Under The Big Top

Saturday night Natalie's school had their spring program. It consisted of PreK thru 3rd grade. Please do not be offended for not being invited. Space was a serious issue and there was barely standing room only for those that were there. I am sure I still have someone's knee print remaining in my back - it was very close quarters. The theme was "Under the Big Top". The teachers and students did a wonderful job and had the gym set up like a 3 ring circus. Each grade had their moment in the spot light. Most of the pictures I took turned out pretty dark but here is a video of Natalie's class- she is just to the right of the middle. She is wearing khaki shorts and holding a purple streamer (though it is hard to see). They are singing "God Bless the USA". You can see her better towards the end of the video.

Spring Break?

"Break " has to be a misnomer. At least for our family . I think this was the busiest spring break I have had in years. We managed to cram in a visit to Brandon, 3 dentist appts, 2 haircuts, a visit to Starkville (Check out Judy Lynn's blog), a visit to Columbus that included a fishing trip, a family cookout, cleaning out a storage unit and just visiting with family and friends in general. I had to take an extra day off work just to recover from my week off! But please don't tell my boss ;). We seriously did all of the above and then some but it was a very rewarding week. Read below for some of the highlights of the week.

St. Patrick's Day

Tuesday, the girls and I headed to Brandon to spend some time with Suzan and Gracie and do some much needed shopping for Natalie. It was St. Patrick's day so we took advantage and dressed festive. No one in this bunch was going to get pinched.

Octopus Soup

I can't believe I had never heard of this in all my dealings with children over the years. Kerri suggested this for lunch one day for the kids and I honestly thought she had lost her mind. I am not a huge hotdog fan but this is a pretty ingenious idea! You simply slice a hotdog 2/3 of the way up into 8 strings and boil until done. The result~an octopus! Too cute!

Family Fishing Trip

Friday was a milestone day for all 4 grandkids. They got to go fishing for the first time! Paw-paw took all 4 of them (with Kerri, Debbie and I in tow) to a private lake where we could fish from a pier. Mind you, it was a little crowded - 8 people (4 under the age of 10) on a 10 x 10' (approx) pier with no rails. Certainly a recipe for potential disaster but we somehow managed to avoid it. Poor Debbie ran her legs off between trying to keep kids from the edge and taking pictures. She earned a gold star that day. We considered the day a success as everyone stayed dry and all 4 grandkids caught a fish.

Paw-paw giving the girls a little instruction on how to cast before heading to the lake.

The grandkids

Harrison caught the first fish of the day!Natalie was nextNatalie with her first catchAlyson's reaction when she realized that there was really a fish on the end of the line.This is as close as I could get Alyson to her first catch.Finally, after much patience, Hailey had her catch. Can you see her enthusiasm?A brief photo shoot before heading home.

We had a great time and some learned a great lesson in patience. Kerri and I vowed that next time we are going without the kids. Paw-paw has to go though - we need someone to bait our hooks and take the fish off ;).

Angel Choir

I didn't choose the name of this choir (Angel choir is their name) but I think it is quite fitting. They consist of 2 year olds through kindergarten and you definitely get a taste of it all when they sing in church. We had everything from a bellydancer to a runaway and there were a few in there that actually sang. Alyson is on the top row on the left of your screen with a white headband. Despite a stuffy nose and a case of laryngitis, she sang her little heart out. Hope you enjoy!

SNOW!!!

After more than one missed forecast for snow, followed by disappointment, they finally got it right. Natalie woke us up bright and early this morning to let us know it had snowed. Although the accummulation was minimal, it sure was pretty. I guess March is the magic month around here. There was a significant snow here this time last year. Of course, we weren't here to enjoy it and it totally missed Columbus.

Call me a bad mom, but the girls were having a fit to get out in the snow to play (we were very short on time because we had to get ready for church) so we bundled up the best we could with what was in reach - robes and crocs (with socks).

The girls enjoyed playing with the snow, eating it and even managed to get in a brief snowball fight. After they finished playing, they 'offered' to clean off my van :).

They were a little disappointed that there was no snow left

to play in when we got home from church. That is OK though - they desperately needed their naps (which they got thanks to cancelled softball practice).

Maybe we can get a repeat performance next March as well.