Pippa and William try snowboarding

Mt. Bachelor had a demo day where the kids could get a free snowboarding lesson. I wasn't expecting them to be able to do much their first time (lord knows I couldn't and I was 19) but within minutes they were standing and riding down small declines like champs.

Pippa dancing to Thriller

Pippa just finished up an after-school dance class. Here is her performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller with special guest dancer William. Stay until the Vincent Price laugh at the very end, that's what I wake up to in the mornings standing at the foot of my bed.

Take Us Out To The Ball Game

Tonight I scored four tickets to watch the Bend Elks, the local baseball team, take on their hated rivals, the Walla Walla Sweets so I surprised the kids by taking them out to watch a little ball instead of doing the usual bedtime routine. It was me and the Elder Three, and we had a larf. First of all, it was free hat night for the first thousand people, so right off the bat we scored some sweet matching lids and were able to root root root for the home team in style. Then, after 2/3 into the first inning, it started to rain hard. The umps called a rain delay, and after 10 minutes standing under the leaky bleachers watching the kids get soaked in puddles, I said screw it, back in the car, we're getting some ice cream!

After Baskin Robbins, the clouds had parted and the sun had come back out, so rather than go back home I said screw it, back in the car, we're going back to the ball park! They had started back up, so we only missed an inning, and were able to watch a great couple of innings including a killer RBI double by the Elks that totally broke the spirit of the hated Sweets. Plus, each of the kids got a licorice rope each, which was classic ball park. There was a mascot there, a fella with a large baseball for a head named Homer who William dubbed "the sweet baseball", and he was nice enough to sign Pippa's hat, which seems odd to me, but all the kids seemed to get a kick out of it. Once the sun went down, despite much ball to still be played, I could see sleepy eyes starting to prevail so we cut on out. But a fun time had by all!

Before the game

Rain delay ice cream break

Back to the ball park for some licorice

Pippa's First Bike Crash and Consequently First Tooth Falling Out

About a month ago Pippa had her first crash and ended up knocking three front teeth loose. There was a lot of blood and tears, to be sure, but it soon turned into a very frank and probing discussion about the tooth fairy and whether she delivers just money or also toys.



While I thought the loosest tooth would come out that night, it ended up taking nearly six weeks before it was finally loose enough this weekend for me to pull it out (and even then, it took another knock, this time her teeth against the scooter handlebars). The tooth fairy did indeed deliver money and also left a small bag of fairy dust, which looks suspiciously like glitter, so that was a nice bonus.

Tulip Fest 2011

A couple of weekend ago we went over the mountains to see the last weekend of the Woodburn Tulip Festival. It was a little bit of a gloomy day but the flowers were looking great and the kids had a blast. Here are some photos of the kids and the flowers:

The Reese Kids Ride!

The training wheels are off! After just a couple of weeks of practice in the alley and some skinned knees, Pippa can now ride a bike all by herself- starting, stopping, balance, honking the horn, you name it, she can do it!

Here's a little "training montage" video of Pippa in action:



While we were out practicing William was rocking the trike:



Of course, sometimes even the best riders fall down and go boom:

Pippa's 5th Birthday Party

Last week was Pippa's big 5th birthday party. The theme she wanted was of course princess, so we had all the girls come dressed as princesses and did a Princess Training Academy, where King Nick devised a series of games that would teach them how to be a proper princesses in this topsy turvy world. They learned all sorts of things, like how to talk to animals, how to be sneaky when dragons are around, how to make a princesses wand, how to avoid eating poison apples, and how to find m+ms in whip cream. You know, princess stuff.

The birthday girl!

The birthday brother, not amused!

Pre-party dance party

The princesses receive their first lesson

Making wands

The birthday cake

The most out of tune princesses ever

Blowing out the candles

The birthday gifts

Princess Silly Face

Opening presents

It was quite cute, they all battled to see whose present she would open next

The aftermath of Princess and the M+Ms, the modern retelling of Princess and the Pea. Walt Disney, call your office!

All princessed out