My cute boys

I spend a lot of time with my girls, but even though I'm a full time homemaker I don't see my boys quite so much. Mostly because they go to school for the good part of the day and then when they get home they like to go out and play with friends or play in their room. They both spend a lot of time reading- which I love- or on the computer. The majority of quality time I get with them is during meals and homework, they don't even need my help anymore to clean their room. We try to do a lot of fun things with the whole family on the weekends but even then most of my energy is spent taking care of Sally and Sophie. So it was refreshing to be able to spend some time with just them today- it felt like old times when it was just the three of us going to the library or the zoo. Jon watched the girls so I could take the boys to see a play. At the beginning of the year we got season tickets (instead of renewing our zoo membership) so we could take turns taking the boys to see some fun plays and spend time with them without the little girls (Sophie might actually do better than Sally-who can't sit still for more than five minutes at a time- if we could get her to sleep through it, but who wants to pay for a ticket for a sleeping baby?) .
We saw the Velveteen Rabbit, which was put on by the Childsplay production company at the brand new Tempe Center for the Arts (where Jon juggled and unicycled for the grand opening about a year ago). It's a very modern looking building with all kinds of cool architectural features.

This picture is of the boys in front of a huge pool that turns into a water fall looking out over Tempe Town Lake, from this angle it looks like it's connected but there is actually a large pathway between the two bodies of water. The boys, along with most of the other kids, brought their favorite stuffed animal. Shule's is a very well played with scraggley rabbit named Chocolate because it is brown and was given to him for Easter when he was four. Shazer brought his beloved Manatee that Tammy bought for him when we went to Sea World when he was about four, as well. When I told them that it was suggested that they bring their stuffed animals I thought that they might think it was too silly, that they were too old for that kind of thing, but although, Shazer did make me carry his, they were happy to bring them and really enjoyed the play. It was really well done, with a very professional, entertaining cast and a fun, imaginative set. We had a great time with a heart warming story that I had read to them when they were younger. I really wanted to take pictures of the boys in front of the stage because the set was so fun but they forbade pictures and video. Afterward, the cast came out and answered questions, the boys got a kick out of the irony that a man played the "Nana" and a woman played the "little boy". We walked around the building and checked out an art gallery there. It was such a great time and so nice being with kids that are old enough to behave appropriately. The next show is in January and it's Jon's turn to take them to see Richard Scarrey's Busytown, then I get to take them in the spring to see The Never Ending Story (I'm so excited!-it was one of my favorite movies as a kid) and Jon will take them to see Peter and the Wolf in June. I'm so glad that we got season tickets so we can spend more quality time with the boys while at the same time increasing their knowledge and love for the arts.







Shazer with real bunny ears