Field Photo Shoot

On the summer bucket list Laura wanted to take pictures in a field wearing a flower headband that she made. You know me and making summer wishes come true (remember the mermaid at the pool story last year?) 
This girl could get her picture taken all day. If you look closely, you might see some sparkle on her ear lobes as she got her ears pierced on Tuesday!

Stay tuned for Aunt Liz's wedding post coming soon!

New York-New Opportunities

Eric and I got to spend four days in New York City! We visited all the places tourists go in NYC-Central Park, Empire State Building, The One World Trade Center, 9/11 Museum & Memorial, Times Square, Metropolitan Museum, Carrie Bradshaw's stoop, and Live with Kelly & Ryan!

Of course a trip to NY wouldn't be complete without visiting the Statue of Liberty. While visiting, I thought of our relatives that didn't know the language, didn't know the living conditions, and couldn't bring many possessions with them on their voyage. However, their fear of the unknown was outweighed by the hopes and dreams of the opportunities the new world could provide for them and their family. It made me proud of our forefathers for their bravery and sacrifices to ensure the family's future of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would always be a "given." Basically it made me want to wrap myself in the American Flag. 

Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is this month's theme as Eric started a new job at Business Solver in West Des Moines. He is the Assistant Vice President of Production and Planning. Just like our forefathers, he decided to take a leap and embark on this opportunity. Unfortunately, just like many of my forefathers I'm sure if I tried to explain what that title really means I would get it all screwed up. 

Careers

I found this in Laura's backpack. So many possibilities! 

Spring Break

We went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado with Tim's family for spring break. We had a great time! Enjoy the highlight video.
https://animoto.com/play/1tykxl0eNwNPsPDhxJFzjA

Broadway Babies

Laura likes to be dramatic at home so I had a hunch she would enjoy attending a six week acting class through the Des Moines Playhouse called Broadway Babies. At the end of the six weeks there was a 10 minute performance for the families to watch. Laura had 3 sentences to memorize and a couple of songs to sing with a group of first graders. There were no costumes, no make-up, a flimsy looking back-drop, and one boy in the group that was trying to tie his shoe for a large portion of the performance. Although the set was weak, Laura's stage presence was not. She smiled the whole time and loved every second (600 seconds to be exact) of performing.


Broadway, here she comes....baby.





I found this note on Laura's desk. She wrote this thank you note without any prompting from us. Love her!















Sooper Bole

Someone was "sooper" excited about the Super Bowl. In our house Super Bowl night = nachos for supper in the living room. It's the little things...

Firm Voice

Last week Eric and I received this email from Sam's preschool teacher. FYI: News Reporter = it's your day to bring 2-3 items to share for show and tell. Sam brought some gems and a Lego camera to share with the class.

I am emailing about an incident that happened at the end of the day today. At the end of each day, we have our News Reporter go up and share what they have brought. As you know, it was Sam’s day. Unfortunately, Sam was in the block center helping clean up when the News Reporter was asked to come up and share. Another student came up and started sharing Sam’s treasures. We didn’t think anything about it, because we hadn’t double checked who the reporter was, and this student had a great imagination…the stories sounded so realistic! Terribly, we realized the mistake too late, when we saw that Sam had come to the carpet, was sitting and listening (poor kid!) and began to get upset. We all felt terrible about this oversight, and remedied the situation quickly. Sam bounced back so quickly, but we all felt so bad. L I pulled the other student aside and talked to them and then also with Sam. I told him it was ok to be upset and how we were sorry this happened to him. I told him not to worry if there is a mistake to tell us. He can always tell us anything. He nodded and understood. I told him I would also email you and let you both know about what happened. I’m hoping he will be feeling better by the time you see him, but I wanted to make sure you knew. Sorry again about this happening! We will make sure to double check jobs!!


When I picked up Sam later in the day I asked him how sharing went. He said it was good except for one mistake. He said that he cried because a boy took his treasures and  he was afraid that he would never get them back. :-( He also said he's not sure if his friend was lying or not because the friend told the class he found the gems in his backyard. I love that Sam assumes positive intent and I also love that his preschool teacher went out of her way to let me know what happened. Mistakes like this in preschool can happen and it would have been pretty easy just to sweep this incident under the rug.

A day later I told Laura this story and she said, "We have got to work on Sam using his firm voice." Lord knows if this happened to her she wouldn't have been sitting on the classroom rug crying. How in the world did I produce two very different kids?! And how in the world will they ever know how much I love and adore both of them for being just who they are?