16 November 2008 - Snow!

Two inches of rapidly melting snow was all it took to cancel school on Tuesday. Sometimes I wonder if the people running our school district really want to teach our kids.With no school to attend, Emily decided to try to make the best of it.The rest were willing to stay in, feed baby dolls, and keep warm. We even fired up our fireplace.One very exciting item of note happened this week -- Madeline lost her first tooth. It freaked Joanne out because Madeline is only 4. But it freaked her out when Madeline's teeth came in at two months too.If you get some free time one day and feel like thinking about the economy, read this quality article from Mitt Romney. Happy snow day!

Matt

9 November 2008 - Being Musical

We were a very theatrical family this weekend. The touring Broadway production of Mamma Mia! was at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. Joanne and I had seen this production five years ago in Las Vegas when we were there for our 8th anniversary. Although the subject matter in the story is a bit dicey, we felt that is was OK for our girls and that we could discuss anything that raised a question for them. The musical is primarily about the music anyway, which the girls really like, so we decided to go for it, and they we all had a lot of fun singing along with the cast.On Saturday, we went back into Pittsburgh to see the Rogers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella. This production was at the Byham Theater, about two blocks from the Benedum. We have season tickets to the Byham, which we tend to enjoy more than the Benedum because it is much smaller and more intimate for musical stage productions.

Cinderella crossed the stage pulled by four white horse people, who had been changed by the fairy godmother from four little mouse people.Here are the girls in the Byham following Cinderella.
That's the most exciting thing in our lives right now. Hope you're all well.

Matt

2 November 2008 - Halloween

Here are the three girls all decked out for Halloween. Jessica was a black cat, Emily was Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west, and Madeline was Barbie princess Luciana.Here is Emily with her purple witchy hair, but no green skin.
This is Jessica as the black cat in her school Halloween costume parade.
The girls have had a serious amount of Halloween this week -- school, church and neighborhood. Mommy and daddy wish there wasn't quite so much candy around the house these days.

Happy Halloween to all of you too. Send pics of your kids (if applicable).

Halloween wasn't the only thing that happened this week though. We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on Saturday by going out to dinner (sans kids) at a very nice restaurant called Alfanos. During the day on our anniversary, Joanne did crafts at Relief Society Super Saturday, and I presided over the funeral of Ethel Kelley, who was baptized into the Washington, PA branch of the LDS church in 1947. It was a very good experience to meet and help the family of a true pioneer in this area.

Matt

26 October 2008 - Fall

I found this scene in the basement when I went downstairs the other night. If you click on the picture to expand it, you'll see Emily on the elliptical in the background. Jessica is enjoying my recumbent bike, and Madeline is doing a yoga pose along with the YogaKids DVD that she's watching.Joanne finished another patchwork quilt for Humanitarian Aid this week.
Madeline had here fall singing program in Preschool. They sang all about how God created everything. They also made their t-shirts for the program.

In addition to singing, she also got to play the bells.

Have a happy fall!

Matt