Christmas Performance

 December7th was the Parks and Recreation Expo day.  All the girls performed -- Elysse and Ivy in their ballet/jazz class and Kezia in tap dance and gymnastics.  The girls did AWESOME!!!!  In fact, each of them had an obstacle that they overcame for their performance, which made me extra-proud.  Elysse had been complaining of a pain on her bum that felt like staph (again).  We could not find any sign of it until the night before...and then we saw it was pretty far advanced.  She still wanted to do her performance, and danced beautifully despite being very uncomfortable.  I think her face here says it all.

We took her to the ER afterward to have it lanced (again).  See other post (that is, if I happen to have the time to post it.)

Ivy's class continued to shrink as the date for the performance grew closer.  Then, as you can see in the video, the third girl got stage fright at the last minute, but even so, Ivy and her friend danced wonderfully!

Kezia only attended tap dancing about 1/2 the time, so with that in mind, she did really well.  I was most impressed when she got right back up after falling down and didn't skip a beat, as well as when she was surprised to see she didn't have a partner, but dealt with it like a pro.  AWESOME!  And then just a few days before, we learned that her gymnastics coach wanted her to perform, but since we didn't get the notice of the performance practice.  We were lucky a friend of hers had clothes she could borrow.

Enjoy the videos!!

November Happenings

 Nate ran a marathon!

The night before Veterans' Day, Nate told me, "I'm gonna get up at 4:00am and do a long run in the morning.  8:00am comes around and he's still not home.  He comes back near 8:15 to tell me he's not going to the exercise class we usually go to because he's "still not done running."  Even with my asking, he still wouldn't tell me what was going on!  What was up with this unusual excitement about running, a sport he used to despise?  I passed him on my way to exercise class and he finally told me he was running a marathon -- solo.  He just up and wanted to see if he could do it.  Well, at 10:30, he called me and asked me to pick him up -- he finished, and got first place!!

 Soul has discovered the joy of placing small objects in a container.  Here he is placing pebbles in a roll of twine.

 I don't know what he is doing here, some sort of ostrich move, but he had a great time doing it!

 

I love how the girls love each other!

3.  We went to the Valley of the Temples, a cemetary which hosts a large Buddhist temple.  Beautiful, but after seeing so many in Taiwan, probably not worth a drive over just to see one.  But the girls loved feeding the koi and even the birds fed right out of Ivy's hand!

 

 Voter spirit!

We all got into the patriotism spirit this year.  We were strong Romney fans.  Here are the girls making a sign for Romney

 Elysse and Soul at Preschool

 This made me laugh:  You see how much pancake is left on Elysse's plate?  Well, she brought the plate to me at the end of breakfast and said, "I just can't handle any more".  Really?

 Elysse and friends

At the Triple Crown contest this weekend (a big surf contest at the beach across the street) Elysse met a mermaid with her friends.  She happened to be there when she was being interviewed, so got to be on the webcast of the contest. 

Soul being sung to at Tutu and Me preschool

Happy 1st birthday, Kalani Soul!

We invited the Clark family over for dinner and cake and ice cream.  I attempted a chocolate pie made with avocado, but my avocados weren't ripe yet, so I experimented with sour cream and avocado and eventually created a pie that was actually quite good.  At least Soul ate it!

I had been wanting to get a swing for Soul, and happened upon a swing being given away on facebook.  The owner brought it over just in time for the party, and Soul LOVES it!!

Grandma had also made her famous chocolate cake, and we all had a great time eating and chatting and celebrating Soul.

Soul is such a joy in all of our lives.  He lights up a room when he's in it with his winning smile and mellow mood.  We love you, Soul!

Look who's Walking!

Look who's walking!  Soul has been taking steps for about a month, and now decided walking is the way to go.  I have video, but I'm having trouble loading.  I'll post it when I can!

Taking the plunge

Fun in the Mud

Our family Circus

To most onlookers, it may look like another beautiful, calm day at the beach...

But take another look and you'll find the

 Bodacious Burgoynes 

pulling tricks that will blow your mind!!

 The Amazing Elysse Defies gravity and floats ABOVE water!

Supernatural Soul catches satellite reception -- through his HAIR!!!

 Zooming Kezia ZIPS at 75mph-ish down a plastic tarp straight into the salty water! 

Indomitable Ivy tackles WILD 100lb logs -- and lives to tell the tale!

Happy Unbirthday, Elysse!

The last thing Elysse said before she went to bed last night was, "I wish my birthday was tomorrow." 

I decided to let her dream come true.  She woke up to streamers, a cake made of haupia, strawberries, and blueberries, and stickers and a lollipop as a gift.  It was fun to make the wish every kid wishes for true.

What's going on with Soul

 Two new teeth!  They sprouted around August 11.  What a man!  Luckily, I have not been bitten yet.  Thank you, Soul.  But there has been a whole lot of other stuff going in his mouth!

 

Soul's already taken by the ladies --- he doesn't know what to do with so much female attention!

At last, Kezia has the cat she's always dreamed about!