dance dance dance

the month of june was dance month at our house. i signed marissa up for a kiddie dance camp for little girls ages 3-5 at a local studio (westside dance for those who live here and care). anywho, they met tuesdays and thursdays. the first 2 weeks segment was learning their dance for "the princess and the pea" and they had a mini-performance. we missed it because we were at the cabin, something i knew was going to happen when i signed her up.

the second 2 weeks they did "welcome to the jungle" and i attended her performance last thursday. it was cute. in my mind i had the word "recital" but that was not what it was. "program" is more accurate because they worked with kids ranging up to 14 who were in the children's' musical theater camp. so it was 25 minute musical, complete with song and dance. marissa loved it, loved attending dance each week and the whole 9 yards. travis worked that night and since it was book club and i had to get a sitter anyway, i opted to have mason stay home. for a quick reminder why, refer back to marissa's preschool program blog post and how upset mason was that he was not preforming with the other children. i was not about to fight him and try to watch her at the same time. he got to have chantay, the babysitter, all to himself and pick out a special treat before i left. he was very happy and never the wiser. :)

in costume, all ready for her big night, complete with blush, lipstick and a smidgen of mascara. fyi, will not do the mascara again. she didn't cry, just kept touching it and trying to wipe her hands on her shirt.

my view of her performance. i kept thinking, they'll stand up and dance and i'll take more pictures. nope. this was it. they ran in, sat crisscross, sang, did some hand actions, and ran off. not even part of the "finale" number. bummer.

here with her beautifully decorated lion mask. they did this during class one day.

one of her dance friends. holly?? anyway, she loved all those girls in her class.

random snapshots of the week

my little poser, always ready with a smile for the camera
an experiment, what do you think? too funky? anyway, love the gem of a blog that andrea found, check it out here
this is for marie. :) a belly shot of me at 32 weeks, taken by marissa
this is where i found my boy in the garage. we were headed out for the day and i sent him to get in the van and buckle up, i guess this also works as a form of restraining him . . .
what a character! is it a wonder i love him?

Jumping Jax

on thursday we headed to a new place in town called jumping jax. brilliant idea, fill a warehouse with 8-10 bouncehouses and charge a small fortune to let kids come play! actually, it wasn't too expensive so i shouldn't complain. anyway, after mason got acclimated, we all had a great time! we ended our outing with some much enjoyed DQ soft serve. :) glad our friends staci and christy and their kids could play with us there too, friends make everything funner.

growing . . .

is what i'm doing right now. growing me a baby in my big belly. :) went to my OB appt today. i love my OB, he's really awesome. anyway, everything is fine and dandy. i am measuring 31 weeks and that is exactly where i'm at right now. i start to see him every 2 weeks from here on out. hopefully i can get all my baby junk together in 8 weeks. bedding, check. diaper bag, check. mason's old clothes washed and put away, check. crib put together, check. blankets, burb clothes and bibs washed and put away, check. car seat and stroller, no check, but we have those picked out and are just being lazy. we are contacting the painter and getting his little room all ready.
the baby's had the hiccups several times lately much to marissa's delight. she thought it was hilarious! and mason talks more about the baby but still really isn't into it yet. it will become real enough all too soon. :)

i feel like the part in the 4th harry potter movie, when the girls from the beauxbatton academy are entering the great hall at hogwarts for the tri-wizard tournament. seamus finnegan turns to ron as their headmistress madam maxime enters, and says, "that's one big woman." that is what i feel like right now, one big woman. and i'm only growing bigger . . .

but if i am growing, that means he is too and that makes it all worth while. :)

aren't the stripes delicious?

cabin recap

all the buffalo and their new babies were out in full force in the park, we saw them everywhere.

grandma, travis and mason and marissa on the paddle boat. i was happy to be the appointed picture taker on the dock. :)

squirty

marissa putting make-up on grandma

mason's favorite spot, by the water

weinie roast

my happy campers

marissa playing with janel and payton

here is a quick recap of our annual trek to island park, idaho.

highlights: always fun to see family! travis' parents and brother troy with his wife carrie and their 4 youngest were there. good time playing with cousins. roasting hot dogs over an open fire, yum-o! going to yellowstone national park, one of my all time favorite places in the whole wide world. s'mores. i read fablehaven 3. there weren't any bugs out yet. everyone was healthy, no biting/hitting/major mason incidents, beautiful greenery most of the drive.

lowlights: cold!!! the high was in the 50's, bbbrrrrrrr. flannel sheets that make it hard to turn over, not one comfortable seat/bed in the whole place, having zero energy to chase my kids, our pyscho dog who clearly needs anti-anxiety meds, long car rides, not having my own bathroom

overall, we had a fine time. it was not the funnest cabin vacation ever and i think that might have something to do with me being 7 months pregnant. :) why didn't i realize this before? normally at home, the kids can do something to occupy their time, ie a movie, coloring, puzzles, playing dress-up, etc, and i can sit down and really not have to pay much attention. not so at the cabin. there is water out back that calls to my son in a loud, strong voice. there are older cousins who brought bikes that call to my daughter in a loud, strong voice. i felt bad because that meant that either travis, aunt carrie or grandma were constantly supervising my kids because i just don't have the stamina i used to. sigh. so thanks to them for saving the day.

the second contributing factor was squirty, our normally great dog. she has been to the cabin lots of times before, always loves being wild and leash free. but this time, she was such a weird-o when we were inside, hiding behind furniture or in the bathroom, shaking like a leaf, panting up a storm, and in general being a freak! her behavior earned her a ticket home, permanently. i think that was the last idaho vacation she will go on. and now that we are home and she is perfectly normal, i think she is very okay with that.

it was great to see family again, my kids live for visits with their cousins. plus, they absolutely adore grandpa and grandma jackman so i'm happy we went.

10 little things that make me happy

1. grilled onions on my in-n-out burger. simply divine

2. a new book

3. travis letting me sleep in and keeping the kids quiet

4. temperatures in the 80's

5. getting a baby-sitter and going out on a date

6. hearing from a good friend

7. making my bed everyday, knowing that small chore is done at least

8. long, hot showers

9.making lists, ie grocery lists, packing lists, etc.

10. a good hair day

some rambling

i feel like i haven't emptied my brain in awhile so here goes. summer feels officially here. we started our summer activities today. marissa had dance and mason had gymnastics. both went well. i prayed mason wouldn't hit/bite/maim any of the other kids in his class and he didn't. his big problem was his attention span, but i'm chalking that up to his age and the fact that today was his first day. we're going back next week so hopefully he'll catch on to the whole "taking turns" bit. and hopefully the instructor gets an assistant or something because she had her hands full. anyway, it feels good to get a routine going again.

we checked out the new barnes and noble that opened up at the mall. finally, we have arrived. a REAL bookstore in our midst, i can scarcely contain myself. i am a sucker for books and of course, didn't leave empty handed. some new ones for the kiddos, nothing for me this time. i recently ordered up a storm online at amazon so i'm set for awhile. i am currently reading "snow flower and the secret fan" for june bookclub. so far its good, although the foot binding part (its set in china in the mid 1800's) was painful and i just wanted to flex my feet the whole time reading it.

dinner group is over, last week was the final hurrah. yes, i will miss the friendly ring of the dinner doorbell but i am very excited to bust out my cookbooks again. everyday food magazine in particular is a fav of mine, but isn't very well suited to dinner group so i rarely opened them. and speaking of food, my cravings for all things red meat actually was my body telling me i was low in iron. i passed my gestational diabetes test (yippee!) but my blood tests revealed i am anemic. big surprise. hence my constant need for a juicy burger or savory steak. anyway, an iron supplement has been added to my daily mix of prenatal vitamin and docusate. :) so far so good. i am still on a honey nut cheerio fix and recently its been a lot of mexican food going down to the gullet. as my uterus grows, my stomach shrinks and i don't need to eat as much to get full. thank goodness! according to babycenter.com, he's about 2.5 lbs and his bones are solidifying so its mega milk/cheese time to get all the calcium i need.

we are looking forward to escaping to the north next wednesday as head to grandma jackman's cabin in island park, idaho for our annual retreat. trav's parents and brother troy and his fam will be there too. fun times. i'm making sloppy joes, who's excited? mmmmm, cabin food. i can already taste the s'mores and fire roasted hot dogs. i have to dig out our jeans and shoes and socks, it will be THAT much colder than here. uggghhh . . . i can't put on socks and shoes, too far to bend over. we'll see how that goes. ;)

The Big Day

okay, so i've documented the birthday party and i wrote their little birthday tributes, here is a little something about their actual birthday this past memorial day.
we started celebrating with breakfast. per marissa's request, we had mickey mouse pancakes with special syrup (staci's buttermilk syrup recipe aka crack sauce) and daddy cooked up some bacon. yum yum. we are a breakfast family, that is for sure. i think marissa could eat her weight in pancakes. and mason will eat basically anything with syrup on it. :)
anyway, they wore new clothes that we bought with the birthday money grandma and grandpa jackman sent. and mommy and daddy gave them bikes and helmets for their birthday. grandma and grandpa morris gave them each a new puzzle, and mason got the book "where the wild things are" and marissa got a new copy of one of her favorite books "corduroy" and a new book called "pinkaliscious." they loved all their presents.
per mason's request we had grilled hot dogs, chips, beans, and corn on the cob for dinner followed by chocolate milkshakes. all in all, it was a very fun day and they ate off their red "you are special" plates for all their meals. happy birthday monkeys!