2nd Grade Patriotic Program

Ada had her 2nd grade program last night. It is the third time we've seen it and possibly the 6th time Nathan and Kielle have seen it, because they do the same program every year (during school and then at night for the parents) and this is the 3rd year in a row that we have had a 2nd grader. (We have similar situations with the 1st grade program, 3rd grade etc. --you get the picture.) But We all went to see little Ada sing her heart out.

She looks a little bored here and she was yawning through the whole performance!

Finally! It is her turn to say her part that she has been working on for the last 2 months! Her speaking buddy there is Liam. "James Gillespie Blaine said this about Independence Day, "The United States is the only country with a known birthday. All the rest begun, they know not when, and grew into power, they know not how." (you can almost hear her reciting it can't you?)



Am I the only one who doesn't know who James Gillespie Blaine is?

Happy Birthdays

Aaron & Tessa's Birthdays are a day apart. We got to plan it that way since she ended up being a "planned caeserian." We wanted her to have her very own bday. Aaron & Tessa shared a cake this year. Tessa wanted Roses on it for her and kisses on it for Dad. She really wanted lips, but I was lazy and put Hershey's kisses on it.

Since Tessa has dubbed herself "Monkey" We got her a monkey stuffed animal--which she LOVES! She named it Kissy because it has a lips kiss mark on it's cheek.  You can't see Kissy's face cause Tessa'a lovin' her so much!



Happy birthday Tessa and Aaron. I love you both so much!

Almost 5

I ran across a post somewhere where somebody had taken pictures of his daughter the day before her birthday--in an attempt to preserve her youth a little longer. I thought It was a neat idea. Showing your child on the brink of the next age and so I took some of Tessa the day before her birthday and tried out some Photoshop actions while I was at it.

Last year Aaron became a Certified IRB Professional (CIP). There are less than 1000 in the US and he is the only only one at BYU. An article was just written honoring him for his achievement. Read it here. I am so proud of him and all the hard work he does to do his best in everything.

You need to visit Pioneer Woman!

I have been trying out several recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks and EVERY SINGLE ONE gets RAVE Reviews from my family. I am going to have to try them all out eventually. So far I have made her pot roast, roasted garlic mashed potatoes (I never knew roasted garlic was soooo good--I will be using it more often in all cooking!), beans and cornbread (OK, I admit that I made Betty Crocker Cornbread, but the beans were so good that Nathan wrote me a thank you note for making it!),and pico de gallo.  Her food is so scrumptious.  Thanks Heidi for introducing me to Ree and her wonderful cooking!  We're doing the beans again this week for dinner!

Can I just say that I have THE MOST AWESOME brother ever!?! Last week I was listening to 101.9 the end--they were playing an End Zone concert which is a private concert for 20-30 or so people. The End Zone artist was Sarah Bareilles. I have her album and love her music. My favorite songs are Love Song and Gravity. As I was listening, they were interviewing her and they introduced somebody from the "home of Chunga" then I heard MY brother's voice! Where's my rewind button! Was that MY brother, Paul!? We got together with my bro today for a birthday celebration (for Aaron, Tessa & Paul). And I learned that not only was that my brother asking Sarah Bareilles a question on the radio and getting to particpate in an intimate concert, but he got me her CD signed specially to ME. He Rocks! I love my CD and I love that he was thinking of me at her concert! Paul you are the greatest! By the way, I'll be posting birthday photos within the next day or two.

Time with Tessa

Tessa needed some special Mommy time this afternoon. She wanted to play a computer game so we went on Illustrator and she drew a picture of herself and then asked me to draw one of her. Following are some of the results of our hour together: