Dance dance revolution

Behold the cute: my little ballerina at her very first dance class. I might have died from the adorableness of it all.

Rocking the bells

Yesterday morning I dragged my sleep-deprived ass out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8:30 (shut it, I was up for an hour at midnight and again from 4:30-6:30 a.m.) so I could witness my first-born sing in his first Christmas concert.

I had tears in my eyes -- hormonal? Perhaps. But it was just so cute and I was so proud of him and I couldn't help myself.

I present to you, "Jingle Bell Rock" by the 3-5-year-olds. May your holidays be full of mixing and mingling!

Lame, but cute

I don't have the energy to post anything of substance tonight because I spent three hours painting Emmie's new bedroom and then I went out to dinner with my friends. Let me be the first to tell you that I overdid it and my body is not pleased with me. I told Josh I am retired from painting. He said until tomorrow. He's so concerned.

In place of witty blogging, here's a video of Jack singing a cute seasonal song he learned at school.

Goooallllllll!

Not only was it the big first day of school this week, but it was also Jack's first soccer match last weekend. He had two lame practices in preparation for the actual game, which consisted one week of a circle of kids kicking the ball to each other and another week where they had no coach, so he kicked the ball around with Josh and his uncle Thabu.

The day before the big game, Josh and I decided we needed to start some serious training. We figured a regimen of two-a-days, wind sprints and dribbling drills would be a good way to start. But then we realized we would have to show him how to do the wind sprints and that would really suck, so we took him to the park for some one-on-one instruction instead. We took his goal and ball that he usually uses in the house to the park and kicked it around for an hour. And yes, Josh lets our kids play full-out soccer in the house. Also, T-ball. Which Mommy doesn't allow because the ball hits the flat-screen and Mommy doesn't want to replace it.

When we showed up for the game bright and early Saturday, ours was the only kid running laps on the track. I mean we didn't make him, he asked! Who am I to deny a vigorous pregame warm-up? By the time the team picture was over, Jack was raring to go.



There are 10 kids on each 3-year-old team and the rule is five of the children play 10 minutes, then they have halftime and the other five kids play the second half. Jack started off the game and on the first possession, this was the result:



Seriously, look at the ball-handling skill on that kid. He scored on TWO goalies. I am seeing Adidas contracts in our future.

Emmie apparently doesn't think Jack is all that, as she refused to watch him play and instead spent her time ignoring him and sitting on the track. She likes Ronaldo and can't be bothered to cheer for anyone else. That's the Brazilian Ronaldo, not the other one.



A few plays later, he scored AGAIN. If he's going to play like this, we need a celebration move. I am taking suggestions, if you have anything clever. Ripping his shirt off and running downfield is so 1999.



Then, when the second half started, they asked if he wanted to play goalie. Yep, my kid doesn't sit. He's that good. Guess who blocked two shots on goal, shutting the other team out for a 3-0 victory?



We'll be stepping up the instructional time from now on, getting him a private coach to work on advanced heading and dribbling techniques. I figure he'll be ready to move up to the 4-year-old division next week just so he doesn't get bored. He also travels with his own personal fan club.



Clearly, my worries about him not inheriting my athletic ability were unfounded. Thank God he takes after me. (Although my family would tell you he's a lot faster than me already. And I can admit my one weakness; speed is not my gift. Good thing I batted left-handed because I was already one step closer to first base on that side of the plate.)

Shake it like a Polaroid picture

Jack and Emmie had a dance party in the playroom today. I'm not sure what kind of music the kids are listening to these days, but I just don't get it.

Peek-a-boo!

This weekend, we were waiting forever at the pharmacy for Emmie's presciption and she amused herself by learning to play peek-a-boo.

Why is she on medicine again, you might be asking yourself. The answer would be because she has her second double ear infection in the last three weeks. I suspected this one after the snotty nose became green-tinged, the low-grade fever stuck around and she was awake 6-7 times per night, including an hour-long screamfest at 3 a.m. on Friday night.

The doctor said if she has one more ear infection before February, we'll probably get a referral to an ENT. Of course we will, because this poor kid hasn't been through enough in the last 11 months. Of course she'll get tubes too. Par for the course around here.

Anyway, here's the sicky demonstrating her newfound skillz.

Aaaand, we're mobile

I am not ready for this.

In the space of 15 minutes tonight, Emmie learned to crawl and pull herself to standing. ON HER EXERSAUCER. Which she promptly let go of and fell right on her fool head. There was much crying, some of it mine, lamenting the loss of everything I held dear to me, such as having one child who could not get away from me.

She's fussy, but damn it, she was going to pound out some tunes on that baby grand come hell or high water in this example.

So happy together

On our recent vacation to the North Woods, one in which we saw an actual BEAR run across the road in front of us, Jack and Emmie spent some time playing together.

I managed to get their antics on camera. From her reaction, you can tell how much she adores him. I think he's starting to dig her, too.

Rounding third, heading for home

We spent our Mother's Day at the Brewers/Cardinals game in Milwaukee, where Jack got to run the bases. I think he runs better than Albert Pujols right now.

You Are My Sunshine

He's the next American Idol, mark my words.

The promised veggie video

I am back from San Francisco and had a great weekend. Apparently, so did Josh and the kids. I arrived home to find Josh sitting on the couch with a sparkling clean house, freshly scrubbed floors and all the laundry for the four of us washed and folded. Can I go away every weekend?

Josh promised some video of Jack eating his veggies, so without further ado...