Friday, February 27, 2009

Dinomite Program

On Monday, Layla had her Dinomite program at preschool!! She had a great time and is always my best little singer! However, when there are so many people, she's always quite curious as to what's going on and forgets to sing!
Here she is with her little part. The 4-year-olds had speaking parts and the 3-year-olds had prop parts. Here she is with her toothbrush and the dinosaur. The song goes that a regular toothbrush couldn't brush his teeth, so 'he'd have to use a tree.' She had a great time. Normally she has such a big smile, so this must be the in-between smiling.
Oh, and here she is using the toothbrush! (She loved this part!)
Shane was taking pictures (obviously) and no doubt thought this picture was hilarious. That's the only reason it's on here. If I didn't allow a couple awful ones of me, I'd never get a picture of him on here! So anyway... Here I am, officially leading the music. Aren't I so cute!! (And I want no comments about this picture!)
Shane was having a terrible time getting any pictures of Layla. She kept moving, or the kids in front of her would move at the very second the picture snapped. So here's Layla after the program in her dinosaur hat! And yes, she even wears this around!
So, Layla had her program on Monday, I did another one on Tuesday for the T-TH kids and now I'm done until May! Hahaha! Actually, now I just get to go back to teaching all the songs they'll need to know in May! And, this afternoon, I should be getting my manuscript back to look over a final time before the publisher sends it in to the printers. So, I hope you don't expect a post next week. But who knows. We'll see!! Have a great weekend!



Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Valentine's Cookie Bake

Valentine's Day dawned bright and exciting at the Rager house. Lylli and Layla had a primary activity. Layla's first primary activity! She had a great time. Also, Shane was just called to be a primary worker for the 11-12 year olds. They happen to all be boys. He's pretty excited about that!
But back to V.D. This is how Seryn woke up. One eye, nearly swollen shut. It was actually kind of funny. It didn't slow her down much, so she was making normal faces which were even funnier because of her swollen eye!!!
After the girl's activity, they went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a Valentine's Day cookie bake. Now, a couple rules here. The dough has to be pink, the frosting has to be pink, there has to be lots of candy and sprinkles, and Mom and Grandma like the red hot cookies! Oh, and if we do this at Grandma's house, she has enough rolling pins for everyone to have their own! Lots of fun!

Even Seryn got her own little peice of dough! Although, she found it more amusing to mush it to the table.

Then comes the decorating! And actually, if you look closely, you can see the back wall where the projector is showing us the Gibbs. My dad thought it would be lots of fun to do a cookie bake with the Gibbs too. However, they are in Idaho. So, problem solved. For Christmas we all got web cams, so we skyped them and they made cookies in Idaho and we did them here and we all had a good time!


Seryn loved decorating them. Of course, she mostly decorated to eat. But she had a great time!

Layla thought it would be fun to cut a heart hole inside a heart before she baked it. So she baked this cookie, decorated it, showed it to her cousin, Carson, and then ate it!
And Lylli always takes things very seriously.

So, Grandpa decided to "...turn that frown upside-down and smile that frown away."

The other part of the Rager Valentine's Day tradition is the candlelight dinner. Since we were at my parent's they joined us this year. We have to have all the fancy stuff. We have candles and bubbly drinks, and we have steak and potatoes. Lylli asked me about this for a good week before the blessed day arrived. Evidently, she really enjoys this! All in all, we had a pretty good day. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us invade your house. The girls had fun!

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Important Parties

Today, we had Valentine's parties at school. We started off with Layla's party. It was ALL morning! They had six stations they got to do and she had a great time. There's a little girl in her class, Bailey, who Layla simply adores and I don't think the two were separated all day!
Layla and Bailey. Aren't they so cute?
Layla and Bailey coloring on the table with shaving cream. They thought this was a blast!
Here, the girls are trying to do the Valentine's Dance. Does anyone remember doing this with Mrs. Mac? I didn't but Janet Despain said she learned it from her.
Layla eating her snacks!!
Then, Lylli had her party this afternoon. She had centers too and had a great time! It was a busy day, but the girls had fun and got WAY TOO MUCH candy!!! What happened to simply cards?
Lylli doing one of her crafts. Such a silly face!
Lylli diligently working on her craft while Layla (you can only see her bottom) is checking out all the Valentine boxes on the counter.
Decorating cupcakes was Lylli's last center and the mom in charge let Layla do one too. This is Lylli looking on as Layla dumps out the remaining of the blue sugar on her cupcake. And yes, she ate all the frosting and toppings!!
Thanks Mom for watching Seryn so the day was simpler!! That was a HUGE help.

Cover Art


Well, Alicia (my cousin) finished this picture!! Isn't it beautiful?!! We will be submitting it to my editor next week for the cover art for my book. What do you think? I'm so excited!!!!!!! It's gorgeous!!! Thank you so much, Alicia!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Five Years... Any Changes?

I know I just posted yesterday, but a friend sent me this picture and I thought it was funny! This was our family 5 years ago!! Shane, me, and Lylli. Doesn't she kind of have the innocent look Seryn sometimes has? And look at Shane's hair!!! I think we both have red hair here. But Shane looks like a little kid! I'm glad he's put on some weight! Of course, I look exactly the same. And I think I've looked like that since I was 14!!!!!! Too bad it won't last!
Pictures to compare!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Tie-Dye

On Wednesday, Layla did tie-dyeing for school. I'm not real sure how they did it. The teacher tied several cups around the shirt, they colored it with markers (you can see her name written across the middle in red) and then Layla said they sprayed "water" on it. It sounds quite a bit different from any tie-dyeing I've ever done, but she had a great time. And it sounds like a lot smaller mess! (After all, they were all 3 or 4.) And then today, they all wore them to class. Layla loves her shirt and is such a little ham. Of course, this is only a portion of the pictures we took. She wanted them all up, but I limited her.




And this is Seryn's reaction to Layla getting all the pictures. So sad!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Stress in the Forecast!

Apparently, I can't keep up with everything! I have been so busy and stressed lately. I feel like I'm drowning! My house still hasn't sold but they say the average is about 3 months before things sell. Drat! But we've had lots of people look at it! But no offers yet. In the mean time, I have to keep my house spotless 24/7. I don't mind keeping it clean, but the spotless thing is really a headache when my girls are fighting me tooth and nail! I've about had it. I don't think I can keep this up! Maybe I'll just stay here. Do you think the Lord is up for negotiations?

Moving on...

Lylli has been very depressed lately and going in to huge fits about the silliest things. She hates life and everyone is against her. I don't know if she's just frustrated from school, stressed about moving, or something else. But if she were a teen, I'd be concerned that she'd be suicidal. Still, we've been trying to be patient and give her love and space. That's what the "specialists" say to do. Hopefully it's just a faze and will be over SOON!!!
Next week, we start the practices for our preschool program, so I have been trying desperately to put that together. It would be so much more helpful if my boss was in town and would let me know what I'm supposed to be doing. Fortunately, the lady who used to do it has come in and helped me with a few things. That has been life saving! I'll be glad when the program's over!
I'm getting excited about my book! My editor should be sending me a copy to proof by the end of the month! It goes to press on March 16th and will be in print a month or two later, I think. And...I don't have the official word yet, but it looks like they will let Alicia do my cover art! Isn't that cool!! I'm pretty excited! Things are finally starting to move!