Cabin Fever!

This was a weekend of true cabin fever.

My parents came to visit from MN...and apparently just 5 hours west, the weather was much different than our forecast. You see, my mom didn't bring any of her winter stuff (boots, coat, mittens) and instead, had her little windbreaker! I'm quite sure they were surprised the night they arrived when it was blustery and cold....and then the next morning when they woke up to snow!

By the last day they were here, you can see that even Grampy had cabin fever...he had gone crazy!

This particular weekend, Ellie had a project at Spring Road....a group of 5th graders got together with the music teacher (have I ever mentioned how much I love the music teacher!??!?!) to make a music video! They are singing a song called 'It's About Respect' for their concert in March and for the first time, tried doing a video to the music. I can't wait to see it. When I went to pick Ellie up after lunch, I saw this sign posted on the music room door...and then I saw it posted AROUND the music room too:

Now, how does a Neenah, WI teacher quote a music teacher from Austin, MN? Well, my mom, "queen of newspaper clipping", cut out an article about MY band instructor from 5th grade and his famous quote that he is STILL saying today! I showed the article to Ellie, she took it into her music teacher and the teacher LOVED it and posted it around the room!

When Ellie returned home from the music video making, we cracked open a new game we had gotten for Christmas...Scrabble Flash. Thank you, Aunt Rebekah for this game...it is a family favorite!!!! We had a couple hours of just playing...and playing...and playing...and playing! We were all getting into it. Well, everyone except Colin and Ava...and they were entertaining those who were waiting their turn for Scrabble Flash!

On Sunday, Ava went to the Valley Academy for the Ballet Exam. She was #5 and by far the smallest little ballerina there!

She told us "It was just like a class but there were 2 extra people watching and writing about us!" The next week, we received her exam evaluation. Go Ava...way to use your talents!

And finally....to get an idea of the entertainment we have been blessed with by Colin, click HERE. Colin has been doing a long pull up study at Wild Air in Appleton. It is funny because when the Wiggles music comes on, he stops what he is doing and re-enacts the Wiggles dance moves. Here he is at dinner trying to show the girls and Andy what I meant!

Winter Concert & More

This year, the choir had a winter concert, the first Saturday in February.
I have to admit....I was not all that excited about this concert. I had been told by the girls that ALL of the songs were in Latin! Add to that the fact that I wasn't hearing much practicing at our home, I figured it would be a non-event, nothing to write home about.
Boy, was I ever wrong!!! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The concert was wonderful to listen to and the orchestra and singers that accompanied the choir were outstanding!
(Isn't it funny...we live right smack in the middle of music-land with Lawrence University just 5ish miles northeast of our house and we easily forget about the quality of local talent...until we are faced with a concert like this one!)

This was an interesting concert though....

On the day of the concert, Ava and I woke up feeling flu-ish. We had no babysitter for the little Glynn kids, so I told Andy 'Sit us on an aisle in case I have to rush Ava out if she gets sick!'. Shortly after the doors opened, he called me and said "What do you think about sitting in the balcony?" BRILLIANT! It was sparsely populated, Ava could lay on a church pew and we had our mega zoom lens, so we could still capture photos and video!

So, Andy is at the church early to get us seats and I'm struggling to get Ava out the door--she had been napping, she woke up fine and then felt bad again. Poor little girl! We did make it to the church though, and as we walked up to the balcony, we were met with pale Ellie saying "I don't feel good!" Ugh. Our new phrase is "Give it your best shot." (Maybe someday I will blog about that phrase...), so we encouraged her and sent her on her way...worrying that she'd quickly become the "star" of the concert, in a way that no one wishes to be.
(By the way...all Glynns made it through the concert just fine.)

Now, about that mega zoom lens on our camera. It was great....but yikes, the video is REALLY shaky. In fact, so shaky that I won't subject you all to feeling sick with too many video postings. HERE is the opening song "Gloria" and HERE is Jayna's Prima Choir singing their song.

The concert really was fabulous...2 songs in, Andy turned to me and said "I feel like I'm at a concert at the Performing Arts Center!" So true, it was a wonderful afternoon of music.

The rest of our week was "weird winter wonder". Honestly. I received an email from a family member saying "I hope the kids are having fun enjoying the winter weather!" Uh..no. Our yard was full of puddles, it was too windy/cold to enjoy the driveway...and, all of the bikes were put up for the winter, and our trampoline lost it's walls and is covered by a tarp (because we KNEW that living in Wisconsin would provide ample snow, so we do those types of things in preparation for the winter!

We did however have some memories:
Upper left: Best buddies Colin and Ava playing while the big girls were at choir...They set up all the cars and then they had "Bible Study". Precious.

Upper right: Colin and his beloved tools...and check out his glasses! Andy went on a 1 day trip to a Kimberly Clark Distribution Center and came back with safety glasses. Colin is very good about wearing them whenever he is working.... ;)

Lower left: Is this drawing too much or what? This is from Ava, to Andy and I. What a treasure. It's going to be framed for our bedroom...she is such a romantic, and such a fantastic artist.

Lower right: Perhaps this is the only snowman we will get built this year. Red, sparkly, and completely clean-up-able!

NHCS Christmas Programs

This year, Jayna's Christmas program was a week prior to Ava's...and both programs were filled with beautiful singing by the children of NHCS.

Before Jayna's program, she participated in the pre-service music. You can hear Jayna's piano playing HERE.

Jayna had a part in her program--she was a "silent actor", part of a family. She did a wonderful job and was a joy to watch.

For a glimpse of "silent acting", click HERE.
To listen to "Angels We Have Heard On High", click HERE.

Ava's program was held during chapel time for the school. It was such a blessing....to see how Ava has come out of her shy shell...she really loved every bit of this year's program...and also to hear the kids sing so proudly. It was wonderful. Ava was an angel in her program!

Before the program started, Pastor Jeff stood up and indicated that we'd all receive a special gift during the program--boy, was he ever right. There is just something about the songs that these kiddos sang from their hearts.

To listen to "It's Coming", click HERE.
"Come On and Ring Those Bells", click HERE. (WAY cute look on Ava's face when they rang their bells!)
And EVERY year, I have to post this one...one of my favorites: "Angels Are Rejoicing", click HERE.

Ava even had a speaking role as the children told the Christmas story. To hear it, click HERE.
And finally, the last song "My Heart, Your Home"...click HERE. This song can bring tears to your eyes just listening to the words...but the children also did sign language....so amazing.

Again....Merry Christmas!

Christmas....everywhere!

"It's the most...wonderful time....of the year!"

Our tree is up....our tree is decorated....
And daily, I am showered with drawings and stories by Ava...either of an elaborate princess or the Christmas Story. One day, I was even presented with "Jesus' Life Cycle".
Speechless....we have been speechless.

But, one of the best gifts this season has been the random set ups of nativity sets.
We have a lot of them. I think we have 6 "play" sets that are non-breakable.
This year, in an effort to occupy Colin while I fix the girls' hair in the morning, I set up a "center" in our upstairs hallway of 2 of the nativity sets. In the mornings, after Ava was ready, you could usually find her setting up the nativities with Colin.

But these above are the 2 sets I captured photos of in our downstairs family room. The one on the left was done the first day I pulled out the Christmas decorations. The one on the right was done just before Christmas Eve...and I love how the remote control basket is over turned to allow for the angel to be "high"!

Merry Christmas!

Veterns Day at NHCS

This year, NHCS had another Veterans Day celebration, honoring Veterans.
The kids did a WONDERFUL job.

Since the program was mainly singing, I have many clips for your listening enjoyment:

(The kids always sing such beautiful songs...but hearing the 1-8 graders sing these songs just brings a tear to your eyes...it was VERY moving, as was seeing the Veterans stand for 'their' song.)
This Land Is Your Land....click HERE.
The ARMY recognition....click HERE.
The NAVY recognition....click HERE.
The AIR FORCE recognition...click HERE.
The MARINES recognition...click HERE.

Again, there was a slideshow of all the Veterans related to the students/staff of NHCS. Amazing number...just amazing. To view the Gorden/Glynn relations, click HERE.

And finally....there was a SURPRISE for this year's program. One of the students at NHCS has a father who plays the bagpipe!!!! To view this beautiful playing, click HERE. (And I do apologize for the 3 yr old commentary--he was equating this musician with one of the Wiggles who had played the bagpipe on a recently viewed DVD!)

Thank you ALL VETERANS, for serving our country!!!

1st Grader gets her OWN Bible!

Look at that beaming 1st grader! (And her fan club as well!)
Ava and her Sunday School class received their very own "big kid" Bibles in church...and how grown up they all felt!
It was sweet seeing all the kids inspect their new books...and listen intently to Pastor Harry as he spoke to THEM (and not the parents!).
She was beyond thrilled to find memorized Bible verses and read them herself to me...

Thank you, Jesus, that our children LOVE God's word so!

Summer, Week 2

The big event for week 2 was the concert that ended the girls' summer music camp.
Did I mention how wonderful the camp was? It was truly an awesome experience for the girls. Most of the instructors are affiliated with Valley Academy for the Arts in Neenah and it was quite amazing that these kids could pull off a 45 minute concert after just 1 week of camp.

The above photo says it all--we'll definitely make this camp a priority during the summer!
For a glimpse of the concert songs, Andy did capture some beautiful recordings. To hear the songs live, all you have to do is hang around our house. In fact, tonight, the girls were belting out a song and one of the back yard neighbors had walked up onto the deck and just listened to them before saying "hi"! (The girls were embarrassed!)
To hear "Sing Me A Song", click HERE.
To hear "O Des Aiyo", click HERE.
To hear (my favorite) "For The Beauty of the Earth", click HERE for part 1
Click HERE for part 2
Click HERE for part 3.

This week was a quieter week activity-wise but Ava did start her ballet class. During the school year, she took a 30 minute lesson 1x a week. This summer, she's doing 1 hour 2x a week. After today's lesson, THIS is what happened:

Now, a little background....if you have spent a lot of time around Ava, you know that she hits the tired wall FAST and FURIOUS. Our summer days are full of playing and dancing and having fun...and by today, she could not function any more. I convinced her to take a nap, to "camp" in my bed with random blankets for 1 hour...and this is how Ellie found her 1 hr later. The winter hat? Well, our neighbor is having a rummage sale and she had these great kids hats that didn't sell at her store and Ava claimed one. Turns out, Ava says it is the most comfortable hat she's ever worn and needs to wear it to calm down and to sleep. She also wants to take it on vacation next week. That should be interesting in 100 degree weather....

2010-2011 School Year....DONE!

What a great school year the girls had!
It is hard to believe that 2010-2011 in the form of "school" is done.

The girls really had fabulous teachers....they enjoyed learning from each one and will be sad not to see them daily (or at all for Mr. Schmidt who is moving on!). Today was the Learning Celebration and as usual, it was beautiful and touching.

There was singing:
To hear grades 1-7 sing a snippet of "Your Grace Is Enough", click HERE.
To hear Band B play their song "I'm Free", click HERE. (Warning: for this one, there is some serious 'Ellie dimple' showing!)
We also had a "surprise" announcement! The entire school submitted Earth Day posters to a local company, SCA. New Hope Christian School won an award for the school with the most winners and there were MANY NHCS kiddos that were recognized.....
One of those kiddos was JAYNA GLYNN!!! SCA keeps the posters, but she got a certificate with her name and a photo of her poster on it, a book about recycling and our family got an entire case of paper toweling from SCA. More on that in another blog post. ;)
For the school's award, they get a new tree for the school yard, to be planted in the fall!
Go Jayna! For those immediate family members, I realize you are laughing and saying "She didn't get her talent from Katie!" :)

Here is our now 5th grader, Ellie....from first day to last:

Her "Christ-like characteristic" was Persistence. SO true of this year...really true!

And Jayna....from first day to last day...
(Wow....did phase 1 braces really do a change to Jayna's face or what?!)

Jayna's "Christ-like characteristic" was Helpfulness. This was something we heard over and over from the teachers about Jayna this year. She loves to help! Jayna had a special bond with her teacher, Mrs. Koeller...and when it was time for the 2nd grade presentations, I could see Jayna blinking back the tears--she will really miss Mrs. Koeller!

After the celebration, we went out for lunch....at Fuddruckers! Here are my 3 all day school girls for 2011-2012!

Happy Summer, Everyone!

Kindergarten Graduation!

Today was Ava's last day of kindergarten...her "last" day with me! She told me that she doesn't want to go to 1st grade...because then she won't be with me in the mornings! Sweet girl.

Andy commented that Ava doesn't seem to age. She will love that when she's approaching 40.
Above, you see her on the 1st day of school....and then today on the last day of school. Difference? 1 lost tooth and shorter hair. I think she may have grown an inch or 2 as well!

But before we get to the graduation....check out this collage:

We lovingly call this dress "the graduation dress".....and this is the end of line, sweet sundress. Andy says Colin is not wearing it...and he joked that we should cut the dress and put a bit of it on Colin's kindergarten graduation outfit. He was joking...I liked the idea. So stay tuned. In 3 more years, we'll report back on "the graduation dress"!

Below, you will find Ava sitting waiting for the ceremony to begin, and the Glynns4 kiddos. I love how the older siblings really appreciate being able to attend the younger kids' programs. So sweet.

The teachers always give each child a "Christ-like Characteristic". This year, Ava's was "initiative". You can watch/listen to Mrs. DeYoung give this to Ava HERE.

The children also did some singing. Precious, of course. My favorite was another singing of "I am Loveable". You can watch these excited kids sing it HERE.

After the graduation, we had 1 hour until the big girls finished school....so what do we do? Head on over to Cherry On Top, of course! We were the only ones in there! We enjoyed our ice cream and then had fun making butterfly crafts. You know, we hooked onto Cherry On Top because they always stock a dairy free ice cream and it is so special for Ellie. BUT....even more, it is a fun place. Usually, there is a craft for kids to do, and this Saturday? Well, stay tuned. Another fun event at the ice cream parlor in Neenah!

Tonight, as the big girls are getting their beauty sleep for their learning celebration tomorrow, I leave you with this last photo:
Introducing Ava Glynn, 1st Grader!

We love you, Ava!

Mother's Day 2011

What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend we had!
The weekend started with the kindergarten Mother's Tea....with my "baby (girl)" Ava! She was so excited for the event. We had a our sitter come early and we went out on a lunch date to Noodles prior to kindergarten. Even the server at Noodles noticed that we were short a little person and asked Ava what the occasion was!

Then, off to kindergarten where the kids sang their hearts out, blessed the moms with gifts, and we all enjoyed yummy treats. Mrs. DeYoung even made my absolute favorite dessert, Raspberry Oatmeal Squares, which she had made and then found out they were my favorite! :)

To hear some of the precious songs, click here for:
I'll Never Give Up
I Love You (from Psalty the Singing Songbook!)
I Am Lovable (Learned the 1st day of kindergarten...they know this one WELL!)
I Love You This Much (they kiddos sign part of this book, it is precious!)

Then, on the actual Mother's Day, we headed up to:

Have we ever mentioned how much we love Door County? It was marvelous!
Of course, we made an early stop at Sweetie Pies....advertising compliments of Colin:

and had a blast enjoying the warm spring sunshine as we went to the candy store, a few "mom stores", and then to "Not Licked Yet" Ice Cream Shop to see the fish swim...(more on that later)

Andy was so sweet to happily stop at every "mom store" that I wanted to check out! One store even had this gigantic mural on the side of it for kids to color! Brilliant! The kids even had a blast while I shopped!

While we were browsing 1 of the stores, it got VERY quiet. I said to Andy "WHERE are the kids?"...and as we walked through the store, we found all 4 of them sitting watching a nature documentary! (upper left photo just below)

Colin played "hide in the hay" with Andy while we checked out a cute store...

The girls pondered what type of ice cream to order at Wilson's Ice Cream...

And we even got Andy to pose in the wooden creatures....

Below you will see a photo of the fish swimming against the current in Fish Creek! We were leaving Sweetie Pies and the owner came out and asked us if we saw the fish swim yet! It was very neat to see the fish trying to go against the current and there was a bonus...at this location, there was lots of sand (which Colin loved) and a huge jungle gym for the kids to burn off their energy before heading home. It was a beautiful day with the family.

We've been going to Door County for 5 years now...and have never heard of this "watch the fish swim upstream" thing. Among the many people watching the fish, no one seemed to know WHY they were doing it...and a quick google search indicated that numerous bodies of water in WI have this occur in the spring time when the fish spawn! You learn something every day...or every trip to Door County! :)

Ballet Recital!

1 day after Ava's birthday, she attended dress rehearsal for her 1st dance recital...
2 days after Ava's birthday, she danced in her first dance recital!

Ava has frequently asked to take dance lessons. This year, we had heard great reviews of the Town of Menasha's dance program and decided to give it a whirl.
Ava had a fantastic experience--her teacher, Miss Jenny, was one of the most loving and kind teachers I've ever experienced with the kids. She also really had the ability to teach the little girls correct technique, and the girls really learned the "lingo" of ballet!

We had no idea what to expect out of our little shy 6 year old, dancing on stage in front of a packed auditorium at the Menasha High School....and we were stunned! She nailed each step of the routine, maintained her smile, and had a fabulous time.

To watch a snippet of the routine, click HERE.

After the recital, Ava was showered with flowers, high fives, hugs, a ballet pillowcase and a special ballet figurine--a figurine given to me in 1994 from a dear college friend! I've saved it and it has moved across the country and back without even getting a chip or a crack! It was very special to now pass it onto our little ballerina.

We had such a fun and busy birthday week....a birthday is enough to wear a family out; but add on the dance recital hoopla and both sets of grandparents visiting....and we were beyond exhausted! The day after the recital, after everyone had gone home, we declared the afternoon "Family Nap" and for 3 hours, everyone slept hard!

Now, we can tackle the rest of April!

Golden Birthday!

FINALLY, the real birthDAY arrived for Ava--6 years old on the 6th of April!
A rarity...she was fast asleep when we barged into her bedroom, singing "Happy Birthday"!
(Many of you will also find it interesting to see her hair so straight--her entire top layer is straight and the bottom layers get curlier and curlier!)

She wanted to open 1 gift before school and the bottom left photo here is her looking at a special birthday book all about her and the time between her 5th birthday and her 6th birthday! She also found a pretty cool big girl "toy" sitting at her place at the breakfast table--a big kid scooter!

After school, we had a treat at Cherry On Top in Neenah and even made a fun Easter chick craft after we enjoyed our ice cream!
Before dinner, we let her open her gifts and took some sibling love photos.....there was nothing but love flowing from all 4 kiddos on Ava's birthday!

Ava's facial expressions as she opened each gift were priceless. She was so excited to receive each item we had picked out for her. It was precious to watch her excitement!

The Cake:

Ava usually does not enjoy cake...and about a week before her birthday, she drew a picture of what she wanted for her birthday cake, a letter for the Cake Fairy. The Cake Fairy even left a note for Ava, telling her that she had copied the picture (what looked like a golden sandcastle!), even making the castle "tilted" like the picture. The cake was actually 6 layers tall; no wonder it was tilted! We had to remove the cake pops during the day...we were fearful that their weight would crash the cake while Ava was at school!

It was a super fun day....a terrific day to celebrate the birth of little Ava!

Golden Birthday PARTY!

(As usual, to see the photos larger, simply click on the image!)

"Here ye...Here ye....all you princesses of the one true King!"...

Today, was the GOLDEN birthday party for Princess Ava!
We had 11 little girls in the house this afternoon, and it was absolutely wonderful!
They were invited to wear "royal attire"....yet I had no idea how cute it would be having them arrive all fancied up and just beaming. It was precious.

Ava had quite the chore in determining what she would wear....and she settled on a black and gold dress (for the Iowa Hawkeyes, perhaps?!). She has a dance recital this coming week, and I've been practicing buns with her hair...and she felt the bun style was most appropriate!

This was a "princess party", but we also referred to it as the "Queen Esther Party". Ava has always loved this story in the Bible, and it IS a story full of royalty! ☺
I determined that "cake pops" looked like a scepter that is mentioned in the story, and we went with the cake pop idea for the cake. One word: INTERESTING.
In the end, they turned out perfectly.
While working on them, though, we did run into quite a few snags, complete with me LOSING the actual star cake that I baked solely for the candles Ava would blow out! (We think it got thrown away in the mad rush of life! LOL!)

Andy took most of the cake photos last night at 10pm--we were worried that overnight, the pops would crumble off the sticks and Ava would have NOTHING for her guests. At least this way, she'd have a photo! We only lost 1 pop before the party began, which is quite amazing!

The party started at 1pm, which left us a large amount of time for party prep today!
Colin wore a crown and tried to get into the candies on the table.
Ellie did all the fruit schiskabobs and Jayna helped organize the craft projects.
Ava stayed home and set up an obstacle course with Andy...
And the rest of us removed Colin from the house went to the library and to pick up the balloons.

And after all the prepping...there was still empty time to W.A.I.T....

...Finally, all the little girls arrived!

The girls colored pictures, made jeweled crowns, listened to the Esther story, made necklaces, got bracelettes and HUGE blingy rings and played the limbo:

We played "Pin the Jewel on the Scepter", ran through an obstacle course in the basement, opened gifts, and shared lots of love with each other!

We ate yummy food....

And enjoyed the lollipops of cake!

After cake, there were 15 minutes left and the girls had a blast playing a spin off of Duck Duck Goose....."Princess Princess QUEEN!" Colin loved his seat in the middle of the circle; he was in his glory!

After everyone was gone, there was time to play with the new gifts...and our mail was delivered. From our dear friends the Lynch family....Ava got some Build A Bear money! As you can see, she was just a little excited!

It was such a fun and enjoyable day....and now we have a few days to recover until the REAL Golden Birthday!