Star Wars in Concert

On Wednesday, July 7, we, along with our friends Matt and Emma, went to Star Wars in Concert. I was a little nervous to see how the boys would do with an evening concert. But when you combined amazing music (performed so well that we would often forget that the symphony was live on stage) with movie clips on a giant HD screen (synchronized with the music), it was an event that both boys loved.

Nate's favorite? "Darth Vader"

Nile's favorite? "Everything."

Now, I can't wait to share the actual movies with them.

Before the concert we ate outside in the beer garden at the BierStube in Moline.

Here are Nate and Emma, during the intermission.


And here is Nate with one of the many displays of props and costumes from the movies.

Matt's blog entries from the event are linked below.

• Emma Frozen in Carbonite
• Darth Emma
• Emma and C3P0
• Emma and Ewoks
• Emma and Queen Amadalla
• Emma and Anne
• Intermission
• Nate and Emma
• Star Wars in Concert

Star Wars Book

Tom literally pulled in the driveway 2 minutes ago. He brought Nate a
new Star Wars book from Emma.

I think he likes it!

Solar System

Today I asked Nate if he would draw a picture for my grandma (Grandma Deen) for her birthday, which is in a week. He decided to draw the solar system. With a little encouragement from me, and not much else, he drew the entire solar system, complete with planetary accessories like the Moon, Saturn's rings, Jupiter's red spot, and dwarf planets near Pluto. He asked me to label everything so she would know exactly what he drew. :)

This is the best drawing he's ever done, and now I don't really want to send it off - I want to keep it for myself. But I took lots of pictures, so I'll remember what it looked like, and I know Grandma will really enjoy it.

Solar System

When Tom and I were in Seattle, we found a solar system puzzle we had been wanting to get Nate. He's really interested in the solar system. Here he is just after putting it together for the first time, telling me what all the planets are.