Musical Video Frenzy...

Time for a musical video blog :)

First up, Dawna's most recent piano recital.  The theme was "Uniquely American."  We thought it was extra special that Weston and Lynn both came to watch her perform! Dawna played two songs from the Rock 'n' Roll era: Yakety Yak and Lollipop.  She picked the first one because she liked the lyrics.  She picked the second one because Nana often gives my kids lollipops when they leave her house and sings that song to them.  So here she is:

Next up, Xochitl has been more involved in our home school sessions now that Larry is in his Pre-K class most of the morning.  She gleaned a huge chunk of the "Fifty Nifty United States" song as Dawna was learning.  Xochitl actually sings it a lot, beginning in random places and repeated short passages.  I didn't realize she could almost do the whole thing until tonight, when we were thinking of all the states that started with A.  I started the song, and she finished it (in her own unique language, but still, pretty impressive for a 3-year old!). And sorry I could hardly contain my laughter as I was taping this... it didn't encourage her, but really, how cute is she???

At Larry's school, they learn a short little song for each letter they learn.  The song uses that particular letter as much as possible.  His favorite is the X song... because "Xavior was an Alien, Extra Terrestrial..." and he loves that it's his middle name in a song!  Here he is performing his song!

Note: the Lyrics are: "Xavior was an alien: Extra Terrestrial. He was born on planet X, extremely far from earth.  He had two pointy heads.  His vision was x-ray. He saw exactly everything in an alien way." Set to the tune of Camp Town Races

And... sorta embarrassing for me... I just realized that I never posted anything about Dawna's piano recital last year... oops... so for good measure, here's a link to her playing at the "Tribute to Walt Disney" recital in May 2012...only a year late!

"Now I dis many,"

...says Xochitl when you ask how old she is!  She is finally 3!  She has been looking forward to her birthday for a long, long time and had a wonderful birthday weekend! She...

...Went out to breakfast with Nana and Papa.  They went to Denny's to enjoy their breakfast time together.

Xochitl got a little red vacuum and a new flashlight from Nana Papa!

...Went camping!  We all got to enjoy this one!  Jon took the day off work so we could leave early in the afternoon.  We headed down to Big Basin and loved camping out there!

Daddy tricks!

Big Trees!

We forgot candles, so poor Xochitl had to blow out three matches. I made cake pops for the first time (as per Xochi's request).  They were not beautiful, but they were tasty!

They are all about 10 feet over a little creek... Mom was nervous, but nobody fell...

Everybody on the "Secret Clubhouse" stump.

...Opened presents! She got a hiking backpack/camelbak from Daddy, new shoes, and a doll from Japan! Dawna picked out glitter sidewalk chalk for her, Larry got her lunchbox accessories.  She also loved the carpet full of balloons that she found upon waking up that morning!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Party Hardy Hardy...

April has been a full and busy month of birthday parties... Lots of our friends have spring birthdays, which means my kids get to be spoiled by all the awesome birthday parties going on! The birthday girls have all been very sweet to include all my kids in their parties, so it's a whole family fun party! Here's three that we hit in the last two weeks, in reverse order:

1. Our friend Izzy turned 7 and her party was at Pump it Up--a big jump house arena!  Last time I went there, it felt a little dark, but this time was much better!  The kids got to climb, jump, slide, and swing to their heart's content! There was even a jump session with nothing but glow sticks and black lights! But unfortunately, no pictures of this one...

2. Our friend Kenna turned 5 and her party was at Color Me Mine.  Each of the kids got to pick out something of their own to paint.  Dawna picked a fairy, Larry picked a fire truck, and Xochitl picked a cupcake (typical of all three).  They all had a great time painting and designing their very own things!  I might have gotten a little too involved, but let's face it, it's way fun!

Xochitl is very intense...

Dawna got to sit at the "Big Kids Table"

3. Our friends Grace and Joy (twinners) turned 4 and hosted a princess party, complete with cardboard castle, catered food, face painting, Princess Tiana coming to tell stories, balloon animals, and a professional photographer (who graciously shared all the pictures she took, so the pictures from this party are awesome!)

Wow! Even I get to be in a picture!  Xochitl and I making a princess sticker story.

Larry waiting for Princess Tiana to make a balloon airplane.

Larry participating in the story: Looking for the magic birthday present!

Dawna decorating her crown.

Dawna and Ella hunting for diamonds, because you have to find 3 diamonds to get a prize at the end of the party.

Xochitl exploring the cardboard castle.

Larry pretending to be the "King of Hearts"

I love going to birthday parties! And all of these ones were INCREDIBLE! Thanks to all our great friends (and their mommies) for inviting us along!

More winter veggies!

Here's the next crop from our garden: cauliflower! Dawna chose this to grow, so she is treating it somewhat like a baby right now...don't tell her we're going to have to eat it...

It's been fun to watch it grow, but it's a pretty big plant for a fairly small vegetable...

The sugar snap peas are coming in and the broccoli continues to produce small edible florets! We'll definitely do both of those again! Not so sure about the cauliflower or celery (which is growing, but way too stringy and sharp to eat).

Easter Fun!

 Easter weekend was filled with fun for all of us!  On Friday, we joined Larry's class party and egg hunt.  Mr. S. was worried that there weren't going to be enough eggs, but as it turns out, the parent volunteers really had to watch out... there were so many eggs that we accidentally stepped on some while trying to hide others... Dawna and Naomi both got to join in the classroom games since a couple kids were absent on Friday!  It worked out perfectly! (except I forgot my camera...)

Saturday Weston came down early and we dyed eggs.  We got a kit that included "velvet" stickers that you could design and stick on the eggs. Dawna very creatively made a brown egg (with her art knowledge that purple and orange make brown, she double dyed the egg to get the right color) and then made a great velvet carrot! That was her favorite one!

 Each of the kids had their own buddy to dye with.  Larry was paired with Daddy, Xochitl with Weston, and Dawna with me!

 On Sunday, we did an old Koberstein tradition: hiding jelly beans (not Easter eggs) all over and hunting for them!  Wes and Jon did the hiding, but we all did the finding and eating of the jelly beans!

Here's Xochitl finding a trail of beans leading to a "jackpot" pile!

Later we went to Nana Papa's house for an egg hunt and dinner.  Uncle Lynn met us there to enjoy the festivities!
My kids got new Sunday clothes for Easter this year.  The girls were really excited, so Larry tried to join in the excitement, but let's face it, he just doesn't go crazy over clothes the way the girls do... 

But look how cute he is!  I LOVE Argyle sweaters! 

 Dawna helped me pick out the girl's dresses.  She wanted to match with Xochitl, but did NOT want another pink dress, so we went with the blue and green floral.  Thank you, Costco, for carrying dresses with sleeves!

NOTE: These were NOT made from old curtains! Geez, Jon!

We finished the evening playing Topple.  Look at the cute brothers! I know it's not the best picture ever, but it's proof Lynn was there!  Happy Easter everyone!