Talents . . don't hide 'em under a bushell

Thus far in 2011 the kids have had several ops to strut their stuff. Gunner played his fill of Winter Basketball. He had a good season and gained a bit of confidence on the court. The team had a run and gun philosophy which Gunner had to adjust to on the fly. It was also too bad that Joe couldn't coach this year. He was too busy balancing a career at Boeing, A new law practice and this thing on his head. Maybe next year. Regardless, the season ended on a win and the Boys had fun.

Our token boy also had his third Science Fair. This year he crushed sugary breakfast cereals and used super powerful magnets to extract the iron and see which cereals came out on top. Not surprisingly, Grape Nuts won in a landslide over the likes of Cookie Crisp and Trix. Gunner was just happy for any reason to consume sugar cereal. Gunner, with much encouragement from me, also tried his hand at Choir this year. Mostly because they get to sing the National Anthem at a Hockey Game and stay out late watching the high-sticking, beatings and eating concession stand food with friends. He had a few concerts I was able to attend and they were actually pretty good. Way to stretch those vocal cords son.
And don't forget those hidden talents. At the Church talent show, Gunner played a lovely rendition of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with his recorder. The trick is, he played the whole song with his nose. Take that recorder haters!

Scottie, budding gymnast that she is, finally got her chance to compete in a meet that wasn't on a Sunday and she did great. She has gotten so good and though she still doesn't love the arm- breaking beam, does it anyway.Scottie wowed us by qualifying for sectionals and then amazed us further still by making it to state and getting 8th place! We are so proud of her for overcoming injury and manging to do so well with out competeing on Sunday.Finally, the girls both opted to perform in their school's Talent Show. Scottie treated the crowd to a modified-to-fit on the stage Floor routine.

Tess impressed with a vocal rendition of Believe from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. I was so proud of her. Not many kindergartners have the chops to get up there at all and on top of that she sounded beautiful.

She even added some tiny dance moves and sang out loud and clear.And it doesn't stop there, recently she just decided she wanted to learn to ride a bike. So, she did. After a half hour of coasting around with no petals, Joe screwed them on and after about another half hour of trying she was off. No rage, or breakdowns or tears, she just did it.

A Spring Break Blip

We've been sick an extraordinary amount of time in the last 6 months. So often, in fact, that Tess and Scottie threw up in the exact same place, outside the bathroom, in the hallway, but one month apart. It puts a damper on late winter and early spring fun but then, so does the weather around here. But, we were so lucky to have family stop in for Spring Break.
If we were at a restaurant I would say, we'd like a side of fun with our illness and that's what we got. Our family was sick before they came and sick again after but the time the cousins were here was great. We all went to the Science Center to catch the Star Wars exhibit. "Take that Vader, Still got you by an inch!" Betsy really struggled with the idea of Luke Skywalker cutting of the Snow Beast's (Wampa) arm. To her he looked soft and furry. Ah well, it's good she figure these things out early. We also invaded the cousin's hotel pool and enjoyed pizza and movies together.

Arriba!

As per usual, we celebrated Cinco De Mayo complete with Pinata, Satan's candy and Joe telling the kids stories about being so poor they traded their Mexican neighbors on the border for school shoes. Ahhh, good times.

We also discovered the holiday has nothing at all to do with what we thought it did, Independence from Spain, the Alamo etc. but we like the food and cracking the daylights out of our unsuspecting Pinata so we are going to forge ahead regardless.

This year the festivities started late as Joe did his best Mozart impression, furiously pounding the keys of his laptop to compose a patent until the very moment I set the enchiladas on the table. Scottie was wailing, tearing her hair and beating her chest, all the appropriate woe for losing her rubber duckie for several hours before the fun started and the remaining three kids, hyped to the level of greyhounds on race day, kept yapping out, "Are we starting? What are we eating? Is there a Pinata? Does it have regular candy? and on and on and on. I finally had to pull the mom line that I still don't seem mature enough to use, "If this is a tradition we want to continue, sit down, be quiet and Scottie splash some water on your face!"

The food was good, the Pinata was great and the candy was as sinfully disgusting as usual. Seriously how can you take sugar and make it taste like the gates of hades. Some of the confectionery combos were as follows: Chili, Lime and Sugar powder. Tamarind rind, Sucrose and Red 40. And my favorite, tiny plastic pots of sweet gooey, brain matter.This is the look of a person who just enjoyed a generous amount of "Limon." A little packet of something that resembles a pixie stick. It's nothing like a pixie stick, as Tess can attest.I have to commend Joe for once again being brave enough to hold the rope for the Pinata. I threw in bumpy nerds and fruit snacks to be safe but all enjoyed the festivities. Next year we'll have to invite friends; Just bring a fervor for all things Mexican and leave your taste buds at the door.