St. Patrick's Day

We had a fun little family pre-St. Patty's Day celebration when we went to see The Kilted Man, a great Celtic musician who has an amazing story, and also happens to be a member of our stake, something I learned when I did a STORY on him for a local magazine. The kids loved the performance, and talked about his jokes, his stories and his music after it was over. I am so happy that they appreciated it!

Here's us, with The Kilted Man-

St. Patrick's Day started kind of busy, with Connor's first Pinewood Derby, but we did manage to get a visit from Lucky the Leprechaun, who did tricky and green tricks around the house for the kids to awaken to. This never fails to delight and impress. Breakfast was quick, just Lucky Charms this year.

Later in the day we listened to Irish music, read some St. Patty's Day books, went on our traditional treasure hunt for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow-

I have cute leprechauns, indeed (but only managed to photograph two of them; it was an insanely busy weekend)

I had a fun dinner out with girlfriends that evening, a fun tradition. St. Patty's Day is always fun, esp. since Brian and I are both really Irish.

And some Kilted Man video, for my mother in law.

Blogging in real life

I follow this great sewing and craft blog, Make It and Love It. Ashley, the blog's author and mastermind behind tons of great projects, decided to host a blogger meet up in Denver, as she lives in Colorado. She was totally the inspiration and idea behind my bedroom makeover a couple of years ago.

I thought, what the heck, this could be fun, I should go! I rounded up a couple of willing friends, and we went.

There some fun make-and-take projects, munchies and delish cupcakes, chatting, a Q&A with Ashley, and prizes. It was fun to meet a blogging "celebrity." Here she is answering some questions-

Me, Ash and Lyndsey with Ashley. I am short.

And I won the grand prize! A Martha Stewart tote filled with a bunch of her newest paints, brushes and stencils. Love it!

More pics from the event HERE.

Talent Show

Sometime at the end of January the kids brought home information about the school talent show. Connor has refused in the past, and I knew it wasn't something he would even consider, but I thought Isabel might like to participate. So I asked her. She immediately said no. I asked again, a few days later. No again. A few more asks, a few more subsequent and emphatic negative responses. I gave it one more push (because she loves to sing and perform). This time I threw in some enticement.

"Isabel," I told her, "I'll give you a whole candy bar if you do the talent show (imagine that, one whole candy bar! We roll with the big boys, I'm telling you)." Anther no. I told her that's fine, I'm dropping it.

Maybe 30 minutes later she came to me and said, "so... I've decided to be in the talent show, but it's not because of the candy. It's because I realized I have a talent to share with others." Sold! And for a mere 75 cents or thereabouts! How 'bout them apples?

She decided to sing "You're a Grand Old Flag," because she loves patriotic songs. She rehearsed with a few motions that she made up on her own, got a cute outfit, auditioned, made it through the dress rehearsal, and did a fabulous job in the talent show on Friday night. She even had a few teachers comment on her amazing pitch and timing! I do think she has a decent voice, although she battled some nerves during the actual show. But seriously, it takes decent confidence for a kindergartner to get up and sing a solo in front of hundreds of people! We are so very proud of her.

Afterward, I asked her how she felt when she saw how many people were there. "Well," said said, "I was nervous, but I also knew I could do it." Major life lesson: check!

Ready for the show:

With her good friend Bryn, who was in a rock band for the show:
Hallelujah for the iPhone/earbuds/Elmo video to help Mason stay quiet during the show-


In addition to our little family, Isabel was fortunate to have Brian's parents, her two uncles and an aunt there to support her. She was thrilled with the balloons and candy from Uncle Nate and Aunt Alli!

The show went really late, so we saved our celebratory banana split party for the next day (I upgraded from a candy bar). A well-earned reward!

Mason is clearly yummier than any treat ever could be-

And the performance! Sorry for the sideways video, I keep rotating it but it still uploads sideways. FYI, every time they changed the mic setup they did a sound check. She performed in the middle of the show.

Let's get Seussical

"Good morning! Happy Dr. Seuss' Birthday!" Connor said to me when he awakened this morning. With no school plus Dr. Seuss' Birthday, I knew it had to be good.

We started with - what else? - green eggs and ham for breakfast. After breakfast, the children all grabbed one of their favorite Seuss books, and I found them all engrossed in their books. I kindly asked them to sit close together while continuing to read so I could snap it.

Then Brian took the three older children to see the movie The Lorax. I packed them with bags of Hop on Pop(corn) and pink ink yink drink (pink lemonade) to enjoy. Brian had purchased tix the night before, but with all the free 2 year olds who showed up, there were no seats left. So they got a free upgrade to the subsequent 3-D IMAX showing. They really liked the movie. I really like Isabel's upside down glasses.

Michael's has some darling Seuss decor, so I snagged this cute banner. I have my eye on a few more items, but need my 40% off coupon, or else wait for the markdown.

My friends Kristie and Paula and their kiddos came over for the afternoon, and I made some Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes. These were red velvet with cream cheese frosting and blue cotton candy. Fun and easy and cute, except I had to hunt for the cotton candy. I let the kids apply the hair themselves; they had fun doing this.

And some artwork by the children: Connor's interpretation of The Lorax after seeing the movie, and Isabel's Sneetches and Cat in the Hat drawings (which I thought were rather impressive free-hand drawings for a kindergartner!).