Amber's 1st recital

Amber played in her first recital on Friday. She did great! She returned to her seat grinning & said to me, in her funny spanish accent voice, "zero mistakes!". I love that she loves piano.

Kate wanted to perform too, but the only song she really knows is one of the pieces Amber played. Kate has been begging for piano lessons. She's really not old enough, but I just started her last week in a method written for preschoolers.

Jessica. Oh, Jessica. She's become quite precocious. Every time someone plays a piano she has to come over, stand up and plink on the keys, just like this. It's so cute, but not always helpful when I'm teaching. The picture was taken before the rectial. There was no prodding to get her to the piano, it was her idea.

I usually divide my students in half and hold two mini-recitals. This time I reserved the historic tabernacle and had everyone perform in one big recital. It was fantastic! My students did very very well and the acoustics of the tabernacle made them sound even better.

I absolutely enjoyed the recital, for many reasons.

1. Some of my students are becoming quite advanced and perform well.

2. Richard and my parents came for the first time in years. Their presence made me feel so valued.

3. Amber really did great. Hearing piano students her whole life has given her a head start.

4. The many compliments from parents and students after the recital really made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

5. Seeing so many people at the rectial made my piano teaching seem more significant than it usually seems in my own living room every day. I felt a sense of unity and community among the families there.

Fire drills & window screens

We had an emergency preparedness family home evening last night. We talked about where we would meet if we had to evacuate our home, who to call in case of emergency, how to call 911, etc. We topped the lesson off with a real fire drill. After weighing the pros & cons we taught our kids how to take the screen out of a window and practiced climbing out of two of them.

This afternoon Kate was struggling to open our front door to go outside. It's pretty hard to open. She quickly turned from the front door and said, "I'll just go out this way," and proceeded to take the screen out of the nearest window. I quickly made a rule that we only go out the windows in emergencies.

While retelling the story to Rich tonight he asked, "Did you tell her the other one (which we put a window air-conditioner in during the summer) doesn't have a screen at all?" Does he think I'm crazy?!

Easter

Better late than never, right?

I was asked to give a talk on "A sure testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ" in sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday. It went very well. Preparing for the talk made my easter much more meaningful. Here's my favorite quote from it. "While the Lord’s invitation to follow Him is the highest of all, it is also achievable by everyone, not because we are able, but because He is, and because He can make us able too." (Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge, October 2008 General Conference). I recommend reading the entire talk this quote is from. It's titled "The Way".

Here are some easter photos of our cuties.

Bathtime routines

Bathtime at our house is a drawn out ordeal. The kids always want to play just a few more minutes.
This is Amber & Kate's post bath ritual. The first one out of the tub hides under her bathtowel in their bedroom. The other one, saunters in and sits on the lumpy towel stating, "Oh, it's a rock. . .it's a wiggly rock." The rock wiggles and then meows. Child # two, on cue says, "Oh, look it's a little kitten", pulls back the towel and pets the 'kitten". I wonder how long this ritual with last. It's at least a year and a half old. Where do kids come up with these things?

Duck harassment

A lot of families go to the park to feed the ducks. We go to harass them. It all started out innocently enough. Hungry ducks 2/3 your size can be aggressive and intimidating, so we taught our wee ones to intimidate back.

Jessica was fascinated by the ducks. We let her feed them. She will get her first lessons in duck harassment once she learns to walk. It won't be long. She pulled herself up to standing today for the first time.

We have an annual picture of Amber doing this each year.

When I first looked at Kate in these pictures I had to place who she was.

She's maturing so fast I can barely keep up.

Every day moments

I've been sorting pictures on my computer. I'm amazed at the number of photos I take, intending to post them on my blog. They will get scrapbooked eventually.

So, here's to two weeks where I had nothing else to do but blog. Ha, like that'd ever happen! Here are some cute photos anyway.

Jessica has been introduced to the love of chocolate.

Jess is a master crawler. Sometimes I loose her. I often find her here, at the bookshelf.

I finally got to go to Kate's dance class. We moved her to the class with girls 1 year older (which is during my piano lessons), so my wonderful mom takes her every week. Kate's the youngest in the class, but her teacher has selected her to lead their bows at the spring recital.

Amber wore her hair like this for April fools day. She also wore shorts over her pants and belts across her shoulders. It was a crazy day in her class. I love watching Amber at school with her peers. She's sharp, nice, & admired.

Meet Tonya

I keep thinking lately how lucky I am to have THREE sisters! (And one brother). This is Tonya. She and I talk on the phone two to three times a week. I bounce most of my ideas off her. If not her, one of my other sisters. Ironically, when we're physically together we talk very little. Between us, we have five distracting little girls.

Tonya's my little sister, but we don't really have a big-sister, little-sister relationship. I certainly don't feel 4 1/2 years older than her. She constantly amazes me. She always seems to have such good balance in her life. Most of her time and energy goes into caring for her busy two little girls, but she also teaches two university level english classes. She recognizes that she has a need for girl time and quickly builds bonds of friendship with people around her. She's a supportive wife to her husband, and accomodates his drive to stay busy and get things done. She's beautiful, kind, capable, loving, and down to earth. She has just the right balance of firmness and softness with her kids. I love to shop with her (sans children of course) because I love her taste in clothes and most other things. For years, I've been a tad bit jealous that she's so photogenic. She doesn't try to have it all, do it all, or be it all. She knows everything about me and she still like me! What would my life be without a Tonya? She's been a part of my life for almost exactly 29 years.

Happy Birthday Tonya!

Bolivian buses and babies

Jessica has been teething and wants to be held and carried around constantly. Not held and cuddled, mind you, but packed around. She has a great system. She crawls to me and sits at my feet to be picked up. Once in my arms she falls toward the direction she wants to go. When we arrive at her chosen destination she signs "all done." It's a great system for her. It reminds me of the buses I rode on in Bolivia on my mission. You just wave at the bus anywhere along their route and they stop to pick you up. When you arrive at your destination you simply yell "parada", which translates to "stop", (noun) and they'll drop you off fairly close to where you want to be. I'm not sure how to sign "parada", but "all done" seems to be working just fine.