..and all that jazz.

What fun it is to see my girl take flight in her newest jazz class. An upgrade from last year; a teacher who works them hard starting from warm up stomach crunches to repetition of a dance step until the class has it down pat. This teacher is full of enthusiasm and just to watch her dance is a motivation; I kinda felt like jazzin' out myself!

For a girl that could not make her way into this world with a normal fashionable delivery, my girl has been one flexible chick since toddlerhood. It is no surprise then, that she scores well during the jazz warm up routines.

Because I have yet to become the ace with our Cannon XSI, I grabbed our Sony Handycam to get dual action of still photos and video. The still photos are best for medium movement, so the fast jazzy stuff I had to only capture via video. I will post a video sometime of my jazzy-girl, and get my husband to do his magic with our good camera. More at a later time ...

Happy 8th Birthday!!!

Today is my son's 8th Birthday!! The All American Boy who enjoys to fish and golf with his dad, swim and bike, and create wonderful eats in the kitchen. He has a true loving spirit; making people laugh with his witty charm and genuine positive attitude; and he's always looking out for the animals on the planet who need his care.

I remember when he was first born, my first thought before I saw him, was how amazing it will be to have a girl and a boy; and it has been phenomenal. As a young one, his cute lips and toddler chubbiness just made me melt. The way he discovered life as he grew has been so fun; easy going, relaxed, inquisitive. A true joy.

Now as a big 8 year old, I like his thoughts about life and how things should be. While the chubbiness has disappeared, his amazing smile and cute lips have remained.

Happy Birthday, Son!!
I love you!!!

Splish, Splash ... It's a Party!

Fit for my swimmer, our son invited friends and family to the community pool for a swim party in honor of his 8th Birthday (tomorrow). We celebrated in the party room first with cake, gifts, and three rounds of Wall-E black out Bingo; complete with prizes. Then it was off for an hour of private pool time. His sister and girl cousins seemed to hang out in the pool together playing Mermaid and follow the leader, while leaving the four boys to enjoy the balls and swim toys which they created into some treasure type of game.
We could tell our son had a fabulous time when we said on the way home, "Thanks, Mom and Dad, for my party. It was the best!" I am glad every one had such a good time!!

Art

As the rain dripped down our windows and the wind swirled the leaves, our children had an extremely relaxing day inside making Halloween decorations for their door. They undertake this task during every seasonal change; and prior years' worth of decorations lay neatly in a labeled box. It is fun to review their art, and it will be even more fun to review it with future grandchildren.

Here are this year's art displays about Halloween (the corn stalk is really neat):

Recently one evening, my daughter made this flower on the playroom easel. I do not want to erase the creation, however, she is certain she would like to create a new design for her little brother's upcoming birthday celebration. A sweet sister.

Family Swim

We've opted out of swim lessons this season because the time was too crunched against the end of the school day. We found we were always late and at the private swim house where we visited, every minute paid for needed to be in the water! It was too expensive to waste five minutes on land changing into suits.

So, for far less money, we have booked our Friday evenings and occasional Sunday's after church at our Public Pool. Family Swim time is great, because it is not a free for all, wild mess of kids who just get dropped off at the curb by their parent. Instead, it is geared toward the younger, inexperienced swimmer, in which case all must be accompanied by an adult. This allows room for my experienced children to actually swim, as the water is more calm and the kids are more well behaved.

My children have agreed that they will swim 30 minute laps like they did in class, and then they get rewarded with 30 minutes of play time. My son is encouraging me to swim with them since I am in the pool anyway. Who knows, perhaps by the end of the school year, this girl will know how to swim . I know my children will be great teachers; if my courage is strong enough.

Exhausted

There are days when you grow stronger and wiser right before your very own eyes. Days when life events happen and everything seems to be in slow motion and you are looking at yourself from the ceiling. Days when you know you need every strength and brain cell to say the right thing to convince another person to trust you. Times in your life when you just want to fast forward, but know that life lessons are being handed to you right and left and you really can not afford to miss the opportunity by moving faster.

This was my day. Stacked upon a week of running non stop since I stepped off the vacation plane last weekend. I learned a lot about a person today that I deeply love, my little son. He can be very brave, so full of wisdom it literally shocks me from time to time. We spent a good many hours in the Asthma and Allergy Center today for an extensive allergy test that he was not about to take lightly; he had a deep quest to know every step in the medical procedure.

But trying to convince your son to give up his arm to allow a stranger to poke needles into is an odd conversation and an art of negotiation. I learned so much about my son, about me, and about how thankful I truly, truly am for the health of my family. As I sat on the exam table with my son huddled beside me, I just thanked the Lord that he was truly healthy, and that this was not our normal routine of life like so many children who are going through real, hard, health challenges.

So, as my day is winding down to a close; I am going to tuck my sweet angles into bed and say a special prayer. And then I am going to snuggle with my hubby on the couch and watch our taping of The Debate with Bidden and Pallin to get another view of a reality check.

What happens in Vegas ... doesn't stay there ....

Our journey to Vegas would not have been complete without eye witnessing Elvis. We had been going twelve hours strong on the Strip, it was approaching midnight, and we had yet to see The King.

We had seen the wobbly Bride walking through the MGM Grand Hotel on the way to the Chapel; with her bridesmaid's trailing behind sipping on fancy drinks.

We had seen our fair share of young ladies and young men desperately trying to hook up.

We had seen the trans-gender person buying cookies at the Miracle Mall at Planet Hollywood, but refrained from snapping a picture; it would have been too obvious.

But where was Elvis?

The King was at the Bellagio getting his picture taken with the ladies. As we were headed to our rental car, getting on the elevator at two minutes to midnight, The King stepped inside our box. He was accompanied by his .... father! He was a young kid and this had been his first shift. Elvis was ready to leave the building and get out of that suit! He had had enough!!!

It struck me as a little funny after seeing how "the women" were responding to him just a few short minutes prior in the lobby. If only they had know .... Nnah, it would not have made a difference! Who am I kidding; it's VEGAS!!!