Luke is a composer!

I don't know if I have mentioned how much I LOVE and ADORE the kids piano teacher Ms. Alexia Jowers. She is soooooo amazing and talented. She is tough on the kids but they are learning so much and they really respect her. Occasionally she has the kids compose something. They usually hate it when she does assign them and they just hurry and put notes on paper. Well Luke was playing around on the piano and I helped him jot it down and it turned out beautifully. Ms. Alexia was impressed and took it and turned it into real looking sheet music. Check it out...

WICKED!

Matt got me tickets to Wicked for our Anniversary and the day finally came! It was AMAZING! It is so cool how creative they were to give back ground and really twist the story of the Wizard of Oz.

It was kind of neat too because Luke and Emma's piano teacher, Alexia Jowers, was playing the flute in the orchestra. She told me to come say hi at intermission and so we ran down to the orchestra pit and glanced down at her. It was really amazing to see...I never realized HOW FAR down the orchestra pit is. It looked like a little dungeon down there :) It was fun to see her, I was so proud of her! Talk about a major commitment. She has to play every show for the next month and they only get breaks on Mondays. Most days she is playing a matinée and the evening show! She is one talented and dedicated lady!

Romeo & Juliet by the Russian National Ballet Theatre

In the past couple of years we have been able to see Lydia a couple of times when she has traveled here with the Russian Ballet. Matt taught and baptized Lydia years ago while serving his mission in Russia. We have been to the Nutcracker in Daytona Beach, Sleeping Beauty in Jacksonville and now we got to see Romeo & Juliet in Fort Pierce. It was so neat that she happen to be here the weekend that Greg and Wendy were here. It worked out perfectly because my sister Kim watched our kids so we could go! The ballet was beautiful and then after it was a treat to be able to go back stage and see Lydia. I LOVE hearing she and Matt converse in Russian. It is amazing to me that Matt still remembers so much. Lydia was so funny because as the dancers were exiting she would grab them and make them take pictures with us.



This is a picture with Romeo and Tybalt and it totally cracks me up because they totally cut Matt right out of the picture :)

And then in this picture I am totally came between Romeo and Juliet :)

JUMP!

We are easily entertained around here....you know what the kids did for hours on a Sunday afternoon???? They were trying to jump up and grab their balloon string. As soon as they would master one height then they would cut the string and try to jump higher! Soon Grandma was taking pictures and they turned out kind of funny...

Silver Spurs Rodeo with Grandma & Grandpa Rose!

What timing...it was so fun that the Silver Spurs Rodeo fell on the weekend that Grandma & Grandpa Rose were here! The only problem was that all the kids had out grown their cowboy attire and so we had to make a stop at Sheplers first. Emma and Gavin got boots and jeans and we finally found a hat for me :) And then the rodeo was a blast!

It was so funny because at one point I looked into the back seat and Emma had fallen asleep on Luke and he didn't even notice :) And then before long they were ALL asleep. It hurts my neck looking at them!






Luke got out there and tried to pull the ribbon off the calves tail but there were way too many kids :)

Talent Show 2011

Well the talent show was back again and LONGER then ever. I don't think we got out of there until 10:45 and it started at 7:00. Matt told the kids they couldn't do it next year but that they could do a personal performance for him in the family room :) It was a little rough on Matt. I think even the kids did better then him, Eva hung out in the stroller and Gavin just quietly fell asleep on the chair and then moved to Grandpa's arms. Meanwhile Matt was grumbling and making comments like "This is audio assault" (I do have to agree with him, some of the numbers were, umm, uh, painful on the ears) :) I got to help back stage and so I was well entertained.

Luke played his piece Monster March and Emma played Ode to Joy. You can't blame Emma for the long show, her piece took about 20 seconds to play. I even had her repeat it once through. Then they both got to be in the closing dance number. They both did a terrific job and it was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa there to watch.

Grandma & Grandpa Rose visit!

It is always so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa around! The kids are giddy with excitement and then HATE when they leave. So they finally got to meet little Eva :) There was never a dull moment while they were here...Friday Wendy went and ate lunch with Luke and Emma at school (poor Greg's back was killing him), that night was the Talent Show, Saturday was Gavin's basketball game, Luke's football game, the Silver Spurs Rodeo that night, Monday we went to Fort Pierce (near Port St. Lucie) and we went to the Russian ballet (they got to meet one of the people that Matt taught) and Tuesday they left :( It was a whirlwind trip which I'm sure they both needed a vacation from their vacation by the time they got home. But we enjoyed every minute of it!

Gavin loved to rub Grandpa's head and he said his head is "comfy" :)

Emma's little dance for good luck while playing Help Your Neighbor

Grandpa wasn't feeling well and so while he had to use his nebulizer Emma sat there and held him to comfort him :)