The Birthday Princess...

Clare is four! Last year we took her to Disneyland for her birthday. How could we top that this year?

So we had four birthday parties.

1 Preschool party

2 Play school party

3 Family party

4 another Family party

Happy Anniversary...

Yep, we were married on Saint Patrick's Day, ten years ago.

It is a little odd that every year on our anniversary, we have to wear green, wake up to green toilet water, green milk and our kids going crazy over chocolate coins...but so it goes.

Ten years.

One Decade.

Can you believe it?

Neither can I.

But I have another decade (and another after that, and another after that, and another, and another, and another...) to let it all sink in.

Happy Saint Patrick's--er--Anniversary!

When we were married digital cameras were newfangled contraptions. All of our wedding photos are on film...making it a little tricky to post one to the web. So any wedding photo has to be a picture of a picture. Adell decided our wedding picture was cooler than her baby toys while I was trying to take the picture of the picture.

Yum, Yum...I Love Crow...

Almost 24 hours (to the minute) after I cheerfully boasted to my East-Coast dwelling family about having a lawn free of snow and ice our California sky dumped this all over our backyard:

I am not upset about the actual hail so much as the fact that it is cold enough for frozen precipitation to fall from the sky. I've always appreciated living in Northern California because I get to experience all four seasons. Now I'll admit that the change from season to season is moderate but there is a noticeable difference between Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter here. This little hail storm is not so moderate--this hail seems a little extreme to me.

The kids were so excited their eyeballs almost fell out of their heads. Especially Lorien, who wants nothing more than a yard full of snow every winter. She quickly climbed onto the trampoline and scooped up enough hail to make a hefty snow ball--and ate it. Yeeck, I used to eat snow too but my atmosphere was cleaner...

Yes, my son is barefoot, in a hail storm, on our trampoline--but hey--at least he is wearing a scarf around his neck!

Woops I did it again...

Yep, I made another wicked adorable little girl. I can't help myself...she is so darn cute!





Don't you just want to give her cheeks a big smooch?

SURPRISE!

I put together a little surprise baby shower for my sister-in-law, Angela. She is due in a few weeks!

Lorien made Angela a party hat. Lorien took one of our "Happy Birthday" hats and drew the words "of a Baby Girl" over "day" so the hat read:

"Happy Birth of a Baby Girl". It was pretty cute.




Angela was so surprised! (I love surprises.) Her husband, Dave, helped me get all the little details down and keep her in the dark until she walked in the door. It was perfect.

I did a "Sugar and Spice" theme and decorated with candy. Since Angela is expecting her first girl I had her Mom email me a few baby photos of Angela so we could get an idea of what her baby girl will look like. Too bad I took the picture of the decorations after I took the pictures of Angela down!
It was a fun night--happy baby girl Angela!

Spirit Day...

Today was a Spirit Day at the kids school. They got to go to school dressed like a Dr. Seuss character.

Wyatt decided to be Mister Brown (awesome!).

Lorien made up her own costume--she is green eggs and ham (clever girl!). You cannot see it very well in this picture but there is a fork clipped in her hair.

After thought...

After hitting "publish post" on the post below I realized there were a few more things on my mind that I really wanted to blog about. So here goes.

Yesterday (Sunday) I had my first re-debut teaching sharing time in primary. It was surprisingly rocky. I couldn’t articulate the directions very well and my three month-old started crying while in the arms of a pregnant friend. My “mommy-senses” started tingling and I knew she had pooed out of her diaper and needed a nurse…badly… I soldiered on, blundering through the story of Christ’s resurrection all while sweating like a winter Olympian.

When my first sharing time was over I took Adell for a change and feed before my next sharing time started. While nursing my sweet baby and slightly bemoaning my crappy teaching skills I listened to the announcements from the other ward over the buildings speaker system. Whoever was conducting announced “with sadness” that a woman I had known a few years ago had lost her battle with bone cancer.

Mind you, I did not know this woman really well. We were acquaintances. We hung out at the courtyard a few times and chatted about being Moms. I ran into her at mutual friend’s baby showers and holiday parties. After her husband graduated from Stanford I did not make any effort to keep in touch. None the less, I knew her. I watched as our children played together and I followed her family blog for the last few years. She is about my age and has three children a little younger than my oldest three. Hearing about her passing was sorrowfully sobering. Unable to properly digest the information right then, I scooped up my sleeping baby and headed back into primary for round two of poor sharing time teaching. Of course, the children were singing about the Savior and his love for them. Of course, they were signing with sign language “I feel His love…” it was too much.

When I got home I looked over the blog of the woman who had passed away. I cried until my eyes were stinging with the loss of moisture, my throat was sore and my lungs hurt. I used up about a thousand tissues. I needed a nap. I should have taken one because last night Adell was up every hour. But I am not complaining. I will take a life-time of interrupted sleep alive and with my family over the alternative. So do me a favor, go find your spouse and kids and give them a big hug. That is what I am going to do.

What's up...

As usual, life has been zipping along faster than I can adequately blog about. Here are a few of the little happenings from our house to yours.

We made our first trip out to the beach this year.

Adell LOVED her first taste of the coast. I can tell already she'll want to go all the time...

Like her brother and sisters before her, Adell has made friends with the warning label on her car seat. She spends many-a car rides staring at her friend and chatting it up. The big kids think it is hilarious.

Adell is also a really good spit-bubble blower. We think she has a future with the fire department.

We started letterboxing. It is wicked cool.

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S...

It is Friday night and I am sitting on my bum in front of the tv. Last Friday night was a totally different story... Last Friday night was time for Lorien and I to throw our annual Miss America Party. We donned our sparkles and sashes and perfected our wave. We called out our fellow competitors and got ready to strut our stuff.

This year we had a two part pageant party. Part one for the little contestants and part two for the grown-up contestants. The evening started with sash making and introductions. Several of our little girls displayed talents with shy smiles on their faces.

We had a couple of "Miss Cinderella's" in attendance. One awesome Mother-two-daughter team put on a swwweet dance number.

After light refreshments we played a round of Mother-daughter charades. We finished the little contestants part of the party with an impromptu dance party.

Just look at all of these glamorous darlings.

(Seriously, Cherisse, what are you going to do about Josey and all her hotness?)

On to the grown-up portion of the night. This year we had a more complete pageant: Evening ware, Talent and Contestant Questions were all part of the show.

Participation was mandatory...

We watched the 2010 Miss America Pageant on TV and followed their order of events.

I was impressed with all of our contestants. They all really knew how to work-it in the evening gown portion.

Next up was the talent portion of the evening. Our contestants were awesome! Miss Massachusetts started the talent portion by doing a three minute portrait. She asked Miss Florida to sit for her sketch.

Miss Florida took the stage second. With skills previously unseen she tied a knot in a cherry stem...without using her fingers...classy.

(I know Miss Florida personally, and between you me and the six other people who read this blog...that color of gold is not her natural hair color! Scandalous!)

Miss Blank Sash (Kim--where were you from?) impressed all of us by describing her talent. Basically, she has a photographic memory. She knows where every thing is in her house and never looses her keys!

(She wins "Best Smile" in my book.)

We were all in love with Miss D-I-Y's creative creations. She is super crafty and makes really beautiful home decor and little girls clothes.

(Miss D-I-Y came in her "Evening Ware..." Don't think you'll be getting away with this next year...)

I took the stage with my "sister" and sang the duet "Sisters, sisters" from White Christmas...by myself. I am amazing.

(Sorry...no pictures!)

Miss Hawaii wowed the crowd by making a perfect paper air plane and a ball out of the same piece of tin foil!

(Miss Hawaii is a runner and looks waaaaay too good in a sequined pink gown.)

Miss Texas put on quite a show, singing "God Bless America" while tap dancing!

(We were all in tears by this point in the evening. The talent was too impressive!)

Miss California put me to shame by singing "Summertime". She can really sing!

(Hubba-hubba!)

Miss Wyoming described her super baking talent. Making us all hungry for cinnamon rolls and cookies.

(Miss Wyoming is 7 and 1/2 months pregnant! She came as a contestant prepping for the pageant.)

Miss Kentucky (or Can-tuc-kee) whipped out her acting skills reciting a stirring bit of dialogue comparing men to postage stamps. It was a hoot!

(Miss Kentucky also juggled scarves earlier with her daughter.)

After thoughtful consideration we crowned our Miss America...and the winner was: MISS MASSACHUSETTS!!!

I don't think I've ever seen a more honest reaction of joy and surprise in Lorien when she was announced as the winner. It was very sweet. She was all smiles and maybe even a tear or two as I put the crown on her head. All of my friends whipped out their cameras and started snapping pictures like crazy. It was a very glamorous moment. When I put her to bed (with the crown on her pillow and sash on her bed post) she looked at me and said "Oh Momma, I still cannot believe I won! After I saw every one else's talents, I thought I would get last place." She was really impressed by all the singing, dancing and key finding.

Over all the night was a success. I certainly had a bunch of fun and I hope my fellow competitors did too.

If this is your idea of a good time out--er in, let me know and I'll be sure to send you an invitation next year.

Be warned, costumes and talents are mandatory!

My "Sister", Miss America 2010 and Me.