Mazurka

This is the last of the recital dances for the KK girl and it is her ballet number. I wasn’t able to record this particular dance during practice. Thus the vantage point is much further away. She is the second from the top of the screen in the right hand side line. From there you’ll have to do your best to follow her. : ) Again, apologies for my oh so fine camera recording. Blessings on your day!

MVI 0712 from Jess on Vimeo.

Boogie Woogie Jitterbug

Kiersten did two tap numbers, the second of which was the Boogie Woogie Jitterbug. She’s such a knock-out. Did I mention before how proud I was when I saw her? : )

She was hamming it up for the camera. Such a nut! (I am not feeling super wordy so I’ll just cut to her dance, if you don’t mind.)

Boogie Woogie Jitterbug from Jess on Vimeo.

Amazing

That Kiersten-girl did an amazing job at her dance recital. I was just so proud of her!

This year was different for me in that I hadn’t seen Kiersten perform or really even practice any of these dances from start to finish until rehearsal. In the past I had always seen the dance long before the recital and that just wasn’t true this year. I have to say I was blown away by how amazing she did! I really shouldn’t have been because she always does a great job. I suppose it was the element of surprise in seeing it for the first time.

Recital week can be a bit exhausting and I could see it on the faces of those Mom’s newly joining the ranks. Each year gets better in that I know what is coming and can better adapt to it. Not sure if that makes sense- I suppose there is just some comfort (if that is the right word) in knowing what’s expected and how long and late the performance is going to last.

This year I had Kiersten take a rest-time both days of the recital. She laid down in her darkened room and listened to a story on tape and then fell asleep for a little while afterwards. That was a saving grace as she performed her last number about 10:15 both nights. (Have I mentioned she is a trooper?)

Well, I have hemmed and hawed enough already. Here is Kiersten performing the Waltz Clod! (P.S. This was rehearsal and Katie was working a bad nerve. I apologize in advance for my camera taking skills. The few times the camera dips a certain someone was yanking on my arm. You’ll hear my response to said behavior too! Oh dear.)

Waltz Clod from Jess on Vimeo.

(P.S.S. This is only dance #1 of #3. So, more to come!)

Wishing for Sweet Slumber

A few mornings ago I was in the kitchen cutting watermelon only to come out and find this exhausted little man curled up and fast asleep. He was smack dab in the middle of the others doing their thing and it hadn’t mattered. He was done for.

He had woken up quite early for him (5:30ish) and hadn’t slept super well the night before. I was going to wake him up after only an hour so that he would still take an afternoon nap, but when I went to do so he was sleeping so hard I left him be. Three hours later he roused himself. He has been battling a cold that just is hanging on tight and I know that all the rest he can get is precious and only aids in him getting better. (No, no afternoon nap was forthcoming after that marathon morning nap. : ))

I wish I could say it is only Zeke that has been depriving me of sleep in the middle of the night. He isn’t the main culprit. His next oldest sister, oh mercy, can she scream in the night. I can’t explain it but Katie has become terrorized by things in the last 6 months or so that didn’t bother her before. And as with most things involving small children there is no logic to her terrors, no trigger either, they have appeared almost out of nowhere.

The terror that is affecting sleep is her terror of The Train. We live a hop, skip and a jump from some railroad tracks. Have all her short life. Trains come through during the day and night. When the operator lays on that horn…that is it. She comes running for me. And in the night she comes screaming down the stairs. I wake hearing her and The Train simultaneously and leap from bed to meet her halfway. Thankfully all she needs for me is to hold her until The Train has completely passed by and we can no longer hear it.

It used to be that the operators working through the middle of the night would ding the bell more so than lay on the horn because, I don’t know, with the traffic lights programmed to shift to flashing reds and yellows at 11 p.m. it is safe to say not many people are out. It doesn’t seem to be a shared philosophy with the current operators. They lay on that horn something fierce.

I have tried to take away her nap (it has been coming, this just sped up the time table) in order to have her go to sleep more exhausted and hopefully less easily awakened. It works sometimes and others not so much. On particularly rough nights when she pleads with me to sleep with her, I do. I have a rough time of it and now I only give in if, after putting her back to bed after a Train episode, she returns because she can’t sleep.

Thankfully she cuddles into my back and doesn’t thrash around too much. And her bed is on the lower bunk. : )

Like all things…this too shall pass. Let’s make it soon, ok?

Handmade with Love

Kiersten has taken up making some gifts by hand and of course with love. Embroidery, with all its colors and fun patterns has made an impression. We stumbled upon embroidery by accident, really. The art book we were doing had a lesson where they talked about embroidery and then had the kids made a drawing of what they might embroider. I guess that just didn't really compute with me. Draw an embroidery idea? Why not just embroider for real? While I knew this probably wasn't super practical for Isaiah, I didn't see any reason Kiersten couldn't give it a go.

With embroidery on the mind I went to the best free resource a girl has- the library. We found some real gems in the way of books to get us started. One of them was this book -

There were really cute ideas and patterns. We just needed something to get us started. Kiersten chose a sampler type project.

There were a few different types of stitches used; satin stitching, french knots, stem stitching as well as back stitching were involved. The backstitch stitch is Kiersten's favorite. She did a really wonderful job. The sky is the limit now.

The other book she really likes is this one:

There is a CD inside to print off the patterns/designs. This particular gal uses some really eye catching colors which completely appealed to my girl.. I'll have to add a picture another time of the under the sea bag Kiersten made for her cousin.(We gave it away before getting a picture of it.) All the patterns and color ideas came from this book and it turned out really lovely.

After the sampler Kiersten decided to get a set of 3 plain bags in order to embroider them and then give them away. The under the sea bag was one gift and then Kiersten made this bag for another birthday gift.

I gave her a little help adding the fabric on. We got the 'pattern' by tracing the cover picture of a sticker book the girls had. Kiersten was pleased with how it turned out. : ) Next she is on to making a bag for herself. You'll have to tune back in to see the finished product!

Something New

Oh dear. I fear we have entered a new phase in parenting we were blessed to have avoided this long. This past weekend while we were visiting my in-laws Zeke took a fall. I didn’t witness the actual tumble, just its aftermath. We can only surmise that our littlest man fell and hit the edge of the coffee table.

He had a small gash on his lip but it was a bit wide. I will say that is the most I have ever seen one of my children bleed! My mother-in-law saw the cut and felt he would definitely need stitches. No one has had to have them thus far so I was clueless. We went to the walk-in clinic near their house and being a Saturday, it was rather hoppin’. To my surprise we were checked-in and then a medical assistant came out and said they would prefer we went elsewhere! Another first, being turned away from a clinic before the doctor even sees you. The doctor said they would rather we went to the emergency room to have him looked at.

I have to tell you that at this point I am wondering if this cut is serious enough to warrant stitches or action of any kind. Zeke was all smiles, had eaten some food, was running around smiling and his cut had stopped bleeding. I will saw it wasn’t scabbing over or showing any sign of starting to scab.

Anyhow, we went to the nearest children’s hospital. When the triage nurse was looking him over I had to ask her if this kind of trip to the emergency room was really necessary for his cut. She assured me it was…because his little gash had gone over the line of his skin onto his actual lip area.

To make this long enough story come to an end I’ll tell you the little guy received three stitches. He was such a champ through the entire day. It was close to 5 hours after he actually fell that the stitches were put in. In all that time he was a gem. We laughed and played and snuggled. The tears and wails were only heard the first 10 minutes after the fall and the last 10 minutes when they were stitching him up.

This parenting deal leaves no room for dull moments, does it?

A Star (or two) is Born

Kiersten and Isaiah were asked to help the kids pastor at our church out. I have to say I had to beg and plead with them. (Oh, please. It was almost comical trying to figure out who asked who to do this project. The kids were that excited.) You see Mr. J wanted the kids to take part in an espidsode for Orange TV.

This past summer Orange TV was birthed and has become something my kids look forward to. It is a way of further connecting Sunday morning lessons to home. Even with the wider range of ages in the kids - the 9 year old down to the 1 year old- all get a kick out watching what Mr. J puts together.

Anyhow, Mr. J called and asked if Kiersten and Isaiah would come in and film with him. He wanted to put together a quick tutorial for how to find verses in your Bible. Mr. J later confessed that due to Kiersten's animated facial expressions (which he had observed and taken note of on Sunday mornings) he thought she would make a great co-host. (She clearly lived up to his expectations in this department- you'll see what I mean. : )) And even though Isaiah didn't get to be on camera he had a blast being there while they taped and adding his voice to part of the show.

Dare I say a star (or two) has been born? You'll have to take a peek and cast your vote!