Green Cake and Pianos

Hello--

I came back from a lovely, fast weekend...in Toronto! Frank had a conference (he's still there, actually) that overlapped my birthday. So he suggested that I join him for the weekend, for a change of scenery and a birthday treat weekend. It's amazing how many details you have to arrange for, when you're only going to be gone 48 hours...but it was so much fun!

We toured the city on one of those hop-on-hop-off buses. Frank still has the camera with him, so I can't post Toronto photos until next week or so. But upon my return, after a day full of airports and flying, I was greeted with:












A serenade of "Happy Birthday" by my kids, and...a GREEN and PURPLE HEART CAKE! Yes, I think not many people can boast receiving this gift. :) Thank you so much to David, Teresa, and Kara, and to my other happy birthday well-wishers!

(And yes, it really was green inside):








Then last night was Kara & David's first piano recital. They have taken lessons over the past years, but we have never participated in recitals (their past teachers just didn't do them, for whatever reasons). It can be a little nerve-wracking, playing in front of other people, but they both did an excellent job with their pieces.

Here is Kara with their teacher:

Great job, David and Kara!

It's Fine to be Nine and Chile

Hola!

Frank returned from his last trip, yippee! He has been in Chile and Argentina for 9 days. He's hiring a manager down there so he'll be going back to interview possible candidates, again next month. Anyway it's SO nice to have him here.

Last week was Kara's birthday--NINE, can you believe it! Sometimes other people's kids stay young in your mind, because you don't see them much. I still have her pegged at 5 or 6 years old, and I LIVE with her! Something about how adorable kids are in kindergarten, I guess, and I wanted her to stay in that grade! (She still brightens my day. She's just bigger now.)

We had a fun afternoon with some of her friends from school, playing goofy relay games outside. Run with a balloon between your elbows and sit on it to pop it...













keep an M&M on the end of a straw, run with it and drop it in the bowl at the other end of the deck...








balloon volleyball...

It was a beautiful afternoon, but don't be fooled by the sunshine. It was still super cold! The kids look outside at a sunny day, and think they can put on their swimsuits. It's only 40 degrees, for Pete's sake! One of the games was an egg toss, and the plastic Easter eggs we used had water in them. "Can we have a water fight?" one of the girls asks. I'm standing in the sun, shivering, and she wants a water fight...sigh... Then we piled into cars to go to "Plaster Fun Time," where the girls could choose ceramics and paint them. Here is Kara:

and also Teresa and Frank concentrating on Teresa's cobra:

Kara has a talent for getting along with a lot of different kinds of people. She also notices when someone is sad, and tries to make them happy.

She's an example to me, of what kind of a friend I should be.

It is FINE to be NINE!

Kara's Party Group

Happy Birthday, Frank!

Frank's Big Day was last Tuesday. Thanks for the cards, BTW! We went to dinner the weekend before with 2 fun couples. At the END of this month, he and I will have a combination b-day jaunt to Toronto, where he is attending a conference. For now, here is some alliteration in his honor:




Fantastic Father
Funny
Friend
Fast
(our) Favorite
Finally Forty (I've been waiting patiently for him to "catch up").






Ready (for almost anything)
Reserved
Rested
Romantic (sometimes :) )
Real (see "The Velveteen Rabbit").







Adventurous
Appreciative
Amiable
Awake
Approachable.








Nature-lover
Neat
Nice
Notices (details).










Kind
Knowledgeable
(3) Kids
Kaleidoscope (of personality and emotion)
Kari's.



We love you, Sweetie!

Teresa and Her Talents

Hi!

I finally got around to taking a picture of Teresa (6th grade) and her talents. She has been taking flute lessons this school year. Inspired by her aunt Kathi, she decided to try it out. And I like the fact that it is light-weight and easy to transport!

We need to figure out how to record a song and email it, like the Griffiths sent to us. Teresa really liked the piano/flute duet they emailed.

She asked the Primary leader, at church, if she could play a song in Singing Time. So a couple of weeks ago, after much practice, Teresa played "Nephi's Courage" as the opening song in Primary.

And hey, I just found 2 more things she made, so I'll include those, too! Earlier in the school year, she had 8 weeks of art. Her art teacher had them make realistic animal heads, from all kinds of materials. Her tiger was really cool, so her teacher put it up in the school hallway.











Look, his teeth are made of plastic forks from the lunch room:





The other was a clay project, depicting an aspect of Egyptian life. These are amulets of Ancient Egyptian Royalty.

These things took/take a lot of time and patience. Nice job, Teresa!