Thursday, January 29, 2009

AMAZING!!!

Nathan was forced into entering the poetry slam at school. His teacher made him enter. He won!!! He won a cash prize, but he'll find out tomorrow how much. The first poem was the poem that his teacher thought was his best and when he made it to the second round, he chose the poem that he thought was his best. Three teachers were the judges. His first poem he was told to do it on a made up persona that was going through a hard time in his life. The second poem he was supposed to describe a happy time in his life using imagery. And without further ado...

Waiting

I am old; I am dying.
Alone on a hard bed, chemicals assaulting my nose.
Watching doctors rush past, helping those that might live.
Waiting for this disease to gnaw away the final pieces of me,
waiting to join my wife in heaven.
My daughter has gone, not wanting to see me die,
my son is in the hallway, somber and tired.
I look back on my life, wishing I had done more.
These last few days have been hard,
all my visitors sad and sympathetic,
apologizing for things that are not their fault, wanting to help.
I am fading, as all things do, one day even the pyramids will fade to dust.
Praying, crying, waiting...
for my final adieu.


Wow!

And there it was.
This metal behemoth, this steel giant,
this king of the amusement park,
daring any brave mortal to challenge him.
And there we were, looking up up up!
Gazing in awe of this mechanical titan...
Wow!

And there we were,
In line waiting to challenge this monster,
shaking as if the furies themselves were at our heels.
It swallowed up challenger after champion,
all we heard were screams and roars.
It mocked and teased us...
Wow!

And then it was our turn.
Determined not to let our courage falter,
we were strapped into cold seats.
And then we were going, up up up,
not looking down, only ahead,
hearing cries of joy float up from below...
Wow!

And then there we were, my dad and I,
at the top of a monster that made others cower in fear.
And then we fell, down down down!
My mouth screaming, my thoughts racing, my heart in my throat.
And then an excitement I had felt seldom before,
it started down deep and worked out as a roar!
There is only one word that describes the fun and the fear,
the worry and wonder, the triumph and terror...
WOW!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Allison's 1st Birthday Party

Happy Birthday, Allison.

It started off innocent enough

But it got bad. She was actually stained pink.

She wasn't too sure about this crown

But Jaden liked it

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Tap Dancing Practice

Catie's friend Kenzie was supposed to start dance class with her today but woke up with a fever and was upset that she couldn't go, so I taped a few short dance clips of today's class so she could see how it is. By the way, Morgan was out sick, too. :(

Practicing Ballet

Catie cracks me up in this one because she's doing the moves before the teacher is.

Ballet practice

Take me out to the ball game

This is the beginning of their new dance recital dance

tumbling mat

Monday, January 12, 2009

Happy first birthday Miss Allison

I can't believe it's already been a whole year. My sweet baby is now a toddler. She's doing so much now that I can't keep up with her. She walks, she says momom, Da!, Catie, kitty (for all animals), cracker. She's learning more and more every day. Slow down, Allison!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Allison baby doll growth comparison pictures

Look how big I'm getting!

one month:

two months:

four months:

seven months:

12 months (almost):

Monday, January 5, 2009

Sillies

Catie got a drawing easel for Christmas. Here she drew a picture of Allison.

Allison constantly confiscates Catie's markers from her drawing easel.

The girls got new ballerina matching jammies.