Last night the dance instructors went to a Alvin Ailey show in Downtown seattle. It was Amazing! The dancing is unique as well as the music. My favorite dance was the one pictured above.So I am not as slow as I thought I was, but I am no Keysha (she can type 106 words per minute-Speedy!!) I wasn’t able to out do my girl Sheri either. I had John take the test because he is always teasing me about my typing. I admit my typing is quite loud… I don’t like to backspace. He has asked me on multiple occasions, “are you typing? or just hitting the keys as hard and fast as you can?” These questions always crack me up because why would I spend time just randomly hitting keys. He thinks I am trying to make him laugh with my typing antics. He has even requested proof, so I have to turn my laptop around to prove that I was indeed typing an email. I loved my keyboarding class, but somehow slid by with a bad habit of typing the letter “B” with the wrong hand. I have tired to correct it- but to no avail. It’s a fun little test… Happy Typing!
Somehow I managed to take ZERO pictures of the kids in their Sunday Easter clothes, or of their baskets... Whoopsie! Someday I will figure out how to take still shots from our video camera. I did get some pic's of the other fun stuff we did. Boy did we hunt eggs this year. A few days before Easter we had a really sunny day and the kids spent the better part of it hiding and finding eggs. Jensen just started to throw them into the backyard when it was his turn to hide them, I guess the excitement of hiding them wore off a little. 
Coloring the eggs was really fun for the kids. I taught them all of the Easter dying tricks I loved as a kid. Jensen was a planner and took a lot more time coloring designs on his eggs before they went into the dye. Ellie on the other hand just wanted all of her eggs in the cups. 
Elvis and Eli had a great time hunting eggs at Grandma's get together. She has a huge backyard which makes searching for eggs a little more tricky. Of course the eggs were loaded with candy.. can you tell by Ellie's loaded cheeks?
We went to a couple hunts at the Y. The toddler gym classes do a hunt every year, well it isn't so much a hunt as it is picking up eggs that are spread all over the gymnastics floor. John started a tradition of making pop corn baskets for all of the grand kids. We had left over so he took the kids around the neighborhood delivering yummy baskets. The kids believe that every holiday consists of taking something to the neighbors. Any suggestions for the 4Th of July? 
So, Jensen has been taking some liberties with some of George Lucas' copywrited materials that I do not think he would appreciate. Star wars for instance has been changed in Jensens vocab to "Star Whores," and Darth Vader is "Dark Fader." Oddly, Ellie seems to say them correctly.
My little sister is officially engaged!! Yeah... I don't know if I am more excited that she is engaged or more excited that she can finally adorn her finger with this beauty. I have been waiting for her to get the ring FOREVER. Ok, not forever, but for over two months. Her "fiance" proposed yesterday on the beach. Not just any beach... a beach in Turks and Caicos. She has such a glamorous life!! Talking to her today, I kept asking "where are you?" "where?" "That's located...?" When her fiance told me his plan to propose I pretended like I knew where "Turks" was. I assumed it was slang for Turkey. I don't know why I am so excited about the ring... I just think it is gorgeous ( the picture doesn't do it justice). Now that it is official I get to try it on... right Boo? Well here's to the Bride and Groom and their perfect engagement story, and beautiful ring. When they get back from "Turkey"...I will add a picture of them.
John purchased this wonderful appliance for me three valentines day’s ago. The kids and I used it for the fifth time yesterday!! No really, I have made exactly five things in this mixer. I really really wanted a red KitchenAid, and then when it showed up, I realized I am more of a bowl and spoon kind of girl. I like to throw everything in the dishwasher, and I can’t bring myself to put the big bowl and attachments in the dishwasher. It’s not that I don’t want to use it, I just forget. John has actually used it more than me, mostly because he is trying to be funny. While he mixes cookies, he is full of comments about what a fabulous machine it is. It is a beautiful machine, and I have enjoyed making play dough in it. I survived so long with my hand mixer that I hate to disturb the beautiful appliance chillin’ on my counter. I am recommitting to use it… the kids love it, and I really should put some miles on it because it was a very sweet gift. We made tasty banana nut bread today. If you adapt well to change I recommend getting one because they are fabulous. The kids did all the pouring, and Jensen even turned the machine on and off. My only job was measuring and putting the loaves in the oven. The KitchenAid eliminates all of the arguments about whose turn it is to stir, as well as the amount of food being flung onto the walls.
This month has been crazy birthday month!! The kids are starting to ask who's party we are going to that day. We went to a U-Fish party this weekend. I was really excited about going to this party because my kids have never caught their own fish. Jensen spent a long time at the dock at Sunlakes and didn't have any success. The bonus about the U-fish is that right when you put the pole in the pond you get a fish... it would be nice to have a happy medium.
They both loved catching the fish, but as soon as it came out of the water they wanted nothing to do with it. There is something unsettling about a fish out of water. I tried to get Jensen to hold the line while I took a picture, but right when I was about to take it the fish would go crazy and he would run away... poor kiddo.
Happy Birthday to Laura and Dean (John's Mom and Step Dad)!! It was a fun night! This was supposed to be a goofy picture... just in case you were wondering.
The next party was a Jump Planet party for Makay and Elizabeth! Jensen and Levi had a lot of fun. Ellie spent the entire time running around with Roo. It is so nice having cousins the same age and gender as my kids, they always have a buddy.
Ok... I have been waiting to post about this because I haven't gotten over it until recently. The last couple months you will notice Ellie's short bangs in front. Well it happened... something I said would never happen to my kids! SHE CUT HER HAIR!!! I was in my closet when I heard the sound of scissors in the bathroom. My heart literally jumped out of my chest.. I knew it couldn't be good. I was right! She managed to cut her perfectly long hair right in the front... and a chunk in back. The scissors were left on my bathroom counter from John's hair cut the night before. I tried to blame John, but couldn't! I know it will grow back, and I am probably being a touch dramatic, but this is the worst thing that has ever happened to her. As I pulled long chunks of hair from her head, I thought things would never be the same! I am now OK with it, that is why I am posting about it now, and not when it happened. In fact, she cut her hair again at her grandma's house and I didn't feel that bad. I am really careful where I put the scissors now, and we have had many talks about how we don't cut our hair. Anyway, this picture perfectly displays her handy work. So sad!
The last party we went to, which was directly after the fishing party was a party for our neighbor at the skating rink. The kids were tired, but the look on Ellie's face describes perfectly how they felt about skating. It was entertaining for me to watch them try and get around the rink. The best thing about going to a skating rink is that you will always find your signature 40 year old professional skater there, and the exact same music you skated to in middle school. I could not help but watch the woman who was skating backwards most of the time, weaving in and out of all the inexperienced skaters. I'm pretty sure she was there by herself because I never saw her talk to anyone. I love how people find their passion and go for it, she was well over the age of most rink goers, but I could tell she was where she wanted to be! We'll probably wait a few years before we try skating again.
Ok, so I couldn't resist blogging about this. Mostly for myself... but also to let my man know that I do notice the cute stuff he does. This past Sunday, I was strapped for a primary teacher... of course John volunteered. He is supposed to be in Elders Quorum, but knows how I have been finding subs forever. During sharing time, he had messengers (girls in the class) bring me little notes. This is one of the notes. I was sitting in the back of the room, and was hoping he wouldn't draw too much attention to his charade. After delivering the note, they would watch excitedly to see my reaction. I felt a little silly because they were supposed to be paying attention. Despite my natural instinct to shoot him down (what I normally would have done to mess with him), I checked "yes". After all, the young girls were waiting for my answer and I wouldn't want them to think I was heartless. John is always doing cute things like this, and it did make primary a tad more exciting.
This picture was taken yesterday. My friend and I were making hair bows for our daughters (I have been craving some gigantic bows for Ellie's hair). We were working away when John got home from the movie with her husband. I tried to convince him to sit down and make bows with us (something he would have done happily). Side note.. John is actually really crafty and has spent more time at the sewing machine than myself. He is forced to do his own mending because his clothes will sit in a pile forever waiting for me. Anyway, he claimed he didn't want to make my friend look bad, so he better not participate. Instead I asked him to cut up some Kiwis for me. This was what he presented to me... all arranged with tooth picks to eat it. He totally cracks me up! I guess we can add fruit designer to his talents. Lately we have been consuming a lot of fruit and veggies right before bed- he'll have to keep the fancy snacks coming now that I know what he's capable of ;-)
Our last parent child class was a little sad. We had so much fun doing this class together! It was our own little time to be together. I didn't realize "graduating" from our parent child dance class would be so sad. Three year olds shouldn't be too old for anything in my book! 
Here she is in her new dance class. She had a blast, and didn't turn back! I was considering putting her in my bitty ballet class, but she would probably want to be next to me the entire time and that wouldn't go over well. Maybe next year. 
The other day John and I were visiting on the couch and looked over and Jensen and Ellie were unloading the dishwasher. Not only was this unprompted, but they were unloading for awhile before we noticed. John asked Jensen what they were doing, he responded, "we're unloading the dishwasher!" "I'm supposed to help my mom... they told me at church." What angels! Now that I am aware of their abilities working together, it has become a frequent task. Tonight however they unloaded about ten dirty dishes... not so helpful ;-)
Finally Jensen and Ellie can be in the same swimming class. I have been waiting for this for a long time. Until she turned three, we took her to a parent child class, now she is all on her own. I was a tad apprehensive to let her go without direct supervision. When she was six months old, she wanted her head under the water, and still does. So far, they are both doing great! Their teacher reminds us after every lesson how Ellie is not afraid of the water at all! This is true, I told her before this session started, that she is quite the swimmer and doesn't think she needs any help. I was laughing because at their last lesson, they had a life guard specifically assigned to watch Ellie. It is rather alarming because she is so tiny and she just goes for it. This weekend, she was doing dead man falls into the pool... where did this girl come from? Luckily, big bro is there to show her the ropes. Jensen is gaining confidence and can swim about fifteen feet by himself.
I fell in love with this swimsuit! What is it about little girl swimsuits that make it so difficult to pass up? Now if I could feel the same way about a swimsuit for me!
