Big Bad Squirrels

Last week was Calvin's first school musical: "Superstars!"  Was it ever cute!

There were 8 different songs performed at the musical. . .

 . . . and Calvin's group definitely stole the show as the "Big Bad Squirrels"!

 To start the show, each child's name was announced as they ran on stage and waved at all of their adoring fans.

 Then we were serenaded by "A World Without Colors" and "Twinkle, Twinkle" (in English and Latin, mind you).

 Then the tempo increased as our Big Bad Squirrels strutted onto center stage!  This was quite the rap-number, and the kids were so cute!

 Calvin's line: "We know you think we're precious, we know you think we're cute. But we do the heavy lifting, we ROCK, there's no dispute!"  At which point all of the other kiddos echoed, "We ROCK, there's no dispute!!"

 I really wish I had the patience to upload the video, it was just so cute!  You'll just have to take my word for it.

 After his big performance as a squirrel, Calvin joined his buddies back in the chorus for the remainder of the show.

 Footloose was also pretty darling. . .

 At the end, our little movie stars took their bows and soaked up the applause.

Calvin had so much fun in his musical, and we all had so much fun watching it!!

Border War Success!

After over 150 years and 266 meetings, today marked the final regular season meeting of my alma mater, the mighty KU Jayhawks. . . and those striped kittens that reside just east of us.  To say there was a lot of hype surrounding this game would be a huge understatement.  The overall record of the match-up is heavily lopsided toward the Jayhawks, but this year those pesky tigers happen to be pretty good.  And the thought of them winning the Big 12 just as they are ditching us was more than most of us KU Faithful could stomach, especially considering we have won the past 7 regular season Big 12 championships.  I was so excited to be able to be at the game today!  No, I didn't actually have a ticket.  I was working a booth for my church, but hey, atmosphere is atmosphere right??  And because I was there nearly 3 hours before tip-off, I got to see this outside the window where we were setting up shop:

 Yes, these are just a few of the thousands of students waiting for the doors to open.  Oh, the memories of days gone by when I was one of those crazed students!  We used to camp out for every game, and it was always SO fun!

 Game time!  The 118 you see on the Jumbotron is the decibels (it actually surpassed 120 a few times) in the Fieldhouse.  It was rockin'!

 The game got a little scary at times, especially when our beloved Hawks gave the tigers a 19 point cushion in the second half.  But you know they had to make the final game exciting!  With 10 seconds to go, we're all tied up and heading into overtime!

 And they pulled it off!  87-86 final score, and Boy was it exciting!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Eight straight Big 12 Championships!! SEC-ya, Missouri~

Fat Tuesday!

Today, Miss Violet got a surprise gift in the mail from her cousins in Ohio, Klaus and Kate!  Could she be any cuter in this?!?

All of her poses were cracking me up!

There's a healthy dose of Super-Vi for your Fat Tuesday!!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Ruth!

Last weekend we celebrated the birthday of my amazing grandma; Grandma Ruth is 91 years young!

 Baby Kyla got plenty of snuggle time with her great-grandma. . .

 As a special treat, the kids played "Happy Birthday" on the bells for Grandma Ruth.  It just so happens that my dad has given Grandma Ruth 8 of her 20 great-grandkids, and exactly 8 bells are needed to play Happy Birthday!

Violet and Kyla had a little help from their mommies, but as you can see, they really wanted to do it themselves!

 

 The kids did a GREAT job and our target audience approved!

 After playing on the bells, we all lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday (When you're 91, I think you're entitled to at least 4 rounds of Happy Birthday, don't you??)

 I think Grandma had a few little helpers with the candle blowing. . .

 We love you so much, Grandma!!

Won't You Be Mine?

Before we get to the activities of Valentine's Day itself, I need to show you a little bit of the preparation work. . . Calvin had so much fun making Valentines for his class and teachers.  This is the work in progress:

 And here are the finished robots!  Calvin did all of the cutting and candy-picking (I helped with the hot-glue, but he really did the rest himself!).  He wrote messages like "B Mine" , "U R A *" , and "U R GR8". . .

 . . . and one special robot got an "I <3 U" message.

 He wrote all of the "To" and "From Calvin" on the back of the each.

 And Ms. Minshull got the remote to control all of the these crazy robots. . . if only it were so easy to turn down the volume and attitude!

 They told all of the kids to dress in their best clothes for Valentine's Day, and there is my handsome boy! (This hand-me-down suit has gotten some good use this year!)

 In his classroom, he made his butterfly pouch, and boy was it overflowing with Valentines from his friends!

 Here are his adorable classmates blowing kisses on the big board!

 Party Time! So many yummy treats, where to start?

 Calvin with his special friend, Allee (the recipient of the I <3 U robot):

 Look who came to crash the kindergarten party?  All of Calvin's friends were excited to see the little girl they had lovingly made "Get Well" cards for a couple weeks ago.

 

She was definitely eye-ing all of Calvin's goodies. . .

 . . . and ultimately, being the good big brother he is, he shared.

 And Miss Violet was pretty pleased with the way things turned out!

No, that's not blood coming out her nose, it's red velvet cupcake. (By the way, did I tell you we cancelled her next palate repair that was scheduled this July? You couldn't pay me enough to put her through another surgery that soon.  We'll just keep right on "embracing" the lovely foodstuffs-out-the-nose trick for as long as we have to!)

 

Next it was time to read all of those wonderful Valentines!

After school, the kids were also spoiled with plenty of treats from the grandparents.  As usual, Grandma Jo knows you can't go wrong with M&Ms, especially when we're talking about Vi.

 Then we enjoyed a delicious steak dinner, me and my best Valentines in the world!

 Oliver treated us to some yummy Oreo truffles he made with Grandma Cheryl for dessert.

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day celebrating with the ones I love. . .

. . . especially this one. My favorite Valentine for 16 years and counting!