two more holes

Her face doesn't show it, but she actually wanted this, was quite excited, and had no pain.  She chose some cute zirconia studs in the shape of a flower.  Now she has two more holes in her head!

Monster baby tooth

Maria had to have a baby tooth pulled. The adult tooth next to this tooth was coming in crooked because of the lack of room.  As you can see from the size of it, it wasn't going to come loose on its own!  Brandon called it the Iceberg tooth!

Our weekend

Our friends and Matt are out of town serving others with Mission of Mercy. Its a weekend of free dental care. While they are away, our house is full and busy.
This pretty much sums up the weekend.

maggie

Maize

Marley

Midge

MCS Talent Show

Every other year, the school offers a talent show, and on the 'other' year there is an all school musical. This year was talent show year and we got geared up for some fun.
I decided to treat it similar to a night they have at their school in Minnesota, where everyone gets up and recites a poem, verse, etc.
Jessica and Maria acted out the book "I am a frog" by Mo Willems. Its an Elephant and Piggie book. If you don't know what they are, you must check it out!

Brandon and Anika acted out Abbot and Costello's 'Who's on First'.

Both did a great job. But I am a bit biased.
Jessica's class also performed their bucket brigade - think drum sticks on 5 gallon buckets.

And of course, we celebrated by hitting our favorite ice cream place!
I also learned how to minimize and upload video, so it was progress for me, too!

puppies and rockets

they're growing! the puppies I mean.

It was a rocket weekend Memorial Day! We got lots done at home - including waxing both vehicles - but we went out to shoot off rockets on both Sunday and Monday.  Its hard to see, but the kid's last names have changed - that is why I had them hold up their name badges. You had to have a badge to shoot off a rocket, so our friend bought a family pass and made the kids his for the weekend!= )
One of Brandon's rockets is the little red, white and blue one, and Jessica's is the purple and yellow one.

 On Monday, our friend set off this big one. We are known as Team Wolverine Retrieval Team.  Brandon went to work to bring this one back. Our friend won a trophy for this one and gave it to Brandon who is proudly displaying the rocket trophy in his room!

The middle part is right above Brandon's head, the tail to the left. The nose cone was in a different tree. He got that down first.

Girls on the Run

Anika and Jessica both completed their first 5 K this month. I couldn't be more proud. Aunt Kathy and I ran a race a few weeks ago, and there was a dad that kept yelling at his kid to catch up and run faster. I didn't like it, so I took it to heart to let them run their race.  Jessica was completely overwhelmed by all the people and held my or Aunt Kathy's hand almost the whole race. She was very afraid of getting lost, and she often does. She knows this, and has taken to holding hands or taking someone with her whenever she goes away from a group. Its funny, sometimes.

It was a brisk morning, so we had plenty of layers on. And we got rained on a bit during the run.

But, they ran, most of the way. Anika started with us but quickly found a friend's mom that was going just a bit slower and stuck with them. We took our time, walked and ran. There were so many people that we often were forced to walk as that was the pace of the group.  She wasn't sure we could finish, so I picked a spot and said we were going to run from the flags in - and she did it. In true Jessica fashion, she was even singing at the end. (Veggie Tales 'Keep Walking' to the beat of our steps).  The girls cross the finish line on their own, so Aunt Kathy and I split off and met her at the finish.  I'm not sure she'll do this race again, but she is willing to run again. I think Anika would be game to give it a whirl again, too. 

Girls on the Run is a national program to give girls some exercise and empowerment. They practiced after school two days a week. She loved the practices, just not the CROWD at the race.  Anika didn't really train, but with a full size soccer field, you do plenty of running, so it wasn't such an issue.

oddly enough, she isn't holding my hand in this picture

She just split off, a friend took this pic for me. I'm guessing she is watching Aunt Kathy and I jog to the finish line to meet her.

Band concerts and grandparents

Brandon had a band concert last Thursday and Jessica and Maria had a live music class on Friday afternoon. Anika had a grandparents morning at school on Friday morning. Both sets of grandparents showed up for the occasion. Thanks for coming!