MariCagle's Violin Recital

Just over a week ago, MariCagle had her end of the year violin recital at her teacher, Mrs. Cohen's house. She performed two pieces. The first was a special number that she performed with her friend whose practice time is just before hers. Their practices often overlap a little and they get to play together some each week. Mrs. Cohen helped them to come up with a little scheme where they each pretended to have a broken arm, and played one violin together. One held the violin and fingered the strings while the other worked the bow. Everyone got quite a kick out of it especially with their miraculous recoveries to play each of their solo pieces. MariCagle's solo piece was 'Perpetual Motion.' It's a pretty long piece for her, but she still managed to play it from memory. I was especially proud of her handling her mess up at the end. She hung in their until she and Mrs. Cohen were able to get on the same page and then finished the piece gracefully. She truly did great, but you can judge for yourself! Enjoy!

MariCagle and her friend playing 'Aunt Rhody'

MariCagle performing Perpetual Motion

Our Favorite 'Grader'

It was a bittersweet celebration, but we celebrated nonetheless that our little girl is officially a 'grader', i.e. a first grader. She had such a wonderful Kindergarten year...we are incredibly thankful for her super teachers and her wonderful school. It has been a great experience for us all!

The children celebrated their graduation by presenting a reading of Dr. Seuss' 'Oh, The Places You'll Go!' and adorable songs. They received their diplomas in style and celebrated with cake and goodies afterwards. It was a great end to an even greater year.

Below are some clips from the graduation day. My pictures did not turn out well - they were all very dark - maybe one day I will figure out how to deal with lighting issues. Happy Summer everyone!!

The first clip in this video is MariCagle reading her part. She had the last lines of the book. She did a fabulous job! And the second clip in this video is MC receiving her diploma.

This song was my favorite, though it's really hard to choose. MariCagle is just so animated when she sings. I love it! Her love for singing just shines through.

Here's the one picture I took that turned out. Our baby!!

Happy Birthday Nate....again!

Nate enjoyed his second birthday party at Nana and Pa's over Memorial Day weekend. (I'm a little behind in my postings - sorry.) It was a great weekend because of the party Nana had for him and because of the awesome time we had hanging out with family. It was a real treat having most everyone there, even Grandma and Papa. (We really missed you Cindy and Newman!) Pa's boat was lots of fun with rides on the lake and a little skiing fun for Mom and Dad. And the grown ups had lots of trash-talking fun with Pa's other new toy - the pool table. It was really a fantastic weekend! As I type this, it makes me miss everyone that much more - hugs and kisses to all of you! And we'll have more fun next time we all meet back at the homestead. :)

I guess it was because I was having so much fun that I only got pictures of Nate's party. I always forgot to take it on the boat! I'll do better remembering it next time. Enjoy these of the Natester having pirate fun. He was especially patient as he had to look at all of the big presents wrapped so nicely for a 24 hour period before he was allowed to open them! Aren't we cruel!?!

What child doesn't love blowing out the candles?
Nate certainly doesn't shy away from the attention!

Nate got fabulous presents. He is still enjoying everyone of them, especially since we've started our summer break. We are always first to admit that our children are spoiled! Thanks to everyone for the great gifts. Thanks especially to Cindy and Newman for the awesome super soaker. We will certainly bring it back when you're visiting so that you too can enjoy it! :)

I think this shot sums up the weekend nicely. We had such a wonderful time that we were all quite exhausted by the weekend's end. Can't wait until next time! Until then, take care everyone!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Four years ago God delivered us our beautiful son Nate and we celebrated his existence this past weekend! (The first of two birthday parties, this one being held at Grammy and PopPop's, and next weekend we will celebrate again at Nana and Pa's - believe me, he is worth at least two celebrations.) :) It was a pirate party as Nate is THE pirate expert, and thanks to friends and family, he had a fantastic time. Check out the action below.

Here with his homemade Backyardigans birthday cake. That blue icing was mighty tasty!

Argh!
Check out those pirates. There was quite a battle with those foam swords!

Make a wish!

Welcome Albert!

We welcomed our new baby, Albert, the labradoodle, this last weekend. He was introduced to the kids with a little romping in the yard. Both Nate and MariCagle are very excited though a little skittish. Skittish because they quickly found out exactly how pups like to play...nipping at moving objects especially little toes that run away from them. :) So we will be working on breaking Albert of that habit, encouraging him to chew his toys not Nate and MariCagle. In the meantime, we're working on building up the kids' courage with supervised playtime with Albert. MariCagle is taking it pretty hard. She says she is very frustrated with herself for being scared because she loves Albert. So sweet! We are trying to assure her that we will teach Albert not to nip at her. She still loves him though and we're looking forward to many more romps with the little pup. You can check out more about Albert on his blog. Yes, Brandon has created Albert's very own blog as a sort of scrapbook for our new pooch. The link can be found in our favorite blogs list. Enjoy the video and pictures!

Meet Albert!

Nate is able to match Albert's energy. They are great chase partners.

Albert loves his stuffed platypus. So far it's his favorite toy that Nate and MariCagle have picked out for him.

Video experiments...

Brandon has been fooling with our video camera - trying to learn how to edit some of our film. Here is his first try...a some clips of the kids playing at the UF water fountain this past Saturday.

And a shorter one of Nate getting soaked.

Our Weekend

Can you tell that we're busy around here? It seems like I have something new to post every other day!! I am getting much quicker at posting too. :)

We had a great weekend! Brandon and the kids made Mother's Day very special - I was completely spoiled! MariCagle said she had a fun Mother's Day too. :)

The kids also got to participate in another kid's race. This one was called the HERO Run. We fibbed a little putting Nate in the big kid race for K-8th grades since he wasn't satisfied with just the sprint last race. They both ran a 2K route with MariCagle finishing a couple minutes ahead of Nate. (We'll chalk it up to shorter legs.) Despite efforts to point out the importance of doing your best and having fun, their competitive natures still played important motivating roles. MariCagle ran most of the way with her eye on passing the people in front of her. Nate walked a little more but became motivated to run as soon as he noticed someone coming up from behind him. After the race, we took the kids to a fountain on campus to play in. They had a blast cooling off as you can see.

Hope all of you had a great weekend too! Enjoy the pictures!

Check out those pink faces! They were ready for some Gatorade and a cooling off surprise...