Bear Down

 This year Maisy's dance recital was to Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.  She was precious and we all enjoyed watching her.  Her friends Rylei and Lexie were in her class.  Tabitha was in the Humpty Dumpty tap dance number.

 Grammy and Pop came to watch her.

So Maisy was not the only performer this year.  Miss Vicky, Maisy's dance teacher mentioned that their dance had appearances of the 3 bears.  She asked for volunteers.  I was very quick to volunteer Brett to be Papa Bear and Wilson to be Baby Bear (or Junior Bear as Miss Vicky liked to call him.)  Some other mom volunteered to be Mama Bear.

Brett and Wilson surpassed the description of "good sports."  I could only describe their performance as stellar.  They certainly embraced their roles as bears.  Wilson tried to pretend he was annoyed at having to do his brotherly duty, but every time he practiced with the dance class--he got praise and candy from Miss Vicky.  "Such enthusiasm!" she would say to Junior Bear.  Very impressive.

Above is a video they made together to remember the whole experience.  I hope you enjoy Bear Down.

1st Day of School

Okay, Okay.  So, it's been awhile since I've posted.  I feel like we've been busier than ever before!  I'm ready to catch up though.  Here's a few pictures of the first day of school.  This is Maisy and Wilson with our neighbors Nate and Andrew.  We have been carpooling with them for a few years now. 

This is Maisy on the 2nd day of school.  I couldn't help but take another picture of her!  She looked so darn cute!  Below is Maisy and Wilson on the first day of school.  We have them stand on the fireplace every year so we can see how they've grown.  Ace will be standing with them before too long!

You're a good man, Wilson Gustaveson

 Wilson recently performed in his first major off-broadway production: the McKillop Elementary School production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He was cast perfectly as the role of Linus in the play, and he did a magnificent job.

Wilson rehearsed for months and improved his acting, singing, and dancing skills.  One of the highlights of the night was his solo performance, My Blanket and Me.  Here it is.  Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Here are some other scenes from the show that we are sure you will enjoy:

Wilson was so inspiring that another young thespian made his on-stage debut that night:

Yes, Ace and Maisy love the stage, and can't wait until it's their turn to do it for real.

 

We are looking forward to Wilson's next performance!

The Cruise

At long last, here is a brief report on our cruise from last month.  We had a fabulous time cruising the Caribbean with our good friends the Ingles and Deragons. We were on the Carnival Conquest cruise ship for 7 days, with stops in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico.

Life on the ship was really fun.  We ate and ate and ate, and participated in lots of ship activities.


Brett got first place in a game show competition and received a great bottle of wine.  Since he's not much of a drinker, he looked all week for someone to give the bottle to.  He had someone picked out for the last day, and he decided to create a special moment at the last night's dinner and present it to him.  As the moment arrived, the guy said he already had one of those bottles.  So Brett just left the wine bottle on the ship.



Here we are with our favorite server Olga, who served us some unbelievable 3-course dinners every night.  Steak, lobster, filet mignon, fish, creme brulet, etc, etc, etc.  Delicious!

Chillin' in Jamaica, mon.  We had a blast wandering the streets and we feel like we were able to see the "real Jamaica."  We kayaked a river and wandered through the downtown area looking for souvenirs, but only finding lots of Jamaicans.  Very fun!

 Cayman was unbelievable.  We boated out to a place called Stingray City, a sandbar that is home to a big group of tame stingrays.  We carried, fed, hugged, and kissed a bunch of monster rays.  Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

 The group with a big mama

 

 It was a little intimidating to be surrounded by wild stingrays.  Many tourists claimed they heard Brett scream like a girl a few times. (This is Brett with a rebuttal: No they didn't.)

The happy travelers disembarking in Cozumel.

 The girls--Candy, Jessica, and Kasia

The guys--Dave, Billy, and Brett with medals from the Amazing Race competition which they absolutely dominated

At another tasty and filling dinner on the ship!

With a starfish after snorkeling at the Cayman Islands

Lunch at a local restaurant, Cayman  

 

We learned the "Thriller" dance on the boat, as well as the cha cha.  We have since forgetten both dances, so please do not ask us to demonstrate.

We found a very fun little corner restaurant on a noisy street in Cozumel and decided to eat lunch there.  We were rewarded with some exquisite local delicacies, and even got to leave evidence that we had been there!

In Cozumel we got to swim with dolphins.  It was really fun, and we were amazed how strong they were.  They turbo jetted us through the water, then kissed us to show us how much they loved us.  They have fish breath, but that's understandable.  It was FUN!

 This photo looks fake, but it's real!!

A little karaoke goes a long way.  Here Brett is singing with a live band accompaniment.  Usher need not be concerned about any possible competition.  See the hat?  It doesn't actually belong to Brett.  A member of the audience let him borrow to help him channel is inner-Usher.



What an amazing adventure.  We loved out cruise and would love the chance to go on another one some day.  Want to come with us?

Wilson's 9th

Wilson's birthday was this past Sunday, but we did all of our extravagant celebrating on Saturday.  We started by eating lunch at Fuddrucker's--Wilson's choice--because he had a coupon for a free kid's meal for his birthday!  Maisy was so excited because she found us a table to sit at and it had Calvin and Hobbes comic strips covering it.  Calvin and Hobbes are a family favorite.  So lunch was a huge success.

Then we were off to the mall to catch a movie.  We were a little early so we decided to walk around the mall and window shop until the movie started.  We had to stop for a potty break of course.  I took Maisy and Brett took the boys.  Maisy and took our dear sweet time as ladies tend to do, but when we exited the ladies' restroom, we were surprised to be the first ones out.  So we stood and waited for the boys.  We waited and waited and waited.  I could tell something was wrong.  Finally, Brett came out with the boys and he was holding something neatly wrapped in paper towels. 

"What is that?" I asked.

"So Ace didn't quite get all his business in the toliet.  Some got in his underwear," he replied.

I sighed and said, "Let's just throw it away."  Brett enthusiastically agreed. 

"So you're saying he has no underwear on?" 

Indeed it was true.  Oh well.  What were we to do?  We continued on our way.  However, I continued to smell poo. 

"Brett, are you sure you cleaned him off really good?  Am I crazy or do I still smell poo??"

So, I took him back to the bathroom, stripped him down, and wiped him real good with wet paper towels.  He still smelled, so I dug around in my purse and found some fragrant Bath and Body Works lotion.  Perfect.  I then proceeded to rub his little bum and legs down with lotion.  Now, there was nothing to worry about!

We then went to our movie which was Born To Be Wild in IMAX 3D.  It's about an orphan baby elephant and orphan baby orangutan and the 2 different woman that raise them to go back into the wild.  The kids had never been to IMAX or 3D and of course everyone loved it!

It was a very special and fantastic day!  Happy Birthday, Wilson--we love you!

Ace is 3!

Happy birthday to our boy Ace!  We can't believe how grown up he is looking and acting now that he is 3 YEARS OLD!

We had a special St. Patrick's day birthday celebration, complete with a Pot o' Gold treasure hunt and green velvet (formerly known as red velvet) cupcakes!

Ace had so much fun at his birthday with his cousins Eliot, Olive and Bodhi.  We were all glad that they could take part in the festivities.

It appears that Ace might have overdone it a little bit. Around midnight he ended up spewing green vomit all over uncle Cameron.  Twice.  Thanks for being there Cam!  Better you than me!

We sure love Ace and all the excitement he adds to our family.  Happy birthday, buddy!  Check out the video of the candle puffing, and appreciate the fist pump at the end.

100 Hours of Ice

So, what have you done this week?  Did you leave your house?  Did you go to work?  Did you get at least one degree of separation between you and your immediate family?  If so, you're a step ahead of us! 

On Monday night, the weather turned cold and icy, dumping inches of ice all over north Texas.  A historically frigid cold front kept the ice on the ground all week, forcing 4 days of school closures.  That left us cooped up inside for about 100 hours, trying to stay sane.  Here are some highlights of our icy adventure! 

Hour 15: (Tuesday, February 1. Family attitude: FESTIVE) We settled in with some popcorn and hot chocolate and celebrated our "snow day" by watching the original version of Disney's Tron.  Wilson loved the movie the most, admiring the radical special effects from 1982.

Hour 32 (Wednesday, February 2nd.  Family Attitude: COLD AND BORED) It was bored, I mean BOARD game time.  We played some Candy Land DVD, Cranium Cadoo, and a few others.  I think the kids were cheating because they kept winning.  Either they were cheating or my brain was going numb.

Hour 59 (Thursday, February 3rd.  Family Attitude:  BORDERLINE DESPERATE) With most of our sanity already out the window, it was karaoke time!!  We got all gussied up in our costumes, picked some awesomely annoying songs, and went for it!  We recorded all our songs on video, and Wilson edited them together into a movie.  Be on the lookout for our You Tube debut!

Hour 81 (Friday, February 4th.  Family Attitude: 29 DEGREES AND FALLING) On Friday, the ice got covered up by some nice fluffy snow, which is like heaven for Wilson.  He played out in the snow all day long, pausing only for food and bathroom breaks.  Maisy stayed inside all day, letting us know that is was still too cold for her.  Ace spent a solid 15 minutes outside, until he actually touched snow with his hands and quickly and loudly requested immediate entry into the house.

Hour 92 (Friday, February 4th.  Family Attitude: SQUIRRELY)  As a last-ditch effort to save our atrophied muscles, we decided to go for some Just Dance 2 on the Wii.  A few good routines heated us up.  Check out the little pros dancing in their PJ's (by the way, the kids were in PJ's for about 95 of the 100 hours!)

 

Now that we are thawing out, our 100 hours of ice don't seem too bad.  It was nice being able to spend lots of great time with our kids, enjoy some warm fires, and catch up on some house projects.  Let's just hope it was a one-time thing!

Christmas Break

Oh boy, Christmas break was soooo  great! We (the adults) both agree that this was the best break ever, because we were able to actually have some low-key time together as a family.  Our kids are getting so big and are so fun to be with. We feel we are in a wonderful place as a family.

This year we started having some questions about Santa Claus at our house and his authenticity.  A quote from Maisy: "Mom, just tell me if Santa is real or not.  I know that adults know the truth."

Wilson was slightly on the fence as well and it showed in his letter Santa.  He wrote his list as usual and it contained the average desires of an 8 year old boy.  But he saved the best things for his 2nd list on the 2nd page of his letter to Santa.  This is what he wrote:

"These ones are very special to me, they may already be on the list but they still would be very special to me.

Spy gear, whatever would make my mom happy, my own electric guitar and one more thing to give…..snow in Texas. Oh and a super power and my very own garden space. This has been a nice talk Santa. I hope you do visit me this year! I’ve been good!"

He then signed it and left a space for Santa to sign.  I loved this letter because it seemed like he wasn't sure about Santa, but figured hey! I'll just go for it and ask for a super power! 

 

The kids in their new Christmas pajamas.  Thanks Aunt Di!

Kasia went all out on the decorating this year.  Check out the beautiful garland thingie on the mantle.  You might have to click to make the picture bigger so that you can see all the great detailed loveliness.  She put the whole thing together with nothing but inspiration and pipe cleaners.  Awesome.

Maisy's favorite present was a pair of roller skates.  She's doing a great job getting accustomed to the skates.  I'm sure she'll be hitting the roller derby in no time.

And here's a little clip highlighting Maisy's skating skills, along with Wilson's brotherly helping.

Kasia's parents, Sterling and Rena, spent a couple of days with us over the break.  We had a blast with Grammy and Grampy, as always.

That's just Ace being Ace.

We went to Bastrop, TX just before New Year's to celebrate the wedding of Kasia's cousin Kirsten.  While there we were able to snap a photo of 4 generations of women!  L-R: Rena Ming, Judy Eady (Rena's mom), Maisy, Kasia.  It was a very special evening.

Now that we're back into the hustle, bustle, and general craziness of real life, it makes our low-key Christmas break seem even more special.  Only 11 and  1/2 months until we can do it again!