Hair

Charlie's First Food

Bird Nest

I built this house and put it up for our pigeon, Oscar, when I was pregnant with Alli.  Oscar pretty soon moved on, and it has remained empty for years.  I left it up, though, in the hopes that some other bird might find a home.  This year, they finally did.  Here are the babies..

 

I found a Dragon...can I keep em, please please?

Here is what the kids and I found while driving home from school today.  He was being pursued by a rather large crow, but considering that he is rather large himself he didn't seem to be too perturbed by it.  I, of course, had to stop the car and check on the big lizard and sure enough it was a bearded dragon.  I grabbed him up, put him on my shoulder, finished a few errands I had to run and brought him home.  Then Alli, Laura, and their friend Lexi helped me get an old aquarium set up as a temporary home for him.  They especially liked feeding him and we got an action shot below of him enjoying his Romaine lettuce.  

I am assuming he is someone's pet that somehow got loose and am attempting to find the rightful owners which I hope is soon because he's way too big for the aquarium we have him in.  

Alli has gotten very attached already.  She convinced me that we needed to take him with us to Laura's soccer game tonight, has been very attentive to taking care of him, and had us move the cage next to her bed when she went to sleep.  She won't actually hold him, but has requested a leash so that she can take it on a walk. 

Alli's Ballet Recital

Alli had her first ballet recital last Wednesday. She has really enjoyed her lessons and did very well with them.


Alli sitting with the other ballerinas.

Stretching

Dancing

Dancing


Doing a tumble


Nana sent flowers.

Laura's 7 year old Soccer Birthday Party

The first present of the day came in the mail from Aunt Sarah. After a quick "I love Aunt Sarah" dance it was immediately put to good use.

Also note Laura's hairstyle....apparently this is an appropriate hairstyle for a seven year old.


Big Bear even got all dressed up for the party and was there to greet everyone as they arrived.


Everyone got soccer tattoos for the party.

The kids made up their own games. This is them playing kickball with an beachball soccer ball. Note the use of Aunt Sarah's present as bases :-)

Hanging out in the treehouse.


Ah, the old relighting candles gag... she can't seem to get the candles to stay blown out.


Alexis, Laura, and Alec


This is what happens when I try to organize a game...chaos...they did better without me :-)


After the party Laura is modeling her Chinese dress that she got for her birthday. This was a present from Mommy and Daddy. It was her hearts desire. Her cheeks are still rosy from vigorously scrubbing off the tattoos, because they didn't go with the dress.

Laura's Red Belt

Laura received her red belt in Karate last weekend. This is her first belt test since she has been in a higher ranked class. She did very well and we are very proud of her. In order to receive her red belt she had to meet several requirements including performing a "form" which is a long series of kicks punches and movements. Essentially it is one side of a choreographed fight scene. She also had to know two "one-steps" which where in this case defensive moves to escape if someone grabs your wrist. She also had to know a kicking/punching combination, and had to perform in a sparring match against one of her classmates. Finally she had to perform a boardbreak using a flying side-kick.

Here are the pictures:
Note: The blue uniform is a symbol of academic achievement. You are only allowed to wear the blue top if you are in first grade or above and have all A's or all A's and 1 B (or the equivalent) on your report card. Laura shows her instructor her report card every time she gets it in order to continue to wear the blue top.




Caught her in mid-air..she's doing a kick as part of her combination.


Laura doing her form...don't be fooled by the adorable little kid to her right that outranks her. He's been doing this since he was 2 and knows this stuff better than a lot of the older kids.

Laura performing her combination for the instructor.


Flying side-kick board break...she's blurry because she's in motion, but you can get the idea.


She just received her red belt!