Love {May 27, 2010}

I am feeling all kinds of profound love for my 24 ducklings tonight. They made me very proud today as they performed their Opera for their parents. It was a joy to watch my those proud parents as they watched their children. And...I KNOW they are the best parents of the best children in the best Provo school. BUT, nothing compares to my pride and pure joy and love for my little actors and actresses as they sang and danced their hearts out today.

Silly teacher that I am, I didn't take any pictures...guess I was too busy directing their performance. I did get pictures of the scenery though. Anyone who has pictures OR (especially) a video of the performance, please send them to me!

Straw house

Stick house

Brick house

If I could be six again...

The other day I was talking to my best friend, Kathe. We were driving somewhere (probably to eat :sigh:), when we passed a little girl who was about six or seven years old. She was wearing her bright pink swimming suit with her matching flip flops while riding her bike along the sidewalk. Not a care in the world. We started talking about what the world would be like if adults could do some of the things that children get away with on a regular basis and not have other people think you're crazy. If the world DID have that rule, here are 10 child-like things I would try to get away with at age 46. And, as an added bonus for you, try to picture yourself doing each one of these things:

• Ride a bike wearing my swimming suit and flip flops.

• Eat a hot dog and be totally oblivious to the fact that I have mustard all over my face.

• Walk on my tip toes whenever I go from one place to the other.

• Have a melt down, kicking and screaming, while grocery shopping.

• Draw on the walls.

• Stick my tongue out at bad drivers.

• Read. Word. By. Word. Like. A. Robot.

• Do cartwheels down the hallway at church.

• Run at top speed out the front door whenever I hear the ice cream truck. (I'd throw in a bit of SCREAMING, of course.

• Go to bed at 8:00!

What would YOU do?

And...I would totally do what this girl is doing in this video. I love her!

Teaser!

...of things to come...

I Live For These "Teacher Moments"

Sweetie-pie Daniela, showed up at school like this today:

Do you think her mother loves her?

I do! And I love her too!

Happy Mother's Day!

The Super-duper-never-believe-ALL-the-things-we-did Saturday Night!

HOLY COWBELLS! What a wonderful weekend! Not only did my oldest daughter graduate from University on Friday, but, we were lucky enough to have a sleepover with our twin grandchildren!

Milo and Isabel came all the way from Colorado to spend the night at our house (okay, maybe they came for Melissa's graduation but I like to think they came just to see me). Anyway...what fun we had. It would be pages and pages of pontificating if I told you every single detail about what happened so, I've decided to give you a short little summary of each picture and YOU can fill in the details.

Here we go:

1. Saturday around 5:00 pm in the car, headed to Provo.

2. Digging in the toy bins.

3. Swimming in Barbie HEAVEN.

4. Playing with Grandpa's new birthday Nerf machine gun. Milo's new nic-name? "Machine Gun Mike" (Can you guess who came up with that?)...there are also no less than 15 different pictures and video clips of this exact.same.picture!! If you'd like to see them, too bad!

5. Our quick trip to JoAnn's Fabric to find crafting goodies (like I don't have enough) and a little stuffed animal. Milo named his dolphin "Splasher" and Issy didn't pick one for her bunny. OHHHH! And, check out Isabel's lovely scarf (from the toy box) and gigantic bobble necklace. What a beauty, don't you think?

6. Dinner out at Noodles. This is of grandpa Terry acting like a walrus (?) and Issy ignoring him in order to look fabulous.

7. Milo eating his Macaroni and Cheese with chopsticks. (Issy used hers to eat her spagetti. Talented, no?)

8. Grandpa Terry acting like a...a...a walrus with tusks coming out of his nose? and Issy acting terrified.

9. Grami Tami getting her "sewin'" on. I made up the patterns for the gorgeous (hahahaha) treasures.

10. Milo helps to stuff his bear.

11. Milo's (hugging) bear. He picked the color, eyes, nose, and shape of the mouth. The first one I made was too big. That boy knows what he wants!!!

12. Top half of Issy's ballerina. When I first made up this pattern, I was worried about the extra big head. Turns out, we all LOVED the doll and the head turned out whimsical and cute.

13. A look at the doll's lovely pointed toes with her painted on shoes.

14. Apparently I posted this picture twice...shoot! I could have picked another one just like it only a bit to the right. (sorry)

15. Terry thought it would be so funny to set up Spencer's pants (it was my job to patch them up since they are his favorite climbing pants) with some other clothes on his toilet. Are you laughing yet?

16. Milo "fake" painting a cougar.

17. Issy "fake" painting an eagle. I actually really loved how excited they were to look around in Terry's studio.

18. First of all...this is NOT a giant bong! It is an elk noise maker. Notice that Issy only used one hand as she was clutching the ballerina in the other.

19. Milo gave it the two handed technique.

20. Alert: Look away Erin!! Here's Milo shooting the blow dart gun. He was pretty good too.

21. Isabel not really sure she "wants" to shoot the blow dart gun.

22. This is a bit out of order but I LOVED it. I was coming down the stairs and "caught" this sweet little angel reading "Lily's Purple Plastic Purse" all by herself in the front room. What a smarty.

23. Oops...I guess she finally dared!

24. Helping grandpa feed the dogs.

25. A close up of the fabulous scarf/shawl/headband.

25. Isabel setting out her sleeping bag. "Get off Leo you silly dog. He really likes me Grami Tami!"

26. Milo attempting to set up his sleeping bag but getting a bit distracted by the movie previews.

27. All settled in to watch "Aladdin". I love that movie.

28. What is a movie without popcorn??

********************************CUTE ALERT!**************************************

29. 1:00 AM finally asleep. They aren't faking either. Aren't they angelic. I love them so much.

30. "I love breakfast!"

31. Look away Erin!!! Every single cereal choice was sugared! Sorry...just kidding, I'm not sorry one little bit! It's a grandma's right. Right?? We did have soy milk though.

32. 10:00am Sunday: Boo Hoo Hoo! In the car headed back to their parents.

What a wonderful day/night/morning. We miss those two but live on the fact that they WILL be back.

XOXOXO

This Beautiful Girl...

...GRADUATED last Friday! Do you know how amazing she is? It is impossible to put it into words. In addition to all those beautiful features, there is an abundance of BRAINS! She now has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.

Wait, there's more. In addition to being physically attractive, and having loads of brains, Melissa has a tremendous spirit glowing from within. I love the look in her eye whenever she talks to me. She doesn't have a mean bone in her entire body! She is so kind. So generous. These are the things I love the very most about that girl.

Enjoy the pictures from her special day:

Auntie Melissa with Milo and Isabel

They traveled all the way from Fort Collins, Colorado.

(I still can't believe it!)

The reenactment of the graduation announcement

her dad drew here.

"See my fake diploma cover?"

The graduation attendees:

Erin, Spencer, Keeler, Me, Melissa, My Boyfriend Terry,

Erika, Tyler, Milo, and Isabel.

Check out the gloomy skies. It was windy, cold, and rainy.

But our hearts were warm.

Audience activities: Issy drew, Mily played games on my phone.

The fancy shmancy programs

(I really loved these)

Melissa's graduation gift from us:

An ORIGINAL pencil drawing by Terry.

The frame is gorgeous.