Movin' On

Well, another chapter finished for Cole. Kindergarten is over and on to first grade. He has had such a great year. Such a phenomenal teacher and LOTS of great friends. Many of you know that we did kindergarten twice and it was the best decision we ever made. This year he has been so confident and such a leader. He did so well last year academically that I thought that it would be impossible to do better, but boy was I wrong! Mrs. Keeney was such a great teacher and influence on him. He loves science and so does she. She always had great experiments and hands on learning for the kids. This year he got to watch baby chicks hatch and caterpillars turn into butterflies. It was amazing to see his little mind in motion. Did I mention how great his teacher, Mrs. Keeney, was?!? She is such an amazing teacher and this year she got Deer Valley Teacher of the Year! Anyway, he loves her so much and I wanted to include this little video from the end of the year party. So Marjie, if your reading, here's to you!

LauraBeth sayings....

I took LB for her 5 year old check up today. It was exhausting! She screamed a big one and I had to hold her down just to get her finger pricked, but she just layed there and took her shots. What in the world? I guess I can't say anything. I remember wedging myself between the 2 chairs and the wall thinking maybe I was invisible and they would never be able to find me. WRONG! I think they must have had to man-handle me as well. I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree! She was very happy to hear that there will be no more shots until she is 12. I sure hope that by then we can deal with a finger prick! I don't think I'll be able to hold down a 12 yearold.

Anyway, we had to stop at the grocery store on the way home, which is always eventful with a child. We were rounding a corner and a lady was standing in the middle and we couldn't get by her. This is how the dialogue went....

Me: Excuse us..

Lady: Oh, I'm sorry. I was just off in another world.

Me: No problem!

pause....

LB: What kind of world was she in?!?

She always has some of the craziest things to say. Don't you just love how kids take things literally? I didn't even try to explain that one to her!

Prince Caspian

So, we took the kids to see the second Narnia movie today, Prince Caspian. It was incredible. C.S. Lewis is an absolute literary genius and the movie producers have not compromised his stories in any way. (It is a little out of order from the book, but pretty much dead on. There were a few creative liberties, but this is 2008.) I was so impressed with the parallels with the Bible in this one, even more so than the first. One of the obvious symbolisms is that Aslan personifies Jesus. I will tell a little of the movie, but not enough to spoil it for you. As you might have imagined the Pevensies return to Narnia, but it is not as they once knew it. They are summoned to help. Enough said. Anyway, they are obviously looking for Aslan to save the day. (Isn't that what we do with God?) Well, Lucy sees him early on, but none of her siblings believe her, well, maybe Edmund does, but no one acts on it. You see, the others have lost faith because they are older and Lucy personifies a child like faith. She sees him immediately and believes they should wait on him and the others wonder why he isn't there and think they should take matters into their own hands. Finally, Lucy finds him and his words are so profound. Watch the clip.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3LuS3armAc

Wow, did you catch what he said?? "...and why did that stop you from coming to me?" That was one of the best lines of the movie!! (once you see the movie, this clip will have even more of an impact)

The next greatest part was the ending. The ending sort of made me feel like I saw a glimpse of what the Israelites might have experienced in one of their battles. No way should they have won, but God delivered his people.

An amazing ending....guess you'll have to check it out. Worth every penny we spent, not to mention being able to answer my kid's questions and explain to them the parallels. Seems like it makes some difficult Biblical concepts easier for them to understand...probably why C.S. Lewis wrote it.

(I will definitely be watching this one again and will have to own it as well. We do own the first one. I am also re-reading all the books. Cole noticed I had them and asked if he could read them! Of course I will let him as soon as he can tackle it.)

Anyway, just had to blog about this movie!

Leah is Mobile

Ok, so Barrett gave me this really cool video camera for Mother's Day. It is called Flip and it fits in my purse and I can take it anywhere! I love it!!! I can also download the videos to my computer which we can't do with our old one. It actually flips out on the side and connects directly with my computer...I guess that's obviously why it's called Flip!

So I decided to video Leah crawling for all of you that might want to see. I can't believe that she is crawling so soon. The other two didn't crawl until about 8 or 9 months. She's even started to try to pull up and stand. She's way too small to be doing this, but there's no stopping her.

Hope you all enjoy!

Go Raptors!

Tonight officially ended the 6 year old Raptors season. It was a sad end to a very fun and exciting season of baseball. They all did so great and we definitely have the best team, I don't care what they say! Great kids, great families, great coaches....what else do you need? Look at all the coaches in the picture...we had a fantastic head coach and assistant coach and the rest are what we call "coach dads". It is so great to have all the dads so involved! This has really been an enjoyable season even though it ended one game too soon! Anyway, I'm proud of Cole and all the other boys and I think they had a blast. We do, at least, have the team party to look forward to...GO RAPTORS!!

Fabulous Five

Well, this past weekend we celebrated LB's fifth birthday at Club Libby Lu! What a blast! For me and them. Not only was this the best birthday party I've ever paid for, but I wish this had been around when I was five! (secretly, I wish I could do this now!) They did all the girls' hair, make-up, and fingernails and the best part was the dance performance at the end. They lined them all up taught them a dance and then they performed for all to see, microphones and all! It was so cute!! (...if you didn't know Libby Lu is in the middle of the mall, so lots of people stopped to watch.) Her actual birthday is Friday and she will officially be 5! Kindergarten here she comes.