Wicked

My birthday wish was to see Wicked...again,

and last week Mr. Charming took me to do just that!

I absolutely love this production!
I love the music, the characters, the talent and most
especially the positive messages it highlights.



Watching Boadway brings me back to my N.Y.C. days when
I was up all night working a 12 hour shift / 6 nights a week.

When morning arrived I rushed back to the
Le Parker Meridian,
my home at the time, to sleep for a few hours.

My "wake-up" call would ring in and shortly thereafter I'd arrive in Times Square to purchase a last minute
ticket for any broadway show. It was magical really.

I did also tour the city, saw all the typical N.Y.C. highlights...oh, but the theater was what I loved the most,
couldn't ever get enough of it.



The Wicked soundtrack arrived in the mail just yesterday morning and already the girls are completely enamoured.

Brinley carried the CD player with her all around the house
this morning as she completed her Saturday chore pack
and both girls insisted on bringing "Wicked" in the car with us tonight as we headed to a hot air balloon festival.

We are growing little Wicked fans in this household and I'm as pleased as punch about that!

First Day Fun

The night before school started I went to place chore-packs
and outfits on the girls floor as is my nightly ritual.

I walked in after 10pm and noticed that Brinley's eyes were wide open.
She instantly smiled and said
"Mom I'm just so excited I can't sleep."

Cody came in and knelt next to her bed while I lay beside her
and together we
reminisced about the day ahead.
This school excitement may not last forever,
but for now it's wonderful!



Brinley proudly led the family into her school at right to her class.

Above:
Brinley & Teacher
Teacher / office staff gifts & card
Classic first day photo

Below:
Avery & friend Camille
Teacher gifts & card
Dad helping Brinley on Monkey bars
Classic first day photo

Avery was completely distraught when she realized that her school began later in the afternoon, but a fun trip to the park with Mom
and Dad solved that issue in a jiffy.

Avery is as thrilled as a peach to be attending an second year of pre-school. She was so excited during breakfast yesterday that she could hardly eat...not Avery-like at all. When we arrived in the school parking lot her perma-smile turned into a crazy laugh as she hopped down the hallway towards her classroom.

Cody took the morning off work to be able to walk both girls into their classrooms. This is one of the many reasons he is so darn great!

7:54am

I was thankful that Daddy went into work late this

morning so that he could do this...again!
We are in board exam count down days again.
Sep. 10th is the blessed day, wish him luck!

(These were taken with the new camera Auntie Y.)
Front tooth #4 was removed.


(picture taken 1 second after tooth was pulled)

Brinley is very brave and has often requested her teeth
be pulled far before they are ready to come out.
This morning I heard the "pop" sound and out it came.

She has bestowed the title of
"invisible beaver" upon herself.
Our little beavers hair-do today.

Check out THIS site filled with hair-do ideas for little girls.

Zoo Camp

Last week Brinley attended Zoo Camp.

Each day consisted of:
*Holding and touching a wide variety of creatures.
*Lessons about the animals they studied that day.
*A craft.
*A morning and afternoon zoo exploration in a
different area of the zoo each time.
*Lunch & Snack time.
*Game time & playground time.



Friday was a half day so I stayed at the Zoo with Avery and Aspen.
Even though is was 95 degrees and 90% humidity, we survived and the younger sisters had a great time! Aspen especially enjoys the petting zoo where she calls all of the goats "doggies."

Every day after Camp Brinley was so excited to tell us all about her Zoo camp experiences that day.

I'd have to say that I am starting to understand why
OUR ZOO
was rated #1 in the country.

Avery is looking forward to sharing in the Zoo fun during
her Zoo Kids program beginning this fall.

All Natural!

I bet my kid has worse bed head than yours!

Yep...thank heavens for hair products!

Every morning I get to tame the fuzz ball as our sweet
baby screams her little head off.

She also insists on brushing her teeth first thing in the morning
and every night before bed, just like her big sisters.

My Top Summer Pick

So several of my friends have been posting their
"favorite summer items" lists...

here is my summer favorite item:
The Safety Kids series.
Yep, for totally reals folks.

I remember with fondness singing along to these same
songs when I was growing up.

Here is what I absolutely love about them:

1- They teach children about a wide variety of topics in an fun
and easy to understand way.
2- The characters in the CD's are children. Children easily relate
and listen to other children.
3- They tackle difficult, but important topics to discuss with children in a way that little ones can understand.
4- The songs are catchy, fun and easy to learn.
(In fact I have been up at night a few times recently with darn Safety Kids
songs stuck in my head replaying over and over again.)

Here is the moral of the story, I highly recommend these to all parent with younger children. And no I don't work for the company nor get any type of referral bonus of any kind.

They are produced by BRITE MUSIC. They also carry a variety of other great music/book series.
We had THIS series as well when I was little and I loved them!

On Friday evening we attend the
Dublin Irish Festival.

It was amazing, however, 39485094842 other people thought the same thing and joined in the fun that night.

First up on the kids agenda were the inflatables. They stood in the hot sun awaiting with anticipation their turn on these trampoline contraptions.

Meanwhile I retreated to the toddler area with Aspen who
enjoyed jumping
on the mini inflatable and creating a lot of extra work for the volunteers by dumping out large bins of building blocks. She also tried out her new swing, but fortunately missed the kids face she was aiming for and hit her hand on the toy car he was riding in.

They both attempted back flips right off the bat and were successful over and over again!

There were 7 stages at the festival boasting word renowned Irish dancers, musicians, story tellers, etc...
The girls were in a trance-like state as they watched dozens of girls in beautiful costumes with long curly wigs preform several Irish dances.

(I took 3 videos upload on the blog, but once again,
something is not working right and I can't upload any of them)

After all of the loud fun we navigated our way through the massive
crowds to our van with three very tired and
very fussy children.
Action plan for next year = Attend sans children.

The next day was to be the girls daddy-daughter sleepover on the trampoline. When Doctor charming arrived home from work all of the girls, including the Christensen's, were waiting on the front porch, ready to start off their bash with the promised root beer floats.

Soon Cory and Angie were done with their date night and came to pick up their 4 kiddos. Then we brought mounds of blankets onto the tramp and made some funny faces.

Dad surprised the girls with yet another little treat for their big night.
This is pretty much as close to camping out as we have made it thus far with our small family.

Of course the girls were not about to let their beloved evening story and scripture time be left out, even on a night like this.
With sweaters, sleeping bags, blankets and loads of bug spray,
I happily said goodnight and retreated into the comforts of our quiet,
bug free bedroom.

Cody's battle wounds include 18 swollen bug bites
and very little sleep.
The girls somehow escaped the night with only one or two bites.

Useless bug spray = $5
Memories = Priceless

We topped off the weekend with a shaving cream bath
this morning.
What you don't see in the picture are the tears shed as the girls were showered off.

Shaving cream in human hair =
Tangles galore and the oddest change in texture for a few days.
Memories = Priceless

L.P.P. (Last Party Post)

The girls celebrated with a joint birthday party at Magic Mountain
this year. Many squeals of delight could be heard all over the huge indoor play gym and party area.

The kids had pizza and Cheetos (aka junk food) for dinner. Then it was cake time, more playtime in the indoor gym and finally
tokens to play games and earn tickets for prizes.

Aunt Kelty and Rella journeyed from Chicago for the big event!

On the morning of the girls party (my actual birthday) when I was at the gym teaching, Kelty and the girls decorated the house with balloons and streamers. When I walked into the house I was so surprised!
They even presented me with a cute personal birthday cake!

Thanks Kelty, that was so sweet.



Avery's balloon launch on her 4Th birthday.

Brinley's balloon launch on her 7Th birthday.

This week it was my turn!
My friends took me out to dinner and bowling to
celebrate the big 29.
We had such a completely wonderfully fun fun fun fun time!

(Amy, Kristie, Joni & Debbie)
How on earth can talking and laughing
together be so much fun?

With these gals it just is.

When we get together for our version of
"cooking club," where we never cook but enjoy great food that others have cooked, I feel like we could talk forever.

I love them, love being with them and loved our night out.

Girls, I tried to upload that most awesome video we took, however
"an error" kept occurring.
I'm sure you are so sad about that, hope I'm still your BFF.

I am Seriously So Blessed to have such great friends!

BTW, check out Kristie's totally cool
Blushing Basics Blog.

I Am A Mother

This evening we gathered the children around our computer in the office to watch a series of short clips about fellow
members of our church.

Half way through we happened upon a Jane Clayson's clip and I remembered how much I loved her book!
You may recognize her name as she was an ABC news anchor.

Seriously ALL mothers ought to read it.

To see a brief (1.5 min.) clip about Jane's life and the lives of other
members of the church go HERE and click on Jane!