Thursday, November 22, 2007

More of Lexi Dancing

Last week was parent observation week at Lexi's dance class again. She has a new teacher this year. This teacher makes dancing so much fun for these girls. She has recordings of stories about unicorns that has the girls leaping over rivers, twirling, skipping, and whatnot. This is so much more fun for Lexi than the drill sargent she had for a teacher last year.

Just before class began



During a break, Abby wanted in on the action. She wants to do everything Sissy does



Lexi let down one of her braids. Must mean she's having fun if she lets her hair down!



Time for tap dance!



And finally, and you knew this was coming, a video of Lexi's ballet skills!!!!

Thanksgiving 2007

Well, it's Thanksgiving again. I thought it appropriate to wait until today to post the pictures from Lexi's class skit last week. It was too cute. Her teacher broke the class into groups of pilgrim men, pilgrim women, pilgrim ministers, Native American men, and Native American women. The teacher read a story and when she said a group's name they recited a very short line. Lexi was a Native American woman and her line was, "Shh, shh, shh!" She got a bit distracted when she realized that I was taking pictures and videos, but here she was. We are so proud!! (Sorry about the camera work on the video. I was in the front row and couldn't fit everyone in the frame to enable me to hold the camera still.)






Anyway, this wouldn't be a Thanksgiving post if I didn't tell what I am thankful for. I am Thankful for Stefan and all that he does and sacrifices for our family. I am thankful for our girls that bring a smile to my face everyday. I am thankful for our family and friends both near and far that fill our lives. I am thankful for a warm bed to sleep in, food on the table, and a roof over our heads. I am thankful for everyone that supports me while I go to school.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Lexism

I've been super busy with the end-of-the-semester wrap up and projects that are consuming my daylight hours and most of my night time hours too. I'll get back to normal in a week or two. But I couldn't resist posting this.

Lexism
We had some days this week with temperatures in the 60s and 70s but that did not last. This morning we woke to frost. After school today, Lexi wanted to play outside and Stefan told her to grab a coat. While she was putting it on, she muttered, "It's way cold outside. It's like 100 degrees!"

A Good Day at School

Lexi had a stellar day at school today. She scored her first 100% of the year on her weekly spelling test, got checked off on three sight word lists, and got a 100% on her Accelerated Reader test. Go Lex!!!!! We're very proud of you.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Hot dog!!!!

We have been hit with quite the chill here. Jackets, hats, and scarves are seen everywhere. Apparently us humans are not the only ones struck by the bitter cold. Tonight Lou decided to make a fashion statement by sliding himself into Abby's new coat that he pulled down from off the back of Stefan's recliner. He's too smart.





Piplup likes to eat Pokemon food...gobble, gobble

Lexi's homework this week was to create a disguise for Tom Turkey. Her teacher provided a picture of a turkey that she was to color and cut out. Once that was done she was supposed to create a costume/disguise for her turkey so that he won't be caught and made into someone's Thanksgiving Day feast. In true Lexi fashion, she wanted to disguise her turkey as Piplup (her favorite Pokemon). So I drew a stencil and we traced out the shapes on their respective colors of construction paper and cut them out only to reassemble the shapes into the recognizable form of Piplup(this process is what Lexi calls a cutting project--she loves cutting projects). She was very satisfied with the outcome...so was I.




Next she had to write two sentences. Hers were, "My turkey is Piplup. She likes to eat pokemon food."



Very cute!!!

Lexi's Soccer Finale

Lexi's soccer season is over. All in all, she did well. For most of the season she got out there and ran hard but hardly ever made contact with the ball. Finally, in the seventh out of eight games I decided to set a goal for her (no pun intended). I challenged her to kick the ball 5 times. Each time she'd kick the ball, she would look at me on the sidelines and hold up her fingers counting each kick and exclaiming, "Mommy, I got ___ (fill in the blank with the number) kicks!" When she got the fifth kick early in the game you could see her doing a little victory dance in the middle of the field and the action of the game. She was so proud and so was I! I decided to set the bar higher and challenged her to five more. That game she got 28 kicks in.

The next game was her last of the season. She decided she wanted to get 30 kicks, but I told her to start with 15. Unlike the previous week when there were 3 kids missing, her entire team was there for the finale so her play time was much less hence the lowered goal. That game she got 18 kicks in. Not too shabby. And she had a great time.





After the game, the team got together for awards. Each child got a trophy. This was Lexi's first trophy and she wasn't expecting it so she was very excited. She told me that she was going to polish it with a tissue to keep it nice and shiny.

Here she treasures her prize.





So, the season is now over. Lexi's a little upset because she was really just starting to get into it. She told me that she wants to play again so in March we will be making our weekly trips to the soccer field once more.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Lexism of the week

Uncle Faron called to talk to Lexi yesterday about Halloween. When Lexi got off the phone with him she asked if we could go to his house to see him. I explained that he was out of town. Then she asked if we could take a plane ride to go see him like we did two years ago for New Year's. I guess she forgot that he no longer lives out of town although at times it seems as though he does because his job requires a lot of travel. I asked her where she thinks he lives and she responded, "Emily O'Lassis" (Indianapolis).

Thursday, November 01, 2007

I wrote in this post about Abby's infatuation with watching Daddy cut the grass. At that time, I couldn't capture the antics on camera but I was able to recently. At one point she actually kisses the window. Enjoy.

Happy Halloween 2007

I didn't realize that it had been a week since my last post. It seems I am slipping. School is starting to get super busy with the "End of the Semester Wrap Up". I cannot wait until this semester is over. It hasn't been test heavy nor even work heavy but it has dragged on and I'm ready for the end. On Tuesday this week Stefan had to take off work because I had to do a day long observation of a group of special ed students and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it home before he had to leave for work. We used this opportunity to carve the pumpkins (a little late this year). Lexi drew the faces for both pumpkins,



while Abby supervised from her stroller,



and Daddy carved out the creations.



On THE BIG DAY Lexi decided to repeat her performance of The Little Mermaid from last year much to my chagrin. I had talked her into being a ballerina so she could use her expensive recital costume more than once and she agreed to this choice until Halloween day. Such a finicky kid!



Abby appeared as Marie from Disney's Aristocats which was a hand-me-down from Lexi when she was 2. I didn't see any reason to pay for another little girl costume when I had one in the attic. This logic will work until Abby actually has an opinion on the matter which I hope will not be until Halloween 2009 because I have an adorable JoJo's Circus hand-me-down costume that I would love to see again because it is just too adorable.



My parents were with us this year which was a God send. I was fretting all day how I was going to get this accomplished on my lonesome plus I bought like 12 pounds of candy that, if no one was at the house passing it out, would have gone to waste. So, my dad stayed at the house to man the candy cauldron and Mom hit the road with me and the girls around 6.



We were the first ones out but I figured the others wouldn't be too far behind us because our neighborhood is filled with very young kids and it was a school night with bedtimes not to be ignored but I was wrong. We strolled along for 30 minutes only hitting the houses with lights on (which were quite a few). We then decided to take a little break and grab some sweatshirts. We headed back to the house were Lexi had a wardrobe malfunction and had to change into the ballerina garb for the sake of decency.



While at the house we ran into little Katelynn who was dressed as a lamb. This was the first time that Abby expressed an interest in getting out of the stroller. It was so cute - Abby dressed as a kitty and Katelynn as a lamb - Abby kept touching Katelynn's costume and trying to kiss her.



From that point on Abby decided she was going to try her hand in this Trick-or-Treat stuff. It was so cute as she did her little toddle waddle to the doors: her tale on her costume would wag from side to side. The first house we went to had a dog and Abby loves all animals (it's one of the only surefire ways to get her to giggle-being near a dog) so she pet the dog and tried to kiss it. I think that she thought this was the point of trick or treating - going around and kissing all the neighborhood dogs. The candy was only a bonus. She carried her little pumpkin tote shaking it like it was a glorified rattle. Too cute!

Abby lost all patience with this whole ordeal around 7:15 and broke into absolute hysteria so we called it quits. I think Lexi was ready too. So we returned home and the kiddos and Lexi was in bed at her normal bedtime. I sat out on the front patio to avoid the incessant doorbell ringing disturbing the girls' slumber and in a hope to keep the dogs from going insane. It seems that effort was in vane though because the dogs barking at the trick-or-treaters passing the house kept Lexi awake to the point that she kept coming down the stairs like a little waif telling me that she couldn't go to sleep. Abby, however, slept perfectly fine. Stefan arrived home at 8:15 and was able to get Lexi to finally go to sleep. It's unfortunate that, because of his job, he has to miss Halloween sometimes, but what can you do?

All-in-all I'd say that this was a pretty decent Halloween.