1 Year Picture Test

It's time for another of my favorite things - Pick the Bocek Baby Test! Here are the kids at 13-14 months old. You may see a resemblance among them. :-)

So.....who's who?








Answers:
M, MJ, T, MJ
T, M, E, T
M, E, MJ, E

Recorder Karate

At Campbell, during the recorder unit, they do Recorder Karate, where they earn different "belts" for learning songs - they start out simply and progress with increasing difficulty. I had been encouraging Tristen to practice at home, and he did for awhile, but we of course forgot for a time. Thus, I was shocked to find out that he earned his Black Belt! Out of the maybe 125 3/4th graders who took part, only around 25 made it to that level by mastering "Ode to Joy". Great job Mr. T!

They had a special assembly where the kids got to perform for everyone. It happened to be St. Patrick's Day, which I only discovered as the kids filed in and I thought (did they ask them all to wear green? Oh -Duh!) I tried to upload the video, but I guess at almost 17 minutes, it's just a bit much for the website to handle. You'll have to trust me - he did great!

Where's My Prince?

Some kind friends dropped off a bag of clothes for the girls, as well as a cute ride-on toy for MissE. She immediately fell in love with the pretty pink car with princesses on it. She really loves the buttons on the steering wheel that play either a princess phrase or a little ditty. Mace isn't loving it quite as much. The constant playing of the song seems to disturb his delicate auditory balance - because of course he never does anything loud or annoying. He's even been seen tossing the toy into the bathroom and slamming the door, telling MissE "No more!" I'd feel bad for him if I didn't remember the many things he does each and every day that are annoying in the extreme.

Anyway, I think this video pretty much sums it up;

Four Bright Coins

Mace's class worked for several weeks to memorize this little chant about money and performed it at Friday Morning Meeting in front of the school. Mace got to tell a joke, and he was surprisingly tentative.

My Dancing Princesses

MaraJade and Eowyn love to dance to anything, but particularly the Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses movie. I recently found my only remaining dance costume and let Monster wear it. She loved dancing to her favorite songs in dance costume - usually she's in princess costume with her Superman doll as prince! If you watch closely, you can see she's imitating the video pretty well. I know she'd love to start dance lessons, but I just have to figure out how to squeeze that into the budget!

Spring Break 2011

We had quite a bit of fun this Spring Break. PJ had the week off, and we just stayed in town but did a bunch of fun stuff (thanks to Groupons, Entertainment Book and the like!). As I recall, we went to: Enchanted Playhouse (think McDonald's playland plus Gymboree - fine, and close to home, but not worth the $7.25/kid), Precision Elite Gymnastics open gym, JJ Jump, Pietro's, bowling, swimming, plus dinner at Olive Garden. Oh, and Tristen had his first cavities filled. :-(

Maceism of the Day - 3/25/11

In the car (again), the boys somehow got to asking me about Grandma Beth. They asked if she was my mom (we've actually had this conversation many times, but I know it's confusing for them), and I replied no, she's my stepmom. Conversation followed thusly:

Mace: "Do I have a stepmom?"
Me: "No. If Daddy and I got divorced, and he married a different woman, that would be your stepmom."
Mace: Pause. "Oh." Pause. "So is Alex your stepdad?"
Me: Pause. Think...think....think...ummm.....
Mace: "No. He's just Grandma's friend." Pause. "When will they have kids?"
Me: "They're not going to. Auntie Auntie and I are Grandma's only kids."
Mace: Pause.
Me: Waiting....cringing...
Mace: "Do I have a stepdad?"
Me: Whew! He moved on! "No, but if Dad and I divorced, and I married a different man, he would be your stepdad."
Mace: Pause.
Me: "Would you like that? Having another dad?"
Mace: "No way!" Thinking Pause. "Unless you married James Bond. That would be pretty cool!"