My Big Sister's Graduation

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This weekend by big sister Patti graduated from college. Almost the whole family was there to celebrate. My sister Pam's family was missing. Her son Ethan had surgery last week and was still in Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. This is the first movie I've made. Hope you enjoy it.

My Wonderful Husband

Today I spent the day at the Saint Louis Zoo with a bunch of first graders!!!!!!!!!! My wonderful husband met us there and helped me out. It would not have been fun without him. Thank God I had one of my student's aunt who came also. She took five of them around the zoo. The other four lost their priviledge to attend due to behavior issues. We had so much fun. Some of these kids had never been to the zoo before (it's free too)! It was sad to see how some of them were scared to be near the exhibits. They did feel more comfortable as the day went on and all had a great time.

Once we returned to school, those left behind were told tales of our great adventure. Mr. Roberts was the topic of much discussion. One of my boys said his favorite part of the day was when Mr. Roberts said, "Okay guys, here's the deal. If the lions get loose, it's every man for himself." We also heard many accounts of "Mr. Roberts acted like he was going to throw me in with the (fill in any animal)" and "Mr. Roberts tickled my back, I thought it was a bug." James spent a lot of time with one of my little boys that I would love to adopt. So many of them don't have great home lifes. It was great to see James showing them an example of what a great father acts like. I hope it's an impression that stays with them. It was a fun day!

Beware, now that I know how to upload videos, you'll be seeing a lot of them. Here's Austin at his 5th Grade band concert. The video of them playing the hymn was too big, so here's the warm-up. Now I do have to preface this saying, the 5th graders had to choose an instrumental family at the beginning of the year. Austin chose brass. So throughout the year he learned to play the bells, trombone and trumpet. Then for fourth quarter they chose the instrument they wanted to stick with for next year. So really they have only been playing their one instrument for about three months.

Here's another video of Dylan playing guitar. This song is Greensleeves. You might now it as What Child Is This. I'm constantly bugging him to play this one, which irritates him tremendously. So, we decided to video it. Now he doesn't have to keep playing it for me.

Finally, I figured out how to post a video. Here's a video of Dylan playing his guitar. He loves this little song. It sounds awesome when he plays with his teacher, Ben. Ben will play a different part and it's so cool. Dylan has been playing guitar for two years now. He's only nine years old, but reads music with ease and keeps time well. Ben says he has a hard time challenging him. They've moved on to learning more cords. Now if we could just get him to play in front of people. He's definitely got to build up his confidence if he wants to be an entertainer some day.

A couple of months ago, Dylan had a consult with the orthodontist. Dr. Morrell asked him if his crooked teeth bothered him. Dylan said, "Yes, I need to get them fixed so I can do commercials and movies." At least he knows what he wants.

Our actor has begun his career. Dylan participated in his first play ever on Thursday night. He played the part of Chief Sankasabe of the Osage Tribe. He looked so nervous, I thought he'd throw up. But if I do say so myself, he was the best Indian in the play. Here's a picture of him hamming it up at home in his costume. A couple of my fingers got burned hot gluing all those feathers on, but he sure looked cute. James shot a video of it. Once we figure out how to upload, we'll post it.

Last week Austin had his first band concert. He had spent the last two weekends practicing his trumpet at home in preparation for the concert. Our dog, Buster nearly died prematurely on first hearing the trumpet being played. I laughed so hard I had to leave the room. At first, it did sound like a wounded animal, but even Dylan the music critic had to agree it sounded much better after two weeks of practice. I was so proud of Austin at his concert. There is a video, but I can't get it to upload to the blog. I'll try to get it on later.

Honest Abe. What a sight to see.

It might be a little blurry (the wind was crazy), but what a beautiful view from the Lincoln Memorial.

The capital building. Didn't actually go in it. Maybe next time.

The start of a very long wait to see the Declaration of Independence. Look at the well behaved brothers.

Okay. We've waited long enough. Let's put each other out of our misery.

Spring Break

For Spring Break this year, we spent three days in Washington, DC. We walked our butts off and had a lot of fun. This was our second trip to the White House that week. Of course, for those of you who know us, we are last minute travelers. This does not work well with the new security measures in DC. We were unable to secure a tour of the White House. Did we know three months before that we wanted to go? So, instead of going inside, we stood outside the gate watching with envy as people were screened by secret service at the gate. I told James we should just set up a tour for anytime and fly to DC for the day, just to see the White House.

Don't you love how I put the camera through the bars of the fence. It actually looks like we were on the lawn. After this we walked to the Lincoln Memorial. This was probably our favorite thing in DC. It is definitely worth the long hike, and breath taking to see at night.