Federation Piano Festival

Today was Federation for my piano students. They have to learn and memorize 2 pieces and play them for judges. They earn up to 5 points a year. A Superior is 5 points, Excellent is 4 points, Satisfactory is 3 points. I've never seen anyone get below 3 points. Every 15 points earns them a Gold Cup trophy. This was Bethany's second year playing. She played "Ladybug, Ladybug" and "Cookies." I actually didn't get to hear her play. I was in the next room judging. So Dan brought Bethany and the boys and sent her in by herself (because her brothers can be a bit rowdy). She said she played well. We'll find out when I pick up the scores on Monday. I know she knows her pieces really well, so she probably did great. I had to judge from 8 am til 3 pm. Some years it goes till 5, so it was nice to be done a little earlier. My hand was sore and I had a headache by the end, but we lucked out and got all of the more advanced students in our room, so they were all awesome. It was fun to listen to everyone. Boy am I glad it's over, though!

Next Saturday is my student recital, 2:30 pm at the Layton Library, if anyone wants to come!

Edited update: All 12 students who entered received Superiors! Way to go everyone! This is the first year I've had all Superiors. There is usually always one or two students who get Excellent, but this year they were all awesome!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. Today he came over and we had cake and ice cream and presents. He turned 82! Yes, my dad is 51 years older than me. The kids were really excited to make the cake and wrap the presents. We gave him a book about Joseph Smith with some really cool pictures in it. We love you Grandpa and hope to celebrate many more birthdays!

My little Aggie!

Early Signs of Spring

Some of the early signs of spring I have noticed:

Spiders - they are everywhere!
Geese flying... east? Not sure what that means.
More sunlight!
Restless children that want to play outside (oh, wait, that's all year)
Swimsuits in the stores
Feeling a need to lose weight so I can fit in a new swimsuit this year
Anxiety over the stretch marks that will not go away, no matter how much weight is lost :(
Kindergarten registration!
Kindergarten shots!
Having to plan out my summer teaching schedule already. Seems earlier every year, but it's probably the same.
Dan buying new bike gear/bike/etc...
Excited about flowers, garden, etc. but not really looking forward to the work involved.
Mud tracked in the house by children (and even some adults, too) - yesterday Bethany went outside to play with a friend. When she came back she had mud all over her boots and pants. I asked her what they were doing - making mud and snow pies!


I am jealous of those of you that have crocus blooming already. Mine may have died, though. I am terrible with plants! I need Debbie to come work in my yard for me! (hint, hint) :)

A Great Weekend

We had a short little overnight date for Valentine's. Dan's mom picked up the kids Friday and took them to her place, and we headed to Salt Lake. We had dinner at The Roof gourmet buffet - can I just say WOW! The food was AMAZING! They had 25 desserts to choose from! Of course, by the time you get to dessert, you are stuffed, but I tried a few anyway. Of course the view is wonderful, overlooking the temple and the state capitol building, and I forgot to take any pictures so you'll just have to imagine it. After we ate we decided to walk around Temple Square to burn off the calories, and it was so deserted! I couldn't believe how empty it was, especially compared to the last time we were there to see the Christmas lights (it was packed then). But the Christmas lights are all down, so it wasn't quite as charming, but still nice. We stayed at the Anniversary Inn, then the next day we did some shopping and then went to Romeo and Juliet at Pioneer Theater. It was very well done. One lady afterwards commented "if they just had cell phones, they would have avoided so much tragedy!" Then we came home and spent Valentines night cleaning the house and doing dishes.

The kids had a good time, too. They made cookies, watched Madagascar 2, went tubing, and went to the Bird Refuge where they got to make bird houses and paper owls. Jorgen was a little stinker and wouldn't sleep, but other than that they had a good time. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for watching them!!

My Lil' Helper/ Playing Pirates

My Lil' Helper:

Unlike most toddlers, my baby is not afraid of the vaccuum. In fact, he gets really excited when I pull it out and follows me around watching. One day it wasn't enough for him to just watch, so he had to come and help me out. He knew you were supposed to move it forwards and backwards. What a smart kid. I hope he is always this eager to help!




Jorgen's favorite thing to play with recently is my pots. He loves to put the lid on and off, and stir with a spoon. He will also fill it with toys, snacks, whatever, and lug it around the house. Even though I haven't really used it to cook, I usually end up having to wash it because it gets sticky fingerprints all over it.



One night Jorgen did not want to go to sleep at all. I was trying to fold laundry. The other kids were in bed (it was around 10 pm). Jorgen was helping me, but he isn't too good at folding. He is pretty good at moving the clothes from one basket to another.




Playing Pirates:

Last Sunday the kids and Dan were playing a game of pirates. Andrew was "Captain Andrew-beard," Dan was "First Mate," Bethany was the token girl on the ship, and Jorgen was the Pirate Monkey/Pirate Chef. I am amazed at how a 15-month-old baby knows how to play make-believe!



Here is the Pirate Chef making Cat Soup. Yum.



Then he wanted to grab the camera:



He actually got the camera from me and took several pictures. Here is Jorgen's very first picture - a pictue of his foot and his pot.



Bethany made herself an eye-patch:

Happy Birthday Dan!

Okay, I have typed this post 3 times now, and every time I go to publish it there is some error and it deletes the whole thing. Argh.

Yesterday was Dan's 34th birthday. We spent most of the day attending the open house of the new Draper Temple because that was the day we ended up with tickets. We took my parents with us, and met my brother and sister and their families there. We watched a short video, then rode a bus to the temple (the bus was Andrew's favorite part). The tour was really nice. The temple is very beautiful and a bit smaller than I was expecting. There were a lot of stairs (Andrew said there were a million). Bethany's favorite room was the one with the "pretty curtains" or the ordinance rooms. Andrew also liked the "map" (brochure) and would follow along to see which room we were in. Too cute! Jorgen was a little restless, but did okay. It was kind of strange to hear the sounds of children in the temple, which you usually never hear.

Afterwards, we dropped the kids off at my brother's house in Riverton where they ate pizza and played with cousins, while Dan and I went on a short lunch date. Later, at home, I made mushroom/swiss cheeseburgers and oven fries for dinner and we had a peanut butter pie instead of birthday cake - yum! (it was kind of like a chocolate silk pie, only peanut butter flavored with Reese's on top - I found it at Smith's) I only got one picture and then my camera died, so that's all you get. We hope you had a great birthday and we love you!

Party, Party, Party!

This has been a week of parties for Bethany at school. Tuesday she had a popcorn/movie party (which ended up being chips, not popcorn). Today they had their Valentine's Party because she is going off track this week. She got a huge bag full of more candy (we still have Christmas candy) - it is fuller than it looks in the picture. She said she wrote "Beth" on the bag because she didn't have room for "Bethany." On a kind-of related note, when Dan put the kids to bed he said, "Goodnight Bethany," "Goodnight Andrew." Then Andrew replied "she's Beth and I'm And."

Tomorrow the whole first grade is having a 100th day of school party, but at least this one will be a little bit educational. I'm going to help with Bethany's class, and the kids will go around to the different 1st grade rooms doing different things with the number 100. She also has her class pictures tomorrow, so I have to make sure I get up in time to get myself ready and her hair nice for a picture. Some days I do good to get some jeans on instead of pjs before we rush out the door.

A Funny Conversation

We had this conversation at dinner last night:

Andrew: Dad, do you know what Jesus looks like?
Dad: Yes (from paintings)
Andrew: He has girl hair, doesn't he?
Bethany: No he has pirate hair.
Andrew: Is Jesus a pirate?
Mom: No Jesus is not a pirate.

At this point we were all laughing. Then we had to explain why Jesus has long hair. It was pretty funny.