Meet Robert Franz, orchestra conductor

 My mom took us to see the Nutcracker on Sunday.  Ballet Idaho and the Boise Philharmonic collaborate each year for this local production.  Jacob has been obsessed lately with conductors.  After my concert in November, he was conducting "mommy's orchestra."  After Sunday, he introduces himself as Robert Franz the Nutcracker conductor.  Here are a couple of shots of our budding conductor.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving is here!!!!  What fun it is to eat turkey, stuffing, and all the fixings.

This year, we had dinner at my mom's house with my uncle Eddy.  We had a great time, ate too much and enjoyed the evening (late afternoon really).

Fall Snow

SNOW!!!!  There wasn't a lot of snow and it quickly froze, but the kids enjoyed playing in the snow this week.  Julia and Jacob decided to "eat" the snow from every possible location, particularly off the swings.

Here, James made a snow angel when it snowed a couple of days earlier.

The kids all enjoyed frolicking in the snow.  It got so cold after it snowed, though, it was miserable.  Then the snow was so icy that we couldn't make a snowman.  Jacob was so disappointed.

Jacob is so funny.  I had a concert early in the month, where I was a featured soloist.  I had Matt video tape my piece (just because).  Anyway, it was really the first orchestra concert of mine that Jacob had been to.  For a week afterwards, Jacob only wanted to listen to mommy's concert.  He decided, however, that he could only listen to it while standing on a podium (in this case a foam play road with all the pieces stacked) and waving his arms (as if he were conducting the orchestra).  He even used his microphone to introduce me.  It was hilarious!

Funny pictures of my kids.  Who knew Julia could be so funny without even trying.  I did ask the boys to pose for this picture.  Julia just randomly put a toy up to her mouth at the right moment. 

Here is Julia hamming it up for the camera.  She loves her bracelets, hat and kitty purse!!  And of course, sunglasses are a must!

Our Halloween jack o'lanterns.  James carved the one on the right all by himself.  Dad carved the other two.  yes, we cheat and use a pattern.

James went as Frankenstein, Jacob was Thomas the Tank Engine and Julia was a pink kitty.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good picture of everyone together in their costumes.  I made James' costume and we received a fair amount of compliments on it at his class party.  The hardest part was the green face paint (I ended up making some).

Jacob was so funny.  He didn't want to wait for people to offer candy.  As soon as the door opened and he saw the candy bowl, he lunged for it.  Julia loved having candy dropped into her bucket and was quite upset when it was time for her to go home. 

An amazing sight, isn't it, all that candy, but wait there's more . . .

Dad organized all the candy.

Goofy Faces!!!

Just sharing some of the many goofy "Calvin" expressions James has!

But is just wouldn't be fair to not include Jacob!

In case you were not aware, James adores Calvin & Hobbes.

The Worm

We were playing outside yesterday afternoon, when all of a sudden we see a worm wriggling right out of the ground onto the sidewalk.  The kids loved watching it and playing with it.

Julia was so goofy with it.  She kept looking at it, making this devious laughing sound.  She didn't try to pick it up, though she did touch it once.  She was very intrigued to say the least.

Cub Scouts

James officially starts Cub Scouts this week.  We had a brief introductory meeting last week.  Tomorrow he gets to start working toward his first badge.  He seems really excited, though he was disappointed that we opted to do scouts at church instead of school.  I picked up his uniform and patches yesterday.  When I was in the scout shop I asked about the patches and assumed they were iron on patches.  Unfortunately, they are not!!!  I have to sew them all on myself.  I already about half done with the first (and largest) one.  It's only taken me about 30 mintues so far. . .

Well, several hours later, I've gotten two patches sewn on and am really struggling with the number patches.  Perhaps I'll take it to my mother-in-law for help . . .

Happy Birthday to Dad!

Yesterday was Matt's birthday.  He always asks for the same thing every year--peace and quiet.  I don't know that we ever get peace and quiet in our house.  He took the kids on a nice bike ride in the afternoon and I took everybody to church in the morning.  I get him something edible every year.  Some years it's a box of Reese's peanut butter cup cereal.  This year it was steak.  We had a nice dinner followed by cake (supposed to look like a pumpkin patch).

Thomas the Tank Engine

Jacob has his new Halloween costume!!  Our Thomas the Tank guy won't take it off!

When it rains, it pours!

So last week, we had to get new tires put on the van.  Apparently, amidst the road construction on park Center, we picked up a nail.  Yesterday, I was cleaning my glasses and there were some weird spots that just wouldn't come off and no matter what I did, it got worse!  In my efforts to clean them (I couldn't see anything through them the way they were), I decided to use my dish sponge and dish soap.  Well, I succeeded in getting the gunk off (which we have now determined to be the scratch resistant coating peeling off), as well as putting some very wonderful scratches on my 2 year old lenses.  So, now I need to buy new lenses.  I can't buy new lenses without leaving my glasses at the optomotrist office (which leaves me blind and absolutely not an option).  So I have to buy a new pair of glasses, which I now cannot do without having an entire exam because eye prescriptions expire 1 year after they are given!!!!!  GRRR . . .

On the upside, James scored a 100% on his spelling test yesterday and I love high speed internet!

Walking to school

I honestly don't understand people sometimes.  We try to walk to and from school whenever possible.  Granted, it takes us 20 minutes with everyone, sometimes longer when Jacob rides his trike.  We try to use the crosswalk (we only have to cross one street) and I don't think we're asking too much for cars to STOP for us in the crosswalk!!!  Yesterday, we were on our way home from school (we are quite the parade with the stroller, trike and bike).  We start into the crosswalk and I see a car starting around the corner down the street, going fast enough that I wasn't sure he was even going to stop.  But he slowed down a little.  We were basically across the street, in the area that a parked car would have been (just barely) and this guy floors it to go past us!!  James was closest to the sidewalk, Julia and I were next and Jacob was still hanging out in the street on his trike!!  I was a little upset by this, particularly because it was my teenage neighbor!!!!!

Now, I know that we can all get a little worked up when we think we've had a close call with our children, but there were several other people in the intersection at the time, one of whom commented on how close that was.  Well, we started the trek home from there (I was still fuming a little when we got home).  We were in our driveway, when I heard a loud truck at the corner (my neighbor again coming home).  He sees that we are still outside, backs up and goes the other direction.  Five minutes later he came home and I stopped by to chat with his mother.

Don't pedestrians always have the right of way?  Why are teenagers allowed to drive???

Good times in McCall

playing the pumper organ at the cabin

We went up to McCall over the weekend.  The weather was gorgeous!!!!  I love September in McCall--the tourists are all gone and it's mostly just the locals.  Saturday, there were a few folks on the beach, but Sunday, the beach was completely deserted!!!  It was so quiet and warm (at least it was warm in the afternoon).  My kids ended up being beach bums.



beach bum Julia!

Saturday morning, I made oatmeal for breakfast.  Unfortunately, the pot I used was a nonstick pot and the coating was flaking off everywhere, including into our oatmeal.  Consequently, both the pot and the oatmeal went in the trash.  I made a quick run to Paul's for cereal and all was good again.  After a long bike ride and some fun on the beach, we had dinner.  The TV reception was less than desirable (no cable and no HD converter box), but we did get ABC.  So we got to watch the Bronco game on Saturday night.  

Working hard on the beach!!

The good, the bad and the not so ugly!!

Yesterday was just one of those days.  You know the kind I'm talking about.  The kind that starts really, really ugly and you feel like it's just going to get worse.  In our case, however, it got so much better as the day went on (thank goodness!!).  Jacob goes to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  Thankfully, he loves going, but that's beside the point.  We drop Jacob off at preschool at 8:45 and take James to school (the bell rings at 9:10).  Sometimes, it is a bit of race, particularly if the traffic lights are not working in our favor.

If there is anything I know about Jacob, I know that you cannot force him to do anything.  Everything he does has to be HIS idea or he just won't do it, end of story.  Well, I tried a little too hard to get him out of bed (in order for us to be out the door on time on preschool days, we have to eat breakfast no later than 7:30) and he resisted, threw a mild fit.  Fine.  I left him alone, then he wandered downstairs for breakfast.  Well, something was just not right with breakfast.  Another fit.  Three fits later, he ate his breakfast.  Then he didn't want to get dressed, then he wouldn't brush his teeth.  By the time we were ready to leave the house, we were 15 minutes later than we should be. 

Well, there was no time to take Jacob to school first, so I had to change plans and take James to school first.  Now keep in mind that when we take James to school, he hardly even says goodbye to me before running off to play.  When the bell rings, we doesn't see me to collect his backpack or even wave.  So I thought taking James to school first wouldn't be a problem and he would be just fine when we said goodbye.  I was wrong . . .  Perhaps it was because he was one of the first kids on the playground, perhaps he was just feeling needy yesterday perhaps it was something else.  We got James out of the car and said goodbye, started pulling away and James is just standing there, staring at me ready to cry.  As he watched us, he started to cry and still stared, as if he were saying goodbye forever.  Well, of course, we stopped again and got out of the car.  He was crying and would not move from his spot on the curb.  Fortunately, one of the playground supervisors saw what had transpired and took him under her wing.  She convinced him to take his backpack to his line and stay with her until some of his friends came.  Thank goodness she was there.  He was fine the rest of the day.

From that point, we continued our morning by taking Jacob to school.  Jacob, of course,  wanted me to stay with him at school and would not let go of my hand.  Soon, though, he got busy painting and couldn't wait for me to leave.  Julia and I continued on to the grocery store and went about our day until it was time to pick Jacob up from school.

We live a blessed life.  Sometimes, the day to day stuff is trying, but we are truly blessed with our children, our lives, and our home.