English Class Photoshoot: "Set Sail for Spring Break"

So, here's the story:
Isaiah and I are currently on Spring Break. I was not given very much homework to do over the break, only two assignments. One was a tiny worksheet from French class that I finished in a snap. The other was an assignment from my English teacher: we had to take a picture of ourselves reading something over the break, and make it as creative as we wanted to.
Now, unlike some of my classmates, I read a lot, so there's nothing special about a picture of me reading. So I decided to have some fun with it, and dressed up in a huge, full pirate costume left over from Isaiah's last birthday party.
But I wasn't going to get in this whole costume for just one photo, so after drafting Isaiah as a cameraman, we ended up making a big photoshoot, shot at a nearby park. At the end of the morning, we were filthy*, tired, and grinning from ear to ear. The end result is very silly, and was quite fun to make. We hope you enjoy it here.

*=Isaiah wasn't actually filthy. He had stayed away from all of the digging and setup because, quote, "I'm the cameraman and I need to take 'behind the scenes' pictures of all this stuff. Next he'll want to direct.

Some Kindly Advice

So on Friday afternoon, I was cleaning off our stovetop. It had gotten extremely filthy, so I was having to use a lot of elbow grease to try to clean it. Isaiah was watching me and asking about the methods I was using: the sponges, scrub brushes, and cleaning fluids I was using to try to loosen the burnt in crud. After a while, my 9 year old son said to me, "You know, Mommy, maybe you should clean the stove every day, and then it wouldn't be so difficult to clean. It's like the way Isaac and I keep the table in our playroom clean every day, so we never have a huge mess on it to clean up." I could barely keep a straight face as I thanked him for his idea. He doesn't seem to remember that it was my idea in the first place. I don't know how many times I've told the boys to keep their table/closet/playroom/bedroom/whatever cleaned up every day so it's easier than having to clean up a huge mess later. Apparently, it has sunk in, but Isaiah has forgotten the source.

And I guess it would be a good idea. Excuse me while I go clean the stove while it still isn't a huge mess...

Spotlight on Isaiah

On December 9th, Isaiah's class had their "Music Demonstration" and Open House. "Music Demonstration" means they show us what they've been learning in music class: singing and dancing and playing instruments. One thing Isaiah's class did was a square dance. It was so funny, a short while into it, we realized we had to video it for you all. Click here to see part of the video. It isn't as clear as I'd hoped, but Isaiah is in the back circle, usually with his back to the camera. You'll recognize him as the one jumping up and down.

We also took a few more pictures which you can see here. The last song they did, the kids were told to go pick a member of their family from the audience to dance with them. They always seem to pick me...