They organized a Backyard Talent Show to raise money for St Jude. When I agreed to come up with a little act for my girls to do in the show, I honestly pictured a few kids playing around on the back patio for their parents. Wow. Just, wow. The entire backyard was packed with people and the crowd overflowed into the surrounding yards. This picture does not even do justice to the crowd...it was just the best I could get from my seat:
There was a silent auction for signed memorabilia, a bake sale, and face painting. The girls who planned this event organized every specific detail of the show...every word was planned and every consideration was made in advance. I was completely overwhelmed to see how much work these four girls put into raising money for St Jude. Morton has a few kids that are patients of St Jude and a couple of the girls came to watch the show tonight which made it even more special. I had to blink back watery eyes a few times tonight because I was so proud of the amount of effort these four girls (and their families, of course) put into this project, as well as proud of our community for supporting the show so well. My girls got their faces painted:
Here they are with a long-lost-friend:
Our friends' girl sang a song in the show...I was so glad to finally hear her sing because I had heard great things about her voice and they were correct...she is really talented:
The acts included everything from water balloon tricks to a magic show to jump roping. My girls planned a little dance to 'My Loose Tooth' by The Sippy Cups. Isabel was a girl with a loose tooth and Ashlen was the Tooth Fairy. To put it mildly, Isabel was a bit shy for their act. She pretty much just stood there during the song, but Ash did her part (despite worrying about Isabel) and I was proud of Isabel for staying up on the stage for the whole song with her sister. At least I don't have to worry about her running off to Hollywood someday...her stage fright is pretty intense! But, no tears until after the act, so I am just happy they gave it a shot!!!
Isabel's friend Andrew won the show singing the cutest remix. I am giggling now just thinking about it!!! He got a huge prize basket full of goodies donated by community sponsors:
They gave all of the participants signed certificates and medals...I was really impressed with this! You would have thought my girls won 'American Idol' because they were so excited about earning their very first medals!!!
I hope that this warms your heart as much as it did mine!!! There is nothing better than kids helping other kids 'just because'!!!
Usually I try to give my posts equal time at the 'top of the blog', but I am way behind and I have nothing but time tonight, so be sure to keep scrolling down for more new posts!
And yet he still found time to annoy me:
Ash loved her cupcake and she knew she could get away with eating lots of extras since it was 'her birthday':
Isabel had fun playing with her friends too (Can you tell I caught them off guard?):
We opened presents at home. Here, she is excited about a new outfit for Emily, her American Girl Doll:
And here she is introducing you to 'Candy', her newest webkinz:
And here is a very unflattering picture of her in the world's cutest jacket. Do you think she will still hate me for this picture when she is my age? I am only counting three chins and one elf-ear from this angle, so it is really not that bad!!!:
Despite the weather and the pool-less luau, it turned out to be a great party and she is already looking forward to turning five. Ugh.
At least five different types of monkey bars:
Rubber climbing ropes everywhere:
And, yes, even a ZIP LINE!!!:
Also, the wonders of wildlife hatching right before our eyes...honestly, I took this picture to use as a real-life example of molting in my science class, but I think it is really cool:
Right next door to this park was the neighborhood pool. We took the kids there to swim for a couple of hours...Isabel saved her sister's life. Yes, you read that correctly. They were jumping off the side and Ashlen went down a bit too far and jumped in and couldn't touch. Isabel knew it was deeper there because she had just jumped from the same spot and had to swim to the side. She saw that Ash was trying to tread water (thank you swimming lessons), so she swam over to her and grabbed her and swam her over to the rope. She used one arm to hold onto the rope and the other to try to keep Ashlen's head above water. I noticed this about the same time as the lifeguard because she was juming in to save them about the same time I was noticing the drama...amazing what can happen when you are sitting right there!!! I was so proud of Isabel...she got to pick out a new swimsuit for her American Girl because she saved her sister's life! After all that, we needed to relax, so we went for pedicures:
Isabel was very ticklish...her nail lady (what is the correct title here???) thought this was hilarious!
Our trip was full of lots of other fun things like shopping, going out for dinner and ice cream, and going out to see the wooded acres that they just bought and plan to build on soon! And we can't forget playing with the cat toys:
No wonder Ashlen threw a very rare temper tantrum when we had to leave...they had so much fun on this trip!!!
Immediately, the birds responded to Isabel...whenever the mother left for food, she would climb up to talk to them. She thought it was hilarious that the birds would try to eat her worm-like finger when they were only a day old (no, they never actually touched her finger...I told her that they had to have real feathers before she could touch them). Isabel is a pretty tiny kid, and these little birds make her hand look giant!!!:
About a week later, most of their feathers had filled in. They were looking less like creepy creatures and more like birds:
It was around this time that I noticed that the nest was infested with bird mites. I read conflicting reports about bird mites surviving in the human home, so I took the cautious route and spent two full days deep cleaning my whole house which was not an entirely bad thing...it was due anyway, plus it gave me an excuse to buy the newest model of the Shark Steam Mop...The Pocket Mop!!! If that thing can kill the bacteria under the blacklight like they showed on the infomercial, then it could definitely kill a few bird mites, right??? Anyway, it broke Isabel's heart (almost literally, I think), but they were no longer allowed anywhere near the nest. I had to make a special trip to Peoria to buy another bird Webkinz to make up for her loss...it worked pretty well. It turned out to be okay because the birds flew away a couple of days later (maybe they were tired of getting sprayed with bug spray every night after the girls went to bed???). After the mite scare, I think I might have to take the hose to any nests that begin to form anywhere near my house from now on!
Her American Girl, Mia's Bed:
This one says 'Fish 
Ashlen's tub of Bitty Baby stuff:
And, what is this?
While Ashlen was happily dreaming about sugarplums and 'yittle hot dogs', her sister was putting a label on her back...I guess I should just be happy that she doesn't know about 'kick me' yet!
She got the chance to feed a real baby...she was so excited, you would have thought she was about to have a slumber party with Hannah Montana:
We had a few boxes of Snap Dragons...those little white packets that you throw down and they 'pop'. Aspen thought it was hilarious to throw them at Jason's feet...he played along like a champ!:
Luckily, Nick was willing to light the big ones...I think the rest of us were all afraid of losing digits.
Speaking of losing digits...this stunt earned him the nickname 'Ole Three Fingers' for the rest of the night...yes, he actually lit all of those at the same time and held them as they went off...brave or crazy, you be the judge!!!:
Despite the day's gloomy weather, we managed to have a fun 4th of July evening, so I am a happy girl!!!
I think Sara is Isabel's new favorite adult in the world!!! Isabel is not the 'social butterfly' that her sister is, so the fact that Sara thought she was the special one was so great for her!
The girls found a firefly:
I hope you all managed to find some fun in this year's rainy 4th of July!!! I am already looking forward to next year's bike parade!!!
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