Grace the dancer

Grace has rhythm.  Have you ever typed the word rhythm.  The English language is a mess.  As I like to say "You shouldn't be mean to someone who doesn't know the meaning of mean.  They are probably just average." Anyway, going on, when Grace hears music with a distinct beat she has a tendency to break out into a spontaneous dance.  And it's always to the beat.  She has some funny dances, but my favorite is when she makes her arms all stiff, kind of like a robot, and then grooves around the room with her little mechanical arms moving to the beat.  Every once in awhile I'll get up and join her in her"dance."

There have been plenty of occasions when Tracey and I have also broken into some goofy dance.  Sometimes with music and sometimes without.  The girls think it's funny, and it's those moments when I think "Do normal families do this?"  Probably not most.  It's a lot of fun to be goofy and make your kids laugh.  Actually there are also times when Tracey and I have done this and its only us in the kitchen.

So, I guess I never posted this and I'm not sure why there are pictures of the girls learning to ride bikes next to a post about Grace dancing, but since this draft looks like it was never posted 6 years ago (?) I guess I'll post it now.

Awards

This past Tuesday I took a half day off so that I could go to the Van Buren awards assembly.  As I sat there, it dawned on me that this was the first time (that I can remember) I attended an awards assembly for any of the girls.  I'm pretty sure that every year the girls have been in school they have received some sort of award.  Be it Student of the Month, Responsible Citizen, Teacher's Choice, or Award winning artist, they have seemed to get recognition for being good students.  On this particular afternoon, Sarah was helping Mr. Valburg pass out the awards.  Mia received Teacher's Choice Award for "Excellence in Reading Counts."  As she walked down the center aisle, nearly a head taller than a lot of her classmates, she glanced over at Tracey and I and nervously grinned with a little embarrased wrinkle of the nose.  She didn't know that we were going to both be there.  For that matter, I didn't know I was going to be there until the day before.  It was worth the missed time at work. Unfortunately, I wasn't there when Grace received an award for her 1st place art entry.  This is the second time that she has been recognized for her artistic ability.  And apparently, Sarah received recognition for being on a "Battle of the Books" team.  All of this in one day.  I'm a pretty proud father.

  As the girls continue to grow up, they really are becoming hard working, responsible, creative, and caring young ladies.  I couldn't ask for much more.  Granted they destroy my house on a daily basis, Grace and Mia fight with each other as daily entertainment, and none of them want to shower every day, but all in all they are good kids.

Summer 2013

I just started my vacation today for this summer.  After three days of meetings...  Not my favorite way to end a school year.  I'm looking forward to taking the girls Whale watching next Friday.  Hopefully, Sarah doesn't get too motion sick.  We are also going to Hume Lake at the end of the month with my brother-in-laws.  It should be a great trip.  I hope they enjoy it as much as we do.  After that the girls will be going to summer camp through Eastside.  Allen and I will be heading to Vegas.  Then the whole family will be going to Palm Springs.  It wasn't that long ago I was teaching the girls to really swim in the pool at the resort in Palm Springs.  It's a lot less stressful, when you know that they are confident swimmers.  Since Tracey started back full time, I'm hoping we can also squeeze in a 2-3 day trip for our anniversary. We really do live a blessed life.  Summers are great!