Dance Recital Mania!

The princess had her recital yesterday, and it was a great success! She had a good time and was in 4 dances. You've seen plenty of photos of her in her "Hey Now" costume so here are a couple from 2 of her other dances. Thanks to Mary Beth and Brian and their awesome camera for taking these for us!

The princess and Caitlyn in a duo dance they did for Puff the Magic Dragon.

They only practiced 3 times and put this dance together.

It was very good. Great job girls!

The Finale--that's the princess in the blue hat!

Happy Birthday to the King!

The king's birthday was yesterday but with all the dance recital hoopla, he got lost in the shuffle! Sorry your royal greatness! You are still looking like a young whipper snapper!

Second only to Jesus

On Memorial Day we had a few of our kingdom favorites over for a BBQ and a little Wii action. We did some bowling, and Brian chose a Mii character to represent himself who's name was "Super J" and who looked suspiciously like Jesus. We had a lot of fun with that. I came in second, Super J came in first, thus I got a lot of mileage out of telling people that we bowled with Jesus over the weekend, and I came in second "only to Jesus".

No photos of bowling but a couple of us rockin' out. You'll see that the king does not partake of the musical aspects of the Wii. It's a bummer too because I'm sure he's about as gifted as I am. Why, I earned a whopping $7 while rocking out--it's not real money--fake rock-star money!

You'll also see that I seem to be the only one taking this thing seriously, because at least I was "trying" to sing along!!! OUCH!

Mary Beth and Brian--show a little enthusiasm, people. You're rock stars!

Oh yeah, that's much better.

That's right, rock it, mama!

That must be the king over there in the corner, leading the band from off stage with his YARD STICK!

Final Track Meet

The prince had his city-wide meet today--the last one! He competed in discus and shot today and did great! He also got a sweet sunburn, but hey, he's 14 and doesn't need sunscreen!

It's hot. When will we be done?

(I want to know why she wore black?)

Getting in the zone.

Discus--didn't even come close to taking off anyone's head this time!

Practicing shot.

His high was over 29 feet today!

Memorial Day

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

--John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address Washington, D.C. January 20, 1961

Stray Bar

Size 0!!!

I took the princess shopping today. She no longer fits in girls clothing.

We bought her two pair of shorts that were size ZERO!!!

I'm pretty sure I didn't wear that even when I was zero!

And get this, they're a little big around the waist. But they fit!

Must be nice...

What's in a name?

True story (Jeanette, you'll like this one):

A student was recently enrolled in school. The child's last name was Afraid of Bear.

The name was entered incorrectly into the computer system.

New name?

Afraid of BEER!!! :)

Oh no!

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Every year, the 4th graders in my sister's town run the mile. This year it was my nephew's turn. He knew his electric wheel chair didn't stand a chance against the strong legs of 10-year-olds so he convinced his principal, Mr. G, (a marathon runner!) to push him in his manual chair! Mr. G had to pace himself, so as not to blow the competition out of the water, and my nephew did share 1st place with the boy who came in on two legs! The kids were so excited for my nephew. Good sportsmanship is alive and well in our kids! Way to go, Andy!

Meeting the Senators

Here are the kids, meeting our senators today.

Can you spot the prince?

Wii Update

The king, with is superior health and Wii Fit Age, beat my ski jump record. I hate him.

Wii Fit

The princess and I bought a Wii Fit today. I've already logged 5 minutes of activity in, and it only took about 20 minutes to do it! I won't tell you about my weight or BMI. I'm grateful those things can be locked away from others!! But I will tell you that I am currently in first place--beat out the princess--in the ski jump, which works on balance--and she promised not to do that event and beat me until the prince comes back from his trip. I have about 48 more hours to bask in the glory!

Middle School Madness

As the prince leaves middle school, the princess will begin middle school. Along with middle school, comes the middle school attitude, which she is currently perfecting! This Friday she will attend the "Seekers" program where she gets to go explore her new school. She can bring a parent along. I wasn't sure if her dad or I would be taking her and found out yesterday that is was possible that we could both go.

I asked her, "Would you like us to both go?"

Her middle school answer, "One of you will be plenty."

Oh, bring it on, sister!

White House

Here's a photo of the prince and the gang in front of the White House today

(his birthday!).

He's first row, center, in the blue t-shirt.

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You know you're an 8th grader when...

You go to NYC, see the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and Ground Zero, but the highlight of your day is riding the subway while standing on one leg and being slammed into the window, and the plasma tv and IPod dock in your hotel room!

Remind me again...why did we spend this money?

NYC and DC or BUST!

We took the prince to the airport this morning at 7:30. Though the parents all looked exhausted, the kids were ready to go! He'll be in NYC this afternoon (already called from Minneapolis to "check in") and will be on top of the Empire State Building by about 10 PM our time tonight! Best of all, he's in a group of 8 boys that includes some of his best buddies, and their chaperon is the English teacher, a woman who appreciates the prince for the knucklehead he is. May God bless her richly this week!

By the way, Shelley, he's in good company. The boy in red and the boy in blue are LDS! :)

Happy Birthday Prince!

We celebrated the prince's birthday a little early, due to his excellent adventure to New York City and Washington DC. Yep, he'll be in DC on his birthday. His English teacher promises to celebrate for us! So we had cake and ice cream (well...an ice cream cake!) last night. The prince's aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma, great aunt, and great uncle all joined us! What fun!

Besides the boat-load of cash he received (he plans to buy a new electric guitar with that), we bought him tickets to an upcoming Styx, REO Speedwagon, and 38 Special concert later this month. The ticket lady gave the king this poster that the king had framed! It's already hanging in the prince's bedroom!

Blowing out the candles!

Though neither one will admit it, I think they will miss each other!

Aunt Kathi and Grandma enjoying the delicious Dairy Queen cake. Notice them both wearing shorts? It was actually warm yesterday...in the 70's. And today it will be in the 80's. I guess this year, spring was on a Saturday!

Sucker Game

Since my kids were little, I've called the claw machines in arcades "Sucker Machines" because they suck up all your money. My kids never believed me because on occasion, the king's uncle would come visit us and bring the kids armloads of the stuffed animals he had won with claw machines. He had a knack for it. Often, the king tries the machines, and sometimes he wins.

Worse yet, when my mom had her bingo hall, she or my brother would sometimes open the door to the one she had and let the kids take whatever they wanted! How easy is that!

So now the kids like to give those machines a try sometimes. The prince won a little bear this winter and gave it to the girl he took the the Valentine's dance (of course, I did not know this at the time and only learned about it later, from the girl's mom!) Last night the princess had her first "win" at the sucker machine. The prince claims it was his supreme guiding skills "a little to the left, now down, over, over..." But you can tell by the look on her face that she's taking all the glory, not to mention the ugly little animal, for herself!

Another Track Meet

Today was the prince's last regular track meet of his middle school years. He'll miss next week's meet while he's in DC, and then he'll compete in the city meet the last week of May. That's it. I don't know if he'll compete in high school. I think the competition is a little intimidating because for him, track is purely a social event. He has a good time, as evidenced by the last photo!

Shot put.

100 meter. He's checking out the runner to his left and though you can't tell here,

he caught up to the guy on his right by the time the race was over.



Discus--there was a bit of an "incident" here when his discus went off course
and almost took off the head of the gal running the event! Oops! ;)

The prince and his friend, Tommy. Ummm...whatcha doin' boys?

I asked for a "discus" pose. This is what I got!

MUST GET OUT...MUST GET OUT...

Look at my poor geraniums. All they want is to be outside. But they are so pretty, and it's too cold, and still they want to bloom! I've had these guys for 4 summers now (this summer is #4) and have never had them bloom indoors before. I trimmed lots off a couple of weeks ago but they are still long and spindly. I just couldn't bring myself to cut the ones that were blooming. Maybe later in the summer...if we ever get summer. Meanwhile, they'll remain inside and dream of the day when they no longer have to reach for the sunshine! (I dream of that day too!)

Track Meet Photos

Here are some photos from the prince's track meet Friday. He improved his time in the 100 meter and increased his distance in the shot and discus. Thank goodness his "other mother" was there to take photos and cheer him on so that I could get the princess to dance! It's hard being two places at once, especially when the king is out of town!

Running the 100 meter--he's second from the left--took 2nd in the heat.

He's got another meet this Friday. Here's hoping for good weather!

Happy Belated Birthday Ariana!

Not the biggest photo ever, but it's sort of recent! The princess' bday was yesterday, but it was a toss up between posting her bday or Mother's Day. Since I'm a mom...

Hope you had a great day yesterday, Ariana!! We love you!that's a parrot she's petting! You go girl!

(In case you're wondering, that's a parrot she's sort of petting!)

"Love to Dance" Competition

The Princess' final dance competition of the year netted lots of 1st place trophies! Way to go!

The Princess's team minus one dancer.

Lots of winners!

Happy Mother's Day Mom and Karen!

Pirates!

The princess had a solo as Pirate White Shirt in the 5th grade musical. I had the prince take this photo of us in the morning because we both had our pirate clothes on (I was just wearing mine in honor of the program, and I did sing "We Are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" all day in their honor--from Veggie Tales). Unfortunately, the prince likes to take pictures of the white board behind us more than of us, so you aren't seeing much of our cool costumes! The princess was suppose to meet me with wearing her accessories later for a photo, but she hid from me. Bummer too because she was just the blimiest durn pirate, maty! But the show was really good. The kids did a great job. And it's one more May event we can cross off our list of many! Good job, Princess...ummm...I mean Pirate!

I suggested we pose as pirates here, but I was the only one cooperating! Plus I sort of just look dorky! Argggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

STUPID!

I should have "STUPID" tattooed across my forehead!

I have a cool pair of brown boots. I wore them all over Vegas a year ago when I was there. Very comfortable, cute...

Lately, I've had some foot problems, and the boots aren't as comfortable as they once were, but I really wanted to take them to Vegas when the king and I went in February. So I thought I'd be cool and bought some of those Dr. Scholls "gellin" inserts.

I splurged on the more expensive kind, cut them to fit my feet and put them in the boots. They didn't seem to fit quite right so I cut them some more...and some more...and some more. They kept looking backward, but it does have the foot designation stamped on the insert so I decided it must be right. I finally decided they were as good as they were going to get and wore them in Vegas. They weren't great, but they were better than nothing.

Still, I wondered why Dr. Scholl spent so much money on a not-that-great product.

I wore them a few weeks ago. Still not impressed.

I decided to wear the boots today. Hmmm...

They were really bugging me this morning so I took them out and looked at them again.

STUPID!

Yes, it was the right foot, but it also said "bottom". DUH! No wonder they looked backward and wouldn't stay in place. I had them in the right foot but upside down!

I'm doomed to be stupid. Didn't Weird Al sing "Dare to be Stupid?" I don't dare. I am!!!!

Check it out!

Check out our weather forecast...not a 50* in site! Friday and Saturday do call for rain though...which figures since the prince is suppose to have a track meet on Friday!

Wednesday 67°
Thusday 61°
Friday 61°
Saturday 61°

Oh NO!

You are looking at the new secretary for our PTA! Though I'm a firm believer in what they do, I am only the secretary because I CAN'T SAY "NO"!!! Could I be any dumber? Don't answer that!

Sickness

I had to take the princess home from school early on Friday because she wasn't feeling well. She was better by Sunday. Today I had to take the prince home early because he wasn't feeling well. I doubt he'll be going to school tomorrow. I sure hope these children don't pass on all their sickness to me!!!

Congratulations Jackie!

Our congratulations go out to cousin Jackie

on her college graduation this weekend.

We enjoyed the after-party!

Holy $#%&

Look at the look on the princess' face!!! Is she saying "Holy $#%&, Mommy, get me off this thing!!!" or is she saying, "I LOVE this ride!!!" It's really the later, but it cracked it up when I came across this photo last night. Gotta love my new scanner/copier/printer...you might see more of these oldies, but goodies!

Sweetness...

In looking for photos of the prince as a youngster to put in his graduation slide show, I came across this shot of the prince with Uncle Blake. I believe Uncle Blake was imitating the prince, but maybe they were both contemplative! Still...isn't is it so sweet?