Halloween has a tendency to sneak up on us (last year was pretty fabulous, though, I must say) so I convinced my kids to pick a theme early and they went with one that I've been trying to push through for YEARS.

Plus, they are making another movie of it - due out this fall(?). Can you guess?

Need a little help?

According to my dh, this story has been made into a movie about once a decade, since film began. I guess we love us some Musketeers. Time to start designing!

There he is, just right of middle in the white shirt and black tie. They sang their hearts out for the program and sounded really good. There were bits of several Disney songs, a couple of classics, and they ended with "I will Survive".

The crew.

Just some pictures.

My cellist.

Doesn't he look excited?

So lessons have ended for the school year and we were surprised to find out that middle schools here don't do strings instruments. *sigh* So he can either choose a brass instrument or get private cello lessons...

In the meantime he is preparing to try out for swim team on June 1 and we have been going to the Y a couple of times a week in the wee hours of the morning to swim laps. I feel like I'm emanating chlorine, but I'm proud of his perseverance.

And I suppose the swimming is doing me good on the weight loss front. I've finally found a routine that I can stick to and an eating program that works for me. I've lost 9 lbs (woo. toss the confetti) and gained some muscle tone. 1/3 of the way there!

All about the middle child:

The other day he was literally crawling all over his older brother, looking for attention, and was asked to leave him alone. So he went to his room to play. After a loooong silence, I asked said older brother to find him.

He couldn't at first.

Then he looked UNDER the bunk beds...

He used to do that when he was a toddler- the first time it took me several frantic minutes to find him. I guess he likes the secure feeling of tight spaces? *shudder*

We went to the Natural History Museum with Maxine and they have the butterfly pavilion open right now:


He wanted to stay there forever, accumulating butterflies.

Somebody has a new favorite pastime. Usually he asks me to grab onto his shirt and swing him across as hard as I can.

The other week; the handle was too far for him to reach and he asked me to come over and push it to him. I told him to jump, and to grab on and swing across. Never did I think he'd actually try it - He did. And he ALMOST got it! It was great!

until his hands slipped and he fell flat on his back and cried and lectured me for the next three hours.

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the 4th be with you...