Monday, June 27, 2011

Baby, Take a Bow

Sheridan has found her true love in life.
Dance recitals.
She enjoyed the class, sure. But the thrill of the performance is where she's at! This is the ONLY picture we took of Sheridan in her dancing threads. She got to do 5 different numbers (with 5 different costumes--she was in HEAVEN!). Sheridan LOVED being on stage. She found her mark every time and grinned like a maniac the whole time. Immediately after each number she would ask "Do we get to do another one?!?"



Um, no stage fright there! She comes by it honestly...
You might not want to see all 5 of Sheridan's numbers, but there are grandparents and stuff who are obligated to pretend like they want to. Here are links to all 5 (the files were too big to post here...). This is for you, grandparents and stuff! Get out the popcorn and enjoy the show!

(No offense to the camera man, but the camera doesn't focus that well on someone so far away...so she's a little blurry...and he was only interested in one kid--ours!--so you miss out on some of the funniest stuff with the other kids. But I'm pretty sure you'll get the idea. :) )



Oh, funny things to look for? She always goes back to her "mark" on the stage--it's fun to watch her remember that and adjust herself. Her plies also CRACK ME UP!!! She never figured out how to turn out her feet, so she struggles with them! She also got more and more tired as the recital went on (since it went from 7 pm until almost 10:30!!!) so she gets a little punch drunk. Enjoy!
ABC




Gimme a Little Kiss




Dolly, Won't You Dance With Me?




Big Cats




Baby, Take a Bow

A T-Ball of Fun

Ah, the wonderful T-ball season in Provo ended this weekend with Capri Suns and medals. Jack played for the first time this year, and Tyler ended up coaching the team. They had a lot of fun together. Fortunately, our friends Aunt Jenni and Uncle Corey came to the games. They helped me wrangle the other 3 kids, since Tyler was otherwise occupied. Jenni even took all the pictures (since, although I had brought my camera, chasing after 2 kids isn't very conducive to actually getting worthwhile shots. Thanks, Jenni and Corey, for supporting Team Vigue!).

The T-Ball team agreed to call themselves "Lightning", as per Jack's suggestion."Cuz we're really fast."

Jack learned lots of skills and had great fun playing "the intro to America's favorite game".He liked playing in the outfield, where he honed his sweet dancing skills and got to wear a blue glove. He also enjoyed playing outfield because he "gets to rest a little". There were, unfortunately, no daisies for him to pick out there, cuz otherwise he would've been in heaven.

Outfield for T-Ball is anywhere from the back of the dirt to the front of the grass (and yes, those are the technical terms for such places). They smack those balls pretty hard. Jack liked playing outfield so much, that he forgot to come in when his team came in to bat. So when our 2nd or 3rd batter smacked one into the outfield, Jack was really proud that he fielded it. I think he was a little disappointed when Tyler made him come in and bat!Jack also really enjoyed batting. He had his stance down pat by the second or third game. His favorite place in the line-up to bat is LAST. That is because, in T-ball, the last guy up to bat gets to hit everyone in--it's like an automatic home run. At the beginning of the season, he'd just watch for a minute after he hit the ball. Sometimes, this resulted in the other team actually getting the ball to first base and getting Jack out. That was very sad, but he learned quickly! Jack did not like to get "out". One time, I think he wanted to bat last, but he'd already batted last once in the game. He wanted to hit a home run. So, although the play was over and his team members were on the other bases, Jack just kept running. No one really noticed until he was at third base. Before the next batter had hit the ball, Jack ran all the way home! Talk about ingenuity! They taught the kids the traditional team high-five line to end the games. That's right, in T-ball they're all about "sportsmanship". No one even gets to strike out!





Watch out, it's Coach Tyler comin' to getcha! He really enjoyed coaching T-ball...he won every game and got to yell to his heart's content (stuff like, "Go, Jack, go!" and "Alright! Great hit!!").Because babies under 6 months can't use most popular sunscreens, poor little Amelia got swathed in layers of light blankets and hats. (I think I'm going to invest in zinc oxide sunscreen so she can actually get out and be protected without sweltering!) Fortunately, Uncle Corey and Aunt Jenni weren't opposed to help hold her during some hot games.

This was the other way we kept Amelia out of the sun. Stroller-shade!
Sheridan spent most of the games tagging along with some girls a few years older than her. She liked it best when the games were played at the field by the park, because then she could play instead of pretending to care about the game. I mean, really! Henry was a good fan. He was willing to keep cheering as long as I gave him enough water and crackers.

Let's hear it for some summer fun!

More Miss Mia!

There are some pictures here that were taken this month. Just wanted to warn you so you don't die of shock. Ha! Take that, you people who say I never post anything current! (Yes, I know June is almost over, but those last few pictures will be current for a whole 3 days!)Just shy of 2 months! Her little smile.


Cute little pixie-girl! Our fabulous friend made this sweet little hat for our 2 month Amelia. She is suitably shocked and awed by the knitting skillz! EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!! 2.5 months
"No, really, I'm totally awake. I'm not falling asleep! See how open my eyesszzzzzz...."
2.5 months






At 3 months, Amelia finally got to meet her Great-Granpa Larry and Great-Gramma Diane. (Due to various health, school, and work conflicts, we weren't able to arrange a visit any sooner). Gramma Di got some cute pict...unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures with them!Look at that little tongue sticking out!One of Mia's favorite toys is her play mat. She love the giraffe (pictured) but the elephant seems to be her favorite. Surrounded by some of her favorite supporters ("Pearl" at top left, "elephant" at front right), at 3.4 months, Amelia learned how to roll from Back to Front. She didn't know quite what to think abou this new skill.But, a few weeks later, she's totally gotten the hang of rolling and is proud of the results!


Here she is at 4 months, rollin' like a homey."Love to all my loyal fans!"Yo.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Christmas in June

That's right, kids, Christmas in June.

Or, really, remembering in June that we haven't blogged about our wonderful Season due to less-than-wonderful-happenings in January. More on that in a future post, I'm sure.

Sooo, back in December we got a lovely, formerly-alive Christmas tree. It smelled DIVINE and the kids really enjoyed decorating it. As per their request, we went with colorful lights.





Jack had crazy hair day at school. I think. Or, he got really bored and decided a fauxhawk was a good way to combat that boredom...

Henry loves a good smoothie! Look at that happy boy! I could just eat him up (especially since i know he's berry-flavored now...and because it might stop those tantrums...)


Ummm, not really a festive picture, but it was a breakfast-for-dinner in December. Which resulted in the aforementioned smoothied-Henry. Fierce.

For our first Nativity re-enactment, Jack decided to be the shepherd (as in, he decided at the last minute that he WOULD NOT be Joseph. That caused us to re-shuffle all the other rolls...)


Shockingly, Sheridan was picked to play Mary. I know, I know, I was the pregnant one...Tyler was the understudy for Joseph, so with Jack's switch-a-roo to shepherd, Tyler got to shine in his role of SuperDad.

Henry was the sleepy Wise man. Carrying a toy fox. On a sweet wooden rocking horse. Really, he was thrilled with his roll. So thrillllllzzzzzzzzzz....

There was snow here in December (and in November, January, February, March, April, and May...none so far in June...). It was very gorgeous and deep in December. It was annoying in March, April, and May.

Before Christmas, Tyler and his dad (who was out from NJ) got to go to the U of U Bowl game in Vegas. They had a nice, safe, fun time. It's not often Tyler gets the chance to have one on one time with his dad and he really enjoyed it.
Then, we had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As a fun first, we got to have Tyler's mom and dad with us on Christmas Eve! That was a first, and we had a blast. Grammy and Pop are always fun!

On Christmas Eve, we once again acted out the Nativity. This time Henry was a rockin' shepherd (again, on the awesome wooden rocking horse) and he actually let us dress him up.


Here is Sheridan as...wait for it...an expectant Mary. I can't remember if she had YellowBear or a doll in there...

Jack agreed to lend his thespianatic skills to the roll of Joseph. He was so cute as he pulled Sheridan from "inn" to "inn", looking for refuge! Grammy played, of course, the angel! (It makes sense, as she is often the bringer of news in the family...and she is so good!).


The shepherd found the baby asleep in the pack-n-play. I don't have a picture of Tyler-as-Wise-Man, but you can rest assured that he knocked that roll out of the park.

We celebrated with hymns of Christ throughout. Singing Christmas Carols is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and it feels so special and sacred to do so on Christmas eve.

Oh, and the kids got new PJ's. Then they got sent to bed. Tyler and I were up, as usual on Christmas Eve, far too late. But everything came together in the end:).

Christmas morning dawned bright and not-too-early. Santa DID come and visit the kids. I guess they were good after all! He brought Sheridan and Henry this sweet play house
and he brought Jack this fabulous easel. Which he loves and has gotten more continuous use out of than almost any gift he's ever been given (other than, perhaps, books).Jack got a bunch Star Wars paraphenalia (surprise!), books, and legos. Henry got a SWEET wooden ramp that Tyler built. He sent all of his cars, movies, books, and gloves down it. They had to go down the ramp when they were opened. It was hilarious. I mostly lounged around and watched them open stuff. I was 8 months pregnant. I was just happy that they were happy! (although I was also happy that I got a toaster oven and a bunch of other handy kitchen gear).
Sheridan got a lovely little princess baby. And a bunch of play food, books, dolls, and toys. She was happy (this was a very rare calm moment!). We got to eat a yummy breakfast with Grammy and Pop, and then my brother and his family joined us later in the afternoon. We had a lovely dinner with Tyler's sister and her family.

Surrounded by family and friends was the best way to celebrate the season of Christ's birth!