05.07.12
Posted in Misc at 10:02 pm by Shannon
It’s bellydance performance time again. Please notice that I managed to smile through more than half of it! Last time I didn’t smile at all, so I was working on that. 
I danced the first couple of minutes with Denise, who I danced with last time as well. Then Amber and Anna danced. Then the four of us danced together. Our 4 minute song went by very quickly! Eric took the movie and Olya was in the front row taking pictures. I didn’t even see her there!
Kate (my teacher) described us as her level 2 1/2 class. Officially, we’re a level 2 class, but when the last newbie dropped out this session, we were left with four level 3 students, plus me. Since Kate wants me to move to level 3 anyway (which I can’t because of scheduling conflicts), she declared us to be a level 3 class and started teaching me level 3 moves. We’re still working on level 2 stuff as well, but it’s nice to have some new stuff. For the record, Denise and I managed to do no level 3 moves during our duet. While we can both follow the moves, neither of us are completely comfortable leading them ourselves.
In case I haven’t mentioned it before, the American Tribal Style (ATS) of bellydancing is completely improvised. The person at the front left position is the leader. Her arm and head movements tell the rest of us what to do and we simply follow her. Although we sometimes try to plan things, in the heat of the moment, you often end up not doing anything like you planned, so we really don’t put too much effort into planning. I very much like this style because there’s no choreography to learn and no routines to get bored with. We can do the same song multiple times, and dance it differently every time.
Enjoy the video:
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05.05.12
Posted in Alex, Firsts at 2:44 pm by Shannon
I’m so proud of Alex. He really played his heart out today. I personally thought he was hustling more and trying harder than half his team!
Eric and I both went to his game this morning, but that meant Beth did too. For the first half of the game, she and I sat on the sidewalk drawing with chalk and blowing bubbles – which meant I saw him play the first half. The second half she wanted to go to the playground, so I really didn’t see much after that. So Eric was in charge of pictures. It’s hard to take pictures when everyone keeps moving around!
During the first half of the game, Alex got kicked in the shins. During the second half he got hit in the stomach with the ball, and then again in the face with the ball. Needless to say, he was a little beat up at the end and a little disheartened since they didn’t score a single goal. Technically they didn’t keep score, though. This was more about playing and practicing. I promised we would go buy him some shin-guards before the next game.
And of course after the 80 degree weather we had on Wed, it was 50 degrees and threatening to rain the whole time. Brr! Here’s a couple of pictures, but I uploaded more to the picture gallery if you want to see more. Alex is in a black shirt and black pants with a red and white stripe down them. As always, you can click on any picture to see it bigger.
He started out as Goalie (they switched them out about every 10 minutes so everyone could play every position):
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05.04.12
Posted in Alex at 9:43 pm by Shannon
Professional pictures taken on 03/04/2012:
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Posted in Alex at 11:52 am by Shannon
So life has gotten a little crazy around here. For the Feb-April session, Beth was signed up for Ballet (Mon) and Swimming (Thu) – alone for the first time! More on that in a minute. Alex had Tae Kwon Do (Wed), Swimming (Thu), and Ice Skating (Sat). I had bellydancing on Mondays. Plus my online Java class.
Beth’s first swim class alone was a bit of a mixed bag. I was terrified she would totally refuse to go to class and it would be a complete disaster. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but it wasn’t a success either. She missed the first week because she was sick. Once she started going, she refused to get in the water, except 1 single time when she jumped in. And then refused to try to swim back to the wall. She would move around the side of the pool with them, but wouldn’t get in the water. But after class, I had no problem getting her to get in the pool with me. I saw decided improvement in her not screaming bloody murder when she got splashed in the face. So that is one good thing. But the 2nd last class she refused to even stay for class. That week she screamed when I tried to leave her – I ended up taking her in the other pool with me and Alex. Normally I swam with Alex in the big pool during her class and then swam with her during Alex’s class. (I couldn’t get them in class at the same time and didn’t want to split it on multiple days.)
This refusal to go to class happened the 2nd week that she had refused to go to Ballet as well. The 1st time she refused to stay for Ballet, she missed swimming for the second time because she was sick again. I thought maybe she wouldn’t go to Ballet because she wasn’t feeling good. The 2nd time she wouldn’t go to Ballet, I knew something was up. The next week we skipped both Ballet and Swimming to take a bit of a break. We skipped Alex’s swim class too – the only thing we went to that week was Tae Kwon Do. By this point, I had already signed them up for the Apr-Jun session. So the first day of the session, I tried to take her to Ballet. She wouldn’t stay in for class. Was fine and seemingly excited right up until it was time for me to leave the room. I ended up stopping at the desk on our way out and asking if I could pull her out and get a refund. They agreed.
The week she refused to go to swim class, the swim instructor suggested we try Pike with Parent instead of the no-parent class. Supposedly they try to get the parent out of the water by week 4. But by this time, a lot of the swim classes were full. I could get her in the Thursday class, but Alex was going to have to stick with the Friday class I originally signed him up for (she was also supposed to go Fri). We decided that being at the Y 5 nights a week was ridiculous and decided to pull her out of swimming. Since I was planning to take the summer off swimming anyway, we’ll try again with her in the fall.
Alex has been moved from preschool swim classes to the non-preschool classes. We put him in Guppy, which was the 2nd non-preschool class. I was a little worried that he’d be in over his head, but I really didn’t want to put him in the beginner class when he had been promoted all the way to the highest preschool class. I didn’t need to worry – he’s one of the two best swimmers in the class. And, as an added bonus, his Tae Kwon Do teacher is his swim teacher. Way cool!
So after pulling Beth out of Ballet and Swimming, we’re down to just 3 classes, all of them Alex’s: Soccer on Tue, Tae Kwon Do on Wed, and Ice Skating on Sun. Then, just this week, we found out that Tue soccer has now turned into Tue & Sat soccer – they have “games” on Sat mornings. The coach said they were optional, but with only 8 kids per team, I imagine that they might need him. So we’ll go. Glad now that the Saturday Ice Skating class that we took in Feb/Mar was not offered for the Apr/May session or we would have had a serious conflict!
On top of all this, my Java class has been going on as well, with assignments due every Monday. Getting harder and requiring more and more time each week. We have our final assignment due on Mon and our exam due next Mon and then I’m done. Thank goodness! Not that it wasn’t a good class, but I’m ready to be done.
Alex will be testing for his Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do a week from Tuesday. As it works out, the testing starts 10 minutes after his soccer practice ends. It’s going to be a long night since it doesn’t start until 6:45 – he’s usually in bed an hour later. I’m not totally sure he’s ready to test, but his teacher says he is. We need to start practicing at home every night. I mentioned it to him last night, but we never actually got around to doing it. Oops.
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04.28.12
Posted in Alex at 6:42 pm by Eric
This is a tale of Alex in Tae Kwon Do class. Back in January when the grandparents came up for a visit, they took Alex to his class. I was not there, but was told of Alex’s first attempt at the double front kick.
The instructor announced that they would be trying the double front kick. They set up a floor mat in case the students fell. And the instructor slipped on two smaller target mats, one on each arm. The object of the move is: from a standing position, jump up and kick both target mats, one foot on each, at the same time, and land back on your feet if you can.
The instructor said that if you fell on your butt, that was ok; and she would give everyone three attempts, and then go to the back of the line. She had one of the higher belts demonstrate the kick. After his first attempt, she said, “Nope, left hit first”. On his second attempt, “Nope, right hit first”. On the third try, the black belt landed both kicks on the targets at the same time.
The instructor asked who wanted to try next. Alex said he wanted to try next, but he wanted the targets lowered a little bit. The instructor lowered them and Alex got ready.
*B-BAM* Alex his both targets on the double front kick, and landed on his feet the very first try! *B-BAM* Alex did it again on his second try. *B-BAM* Alex did three double front kicks, hit the targets at the same time, and landed on his feet every time! He did this by watching the move only moments before. The instructor was impressed, and challenged Alex, “Do that again!”
*B-BAM* *B-BAM* *B-BAM* Alex went 6 for 6 on the double front kick!
Grandma and Grandpa witnessed this feat, but I did not. I did however
go to a later class in the same session. Here is what it looks like.
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Posted in Alex, Beth, Holidays, Jenna at 3:02 pm by Shannon
Yes, I know I’m a bit behind on this post, but I did warn you that I was going to be busy with my class. Only 2 more weeks and that will be over!
Our Easter started the weekend before Easter. I took Beth to the Easter Egg hunt at the Y on Friday. Alex had won a ticket to the Milwaukee Admiral’s game that night (for reading) and Eric went with him. So I took Beth by herself. She had a great time. They had different stations. She made some bunny ears, got her face painted, played in the bouncy house, met the Easter bunny, and hunted for eggs. She was very ready for bed that night!
Here’s some pictures from that:
The next day (Sat) was the Easter Egg Hunt at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Olya both works there and is an alumni and she can invite friends. So we met her and Bill and their three boys and all of us went together. First they hunted down their 15 eggs each. That didn’t take long. Then we checked out the room with all the snakes and fish and turtles. The kids really liked that. From there we went and found the bunny mask craft room. While we were there, we got word that we could take as many eggs as we wanted because turnout had been lower than expected. So the kids loaded up their baskets. They must have ended up with 30-40 eggs each! More than half the eggs were candy (as expected), but they also got 4 eggs that turned out to be bubbles and 6 eggs that turned out to be self-inking stamps. (They’ve been using these on the bedtime chart!)
With the Easter Bunny:
Making bunny masks:
Wearing bunny masks:
As bunnies, with the bunny!
On Easter we had Jenna with us for the second year in a row. Saturday we decorated eggs:
We started the day around 7am with the Easter Egg hunt. Each kid had 12 eggs to find. We found it rather amusing when they told us that they still had one to find. And we couldn’t find that last egg. Turns out that both the little ones miscounted and already had all of theirs!
Then we opened the presents from grandma & grandpa.
(Jenna had a card, I didn’t take a picture.):
Around lunchtime, we had Easter dinner. Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Lemon-Dill Carrots, Honey Cornbread and Bunnies made out of pears. The bunnies were something Alex had done at school and wanted to do at home, so we made it into a family project right before dinner. Everyone made their own bunny:
Overall, it was a quiet, low-key kinda of day for everyone.
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Posted in Alex at 2:16 pm by Shannon
Alex had his second school program yesterday. The theme for this year was Under the Sea and his class happened to sing and dance to “Under the Sea” (from the Little Mermaid). It was quite entertaining. I took a couple pictures, but they’re a bit hard to see because we always end up towards the back. But they should have a DVD later this year which I will buy and post the video (like I did last year).
Alex is in the blue:
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03.27.12
Posted in Beth at 9:16 am by Shannon
Everyone knows the Geico commercial that has the pig in the backseat of a car going “Whee, Whee, Whee” all the way home, right? Here’s the link if you have somehow managed to miss out on this: Geico Piggy Commercial
I apparently have my own little piggy!
About a week ago, Beth started saying “Whee, Whee, Whee” from the backseat of the car. When I asked what she was doing, Alex said something about a pig and TV. Then he joined in. Oh. My. Goodness. I can listen to one kid do it for a few minutes, but once they’re both doing it, it’s just too noisy and I put a stop to it pretty quickly.
Since then, she’s done it to Daddy once and to me at least 3 more times. And she just sits in the backseat and grins while she does it until I look at her – then she grins bigger. Little stinker!
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03.20.12
Posted in Alex, Firsts at 8:34 pm by Shannon
We bought Alex his first 2-wheel bicycle today. We’ve been talking about it for a few weeks now, and looking into used ones. I wasn’t really finding anything really cheap and then figured out that buying a used one was going to save us like $10 over all. Then the ad for Toys R Us came out this weekend and they’re having a bike trade-in sale. Bring in any used bicycle or tricycle and get $20, $30 or $50 off a new bike (depending on the cost of the bike you’re buying). So we decided that rather than hang onto the very old, cruddy 20″ bike that we were given for Jenna (that Beth probably wouldn’t use for another 6 or 7 years anyway), that we’d trade it in towards a new bike for Alex.
So Alex and I went bike shopping today. I was quite surprised that several of the bikes were sold out already – we were there a little over a week ago to figure out what size bike Alex needed and all the bikes were in the racks. Because of that, I almost had to buy a $79.99 one, but at the last minute I spotted a $59.99 one. The bike itself was missing, but the tag was there. I asked the lady that was working there about it and she said she was actually about to go get that bike down off the upper rack. So Alex tried that one out, and he seemed to be able to handle that one better than the one we were about to buy. They were both 16″ bikes, but the frame on the first one was a little bigger, I think. So we took the floor model of the cheaper one home since it was the last one they had. And I got them to waive the $10 assembly fee since I would have gladly taken it in a box if I could have. Plus we got $20 off for the trade in. So Alex is now the very proud owner of a new bike:
And Beth has now inherited the tricycle that we bought Alex when he was 3.
Alex didn’t actually ride the tricycle until he was 4 1/2, when his legs got long enough to reach the pedals. He rode it last year as well. Beth is able to ride it this year, at 3 1/4. And hopefully in a year or two Toys R Us will do this sale again and we can trade in the tricycle towards Beth’s first bike.
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03.16.12
Posted in Alex at 8:11 pm by Shannon
Or maybe I should say “Happy Leprechaun Day”, as Alex has been referring to it all night. Alex is so excited about Leprechaun Day. He’s hoping to see one. In fact, he built a Leprechaun Trap!
His plan is that the leprechaun is going to crawl up the ladder in the front (click on the picture!). Then, because the paper plates are not well supported, the leprechaun will fall through and get stuck. Of course he was also talking about the leprechaun leaving chocolate gold coins behind if he got out. The leprechaun must have been out of gold coins, because he left behind some gummi berries instead. From the looks of it, the leprechaun must have had wings like Alex suspected because he flew right out the top! 
Fortunately, Alex also suspected that the leprechaun was going to escape. He would have been bummed if he really thought he could catch one.
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