birthday girl

Anne turned five! This girl loves birthdays and talks about her plans throughout the year. We began the birthday celebrations on Sunday when we hosted Daniel Dessert. We had a pink spread with angel food cake, berries, cookies, cupcakes, jello, rice krispy treats and marshmallows.

We had her "Yes Day" and presents on Wednesday instead of Thursday (her actual birthday). Thursday was full of other commitments.

She got to keep Buddy Bear from preschool during the weekend. She thought that was really wonderful. On Sunday, when I was completely wiped out from the stake activity I directed, Anne begged for a cake so she could blow out the candles. I couldn't refuse that request. We went to Aunt Keri's house for dinner and brought along a really delicious cake (yellow cake, peach jello and whip cream) so that she could finally blow out some candles.

Annie is full of personality. She loves to sing and dance. She has a great talent for remembering the words to songs. She quit taking ballet lessons for now but she still can be seen twirling and dancing through the house. She loves to play with friends and asks immediately after lunch if she can go to a friend's house for the afternoon. She only likes to wear dresses and leggings. No jeans. She loves many things girly like dresses, makeup, and fancy shoes but hates to have her hair done.

february around here

Dave and I went with Keri and Michael to see BYU Folk Dancers at the Conference Center. We met up with Aaron and Becky Love for dinner at Crown Burger beforehand.

Anne lost her first tooth. She's only four!

She also made all of the Valentines for her preschool class by hand. It took her a long time but was just what she wanted to do. She loves to draw!

Speaking of teeth, Sawyer's teeth (or the lack thereof) are looking a bit like a jack-o-lantern. How does he even eat?

Ben's favorite shoes to wear are Anne's. Usually an unmatched pair. He also loves to dress up. Reminds me of Sawyer at that age.

We had an Olympics party for the Opening Ceremonies on the 7th. When I mentioned the Olympics were going to start soon, Nathan exclaimed that we had better have donuts just like last time. This party was sort of lame because I was still feeling sick with baby #7. The kids were still happy though. We spent the next two weeks watching lots and lots of hours of Olympic coverage which I thoroughly enjoyed.

We spent lots of time in rehearsals all month. I'm directing a stake Broadway revue that Dave, Emma, Nathan and Sawyer are performing in. Slade and Nathan are also in rehearsals for the school play, Robin Hood, and I help with the choreography. These rehearsals fill our Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings.

I took Emma down to Mesquite, NV, for the President's Cup soccer tournament. More on that in another post.

Dave received an award from work. He and I got to go eat delicious food at Thanksgiving Point for the recognition dinner. Then, I got to sit back and listen to how totally awesome my husband is at work. He really is just awesome all around.

While not as much as in January, I still spent a lot of time in bed feeling sick. Of course, this means that there are constant messes all around my house. The counter is usually filled with bread, cheese and milk left out from someone's snack making.

our little winter ballerina

Anne had her winter dance recital this month. She loves going to ballet class but she especially loves recital time. Recitals mean MAKEUP which is very exciting to a four year old. Her class did a snowflake dance this year. As usual, Anne was a lovely dancer and totally hilarious to watch. She always puts her own spin on things.

Anne is the first one on stage and on the far right in the line.

Emma really wanted to give Anne flowers at the end of her recital so she convinced Dave to take her to the store. Anne was so totally thrilled and thanked Emma repeatedly. Good call, Emma.

Another thing I want to remember is how cute Ben was during the performances. He watched the dancers just mesmerized. At the end of each number, he clapped and said, "Again, Mom." It was so cute. Until he got bored. Then he was a typical two year old, climbing all over, looking for snacks, and being a pain.

our little ballet star

Anne had her first dance recital this month. She danced to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and was totally adorable.

playing in the leaves

I asked Emma to rake up the leaves in the front yard. She enlisted the help of her friends, Eliza and Allison. They raked them all into a huge pile and then proceeded to throw and kick them back all over the yard. They had a lot of fun but the yard ended looking exactly how it started. I guess I needed to specify that the job entailed raking AND bagging the leaves in the front yard.

leaves are falling

Just an ordinary day. I was sitting on the front porch playing a game on my iTouch. I was outside with Anne and Ben because it is the only place Ben seems to be happy lately. Anne had just begun to play with the pile of leaves when Dave got home from work. They grabbed handfuls of leaves, threw them in the air and yelled, "Surprise!"

What I should remember:
--Anne looking a bit like a ragamuffin. Hair all askew. Nose running. Somewhat mismatched outfit since I need to go shopping for fall clothes for her. She brought me that dress out of her drawer that morning and proclaimed herself a princess when I put it on her.
--Dave immediately going to play with her when he came home. He's a Super Dad indeed.
--The weather was beautiful today. Its supposed to turn cold tomorrow.
--Ben actually sitting in his bouncy chair contentedly. Those moments seem to be rare lately.
--Enjoying "Where's My Water" on my iTouch. I really love technology.
--Dinner ended up being a bit late. Dave reminded me yet again that the simple act of holding the baby or sitting outside with my toddler actually can count as doing something.

Anne's babies

Anne is bursting with personality which brings us nearly equal doses of laughter and aggravation daily. Her latest obsession are her "babies". She loves dolls and little stuffed animals. She carries them around. They get stuffed into purses. She wants me to hug them. This morning, she lined them up at the counter for breakfast.

 

Anne often comes to tell me that her babies are sad. This morning the babies were hungry so she fed them and then they were happy.

I love this Anne-girl and her almost-too-big-to-handle personality.

random snippets

A few random snapshots of life from the last three months:


Anne always keeps life interesting.

I have no idea what is in her hair.

Dave ran his first half marathon in April.

My mom brought me my wedding dress on a recent visit. Of course, Emma needed to try it on. She says she wants to wear it when she get married. We shall see. These pictures were taken with my brand new d7000. I finally upgraded my camera. I was so excited but it proved to be a huge disappointment. The camera would not focus properly. Out of 50 or so pictures I got maybe 3 or  4 in focus. Not good. I ended up taking it back. The salesman told me there was a firmware update that would have fixed the issue but I was too mad at the camera at that point. For $1200, a camera should be able to focus! So I still don't have a new camera and I'm back to wishing I could justify the $2400 price tag for the camera I really want.

I love this picture of all the kids on a beautiful day at the park.

I was released from my calling as Primary Chorister after serving this time for about three years. I calculated that I have been chorister for probably 8 out of the last 13 years. I haven't been in Relief Society for 10 years. I haven't been in Sunday School for 12. I am not looking forward to just sitting for three hours of church. I was released because I was called to be the Stake Cultural Arts director. I will be in charge of planning two stake activities per year (one of which is already planned). I'm not all that happy about going from a fairly demanding calling where I felt needed to one that I feel will require very little of me. Oh well. The Primary gave me this apron on my last Sunday. The notes are made from the thumbprints of the Primary children. It was very thoughtful and sweet.

One day, after seeing what I was wearing, Emma went and put on an outfit and curled her hair to match. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

These ones are just for fun.