Carl and Velvet's girls

Carl sent new pictures of his girls. They are each unique both in appearance and personality.

Grace with her copper colored hair, is a little bit of a tomboy. She is fun loving, does well in school and is learning the piano like nobody's business.

Laura, the blonde, is a girly girl. She likes pink and earrings and fingernail polish. She is bold--the only one who will sleep downstairs. She is affectionate and is a budding thespian.

Kate, the brunette, likes to copy her big sisters. She has a will of her own and is quite opinionated. (She won't let you give her a hug if you're wearing fingernail polish.)

All three are energetic and fun to be around. Carl and Velvet are very blessed to have them.

The mysterious case of the missing vinegar

At first we thought one (or both) of us was going crazy. Eldon wanted some vinegar to clean something and couldn't find it. I said, "It's out in the laundry." He said, "I looked there." So I looked. No vinegar. How could a half full gallon of vinegar simply disappear? So we wrote it on the grocery list.

Then I did some laundry. When I went to take the clothes out there was the gallon jug of vinegar in with them! And it had become unbalanced and stopped mid cycle. Puzzlement abounded. Accusations flew.

Then Eldon remembered Gideon! They had spent last Saturday with us while Neil ran the MacDonald Forest Run. Gideon had spent some time messing around in the laundry. He likes to put things into things. I remembered when he put the handheld Yahtsee game into the VCR player slot. Also one time he climbed into the clothes washer at his house while it was going. Pam heard some bumping during the spin cycle and rescued him.

Mystery solved. We crossed vinegar off the grocery list.

Mother's Day

Flowers from Neil and his cute delivery girl

Ken's increasing family

Jeff and Stephanie with their 3 children: Ariana, David, and Annabelle

Usually I have a hard time with Mother's Day. Waiting and worrying whether all five of my kids will call! Today they all did! Plus Brenda had a Mother's Day dinner on Friday night and Polly had one tonight! I am happy to be a mother (and grandmother and great grandmother).

Annabelle

Jessica and I drove out to Adair to meet Annabelle. What a cute baby.  They are all doing fine, although the parents seemed rather tired! Aunt Robin was there to help out.

Don't cry, baby.

Big Sister Ariana

Our 3rd great grandchild

A little girl was born this morning to Stephanie and Jeff Goodwin. They haven't chosen a name yet, but she was 8 lb. 7 oz. Here's a picture Ken took of her.

Piano students

Just when I thought I was too old to teach any more, I suddenly find myself with 6 piano students! They are all granddaughters and each is unique in her approach to piano study.

Jessica is basically self taught, in spite of having two fine pianists as parents. But she has inherited their musical sense and a good intellect to enable her to learn quickly.  She is motivated and practices diligently so it's a pleasure to see her progress each week. I also gave her some pointers in leading music and she subs as chorister in Relief Society, putting everything I've taught her into practice.

Sydney has taken piano lessons from another teacher so she came to me with the basics. She is bright and capable, but not overly interested in the piano. She would rather be reading! I love watching her beautiful hands play.

Maia is a beginner at age 7. She is totally motivated and wants as many songs to learn as I'll give her. She is catching on quickly and has good rhythm and musical sense.

Rachel took lessons from me a few years back but lost interest because of the drudgery of practice. This time she is flying through the same material, reviewing and going on to more difficult things. She is picking it back up well and seems to enjoy learning it this time.

Robin has been asking for lessons for some time so we finally decided to strike while the iron is hot. She is very motivated. Having the desire to learn is half the battle. She is doing great.

Ann Marie is just starting out at age 9. Teaching her is like trying to tack down a sunbeam. But once she gets focused she does fine! She likes to make up songs of her own and she can name any note on the keyboard.

Gymnastics

So a while back Ken got some tickets to a gymnastics meet at OSU. Robin was intrigued and decided she wanted to learn how. She checked out a  video and took notes. She tried to do the moves. Then she went to her Dad and said, "I can't learn this without a coach. I need someone to tell me if I'm doing it right." So he checked around and found a class on campus taught by OSU students. Robin and Ann Marie are taking it together. I went to one of the classes.

Annie was bouncey and cheerful throughout. She paid attention to the teachers.

This one looked like it would hurt your back!

Robin was graceful.

Robin was put in the next level up she was doing so well.