MJMJ turns 2!

Here is the video slide show of MJ2's past year. Those who get an e-mail version of this blog will have to click through to youtube.

Bring Forth The Light! - It's Official.

I hopped over to itunes this morning to see if the album had posted and it has! 

Congratulations Michael on another album well-done. 

 

Halloween 2011

This year Michael picked the theme for the Halloween costumes. We are kind of heavy-handed with the theme. When Michael recommended that the girls dress as nuns, none of them took the bait. Then, we realized that almost all of the nuns that they have met just wore plain clothes. So, we spent a bit of time on google images and they finally agreed that it would be a worthwhile costume.

Michael was also kind enough to set it up so that I did not have to sew the costumes. Annie has been begging to sew. I have little patience for kids helping me with projects and I ALWAYS do sewing after they are all asleep. Michael has a friend from the core team who was willing to invite Annie over each Sunday afternoon and they worked on all the costumes together.

In St. Louis, when you go door to door, you must tell a joke in order to receive candy. Last year it was so adorable to watch Charity, dressed in all feathers, tell the "why did the chicken cross the road" joke. I decided that I would search for some "clean nun jokes". After a couple of hours, I finally found some that were not about nuns getting pregnant.

We had planned on just dressing MJ2 in all black and calling him a priest. The night before I realized that he did not own any black shirts & that target did not have any. I decided the morning of Halloween to make him the little friar's costume. I think it was the cutest of all. So much better than all black.

The next week, the PSR classes did a Saint Discovery day, so the costumes got to double as a Saint costume there. Bonus!

Charity is FOUR!

BIRTHDAY!~!!!

It's "birthday season" at our house. It starts with Michael's May 10th and finishes up with Cecilia Sept 14th. Annie is the odd one out with a Dec birthday.

We made this little video for Michael's mom, Stacy on Aug 6th. I thought some other people might enjoy it, too.

Charity Dances

This one is just a quick fun one. No story. Charity just cracks me up how involved her dancing gets. I think the mirrors have helped.

Another YouTUBE success!

Some of you ay recall that I had youtube teach my kids how to tie their shoe. It was great. This discovery has become very valuable since I have learned that Trinity's learning style is that she does not want to be corrected or told what to do. She likes to learn new things, but she does not want to feel "dumb" by being told what to do. She will sit alone and practice until she can do a new skill and then she will show off so she can be praised and congratulated.

So, last summer, Michael taught her how to ride a bike without training wheels. She picked it up very quickly, but was scared to go more than 5 feet before she jumped off the bike and stopped. I tried to give her some practice, but I was home with a newborn baby, her, and 3 OTHER kids. Each time I went in the alley to teach her all the younger kids followed into the road. Trinity got frustrated and gave up. After about 3 days of her stealing her sisters' bike and multiple kids crying during what was supposed to be our "fun" activity, I gave in and put the training wheels back on. Michael was frustrated with me, but live goes on and summer ended.

Fast forward.

This year for Trinity's birthday she received a basket for her bicycle. She was pretty excited, but when we put it on, the tire was flat. I am not talking about a popped tube, but the treads were worn completely through. She was bummed that she could not ride it, so we promised to fix it the next day. I already knew Target did not have one (I've been keeping an eye out because I knew it was in bad shape), so we drove to a Wal-mart and they only had one in black and I was not sure the width we needed. I thought for $7 we would try it. When I got to the check out it was $19. I returned it right away and came home to check the size (it was not the right width anyway). We had to order one on-line - a 5 day wait.
     So, Trinity was bummed, but I promised to fix it the day it came in. It arrived as we were cleaning out the basement. Michael made a priority to fix it. Trinity changed clothes, got her helmet and began to cheer him on saying, "you're doing a great job dad!" But, he was unsure how to fit the tube in and poked a hole in the tube with his screwdriver. We were toast from cleaning all day and explained it would be one MORE day. Bummer.
    The next day I got a tube at Target and fitted it and Michael bolted the wheel back on. Trinity changed clothes, got her helmet and watched intently, but Michael refused to put the training wheels back on, so Trinity calmly decided that she did not want to go on a bike ride that night with him.
     While he was on his run, I talked Trinity into watching a you-tube video instruction of how to ride with no training wheels. She agreed to watch, but insisted that she would not practice. She watched the 6 min video produced by REI and at the end she had decided that she was ready to "try". I have learned to never correct her, but I reminded her of the tips on the video & that even professionals practice to get good at their skill. She was pretty good within a half hour. The next morning she rode to church and by afternoon she went on a 3 mile bike ride to the park. GREAT.

    We all went to the front yard to ride bikes and I notice Annie is stealing Charity's bicycle. I told her to go get hers. It is missing! Someone stole her bike and helmet from the side-yard. We have always kept them there, but I guess since she got the new one that is a larger size it was suddenly desirable. I found someone selling matching bikes for $15 each. They had bought them new and kept them at their house for their grandchildren. I bought both of them. They still have full tread on both tires and no rust. I let Annie pick the color she wanted and put the second one in the basement. I told Charity if she got really good on the balance bike we could take her training wheels off and then she could have the blue one. She is pretty excited. I think that will be next year, though. 

Finally, after a week we all have working bicycles again!  It is the new craze. Even in 95 degree weather, they want to ride bikes as soon as they get home form school. They even rode them in the morning before school. Next Saturday, we have appointments at the safety stop so we can get the $8 helmets.  

All is well in the Mette house.

MJMJ turned 1!