Easter Egg Hunt

Here is Elaine helping Jill.

Jill dances

Jill loves music.  She dances at the kids' recitals, and sings along at their musical productions.  She mimics their choreography and if I didn't sit in the back, she would jump up on stage with them.  Luckily it is usually crowded and she can't find a clear path up from the back.





Here's another part of Ben's.  I missed the beginning.

More Stink Bug

Here are some more vids from the First Grade Play.  Ben had the most speaking lines.  Unfortunately, one of the kids didn't make it to the final performance so another child read the part as a stand in.  That messed Ben up because the stand-in was the prompt for another set of Ben's lines.  So Ben reversed the order of his lines.  It adds to the charm.  But you can't understand him very well on the second set because he was annoyed with himself.  Here are his parts in the correct order:

I know I'm not the sweetest thing

that ever graced your nose,

but what am I supposed to do?

Go hungry, I suppose.

You really are too mean to me!

Your manners send me reeling!

You had to hit me where it hurts,

and now you've hurt my feelings!

Repentance

I've been called to repentance.  Apparently, I have been too neglectful in updating the blog.  So I'll try to post a few videos everyday until I am caught up. This first one is of Jeremy with the visiting army band.







There are so many more videos of Ben, the Stink Bug, that are so stinking cute, but I was in a dark cafeteria sitting way in the back so the camera had a hard time staying in focus.  One of these days I'll get a dedicated video camera.

Elaine's Hilarious Poem

Elaine wrote this poem as part of an English assignment to write a foreign language poem several months ago.  I think it is hilarious.  I don't know how to do upside down punctuation, so sorry.

"Hola"

Mi papa le gusta hablar espanol

Porque el estudia espanol for dos years

Al visitar Mexico provides him con an excuse

El habla espanol to everyone.

Each one of his conversations starts with hola.

The perfect opportunity arises

When mi padre va a La Ley, una tienda, for pastries

El tiene a conversation con the baker

Asking her ?Quieres un pastry?

Ella responde !Don't use your hands!

He started that conversation with hola.

Buscamos another La Ley

El stops hablar con the construction worker

?Donde esta La Ley?

The next thing I heard was:

?Is that una mochila tree?

I know the conversation started with hola.

Inside La Ley we're on a mission

Finding the right almuerzo meat is essential

Mi papa y the deli worker hablan about almuerzo meat

Then, El introduces mi to the deli worker.

Yo tomo espanol this year

Yo cannot hablo it muy bien

Yo plan hablar all sorts of things,

But it doesn't go as planned.

All Yo manage hablar is ho--la.

Disneyland 2011

It's the happiest place on earth!  Even though half of California was there and it was cold and rainy!  I didn't get very good pictures.  I'll steal some from our friends and post some of those when I have a chance.  It was great to go with friends with kids of similar ages.  We kept tabs on the older ones via cell phones and just let them loose on the park.  Alex surprised me with his love of the roller coasters and Tower of Terror.  Benjamin even did T of T with our friends, apparently scared to death the whole time, but after it was over exulting, "that was so AWESOME!"  Jill was delightful most of the time, although tough to keep tabs on while standing in line.  William loved driving the cars in Autopia and shooting the "Z"s in the Buzz Lightyear ride.  That really is a fun one for everyone.  I thought T of T was hilariously fun, as was California Screamer.  Anyway, when we go again in a few years we'll try to pick a better week with fewer people, but it was still great this time.

February (in somewhat random order ...)