To My Main Squeeze

Brady on Lake Louise in Canada a few years ago

I am coming out of blogging hiatus to wish the love of my life Happy Birthday tomorrow. Only I am doing at 9:00 the night before (happy birthday to mom-in-law Annice TONIGHT!) because I have time at 9:00 at night. But at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow I might not have time. With five kids all home and saying, "feed me," "entertain me," let's do this," "let's go here" my time at the computer is limited.

And...I can't wish Brady happy birthday without doing the same to Roma Lee Hiatt since you two share your big day! Have a good one, Roma Lee. Brady had so much fun visiting with you, Phil, Robin, LaMar -the good old gang - last week.

Hard Knock Life

At Courtney's end-of-the-year choir concert, she got to sing a solo! Here's some video footage of it, but I had a technical difficulty in the middle so it's in two segments. Great job Courtney! Look out Broadway...

Pioneer Children Sang...

as they sewed and sewed and sewed. Isn't that how the song goes? After having sewn/helped to sew 6 pioneer dresses, 10 bonnets, 10 aprons, 3 pair of bloomers and one pioneer nightgown, I'm sure the words should be changed.

Our stake is gearing up for it's Pioneer Trek this week so we have been sewing like crazy around here. Meghann actually sewed most of her costumes herself for one of her 10 hour YW projects. And thus, a seamstress has been born. She started cutting everything out General Conference weekend last April and she has been working at it here and there ever since. She has done an amazing job. I get so excited when I can tell her, "Now make a casing for the elastic" or "make a narrow 5/8" hem" and she understands exactly what I'm saying! I think she's going to be the cutest pioneer on that dirt runway!

Even though Courtney isn't "officially" going on the trek because she isn't 14 yet, she has a role to play one day so she needed two costumes as well. I'm almost finished with the very last costume. What a relief!

two bonnets and two aprons made for a lady in our ward

Get This Tooth Out!

Jordan could not wait for his first tooth to come out. All the while it was wiggling and loosening, he was crying for it to come out. He would come home from school and tell me that he told all of his class that it would be out tomorrow and if it wasn't out they would call him a liar! He was determined to get that thing out, so here are some pictures (and a video or two!) of us trying to accommodate his wish.

Here he is with it finally out. Oh, happy day! I should have gotten a close up of his smile, but I was actually taking a picture of him with his new Gator cup and plate. Brady took the boys to Big Lots last week and when Jordan saw this cup and plate, he couldn't buy it fast enough! He eats on it every meal.

Spencer on the Rubix Cube

In the meantime, while we were occupied with Jordan's tooth, I found this little video clip on my flash card that Spencer recorded for us. Warning: it's a little fuzzy, but what do you expect from an eight-year-old who is recording AND doing the rubix cube at the same time!

Spring Cleaning

I'm cleaning off my flash card. What a good feeling! Sort of like spring cleaning, only I hardly have to move a muscle, just a few finger muscles. Send this picture to a file on the hard drive, send this picture to be printed, send this picture to be posted on my blog, delete this picture that Spencer took of me and Brady kissing.

So, here are a few video clips of Jordan's end-of-the-year kindergarten program. Maybe only the grandparents can love these videos as much as I do...

Florida Writes

You know the good old standardized testing that happens every spring...(does it happen where you live?). Well, it does here and that week of school is very tense for everyone. The school year seems to revolve around FCAT and Florida Writes. This year Meghann and Tucker helped boost the statistics with their perfect and nearly-perfect score on the Writing test (the other kids didn't have to take this test - just 4th and 8th grades).

It might be hard to read, especially the small print, but you can click on the picture and it will blow up bigger. Meghann scored a 6 out of 6 with the prompt "Persuade your principal whether students should be allowed to eat snacks in the classroom." Tucker scored a 5 out of 6 with the prompt "write to explain why it is important to follow rules." They are both strong, creative writers. They did a great job!