Happy Birthday to ME!

Sorry the lighting is weird on this one...

Today was my happy birthday, and my girls, of course, made up a song and dance to commemorate the occasion:

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom

You're the best of the best of the best

No words can describe

How great you are

You take care of us

And feed us

Talk to us

And help us

So thank you,

We love you,

Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom

That was your birthday song,

It wasn't very long

Hey!"

Museum of Flight

P's parents are visiting us from Illinois, and so he took the day off on Tues (since the girls would be out of school for Veteran's Day). But, what do you do in November in our area?! Go to a museum, of course! All these years, and we've never been to the Museum of Flight, so we decided the time had come. Not being a huge fan of things-that-fly (unless I'm on one, headed someplace fun), I was surprised I liked it as much as I did. It was very hands-on and the kids LOVED it! It wound up being $3 cheaper to buy an annual pass than to pay admission for all of us, so you know me, always looking to save a few bucks...we are now members! So, for those of you in the area, let me know when you want to meet us there!

Dream On

I had a dream the other night that we needed to escape quickly and we couldn't leave any trace of being where we were. Everybody was ready to flee, except for me, 'cause I kept picking up toys and clothes, toys and clothes and they just seemed to keep multiplying. I was frantic! The bad guys were coming any minute and I couldn't get our "evidence" gathered up quickly enough!

M says, "I think that means something, Mom..."

"The Better to See You With, My Dear!"

M was thrilled that her glasses (finally) came in today! The world is bright and beautiful again!

P is calling her "M Palin" ;)

"The Princess and the Pea"

The Missoula Children's Theater came to M & E's school last week and both girls were lucky enough to get parts in their "Princess and the Pea" production. It was based VERY loosely on the original story, so don't worry, there were parts for boys. :)

Try-outs were on Monday, and M was given two parts, so she then had rehearsal from 3:50 (when school gets out) unti 8:15pm on T, W, and Th nights! E had an age appropriate part and "just" had to be there from 3:50-5:50 on W and Th. Friday, they were kind enough to dismiss the entire cast at 5:50 so they could go trick or treating! Saturday, we were at the high school for dress rehearsal at 9am, and then they had performances at 1 and 4pm, so that was a long day to cap off our long week!

M's roles were "Fuschia, the Flower Gardener" and one of four "Phony Princesses." She had some great lines and really played them up. We got many compliments on her expressiveness! E was a Dust Bunny (lived under the princess' bed). No lines, but she danced and sang a couple of songs with great cuteness!

As you can imagine, they ate it all up and had a great week. I couldn't believe they never once complained about being tired or having to wait their turn. We have a professionally recorded DVD of the show if you ever need some cheap entertainment!

Halloween in Kindergarten

I spent all day on Thursday in E's kindergarten class (they don't go to school on Fridays) celebrating Halloween. I was pleasantly surprised that they let the kids wear their costumes to school all day! We set up stations for them in the classroom, and then they got to do a little parade through classrooms in the school. It was cute to watch the girls be excited to see each other when the class went through Maren's room!

Another parade picture, and I really like E's strut...she looks ready for the "catwalk!"

Ah, Halloween in kindergarten. Does it get any better than that?!

Trick or Treat

I don't know why the pictures loaded in reverse order, but I'm going to just go with it! Here are our happy treaters with their loot!

We went to a nearby neighborhood for the most amazing trick or treating we've ever seen. If I ever needed to make a movie with a trick or treating scene, this is what it would look like. Most homes were all lit and decorated a la Christmas, except it was Halloween themed stuff, of course. I didn't take many pictures 'cause I wasn't sure how they'd turn out. But, here's one of our "Pink and Black Ballerina Princess Cat" warming up near a fire pit (there were several out in people's driveways) with a cup of hot cider they were also passing out...along with the candy!

M isn't in this pic b/c she and daddy were a few houses down at a "haunted" house. They were kind not to scare her, but we sure saw some freaked out pre-teens come roaring out of there! She is very proud of how brave she was to go there (but daddy says she went just to the edge of the garage and wouldn't step in...they brought the candy out to her)!

There were several inflatable Halloween decorations out, and we got a kick out of this one (reminded P & I of Death Eaters from Harry Potter)

M decided to be an Indian princess this year and I totally lucked out and found a friend who already had the velvet dress. We added some layers and accessories (thank you, Goodwill, for the cool fringe leather belt and Target for the moccasins). Viola! E's costume was also easy...she was a black cat last year, and wanted me to make the same costume again, but in pink. We tried on her black one, and it still fit in the bodice, but the legs were about 4 inches too short. Thank goodness leg warmers are making a comeback (?), 'cause we just added those and I cut apart an old pink boa for trim, and she had already acquired the pink cat mask somewhere along the line this past year (thank you, Claire's). I was so relieved to get out of full-blown costume sewing this year!

Both girls insisted that they each bring along a webkinz...M brought "Joshua" to be her "hunting dog" and E brought "Shado" b/c she is a cat, too. We tried to convince them that they were taking up valuable room in their buckets with their pals, but they could not be persuaded, and we figured it would just get us home sooner, so it was all good.