This, That, Here, There, Achievements and Failures

I'm just going to be happy that I got these posted in the month they occurred!  Seriously! 

All of the achievements, of course, are of my kids...I however...not so much.  I'll cover the failure section!

Katie Jane was part of the Jr. High girls choir called the Knightengales...awww, doesn't it sound angelic?  (The mascot for the Jr. High is the Knight...thus...) They were really good this year and I'm so proud of Katie.  Some choir concerts can get long and, and you know, boring.  But I always really enjoyed listening to them sing.  I have noticed how much she has improved with the choir teacher she had.  In voice and performance, technique and confidence.  Even though her choir teacher is a bit strict and high strung, she is very kind, talented and in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...need I say more?

Katie recently saw the movie Corpse Bride and loves it.  So she found some sheet music of one of the songs and has taught herself how to play it.  It has 4 sharps!  FOUR SHARPS!!  That's difficult if you don't know piano.  She is a natural at the piano.  I wish I had her sight reading talent.

All the close up pictures I took were from the very back row...I'm not one of those parents that likes to walk up to the front and get better pics...so most of the pics are all blurry...so Katie Jane is the beautiful one, and if you can't tell  from this distant picture, she's the one with the white flower in her hair.

Seriously, the most beautiful one.  

Lauren has been worrying and training (more worrying, less training) for her track meet that all the elementary schools compete in at the end of the school year.

Lauren's just naturally fast.  She can really move, which upset a few girls who lost to her.  Sometimes tiny girls don't have to win and be the best at everything, right?

She made it to the semi finals, and then they took the fastest 6 girls by time.  Lauren's time was 1+ seconds slower than all the final girls.  She's fast I tell ya!

And she didn't pull as many funny faces as some of the other girls. :)

We're so proud of her!  Will even took half a day off to support her...and then I made us miss her first race she won because I HAD to blow my hair dry.  The vain of me!

Lauren and Tyree...my cousin Mark's (and Edris!!) daughter.  Oh, the beauty in that family!

Now to the failures...mine.  All mine.  

One of my neighbors had the cutest little boy recently, and I wanted to see how hard it was to take pictures of a newborn.  

It's hard.  Really hard.

I don't know what happened, but he was WIDE awake...not a bit of newborn sleepiness in his body!  And it could have been that he was cold and my hands were freezing cold and every time I touched him he did that full body startle and his little arms and legs would fly straight out, but for an hour and a half, this darling little guy helped me to realize that taking pictures of newborns is waaaay out of my league.

I had all these cute ideas, his dad's in the Army National Guard, and just got back from his basic and AIT training (there goes some more of those army acronyms again!) and was home a few days before their baby was born.  So I thought it would be cute to get pictures of him asleep holding some dog tags.

Does he look asleep to you?

I left crying.  Seriously, the people that take pics of newborns are TAL.EN.TED!!  It's not as easy as it looks.  It takes a lot practice and a lot, a lot, a lot of time.  Like hours!

I had humble pie for lunch.

Confession:  This next pic might be the worst picture I ever took.  (maybe not) But since I'm in failure mode...why not share?  I took this picture without changing my settings, looked at it in the view finder, maybe rolled my eyes, and then set my camera down on the piano in disgust.  

It's been so rainy outside and Will is leaving soon and we needed to set up our tent for our upcoming backpacking trip to Yosemite.  So what else is the formal living room good for?  Visitors, and tent set-up practice.  It works.  We'll fit like gloves.  Or like we're in gloves!  But what do you expect from a tent that weights a little over 4 pounds!

On to happier things...Lauren graduated from 6th grade, which means that she's off to Jr. High next year!

Do the kids just keep getting younger and younger looking?  I swear some of the sixth graders that graduated wouldn't be tall enough to ride on most roller coasters...and I feel like they're sending them to the wolves!  I can't believe Lauren is old enough to go to Jr. High!

Look at her with her cute dimples!  

So next year, we'll have kids in 3 different schools.  Elementary, Jr. High, and High School.  Just because I said that, don't think that I'm old.  I can be, ahem, almost 40, but I better not look it and don't you dare treat me like I'm, ahem, almost 40!

Then Jay's success in the pig pen is now in our freezer.

Yup, this is Hammy.

And he's good.  Reeeal good!