Guest Blog - For She's a Jolly, Good Fellow! by Drama Queen

We Twelves are good at sharing!

What a day!  Phew.  I for one, have been running since 5 a.m. which is pretty darn unusual for me.  I like my five o'clocks on the sunset side.  I was at work for a good chunk of the day and while I was, Mum and Daddy packed up for another little Tupperware trip.  Teach had the convocations aspect of her graduation this morning.  I'm pretty sure Gym Rat took care of the little kids...rumor has it he bought a cheeseburger for Curly for breakfast.

Mum's looking to get our house re-appraised so the afternoon was a sea of kid-running and trying to bolster the troops.  They got it together and we got some of the bad things checked off the list.  After dinner the kids disappeared downstairs to watch a movie.  As soon as it was over (literally to the second) I announced that we were all going to go to the Village Inn to celebrate awesomeness in our family: the awesomeness of Teach!  

What's with that face, Crafty?

Except for Princess who went to a sleep-over and Baby Doll who was with Mum and Dad, the lot of us drove over at nearly 10 and ordered up some pie.  On the way home, I started off a round of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" that lasted nearly the whole ride home - including lovely new lyrics.  

Curly, that's a huge piece of carrot cake!

"For Teach is a Jolly Good Fellow!
Yes, Teach is a Jolly Good Fellow..
So everybody eat some pie!
She's joined the new teacher supply!" 

We love pie!  And Teach!

Tee Ball

Sport learned to bat on something bigger than a baseball...

I've hardly had time to sit at my computer today! We had our first tee ball games and both teams did very well. My sweetie aka the awesome-ist guy in the world, is coaching Curly's team and I'm coaching Scout's. Sadly, most of our games overlap so I won't get to watch very many of Curly's and my sweetie will miss most of Scout's.

I have to confess that I was dreading it a little, but it really wasn't all that bad. Instead of pitching to the kids, I had them all hit off the tee today and so did the other coach. Because the game moved fast, we didn't have anyone just picking grass.

We played three innings with the inning ending after the last kid gets the chance to hit. Our league doesn't count balls or strikes or even outs! Even if they get out, they run all the bases and the last kid up gets to hit a home-run.

Baby Taco

Scout made some awesome hits, but the most impressive thing she did was when she was playing first base. The ball came off the tee as a slow grounder, right to her. She fielded the ball like a pro and tagged her base. She made the one and only out for the game!



Burrito was pretty unhappy about being assigned short stop in the last inning. He was inconsolable, and not even the threat of losing his treat was enough to bring him around. I'm hoping Teach won't have to work next time so she can take some pictures for you. Curly is so cute in his game shirt and hat! I've never been able to understand why the county leagues can't figure out that very few three-year-olds can wear a size 6 - 8.

New Jammies!

About a month ago I was in the middle of making costumes for the ballet. At one point I ran out of trim for the king's costume so I invited my sweetie to go to the fabric store with me. He doesn't love the fabric store like I do, but he does love me, so he agreed to go (after I assured him I was only looking for one small thing). I was a bit surprised that Curly was jumping up and down with excitement. How could I say "no" to that?

When we got there, I headed off to find my trims and I sent my sweetie to keep Curly entertained. Little did I know what that would mean...

It took me about 10 minutes to find what I needed and then I started looking for my boys. They were in deep discussions about which pieces of fleece would make the best jammies for Curly. They finally settled on a couple and we headed for the cutting table.

Sadly, Curly's fabric had to take a backseat until I finished the costumes.Every couple of days he would ask me when we were going to make his jammies. Today was finally the day! Besides his cute pieces of fleece, I had a pile of awesome flannels too.

We cut out seven pairs for him! He was so cute, helping me every step of the way. He even helped run the serger! PJ pants are the easiest thing to sew. Most patterns are only one piece now, so they are quick to cut too. When I taught my Scouts to sew, they were the first task. I love the fact that if they don't turn out perfect, it doesn't matter that much because no one will see them anyway.

Well, except for Curly, you are all seeing him...all ten of you..

You notice we left them long. This kid grows about an inch every week!

Why I Started this Blog...

For the question of the day I'm pouring my heart out...why did I start my blog?

I was thinking about that when my two youngest were eating dinner. My sweetie came home early today and made an amazingly huge pot of his famous meaty chili. As we gathered around the table, somebody was missing. It was Curly! He had gone with me on a Tupperware delivery and he fell asleep on the way home.  I lifted him from his booster seat and he snuggled against my shoulder. He is getting so big too!

I laid him gently on the couch and then headed for the kitchen to help my sweetie. At that point the only help he needed was tasting and I was happy to assist. As I scooped out big bowls of yumminess, I was grateful it was Monday. Monday is Family Home Evening for us and that meant everyone planned time at home.

After dinner I read the kids a couple of chapters from our latest book and then we all headed to the living room for a lesson prepared by Prima Donna. We were about five minutes into the lesson when Curly's sleepy head raised up from the couch. He was hungry and Dad's chili was his favorite!

I slipped quietly into the kitchen and scooped him a generous bowl topped with shredded cheese. I grabbed a package of crackers and a towel and headed back into the living room with Curly following close behind. I looked around for somewhere suitable for him to sit.

I finally grabbed an empty Girl Scout cookie box, tipped it over, and made him his own little table complete with a kitchen towel tablecloth. He was so excited! It wasn't long before Baby Doll decided to join his little dinner party. Remember, all this was going on while the rest of the family was focused on Prima Donna's lesson.

That's when I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a quick picture. And that's why I started this blog. For all the little sweet moments life has to offer. For too many years they have slipped by into oblivion. Now with the blog I find more reasons to try to record them as they come.

After the kids mostly headed off for bed, I parked myself in the laundry room and folded the half dozen batches I had washed today. Baby Doll came by for a minute and decided to help. Her idea of help usually means climbing in the baskets. This time she picked the dirty ones. That's when I saw it...another sweet moment that needed to be captured and shared.

Yeah, that's why I started this blog...it's certainly more rewarding that doing laundry!

Describe Yourself, Please

So Teach finished her student teaching in November, but because she still had a semester of scholarship money, she decided to take some on-line classes before graduating. We were sitting around the kitchen table tonight, eating dinner and chatting about this and that. I was complaining about some scholarship applications I’ve been helping the Dog Walker fill out…how each one is different and they are not fun.

Then Teach started telling us about her new classes and how they required her to introduce herself in a public forum so the rest of the students could get to know her. She mentioned that she had gotten really good at cut’n paste. Curious, I asked, “So what do you say about yourself?”

She thought a minute. “Oh, you know, the usual…I love kids and Harry Potter, I come from a big family, teaching is my passion, I have really blue eyes…” she trailed off. Then, a small Curly-sized voice next to her chimed in, “You have the cutest little brother…”

Dance Recital 2011

You all know that my girls love to dance. Last Saturday was our dance recital and Teach finally got around to downloading the pictures. This is the first year that Scout has been in “real” ballet, not just creative. The transformation was amazing! She slipped into her costume and then the Drama Queen did her makeup and I pulled her hair up in a bun. What happened to my little girl? She’s barely six, but she looks much older, don’t you think?

The recital started at 5:00 for the lower school and that means pretty much all the kids under the age of 8. Scout’s dance was the very first one, so after she was finished performing, my sweetie hauled everyone to the van and ran them home for a while except for me and the dancers. They wanted to watch all the performances, of course.

The older girls started dancing at 7:00. I love watching my kids dance! Prima Donna had a little trouble with her pointe shoes. The shank had broken in one of them a couple of weeks ago and she had only gotten the new ones last week. I guess it takes a while to break them in properly and she just didn’t have the time. But she still did a fabulous job. 

Since my girls dance in several different groups, sometimes it’s hard for them to make the costume changes quickly enough. Even with a nude leotard underneath to make things faster and tights over tights, pulling it all together in time can be hard.

There was a significant pause before Prima Donna’s jazz group took the stage. We were sweating because when the girls started dancing, she wasn’t out there. Then suddenly the director of the studio ran onto the stage, demanded they stop the music, and they started the dance over. The second time they started, the Prima Donna and another girl also joined in the dance. That happened again later in the evening. That’s what I love about our studio…they would rather be a little less professional if it’s important to one of the students. I know we would have been very disappointed if our daughter had missed the performance altogether.

One of my favorite dances was this one by Crafty’s group. They used the music from Nightmare Before Christmas and they wore these little black capes. It was certainly different from what we normally see at the Christmas Recital.

The final group was Princess’s pointe class. These girls have been dancing together for about 10 years now and they do an excellent job. They look right at home on stage.

You know there’s always the ones who look like they shouldn’t be there…and they are the same ones who just can’t wait to get on stage…

Thanksgiving Means Family

Part of our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving because it’s all about family for me. Remember I told you we do a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner first? Prima Donna was our Peppermint Patty in her balloon turkey hat that the Drama Queen made for her. She did a lousy job with the scene so we had to send her back upstairs so she could have a do-over. The second time was much more convincing…

My sweetie made some AMAZING rolls and I’m saving the recipe for you for Friday’s Food for Thought. I really enjoyed watching him teach the Gym Rat how to make them. The Gym Rat is still trying to catch a wife and he figures becoming a good cook might help. I spent about six hours making pies on Wednesday night after Scout’s birthday party. But they were worth it! So yummy!

We had a little trauma. Scout got sick and slept through Thanksgiving dinner. It appeared that she had an infection. I tried to take her to the Instacare, but they were closed for the holiday. She was terribly afraid of the emergency room so I just gave her some antibiotics I had left over from last time (I know…wrong answer) and got her into the doctor when the holiday was over. She is feeling much better now.

I love the togetherness of the day. The kids played games and just hung out. Dog Walker couldn’t go to the gym so he bench-pressed Baby Doll.

I guess they were all full and content, because there were lots of moments like these.

And my sweet little Curly who is always full of gratitude said, “I’m grateful for my family.” AMEN!

Fall Leaves Fall

You all know I have pretty much the cutest little curly-headed three-year-old in the whole world…and he loves to sing silly songs. Once, way back when I started this blog, I told you about him singing “I got the whole bed to myself…” after he convinced me and my sweetie to get out. Well, this morning Curly and I were sitting together on the bench eating our cereal and he looked up at me with those big blue eyes, then snuggled up to me and started singing “I got the whole mommy to myself…”

Have you all noticed that fall is in the air? Yeah, in Utah it took a while! We had Halloween with mostly green leaves still on the trees. Just this week they started to turn colors and drop.

When I was a little girl, we had an elderly couple who lived around the corner from us. They had three beautiful maple trees on their park strip. We loved walking under those massive trees and pulling down just one awesome leaf each. Those leaves were bigger than my whole face! I loved the feel of them, the smell of them. Even though it was much further to go home from school that way, we would take the time because this time of year we could crunch crunch crunch through those leaves and take the biggest ones home as souvenirs.

So after my sweetie and I built our house, we were trying to decide on trees and landscaping. Of course I wanted to put in maples on the park strip. We looked for the variety that had the prettiest fall leaves and that’s what we chose.

I’m sure the neighbors all hate us for that choice because they blow all over. We rake them up and then they blow all over again. We don't want to bag them up right away because the kids love to jump in them and bury each other.

The Dog Walker is the worst! He can’t wait to make a huge pile of leaves every year. As soon as there is a hint of orange in the leaves, he is out there with the rake…pulling the leaves down from the branches. A couple of years ago he got the brilliant beyond brilliant idea that he could use the leaf blower to blow the leaves DOWN from the tree. He was a little disappointed when it didn’t work as well as he thought it would.

I just tell him that’s why they call it FALL. Because the leaves have to FALL.

But that doesn't stop him. He still goes outside, glares up at the leaves with a threatening look and I can just see his mind working..."Fall, Leaves, Fall…or I’m getting out the leaf blower."

Spooka Palooza

We finally got all the kids and grandkids gathered up by about 10:15 this morning and we made the short drive to the expo center. We arrived about 10:30 and easily found a parking spot. It was still early and the party was just getting started. I could tell the Dog Walker was nervous, even though he’d been looking forward to this day for a long time. He was finally making his “Personal Appearance” at the Utah Kid’s Club Spooka Palooza. They kindly gave us all free passes and we had a fantastic time!

I promised Teach I would keep all of her pics in, so here goes an exceptionally long post...

Playing with blocks in the middle of the floor of the expo center.

A fine introduction on stage!

Drama Queen and her new boyfriend, Taylor.

Loving the slides!

NOT loving the slides!

What should we do now?

Princess: I no longer want to be a dancer when I grow up...I want to be a pilot!

Hoopin' it up!

Trick or treat!

Livin' the dream!

We love Tangled!

Go Web Go!

A Knight? Really? I was thinking more like a Super Ninja!

And finally...the good guy gets the girl!

 Thanks for the fun, Nate, the Super Scout!
And Utah Kids' Club.