Recital time!

Sarah and David just played in our fall violin recital in Vermillion last Friday. Sarah played The Flower Song, and David played Lightly Row. They both did a great job!

After the recital, we all enjoyed a reception with cookies and lemonade.

On Friday morning, Sarah, Michael, and I cut out flowers, stars, and violins for our cookies. David and Sarah frosted them with chocolate buttercream and yellow almond frosting in the afternoon. One of the other moms brought delicious brownie mix truffle-like treats. We made some of our own yesterday!

The Politeness Plan

David has developed a new code of laws in our house to encourage politeness. Rather than just yelling at people, he now has assigned a helpful task as a fine for each infraction. The three main categories he thought needed to be addressed were "Being Destructive" (Sweep the floor), "Not Sharing" (Dust something), and "Snatching Something Away" (Vaccuum the floor). He wrote them down as the picture shows and keeps it handy where everyone can see.
Last night the kids were playing in the basement, and I heard David shouting at Michael and come stomping upstairs. I asked what was going on, and David stormed over to the closet, grabbed a broom, and shouted, "Michael destroyed my truck, and now he must pay the penalty!" I had forgotten about the politeness plan, so I followed David downstairs to make sure that the penalty wasn't a broom upside Michael's head. David thrust the broom toward Michael and shouted, "You have been destructive, now you must sweep!"
I guess it's far more productive than temper tantrums and hitting!

Our own Lolcat

Here is our very own lolcat (funny cat picture with silly caption, like on icanhascheezburger.com). He is a silly cat who likes to sleep on the stairs where he can guard everyone's rooms as we sleep.
David wanted me to take this picture and then make a caption for it so that Hello could be a lolcat, too.