Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Maia's Manicure/ Pedicure
My daughter is such a girly girl. Frequently, she wants to have her nails done, and I oblige, but recently, she's decided that she should be painting them herself. So I supervise. I guess this is fine motor skill development. Here's pics.
Pictures from the weekend
We went to Bruce & George's last weekend, they sent some pictures of our trip to the O'Brien County Nature Center (where Bruce has done a LOT of work on the displays). Here, the kids are being junior archaeologists:
Maia pointing out the buffalo head over the door
And here's a picture with "Frank" the central attraction:
We left the kids overnight Saturday night, and Grandpa & Grandma brought them to Mercy Church on Sunday morning.
They all stayed for the recital. We were glad for the support, and I really appreciated the help!
Maia pointing out the buffalo head over the door
And here's a picture with "Frank" the central attraction:
We left the kids overnight Saturday night, and Grandpa & Grandma brought them to Mercy Church on Sunday morning.
Preparations:
Pretty as a princess
They all stayed for the recital. We were glad for the support, and I really appreciated the help!
Xander after the recital- Proud to have done it, glad it's over!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Potty Training Week 2
This week, I've decided to take potty training to the next level. Maia is just wearing a dress, no diaper, no underpants (but she did find an old pair of Spiderman snowboots, and a pirate flag and hook for a hand, so it's an interesting fashion statement).
No accidents so far, and it's been a couple of hours. No potties yet either, though. We need to go to the library today, but I don't want to go until after her first potty.
At least she's showing that she can hold it!
No accidents so far, and it's been a couple of hours. No potties yet either, though. We need to go to the library today, but I don't want to go until after her first potty.
At least she's showing that she can hold it!
Salesman of the (1/2) Month
Matt won't write this on his blog, but it's kind of neat. He is the #1 salesman in the Scheels corporation for the first part of May. Not bad for only being in sales for 3 months! Too bad he started after the first of the year, because they give away trips (big ones to places like Cancun) to their top salesmen each year- but only if they've been selling from the 1st of January. I'm proud of him!
Xander's First Recital
Yesterday was a big day in the Morrison house, I had my end-of-year recital, which is usually not that big a deal for anyone but me, but this year, Xander sang on it. He did a good job, but you could tell he was a little nervous. He jumped his entrance on the first song, then forgot that he needed to do his second one, so he went to put the microphone away before I got his attention and he went back.
He sang just great, however, and I was very proud of him. He was one of 2 or 3 students to actually take a bow afterward. Everyone else just ran back to their seats thinking, "Whew! Glad that's over!"
Grandpa Jim and Grandma Marilyn came, so did Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Georgie, so that was a treat. Maia did not want them to leave after it was all over... she cried, "I want my grandma!!!" (which could refer to any of them) all the way home.
We had a reception afterward, and apparently it was a hungry time of day, because people really loaded up with food! I was very lucky in that some friends left their leftovers from a graduation reception on Saturday, or we would have been woefully short on food. As it turned out, we had just enough.
I was glad that Matt didn't have to work yesterday, I really valued his help in all the preparation, moving the piano, running sound and corralling the kids once we got home.
He sang just great, however, and I was very proud of him. He was one of 2 or 3 students to actually take a bow afterward. Everyone else just ran back to their seats thinking, "Whew! Glad that's over!"
Grandpa Jim and Grandma Marilyn came, so did Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Georgie, so that was a treat. Maia did not want them to leave after it was all over... she cried, "I want my grandma!!!" (which could refer to any of them) all the way home.
We had a reception afterward, and apparently it was a hungry time of day, because people really loaded up with food! I was very lucky in that some friends left their leftovers from a graduation reception on Saturday, or we would have been woefully short on food. As it turned out, we had just enough.
I was glad that Matt didn't have to work yesterday, I really valued his help in all the preparation, moving the piano, running sound and corralling the kids once we got home.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Potty Training Update
Maia just pooped in the potty for the first time!!!! I'm way more excited about it than she is.
Recital Season
I am winding down the end of the school year in my voice and piano studio. I had my college students' recital a couple of weeks ago at USF. Played for 17 students! Some of them did an excellent job, others- well, they did it, and that's what matters.
Sunday, I'll hold a recital for my home studio, which includes 4 piano students and 7 voice students. One of my piano students already did recital, she played on the college students' recital because she can't come this Sunday. One of my voice students is suffering from the same junk as me (gunky throat), and she's not a very good singer anyway, so we'll see if she'll be able to sing on Sunday.
The ages of my students range from 7 to 27, so it will be a pretty diverse recital, as all of mine usually are. I'm excited to have a church to do the recital at for the first time since I've been teaching lessons (over 15 years). Good Shepherd, where our church meets, has a grand piano and a small but echo-y sanctuary which will be perfect for an intimate recital. Most of my voice students will sing without the aid of a microphone, however if they sing a pop-style or worship song, I have them use a mic because it is appropriate for the genre. I also will have my two youngest singers use the microphone for amplification purposes. If grandpas and grandmas are coming, they'll want to be able to hear them, right?
I am playing a Beethoven sonata on the recital. Just part of it. It's very crashy and dramatic, but the whole thing might be a bit long for a young audience, so I'm playing the introduction and jumping right to the recapitulation. (translation: I'm playing the good stuff at the beginning and end and skipping the boring stuff in the middle)
Xander's singing on the recital. He's so cute! (Don't tell him I said that, "I'm COOL, Mom."). He practiced with the at the church the other day, and knows exactly what to do in a recital setting (when and how to bow, acknowledging his accompanist and everything). Not that I'm biased or anything, but he's a pretty good little singer. He'll look especially good considering where he is in the program, after a much weaker singer.
Sunday, I'll hold a recital for my home studio, which includes 4 piano students and 7 voice students. One of my piano students already did recital, she played on the college students' recital because she can't come this Sunday. One of my voice students is suffering from the same junk as me (gunky throat), and she's not a very good singer anyway, so we'll see if she'll be able to sing on Sunday.
The ages of my students range from 7 to 27, so it will be a pretty diverse recital, as all of mine usually are. I'm excited to have a church to do the recital at for the first time since I've been teaching lessons (over 15 years). Good Shepherd, where our church meets, has a grand piano and a small but echo-y sanctuary which will be perfect for an intimate recital. Most of my voice students will sing without the aid of a microphone, however if they sing a pop-style or worship song, I have them use a mic because it is appropriate for the genre. I also will have my two youngest singers use the microphone for amplification purposes. If grandpas and grandmas are coming, they'll want to be able to hear them, right?
I am playing a Beethoven sonata on the recital. Just part of it. It's very crashy and dramatic, but the whole thing might be a bit long for a young audience, so I'm playing the introduction and jumping right to the recapitulation. (translation: I'm playing the good stuff at the beginning and end and skipping the boring stuff in the middle)
Xander's singing on the recital. He's so cute! (Don't tell him I said that, "I'm COOL, Mom."). He practiced with the at the church the other day, and knows exactly what to do in a recital setting (when and how to bow, acknowledging his accompanist and everything). Not that I'm biased or anything, but he's a pretty good little singer. He'll look especially good considering where he is in the program, after a much weaker singer.
Breakin' the Lease
So, when we move, we are going to have to break our lease. We are contracted to stay here until October 1, but that ain't happenin'. Not when we have to opportunity to move as early as July, which granted, is a very hot month to do heavy labor, but we would much rather move in the summer, when my schedule is very flexible, than in the fall once school starts.
We mentioned our need to break our lease to the landlords, who are apparently new and don't remember any conversation we may have had with the previous landlord about the possibility of getting out of our lease in the summer, and they were rather rigid about it, saying we would have to pay a lease-breaking fee, every month's rent until the place is rented, and any advertising costs associated with finding a new renter- which according to my calculations could come to almost $2400. Mom said that the most we'd have to pay is the extra 2 months rent, and let them worry about trying to find a renter in October.
Matt suggested we talk to our upstairs neighbor and let her know that we are leaving and need to find someone to fill the place. What do you know.... last night, just as supper was coming out of the oven, we got a knock at the door. A young couple and her mom who wanted to look at the place because their relative, Alissa (the upstairs neighbor) had told them about it!
So I'm a little panicked because I would have preferred the house to be spotless when someone comes through to look at it, but they didn't seem to mind and really liked the place. They are very favorable to moving here and their timeline is flexible! YEY!!!
Anyway, we've got someone to rent our place when we move out. Sweet. Please join me in praying that the family that is currently in our new place (the "fortress") will find an even better place for them very soon and will not begrudge us kicking them out.
We mentioned our need to break our lease to the landlords, who are apparently new and don't remember any conversation we may have had with the previous landlord about the possibility of getting out of our lease in the summer, and they were rather rigid about it, saying we would have to pay a lease-breaking fee, every month's rent until the place is rented, and any advertising costs associated with finding a new renter- which according to my calculations could come to almost $2400. Mom said that the most we'd have to pay is the extra 2 months rent, and let them worry about trying to find a renter in October.
Matt suggested we talk to our upstairs neighbor and let her know that we are leaving and need to find someone to fill the place. What do you know.... last night, just as supper was coming out of the oven, we got a knock at the door. A young couple and her mom who wanted to look at the place because their relative, Alissa (the upstairs neighbor) had told them about it!
So I'm a little panicked because I would have preferred the house to be spotless when someone comes through to look at it, but they didn't seem to mind and really liked the place. They are very favorable to moving here and their timeline is flexible! YEY!!!
Anyway, we've got someone to rent our place when we move out. Sweet. Please join me in praying that the family that is currently in our new place (the "fortress") will find an even better place for them very soon and will not begrudge us kicking them out.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Matt to the Rescue
Matt's going to have a greater appreciation for me by the time the day's over. He's going to do the grocery shopping. With Maia.
We have a new grocery store in town that is HUGE!!! Not only can you get your groceries there, but they have a liquor store attached, a bank, a medical clinic, a gas station (just out front with discounted gas with grocery purchase)... anyway, it's really big. Matt's never been there, so I typed out the grocery list and categorized the items according to aisles. Aren't I sweet? (And a little anal...)
But the grocery store's not the biggest treat. Going shopping with Maia is the real treat. She loves to use the child-friendly carts in the shape of a school bus or a firetruck or a police car or whatever, but she refuses to stay in the driver's seat. She will hang off the back of the cart, crawl all over the front, walk (slowly) next to the cart and generally make herself very inconvenient. And sometimes she just lays down in the aisle and screams. That's fun too.
My advice to Matt is to take a snack along and sample anything they're giving away free. Food is a good motivator for her. (this could be a problem later, but we'll get past age 3 before we worry about that!)
So we'll see how he's faring at the end of the day. Today is my day at Xander's school, so I'll be gone all afternoon.
In other news, I got two gifts for mothers day: a really luxurious spa package for this swanky spa downtown which includes a facial, herbal body wrap and swedish massage. I also got laryngitis. I'm finally starting to recover my voice, but it was gone completely for a couple of days. Rather inconvenient for a voice teacher!
I'm thankful for one of those gifts. :)
We have a new grocery store in town that is HUGE!!! Not only can you get your groceries there, but they have a liquor store attached, a bank, a medical clinic, a gas station (just out front with discounted gas with grocery purchase)... anyway, it's really big. Matt's never been there, so I typed out the grocery list and categorized the items according to aisles. Aren't I sweet? (And a little anal...)
But the grocery store's not the biggest treat. Going shopping with Maia is the real treat. She loves to use the child-friendly carts in the shape of a school bus or a firetruck or a police car or whatever, but she refuses to stay in the driver's seat. She will hang off the back of the cart, crawl all over the front, walk (slowly) next to the cart and generally make herself very inconvenient. And sometimes she just lays down in the aisle and screams. That's fun too.
My advice to Matt is to take a snack along and sample anything they're giving away free. Food is a good motivator for her. (this could be a problem later, but we'll get past age 3 before we worry about that!)
So we'll see how he's faring at the end of the day. Today is my day at Xander's school, so I'll be gone all afternoon.
In other news, I got two gifts for mothers day: a really luxurious spa package for this swanky spa downtown which includes a facial, herbal body wrap and swedish massage. I also got laryngitis. I'm finally starting to recover my voice, but it was gone completely for a couple of days. Rather inconvenient for a voice teacher!
I'm thankful for one of those gifts. :)
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Open Windows
Spring is so nice! I love the very few weeks of the year that we can open the windows and air out the apartment. They are rare... last year, I think I opened the windows about 2 days. This year, I am attempting to use less household energy and allow nature to cool the house. In the late afternoons, we lose our view out the front window, which faces west (though for some reason, I insist on believing that it faces south)- so every afternoon, the sun warms our living room (about half the house) to the point of intolerance.
Last winter, I put plastic on all the windows to keep the breezes out, then took it off in the spring, and opened the windows exactly once before the heat of summer necessitated the use of central air. I never got around to getting plastic on the windows this year...
Anyway, the point is, the weather is so nice!
Here's the big news: Potty training has officially begun at our house. (with Maia- hopefully that was obvious!) Yesterday, we wore underpants with no diaper under them for most of the afternoon. Having My Little Pony or Care Bears on the underwear is really a good idea- she doesn't want them to get wet. She wet the first pair and was very upset about it, but I played it cool, went and sat her on the potty- she didn't go, but the next time she had to go, she let me know beforehand, I sat her on the potty again- she didn't go, I put a diaper on her, she peed, then put underwear on again. I'm taking this as a positive step! She's still afraid to go on the potty, but she's gaining control, so that's good. Any bets on how long this will take? I have a positive attitude about it now, but I HATE POTTY TRAINING, so I'm anticipating that it will take all summer.
This evening, we go to Mitchell for Miss Rylie's first dance recital in the Corn Palace. Hopefully, she'll be early in the program because Sundays are busy days for us! I think we are going to go down early and have supper with Mom & Grandma Leigh Anne and anyone else who wants to join us.
Next Sunday afternoon is my home studio recital. Xander will be singing his first solos- "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio and "Waitin' for the Light to Shine" from Big River (about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn). I think several family members are coming for that, so he's getting excited. I think. I'm playing a piano solo for the recital. I like to either play or sing as the last performance of my studio recitals. It's a little tricky to sing classical voice kind of stuff when I don't have anyone else to accompany on the piano, so I'll be playing a portion of a big dramatic Beethoven Sonata. Only a portion for 2 reasons- I only decided to play something last week, so I'm learning the piece in 2 weeks, and it's probably 7 minutes long in its entirety, and that's just too long to ask a young audience to sit through.
Yesterday, got a phone call from the current landlord asking how early we wanted to get out of our lease because he has a guy who's looking to move to this neighborhood June 1st. Too soon, but encouraging! Apparently, our property management company has been sold to a new owner. He doesn't really remember the verbal agreement with the last landlord about no lease-breaking fee if we chose to leave in the summer.... grrr.... but the guy that I talked to first (Lee) was talking ridiculous fees for breaking our lease early- totaling almost $2400! The call I got yesterday, apparently his partner (Mark), sounded more like he's willing to work with us to find a renter in the summer. I guess that's good news. I might call him and ask if he needs any appliances for his apartments, because we are not going to need our refrigerator, stove, microwave, washer, dryer or portable dishwasher when we move to our awesome new place.
Our awesome new place has not had the lawn mowed all year. It's not officially sold yet, but the new owners (Mom & Jim) don't want the place looking like crap, so they have asked us to go over an mow the place. No problem, except that we don't have a mower, so we have to try to find someone to borrow one from for this first time before the new electric mower arrives from walmart.com.
I'm slowly updating my kitchen accessory decor in anticipation of moving. All my dishes are black and white, so I can accent them with any color. When in Marion, my kitchen was 100% sunflowers. No other accent was necessary. Here, it is all white in the kitchen, so accent colors took on a new identity. I kind of went with green & yellow because that's what I had, but then I got all this light yellow stuff for Christmas, because I had asked for it, and it's not the same color yellow as the sunflower yellow. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping at Hy-Vee, I noticed that they had some cute drinking glasses in a light yellow, orange & red stripe, so I picked 8 of them up. Turns out it's the same color as my new yellow stuff, and gives a salsa-y feeling to the kitchen (or maybe citrus-y). So I got the dish towels and an oven mitt yesterday (a mothers day gift from... Xander. Maia got me a gerbera daisy plant) :) A fairly inexpensive way to "cuten" up my kitchen a bit.
I had caffeine this morning. It's obvious. I'm typing really fast. I have a house to clean (in anticipation of the landlord potentially wanting to show it- good motivation!), and Xander's anxiously awaiting the use of the computer, so I guess I'll wrap up.
Last winter, I put plastic on all the windows to keep the breezes out, then took it off in the spring, and opened the windows exactly once before the heat of summer necessitated the use of central air. I never got around to getting plastic on the windows this year...
Anyway, the point is, the weather is so nice!
Here's the big news: Potty training has officially begun at our house. (with Maia- hopefully that was obvious!) Yesterday, we wore underpants with no diaper under them for most of the afternoon. Having My Little Pony or Care Bears on the underwear is really a good idea- she doesn't want them to get wet. She wet the first pair and was very upset about it, but I played it cool, went and sat her on the potty- she didn't go, but the next time she had to go, she let me know beforehand, I sat her on the potty again- she didn't go, I put a diaper on her, she peed, then put underwear on again. I'm taking this as a positive step! She's still afraid to go on the potty, but she's gaining control, so that's good. Any bets on how long this will take? I have a positive attitude about it now, but I HATE POTTY TRAINING, so I'm anticipating that it will take all summer.
This evening, we go to Mitchell for Miss Rylie's first dance recital in the Corn Palace. Hopefully, she'll be early in the program because Sundays are busy days for us! I think we are going to go down early and have supper with Mom & Grandma Leigh Anne and anyone else who wants to join us.
Next Sunday afternoon is my home studio recital. Xander will be singing his first solos- "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio and "Waitin' for the Light to Shine" from Big River (about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn). I think several family members are coming for that, so he's getting excited. I think. I'm playing a piano solo for the recital. I like to either play or sing as the last performance of my studio recitals. It's a little tricky to sing classical voice kind of stuff when I don't have anyone else to accompany on the piano, so I'll be playing a portion of a big dramatic Beethoven Sonata. Only a portion for 2 reasons- I only decided to play something last week, so I'm learning the piece in 2 weeks, and it's probably 7 minutes long in its entirety, and that's just too long to ask a young audience to sit through.
Yesterday, got a phone call from the current landlord asking how early we wanted to get out of our lease because he has a guy who's looking to move to this neighborhood June 1st. Too soon, but encouraging! Apparently, our property management company has been sold to a new owner. He doesn't really remember the verbal agreement with the last landlord about no lease-breaking fee if we chose to leave in the summer.... grrr.... but the guy that I talked to first (Lee) was talking ridiculous fees for breaking our lease early- totaling almost $2400! The call I got yesterday, apparently his partner (Mark), sounded more like he's willing to work with us to find a renter in the summer. I guess that's good news. I might call him and ask if he needs any appliances for his apartments, because we are not going to need our refrigerator, stove, microwave, washer, dryer or portable dishwasher when we move to our awesome new place.
Our awesome new place has not had the lawn mowed all year. It's not officially sold yet, but the new owners (Mom & Jim) don't want the place looking like crap, so they have asked us to go over an mow the place. No problem, except that we don't have a mower, so we have to try to find someone to borrow one from for this first time before the new electric mower arrives from walmart.com.
I'm slowly updating my kitchen accessory decor in anticipation of moving. All my dishes are black and white, so I can accent them with any color. When in Marion, my kitchen was 100% sunflowers. No other accent was necessary. Here, it is all white in the kitchen, so accent colors took on a new identity. I kind of went with green & yellow because that's what I had, but then I got all this light yellow stuff for Christmas, because I had asked for it, and it's not the same color yellow as the sunflower yellow. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping at Hy-Vee, I noticed that they had some cute drinking glasses in a light yellow, orange & red stripe, so I picked 8 of them up. Turns out it's the same color as my new yellow stuff, and gives a salsa-y feeling to the kitchen (or maybe citrus-y). So I got the dish towels and an oven mitt yesterday (a mothers day gift from... Xander. Maia got me a gerbera daisy plant) :) A fairly inexpensive way to "cuten" up my kitchen a bit.
I had caffeine this morning. It's obvious. I'm typing really fast. I have a house to clean (in anticipation of the landlord potentially wanting to show it- good motivation!), and Xander's anxiously awaiting the use of the computer, so I guess I'll wrap up.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Visit from Grandparents
We had a fun day today, Dad & Marie came over from Mitchell for the day. We had church this morning, which they came in time for, then went to Falls Park with a picnic and had fried chicken, potato salad, Asian summer salad, fresh fruit and veggies and dip. It was all really good, and worth the hours of effort I put into it yesterday.
It was really hot - around 90 degrees, so once we were done eating, we sat in the shade and talked for a while, while Xander climbed on rocks and threw a frisbee at his sister. We had some ice cream before we left.
Maia was kind of funny with the ice cream. She wanted "the pink kind," so she got strawberry ice cream. She liked the ice cream part, but was less enthused about the actual strawberries in the ice cream. She solved this dilemma by licking around the big chunk of strawberry on the top of her cone. After she had been at it a while, she was left with a pillar in the center of her cone with a strawberry balancing precariously on top. We tried to convince her to eat the berry, but the answer was a resounding "NO." I rescued her by eating the offensive fruit, and she proceeded to finish her cone with no more issues- except a lot of pink all over her face.
After the park, we drove over to look at the fortress, and show Dad & Marie where we will be living starting in July. Then we went back to the house- had to turn on the A/C! and had some lemonade and Dad set me up with my "new every two" phone. I now have the same kind of phone as Matt. He downloaded a cool ring tone (Queen singing "I Want To Ride My Bicycle")- perfect for him. Maybe I'll do the same... if I can figure out how. I did figure out how to take pictures, and use the voice dial command. Kind of cool.
Called Mom, and we did our usual weekend chat. It looks like we're going to get a couple of weeks of leeway between the current renters having to move out and us moving in. For cleaning and painting. (Painting! Her words, not mine! Yey! No more white walls!)
We're just hanging out at the house and vegging for the night. Nice to have Matt home for the weekend!
It was really hot - around 90 degrees, so once we were done eating, we sat in the shade and talked for a while, while Xander climbed on rocks and threw a frisbee at his sister. We had some ice cream before we left.
Maia was kind of funny with the ice cream. She wanted "the pink kind," so she got strawberry ice cream. She liked the ice cream part, but was less enthused about the actual strawberries in the ice cream. She solved this dilemma by licking around the big chunk of strawberry on the top of her cone. After she had been at it a while, she was left with a pillar in the center of her cone with a strawberry balancing precariously on top. We tried to convince her to eat the berry, but the answer was a resounding "NO." I rescued her by eating the offensive fruit, and she proceeded to finish her cone with no more issues- except a lot of pink all over her face.
After the park, we drove over to look at the fortress, and show Dad & Marie where we will be living starting in July. Then we went back to the house- had to turn on the A/C! and had some lemonade and Dad set me up with my "new every two" phone. I now have the same kind of phone as Matt. He downloaded a cool ring tone (Queen singing "I Want To Ride My Bicycle")- perfect for him. Maybe I'll do the same... if I can figure out how. I did figure out how to take pictures, and use the voice dial command. Kind of cool.
Called Mom, and we did our usual weekend chat. It looks like we're going to get a couple of weeks of leeway between the current renters having to move out and us moving in. For cleaning and painting. (Painting! Her words, not mine! Yey! No more white walls!)
We're just hanging out at the house and vegging for the night. Nice to have Matt home for the weekend!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Clothes and More Clothes!
This weekend is garage sale weekend in Sioux Falls. There is a huge area on the West side of town, which is apparently known as "Kingswood" and every year, tons of people put out their cast-offs in a "one man's trash is another man's treasure" kind of way.
Last year, I went with Matt's sister Rena, without really even knowing what an event I was attending. This year, Aunt Heidi took a day off from school on Thursday and came over
from Mitchell with one of her friends.
I did not actually do any garage sale-ing myself, but here's the benefits of it for our house:
Heidi brought a huge garbage bag full of Rylie's cast-off clothes - with more clothes than we could wear if she changed clothes twice a day all summer long! Awesome! Then, I got Xander & Maia's cast-offs all together, and will send them home with my friend, Amy Lu from Sheldon. This is so much easier and cheaper than trying to find all these things individually. I like the trickle-down system.
I've even been able to send some of my clothes that I've aged out of over to niece, Cassie, who is now tall enough to wear some of my clothes- and young enough for them to look appropriate on her!
Now all I need is for some trendy, thin person to start giving me their old clothes... Maybe I will have to hit a few garage sales after all...
Last year, I went with Matt's sister Rena, without really even knowing what an event I was attending. This year, Aunt Heidi took a day off from school on Thursday and came over
from Mitchell with one of her friends.
I did not actually do any garage sale-ing myself, but here's the benefits of it for our house:
Heidi brought a huge garbage bag full of Rylie's cast-off clothes - with more clothes than we could wear if she changed clothes twice a day all summer long! Awesome! Then, I got Xander & Maia's cast-offs all together, and will send them home with my friend, Amy Lu from Sheldon. This is so much easier and cheaper than trying to find all these things individually. I like the trickle-down system.
I've even been able to send some of my clothes that I've aged out of over to niece, Cassie, who is now tall enough to wear some of my clothes- and young enough for them to look appropriate on her!
Now all I need is for some trendy, thin person to start giving me their old clothes... Maybe I will have to hit a few garage sales after all...
School Musical and Other News
Thursday evening was Xander's All City Elementary School Musical: "Little Red Riding Hood."
This is quite an undertaking, the entire elementary school is in a musical every year. The Kindergarten through 3rd grade act as a "chorus" and each class dresses as one of the characters in the play and helps them sing their songs, so the Kindergarteners were all dressed as either Little Red or the Huntsman, the first grade (Xander's class) was the "life of the forest"- so they were trees and flowers, the second grade were grannies and grampas- they all wore grey t-shirts, had "age lines" painted on their faces, and the girls had shawls and shower caps on, while the boys had grey in their hair and wore little half-glasses. The 3rd grade was dressed in wolf costumes.
My camera didn't take very good pictures in the dark auditorium, and I didn't actually bother getting any pictures of the actors up on the stage (4th and 5th graders), but here's some of the forest. I did the intricate artwork on the cheeks of the girls! (It's great, I know. I'm up for an Oscar)
Megan & Molly
Julia
The 3rd grade wolves -complete with glowing eyes!
In Marion house news, we now have renters with their stuff in the house, I have received the paperwork and the first rent check, and the place is ALMOST livable. The back window was fixed, the plumbing replaced, the water heater installed, but now we have to update a little bit of electrical so that the water heater can be used. A pretty easy fix, I'd do it myself if I was there, but will once again have to call on the kindness of friends to finish the work.
In Sioux Falls house news, after offering and counter-offering all week, Mom & Jim finally settled on a price for the "fortress" as we affectionately call it. We are looking at a move-in date of July 1. Should be a busy weekend. We get to do a church service at Falls Park that morning during an event called Artfalls. We will accept help with moving! :)
We're pretty excited to get into the bigger place, though the idea of a larger rent payment, coupled with significantly lower lesson income for me, as well as starting Maia in preschool in the fall and picking our student loan payments back up has me a little nervous- but God has proven himself faithful time and time again, so I should stop worrying.
Yesterday, Mom was in town for an awards ceremony, and she came by afterward and we picked up Xander after school then went over to Falls Park for a couple of hours. Xander wasn't sure how much he would like Falls Park because there's no playground equipment there, but he entertained himself playing on the rocks quite sufficiently. Grandma treated us to ice cream for supper at the Overlook Cafe. We had a good time and were bone tired when we got home. At least I was, Maia was wound up tight. She took a nice long bath, splashed water all over the bathroom, and then went to bed without too much fuss when we got home.
We're thinking we might go back to Falls Park tomorrow afternoon and have a picnic when Grandpa & Grandma Eitemiller come over for the day.
Dad & Marie are coming for church tomorrow morning, so that will be fun. Of course, tomorrow is one of those days when we will go without a practice because we couldn't find a time to do one this week. Hope we don't suck.
Today is supposed to be "sleepin' in day" at our house. I woke up at 5:30. What's that about? The kids are making noise in their room- started about 7:40, and Matt's still zonked out. He has the whole day off (well, almost) and we might try to go for a family bike ride this afternoon. I have not actually ridden a bike since before I got pregnant with Maia. We'll see how long I last. At least Xander will be riding too, so I'll see if I can last longer than him. Doubt it. Maia gets to ride in the trailer. Lucky.
Guess it's time to round up the troops for breakfast.
This is quite an undertaking, the entire elementary school is in a musical every year. The Kindergarten through 3rd grade act as a "chorus" and each class dresses as one of the characters in the play and helps them sing their songs, so the Kindergarteners were all dressed as either Little Red or the Huntsman, the first grade (Xander's class) was the "life of the forest"- so they were trees and flowers, the second grade were grannies and grampas- they all wore grey t-shirts, had "age lines" painted on their faces, and the girls had shawls and shower caps on, while the boys had grey in their hair and wore little half-glasses. The 3rd grade was dressed in wolf costumes.
My camera didn't take very good pictures in the dark auditorium, and I didn't actually bother getting any pictures of the actors up on the stage (4th and 5th graders), but here's some of the forest. I did the intricate artwork on the cheeks of the girls! (It's great, I know. I'm up for an Oscar)
Xander and buddy, Isaac
Megan & Molly
Julia
The 3rd grade wolves -complete with glowing eyes!
In Marion house news, we now have renters with their stuff in the house, I have received the paperwork and the first rent check, and the place is ALMOST livable. The back window was fixed, the plumbing replaced, the water heater installed, but now we have to update a little bit of electrical so that the water heater can be used. A pretty easy fix, I'd do it myself if I was there, but will once again have to call on the kindness of friends to finish the work.
In Sioux Falls house news, after offering and counter-offering all week, Mom & Jim finally settled on a price for the "fortress" as we affectionately call it. We are looking at a move-in date of July 1. Should be a busy weekend. We get to do a church service at Falls Park that morning during an event called Artfalls. We will accept help with moving! :)
We're pretty excited to get into the bigger place, though the idea of a larger rent payment, coupled with significantly lower lesson income for me, as well as starting Maia in preschool in the fall and picking our student loan payments back up has me a little nervous- but God has proven himself faithful time and time again, so I should stop worrying.
Yesterday, Mom was in town for an awards ceremony, and she came by afterward and we picked up Xander after school then went over to Falls Park for a couple of hours. Xander wasn't sure how much he would like Falls Park because there's no playground equipment there, but he entertained himself playing on the rocks quite sufficiently. Grandma treated us to ice cream for supper at the Overlook Cafe. We had a good time and were bone tired when we got home. At least I was, Maia was wound up tight. She took a nice long bath, splashed water all over the bathroom, and then went to bed without too much fuss when we got home.
We're thinking we might go back to Falls Park tomorrow afternoon and have a picnic when Grandpa & Grandma Eitemiller come over for the day.
Dad & Marie are coming for church tomorrow morning, so that will be fun. Of course, tomorrow is one of those days when we will go without a practice because we couldn't find a time to do one this week. Hope we don't suck.
Today is supposed to be "sleepin' in day" at our house. I woke up at 5:30. What's that about? The kids are making noise in their room- started about 7:40, and Matt's still zonked out. He has the whole day off (well, almost) and we might try to go for a family bike ride this afternoon. I have not actually ridden a bike since before I got pregnant with Maia. We'll see how long I last. At least Xander will be riding too, so I'll see if I can last longer than him. Doubt it. Maia gets to ride in the trailer. Lucky.
Guess it's time to round up the troops for breakfast.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Dainty Daughter
Today, Maia is having a tea party with her Disney Princess tea set. She's so dainty. She plays with this tea set all the time, but I noticed that she had real milk in her cup this afternoon. I asked her how she got milk in her cup, since she's still using a sippy cup. I wondered if maybe she was shaking the milk in one drop at a time?
No.
She went over to the table, got her sippy cup, sucked on it and got a big mouthful, then spit it into her tea pot, then poured the milk into the cup and drank it. Then she gave a nice big fake burp.
Isn't she sweet?
Monday, April 16, 2007
Fun Easter Weekend
Spring is back! Here's the view out our front window today:
Much better!
It's a week after Easter, but my family got together to celebrate last weekend at Mom & Jim's. Casey, Heidi, Rylie & Chase came down from Mitchell, and we had a fun time. Grandma loaded up some easter eggs, and we had two hunts, one for Chase & Maia upstairs, where the eggs were pretty easy to find, and one for Xander & Rylie downstairs where the hunt was a little more challenging.
Saturday afternoon, I went swimming with Grandma, Heidi, and the kids at Yankton's Summit Center, which is a really cool rec center with a nice, kid-friendly pool. Chase showed his true colors, he's going to be a little fish just like his dad. While Maia was still standing about 4 feet away from the pool, edging her way closer a half-inch at a time, her younger cousin (by about 3 months) barreled into the pool and plunged his head in almost immediately! He sure keeps his mom on her toes!
I came to the realization that my swimming suit is older than Xander, and maybe it's time for an update. Even though I can get one from Matt at Scheels for employee discount, I may still find a better deal at Wal Mart. We'll see.
Latest on the house news. We are hoping to get renters in the first of May. That's coming up fast! I don't have the lease papers or the first check from them yet, so it all kind of hinges on that. A couple of wonderful friends in Marion are fixing up the pipes and the broken window from the break-in, and only charging us the cost of supplies. What great guys!
We're in the process of refinancing the house to try to lower the monthly payments, but when Matt talked to Dave (who fixed the window) last night, he said that another Marion friend, Jonathon, might be interested in buying the property from us to use as a rental... so we'll give him a call tonight.
As long as everything's coming up roses, here's the rest of what's going on. My mom thinks maybe buying an investment property in Sioux Falls- a duplex with one unit as a 3-bedroom, might not be a bad idea, so she and Jim are coming up to take a second look at a place over near the intersection of 26th street and Southeastern, which our family looked at with Mom last week. Jim will do the fine-toothed comb inspection, then we'll see where they stand.
The house is kind of utilitarian from the outside, but it's really nice inside. The link above shows pictures of the inside of the 2-bedroom unit only, which is really nice. But the 3-bedroom unit is laid out pretty nicely for our family's needs. (Room for a family of 4 plus a grand piano). It would actually have a little more space than our house in Marion had, and it's a lot newer. Never been painted- except boring old white. I asked a few times about painting the apartment, and I think Mom thinks I want to paint the whole thing day-glo green or something. Jim says the walls can be taupe and the ceiling stays white. That's it. Lucky for me, Heidi did such a nice job with paint color in her house that I might be able to influence my landlord to let her come and help me pick out paint colors!
A move would mean a higher rent payment, even with a break for managing the property, and we have to consider that our student loans will come off deferment (again) in the Fall, plus Maia enters preschool in the fall... so we're back to tight budgeting again, but the allure of more space is probably worth it.
So that's the latest. I never have short blog entries like other folks, huh? That's probably why I'm so infrequent in my posts!
Here's some cute Maia pictures. Enjoy!
Much better!It's a week after Easter, but my family got together to celebrate last weekend at Mom & Jim's. Casey, Heidi, Rylie & Chase came down from Mitchell, and we had a fun time. Grandma loaded up some easter eggs, and we had two hunts, one for Chase & Maia upstairs, where the eggs were pretty easy to find, and one for Xander & Rylie downstairs where the hunt was a little more challenging.
Saturday afternoon, I went swimming with Grandma, Heidi, and the kids at Yankton's Summit Center, which is a really cool rec center with a nice, kid-friendly pool. Chase showed his true colors, he's going to be a little fish just like his dad. While Maia was still standing about 4 feet away from the pool, edging her way closer a half-inch at a time, her younger cousin (by about 3 months) barreled into the pool and plunged his head in almost immediately! He sure keeps his mom on her toes!
I came to the realization that my swimming suit is older than Xander, and maybe it's time for an update. Even though I can get one from Matt at Scheels for employee discount, I may still find a better deal at Wal Mart. We'll see.
Latest on the house news. We are hoping to get renters in the first of May. That's coming up fast! I don't have the lease papers or the first check from them yet, so it all kind of hinges on that. A couple of wonderful friends in Marion are fixing up the pipes and the broken window from the break-in, and only charging us the cost of supplies. What great guys!
We're in the process of refinancing the house to try to lower the monthly payments, but when Matt talked to Dave (who fixed the window) last night, he said that another Marion friend, Jonathon, might be interested in buying the property from us to use as a rental... so we'll give him a call tonight.
As long as everything's coming up roses, here's the rest of what's going on. My mom thinks maybe buying an investment property in Sioux Falls- a duplex with one unit as a 3-bedroom, might not be a bad idea, so she and Jim are coming up to take a second look at a place over near the intersection of 26th street and Southeastern, which our family looked at with Mom last week. Jim will do the fine-toothed comb inspection, then we'll see where they stand.
The house is kind of utilitarian from the outside, but it's really nice inside. The link above shows pictures of the inside of the 2-bedroom unit only, which is really nice. But the 3-bedroom unit is laid out pretty nicely for our family's needs. (Room for a family of 4 plus a grand piano). It would actually have a little more space than our house in Marion had, and it's a lot newer. Never been painted- except boring old white. I asked a few times about painting the apartment, and I think Mom thinks I want to paint the whole thing day-glo green or something. Jim says the walls can be taupe and the ceiling stays white. That's it. Lucky for me, Heidi did such a nice job with paint color in her house that I might be able to influence my landlord to let her come and help me pick out paint colors!
A move would mean a higher rent payment, even with a break for managing the property, and we have to consider that our student loans will come off deferment (again) in the Fall, plus Maia enters preschool in the fall... so we're back to tight budgeting again, but the allure of more space is probably worth it.
So that's the latest. I never have short blog entries like other folks, huh? That's probably why I'm so infrequent in my posts!
Here's some cute Maia pictures. Enjoy!
Baroque hairstyle:
Dinosaur in a dress...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Hey! What Happened?!
This is the view out our front window today.
Hard to believe that just 24 hours ago, Xander spent 2 hours on his bike tirelessly going up and down our short driveway.
Sigh...
It's not too cold, and I'm sure the snow won't last long. I'm glad I didn't plant any flowers or anything.
Stupid weather.
Hard to believe that just 24 hours ago, Xander spent 2 hours on his bike tirelessly going up and down our short driveway.
Sigh...
It's not too cold, and I'm sure the snow won't last long. I'm glad I didn't plant any flowers or anything.
Stupid weather.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Easter Pictures
Here's some pictures of our Easter festivities.
Turns out, Maia doesn't like jelly beans, only chocolate. This morning, I found a nice half-chewed jelly bean lodged firmly in the carpet not far from where this picture was taken.
We had church early, only one service at 9:30 instead of our usual Good Shepherd at 9:00 and Mercy service at 10:45. We came home and the kids got to have an easter egg hunt with Dad doing the hiding while Mom cooked dinner. It wasn't a very long hunt, considering Matt hid all the eggs in the living room... granted, there's not a whole lot of other options if you want to find the eggs - the kids' room is too messy, our room and the bathroom would have been acceptable, but the basement was definitely off limits! We were interested in finding the eggs sooner rather than later! Xander found many more eggs than Maia, not a big surprise there!
The kids had a babysitter Saturday night, because Matt & I went out on a date! They dyed Easter eggs together, but the eggs never got put back in the refrigerator, so they went bad overnight, and didn't really appeal to us as deviled eggs, even though I went through all the trouble of making them. Yum. Rotten deviled eggs. But they were pretty!
Our date was fun, as a Christmas/Valentine's gift to each other, we went to see Blue Man Group, How to Be a Megastar 2.0. It was really fun. That's some wacky performance art!
The kids got bikes for Easter. Matt was itching for them both to have nice bikes. Never mind that neither one of them can ride a bike yet... Xander got a cool BMX bike,
...but he's not ready to go without training wheels yet. Hopefully by the end of the summer. He spent a lot of time out on his old bike yesterday and today practicing up and down the driveway.
Maia got a precious little 12" Trek in metallic pink with streamers on the handlebars and a basket on the front. She knows how to sit on it and looks like she'll just take off, but she can't figure out how to make her legs do the right thing. I'm sure it's really amusing to watch either me or Matt hold onto her feet and try to show her how to pedal while following along. Rather an awkward posture. The weather certainly wasn't very warm, so we bundled everyone up and rode bikes in our coats!
Turns out, Maia doesn't like jelly beans, only chocolate. This morning, I found a nice half-chewed jelly bean lodged firmly in the carpet not far from where this picture was taken.We had church early, only one service at 9:30 instead of our usual Good Shepherd at 9:00 and Mercy service at 10:45. We came home and the kids got to have an easter egg hunt with Dad doing the hiding while Mom cooked dinner. It wasn't a very long hunt, considering Matt hid all the eggs in the living room... granted, there's not a whole lot of other options if you want to find the eggs - the kids' room is too messy, our room and the bathroom would have been acceptable, but the basement was definitely off limits! We were interested in finding the eggs sooner rather than later! Xander found many more eggs than Maia, not a big surprise there!
The kids had a babysitter Saturday night, because Matt & I went out on a date! They dyed Easter eggs together, but the eggs never got put back in the refrigerator, so they went bad overnight, and didn't really appeal to us as deviled eggs, even though I went through all the trouble of making them. Yum. Rotten deviled eggs. But they were pretty!
Our date was fun, as a Christmas/Valentine's gift to each other, we went to see Blue Man Group, How to Be a Megastar 2.0. It was really fun. That's some wacky performance art!
The kids got bikes for Easter. Matt was itching for them both to have nice bikes. Never mind that neither one of them can ride a bike yet... Xander got a cool BMX bike,
...but he's not ready to go without training wheels yet. Hopefully by the end of the summer. He spent a lot of time out on his old bike yesterday and today practicing up and down the driveway.
Maia got a precious little 12" Trek in metallic pink with streamers on the handlebars and a basket on the front. She knows how to sit on it and looks like she'll just take off, but she can't figure out how to make her legs do the right thing. I'm sure it's really amusing to watch either me or Matt hold onto her feet and try to show her how to pedal while following along. Rather an awkward posture. The weather certainly wasn't very warm, so we bundled everyone up and rode bikes in our coats!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Black-Eyed Sweet Pea
We had our Good Friday service last night, a combined Mercy/ Good Shepherd service. We did a very traditional Tenebrae Service. It was neat. New friend, Darla helped with singing, and did an excellent job. Along with the many hymns we led together, she sang Samuel Barber's The Crucifixion, and I sang Peter Willams' Agnus Dei, which is actually a choral piece, but it translated nicely into a solo. At the end of the service, I couldn't find the notes to start an unaccompanied "Were You There," and there was no nursery for the kids, so they were a bit distracting, but in general, it was a great service. Pastor Shel even got a complimentary e-mail afterward from someone who rarely has nice things to say. How 'bout that!
Afterward, we went to Scheels to visit Matt because he has worked so much this week, the kids haven't had much chance to see him. On our way out, Maia face-planted on the entryway carpet. She's got a nice shiner now. Just in time for Easter! Poor baby!
She's still got a pretty good attitude, though. A little cranky this morning, so I gave her a little Ibuprofen to take the edge off.
Afterward, we went to Scheels to visit Matt because he has worked so much this week, the kids haven't had much chance to see him. On our way out, Maia face-planted on the entryway carpet. She's got a nice shiner now. Just in time for Easter! Poor baby!
She's still got a pretty good attitude, though. A little cranky this morning, so I gave her a little Ibuprofen to take the edge off. 
Monday, April 02, 2007
Unexpected Healing Moment
OK, so today I was at the grocery store, and I ran into my first college roommate. I haven't talked to her since about halfway through our year together as roommates.
Yeah, we did not have the best freshman roommate experience with each other.
Seeing her today was so weird! We both knew the other one was in town somewhere because she overheard one of my student's parents (who later told me about the conversation) talking about their daughter's "fabulous voice teacher, Amy" at kids' swim lessons last summer. She did a little asking and sure enough, it was me! HAHAHAHA!
ANYWAY, I saw her in the grocery store today and she came up and hugged me and we caught up with each other a little bit, then she said, "I just want to apologize for being a crappy roommate!" I said, "I was a crappy roommate too!"
It was so cool! Not that we were horrible shrews to each other at age 19, but the apology and healing part. And the fact that horrible shrew-like people can grow up to become loving and forgiving and... well, just different. Walls just came down. I love how God is continuing to heal past hurts in my life and shore up things I didn't even realize were still issues. Cool.
Thanks God!
Yeah, we did not have the best freshman roommate experience with each other.
Seeing her today was so weird! We both knew the other one was in town somewhere because she overheard one of my student's parents (who later told me about the conversation) talking about their daughter's "fabulous voice teacher, Amy" at kids' swim lessons last summer. She did a little asking and sure enough, it was me! HAHAHAHA!
ANYWAY, I saw her in the grocery store today and she came up and hugged me and we caught up with each other a little bit, then she said, "I just want to apologize for being a crappy roommate!" I said, "I was a crappy roommate too!"
It was so cool! Not that we were horrible shrews to each other at age 19, but the apology and healing part. And the fact that horrible shrew-like people can grow up to become loving and forgiving and... well, just different. Walls just came down. I love how God is continuing to heal past hurts in my life and shore up things I didn't even realize were still issues. Cool.
Thanks God!
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