What a Week!

I know, it's only Tuesday. But it feels like a weeks' worth of stuff happening around here!

Updates: Friday, Eli and I went to the Mother/Son Event. Never heard of it? It's the PC thing to sponsor after you have a Daddy/Daughter Dance. It was really fun. I cheered Eli on as he "jousted" with his opponent.

Saturday: Carmina Concert with Adam, Lizzie, Ward, and Lisa in attendance. So much fun.

Sunday: Carmina Concert in Prescott (2 hrs. away). Bus broke down on the way home. Waited 3 hours for a replacement bus. Not so much fun. Monday: Lizzie brought home the Class Poetry Book. We only got it for one night! Here are Lizzie's entries with translations.
"I am Lizzie Stewart and an animal lover. But I am not a zoo keeper.
I like hot fudge chocolate sundays, vacations and trips, movies and drawing, writing and poetry, and friends and family, planes and parties, and animals and animation.

But I do not like M.M {Mountain Math}, onions, and the Tower of Terror.

I am happy when we celebrate holidays, when I go on a trip or a fun ride, I build a fort, and when I play a fun game with my siblings.

But I am not happy when I hurt myself, when something scary happens, and when I play Truth or Dare.

I feel good about myself when I write a new poem or story, when I eat a new food for the first time, and when I learn something my parents don't know.

If I could be anything, I would be a scientist, an animal trainer, a traveler or a farmer's daughter.
But even though I could be anything, I would not be a pilot (because then I would crash and I would be dead. :( )"

"My Trip to New York"

I'm going to New York
With a spoon and a fork
And my bird that's a stork,
Who's really a dork.

"Singing in the Rain"

I'm singing in the rain
With my chin up and proud
My mouth fills up with water,
So when I sing, I gurgle and it's really loud.

"A good/Bad Sport"

Volleyball I'm good at.
Well, sort of.
When I hit the ball, it says, "Whack!"
But sometimes it goes this direction or that!
Tuesday: Today I got to teach Princess School. I commadeered 90% of Eli's toys today because the topic was "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go." And look what I found for the girls at the dollar store?! Pink Hot Wheels! what luck. :)

So how's your week goin'?

A Hankering for Haggis

So this morning I was curious about what exactly HAGGIS is, and so I went to the ever-trustworthy http://www.dictionary.com/ and here's what it said:

–noun Chiefly Scot.
a traditional pudding made of the heart, liver,
etc., of a sheep or calf, minced with suet and oatmeal, seasoned, and boiled in
the stomach of the animal.
OR
n. A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and
liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and
boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal.

I'm glad they included the word "slaughtered" in the definition, otherwise, we might think the "etc." meat was boiled in the stomach of a live animal, and for heaven's sakes, that would just be gross.

Why the sudden fascination with haggis? Well, James and Jennie decided to get married in a Scottish castle, this one, in fact, and I wanted to see what we would be up against, meal-wise.

Carmina Burana

We had a rehearsal tonight for Carmina and I must warn you, if you are coming, do not, I repeat, do NOT wear your toupees. They will get blown right off your head. So please, just don't take any chances. It could be embarassing for all of us.

Before & After

Good-bye childhood, Good-bye money. Hello Braces.

Easter Weekend

I know I should be mostly excited about the Easter Pageant that we went to,

or the fun Easter Egg hunt, which was even more exhilirating because of the Zip Line rides,


or doing the Easter morning jelly bean trail to the baskets,

or the Coordinating outfits I came up with for us to wear,



or the yummy ham dinner we ate,



but truthfully, the best part of the weekend for me was curling up with a cozy, witty, and charming book, with nowhere to go all day, listening to the kids playing happily in their fort in the living room.



After several hours of this, Eli approached me and said, "Queen Ivy has sensed you and invites you to her ocean." Which was a great honor, of course. They magically turned me into a mermaid, and I paid obeisance to the throned Queen while the Queen Cobra (Lizzie) hypnotized Eli and made him move with just her eyes.

Dorothy was right: There's no place like home.

Camping with the Teachers

Hi! Adam here. The teacher's quorum and I put together a video about camping. Not sure how well it went off because they released me after we showed it to the youth :) It was a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Open One Day only...Lizzie's Lunch! (slogan: "everything is so great!")

Lizzie has been begging me for a week and a half to let her host a lunch. With school off for Easter, and the weather sunny with a breeze, it was the perfect day.

Eli gallantly assumed the role of "Entertainer" - by juggling foam bowling pins. He was well prepared for this - he practiced for at least 10 minutes before the guests arrived.

Watch out! There's a flying bowling pin (fortunately it's foam) about to hit your head!!

Lizzie served lemonade, "crustables" (peanut butter sandwiches with no crusts), corn dogs, BLTs, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. For minimal fees. ;) The water, mints, and the entertainment were Free.

Bon Apetit! And thanks to the Steenhoeks, Laytons, and Andrews for making Lizzie's day! :)

Adam's new name

Ivy is really becoming interested in letters and sounds lately. One of her favorite things to do is write everyone in the family's name down on paper, over and over and over. It's so cute.

This morning, when she was writing "ADAM" she was saying the word slowly to hear all the different sounds. Then she looked at me with a very worried expression:

"'Adam'...'Aaaadaaammmm'. . . 'A-dam' . . . 'A-dumb'. . .It says 'dumb!'
"I'm writing a 'Y' at the end instead."

So now it's "Aimee and AdaY," thanks to Ivy cleaning up Adam's name!

"Let me esplain...no, there is too much...let me sum up."

Saturday:
Woke up to a view of this:

Then did a little of this:

Which made me feel a little like this:

Because our first repel was this:

But afterwards, I felt more like this:

And it didn't hurt that the outfits were so dern cute that it made us want to pose like this:

But then, we were done and had to say goodbye to this:

Because we went to this (VIVA LA LEAGUE!): And were cheering in our matching outfits like this: Which made Ward feel like this.At dinner later, our waiter entertained us by dancing with a customer like this:
Before we went to sleep in our $35 hotel that looked like this: So that was Saturday. In other backup issues of 'Costa Rican Vacation News,' Adam tried surfing for the first time ever. Enjoy:




Not bad for a beginner, eh?

Well, this is the end of our amazing trip. I will remember it forever.

Pura Vida!