The Twins Are No Longer Tweens

13 Years Old!!  Can't believe it.  Kara & Emma are enjoying their teenage years, thus far:)  

Kara wanted a watch.  We ended up taking this one back for a different one, only to have the band bread 2 days later:(  We're still looking for a replacement.

Emma loves(ed) her kindle.  A gift card for her was the perfect gift.  Unfortunately, her kindle broke about a week later & she is saving up for another one.  Babysitting anybody?

Nintendo DS game.  She's happy!

Silver glitter mascara, WAHOO!!

iTunes gift card & more makeup.  Did I mention ALL of my girls LOVE makeup?

Her own container (from Costco) of JELLY BELLIES!!!  Oh, yea!  Her locker is now a "favorite" place to gather between classes:)

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY EMMA & KARA!!

15 Years Old!

IT HAS BEGUN.  The time in Brynn's life where she looks forward to the day she can begin driving!  Only 6 months after her 15th Birthday & she is counting down:)  

She was given a HUGE makeup bag.  This girl loves her makeup!  

She's also a fan of Sharpie Markers.

Can't have a HUMONGUS makeup bag without a mirror, right?

She really enjoyed shooting with the bow and arrows at girls camp this year.  In my spectacular knowledge of such things, she got a compound bow.  Um.........I returned it the next day & Terry ordered a real bow (long) online.

Just so the squirrels & bunnies would remain fairly safe in our yard, it seemed prudent that she have a "target" to aim for.

As soon as her long bow came, she was out in the yard with it!  

NICE SHOT, BRYNN!

Happy 15th Birthday 

(Sept. 6th, anyway:)

Halloween Wreath

Just before Halloween last year, I found a picture on line of a wreath someone had made for the holiday.  It had the sticky eyeballs all over it.  I loved it!  I knew I wouldn't make it last year, but I wanted it for this year.  I've been on the lookout for glow in the dark creepy things and the sticky eyeballs all year.  It paid off:)  

There's witch fingers, sticky eyeballs, insects, snakes, spiders, & centipedes in my wreath. Everything except the sticky eyeballs glows in the dark.  I bought the stick wreath itself at Joann's with a coupon.  I glued all the creepy stuff on with 527 Bond glue.  Easy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pen Fight!

Back in the days, I would have pen fights with friends at school.  We would see how much we could mark each other up & be the last one standing.  Well......back in mid September, Brynn and I were being totally mature and were engaged in a pen fight.  However, we had only one pen and it was in my possession. Brynn wrestled it away from me.  But alas, I prevailed in retrieving it again!  But boy, Brynn is very persistent & just as competitive as me.  Must be in the genes or somethin'.  I was not about to give in, but I was close to losing.  So with pen in my hand, I jumped up, ran through the kitchen, down the hall past the shoe rug, and used my free hand to open the front door, gracefully tripping over the entry way rug only to land outside on the porch rug and looking at the cement suddenly a millimeter away from my nose.  

Oh the PAIN!!!  My shin hurt like the dickens and my knee, too.  What happened?  One minute I was flying down the hall, absolutely certain that I didn't touch a single big foot shoe as I passed.  As I rolled over onto my back on the porch, I grabbed my shin with my hands trying to hold the pain in one place.  The natural man came out & all I could say was, "What in the h*#! did I trip on?!"  Brynn just smiled and pointed down at the entry way rug rolled up in the doorway and said, "the rug".  Duh!  Honestly, I did not feel anything catch on my foot.  I really was confused at what had caused me to kiss the porch cement. By this time I was laughing and crying and writhing in pain.  All I had planned on doing is opening up the front door to chuck the stupid pen into the bushes where Brynn would have to go digging for it, thus allowing me to come out the WINNER!  

All of my girls were home & gathered around me on the porch.  "Are you o.k.?"  "Are you laughing or crying?"  "Do you want an ice pack?"  They are great girls.  I love them!  My responses were: "I don't know", "yes", "no, not yet".  I thought I was o.k., but I HURT so bad!  I was laughing AND crying because it was such a hilarious biff & crying because like I said, I HURT!  And the ice packs were too heavy for me to even stand the thought of putting them ON my leg.  So I simply asked for a can of diet coke, 4 advil, and 2 cold wet rags....in that order. 

It took me 15 minutes, at least, to be able to get up off the porch.  In that 15 minutes or so, I eagerly took my advil with my diet coke & propped my leg up on the chair with the cold rags on my shin & knee.  Of course Terry timed it perfectly and called from work 2 minutes after my graceful exit from the house.  So he listened to me explain it all while still laughing/crying in pain.  Too bad he missed the action, though.  Brynn said it was the funniest thing to watch it from behind:)  I bet it was!!  

I scraped my shin on the metal threshold.  This picture was taken after I could finally get up & into the house. Although it took another half an hour to be able to stop crying from the pain.  What a boob!

I got an epic rug burn on my knee from the heavy duty outdoor rug on the porch as I landed.  These pictures just don't do it justice.  I really think that if I hadn't have landed on the rug & had landed on the cement, I would have broken my knee cap.

After a week or so, I took more pictures of the beautiful scabs.  However, my shin was more bruised than scraped.  To this day, it's still a large bump that's still painful to touch.  My knee has a nice scar from the rug burn and most of the swelling on the inside of it has gone down.  I can at least kneel for prayer again:)

I did sprain my left hand and I hurt my left shoulder in the fall as well.  But the pain in my leg took over my brain & I didn't feel the other pain until the next day.  My hand still bothers me some, especially when I play the piano.  My shoulder is getting better, too.  Sometimes I can lay on it during the night for 15 minutes or so before it hurts enough that I roll back over.  

I'm just an old fart & need to find other non-running ways to cheat Brynn at pen fights!

Inner Beauty Pageant

Last month our Young Women held their annual Young Women in Excellence Program.  They held and Inner Beauty Pageant for their families.  They spiffed themselves up by wearing used prom dresses or their nicest dresses they owned.  Some women in the ward volunteered their time & talents to do their hair & makeup for this special occasion.  One by one, each girl was called out on the stage dressed beautifully & wearing a crown.  A bishopric member then read a short description of their qualities and accomplishments written by their mothers before hand.  The girls then walked down the stairs, helped by their beloved bishop.  They were given a red rose & asked a question about their goals and accomplishments they've made through the Personal Progress Program.  It was a wonderful event for the girls & I, as a mom, thoroughly enjoyed it!  It was awesome to hear & learn about each girl and see just how beautiful they all are.  The inner beauty of each one truly shined through!

Emma enjoys life and finds joy in it everyday.  She thinks about others, always trying to help them in some way or just bring a smile to their face.  She is enjoying her Jr. High experience and just celebrated her 13th birthday.  Emma loves making necklaces and bracelets with her collection of beads.  She also enjoys reading books every chance she can.

Kara finds joy in serving others.  She is always asking what she can do to help.  She enjoys baking desserts and sharing them with friends and neighbors.  She also likes playing her guitar.  She's great with reading TAB and has recently taught herself how to play "Pirates of the Caribbean".  Kara also loves reading and writing her own stories.  She is creative and wants to become a writer.

Brynn is a good example to others around her.  She is in her 1st year of Seminary and currently serves as Mia Maid President.  She enjoys playing the piano and has begun teaching others.  She likes playing volleyball. She is a great "Spiker" and loves her Varsity team mates.  She is looking forward to going to college and does her best to be successful in school.

Beautiful Squirrels!

Look Mom, I Did It!

For so many years now, I have occasionally gotten our family pictures taken. HOWEVER, that didn't mean that they actually got put into the frames on the wall.  I'm terrible!  No matter how much I was nagged to get 'em up, I just didn't do it.  I know that it drove my own mom crazy:)  THIS year, my goal was to get our family pictures taken AND actually get them up on the wall.  For some of you, this sounds ridiculous.  I agree.  I can't explain why it was such a chore to follow through with over the last few years.  Dumb, if you ask me!  So this year I decided to get rid of all our frames we've used for the last 17 years.  I know, IT'S ABOUT TIME!!  I found the frames I wanted and then within 1 week I actually got on the 'puter & ordered the size of pics I wanted.  That was a miracle, I tell ya!  I picked up the pictures this weekend and Emma said, "Yeah!  Now we'll see if they get put into the frames or not." HA!  I did it within 24 hours!  So look mom, our "new" family wall!

Dari Orton took us to Wheeler Farm in Utah for these pictures.  We love 'em all!  

Thanks Dari!

  

Piano Recital 2011

On Monday, June 13th we had our annual piano recital.  I squished 50 people into my dining/living room.  That is the largest crowd we've had here in the NW ever!  It was awesome:)

Emma played "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God" by Janice Kapp Perry.  She worked hard on it.  She couldn't really practice it until after her elbow injury healed.  She did AWESOME!

Olivia played "Water Music" and a duet of "I Love To See the Temple".  Since I was the one taking pictures, I couldn't take a picture of her while playing the duet with her at the same time.  But she did a great job on both pieces!

Brynn played a duet, too.  It's called "C.S. Theme and Variations" by Randall Compton.  She started playing by herself, but played the wrong song (Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime by Paul Cardall).  I then stood up & made a big fuss about her playing the wrong song & scooted her over on the bench.

We then played each others' parts while teasing one another.  You had to be there:)

At one point during the duet, I PUSH her off the bench & take over the top part.  She had to get up off the floor & settle on playing the lower part.  We are currently working on recording the duet to post on YouTube.  I'll let you know when that happens.  But it's just not the same as when we did it at the recital.  We have had a TON of fun learning this duet together!

At the end of the recital, each student was presented with a potted flower (to represent how much they've grown in their skills) & a Super Song Star filled with all the super songs they had passed off since January.  Some had one song, others had 6 or 7.  It really depended on each student and the songs they chose to work on, the level of difficulty it was, and such.  

From left to right:  Emma's, Brynn's, Olivia's

This is the Super Song Star Chart.  It's on the wall in the piano room.  I drew the big yellow star & had it laminated.  I then laminated each of the stars spelling out "Super Songs", above & below the yellow star.

A Super Song is any song NOT in their lesson books that they choose to learn.  I keep a list of these songs under each students' name in my teaching binder.  We then can refer to this list to choose songs to perform.  The purpose of this program is to further nourish the students' skills in a more desirable & fun fashion.  They learn what they NEED to in order to play the song they WANT to.  They progress much quicker than if we just stayed to the lesson books & they enjoy learning the piano much better.  Not to mention their repertoire grows along with it:)  Once the student passes off the Super Song, they earn a star and a certificate.  I keep colorful paper stars in my piano bucket for the students to write the title of their song on.  They sign their name on the back.  By using poster putty, they stick their Super Song Star anywhere on the Star Chart.  Others who look at the chart will see only song titles and no student names.  This way the competition isn't one sided & they can get ideas on what others' are playing.

At the end we all pigged out on cookies, brownies, rice crispy treats, and bubbly apple cider with apple juice star ice cubes.

Thanks, KARA, for being so willing to help set up the refreshments during the recital & pitching in at the last minute as "photographer"!

Major Pentascale Master

Olivia was the first piano student to pass of all 12 of her Major Pentascales.  

A Pentascale is just a 5 finger scale.  Each student has their own colorful fish that has 12 "scales" on it.  Each lesson, Livvy was assigned a scale to work on during the week.  There are 12 scales total.

As she passed of each scale, she wrote the name of it (C, A flat, etc.) on a scale of her fish with a dry erase marker.  Once all 12 scales are filled (or passed off), she earns a Certificate, a bag of gummy worms, & a picture with the fishing hat to put on the wall above the aquarium.

Of course she had to do a "SILLY" picture!   Hahahahaha!  

Great job Livvy!!!

Emma's Choir Performance

Emma joined the choir for her last year of Elementary School.  She enjoyed it very much!  These pictures of at the biggest concert of the year, which is held at the High School with all of the other grade schools.  Her choir wore white shirts & black pants.  Other schools did or didn't do something similar.  Emma's school was the nicest looking group up there.  Emma's on the back row (surprise!), 4th from the left.

She will miss choir & hopes to do it again in High School.  

New Flower Bed

After 5 years of neglecting all my flower beds, I FINALLY felt like doing some pretty yard work.  However, I wanted something in the backyard, not just the front & down in the lower 40.  In the lower 40, one cannot just casually look & enjoy the flowers.  You have to meander down there specifically to look at them.  And let's face it, I'm LAZY.  If I can't enjoy it by simply looking out of a house window, I won't enjoy it at all.  I spend much more time in our backyard than any other part of our yard, so I wanted a "happy spot"there:)    

This whole project was taken on by our entire family.  The girls were as excited as I was to get it started. They helped dig out the grass, which was about 18 feet X 4.5 feet.  Terry & I had to do most of the digging, but they cut the lines to divide it up into smaller sections for easier removal.  Terry then leveled the dirt & we were off to Lowe's to by the border stones I wanted!  

Terry began to lay the foundation row & showed me how it needed to be done.  While he was at work, I had to mark the "corner" stones & the "straight" stones so that I could see that they were exact & symmetrical.  This is my anal gene coming out in force!!  The front  & back "straight" rows were marked with alphabet letters & they had to be across from one another.  Terry just laughed:)  Whether mentally or physically, I'm sure he rolled his eyes, too.  But it's what works for me!

 The "corner" stones I marked with numbers 1-4 twice.  Don't ask.

When building a flower bed against the house, most people use the house for support & build up the other 3 sides.  But with our vent holes & wood siding, that's a bit of a problem.  So of course I create more work to build it up by stoning it all around.

The girls helped throughout the entire 3 weeks to get this done.  They shoveled dirt from the truck, into the wheel barrow and into the flower bed without a single complaint.  They wouldn't even let me do any shoveling until they began to get tired.  They did over half of it before they'd let me help:)  They asked if we could divide up the flower bed into sections & allow each of them to care for their own.  They worked their hynies off, so I thought they deserved that privilege.  They each got a 3 foot section, I got 4 feet.  Why did I get 4?  Because it was my idea in the first place & I'm just selfish like that:)  

There are 2 sections in this picture (above).  The far left is Brynn's & all she wanted was Pansies.  It's fun to watch her enjoy them.  She smiles & giggles just thinking about 'em!  The right side of the picture is Kara's.  She loves Fox Glove's & chose 2 different sizes.  They're in the back row with a sun flower between them.  She also likes Marigold's.  Brynn shared the extra Pansies to divide up between everyone else, too.  I think there's a Dahlia & a Gerbera Daisy in there too.  Honestly, I can't remember all the varieties that were planted by everyone!  Everyone chose their own for their section. 

The middle section of the bed is mine.  I have a couple of Daisy plants in the back, a Dahlia & Carnations in the middle & a variety of the "extra" flowers left over from the girls' choices. 

 This is Olivia's & Emma's section.  The left is Livvy's.  I know she has some snap dragons in there, petunias, a Dahlia, gerbera daisy, marigolds, & a fun pink bells plant that I can't remember the name of.  We did try to put the flower name tags next to the flowers as we planted them.  But I'm too lazy to go out & actually write them down for this blog:)  The right part of the picture is Emma's.  I think her favorite plant is the Poppy, which is the tall orange & pink flowers in the back.  She has some purple snap dragons & another purple plant that I can't remember the name of.  She has a gerbera daisy as well & took advantage of some of the "extra" flowers as well.

This is the most diverse & FUN flower bed I've ever seen!  We all love it & are taking good care of it.

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Book Slings

What are those?  Well, I stumbled upon a website a while back & thought they were a great idea.  They are like hammocks for your books and stuff that you use at your bed.  I just filed those thoughts away & moved on.......only to find the need for them just 3 weeks later!!  All my girls have books, kindles, ipods, journals, etc. that they keep at their beds every night.  These items always end up in a messy pile around their beds.  After hours of cruising the internet I finally found the website.  It was great!  I found 3 sets of double curtain rods on clearance at Fred Meyer for about $10 a piece.  Emma & Kara chose the silver ones, I wanted the black one.  I made Olivia's rods out of wooden dowels.

Kara chose her own material for the project.  She chose a solid color material to make pockets on the outside.  She cut out and sewed her sling completely by herself.  I taught her how to use the surger & sewing machine.  She wanted a pocket for her DS, but was afraid that it would slip out.  So we put a pencil pocket on the bottom half of the pocket.  She stitched it at an angle so her DS wouldn't clonk her on the head:)  She wanted to add iron on's to embellish her sling.   She did an awesome job!

 Emma chose her material...ORANGE of course!  She wanted outside pockets as well so that she could put her kindle in one and her marker/pencil & journal in the other one.  She kept hers more simple looking, and it's totally her!  She, too, cut & sewed hers by her lonesome:)  She wanted her sling above her bed.  She sleeps on the lower bunk of the trundle bed and doesn't have a headboard.  Her sling looks perfect there!  

Olivia hadn't chosen her material yet, so I began making MY book sling.  I wanted it to go next to the grand piano to keep our frequently used music in, instead of tossed all over the top & floor of the piano.  I found fun music note material with black background & bright fun colored notes.   I wanted the sling deeper than Emma's & Kara's.  So I added the loops for the rods to go through.  I'm no seamstress & I struggled A LOT.  But I also learned a lot.  I put that knowledge to the test with Olivia's book sling.  I do have plans for outside pockets, I just ran out of time to get them done before Spring Break came to an end.  Maybe during Summer break:)

 

Olivia chose her own material as well:)  It's her, isn't it?  Her wall is so long that we could make hers longer than everyone else's.  It's a full 4 feet long.  All the others are about 3 feet long.  I bought 2 dowels and the rod anchors at Lowe's.  It cost more for hers than it did for the double curtain rods I got from Fred Meyer!  But it worked for Livvy.  She wanted to paint them violet.  Which she did.  Then she repainted over that with violet glitter paint.  She did a great job:)  I wouldn't let her cut out or do any sewing.  I did let her decide what kind of pockets she wanted and where to place them.  She turned them right side out.  I ironed them:)  She chose her iron on's & where to place them.  

 

FUN BOOK SLINGS!