Bravo!

The Classroom performance of "Cinderella & The Glass Slipper"was incredible! The script was written by the students, each developing their characters in order to involve each student, two songs were written by students and students with solos chose between the Disney version of a song or the Whitney Houston Rodgers & Hammerstein version.The kids outdid themselves for the evening performance! The week consisted of 1 rehearsal on the new stage with all the props, 3 dress rehearsals and 2 performances. Days were long but energy was high!

The below photos were taken during their last dress rehearsal.


Breana (on right) was Lilac, one of the Fairys who sang a song they wrote, "Ella". She had thee first line of the play, it was all quite exciting! Despite her vivacious personality, Breana has the tendency to not favor attention that being on stage gets. Not this time (or not anymore?) Just like her appearance & demeanor on a horse, Breana was confident & pulled together. No wallflower here...just a Garden Fairy! ;)

The play starts off with one Fairy wanting a bed time story. The other two read her...you guessed it, "Cinderella".

Those darn antennas! Breana wasn't sure if they would stay on during curtain call. We added a few bobby pins to rectify the situation to ensure security for the real performances.

Kaitlin was the Fairy Godmother - she wore a dress that my late-Grandmother Felisa made for me in high school for my senior prom! Tisha added sleeves for Kaitlin - just the right touch needed to accentuate that huge wand of hers!

...singing, "Impossible"...

Bravo!

And now it's over - "all gone, byebye, whoosh, see ya!" (one of our favorite lines from _____ - do you know?) I don't know how to feel about it. Costumes consumed my thought & house for weeks on end and now my brain & time are free. I watched Kaitlin move on to her next phase in life - it was as if she grew up & into a pre-teen on stage, literally right before my eyes. The transformation was so clear to me and she did it with such grace & beauty.

Man, if the girls carry through life with the confidence I witnessed on stage..watch out world!

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"The world's a theater, the earth a stage, Which God and nature do with actors fill”.

"Case of the Mondays"

"Looks like somebody has the case of the mondays!"

Monday morning Dan convinced me to take a drive down the coast to Moss Landing for lunch. Instead of working in the yard or going to work, Dan wanted to go for a drive. I was extremely exhausted but he was incredibly insistent. The agreement was he was to let me sleep on the way there & back. I figured the day was gray & misty which should keep him busy with his own thoughts, however, not the case.



The first stop was on the way out of town down a path I never knew existed that linked a place I have always wanted to explore since I was 9 to a newly remodeled grocery store I avoid. It was a sweet tucked away place. I wanted to stay in the car but Dan encouraged me to explore with him.



In Moss Landing, we walked on the beach for a bit. The ocean breeze was brrrr cold and walking on the sand in my boots made me feel 'slothy'.


Dan the explorer enjoyed the drive, the new explosion of native flowers and the weather heading our way. Me? ...I had the case of the mondays...

Book Finished

I finished Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince...now what? Now I wait like everyone else for the 7th book!?!!

Lemon Tart

From one of our cookbooks, Kaitlin & Kylie baked a Lemon Tart - all on their own. Using the Meyer Lemons from our tree, the house smelled delicious!

(Breana came home later in the process and helped out.)
It was beautiful and scrumdiddly delicious! :D

Dan

With the girls being old enough, Dan & I were able to hang out a bit while they skied. I didn't touch my knitting nor did I get as much reading done as I thought I would. I was too busy spotting the three on the mountain and watching them ski. I know, I know...get a life! ;)

Grateful for...

- choosing to take the time to go to Dan's soccer game and watching him score a hat trick + 2!
- Spring skiing!
- sister's Carne Asada :P slurp~slurp!
- California weather!

This is how to turn 12...

Spring skiing!

Dan & the girls skied in 60 degree weather! Cotton tees and polartec vests! It was beautiful!

I stayed back in the lodge and hung out by the window with a knitting project and a book. My staying back made it easy for one of the girls to come up for a break while the other continued to ski.

While they have their moments, like all siblings do, these two are truly sweet together. Speed Racer Breana hung out with Kaitlin who just wanted to take it down a notch. By letting Kaitlin set the pace, Breana made sure that Kaitlin had a wonderful birthday.

What was I thinking with this picture? I intended on taking a picture of the 3 in the same spot as we did last year in the picture at the bottom of this page. However, the girls stopped skiing before Dan did and they were toooo tired and it was toooo bright for them to want to wait around to take a picture with him. I had to capture what I could when I could!

Birthday Girl turns 12!!!

Kaitlin welcomes her 'golden year' (12 on March 12) with a splash!

It's wonderful to have great friends to join in with you!

The weekend was a bit dizzy!

service not up to standards

While buzzing about the house the other day I noticed that the tipping rate was below the standard 15%. Now due to the fact that Dan had worked in the F&B industry for numerous years he is very cautious of what he tips at establishments. Regardless if he is not pleased with the service he receives, 15% is the least amount of tip he will leave. (Hence, more if the service meets or exceeds his expectations.)
Somehow expectations are not being met in this house....
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I walked by the dining table...12 cents

the game table...53 cents (the best yet!)

and his bedside table...1 penny & 2 manzanita seeds

Clearly if one gives 100% one should at least receive 15% in gratitude, right?

Or Dan needs a change tray on his dresser...

The signs of Spring approaching

Our Peach Tree is out back near the trampoline - we can see it from our dining table. This incredible tree bears elegantly juicy peaches. Sometimes it's hard to beat the birds to the fruit, but we do our best! Two years ago, the girls & I made peach jam. This year? Maybe peach cobbler! Lickity yum!

Practically before our eyes, the amount of blooms triple. Beside the fact that I've also been wearing short sleeves & no tights, looks like spring is in the air!

History projects

Assignment: Creative project done at home for chosen subject.
Kaitlin - for 6th grade Ancient History, Kaitlin chose greek gods.
Breana - for 5th grade American History, Breana chose the Declaration of Independence.
Ideas: clay sculptures for diaramas.

My job: buy the clay in yellow, white, tan & blue - easy enough...
Due: Wednesday, March 7

There are too many varietys of clay! There's polymer, suply, clay you bake, clay that hardens without baking, clay you reuse, clay you add color to while you're kneading, clay you paint after baking...here a clay, there a clay, everywhere a clayclay. The clay I found that hardens without baking for $3.49 only came in white & tan. To buy yellow, I would have to buy another multi-pack but would be stuck with neon pink, green & black. To buy blue, I would have to buy a single pack the size of a brick for approx $10. I decided on a completely different route - a neutral color that could be baked if you wanted to but would also harden without baking and could have dye added to it before baking and painted on after baking. I knew we had food dye and prayed that our tempura paint was still in good condition. This clay seemed quite versatile to me and for $3.49 a package I grabbed two, one for each girl, and intended on walking to the register but took a detour to the back of the store to walk down the aisles of pens & erasers & pads of paper before I worked my way up front...uh oh...and that's where I saw the kid's aisle. On those shelves were four completely different types of clay and colors and uses - ohmigosh this is only a 5th/6th grade project! I finally decided on 2 different types; a tub of white clay that hardens without baking and a package of 20 sticks in different colors of reusable clay. I walked out with my wallet $8 lighter, 4 minutes left on my meter & 15 minutes until the girls get out of school...my job is complete!

Kaitlin made 5 different objects significant to the greek gods and placed them on pillars. Her pieces were smaller in scale. Some pieces were easier to sculp than others. One piece, the wings on the sandal, took patience and a little bit of ingenuity to keep the reusable clay to maintain it's shape.

The end result is simple and well thought out. It makes a nice display representing symbols of the greek gods.

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Breana sculpted Thomas Jefferson signing the Declaration of Independence. For his blue jacket, Breana kneaded 2 different sticks of blue clay together and spread it over the body made of the white clay. Jefferson's hair is swabs of cotton and the feather was cut out of vellum. Breana always gathers feathers but could not find a single one for this diagram. The end result is stunning.

They both did an incredible job.

Concerns: getting them to school unharmed.

What we learned: the reusable clay isn't the best for projects like this.

Morning Rituals

I tend to be the first one awake in our Begin household. I give myself some time to be in silence before I wake up the family. First things first, I must wake up the house by opening it up to the outside - I throw open curtains and let in the natural light and get a peek of the sunrise. I turn off night lights and intruder alerts as I make my way through the house. Lastly, I turn on the computer and open up the curtains in the sunroom. Once that is done, I'm able to break the silence by shattering the girls' lovely sleeping state. I try to be gentle about the whole procedure yet I need to be firm & persistent. The rest of the morning entails packing lunches, eatting breakfast, feeding Tiger (Kaitlin's morning duty) and getting girls dressed. I'm thankful for the close proximity of their bedroom to the kitchen for there truly is no need for raising my voice to get my point across - 'truth' doesn't always prevail here. Constant reminders of what needs to be done; brush hair, where are you socks?, yada yada yada...you'd think they'd tire of hearing my redundancy in the morning! The hustle & bustle increases as we approach their foresaken hour - more than not, the 3 are out the door, with all of their days' necessities, on time... leaving me back to the silence I started with.
All I'm left with is the whirr of the computer, the purring of the cat, and the "weather channel" in the background. Once the remains of that part of my morning are turned off, whisked away to the dishwasher, folded w/ hospital corners, cleared away to drawers & cabinets, I take a peek at a few of my favorite blogs, I publish a post on my blogs and my day begins!

...finding love in all that we do...

Weekend Begin style

Fridays aren't considered part of the weekend, I know. It surely helps start off the weekend, though, when the week ends like this...

Violin lessons and accompanying on the piano up in the mountains......dinner at Shogun w/ Kaitlin...

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Kaitlin suggested she pose like this - the picture is a tad blurry and I should have taken another shot. I need to get over my feeling self-conscious of taking pictures out in public. I travel through my days thinking, "this would be a great post for our family blog!" as do the girls and even Dan. Most often I get too camera-shy and the photo doesn't get taken. Beware when I overcome that!

Dinner was delicious.

With Dan & Breana away for the evening, I took this opportunity to spend time with just Kaitlin - no multi-tasking, no distractions, no temptations of reading books, none of that. She dined on California Rolls and me on Hawaiian rolls (love the macadamia nuts) and we shared vegetable tempura - yum! I loved this time with Kaitlin. I love being with my family of 4 and I love having my girls at my side but to be able to focus on one child as I was able to do w/ Kaitlin was a treasured moment.

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Saturday, Dan & I went out to Chocolat. We had a nice pesto dinner at home w/ the girls but felt it would be fun to slip away for a bit. I was in the mood for the delicious 'Bianca' - yum - and book hunting for Mom B. We found two wonderful books - I cannot wait for these to fall on my lap! I definitely found more - how does one stop at just two books!

On Sunday afternoon, after Kaitlin's last full concert for that series, we ended the weekend at the Nickell's for our monthly family dinner & Mom B's birthday.

The Nickell boys had a satisfying weekend as well - their Cross Country Bike Team came in 2nd place! Proud Coach Jesse poses with the trophy.

Appetizers and wine were shared outdoors so that we can catch the last bit of warmth before the sun went down. (72 degrees!)

A perfect weekend - cherished moments, lovely music, delicious meals and the glorious sun.

school play - Cinderella

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Kaitlin & Breana's class is putting on "Cinderella & the Glass Slipper" in 4 weeks!