cheer

zoe did the cheerleading clinic again this year. john paul and i decided this would be a good time to divide and conquer, since she would be cheering right around bedtime. i went to one of her practices, so john paul got to go the night of the game. he loaded up zoe and jakob and the freshly charged video camera, and off they went. when he got home, he claimed he didn't record any of the cheers or dance because the video camera was dead. bummer. but he assured me that (just like last year) she was the cutest one out there. but still, i was disappointed i didn't get to see it. but sometimes, on sunday afternoons, we watch home movies. and when i put the most recent disc in, i discovered about 15 minutes of people's feet...on bleachers...at what appeared to be a high school football game. just sayin'.

almost famous

http://www.commercejournal.com/archivesearch/local_story_299115049.html

look who was on the front page of the paper!! the children's museum had a "mother/son pirate adventure" and jakob and i tore it up. yes, i am wearing a skull and crossbones bandana on my head. yes, i have a pirate printed tee shirt on. and yes, those are giant hoop earrings i am wearing. (i haven't worn earrings for about 12 years. i gave them to zoe. she's been begging for giant hoops. there you go.) not exactly the picture i would choose to have plastered on the front page, but this is a small town. it's not like any more than 9,000 people saw it...and now all of you.

her party

4 days after jakob turned 7, birdie turned 4. we let her be in charge of every aspect of her party. she's 4, now. she's pretty responsible. so riley chose the decorations:

• purple streamers
  pink and purple balloons
• purple tablecloth, purple plates, purple cups
• purple flowers

she chose her cake and helped decorate it:

• barbie cake with a purple dress.
• purple flowers on the bottom.
• sugar "happy birthday" letters

she chose the agenda:

• decorate bags (to hold pinata candy).
• run around and laugh and scream
• whack the pinata (a pink and purple unicorn we got for $2 at goodwill).
• get upset that your sparkly little unicorn friend has been hung in a tree and beaten with sticks and is now on the ground being torn apart.
• make candy necklaces and bracelets.
• giggle giggle giggle.
• open presents. riley's friends (or their mommies) must know her really well. she got a disney princess cd player, fancy dress up shoes, make up, and tons of jewelry.
• dress up.
• put brand new make up on anyone who will sit still.
• dance to princess music.
• eat purple barbie cake.
• scream with delight when we see that even the inside of the cake is purple.
• stick sugar letters on cheeks.
• beg to do it all again tomorrow.
  

jakob is 7

when we became a family of 6, we adopted the idea to only throw birthday parties on even years. (when they are turning 2, 4, 6, 8...who do we appreciate?) and on the odd years, they can invite one friend to do something fun. this year jakob turned 7, and that boy knew exactly what he wanted to do. he wanted to go bowling with his best friend in the world, bryan. they were in the same kindergarten class last year, and upon discovering they were both die hard star wars fans, they were virtually inseperable. we are so in love with our little jakob gray. and here are 7 of our favorite things about the boy.

1. when he wakes up in the morning, he is excited and ready to go.
2. he is sincerely concerned about all living things (and cartoon characters, cg beings, and stuffed animals), hoping they are not hungry, or cold, or lonely.
3. he is a great hugger.
4. he's happy eating the exact same thing for lunch every day of his little life.
5. his teacher insists that he is a perfect student. not caring as much about grades or being "the smartest" (although he is very smart) as he does about being obedient and kind and helpful.
6. he adores his family.
7. if you give that boy a job, he will go to the ends of the earth to accomplish it.

happy birthday, jakob!! i'm so happy you are in our family. you make us so happy.

hair

last sunday, we were having a seemingly quiet afternoon, when john paul walked out of the bathroom and said, "there is a huge pile of curly blond hair on the floor in there!" what?! that's impossible! we confiscated all scissors! (after bird gave herself layers and sweeping bangs last year, it became clear that she could not be trusted.) but i had forgotten i was letting the big kids do a craft in jakob's room. we made sure the door was closed. i don't know why that put me at ease. after all, she does have operable thumbs. so sometime between jape snoring on the couch and me playing tractors with max, riley went into jakob's room, snuck the scissors into the bathroom and cut a good 9 inches off of her hair. she came clean that she wanted short hair like one of her best buddies, caitlyn. i informed her that beau's mommy is the only person that has permission to cut her hair. she agreed. we made an appointment. and riley got an adorable new do. jape absolutely loves it, saying over and over how cute it is. and although i love it, too, i miss the curls. i miss the little girl with the curls. she looks way too grown up. and it is blatantly staring me in the face that my little girl isn't all that little anymore.

brilliant

zoe has been asking for a digital camera for over 2 years. so this christmas, we finally came through. i've been talking to zoe about cameras for months. what kind she wants, how much we were willing/able to spend, it's capabilities. eventually it came down to one camera and one camera only. she chose this camera based solely on it's color. i tried to sway her multiple times. there were better cameras, at comparable prices with better options. but that girl would not budge. not in a stubborn sort of way. more like a "no thank you. this is exactly what i want." i considered getting the one i wanted for her. the better camera. but then i imagined her sweet little face opening her present on christmas morning and seeing a hint of disappointment. and i couldn't do it. so this is the camera that i bought and stashed in the closet, prepared to wrap in 2 months. but then my precious little canon got sick, and i had this brilliant idea. what if we give zoe her present early so that way we can at least have some sort of documentation that we all still exist. so if you see pictures on this little blog, it is thanks to the little mint green block that zoe absolutely adores. "maybe i'll be a fashion photographer! smile."

sad but true

my sweet little camera is sick. specifically, her auto focus is being difficult. and her manual focus is lazy. and until a bag of money falls from the sky, so that i can take her the doctor, there will be little to no pics on this here blog. sorry about that, because it really is my favorite part of all this "blogging" business. the pictures. so i'll be watching the sky, and hopefully i can get back into my groove.