nominated as best musical number, and won!  (It was adorable!)

Molly, and the little girl who was in the show with her, Ella, were both nominated for 'Best Attitude'.  In an exciting development, there was a tie!

There were four nominees, and the little girls both won.  Little statuettes and everything.  I asked the drama teacher if she'd fudged the results, and she assured me they were genuine.

I'm glad I have these pictures of them.  They were so cute together.

After dinner, and the awards, they all danced to 'Time Warp', which they often did at practices.

Some high school theater things don't change.

Molly with the lovely Ms. Bond.  I can't say enough nice things about her director of this show.

What a nice evening to share with her.

Do you ever?

Want to post all the ridiculous things that happen to you as a mother over the week, but each day's insanity pushes out the previous day's?

Today I got home from taking Roland to the bookstore.  He HAD to have the Mark of Athena, and he bought it (all 42 copies in the library system were checked out.).  That was a nightmare, as expected for any after school outing.  I even followed through on the threat not to buy Lillian the Curious George book she'd picked.

We got home, the big kids helped get the littles inside while I finished up dinner, and they stayed outside to play.  Roland comes to tell me that Lillian is down the street.  (when supervised by her older siblings, she is expected to stay in the yard)  I come out to deal with it, and she is fighting with Molly, on her bike.  She is definitely not allowed to tool around on that without asking!  So I drag her inside, to discover Molly has found a new malfeasance.  Jack took the taco sauce from the table and poured a goodly amount onto Anthony's tray.

It just doesn't stop!

What's keeping you so busy?

Yesterday my dad came and installed locks on the door to the garage and the front door.  I'd spent tons of time dragging the little guys out of the garage, and Jack could leave through the front if he wished.  I was so grateful.

This morning, during family scripture time, once all the kids and Wesley were ready for the day, Anthony came lurching in from the garage (he'd been able to get in because the older kids had been going in for their shoes and backpacks).  In horrible slow motion, we realized he was covered in cat poop.  Wesley commented:  "Now I know why monsters in movies walk the way they do.  It's after babies."