Catching Up....I Think?

Here it is 2:00 in the morning....I should be in bed but just finished writing a paper that is due in the morning and then decided I better get this stuff posted before another 2 weeks goes by and I am even more behind. 3 posts follow this one that should catch up all my pictures and activities over the month of September anyway. We are quite busy and some days, I'm pretty sure I bit off more than I could chew this Fall. One more month of soccer though and that will relieve some of the stress! Wednesdays are the worse days with school, then dance for Addison at 3pm and then scouts for the boys at 4pm then soccer practice for Evan at 5pm. Needless to say, Wednesday's dinners usually consist of pizza. Monday and Thursdays are Taekwondo. Here is Evan waiting for his test....does he look nervous?!

Friday's are Ian's soccer practice and of course Saturdays are the soccer games. Tonight we had to go have the boys tested for the Taekwondo Belt Ranks. They got their orange belts a couple of months ago and this was for an added stripe to the orange belt. I think they did pretty good and will probably pass...but then what do I know about Taekwondo!



Starting tomorrow morning Evan begins Chinese lessons twice a week before school. I couldnt pass up the opportunity for him to be exposed to learning a foreign language. It think it is so good for the brain to open up that type of learning. Ian is starting Spanish lessons twice a week next week. So, between the family we will have French, Russian, Korean, Spanish, and Chinese speakers....not too shabby!

Addison continues to test my patience as apparently all 4 years old do. Her tantrums leaving me tearing my hair out. She cries a lot and is very defiant. Of course I love her just the same but am anxiously looking forward to this phase going away :) She enjoys school once she gets there...same with dance. Its the initial leaving her there that causes the most tears.


Next week is my fall break from school and I am soooo looking forward to it. I'm not sure what I will do with myself for a whole week by myself during the day. Sleep. obviously I need more of it!! Denver is working hard in South Carolina. I know he is tired too and missing us. He is coming to visit toward the end of October to celebrate Ian's birthday and visit with everyone. Then it's back to the grind!

Here are some videos....one of the boys taking their Taekwondo test and the other of Ian getting my nephew Jude to laugh at him. Sweet little thing.....

Our Little Performers.....

First we went to Ian's school for his piano recital. His school is fortunate enough to have a piano lesson program starting with second grade. It was fun to watch although Ian could have played a more difficult piece.....he picked it out himself and said it was "fun to play" (see video below)

Next was miss Addison's very first dance recital. I was a little nervous with how it would go since she doesnt really like to perform on demand. I let her play up on the stage before the recital started hoping that it would help her feel more comfortable. She seemed to be OK after a few minutes and even stood up there by herself waving to us. Then when it was her groups turn to do their little dance....she started out fine but suddenly panicked. Then the screaming ensued and I had to go and remove her from the stage. It was cute, funny, and sad all at the same time. They had a second song to perform as well but no amount of bribing could get her back up on that stage. Oh well....she was still the prettiest girl up there and hopefully when the spring recital comes around she will be more comfortable on the stage . Here are a few pics of her before the recital and of course the video!

Pool Pimp......

Future Public Speaker.....

Today Mr. Ian Shannon gave yet another speech in class. This one was about the Australian bird "The Mallee Fowl" which, by the way, was a very interesting animal. Although it is a bit of a pain getting these speeches ready for Ian, I end up learning quite a bit from them so I never regret having to help him. This time around, I let Ian do more than usual. I helped him search for articles on the internet and showed him how to print them out. Then I had him read the articles and we chose the parts that we wanted to put in his speech. He also helped me make the poster. Ian has this amazing confidence about him that I envy. Im sure at that age I was probably the same way..... it is sad that we cant all keep some of the desireable traits we had when we were young. Ian just simply doesnt care what anyone thinks. He knows that he is GREAT and so he just gets up there and starts speaking. He even threw in additional information that wasnt in the speech...."in case you were all wondering" he said..... He surprised me by stopping during the speech to point out information on the poster board which he had never rehearsed. He was just ad-libbing as he went along giving out extra tidbits and answering questions at the end like an expert. Ok Im done bragging. Here is a couple of video clips. I wish I had recorded the whole speech but those dang batteries ran out on me.....

Our Shining Star.....

Today Evan's kindergarten class along with the other 2 Kindergarten classes performed songs that they have been working on in music class. They sang 10 songs! They even sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in Japanese, Spanish, and English with Sign Language. I was very impressed! Evan has been very excited for this day for nearly 3 weeks now. It was extra special for him because Uncle Nate and Aunt Alisa and Uncle Jeff all came to watch him sing! Afterward they had refreshments for the families which was nice. It's always funny to watch the kids performing. Some are really in to it, and concentrating on every word.....others are daydreaming, dancing a jig, or just playing around with whoever or whatever they can. Evan fell into the first category. He was totally concentrating and singing loud and staring straight ahead... Deer in the headlights style! I was very proud of him. Here is a video clip of one of the songs.... American Idol watch out!

Piano Recital.....

Tonight the boys both played in their first piano recital. I wasnt really sure how much I wanted them to do it considering I dont really make them practice much. Since they just started playing, I didnt feel like putting too much pressure on them. I want them to enjoy piano and not feel like it is a burden. But, they really wanted to participate in the recital so we went. It was really nice and I am always amazed at how calm the kids seem... I would have been so nervous. Actually, I was more nervous for them than they were. I was so worried about Evan especially....he has never played on such a big piano and he couldnt remember where middle C was because it wasnt marked with a smiley face sticker like it is on our piano.....but once his teacher helped him out, he did great! Here are a couple of video clips of them playing...... I am so very proud of them. (make sure you pause my music playlist at the bottom of the page so you can hear them playing....)

Jibber Jabber....

All day long I listen to Addison's jibberish. Sometimes it makes sense but most of the time it doesn't. She seems to know exactly what she is talking about though and looks at me as if I am crazy when I dont understand her. Most of the time I would swear that she just likes the sound of her own voice..... here is a little video of her jibberish and her attempt at singing the ABC's... also a picture of her at the piano and a cute one from the basketball game on Saturday. The sound on the video isnt the greatest so you will want to pause my music playlist to hear her jib jab.