"I'm a Big Brother?"

The shirt says it all...I think?

More playing...

And let's not forget Charlotte...now 5 months old!

Concert...

Thought I'd show my loyalty to the symphony by getting the word out about our concert this Saturday and since my lovely sister already wrote up a little invitation for the deal (thanks, Bek!), I'll just insert it here:

Dear Students and Family (and Friends),

Symphony of the Southwest (formerly The Mesa Symphony) is having a concert this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. featuring two winners of a local and international piano competition. It will be an exciting and beautiful concert in an amazing performance hall at the Mesa Arts Center. If you would like to attend and receive 50% off your admission ticket, use this promo code: MSO-ORCH-51. I believe the code will work online or at the door, but I'm not sure, this being my first season with the orchestra. Hope some of you can make it!

-- Bekki Lyman

Seriously though, for any of you even remotely interested in a night of culture, this is the event for you! And I don't say so just to get you to my concert (last chair...remember!), but the Beethoven and Chopin piano concertos are AMAZING! Take advantage of the 50% off! This is what it's for. Here's the website for more info. on the concert. http://www.mesasymphony.org/

Halloween Hangover

Well, it's been one of those "8 AM time-out" days (see Joni's blog) and I'm not sure if it's because of the sudden influx of sugar in their diets, the 5:30 AM wake up call (Ellie's idea), the spur of the moment decision to potty train (ran out of diapers) or simply that I'm a bad mom who on days like these just wants to throw in the towel, put on a show for the kids and sit down to some blogging. I'm not ready to admit to the latter just yet, so we'll just go with any of the former justifications. At any rate, the kids have been sat down to a show and I'm ready to blog! Here are some fun Halloween pictures from last night.

Jonah was an "Injun" (Ninja) turtle...

Ellie, a princess...

And Charlotte, Little Red Riding Hood. Halloween photo shoot with some of the Allred girl cousins. I think the fairy theme was a popular one this year.

Faith and Ellie being cute...

Luke and Jonah being cute...

The loot...and yes, those are full-sized candybars!

Mystery Solved...and the Cutest Lil' Fire Fighter You Ever Saw

I was scanning through the pics on my camera the other day and was surprised at what came up...




And then I remembered...nap time, one week ago. Turns out I took the nap and Jonah had fun with the camera. The self-incriminating evidence is overwhelming.

By the way...this is the picture I was looking for when I turned on the camera.

Jonah's first preschool field trip at the fire station.

A Good Day

So, I was reading through my last post and decided that was too much of a downer to leave the most recent post. I've rediscovered how important it is to have my kids work right along side me, or rather for me to work with them as was the case today. Lately, if I get the dishes done it's because Jonah has asked if we can do the dishes. I figured I better jump all over that while it lasts. I used to rinse, and he'd load but because it's so much more fun for him the other way around, I've given in to the watery mess and have let him do the rinsing. Today, after we were done he paused on his way out to play to say, "Thank you for letting me do the dishes, Mom." Uh....okay. I'll take it.

So then later, or earlier I guess, he was helping me fold laundry and I taught him how to turn the clothes outside-in. Who would have thought something so menial could make a kid so happy? It was like Christmas morning! Ellie's job was to carry the piles (that are no longer piles when she's through with them) upstairs to their rooms. Yeah, she's still in the "not-so-helpful" helping phase, but it is pretty cute. It's nice that Jonah can be quite competent when he puts forth the effort. It gives me hope. And Charlotte--well, we'll give her a while yet to prove herself.

I've been "tagged!"...ergg!

So I think I'm supposed to write six things about myself that maybe not everyone knows and then tag six others to do the same. But then the first thing about me is that I hate forwards and little gimmicks like these that we're supposed to pass on. It's not that they're not fun, I appreciate reading others' but seriously I just can't stand the pressure. See Elizabeth, look how long it has taken me to get to this and I've felt guilty every day I've put it off!!! Is it worth the guilt...no, but here I am feeling guilty anyway.....SO, I'm sorry Elizabeth but I'm ending the tag on my line! And of course I still love you :)

On to number 2... Just about every other day I'm struggling not to yell at Jonah. He knows how to push my buttons and often does.

number 3... I play LAST chair in the Mesa Symphony and try my darndest not to show how much I'm really faking the parts. To my credit, I do wish so badly I could lock my kids up in a room for a few hours to allow me time to practice, but I just think that's mean.

number 4... I want to cry every time I think about Virginia and all my friends I used to have and how I don't have any now.

enough with the depressing...

number 5... Bedtime is my favorite time of day (both my bed time and the kids). I LOVE laying down next to Jonah, singing him songs and having him wrap his arms around me and tell me he loves me as he falls asleep. It makes number 2 (see above) worth the struggle.

number 6... I love to read, but I'm an embarrassingly slow reader and often don't finish the book before (or even after) it's due date and end up returning it half (or sometimes 1/4 ) way read...like the book I just finally returned to the library today. Again, to my credit, this was my third attempt but the stinkin' book drop was out of order each time I tried and there was never time to go in! Goodness, life can get frustrating over the silliest things!

Follow Up...

For those of you who weren't sure what "Rest position, feet in line" was all about...



She got a little distracted by Charlotte there toward the end. "Sharwut! Sharwut!"