Family Fun

Things have calmed down a little now that Lincoln's play is finished. Marina came with me on a work trip to Salt Lake. She got to see her cousins Carter and Ella.



Carter does not like to pose for the camera. Carter has a little play house in his back yard that had to be swept out for the spring. In Carter's and Marina's minds, it was not a chore to be done. They had to repeatedly take turns sweeping.

It was a very fun trip. In fact, Marina also got her first driving lesson. Here is a video of the end of it. Just to set the scene, she had run into the house right before this.




She did not want to drive anymore after that. It's probably OK that she waits a few more years.

Lincoln got some new Sunday clothes . Here is his belated Easter outfit. Lincoln has two extremes when it comes to photo smiles. I went with this one, because his serious look could be mistaken for a scowl. Marina has been wanting to have curly hair for a while. She asked enough times that I finally bought her some curlers. Marina looks so cute in curlers, and the end result was definitely curly!




She asked if she could have bigger curls next time. I guess it's back to the store for me!

Marina still LOVES dress up. Here is an interesting combination of princess dresses and accessories.

This is Marina in another princess dress performing a song she made up.



My brother, Steve, and his family also visited this month. The kids loved playing with their cousin Kyle. Kyle is not even two years old, but those three kids loved running from one end of the house to the other yelling at the top of their lungs. Marina and Kyle are here on our swings.



We also took the kids for a walk along the canyon trail here in Cedar City. The kids amazingly walked almost two miles, pushing their cousin's stroller for much of the way. They are a couple of amazing kids!

More Lorax Photos

Here are some of the professional photos taken and Lincoln's Seussical performance. What an awesome little actor!

Bunnies, Seuss, and more!

Lincoln has been busy rehearsing almost every day in March for Seussical Jr. He had eight performances (three in one day!), and loved every minute of it. He even got to be interviewed by the local newspaper about performing (see the middle of the second column for his quote).


Lincoln made the best Lorax ever, and thankfully had a costume that was different enough from everyone else's that we could keep track of him on stage.






We could not take any video (due to copyrights), but we should have some more photos of the show next time. I will also try to get the kids to sing some of the songs. Marina has been re-enacting her favorite parts. She sings, "the biggest blame fool in the jungle of Nool." and "How lucky you are" and just about everything she saw the birds do.

All the talk (and singing) about Seuss renewed the kids' interest in Dr. Seuss books. I have read several of them to the kids recently (especially The Lorax, of course). Marina also loves to look at the books to go to sleep. So cute!



We all attended a performance called Crayon Court, which was a puppet show that taught about colors. We had fun, and when it was done, we all had a degree in Colornometry and got to meet the cast.



Marina's favorite was Miss Black and White (a black and white puppet) and all the girl puppets.

We had lots of family come to see Lincoln in Seussical - thank you!



While the Pauls were visiting, we did an easter egg hunt for the kids - at Frontier Homestead Museum, since there was snow on the ground.



Ryan and his coworkers dedicated a sawmill at the museum a couple of weeks ago. It was the sawmill that was used to cut the timbers of Old Main at Southern Utah University over 100 years ago. Of course, when there was a crowd, the cranky thing did not want to work. One of the descendants of the family who had the sawmill said that was pretty fitting since it regularly did not want to work. So, they sawed a log by hand, and when everyone went home - it started right up!
This photo is of Marina, hanging out in one of her princess dresses. She likes to play the piano and sing songs that she makes up. She is very talented!


We cleaned Lincoln's room today, and found this school project from Martin Luther King day. Lincoln was supposed to talk about how he dreams that the world could be a better place. Here are his own words:

Sporting a New Look

After two whole days in eager anticipation, here is Lincoln in his brand new glasses. He especially likes that now he and best friend AJ look more alike.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel . . .

For weeks, Marina has been asking for a haircut. It was usually when she was having tangles combed out, so I didn't know if she really meant it or not. Finally she convinced me that she really wanted a haircut. She told the hair stylist that she wanted hair like her friend Emma (we took her to the same person). Well, Marina ended up with hair a little shorter than her friend (to try to blend in what used to be her bangs). Now Emma wants hair like Marina! Marina certainly has a little sass to go with her sassy haircut!


Marina got the immunizations she needed to start kindergarten yesterday. She had four shots! She did not cry or even whimper. She just sucked in her breath a little when they gave her each shot. I know adults who are not that brave! She gets to register for Kindergarten tomorrow!

Lincoln also has some exciting news - he gets to wear glasses. His teacher told us that he was having a hard time seeing the board at school. We will update the blog with photos as soon as his new glasses are ready.

March Madness

We all have had a busy few weeks. Ryan has been working on a 50th anniversary book for the Utah Shakespearean Festival (he is doing research and interviews at this point). Lincoln has been busy with rehearsals (more on that in a minute), and Marina has been busy being cute.

Grandpa Paul and Kara came to visit last weekend, and we all had a great time with them. I worked on getting my old house ready to sell (anyone need a cute little house in Cedar City?), while Kara and Grandpa played with the kids. Lincoln went shooting with his Grandpa. We told him to dress warm since it was cold, and he certainly did - he has about 7 shirts and at least 5 pairs of pants.



Unfortunately, this did not get carried through to his feet and he only wore one pair of socks and his feet got cold!

The kids got to go see the Tooth Fairy with Grandpa and Kara too! They thought it was very funny.

Lincoln's new front teeth are coming in nicely:

(he really does not like to pose nicely for pictures!).

Grandpa and Kara's visit was followed closely by a visit by Nana and Papa. The kid stayed with them at a hotel here in Cedar, and they LOVED the swimming pool. By the end of the visit, I understand that Lincoln could swim the whole length of the pool on his own! Nice!

Lincoln and Marina play very nicely together; here they are in an intense game of Superhero Monopoly.

Lincoln's rehearsals for Seusical the Musical are coming along. Here is a sneak preview of his Lorax walk (this took a little coaxing).




Just as a reminder, the performances are March 25, 26, and 27 (matinee on Sat. the 27th). If you can make it, we'd love to see you!

Not to be outdone, Marina had a rehearsal also. Actually, she got a little restless waiting at Lincoln's rehearsal one day, and Ryan took her outside to the Adams Shakespearean Theatre. Here she is on stage, every inch a diva!

Marina also performs at home sometimes. Here she is doing the alphabet song with her Dora Sing Along Video. She is really good with her letters, and we'll register her for kindergarten next week! We will also get her caught up on her shots next week. She has assured me that she will be very brave. I'll let you know.



Lincoln got a library book about endangered animals. He was in bed reading it one night when I went in to check on him. He told me, "I don't want these animals to be endangered." I said that I didn't either. Then he told me, "I want to help them not to be endangered." So, Lincoln got a stack of paper and some crayons and went to work. He created about 30 posters to help save the animals. Here are a few of them.


He then took all his posters to school and passed them out to his classmates so that they would know that they needed to help save these animals. I also had to assure him that we didn't have any alligator skin shoes, belts or purses in the house. He was skeptical about all leather, until Ryan and I assured him that cows were not endangered. Whew!

I also scanned in this essay of Lincoln's a while ago, but forgot to include it until now. The assignment was to write about what he would wish for.