I love my job!

Usually I'm "just" a piano teacher, but on days like last Saturday, I feel so proud and happy to be training these young musicians. We had our Fall Piano Recital at our local library, where they have a little stage and a grand piano. There are few times in my life when I have burst with pride for children other than my own, but Saturday was one of those. They all did such a wonderful job and it was a very rewarding morning.

My students

Me and my young musicians!

This was Benjamin's first recital and he did a great job!

Jacob shocked Phil with his stellar performance (and me with his stellar introduction!)

We're so proud of you boys!!

We ended the day by going to "A Year with Frog and Toad," a musical at Kingsbury Hall. There are some days when we think we might actually be raising young gentlemen after all. The boys sat quietly and were very attentive throughout the play. Even when Micah got the wiggles, he didn't complain or say, "Let's go home!" We loved the play about two of our favorite amphibians!! (It was based on the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel.) What a great day!

Rest in Peace

A few months ago, I wrote about enduring to the end. Well, Grandma has done it!! She endured to the end and passed away this morning. A few weeks ago she fell and broke her hip. Wanting her to get better, they were planning on doing surgery and getting her well again, but the doctor assured them that at 96, she would probably never really recover and that they might want to let her last days be a little less intense. I got to go visit her with my dad last week. She looked at me a few times with these intense eyes and I thought she'd start talking to me, but then dozed back into a deep sleep. She always told us to be happy for her when she died, and we are. I've been reading a study guide prepared by our stake presidency about life after death and I'm so grateful for the perspective we have. She is in a much better place, able to function again and that is a happy thought!!

Growing up, we were blessed to live within a half hour of both sets of grandparents. We made frequent visits on Sunday night to visit them. Those are such happy memories. We often ate grilled cheese sandwiches and fritos on the deck, followed by big ice cream cones. Grandma's house was always immaculate (will she be able to see mine now? Yikes!) She scrubbed, vacuumed, ironed and baked. She was such a hard worker, and I can always remember her with a sewing project of some sort to keep her hands busy on her "off hours." Our current bed spread was one made by her for our wedding, quilted with tiny stitches of love.

We always gathered at Grandma's house on Christmas night to play games til the wee hours of the morning. Grandma always came to peek in and say, "Are you still up?" We could always talk her into playing a game or two with us before returning to bed. Grandma's chex mix and cinnamon rolls were always a big hit, as well as her sitfa bread!

Grandma was adventurous. She rode jet skiis with us. She tubed down hills with us (that didn't turn out so well with a broken collar bone!) She even earned her driver's license at the ripe old age of 85 when grandpa could no longer see well enough to drive. When Phil and I were dating, visits to grandma and grandpa's always turned out exciting (grandpa hinting at what was in store for this young couple) and I was proud to have them so close to show off!

While mom and dad were on their mission, we tried to get up and see grandma more often. She was so cute with the boys and one of my favorite memories is having her do "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" with Micah. The boys really got to know "Grandma Great" and I regret we didn't make as much of an effort to get up there once they returned from France. We missed out on some opportunities.

(I forgot I had these pictures! They make me smile!)

In the last several months, grandma has had concerns about the family. If my dad showed up to see her without my mom, she wondered what was wrong and why she wasn't with him. She asked me, "Is everything all right with your family?" She even had bad dreams about trouble going on. "Bless her heart" has been a common phrase, but as I think about it, Grandma, the matriarch of the family, must have known the end was drawing near. The deepest desire of heart was for her family to be in good condition when she left. That is just like the righteous woman that she is.

So rest in peace dear grandma, knowing you've lived a wonderful life and blessed your posterity with a great example of how we should do it! We sure love you!

My Little Gnome

You know those curious little garden gnomes that you see around? The ones that show up in surprising places doing the darndest things, always make you smile and are occasionally the mascot for companies?

Meet our family mascot:

He always makes us smile,
Usually does the darndest things,
and shows up in surprising places just when we need him!
(Like last month when he showed up to help me tie red ribbons on trees at the elementary school in the dark - some husbands may have balked at such a wacky idea, but not my gnome! What a guy!)
Thanks Phil, for keeping life interesting!

We had a fun Halloween. The boys decided to be Harry Potter characters, and I had fun putting together their costumes. Benjamin has turned into a super reader and read the first three books in about 4 weeks, so we thought it was very appropriate that he be Harry. His brothers joined the team as Oliver Wood (Quidditch captain) and Hedwig (Harry's owl.)

Our cousin Shayla, who I think was the original inspiration, was Hermione Granger, so of course we had to get together to see the whole gang.
And there's that silly gnome showing up again...

By the way, can you guess how many candy corns are in this jack-o-lanturn?
Micah did, "Ten hundred."

And he won!!! There were 995. Our little sweet tooth was in absolute heaven after our neighborhood Halloween party!

Farewell, Old Friend

About 7 years ago, we were expecting a new addition to our family (Baby Benjamin) and thus decided it was time to enter into the new realm of parenthood that we had avoided to that point: driving a minivan. I know some people refuse to buy a minivan, but Phil and I had no qualms about joining the club. We just weren't exactly sure how to do it. We did our best to research and after looking at more vans than we looked at houses before purchasing one (go figure), we decided on a plymouth grand voyager. We bought from a nice family in Texas who actually threw in a much smaller version of the green van, a little tykes version, for our boys. We were pleased with our purchase and have driven it since the weekend before Benjamin was born.

Since then, we have put roughly 90,000 miles on our van. It's been with us through the good, the bad and the ugly of parenthood. Soccer games, vacations, a switching of drivers while driving during the middle of the night on our move here from Texas (definitely the ugly - I do NOT recommend nor do I admit to actually doing this!), shopping trips, new trees, beaches, mountains, nursing sessions, etc., this van has been with us through most of our kids' childhood and grand adventures.

But alas, already with a second transmission about to go, the squeaking we noticed over the last few weeks turned into a long list of repairs that needed to be done. Phil and I reevaluated and decided it was time to retire our car instead of putting more money into it. We do NOT enjoy the process of buying cars, but over the weekend, we were able to find a good deal on a replacement minivan (nope, not ready to leave the club yet.) And so with a few tears in my eyes as I cleaned it out, and cleaned it out, and cleaned it out (we're going to need an addition on the house to fit all the stuff that was in that van!) I bid farewell to my home on wheels. You've been a good car and we wish you the best as you find a new home (and hopefully some new brakes.)

In life cars come and go (literally), but I will always hold a special place in my heart for our old green plymouth!!

Among the treasures (if you consider old gold fish crackers and popcorn from 5 years ago treasures) I found while cleaning out the van, this was probably my favorite. Benjamin used to draw our shopping lists, then we'd cross them out as we shopped. This is probably from when he was 3 or 4. So cute!!