Jackson the "Salami" and Kindergarten graduate.

My own dear Salami.

Jackson with Mrs. Badger and Ms. Thompson. Mrs. Badger pulled me aside after this photo to tell me how much she was going to miss Jackson. She also said that she wasn't suppose to have favorites but Jackson was hers! Probably because Jackson always gave her hugs. Sometimes he would come home and tell me that he didn't play at recess but instead spent the time hugging Mrs. Badger. He is a lover-boy. I hope this wears off when he is a teenager?

Jackson's goofy smile and his best buddy Madhov. These two spent many happy hours playing Power Rangers.

The Piano Recital

This was Ella's first piano recital. I remember as a child being so, so nervous about playing in front of people and making a mistake. I think I flubbed quite a bit on my pieces but not Ella. She was so calm and played her song perfectly!

Kate & Ella's phenomenal piano teacher.

If Kate looks comfortable it is because she had her recital song down about two weeks after she picked it. We have been hearing faster and faster renditions of it and even I have been walking around the house singing it. I love having these two play the piano--it's nice to have music in the house.

The case of the missing debit card...

So, I was at Target today frantically trying to find something for my kids to wear for our family picture, (they informed me that they do not own one pair of pants from the previous school year that does not have a hole in it--sadly, I know this is true.) and after a hellish time,(hellish=4 kids, one poo-poo incident, several toes run over, cart abuse and 4 too many opinions)decisions were made and it was time to check out. I reached for my debit card and it was GONE!

After, searching the car, the garbage, pockets, emptying out the purse, and calling every place I've been in the last few hours, I gave up and cancelled my card. As I was wondering what happened to my card, I came across these little gems on my computer:

At least, I'll always have these pictures to remember my card by...

Hawaii

Crappy Pictures. Fabulous Kids.

Kate and Jackson are now yellow belts in Tae Kwan Do! I can't spell it but you don't want to meet either kid in a dark alley way. They could take you. Seriously. Their teacher (master, coach???) testing them in front of their classmates. Super scary.
And today, Kate was honored at an Awards ceremony at her elementary school. She received two awards and a medal for straight A's. One of awards was the Role Model Award. Her teacher said that the any place Kate was would be better because she was there. It choked me up. Not because I was proud but rather, I can't think of anything more that I want for any of my children... to make their environment better simply because of who they are and what they are.

Thank you Kate, for your example to all and mostly to your old Mom. I love you and I am so, so proud of you.

Happy Birthday to Me. Seriously, can we forget about it?

The girls made me a cake. Jackson helped as only boys can.

The girls made me a sweet card.

Bedazzling the cake because a plain cake just would not do for celebration such as this.

The cake was fabulous. Extra delicious. The kids insisted on celebrating correctly. I was selfishly trying to convince them to forgo the candle tradition until Ella sweetly said, while patting my back, "I know you are worried about how many candles Mom, because it makes you feel old. We'll just do one." She's already quite the negotiator. Then, because I feel that there should be some evidence that I exist on my birthday, I played with photo booth, while waiting for Robert to finish combing his hair. The following are the results:
I liked this picture because it made me look chesty. I think you should look chesty when you are as old as I am. It should be a law.

But maybe not so chesty when going for your Temple Recommend interview? We were late for dinner because the Bishop invited me to go to the Temple so many times. He must of thought I needed it. Note to self: Skip VS half-yearly sale next year. Extra minutes spent in Bishop's office instead of dessert bar at buffet NOT WORTH IT.

Max

I was just singing Max a silly song and he pointed at me, smiled his sweet smile and said, "My Mama cute."

Awwww. Way to make my day!