Miles Acting Debut

Miles recently participated in his school's play, "Wonderland."  He played the part of the red lion.  He fought with the white unicorn and had a few lines.  The whole cast has been practicing for months now and had daily practices the final two weeks before the show.  Miles did so good, he was the only boy that you could actually hear!  (I wonder where he gets his loud voice from?)  

Miles shirt was ten sizes too big!  But here he is.  What I admire about Miles and this whole play experience is, Miles wanted to do this and commited to it.  None of his close friends wanted to participate but that didn't stop him from going for it.  He made a whole slew of new friends and had a great time.  He never complained about practices, and always reminded me when he had them.  He is so responsible like that.  It got a little overwhelming towards the end with daily practices, but he stuck in there, and felt great when it ended.

 The play had two showings so The kids and I went to the Friday night showing and Mike took Caleigh (yes she sat thru it twice) on Saturday for a little DAddy-daughter date.

Way to go Miles, you were a very convincing red lion.  I'm sorry you didn't get to keep your sword.  But at least you got to wear makeup!  Yes it's hard to take off.

Kickin' it Jersey style

Mike had an interview with Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ this week.  Since the kids were on spring break we decided to all head down and make a trip of it.  Our first stop was in Connecticut at Yale University.  Yale houses the Peabody Museum.  A natural history museum, perfect for our little future paleontologist. 

 There were so many great exhibits.  Dino bones for Griff, a real mummy for Miles, gemstones for Caleigh and Elliot, and Mike and I loved it all.  The temporary exhibit right now is called "Big Food" and it's all about how much food we as Americans eat.  It was such a great tool for teaching our kids about serving sizes, how much sugar is in their drinks, and Mike hoped on a bike and showed the kids how long it took to burn off one carrot stick!

After Yale we headed towards Hackettstown getting in around dinners time. We enjoyed a nice, healthy, dinner and then got to bed early so Mike would be ready for his campus visit and series of interviews.  Centenary is a small private Methodist College (no were not Methodist, but that didn't seem to bother them) The campus is beautiful and feels more like an upscale private high school than college. 

While Mike did his interviews the kids and I drove a short distance across the NJ/PA border to Easton Pennsylvania.  Our destinations was the Crayola Experience. A four-story discover center/museum all dedicated to Crayola.  Writing on walls was heavily encouraged.  The kids had so much fun, we sat and colored, gathered crayons for our empty crayon boxes they gave us, drew on the floor with chalk, and watched a live demonstration about how crayons and markers are made.   

Everyone had a great time, and we could have stayed there all day!  We grabbed some quick lunch at subway and headed back to NJ to grab Mike and head home.



Mike said the interview went really well, and the area was rural feeling, but with all my favorite stores so...we'll see if they make an offer to Mike.  It would be a great option, and right now we are keeping all of our options open...

PicMonkey

Have you tried Picmonkey yet?  http://www.picmonkey.com/  seriously!  This is my favorite new website.  It's free for now...but I would totally pay money for these photo editing features.  We've only played with a few photos so far, but everyone in the family is lovin' it.  I'm sure there will be many more creation in our future...

Here's Griffin's first.  He laughed the whole time he was creating it... Hilarious.

Here's one I did of Griff and Buster for a frame in his room...So fun.

This was my guinea pig photo, so probably over done, but I LOVE the eye feature, you can tint the color of eyes and it just make these baby blues pop.

A visit from G and G Head

We had a nice quick visit from my parents.  Between school and the kid's schedule we were able to fit in some fun.  Mom and I wanted to hit a Keepsake Quilting fabric store.  It is one of the largest fabric stores in NH and it has tons of high quality fabric.  (we should have taken out a small loan before walking in...)  My sweet Mom let the girls pick out fabric and she even got some stuff for me.  We then went to lunch at a local  sandwich/pizza shop.  Our next stop was to hit the Wright Museum, a world war II Museum, but it was closed for the season.  Ooops.

 After a lazy day, their last day we headed to Concord, NH to the NH History Museum.  It had been a few years since we had been and my parents had never been to downtown Concord before.  The highlight of the Museum is the old time play store at the end.  Elliot had a great time and the other kids tried...but Elliot seemed to be boss.

Sorry Griff...

 Miles skipped playing in the stores and focused on solving a horseshoe and circle puzzle...it didn't go well.  But Mike told him he would pay Miles a dollar if I couldn't solve it in 30 seconds...sorry Miles, I'm really good at puzzles.

It is always so great to have family here.  My Mom and Dad are no exceptions, they are always willing to work around the house, My mom had the whole house clean and shiny before they left.  Love you guys.

Eight eyes are better than two

Griffin is a boy of many interest.  He loves sports, crafts, cooking, reading, music, school, writing, drawing, and any thing science. This kid loves to learn, and now he has a buddy to help him.  

Brutus, his stuffed dog, recently got glasses. Griffin loves his glasses and knew Brutus would love his too.  They make a great pair.  Griffin loves to give Brutus a turn looking through his microscope, and just hanging out.

It's so nice to have a buddy!

I did always want to marry a Doctor.

Okay, not really, but I am married to one now!  A Doctor of Rhetoric and Comp that is.  Mike defended his dissertation yesterday and it passed.  (or do I say they accepted it?  I don't know all the terminology).

The kids and I are so proud of Mike.  He has worked unbelievably hard these past 7 months to research and write his dissertation (all 210 pages of it).  He had a few professors admit they didn't think he could do it in such a short time, but he put his mind to it and got it done, (I knew he could do it all along).  We are so grateful for all the people who helped him along the way, and of course the complete support from family and friends.

Mike you rock, and I will gladly call you Doctor now.  And even though Elliot doesn't understand that the title "Doctor" can go to more than just a medical doctor, she knows that you "fix" papers and that's all that matters.