Double Playdate

I watched one of my oldie but bestie friend's wee ones yesterday. She just happens to have a girl Miriam's age (like 4 months apart) and a boy Bub's age (1 month apart) so it was fun for all.... most of the time.

Miriam is so much like me, she gets as excited, if not more so, by party planning then by the actual party. She got the idea to have a tea party with her friend, and invited her most beloved stuffed animals to join in.

Thank you for the tea set Grandma C!!

A few of the esteemed guests, Ella Unicorn and Peter Alurelious (aka Peter Rabbit).

Bub's pal Chawlie, I can't say his name without adding a British accent and pretending to be Lola

Chawlie is ever so very cute.

I love it that girls can go from tea party to worms just like that, and be so excited by both.

The Rest of the Story

It rained pretty much all day today, but during an intermission we did run out to decorate some family graves. I love cemeteries, not at night because I have a very vivid imagination, but in daylight I could walk around for hours reading names and dates. Little Byron climbing around his Great Grandpa Byron's grave would have made a darling picture, but I didn't bring my camera so hopefully that image will last in my memory. For family home evening tonight we broke out the family pictures and remembered.


After reading (actually watching) Kristi's post today, the music reminded me of something I haven't thought about forever! When I was in fourth grade, the upper grades put on this HUGE musical production called "We The People". We all wore bell bottom white pants, red shirts that said "WE The People" and blue belts. We sang songs as a group ("Whats More American Than.." "Freedom Isn't Free" all those classics) but there were also little groups who performed together. I danced and sang in the number "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond and specifically remember raising my arm and head sharply when we sang the word "TODAY". I also remember that my mom french braided my hair horizontally around my head, and this boy who is very effeminate rated my hair that day a 9 out of 10 stars...wow, hurray for mom!
But, the most vivid memory is of the slide show they had during one of the patriot songs. They had taken pictures of people around town and there was this close up of my Dad, in his navy blue work shirt with his name in cursive on the pocket. I remember looking up at the huge screen behind us and being so proud of my handsome, hardworking, kind hearted all American Dad. I am still so proud.

I just wanted to make sure I would remember that again someday.

So Far So Good

Memorial Weekend is off to a good start!
I redeemed my mother's day coupon for a pedicure Saturday morning with my friend Fiona. It was fabulous, and I love how the flowers turned out. I was telling Fi that it was sad I had no where to go and no one to see with these pretty toes, she suggested I blog them...so here they are, documented. That my friends is just another reason to blog.

I then rushed home so we could go to the Minerva Teichert exhibit at BYU that ended this weekend. It was wonderful, and we nailed down specifics on the print we want to get.

Miriam could have spent 10 min at the museum and had her fill, but she stuck with us and was rewared by getting to run around some sculptures (and candy from the BYU bookstore).

Then off to IKEA.

That place wipes me out! We found some great things but were disapointed by one light fixture. It was only 7.99 and looked great, but it needs special bulbs that would cost about 7.99 and no way am I going to IKEA everytime I need light bulbs. So, I will be back to IKEA this week, I hope they are good with returns.

Today we fed the geese at a duck pond, and sat a big rock until dusk. My husband is a man of many talents, and today I learned of yet another one...rock skipping.

Parties #2 & #3

Birthday picnic under the Peacock Pavilion at the zoo.

Bub LOVES animals and spent much of the time with his arm extended, wagging is finger and saying "uht uht uht" or squealing with delight. We think his first official word is "daddy"which he says when Darin is around, but it's now under review since he yelled it at the elephants.

It was a pretty perfect zoo day. We then drove down to see Julia's dance recital (see post below).

The next day was a party at G'ma & Papa's house.

Cute party hat Bub wouldn't wear inspired by Stephanie (see this post).

This guy loves treats!

Playing with cousin Tatum.

Just look at that face...what a a cutie!

Bub at 1 year

Favorite food: Avocados
Favorite Toy: Balls of any kind, anything with a lid to take off and put back on.
Favorite animal: anything he can see, he gets really excited about birds.
What NOT to feed him: Milk, you will be sorry

Bub is, and has always been very methodical. He examines his toys in this baby scientific way, looking at it from all sides, shaking it...then harder, then moving the pieces and finally when he has seen all he wants, throws it. His doctor told me at his 6 month check up that he had very advanced fine motor skills (you know like the pincer grasp). You don't notice those things as an parent unless someone else points them out but he really can manipulate small toys well and almost ate a potato bug yesterday.

He is still our ambassador for peace, smiles and laughs easily. Can be shy, but surprisingly social. He is very snugly, and will pat your back when hugging. It's hard to believe just a mere year ago we didn't know him, he wasn't part of our family.

Happy Birthday to little Byron!

Miss Julia's Recital

10 Reason's my little sister puts on a great dance recital
*these are pre-performance pictures when the girls are nervous, they were all smiles afterwords.

(Ali, Little Miss precision, she stays on beat most of the time which is amazing if you have ever seen 4 year olds dance)

1. Darling costumes (never skanky). She is sensitive to the older girls who are a bit larger and picks flattering styles.

2. CUTE dances, she is so creative!

3. She teaches her students to be professional and courteous. NO coming in or out of the auditorium during dance numbers. NO cell phones. She has these and other rules announced before the performance starts, and then my mom mans the doors.

(Madison, you can see her Hairspray performance here)

4. She does not put up with backtalk, or rudeness of any kind in her classes or during performances. If she says you will be left out of the game for disobeying...you will be left out. If you miss a month of dance classes you are taken out of the performance. How many people can discipline like that??

5. She performs in her own shows, and she still has that "something" that draws you to her dancing.

6. She encourages her older girls to choreograph their own dances and perform solos, trio, or duets.

(This is one of my greatest friend's little girl, she looks like she hates dancing huh? Well you should see her perform, she is a little sassy dynamo on stage)

7. She is great with little girls, she is enthusiastic, and fun.

8. She doesn't sit in the front and lead the girls through their dances. She leads them to the floor and they are on their own.

9. She focuses on the basics of dance. Most of the girls want to do lyrical and hip hop, and they do but Julia pushes the importance of ballet.

(Miriam lives to far away to take dancing from Aunt Julia, but she LOVES her recitals)

10. Julia is passionate about dance. She has a dream of creating a studio that fosters self esteem in girls. One that teaches them their bodies are amazing and strong. A studio that teaches these girls from a small town to be just as good as girls from big fancy studios. She is making that dream come true!

Congratulation on a great show!

Happy Birthday!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

How did we get so lucky??

I Want to Remember.....

Mothers Day 2008 things I want to remember:

Taking a nap two days in a row, at my in-laws peaceful home.

Feeling inspired by nature.

Feeling peaceful. Can't you just hear the birds chirping...they were! It's a migratory bird refuge.

Being thankful for my gracious mother-in-law. Thinking of my own mother, and feeling agitated that I hadn't sent her gift in time for Mother's Day. Feeling grateful that I have a mother who is so generous and forgiving, and really doesn't care about things like that.

Bub and Darin's early birthday celebration.

I want to remember that Bub loved the tilapia and veggies we had for dinner and then downed his chocolate cake. When I was making the bed I heard him crawling to the side and pull himself up. I jumped on the bed, peeked over and startled him. We both laughed. I pulled him on the bed, we continued to laugh and giggle for a good 5 min.

I want to remember how enthusiastic Miriam was about the gifts and cake, how she kept the party in motion. After eating cake she announced "I have an announcement to make! I am going to tell you all a fairy story." She went on to recite almost verbatim the introduction that is at the beginning of the Disney fairy stories, which if you know is almost 2 pages! Darin and I looked at each other in amazement. We had no idea.

This was a good mother's day. I felt much less guilt than in years past. The guilt I did feel was over how much chocolate I ate, and that's a daily thing, not necessarily connected to my unbelievable high standards of motherhood.

We Are Family

See the resemblance?

Stephanie sent an extra doll to make a friend for Miriam.
I painted the faces and hair, Miriam got to decorate the clothes. This was such a fun craft, thank you so much Stephanie!

Well Deserved Praise

Have you ever been to Stephanie's blog? Amazing, she is creative, and unique, and smart. One thing I especially admire about Steph is that she always provides a link to where her inspiration came from. Because really, no matter how creative you are other people, things, places inspire you. It's just plain nice to acknowledge others work. So praises to Stephanie!

One of the fun things Steph had on her blog was this contest to see who could name the most children's book characters from the above picture. I was amazed and delighted that Miriam and I could name almost all of them! It made me so grateful for the pulic library. So many many of these books I never would have bought because Miriam didn't seem interested in the cover, but we would check them out at the library (because it is free) and both ended up LOVING them. The ones we didn't know, I ran to the library to check out (after the contest) and LOVED them. Praises to the Public Library!

So we won the contest and lookie lookie what Steph sent us!!

Button rings and pretty cards.

The wooden version of our family to paint and play with, I will post pictures when we are finished creating. You can get wooden dolls here.

It's Been Real Fun, but I'm Glad We're Done!

I don't know what in the world Darin is going to do with all his new free time! No school papers to write, assignments to grade, trips from work to school and back again each day. There were many times when I thought maybe Darin should quit his job and just get through school going full time. And there are many times Darin was tempted to do it, especially when the swinging focus of his days got to him. Worrying about school while at work, worrying about work while at school, worrying about church callings, family drama, and all the home improvements we have been making in between them all. In the end, he just couldn't make himself take on all that debt when he knew there was another way. He worked full time, went to school part time, and the last years also worked as a TA. Of course, we did have to take on some debt, but when I think about the position we could be in at this point...well, I'm just so grateful for his sacrifice.

We weren't going to take the kids to graduation but I am glad we did. Miriam and I had made crafts and gifts for Darin so although she didn't know what a graduation was (or "grad-U-lation") she knew it had to be special, and she would have been sad to have been left behind. Although maybe next time someone graduates she will have a "been there done that" attitude. We splurged on an ice cream cake and little M who is nortorious for giving away surprises with her hints did it again "I am not going to tell you what it is, but we got a yummy surprise at the ice cream shop".

What a good day!

Impromtu Craft

Miriam woke up with a sick tummy today so all our plans were changed. No morning walk, no gymnastics, no friends, no shopping. It's cold outside too.

Miriam remembered seeing this craft in the American Girl magazine we looked through at the library a few days ago. She also remembered that I had said we could make them "someday" and found the empty bottles. We hung them in the windows of her house so that when her friend open the windows they get a fishy surprise!

Miriam colored for 1 1/2 hours, watched Dragon Tales 1/2 hour, listened to one of her fairy stories on CD 1 hour, made Bub giggle for 1/2 hour, made me play pretend games for what seems like 3 hours, took a bath for 1 hour, I am now resorting to a movie.

Thank Heaven for the Aristocats.