Merry Christmas!

Fall Choir Tour

Caleb joined the all-city choir this year and has loved having a chance to develop his musical abilities. Today they gave their first performances at some of the elementary schools in town.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/0e2ad13a9a4f7a791bdf207e0a36c61c/video/26621951

Halloween

This year for Halloween, the girls got very lucky. Grammy took them to the Disney store and let them both pick out fancy costumes. Sierra decided to be Tinker Bell and Madeline was Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. Caleb made a paper costume of Captain Hook to go along with Sierra's outfit. Madeline dressed as Cinderella marching with her pre-K class in their school parade. (Her teacher Mrs. Rushing is the scarecrow.)

Tinkerbell and Captain Hook

Madeline would not let me photograph her this year. It's like she thought I was trying to steal her soul with my camera. Maybe she's part Amish?

Our neighborhood gathers for the Halloween parade

Sierra and her good friend Vibha

Autumn Photo

We had a great day taking the kids to the Dallas Zoo, and especially enjoyed their new savanna exhibit where giraffes, zebras, and deer have plenty of room to roam. We wanted to get a cute autumn picture of the kids. As you can see it was a bit of an effort, but in the end they managed to cooperate.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Caleb loved his second year of being a student performer in the city storytelling festival. He did a great job portraying the foppish king and fast-talking weaver from "The Emperor's New Clothes." We were excited to have Grammy and Papa come from Colorado to see his performance.


http://sharing.theflip.com/session/f8885735492e822639471787f9d948df/video/19112940

Congratulations, Iron Man!

I'm behind on blogging and hope to get caught up soon, but I certainly don't want to miss posting Ted's amazing accomplishment. He completed a mega triathlon called the Iron Man. His write up and photos are below. I can't believe how happy and relaxed he looks. I like to call him Iron Man now--our own real life super hero.

On Saturday, September 25th I finished my first and probably only Ironman-distance triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, & 26.2 mile run) in and around Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City, and overall I thought it went pretty well. I met the cut-off times for each of the three legs by less than an hour, so I’ve definitely set the bar low for any potential future attempts, finishing at 16 hours and 5 minutes. The day was full of contradictions:
- I’ve never applied so much sunscreen and yet gotten so sunburned.
- I consider cycling my least favorite of the three sports because I find anything more than 10 or 20 miles to be uncomfortable and unsafe, yet I spent roughly half of the event on a bike.
- I’ve never lost so many hours of sleep one night with the jitters and the next night due to soreness.
- There are few things I have anticipated so much, yet been so relieved to have over.- So would I recommend it to someone else? Sure. Detailed results are posted at the following link (I’m #214):http://www.redmantriathlon.com/

Thanks,Ted

Last Day of Summer Vacation

This has been a relaxing summer. Aside from our vacation to Colorado, we didn't have any big camps or activities. My main memories will be simple idle time--reading books, geocaching, going to the mall, swimming at our community pool, visiting the Snow Cone Lady, getting Little Cesar's pizza, and snuggling in bed telling silly stories. We decided to do some of our favorite things on the last day of vacation, so we bought snow cones and pizza and took them to the pool. Life will start full swing tomorrow. The kids start school, I start teaching and will continue working weekends at the rehab hospital, and my Anatomy and Physiology class begins. I'm sure I may be saying otherwise in a week, but I'm looking forward to more structure and to Madeline going to boarding school--no, I mean pre-K five days a week. Since I'm only teaching 2 days, that means I get MWF off to catch up on errands, housework, and studying. Hooray!


Nothing says summer like pizza, snow cones, and swimming

Caleb loves using a scuba mask and seldom comes out of his underwater world while swimming

Sierra and Madeline love playing with their dolls in the pool

Caleb on the water slide

Madeline Turns 4

Madeline has been anticipating her 4th birthday for months; it has seemed more like a birth season than day. It began in June when Nana took her shopping at the Disney store for a new Cinderella doll, and each time we have gone to the store she has worked on her ever-expanding wish list. I told her she could pick four presents because she is four, and I think she was a bit let down when she finally made her selections because all the other treasures were no longer a possibility. Her goal is to own every Disney princess and prince doll, and she has added up how many she still and says she will get five more dolls next year and then when she turns six she will die. (I guess there's no point in going on once you have all the Disney dolls...)

We planned a family birthday party with Uncle Danny and Aunt Michelle. We set out the fancy dining room dishes and Caleb finger wove a decoration for the chandelier. Madeline didn't know what we had in mind, and I was surprised to see how shy she was when we told her we were having a party for her. She warmed up after lunch when we played a few princess games-- find Cinderella's slipper, don't get caught with Snow White's poison apple, and princess BINGO. On her actual birthday, she was surprised by a surprise balloon delivery from Grammy and Papa and enjoyed finally getting her presents (Prince Philip and Princess Tiana, a Wii Tiana game, and some some girly books I found at a great garage sale). Happy Birthday, sweet Madeline!

A princessy lunch

Caleb helped make Madeline's princess cake

Madeline dressed up in her birthday celebration dress and new Sleeping Beauty gloves, necklace, and purse from Aunt Michelle and Uncle Danny

Eating birthday cupcakes on her "real" birthday

Madeline and her birthday stash

Colorado

Our family vacation this summer was to Colorado. We visited Ted's parents in Denver and saw all of his 7 siblings and their families for the first time in years. Ted and I also spent a couple days alone in beautiful Steamboat Springs. We loved the cooler weather and getting a chance to visit with everyone.

Love this picture of Madeline's goofy hair

Sierra and mom

Daddy and Madeline

Trying to get Caleb to smile for the family photograph

Three silly kids

All the Biddulph grandchildren

The entire family--notice Caleb dead center bugging his sister (does this bring back any memories...)

Horseback riding at Uncle Geoff's house

Madeline on a horse for the first time

Ted and Caleb playing basketball with Uncle Nathan

Steamboat Springs--we tried to go for a morning run but soon decided it was easier to walk given the high altitude. We apparently weren't the only ones getting used to the altitude--we saw a stand selling flavored oxygen on the street!

We watched an early morning balloon launch. Other fun memories were swimming in the picturesque hot springs, eating dinner at a cafe called Chocolate Soup, and visiting our friends Ryan and Jen Bailey.

Mountain lake

Early summer

The first part of summer is the best--it's still not too hot and everyone is excited for the freedom of long unstructured days. (This is before the kids start finding their main enjoyment in trying to antagonize each other.) Ted and I celebrated our 15th year anniversary on May 27th. Our gift to each other was going to see a performance of Wicked (highly recommended). Our anniversary was the same day as the preschool carnival, and I got his initials tattooed to my arm. (There were other teachers with Edward tattoos, but I think they were referring to the Twilight vampire.) My mom flew to Dallas, and Michelle and I took turns hosting her. We had a circus themed family Murder Mystery party, and Caleb had a good time designing a tuxedo for his ventriloquist hand puppet.

Our 15th anniversary

The kids enjoyed hearing the Wicked performers at the mall

Before seeing Wicked

At the park with Mom and Michelle

Caleb and his puppet

Michelle (the alluring blond) and Danny (the ringmaster)

Ted (the weight lifter), Sierra, and mom (the snake charmer)

Goodbye to the Big Three

Caleb took a step toward adulthood yesterday when he officially learned the truth about The Big Three--The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus. Ever since he was about 5 and googled some questions about the Easter Bunny and found out that the bunny is really a human dressed in a costume, I have been waiting for him to put it all together. I've been suspicious for a while that he knew something was up, like this Christmas when Santa Claus called down from the rooftop through the chimney that it was time for the kids to go to bed and Caleb started racing through the house determined to figure out where Grandpa Dave had gone. I noticed some eye rolling this Easter when I saw a family of bunnies in our backyard and asked the kids if they thought any of them were Easter bunnies. And he seemed to have a hunch about the tooth fairy when he began playing the Bead Fairy, leaving his own money and a cute letter for Sierra in exchange for beads. When he first began loosing teeth as a kindergartener, I made up an elaborate character named Samson the Tooth Fairy who left Caleb long letters about life in fairy land, including eating habits, magical carnival rides, encounters with cats and fairy bullies, and even some stories from Fairy Mythology. Caleb would write back with questions and explanations about human life, and it was a very fun way for me to interact with him (albeit he didn't know it was me) and for him to stretch his writing skills. I've known it was coming for a while, and Caleb said he figured out the truth some time ago and was too embarrassed to bring it up, but it still feels like the end of an era of childhood wonder and magic. Of course, we still have Sierra and Madeline, but Sierra is already having a crisis of faith after a world-wise friend of hers told her that she caught her mom putting money under her pillow after loosing a tooth and that Santa doesn't exist. Sierra won't leave her tooth under her pillow any more because she's nervous the fairy will wake her up when she comes, and she's terrified of elves, so we'll see how long she lasts. Madeline is just getting old enough to understand holidays and characters, so we might have a few more years of enchantment. I asked Caleb is he was upset (I've always worried he would feel like we were deceiving him), and he said he was glad he got to believe for a while and he's glad he knows that truth now. Then, he gave a shy smile and says he can't wait until Christmas Eve when it will be his job to consume the cookies and write the kids a thank you note from Santa.

Ted's Birthday

Ted had an extended 38th birthday celebration. Madeline and I stopped by his work with balloons and took him out to lunch, and that evening we had a family party with his favorite dinner of tacos and watermelon. The next day, Danny and Michelle babysat while Ted and I went for a date at an Italian restaurant in quaint downtown Addison. The next weekend, Ted wanted to stay at a resort on Lake Ray Roberts. Although the lake is only 45 minutes from our home, we had never been there, and we were all pleasantly surprised with the lovely forested hiking trails and sandy lake beach. The kids loved swimming, paddle boating, and building sand castles at the lake. The hikes were particularly lovely with the wildflowers in bloom. With the views of the lake below from the resort grounds, it almost felt like we were overlooking the ocean as we enjoyed the gazebo swing.

Sierra, Caleb, and the Baby Beebee Bird

So hard to get a good family shot, especially when everyone is hot and tired--at least the wildflowers cooperated

The lovely grounds and lake view at Lantana Resort

Bake Sale

Sierra and Caleb teamed up with our next-door neighbor Sabrina to have a bake sale Saturday morning. They earned $18 and had a wonderful time--not bad for an hour's work. Caleb put his money toward his college fund, but Sierra has the money burning a hole in her pocket and can't seem to understand why nothing she wants is in her $6 price range.

Sierra's 7th birthday

Sierra turned seven this week, and she is sweeter than ever!