Happy Birthday Natalie

Natalie is such a lucky girl to have her birthday sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Makes for lots of excitement at our house and Natalie was very excited for her special day. Another year older and another year wiser and now I have a nine year old!

Her delicious birthday cake that Jeemiah designed and decorated. I think we make a pretty good team. I baked it and he decorated it!

Her very own Nativity set from Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Roy

She was very excited to get the slippers she had picked out but then forgot all about!


HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE! You are such a joy to me and I love our time together.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, our day didn't exactly go as planned but we managed to make the best of it. Our friends the Green's invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner along with some other families that were going to be there. We had our food preparations all set and the house smelled delicious. Our food was packed up and the kids were putting on coats when Trevor (who hadn't been feeling good) threw up. Fortunately I managed to get him over to the sink so there was really no cleanup. Poor guy. No fun being sick and especially no fun on holidays. We put our coats away and I put Trevor to bed. The fact that he slept all afternoon is saying something. That kid does not take naps so I knew he was sick.

We sat down to our own little dinner and although the food tasted wonderful it was rather sad to not have Trevor or Emersynne sitting with us for our Thanksgiving feast. Emersynne had decided she had had enough "fun" and went down for her nap before we sat down to eat.

Trevor was sad to miss out on the feast but we assured him there was plenty of food and we would do it all again the next day. Friday we had our Thanksgiving dinner take two and I think we all enjoyed it much more since we could all be together.

Abigail didn't have any trouble cleaning up her plate. Yummy food!

Anthony and Natalie got to take care of the turkey when we were done and they did a good job getting all the meat off for us to eat later. They then got to do the wishbone and Natalie was sad she didn't win because her wish was for Trevor to feel better. So sweet!

For my Mommy

Anthony's alien foot syndrome manifested recently





Michaela and me at Plaza Azteca for her birthday date





Princess Emersynne Victoria





What a babe!

Thanks for the cupcakes, Diane!






Parts is parts

Hermione's new look

Sometime at the beginning of the year, Natalie decided she wanted to be Hermione for Halloween. The biggest prep for her costume was letting her hair grow all year long. Once Halloween was over, Natalie was ready for a haircut. For her birthday she got a gift certificate for Hair Cuttery from Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Roy and she was so excited to go and pick out a new hair style.

Here's Natalie as Hermione Granger

Natalie's new hair style

More Halloween

This year we had a cowboy (complete with a dirty face), a leopard, a princess ballerina
AND
a LGM


More haircuts

Emersynne had her first haircut. I really just trimmed up the back to make it more even with the sides but it made a huge difference and looks so much better!


And Abigail had her first haircut at the salon. She was so excited and even got to go back a second time because they didn't get it right the first time! Ever since Abigail saw the photo of her cousin Bridgett she wanted to get a haircut just like Bridgett's. So cute!

It's still funny

...and I don't even follow football.

Yikes!

I knew it was coming but it is still strange to have to admit that I have a teenager in my house. Monday was Michaela's 13th birthday. The kids were off of school so Jeremiah took the day off as well. We celebrated all day long and started off by driving out to the Boston Temple to work on the temple grounds. We played in the dirt, pulled weeds, dug for worms, swept the walkways, and planted tulip bulbs.

Abigail was fascinated with the worms

I know it looks like Emersynne has been eating dirt but it's just a oreo cookie face!

Towards the end Trevor was getting tired of working so started taking photos instead

Of course we finished up the day with pizza for dinner and a birthday party. We crammed a lot into our day and it was fun to have everybody home all day long!

The kids all had fun shopping for Michaela's present and even more fun watching her open them!

Happy Birthday Michaela!

Time away for two

Last weekend Jeremiah and I were able to get away for two days without children. It was our first Cape Cod experience and we had a great time. We took our bikes and found a great trail. Our 7 mile bike ride turned into an 18 mile bike ride when I suggested we continue on and ride out to see the cranberry bogs. It was a flat easy ride but my legs were not happy with me at all by the time we were done!

It was really fun to be riding beside the ocean but it was really windy

Nobska Light House

Saturday morning we woke up early even though we didn't have kids getting us up and walked a mile or so to the beach.

Our last adventure before driving back was heading out to Provincetown and visiting Pilgrim Monument. It was such a windy day that we almost felt like we were going to be blown off the top of the tower but the view was amazing up there!


We had a great time, missed our kids, were missed by our kids, and are so thankful for our brave friends for taking on six more children for two days.

Blast from the Russian Past

Here are some photos from my mission in Russia.




My first area right was located right on the Volga River in Saratov.




My first experience cooking a turkey.




This is Oleg and Elder Simon in Togliatti.




This handful is Mifa. (Really, Misha, but he couldn't say "sh.") I think he's actually on or just back from a mission now.

Fill your home with music

Tamara is currently accepting motivated student and parent teams for piano instruction. She has seventeen years of piano teaching experience and a college degree in music that she uses to propel her students into the world of music. If you want to help your child progress in their piano experience, please read Tamara's policy below and sign your student up today!

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Making music requires a lot of work, but there is a great thrill when a student performs, inspires, and uplifts others.

Success for your child will depend largely upon your involvement as a parent. Help your child daily with their practice at home by doing the following:

1. Remind students to practice
2. Work out a daily practice schedule that blends with the routine at home.
3. Help students work out an alternate schedule for practice when conflicts arise.
4. Create a quiet atmosphere conductive to practicing.
5. Cheer the students’ effort and praise their accomplishments.

In order to complete assignments and continue improving, students need to practice daily and record their practice time on their practice chart.

Lessons:
Lessons are 45 minutes each week. Please attend on time and bring all of your books. It is important to let me know ahead of time if you will be missing a lesson so arrangements can be made for a make-up lesson. You will be charged for all “no shows.”

Master Class:
Master Class is a group lesson with all my students and allows an opportunity for students to perform for each other in an informal setting as well as developing music skills through games. Please encourage your student(s) to attend. Master Class will be once a month during the summer and once every other month during the school year. If you are unable to attend the upcoming class or future classes, please let me know ahead of time!

Tuition:
$25 each week for 45 minute lessons. Tuition is due the first lesson of the month.

Materials Needed:
Spiral notebook: to keep track of assignments
Flashcards
Books: In addition to lesson books, I encourage students to pick out songs they would like to play to be worked on at lessons and on their own.

If you have any questions or concerns, please comment on this post.

Tamara W. Jones

Our first plant

Not that kind of plant. Aaand not that kind either.

We're planning on planting our first letterbox, and we needed to come up with some kind of stamp. Most of the stamps we've found on our letterboxing adventures thus far have been hand-carved, which seems to be a matter that serious letterboxers take some pride in.

I decided to try my hand at it.




Now we just need to come up with the spot in which to plant the box...