Ian's 1st Birthday

The birthday boy was in heaven.
Friends, sand
Cousin Lily, zoo pals plates
a birthday hat and candle
edible "dirt"
unlimited grapes and pb&j sandwiches
center of attention
bibless messes
happy parents
Sota and Brookie
sunglasses and glamorous exit

A Grammy Award

This post is just for you, birthday girl! Happy Birthday! I won't mention any numbers, but you sure do look fabulous for someone who might be turning, sixty-something!
These are some of my favorite things about you:

Your...

1. Great sense of style! As I looked through these pictures, I was pretty impressed with all the details that go into these wonderfully coordinated ensembles. Even down to the accessories and jewelry!

2. love of art, in all forms

3. passion for projects

4. ability to mend two, 30-year-old quiet books in one night while vacationing in Arizona

5. determination to create individual quilts for each of your 20+ grandchildren

6. creation of "graduation quilts" for each of your 10 children

7. thoroughness in assembling or facilitating the completion of scrapbooks for each of your children.

8. ability to articulate your thoughts

9. willingness to accept change or adapt to new situations

10. your Pollyanna optimism

11. ability to be everyone's favorite cheerleader

12. determination to complete pretty much every task you undertake

13. ability to delegate tasks when necessary

14. diligence in sending birthday, anniversary, and christmas cards to all your children, son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren

15. unending generosity

16. always wanting to get your dad a new shirt at Christmas time

17. keeping a couple of fold-away tables and chairs at your house for the little people that visit

18. modern and wonderful ways of letting the husband help out with the house work, such as (see next)

19. ironing his own shirts

20. cooking dinners

21. meal planing

22. Training your boys to be able to do these things if they had to.

23. Sending all 5 of your boys on missions

24. and 2 of the girls

25. Willingness to jump in a car or airplane and travel thousands of miles to watch grandkids while their parents are on a cruise

26. Or to be with new grandbabies, or just "wearing them" (picture above)

27. Undertaking gardening beautification projects for family members when visiting them.

28. Teaching early-morning seminary to several of your own children

29. Homeschooling

30. Your extreme flexibility in juggling the many roles your play at work such as:

31. English Teacher

32. Fine Arts Survey Teacher

33. Drama Teacher

34. Speech 1 Teacher

35. Speech 2 Teacher

36. School Play Director

37. and script editor

38. Student Government Advisor

39. Academic Team Advisor

40. Mother of 10 "chiefs" and no indians, (to use Ted's words)

41. Wife of 1

42. Art Curator, especially of family artists

43. problem solver/solution seeker

44. not easily offended (Thank goodness!)

45. forgiving

46. determined

47. faithful

48. honest

49. encouraging

50. able to give individual attention to each of your children, their spouses, and your grandchildren.

51. Waited up for teenage children when they were out on dates

52. Listened to their stories and experiences when they got home

53. Remember and can reenact family stories/memories

54. I love how you sing out at church

55. and how excited you get when good things happen to people

56. of the hundreds of books stored in the many bookshelves in your home, you've probably read them all...

57. more than once

58. and know which ones to recommend to different individuals

59. how you made sure to get family photos each time there was a new child

60. how most of those photos have made the special wall in the hallway outside your bedroom door.

61. how you volunteer to help children move and do not want to stop helping until the last box is unpacked.

62. How you helped create the best husband I could ever ask for.

(I could go on, but I've gotta save some for next year!)

Happy Halloween!

from Prince Charming, the pumpkin, the dolled-up Cinderella, and the everyday Cinderella (working behind the camera).



So, Cinderella hadn't worn real tights in a while, so the only ones she found that were still functional have probably never been worn before because of the sparkly sheen. Lovely, huh? I'll pretend its just the "glow" of being an undiscovered princess. I'll have to get some more pic's of everyone in full costume, since I'm mostly covered up.

Trunk-or-Treat

This is a Halloween Costume party we went to before the trunk-or-treat. The hostess was so awesome in her planning! She made green jello with gummy worms, and she had apple cider, candy pumpkins, and a few fun crafts for the kids. They made those popcorn hands, ghost suckers, and play-dough stuff. It was really cool. Here's us at the trunk-or-treat with some friends. Our theme was Cinderella, but at the time of the ward trunk-or-treat, Ian's pumpkin costume was missing in action. We found it later, just in time for the the real trick-or-treating.
While I was getting ready for the trunk-or-treat, Brooklyn kept saying, "Is it Halloween yet, Mom?" She must have thought that the moment the party started (Thursday night) it would be Halloween.
Here she is with her friend Rylie, who dressed as a princess riding a unicorn.
Here's Ryan and his dad. Ryan's costume was the real deal! Chaps, fancy big-buckled cowboy belt, boots, and all! It was so cute!
Gabe was a robot! He even had flashing lights! He wins the creativity award!
We even had the characters from Super Mario Bros.! Here's Mario himself! His mom was the princess.
A ghostbuster even made an appearance!
Then there were the blue dinos. Gotta love 'em!
And, last but not least, the WILD THINGS! And Max! We have some fun and creative people in our ward. It was a fun night!

Ian: 11 Months

Doesn't he look so grown-up here? Maybe it's the angle that makes his legs look really long.Observe the common theme of the facial expression? The drools never end, but I guess I can't blame Stephen for that...
He loves reading, thanks to the example of his sister. Pictured here, he's examining D.W.'s Guide to Preschool. I let Brooklyn choose her own library books and her current favorite series is the Arthur books. I can't blame her, they're pretty dang funny and cute.
He tries to follow her and I caught him standing here the other morning. Just like his sister.

He even took his first independent ride on the carousel at D-land when we went with Dad last Friday.

What about this one, Mom?
Here he is sitting next to his cousin Lilly, who is exactly 3 months younger.
There goes that tongue again!
Hello Lilly!

Camping

Stephen and Brooklyn braved the ward camp out while Ian and I had a regular stayed at home and began the halloween costume sewing projects. Call me a party pooper, but I don't think Brooklyn minded staying up WAY later than I would have allowed, and eating all the hotdogs and s'mores than she could possibly desire.
The nights festivities included special musical performances involving an accordion, a violin, and a guitar.

Brooklyn loved the campfire music and being a social butterfly.

I liked this tent picture the best even though Brooklyn's eyes are closed because it shows her static hair and Stephen's eyes don't look as tired as in the other pictures. This was probably taken and 11PM, mind you.

Did I mention she LOVED staying up late?

The next morning the bishopric made a yummy pancake breakfast.
The happy camper. The whole time we talked about camping in a tent the week prior, Brooklyn couldn't separate the concept of a regular camping tent from that of a conference tent. Kinda like she can't separate the song "Ol' MacDonald" from the name of the fast-food restaurant.
Thanks, Stephen, for braving the outing. I'm glad you both had a wonderful time.