The Three Musketeers!

About a month ago Mark came home from school so excited. "I got a lead! I'm a Three Musketeer!" Last week we got to see what that meant!


It was the third grade program. A little play about things that come in "3." (Think about it: three pigs, three bears, three men in a tub, three little maids, etc.) Well, the three little bears were actually only "2" because baby bear was missing. The Three Musketeers came to the rescue! Actually, they were more like the Three Stooges and were very funny.

They sang a song about being "manly men." Their "deep" voices cracked us up!

Good job Mark! I think we have another singer/actor in the family!

New Year with the Spann's

Devin, Heidi, Tyson, and Holly braved the wintery eastbound I-80 and came to visit us for a few days for our New Year celebration. We had so much fun! The first day we went to Denver and stood exactly 1 mile above sea level on the Capitol steps.

The famous (or infamous?) Casa Bonita restaurant really defies description. Bad Mexican food combined with cliff diving, pinatas, and lots of atmosphere made a very memorable dining experience.

We all fell in love with Holly!

Can't have a New Year without popping our confetti, fortune-filled balloons!

Cashew Chicken stir-fry for dinner! Yum!!!

An interesting twist on the candybar game. It was pretty hilarious!

Tyson loved it! He figured out how to cheat with the dice too! :)

The Chinese fortune-telling cow came to visit us again. Everyone was in stitches! "Hoppie Moo Yee-ah!"

Toby really wasn't sure what to think. He tried to kill the cow. :O

Sledding on New Year's Day was fun for everyone!

Thanks for coming guys! We had a blast!!!

Christmas!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

A very satisfying day.

We Ski!

A few days before Christmas we decided to brave the slopes with the ENTIRE family! We live in Colorado, so you would think that skiing would be a regular part of our winter activities. But, even though we are only 45 minutes from Rocky Mountain National Park, we are 2 hours from the famous ski resorts. Also, being famous ski resorts, they cater to the rich and famous and cost an arm and a leg! So, we did our best to figure out how to ski at an affordable rate. We found a resort closer to home that sells a cheaper pass for the bunny hill slopes. Since the kids are all basically beginners, we thought this would be a good way to start.

It was a lot of work to gather (some borrowed, some rented) the gear. It even included picking the rentals up on a Sunday--we felt a bit wicked going to a sporting store in our Sunday best after church (we tried them on the day before!).

Mark and Jeff were a bit clumsy at first, but it wasn't long before they were tired of the tow rope. They picked it up fast! "Don't forget your "pizza wedge" Jeff! Turn! Turn!" I kept yelling that as I watched him picking up speed going straight down the hill. "I don't need to turn Mom. I like going fast!" He had a couple of colossal wipe-outs that humbled him a bit.

It was Mara's first time on the slopes too. She also caught on very quickly. The only glitch for her was that she left her snow pants at home and had to ski in her pajama bottoms!!! :)

Over all it was a very satisfying day. We hope to do it again . . . if we can afford it!

We Clog!

The clogging recital and special production (two different shows) marked the end of our crazy Christmas concert schedule. Mara and Emily have worked very hard over the past three months to catch up to their classmates after taking six months off for our sabbatical. It all paid off and they performed beautifully.

This is Emily's "free style" dance. It is a solo dance of a certain number of measures that they make up themselves. Emily also did an a'cappella solo that was terrific!

Mara has a smile that truly sparkles!

Getting the make-up and glitter on before the performance. Mara said, "I was sooo happy backstage! Clogging is my life!" It's a good thing to like something you spend so much time doing.

'Tis the Season for Concerts!

It's the second week of December. The busiest week of the year. It actually started last week and will end next week, but we are certainly in the thick of it right now! We've already had two band concerts, the Centennial Children's Chorus "Songs of the Season", Fort Collins High School Holiday Gift Concert (2 performances), Linton's Pride Choir and 1st Grade concert, one performance of Aladdin, and several more concerts to go! They have all be excellent so far. We were especially impressed with the high school because it was our first time seeing that concert. Hayley sang with the auditioned Women's Chorus, and also played with the "Jingle Brass" a group of band kids who played Christmas carols from the lobby while things were changing on the stage. It was just a beautiful concert with the symphonic orchestra, jazz band, and choirs. They ended in an inspiring rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus." It's nice to know the ACLU hasn't axed the Christmas spirit in Fort Collins yet. . . .

Jeffrey was so proud to have his first real concert! He said he needed to take a bath the night before so he looked especially good for his concert. He requested that Emily come to his show during the day because she would miss it for "Aladdin." He said "I go to all of your concerts!" He did a great job. We were proud.

The first grade concert was combined with the Linton Pride Choir concert. Mara had another solo and sang beautifully. She doesn't seem to get nervous.

Mara played the xylophone in several songs too. She is with her best friend, Katherine.

"Aladdin" has been a big part of our crazy concert week as well. The show last night was terrific! I was actually quite happily surprised after the reports from Emily and after seeing the first dress rehearsal on Saturday. The kids really rose to the occasion and pulled off a very entertaining show. This is a picture of Emily/Jasmine pouting. She has a very good grouchy face. :)

Jasmine and Aladdin in disguise.

"I can show you the world . . ." Emily sounded like an angel. She totally outsang Aladdin.

Do they look relieved?!

Emily and her hair dresser/make-up artist/costume coordinator. (She makes me look really old!)