November 20th 2007 Vivian's First Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Vivian's first birthday. She loved the chocolate cake and the warm shower that followed. We took turns going around the table telling her things we loved about her.

Mom: I love her curly red hair and when she scrunches her nose when she is happy.
Sam: I like to share a room with her and be Spiderman. (Go figure!)
Dad: I love her red hair and that people say she looks like me. I like that she is a happy baby and easy on her parents.

The Great Surprise Part I

Here are some pictures of what Sam did most of last week. {i.e. his mother bribing him to eat snacks in bed while I practiced the music you see in the last picture} I knew that my parents were coming out to visit and go to a dinner at the Supreme Court honoring Justice Durham (who Brian clerked for this summer) later in the week and I wanted to be prepared with this music before they came. (More on the Supreme Court in posts to come.) I was thrilled that my parents would get to see me play at the Kennedy Center for the National Opera the same weekend that they were coming for the Supreme Court dinner and also close to my birthday.

Here is where it gets interesting . . .

We decided to take it easy Friday night and have dinner at home, instead of going out. My Mom and I went grocery shopping that afternoon and she insisted on getting a BIG meal prepared. I kept trying to tell her that it was just the four of us and she didn't need to make Thanksgiving.

She is not one to mess with when she is being generous, so I let her fill the cart with WAY too much food.

The meal was ready, I set the table for 4 and my Mom said she was tired and needed to rest before dinner. (Major stalling now that I look back, but I remained clueless.) About 20 minutes later, we hear a knock at the door and my brothers James and Bryant, my sister-in-law Aimee and my two nieces were at the door from Utah and completely surprised me.

They came to celebrate my 30th and had secretly gotten tickets to see the opera. It was a memorable weekend to say the least, and such a treat to have my family celebrate my birthday with me in DC. This will be a birthday that I will always remember.

The Great Surprise Part II

These are an assortment of pictures from the weekend. We went to Arlington Cemetery and saw the change of the guards (that is where we took the family pictures) and visited most of the DC monuments.

I like the one of Vivian sitting alone at the table waiting to eat. We were just about to sit down, when the surprise knock at the door came and she just sat there for about half an hour while I was greeting everyone totally stunned.

Two of the pictures are at the Kennedy Center after I played.

The Great Surprise Part III

One of the best parts of the weekend was having my two nieces fly out to visit. Here is a picture of Evie (age 10) outside the White House and Mae (6 weeks) during intermission at her first opera.

The Great Surprise Part IV

This is the video clip on my family (James, Bry, Aimee, Evie and baby Mae) coming to the door. The table was set and we were ready to eat when I heard a knock at the door and to my surprise they were all standing there!

Halloween Student Recital

A parent just sent me these pictures from our Halloween recital. I grabbed a cello from a student to play for a second, hence the picture of me playing a very tiny cello with finger tapes. I took Sam as Spiderman and it was a great little concert. All of my students did really well.

Haven't sewed in 15 years . . . no problem!

There is a trend going round (in our ward in particular) and it is all about wearing your baby as an accessory. Heaven forbid they be put down and learn to entertain themselves. People have Maya wraps, slings, moby wraps and all other kinds of wrap systems so your child can hang at your hip and make your back tired and still get in your way.

Having said this - I made one today. A friend of mine with a sewing machine showed me how. I haven't sewed since I was about 15 years old, but it was really an easy pattern. I had some cute pink corduroy material and decided to join the trend. I am not a big fan as I mentioned of always holding my kids, but I thought this would be a good solution to Vivian terrorizing the primary room while I am trying to do Sharing Time. So here is my creation. Not a great shot, kind of hard with her eating the camera.

Halloween Part II

Here is an update to yesterdays post. Sam came to me wearing this!

Halloween is every day at our house

I can't really emphasize just how much Sam is into costumes. Let me share this story to illustrate my point . . .

8 pm bedtime. Sam goes to bed in Superman costume.
Midnight - Sam enters Mom's side of bed in Batman costume. (Quick scene change I guess.)
8 am awake - wearing Spiderman costume.

Sam changes clothes several times at night. So Halloween feels like it is everyday. These are a few pictures of his favorite costumes.

One more quick story. Last night Sam snuck off to bed with a pair of my black opaque tights. When I got him in the morning he had ONLY underwear on and some pretty LONG tights. Beside his bed were my knee high boots. Just had to try them on I guess.