Stars

Can anyone guess what this is?  Look closely and you can see the steps.  Any ideas?  I'll tell you.  It's my birthday present from James and our anniversary gift to ourselves!  I took this picture waiting for the encore at the TOM PETTY and the HEARTBREAKERS concert!  Now, I have been to a lot of shows.  A. Lot.  But, Tom has been on my "must see" list for a while.  When we heard he was coming to town, James and I were hoping the stars would align and we would be able to afford such an event.  Good tickets are pricey and good tickets for good shows are essential.  So, with a little help from a timely tax refund, we had great seats and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Tom was so personable - he let me sing to him!  I, plus the rest of the sold out crowd, sang Learning to Fly (a background song on this blog for years now) and he harmonized and did back ups.  Amazing.  There's just something about a live show and singing anonymously in a crowded house that is empowering.

Next on our concert list is Eric Clapton (coming this summer) and Lynard Skynard (coming in a few weeks).  Stay tuned!

The Stingers - Soccer, Spring 2012

Jay Michael has started playing soccer. His team is the Stingers and all the kids are 5 or under.  He is being coached by a guy in our ward, and of the eight kids on his team, the four boys are all in our ward. Every Wednesday, Jay Michael is ready for practice and every Saturday he is all pumped up for soccer. He LOVES it. In this clip, he's the curly-headed black-shirted dude with skills - and yellow socks. The showboating might need to come down a few notches, but, when Jay Michael is on the field, he is all about the game!  And don't worry - the little guy in red was just fine....

CAPAA Spring Ballet 2012

For the past two months, Samantha and Josephine have taken a weekly ballet class. This is something Josephine has been asking to do for a while, and I think we'll be back for more classes. The teacher is a local high school senior, who is teaching this class for high school credit. The ladies love her. Before you watch the video, scroll to the bottom of the screen to pause the blog background music. Just throw roses....

{AR} Travelers Ball Team

Dag, I've been a non-blogger for so long that the blogging world changed while I wasn't looking!  Picnik is gone.  Very sad.  And Blogger itself has a whole new look.  I'm fumbling around, but, I'm back.  This photo is one of the adventures which has kept our family busy lately.  The BallTeam goes to the ball park!  We got free tickets from our bank - love that - and we spent an evening watching the local minor minor minor league team - the Arkansas Travelers.  I couldn't tell you the score or the players, but it was fun.  Notice how Rachel and Samantha are both taller than I am?  Charlotte isn't far behind them....

Impossible - but true

Jay Michael did something amazing last week - he turned four years old. I can't imagine how that happened. Every time my kids have a birthday I wonder at how fast time passes. Just amazing.

Jay Michael wanted pizza for supper, so we went out for pizza. There was a TV not far away that was televising a basketball game, so Jay Michael was thrilled.

We had balloons, and we had cake, orange cake - just what Jay Michael wanted. He got a super snugly soft baseball blanket from Grandad and Grandmom and a new hockey game for Xbox.

At four years old, Jay Michael is an active rough and tumble little man. He loves to play sports of ANY kind. He is all about the pass and the score. He just joined his first team - the under 5 soccer team. He starts next month and he is so excited. Jay Michael likes to talk and tell stories. He has an amazing grasp on the comings and goings of the household. I suppose as the youngest he has been a spectator, but, I'm always surprised at how well he knows the rules, the schedule, the day to day workings of life with the Ball Team.

Jay Michael has a few sayings that are all his. If he says, Momma, I want to be on your team. He means, Momma, I love you. If he says, Momma, I'm gonna knock you on your "boo-tocks". He means, Momma, I'm ready to play. He can work an Xbox better than I can; he can sing Primary songs and he can count to twenty, sort of. He will talk to me on the phone and he knows EXACTLY which of his sisters he should ask to get what he wants. For example, Rachel mothers him, Samantha coddles him, Charlotte plays with him and Josephine defends him. It's sweet to watch. I will say, Jay Michael, you need to get your shoes on. And he will immediately run to find Rachel. If he gets running around too much, and his breathing gets short, he runs to Samantha for his breather. He can work the house crowd to get whatever he needs!

More than any of the others, Jay Michael is attached to Daddy. They are a tight pair. Maybe it's the father/son thing, maybe it's the bond of athletics, maybe it's because they spend so much time together, but for whatever reason, Jay Michael is happy to stick close to his Daddy.

Four years ago, Jay Michael was born and immediately flown by helicopter to the Children's Hospital with wet lungs. He spent two weeks in the NICU, drying out and learning to breathe on his own. He was a fighter then and he is a fighter now. He is strong and brave and exhausting. He's our Prince. Our Jay Michael. We love you!

Do You Picnik?

Do you use Picnik.com? I love this site. Picnik is going away forever. That's sad. In the meantime, though, all the premium features, which have cost money before, are now FREE. I love free. Go here to try it out!

Wash Day

I'm not the most organized person. I like to have an orderly house, but, I just don't see the big picture sometimes. Just this week I was doing laundry. I do laundry every day. Every day. Usually, I just wash it and dry it and leave it in the "clean basket". Once the "clean basket" has become Mt. St. Laundry, we dump it all - about eight loads - on the couch and we all sort it into piles per person and put it all away. This takes a while, everyone dreads it, and it's just a big hassle. This week Rachel said, mid-fold, How about I do my laundry on one day, then Samantha, and so forth? That way we don't have this mountain every week?

And with that, we bought a few extra laundry baskets, set up a chart and instituted a few rules. The rules are: each family member gets one day to wash clothes. On your given day, you must wash and dry and put away all your clothes, towels, sheets, pillowcases and blankets. If, for whatever reason, you do NOT do your wash on your wash day, you have to wait until the following assigned wash day.

So far, it's going well. I went through how to work the washer and dryer with everyone, how to time it so you have your sheets back on your bed by lights out, and the general concepts of laundering your own clothes (stain sticks, overstuffing the washer and cleaning the lint trap. Laundry is complicated!) The ladies seem pretty excited; not because they are doing laundry, but, because they only have to do their own. The size of their individual piles is surprising them. Sometimes they have two loads each, due to school clothes, sports practice clothes, towels, sheets and blankets. It's been a learning experience all around.

I've learned that I took way too long to assign wash days!