a fairy tale kindergarten performance

Perry participated in his school's Kindergarten fairy tale performance!

 

These cute 5 and 6 year olds came onto the stage and sang song after song about nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Perry was most excited about the big bad wolf song and hickory dickory dock.

 

  

He was an absolute cutie up there front and center dressed up as a knight/king Peter. Just don't look too closely at that ragamuffin costume! 

 

Perry was excited and happy and that's all that matters. I just wish he hadn't changed his mind  5 min before we left so we could've had him a little more put together. You see, he had agreed to be Peter Pan. We have a really nice Peter Pan costume and it would've worked perfectly for the performance. But right when it was time to leave, he refused to put Peter Pan on. So we began a frantic frenzy trying to convince him to wear a costume! In the end, Kyler's old King Peter (from Narnia) costume won so he could be a knight. Like Eric said, this wasn't a very good costume to begin with and now 7 years later it was not holding up very well! Oh well. He was pleased and I was proud of him for doing so well at the performance.

Meet Reddy Firebolt

I caved. Not to the extent that they were hoping when they began begging and pleading for a dog. But still. They got more than I would like. 

They have all wanted a dog forever, but Kacin and Layla got a little more intense about it and began conspiring together to convince me to let them get a pet. They once spent a good 20 minutes while we waited for an eye dr reasoning and pleading and promising everything under the sun in return for a dog. No joke, they even went as far as to say not only would they pay for the dog and everything it needs and take care of the dog, but they would also stay home from every family vacation to care for it. 

We have had the dog discussion time and time again. But today when it started Eric threw out  a "let's go get a fish." And since I didn't protest too loudly Kacin, Layla, and Eric jumped in the car before I could change my mind. They came home later with a beta fish and a win of a Goodwill find fish tank.

That's how we got Reddy Firebolt. But some members of the family will only be referring to him as Firebolt.

 

So there you have it. The first Allred family indoor house pet. 

 

  

bug catching

I subbed in Layla Belle's kindergarten class yesterday. I loved watching her interact with the other students and follow the classroom routines so precisely. 

But my favorite was when we were outside and I brought some of the students into the garden. I overheard Layla telling another boy, "Isn't my mom so nice because she lets us find bugs?" And we found all sorts of bugs! Layla was in heaven digging in the dirt and placing her treasured bugs into her jar.

 

   

a castle

I woke up this morning thinking about how much time I have spent between dr.'s offices this last week. Thankfully nothing too serious around here! Just allergists, eye drs, check ups, and labs for different family members. But I have spent 10 hours with all of these various drs in a span of one week!

Kacin needed a ride to school today so he could turn in his castle project. He worked with a friend over the last few weeks to make this football themed castle.

 

   

These Days

 

Eric is back home from his business trip and life is just so much better when he is around. I'm so grateful for cell phones so we can stay connected when he is away, but talking and family prayers are just not the same over the phone.

 

I don't know if I've mentioned this on here, but Eric started a new job over a month ago. I think in the long run it was a good decision for our family to accept this new position, but I was mourning for a few weeks when it hit me that Eric was really leaving microsoft. I don't know why exactly, but I felt such an attachment to microsoft. Maybe it was because of all the family picnics we went to there or because of the amazing benefits that allowed us four weeks together after our adoption and to build up our savings and never worry about anything medical. Mostly I just felt so much gratitude for the company that made it possible for us to move back to Arizona. But it was time to make a change and we are grateful Eric found the job he did.

 
I stayed up too late last night at my article group (like a book club but instead of reading a book we read an article or listen to a TED talk or whatever). We were discussing a documentary we watched on PBS called "The Bad Kids." I am so glad I watched it! And I love getting together with those ladies and talking about interesting topics, and what's going on in our own lives.

 

I was talking to a friend the other day with three little kids. I think her oldest is in second grade. She mentioned something about how much time I must have to myself with my kids all in some kind of school. Ha! It is amazing how that "free time" fills up so quickly to the point that I am always playing catch up. And probably part of it is also that with older kids, my evenings have become busier than ever and we all get to bed later than I would like which means less time for me to do things in the evenings like I used to.

 

I have a gazillion pictures on my phone waiting for me to sort through. Here is to hoping that this is my week!

 

*all pictures in this post courtesy of Layla

today

We are still without internet today.

However, Layla and I accomplished something pretty wonderful. Something that needed to be done for quite some time. We cleaned the car! She loves her job as official vacuum-er. And then requested this picture once the task was done. 

 

And, also, by her request, once we were finished, we were off to the dinosaur museum.

 

 

blue nails

I wrote an entire blog post today. I finally had a chance to sit down at the computer. But before I could publish it, our internet went out. I haven't been able to get it working yet so blogging from my phone it is.

Without it, I have come to see how reliant on the internet we are--Perry wanted to play a video game, Kyler needed to finish some stuff for school, I had some bills to pay, etc And none of it could happen without our internet connection. 

Layla and I stopped at the library tonight after dropping Kacin off at practice. When we got there, I noticed her hands.

 

She had been working on art projects right before we left. Apparently, one of those art projects was giving herself blue nail polish (with dot markers). She has asked a few times over the last few days to paint her nails with nail polish, but we haven't had a chance to yet.  Well, she decided to take matters into her own hands. I remember doing this with crayons when I was little, but the markers are much bolder.