My Children in November, 2009: The Violet Edition.

Violet, ever the performer, learned about the school's Lip Sync competition and she set about perfecting her performance of Avril Lavigne's song "Girlfriend" (Kids Bop Edition, so it was clean... LOL). She tried out and made it to the finals! When it came time for performance night, I helped outfit her in full ROCKSTAR clothes, complete with rad makeup.

She decided that ROCKSTARS are tough and don't smile for the camera.

They also pose like this:

Then I made her practice singing to get some "action shots" ;)


SING IT SISTAH!

Fortunately for me, I can always get my girl to smile ;)

The competition was great! Violet did a fantastic job and really worked the stage... up until the very end, I thought she would definitely have a chance at winning - and then, the last entrant performed. She sang Miley Cyrus's song "Party in the USA" and it was like we were actually watching Miley performing. Props! Choreography! And Impeccable lip-synching! This girl was in a league all her own. Violet loved watching her and getting some cool ideas for how to improve her next stage performance, and I was pretty proud of her for thinking that way. I love my girl :)

My Children in November, 2009: The Riley Edition.

My First Grader has been dying to lose a tooth! He is one of the last in his class that still have all their baby teeth, and he was getting pretty antsy... especially because for the past several weeks his bottom two teeth have started loosening. Well, a couple weeks ago he came home from school pretty excited because his loose tooth was REALLY SUPER LOOSE! I told him that if he worked at it, he could probably get it out today!

First, he had to see how far it would bend forward and back, side to side -

It was even starting to bleed, which I told him was a GOOD sign! That meant it was breaking free!
The other good sign was when he pushed it he could hear the distinctive popping sounds when it started pulling away from the gums. The more pops, the closer it was to coming out!
It popped some more, and he could almost get his tongue all the way under it! I told him it was almost no time now...
Grab it with the tissue, and PULL!
The look on his face when he realized that the tooth that was in his mouth was now in his hand was excellent. :)
And all of a sudden, my boy's smile would never ever be the same!
The neighborhood kids (all younger than Riley) came over to check out the tooth!
and Riley was super excited to have something to put under his pillow!
And the Tooth Fairy did visit him! He got TWO golden dollars! Lucky kid!

Halloween 2009!

I know, I know, I am a little late to the game, but I still wanted to share my cute kiddos from Halloween!

Violet wanted to be a "Cute Witch" - we looked around some stores for costumes, and although we found some, I wasn't about to spend $25 for a silly witch costume. I would make it myself! (all this two days before leaving for India... tell me again, WHAT WAS I THINKING??)

We found a cute hat, top, socks to turn into fingerless gloves, broom, and material to make a funky skirt/wrap. By the time it was all said and done, I LOVED the costume. And it cost me $45. SIGH. :)

The Boy was easy. He wanted to be Snake Eyes from GI Joe. $10 in the costume section at Target, and I was done.

We also decorated the front of the house with lots of creepy cobwebs and pumpkin decor!

And Violet practiced flying on her broom... first the takeoff...
balance....
and she was off!
I think she got the hang of it! :)

Going the DISTANCE!

So as some of you know, Liane and I are training to run a marathon! We are running this January in Walt Disney World, and we are about halfway done with our training!

Many of you may ask what in the HECK am I doing... and sometimes, when Liane and I are doing our long runs, I ask myself that same question! I have never been much of an athlete (well, actually, according to my dad I am a natural athlete, but I never have had the motivation to do anything sports-wise... ha!), so why not start with something small, like a 5K or 10K, or even a half-marathon? And my answer is simply this:


It had to be something completely foreign, completely unattainable. If I thought the goal was in any way reachable, then it wasn't a challenge for me. I had to take myself COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone so I could watch myself achieve something I had always thought impossible.


I am learning, through training and through some of the things I have experienced in this last month (such as going to India), that "with God, all things are possible!"


I know that there is no way I will be able to achieve this goal on my own. I also know that I will not be finishing this race anywhere near the front. I am training with Liane, which is the best choice I could have ever made. She motivates me and challenges me, she encourages me and believes in me. The two of us are consistently the last ones to cross the finish line on our Saturday runs... but we FINISH. And we will do the same in January.


We are running in honor of those fighing blood cancers and in memory of those who have lost their battles. We are raising money for this cause (see the widget on the right hand column on my blog!), and are very very thankful for anyone willing to donate to our race!


Right now, until November 25th, we are also offering a special incentive - for every $5 that is donated to our team, your name will be entered into a drawing to win a FREE PHOTO SESSION with Speckled Bird Art Photography! Can't beat that!


TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Take a second and check out our fundraising page! Pray for us!! We appreciate all your support! :)