Casanova

This is what Bronson gave to his "girlfriend" on Valentine's Day.
This is the first year that he hasn't been brave enough to give it to the girl he likes
in person. I had to take it to the school early and set it on her desk.

He wanted it to be anonymous. Although this girl has an older
sister that's one of Talbie's good friends and I think Talbie may have
"spilled the beans :)"

Being Asked to Sweethearts

Maddie got to asked to the Sweethearts Dance last week...

...she said "yes" :)

"Pirates of Penzance" - Costumes Finished!

I can breathe a HUGE sigh of relief because I finished the
costumes for Talbie's next play!

She is one of the General Daughters in
"Pirates of Penzance"

Can't wait to see the show!

Valentine's Dinner

Logan took Maddie to La Dolce Vita for dinner
tonight for Valentine's Day (even though they are broken up - again :)
I'm a little jealous because that's my favorite restaurant!

Build a Bear

Emmie got some birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa
so we went to the mall tonight for FHE
She wanted to spend the money at Build a Bear!

Picking out her bear...

Stuffing her bear

Making sure it feels just right

Giving the bear a bath

Picking out an outfit with Talbie

She chose the Bride outfit - complete with the blue garter belt

We paid and saw Rachel - our dear friend from our ward
and Emmie's old Sunbeam teacher :)

Happy Birthday (and Valentine's Day!)

Happy Birthday today Emmie!
9 years old
We love you so much!!!

photo taken 2008

Emmie's Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Emmie's friend party. We had a lot of fun at her
"Bookworm Party"

Some party favors we gave out were decorated mini clip boards.
We found them at the dollar store and "spiced" them up a bit.

I used these little cupcake cards by having all the guests
write something nice about Emmie.

The bookworm cake. (I ran out of originality after the party favors :)

We made pom-pom book worms
(4 guests couldn't make it so we let Maddie and Talbie join us)

Then we made homemade bookmarks

Breaking the pinata...

Dave made an awesome pinata shaped like a worm
because we couldn't find one anywhere. I didn't get a picture of the finished product :(

Opening presents...

Emmie and Logan
Logan always gets invited to the girls party :) It works out great
to have a cousin your age because Emmie also gets invited to his party
of all boys!

More Birthday Preparations...

Emmie wanted to have a friend party this year and we decided
that our theme would be a "Bookworm Party"

Emmie and I have been having lots of fun planning.

Here are the invitations that she thought of...

On Wednesday she's celebrating her bday at school since her real
birthday is on Valentine's Day. Here's our poster for school...

Birthday Streamers

Emmie's birthday isn't until Valentine's Day but she has been looking
forward to her birthday for over a month.
One request she had this year is that we hang "birthday streamers"
from her doorway. She saw this idea at her friend's house and thought
it was the best idea ever!

I went to the dollar store the other day and started to gather some supplies
for the upcoming party - and I picked up some streamers.

Emmie said, "Don't you think we should hang them now so we can enjoy
them for a couple of weeks?"

Good idea!

Bronson's Science Fair Project

Bronson finished his science project last night after much
"encouragement" from me. It's not due until next week but with
more play costumes to make, Merit Badge requirements to do before Saturday,
Emmie's birthday celebrations, and Valentine's Day
coming up, I wanted to get this project done!

His project was figuring out
"Which Gum's Flavor Lasts the Longest?"

We still need to make a big "header" for the top
but the majority of it is finished.

FYI - Bronson found that Juicy Fruit's flavor lasted the longest!

Posing in front of his project...

It took 3 tries to get a good picture - SHOCKER!