Leaping and Twirling is OK for Boys Too

My mom took this video a couple days ago at her house and she thought it was just so funny.  I figured this was a good opportunity to send an embarrassing video of my child out into cyberspace that may haunt him for the rest of his life.  No really, I just figured everyone would like to look on in jealousy at my son's mad dancing and gymnastics skills (Jack Nielsen- Lord of the Dance.  Has a nice ring to it, right?)... not exactly the manly behavior that Kole was hoping for but he is who he is.  I believe in loving a supporting your kids in good wholesome things that make them happy- even if they are not exactly what you hoped they would do in life or even if it's not exactly what you think is socially normal... so if his ambitions lead to a life of leaping and twirling, who am I to crush his dream and talents?  So, it's not like I would purposely deny him the opportunities to creatively express himself but I am still not quite sure that I want to enroll him in something that will simply give him more creative ways to hurt himself.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see where his budding talents take him.

A Very Happy Un-birthday to Grandma Wood

Kole's Grandma Wood had her 90th birthday back in February but it wasn't until this last Sunday that the entire family got together to celebrate.  Running about 9 months behind seems to be the story of our lives.  By the way, I heard a funny quote at church the other day... "God put me on the earth to do a certain number of things in this life.  I am so far behind, I'll never die."  Ha ha. 

This is a "family tree" with all the names of her posterity on individual leaves... some were bigger and some were smaller- depending on how many generations down you are. I know it's a crummy picture and you can't see any detail but it was a cute idea. Now, in case you didn't know, I come from a very small family- I'm an only child and I only have two cousins so I can name pretty much everyone in my family on both hands... so when we go to big family functions like this, I always think it is funny that there are people there that Kole has never met nor does he have any idea who they are. There were kids, grandkids, great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids there. I felt more than a little awkward but I figure I blend in pretty well since people often think Kole and I look like brother and sister (a very "friendly" brother and sister?). But of course this is Utah and there's no place like a family reunion to pick up dates, right Damion? Ha.

We had the party at the Victorian... it's an old Victorian (hence the name) mansion in Syracuse owned by Kole's uncle Bob. They do wedding receptions and such there so it would be a good place to take some pictures- if I was any good at that kind of thing. I put Kole in charge of the camera. Interestingly enough, there are not any pictures of Grandma Wood. Hmmm. That seems like more than just a slight oversight but it's too late now. I guess that's what I get for putting a man in charge of pictures. At least we ended up with a few pictures of the kids.

Eve and her newly found cousins (probably something like 3rd cousin twice removed)/friends/slaves.  I have no idea who this older girl is but I feel kind of bad for her because we all know Eve can be pretty demanding and when she chooses a new friend, they really have no choice.  Eve is way more of a social butterfly than I ever was.  She latched onto this girl's hand and pretty much held on the whole time. 

They had this little bridge over the brook and Eve and Jack kept trying to kill the troll that lives under the bridge.  Jack has a huge fear of trolls lately.  One day he suddenly had a hard time going to bed because he said the trolls under his bed would get him.  There have been lots of tears at bedtime lately.  Rather than belittle his fears and try to convince him that trolls are not real, we tried to reason with him and tell him that we don't allow trolls in our house.  We have a strict no monsters policy in our yard and house.  Mommy and daddy will beat up any trolls that try to come in our yard.  Sometimes this approach works but many nights we would still find him sleeping in Eve's bed with her... he would totally take over the covers and pillow and she would be crunched in the bottom corner.  I had no idea where this fear was coming from.  We hadn't watched any TV shows or movies with trolls in them.  Then Grandma Deb told me that they read "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" every time they go over to her house.  Ah.  Things are making sense now.  She says it's Jack's favorite story.  Uh huh.  Well then, it looks like it's time for a sleep over at Grandma's house.