2nd grade talent show

Today was the annual 2nd grade talent show at school.  The girls were super excited about showing off their talents.  It has been quite the project for them.  They have been busy choreographing, figuring out wardrobes (whose closet is better for matching outfits???), downloading music, and practicing.  They were up early with excitement and anticipation of the big day.

 

McKenzy and her friends choreographed their own dance!

Sidney showed off her cart-wheeling talent!

Keyan playing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”

 

Abby and her friend sang along with Taylor Swift!

 

I also took some still shots to commemorate the big event! You can click on the link to see them at your own speed!

Tons of Talent! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Ok, some of you may want to stop reading here.  I am going to step on my soap box for a minute so….you have been warned!

One of the down sides to being such an open book type of person is that you also open yourself up for people to share their personal opinions with you.  Most of the time, I can appreciate what people have to say and move on and I NEVER tire of answering questions about the girls or Keyan,  but there are a few instances when I just get fed up with people thinking they know more about my children than I do.  From the moment we found out we would be having quadruplet daughters, people have asked us about school.  For whatever reason, this is a very opinionated topic and we are well versed in talking about the fact that we keep the girls together in the same classroom and sharing our many reasons for that.  However, lately, people have gone from wondering to being down right rude. 

It struck me today as I watched my four very talented daughters, all doing different talents, with all different friends, that people absolutely do not know what they are talking about.  Everyone from numerous people at the school, complete strangers, people who have never met my girls, to even friends, assume that I am being head strong or maybe that I just haven’t thought it all out.  For some reason, it really bothers people that we keep all of the girls in the same classroom at school.  I am hear to declare that unless you are raising MY four quadruplets, you have no right to judge our decision.  I have researched this topic extensively, but even if I hadn’t, living with these girls and their unique connection makes it an easy decision.  If you need proof, look again at the videos and photos from todays show.  Look at their smiling faces, look at their creativity, look at their confidence, and look at their individuality.  Then, respect the fact that we are making the very best, informed decisions that we can make. Period.  

A family field trip

We have driven past Fair Oaks farm in Fair Oaks, Indiana several times over the years and Paul and I have always said that we wanted to bring the kids to visit this dairy farm.  A couple of weeks ago, an opportunity presented itself to go, and although the decision ruffled the feathers of some people at the school, we decided to pack up the van and head south for a day at the farm. 

Fortunately, I had called the farm the week before to gather information about our visit and the lady I spoke with told me that they had 300 school kids scheduled to tour the farm the morning that we were planning our visit. So, we had a leisurely breakfast at home and arrived at the farm right after lunch.  We had the farm virtually to ourselves. It was great!  We toured the exhibits, took a bus tour of the barns, saw the milking carousel where 72 cows ride around while being milked (which is worth the trip in and of itself),  played in the hands-on rooms, saw a baby calf being born, drank some very yummy chocolate milk and shared the best grilled cheese sandwich!   We bounced on the giant pillow, checked on our baby calf, bounced some more, and ended the day with ice cream.  Oh, and we learned some amazing things while having all of this fun too.

The kids favorite fact from the farm was that Fair Oaks turns the cow poop into electricity!  They are totally off the grid as far as power.  Their cows create enough electricity to power 750 homes.  I was very impressed with their commitment to reusing and being self sustaining.  My thought though was if they can power 750 homes, how many cows would I have to have in my backyard to power just our home????  I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate my power source though.  It did give us a lot to talk and laugh about as a family.

My favorite part of the farm was watching the calf be born. The baby was too big for the mom to deliver by herself and so a farm technician had to help her by pulling the baby out. By the time the calf came into the world, it was not breathing and the mom was not at all interested in helping stimulate the baby.  The technician did what she could and she gave us a thumbs up but I could tell that the baby was still not breathing. We all sat holding our breath and a tear slipped down my cheek.  Finally, McKenzy broke the silence when she screamed out that she could finally see the baby breathing.  The calf was still not moving much though so the technician opened up the gate between the two mother cows and the other mom, who had given birth about 40 minutes prior, went over to the abandoned baby and started cleaning it up and stimulating it.  It was really neat to see her take over.  However, her own baby wasn’t pleased that his mom had left him so he worked and worked to get up onto his wobbly legs to get over to her.  It was so amazing to see the bond between mother and baby.  By the time we did the final check on our calf before leaving the farm, he was standing up and doing fine!  What a relief!!!  Leave it to our family to catch a drama filled birth!

On the way home, once the kids were all kicked back watching a movie in the van, Paul and I looked at each other and talked about how great a day it was.  It was busy, tiring, and at times chaotic, but so worth capturing the memories together. That is what life is about for us.  Living in the moment and enjoying our time together as a family.  It was a great day…no matter what the school teacher had to say about it!!!