The Next American Idol!

Okay, this is a pretty long video because he sings the whole song but it's pretty funny. Using the flag as a prop was his idea. He's such a patriotic boy!

Date Night

Shane and I actually had a date night this past Saturday and celebrated Valentine's Day. We very rarely go out but Christian's martial arts school had a special Ninja Night. For a small fee, from 6-10 p.m. they had special crafts and activities, a pizza party and a movie. He had a blast and we got a night out. We saw the movie Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood and we both really liked it. If you're looking for a good movie to see, I highly recommend it.

Amazing Koala

I saw this news story this morning about a koala being rescued from the devastating bushfires in Australia. I was so touched by this story I just had to post these pictures. Amazing!

CFA firefighter David Tree shares his water with a koala injured in a bushfire at Mirboo North. Photo / AP

Sam the koala is being treated in a wildlife shelter after being saved from a burned-out forest. Photo / AP

Reward Chart! Please Help!

We're reinstituting the responsibility/reward chart at our house again. We used one once quite a while ago with success and we're hoping it will work again. The morning routine has really become a problem for us and I'm going crazy having to ask Christian ten times to go brush his teeth!

I'll tell him it's time to get dressed so off he'll go to his room and when I go check on him ten minutes later I find him sitting on the floor in his underwear looking through a book!!! I tell you, it's driving me mad! So, starting tomorrow morning the chart will be back on the wall and not only will there be rewards, there will also be consequences! If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears!

Let it Snow!

We finally got some snow and Christian was thrilled. He absolutely loves to play in it and he really likes getting a day off from school because of it. Shane stayed home with him and they had a blast. Here a couple videos of their snowy adventures. For those of my Michigan family, I realize that the snow on the sledding hill is a bit pitiful by U.P. standards but here in our neck of the woods you take what you can get!

Getting this snowfall made me feel a bit homesick. I remember how I felt on those mornings finding out that school was cancelled because of a blizzard. In Sault Ste. Marie, they closed our schools because we got 5 feet of snow, not 3 inches!!!! But we would all ( I had 5 brothers and sisters) get bundled up in the morning after breakfast and all the kids in the neighborhood would play outside -- usually all day long -- building snow forts. We would have so much snow that we could really tunnel into the huge snow banks created by the snow plows that plowed out our driveways and we could hollow out spaces big enough for a couple of us to crawl into and sit down. And, these tunnels and forts would last for a while because it was so cold and we could play in them for a days on end.

Ah, the cold, that is a whole other story too. When I was a kid it was no big deal for the temperature to drop below zero. As a matter of fact we welcomed the freezing temperatures because that meant it was cold enough to build our own ice rink in the yard. My dad would help us section off a large rectangular space in the yard and then we would use shovels to pack that space down really flat and smooth. This would create a wall around the perimeter a few inches high and then we could flood it with water from the hose. Before long all that water would freeze and we'd have our very own ice rink. I learned how to skate on one of those homemade rinks. I started out with double runner skates and I'd hold onto the back of an old kitchen chair for balance and push it around the ice. I took many a tumble but I always had a brother or sister close by to help me back up and eventually I got the hang of it. Gosh, it's been years since I've been on ice skates. What a great place to grow up!

If any of my brothers or sisters are reading this post, I love you and I miss you and I remember! :0)

Christian's Day Yesterday

Here is a video of how Christian looked this morning after getting dressed for school. He was very excited to be wearing the new corduroy sport coat his Grandma Bailey bought for him over the weekend. I cannot believe how much this boy loves to dress up and wear ties! This weekend he asked if we could go shopping for a blue suit!

And, this is what he looked like when I picked him up from school in the evening! He was so excited about losing another tooth and I have to say that this awkward toothless smile is so darned cute I can hardly stand it!

Our little man is growing up so fast!

Longjohns

One of Christian's favorite Christmas gifts this year was pair of red longjohn pj's from Uncle Ted and Aunt Connie. He loves the button flap in the rear-end! My little redneck boy!