It's 7pm...what's going on?

As I sat at the table and ate my dinner tonight (I was eating by myself because an exercise has me working late hours) I thought it might be neat to publish a quick post for everyone of what was happening in the house around 7pm.  Our life is not always exciting travel to exotic locations, although that is what we normally post on the site.  Sometimes life just happens around here - so here are some pictures from around the house at 7pm (ish).

Kristi was reading to Lucy on the couch.

Mary was enjoying her newest toy...an ipod touch.  She saved up for quite some time and completed many many chores to have enough money.  It also helped that a friend was selling a slightly used model.  She had just bathed and was sporting the big hair towel and the monkey robe.

Cory was finishing up some school work.  He was playing/learning by doing some on-line activities that matched a book he was reading.  Note the $5 bill that just arrived from Grandpa and Grandma G for Valentine's day.  He was excited about the card and money.

Riley was in the bath...so I had to make sure to only catch her face.

 The picture of Lucy and Kristi is my favorite...someday soon she will be all grown up and not be so excited for stories from Mom.  That's the image that first made me want to capture the goings on of the family.

"But It's a Musical!"

(Bonus points if you know what movie/show the title is quoting.)

We just finished experiencing Aviano Community Theater's latest kids' production, The Jungle Book Kids.  The older girls both auditioned for the play and were originally cast as elephants.  We spent about 6-8ish weeks in rehearsals--Cory is especially glad it's all over.  Rehearsals were boring for him.

Before all was said and done, the girls were also flowers and monkeys...multi-talented children, no doubt.   Although, if you ask me, I think the additional parts were a bit of typecasting--sweet and silly girls!

The costumes were pretty impressive.  Here are some shots from the performances--before, during and after.

backstage before the final show

Opening number

Doing what they do best..."acting" like monkeys

What a costume! 

Another great experience for them.  They've both said it was their favorite production they've done.

taking their bows

Venice Carnevale In Motion

The "Bug" We "Caught" at the Clinic

It's not often that you go to the doctor's office and wish to catch something before you leave.  In fact, there are multiple stations within the clinic with hand sanitizer to help you NOT catch anything.  However, today was different.  We were leaving the clinic to day and encountered a "bug" we had never heard of before.  After watching it for a while, noticing its details and distinctive traits, Cory wanted to "catch" it.  And after that he wanted to bring it home so he could "expose" Dad to it.

And I let him.  And then I took pictures of him with his bug, because that's the kind of good hand washing Mom I am.

Yoda will take care of the bug for us, if we need him to!

Venice Carnevale 2012

Ted and I had a lovely day all to ourselves in Venice during the magical time of Carnevale.  We took the
train and were glad to have seats--our friends who traveled the day before said they had had to stand the entire trip to Venice--over an hour.



Venice was pulsing with people--some in elaborate, beautiful costumes, some in ridiculous costumes, some donning simple masks.  It's quite a sight to behold.

We wove our way through the alleys and walkways of Venice, seeing costumed people at every turn.

At one place we stopped, and I had my face painted--a fun "souvenir mask" for the day.

We eventually found our way to St. Mark's Square where we people watched and took loads of pictures.

Really, the costumes are amazing, even if some are a bit ridiculous or strange.

From an overlook in St. Mark's Cathedral we watched some more while it started to sprinkle a bit--the only downside to our day.  Interestingly enough, it only rained while we were in St. Mark's looking around.

After a quiet dinner, we strolled the streets back in the dark--it was simply beautiful.

When we finally got home we crawled into bed, exhausted, and debated what kind of costume and mask we would pick to wear next time.

Cory's New Book

Cory's pretty excited about this new book that came in the mail the other day.  He's been reading it every night at bed.  And when he got a hold of my camera, he found it worthy of a photograph.  This is the picture he took:

It's a good read.

Will You Be My

Valentine?

We hosted a party for other friends who also homeschool.  The kids decorated boxes and exchanged Valentine cards.  It was a lot of fun, and there were a lot of cute boxes!  Love Boats, Monsters, Heart Extravaganzas...

Here we are with our boxes fully loaded:

Riley made a dog house--the girl doesn't miss an opportunity to remind us of her heart's desire!  And she gave fortune cookies.

Mary made a Ciao Bella purse, and she gave friendship bracelets.

Cory made a guitar, and he gave guitar wrapped lollipops.

Lucy made a castle (yes, she plans to be a princess when she grows up) and gave a homemade rainbow crayon.

Every Valentine they gave was an idea from Pinterest (although, Riley found her idea independently in her American Girl magazine, meanwhile I had already pinned the same idea in Pinterest with Riley in mind).

Today I gave the kids "heart attacks" on their bedroom doors, Ted gave them each a card suited just for them, we gave them some more candy, just in case they hadn't gotten enough at the party, and we enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite restaurants followed by individual containers of ice cream for each of us at home.  Yummy!

It's always fun to celebrate!