The Lion King Musical!!

Last night Dave and I went to the Lion King in Columbus at the Ohio Theatre. It was my birthday present from my mom and I'm so glad we got to go. I'd been looking forward to seeing the performance since January, I think. The Ohio Theatre was amazing and beautiful! It felt like I was in a museum with all the different paintings and decorations. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the theatre, but I managed to get a couple quick ones in before the show started. There was a chandelier in the theatre and the ceiling was beautiful. We were in the balcony, but it didn't take away from the show at all.
Dave and I dressed up because we don't get to just dress up and go out. It so helped make the experience that much better. Dave was asked three times if someone could help them find their seats! :) He was waiting for me in the lobby while I went to the bathroom. When we went to go to our seats an usher showed us to our seats, which I thought was impressive. We got a playbill, too. I was going to get the girls a program, but it was $20...so I just grabbed an extra paybill on the way out.
When the show did start, if you weren't in your seats before it started you had to wait till the opening scene was over. If you are familiar with the Lion King, the movies starts with music and lots of animals going to the Pride Rock. The musical was no different. I found a clip from youtube that is exactly what we experience. It was amazing and breathtaking. I forgot I was even watching actors in costumes. I make fun of Dave when we go to sporting events for getting all excited to the point of being overwhelmed. Well, he has one on me now. The music and what I was watching moved me to tears I must say. The point where the animals (actors) were coming down the aisles (under us) onto the stage was incredible and everyone was clapping. We didn't realize at first what everyone was clapping at, but then we saw a large elephant and baby walk on stage (again actors, but it didn't seem like that). It was awesome and the music was live and sounded just like it did in the movie.
Every scene in the movie was in the musical, with some extra scenes added. The stampede was recreated, the jungle was reinacted, even "I just can't wait to be king" was colorfully performed, too.


This video is the opening act pretty close to what we saw.

Summer's ending

It's official. The summer is over. Brookside closed this past Monday. We didn't get a chance to go on Monday, but we managed to go on Sunday afternoon. The pool was freezing. I didn't get in the pool. I got in a paddle boat that was in the pool, but I didn't actually submerge myself in the cold water. Dave and Jamie were the only ones to really enjoy the water. I got a few good pictures, though.
Monday was Memorial Day....which came really early this year. I know that Memorial Day is the first Monday of September, but really...it seemed rather early. We spent the day at Dave's Grandma Ruth's house. It's family, so we were there. She has a great tree in her backyard. Dave's dad starting putting the kids in the tree and I seized the moment to capture some awesome pictures!!! I think I might use them for something.
On another note, the pictures were all taken with my camera, I didn't enhance them on my computer like I usually do. I have had this camera now for a year. Dave got it for me for my birthday last year...and well, I'm just now getting around to playing with all the features. I really just keep it in my purse and use it as needed....but I started playing around with it while we were at the pool on Sunday.

My Jamie

My Jamie has been in school for a week now. I can't even believe she is old enough to be in school. It's been nice to see her adjust so well, I must say. She's excited to get on the bus every morning and when she gets home she has the biggest smile for me. It's awesome.
Going to school has been really good for her. She has made friends and when Taylor does her homework, Jamie gets to practice her name and numbers. She feels like she is doing homework too. I've been finding papers around the house with her name written all over. She asked me today which "J" I liked best. We have a dry erase board in our kitchen for our schedule and notes. ON the bottom is Jamie's name as well. I just hope it stays on paper and erasable boards, otherwise we might have some issues.
My Jamie has been more interested in what mommy does during the evenings now. Last night I made dinner, which she didn't want to eat. But she insisted that if she did eat, I make no-bake cookies. Well, only a few bites later and she was bugging me to make them. The girl just doesn't take no for an answer...and well, it didn't help to have Taylor and Ethan in on the cheering for cookies. I caved...they're no-bakes, come on! Jamie stayed in the kitchen the whole time I was making them. She added the cocoa and milk and helped stir in the oats. When the cookies where ready she only ate half of one. Hmmm....all that work and she hardly eats that. Tonight when I was making dinner, she tried to help with that, too. It was not good. I made shredded chicken sandwiches and Jamie wanted to put the cream of chicken soup in. On the third or fourth attempt to shake out the soup, half of the soup plopped in the chicken.....and the other on the counter. She had to leave the kitchen after that. Oh well...she's trying help and I'm trying to let her.
I'm happy to see my little girl grow up. She's got a lot of spunk and energy and I just hope we can use it for good.

School's starting for my girls

Today was Taylor's first day of second grade. It was a success, too!!! We didn't miss the bus. We were up early, dressed, eaten breakfast, packed lunch, and early to the bus stop. All these things are important....because the first day of school in kindergarten we were running late. I don't think I'll ever forget that.
We had an open house on Monday night. We met Taylor and Jamie's teachers. Taylor has moved upstairs now. She has a shared locker in the hallway. She is big stuff. I could tell she was a little nervous, but she was more excited than nervous. Last year the transition to first grade took about a month or so. She really didn't want to go to first grade and she made a point of acting out. I'm really hoping this year she does better. So far so good!
Tomorrow will be Jamie's first day of Kindergarten. I can't even believe it. She was so excited before going to bed tonight. I didn't think she would ever go to bed. She set out her clothes, then got out of bed to put her glasses with her clothes, then had to come out of her room again to check on her clothes. I'm really excited for her. I think she'll do great, I just can't believe she's going to kindergarten. I said I wouldn't be sad, but I've been sad for a while now. And tonight I looked at toddler pictures of Jamie (BIG MISTAKE). She's still my little girl...so is Taylor. what in the world will I do when my little man, Ethan goes to school???
I'm hoping for a good start in the morning...so I'd better put myself to bed. :)

I'm going to school

This fall.....September 17th I'll be going back to school. I've scheduled all my classes and I'm anxiously awaiting to hear back about my student loan. I applied for a student loan before looking at the price of books.....which is ridiculous!!! I'm also waiting for MTC to get my college transcript. With it, I'm hoping to not take English and any math courses. I did take my math Compass test again. I needed to get a 41 on my algebra to get into the Pharmacy program. I got a 75 on the algebra and even tested into the college algebra! Totally amazing and exciting!!! The funny thing was once I got a book from the library, I didn't put it down till I finished the book....a book on Algebra. Dave was walking around the house saying "nerd" as he would go by me. :) I know he is excited for me and he's happy to see me doing something to challenge myself.
So for now, I'm officially a MTC student. I just have to wait for all the above to come through and not do much until September. That will be nice because I can focus on my girls going to school at the end of August. Last year's transition to 1st grade for Taylor was very straining. She's already said she doesn't want to go to 2nd grade....I'm just hoping she won't act out as much as she did last year. I'm not sure what to think about Jamie. Sometimes she surprises me with how she acts. A few weeks ago she had to have a tooth removed because it was so badly decayed. I figured I'd be holding her down the whole time....but she never flinched. The week that followed she had to have a cavity fixed....not as tramatic as having a tooth pulled....and she freaked out!! So who knows how school will go for her. I just know it will be difficult to manage my own school jitters with my girls's anxiety as well.
This year is going to be hard....I already know this. I don't think I've prayed for patience or help lately...but I know I'm going to have plenty of opportunities to get more patience and have to ask for help (which is not my thing, I have a hard time asking for help from anyone). But that's all I can say on all this school stuff....I don't want to freak myself out about it anymore than I already have. :)

Shutdown 2008

This week has been Shutdown for Honda....no work for a week and it's paid!
Last Friday Dave worked 1st shift, which was nice. He got home and we had dinner together, something we don't usually do. Saturday Taylor and I got to have some time together. We went shopping, got our hair cut and had dinner. I know it's special for her to have that time...it is for me too.
Sunday the real fun began. We had church at the Harding Memorial for the Celebration of Freedom. Taylor sang a song with the other kids from church. We all wore our Old Navy flag shirts. Mom thinks it's cute, so she tries to get us shirts every year. I'm not sure Dave and I will be able to continue to wear them...they were kind of tight this year. :)

After church we went home to get our stuff ready for a night away from home. We went to Fort Rapids indoor waterpark in Columbus. It's a Holiday Inn with a really big indoor waterpark. We've been there before and the kids liked it....plus we've have wet weather a lot lately, so it worked out. We got to check in early and go swimming for a little before we left for dinner and a Columbus Clippers game. While we were eating it was raining...not a good sign. Once we got to the game, though, the weather had moved on. Our seats were wet, but the evening was perfect for a ball game. We weren't sure how the kids would do, but they lasted the whole game!!!! After the game, the kids got to run the bases ( that was cool).






We spent most of Monday at the waterpark. We had a great time, better than expected. Ethan went down all the waterslides he could. He kept up with the girls, going down the slides in the baby/toddler area. He even went down the slides in the everyone area with the huge dumping bucket. Dave and I got worn out just from following the kids everywhere to make sure they were alright. Taylor was big enough this year to go down the adult slide with the double seater tube. I went with her and I think I scared her from my laughing and screaming. :) Taylor, Jamie and Dave went down the big kid racing slides. You get a mat to lay on and race down three differnt slides. I can't believe the girls liked it so much. Once they wore Dave out, I had to go with them. It wasn't too bad...until you come to the end and you have to stop. It felt like getting punched in the stomach over and over, just from hitting the water at the end of the slide that stops you.
We just had a really good time. When we left, it only took getting back on the highway to go home for all the kids to fall asleep. :)
Tuesday we had to get our house cleaned up, because we invited the new pastor at our church over for lunch. We knew they probably wouldn't care if our house was not in perfect order...but we cared. We had a nice time...I'm just glad we did it early in the week, so I would stress over it! Wednesday we didn't do much...we went out for dinner before church and got ice cream after church. We did our usual stuff....but it wasn't Dave's usual, so it was nice to have him around, for me and the kids.
Thursday was the best impromptu day. Jamie and I got to have our one on one girl time. We shopped, ate lunch, and shopped some more. After we got home and took a little break, we all went to see Wall E and then Chuck E. Cheese. The movie was really cute. Disney Pixar movies are always good and I think they are my favorite. Chuck E. Cheese wasn't bad either, even though Dave didn't want to go. :) Ethan ate a lot of pizza, which surprised Dave and I. And everyone got a crappy toy we could have bought for 10 cents anywhere else. The kids had fun....we called it Kid's Day. When we left Chuck E. Cheese it was 9 pm. Red, White and Boom was going to start at 10 pm. Since we were already in Columbus we decided to drive downtown and watch the fireworks. We parked close enough to see the fireworks, but far enough away to avoid any traffic or loud noises from the fireworks. It was a great day.
Friday, the 4th of July, we had a picnic at Dave's grandma's house. It turned out to be a good picnic too. Dave's grandma had invited Dave's parents and his other grandparents. We got to see all of Dave's family yesterday. We stayed over there for a couple of hours and headed home. My sister Amy came home on Thursday, but we were gone all day, so we got to spend some time with her. My mom, Amy, the girls and I went to El Campesino for dinner. Not the typical 4th of July meal....but I think they were the only place open. :)
Shutdown this week has been nice. It always goes quicker than we'd like, but we managed to get in good quality family time. The week was a success in my book...I just hope it meant something to the kids. I took a lot of pictures, so it'll sure be apart of their scrapbooks at least...if I ever make it that far.
Well, it's Saturday now....shutdown is on countdown to Monday now. Everything will go back to normal. So we're going to try to squeeze in some Dave and Sarah time.

2008 summary

First off, I'd like to say hello again to the blogger world. I think I stopped because I didn't really have anything going on and just didn't feel I had the time.
But I'm back! A lot has happened in a year. Taylor went to 1st grade, learned how to read and do simple math. She'll start 2nd grade this August. Jamie went to preschool at our church and seemed to enjoy herself and do well. She'll start kindergarten this fall with glasses and some hardware in her mouth. Ethan unwillingly gave up his nukky (pacifier), got a big boy bed, and has attempted potty training a few times. He'll be 4 this fall...but stay at home with mom.
Dave and I haven't done much. He still works in the children's department at church. He wrote a couple of skits for the drama team. Dave still works at Honda. He's the safety rep for his area now. Not sure what that will mean in the future...but he'll be working there for a while, God willing. As for me, I was in charge of MOPS this last year. I had 4 moms, which made up our group.....not sure what will happen this fall...but not MOPS. I also teach preschool on Sunday mornings,I really do enjoy it. I started working with the teens on Wed. nights and got asked to be on the teen board. I'm still not sure about the teens, yet....just not sure me being there is really making a difference. Outside of church, I'm a stay at home mom (second shift mom). I recently applied to MTC to get a Pharmacy Tech certificate so I can get a job. My resume isn't much....so I figured I'd go to school for something. We'll see what happens.
This December Dave and I will have been married for 8 years. That seems amazing to me. I think that we have been married longer than my mom and dad were married. I know when I was 5 my parents split up. Just seeing my children at this stage in there life, I'm thankful that Dave and I have a good relationship. I've always told Dave that it's important for me that our children have a two parent home, because I didn't have that. With Dave being on second shift, it put a strain on our relationship, but once we adjusted we found our time to be together. But we are ever changing and moving in a direction whether forward or backward. This fall both of the girls will be in school and we won't have to run around so much, since there won't be preschool this year. However, if I start school this fall, we'll be adding a new strain on our life as we know it now. I just hope we can both manage....Dave with Ethan during the day and me with all three in the evening with the girls' homework and mommy's homework , sports, church and no naps!!! :)