Well, I went to the play last night.  I just want to say my daughter is BEAUTIFUL, and all the kids did a FANTASTIC job - they were SO FUNNY!!!!  Athena's part is right in there with some of the funniest parts, so she enjoyed much of the laughter.  I didn't get to take any pics though, b/c it was opening night.  Athena took my camera though and both she and the director of the play promised I'd have pics after tomorrow's performance.  I don't get to go back down there.  :(  Anyway, as soon as I get them I'll be posting them to this blog.

It was really hard to leave her there when the play was over.  I really wanted to put her in the car and chat about the production like we did last year.  You know, there are some sacrifices that are just worth long distances, and I believe Commonwealth is one of them.  Sometimes, though, I think I underestimate the sacrifice.  Sacrifices that you don't even think about.

I don't think I mentioned Venus finished her Adult Skills Class for baking, did I?  I thought you might like to see what she accomplished:

5 different types of breads:

Spelt Pancakes

Cinnamon Butter Biscuits

Banana Bread

No Knead Rolls (Dinner Rolls - yeast)

Flour Tortillas

5 different cookies:

Snickerdoodles

Peanut Butter

Molasses

Oatmeal

Rice Crispy Treats

3 different types of muffins:

Doughnut Muffins

Cinnamon/Brown Sugar Muffins

Cornmeal Muffins

5 different types of cakes (can include brownie type):

Cinnamon Oatmeal

Birthday Cake (I think we used a yellow cake mix)

Blondies

Fresh Apple Cake

Banana Cake

3 different types of pies:

Cormeal (mock pecan)

Peach

Chocolate Pudding

btw - she had to make her own crust!  ;)

Congratulations Venus!  Well done!!!!!   :D

When two of them walk in while you're late night blogging.  Athena says, "So Mom, did you know horned toads squirt blood out of their eyes when they're scared?"  and Venus replies, "Yeah, you can learn a lot of things out of books."

Wonder what book they learned that out of?

And now she reads this and brings me the book.  It is "Charlie Brown's 'Cyclopedia:  Animals Though The Ages vol. 2".

I didn't know Charlie Brown could know so much - esp. since you can never understand what the teacher or the parents are saying!

Athena is having a coronary right now.  Well, maybe not really, but she IS freaking out because there is a boy in her class that is beating her at Shakepeare, and she just realized she has to give her Shakespeare presentation next week.  She also has been struggling reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, "The most boring book I've read so far," she says.  She also gets to wear high heels while dancing for the first time on Friday, and although it has gone without saying, she is nervous. 

Wow.  Glad I'm not Athena.

The good news is she is going to the temple on Friday, and as it is her first time to go, she is VERY excited.  I am too - this isn't the ward's usual scheduled time to go - the Elder's Quorum just sponsered it.  Otherwise, it would have been yet another yr. that she would have gone with a group because this ward already had their turn this yr., and in St. Anthony they have yet to go.  This is what comes of moving around so much within a very active temple district.

PS  I changed the above picture the date of the last posting.  Redbeard was a little upset that I took off the bluebonnets in the snow, but I still have that picture, so I can always put it back.  I thought the stick figures were cute, and brightened up a rather serious minded blog.  I can't help it - I'm a deep thinker - I don't think one dimentional - I think in layers.  I try very hard to stay on topic - that's why I created the other blog - so the lighter me could have a voice too.  :)

Today I took Venus to get her cast on her arm.  She had her choice of colors - she chose yellow because it would show up any writing she had people do on it.  Then I had to drive her over to her Dad's work so he could be the first one to sign it - since he was the one that drove her to the ER.  ;)

She'll have it on for 5 wks....  she's quite excited that she's out of dish and diaper duty during that time.  Athena says, "HUMPH!"  She's in bed propped up because she was pretty sore and tired after they moved her around getting it in the right place.  So there's my girl...  in the itsy bitsy yellow cast!  :)

The nice thing is, she's had a pretty good attitude the whole time, once she realized that she could have a broken arm and still live.  LOL!

I'm so proud of Iris.  She asked for a dog continually when we lived in the last house we were in.  When I found out we could have a dog in this house (almost unheard of for a rental - sigh) I petitioned for her to obtain a dog.  If you'll recall, we finally found her a blue healer/boder collie mix.

Redbeard's concern was that he would be required to step in and help take care of the animal when the kids got bored with her.  Iris has risen to the occassion.  She goes out and plays with Cutie Pie every day, and no one has to tell her to feed and water her - she does it automatically every morning, and checks on her supplies frequently throughout the day.

Just dropping in a quick note.  We are having cake and ice cream for Redbeard and Orion tonight instead of tomorrow...  Redbeard is *gasp* 38 and Orion is now 4.  Well, they will be tomorrow.  LOL!  We told Orion it was his birthday and he exclaimed, "NO WAY!"  Hmmm...  how did he KNOW?  Mercury was a hoot because he kept claiming that today was HIS birthday too...  hard to be a "twin" when you're not really.  Goosey kids!

I'll try to post pictures later - I have finally ran out of room on my card for my digital camera!  Oh MY!  Time to do some deleting...  I think I have over 10 AVI's on it and over 1600 pictures.  WOW.

  I couldn't get the entry portoin of homeschool blogger to work again.  sigh.  Sounds like a broken record doesn't it?  Anyway, here are some great pics of Iris missing FOUR teeth, ALL up front!  :D