Our oldest is Twelve

Two Dances

the first dance is zoe's. she's in the back for the beginning, but then moves up to the front around the middle of the dance.

the gingersnaps


the second is aryn's dance. it's a long one.

the dance of the flowers

Calico Chili

this past summer aryn took a cooking class from Nicole. she learned all sorts of valuable skills and brought home dinner for the family every tuesday. (what a wonderful relief for me.)

she loved the class. she felt like a chef. we decided to keep tuesday night as this amazing girl's night to cook. even while we stayed at my mom and dad's house, she cooked.

when i was her age, i never really learned how to cook meals. i am so happy that she is learning. it's a sure sign that my not.so.little girl is growing.

wonder what she cooked for us last night?

 it's a recipe from Misti. you're gonna love it. shhh! it's a secret!

Here's the chili recipe:

1 lb hamburger (brown it of course)

1 or 2 cans chili beans

1 or 2 cans pork 'n beans

1 can stewed tomatoes (or go the extra mile and put a pint of bottled tomatoes instead)

1 pint salsa (the real recipe calls for half a bottle of picante sauce but I like my (that would be misti) salsa better)

chili powder to taste

1 tsp. sugar

Two Graduates

We have two graduates in the family this year.

Zippy Z graduates from Kindergarten...

and Amazing A heads off to the Intermediate School.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Where does the time go? It seems like both these beautful girls were only just babes in my arms.

Those Dancing Blair Kids

"If you're five or eighty-two, this is something YOU can do!!" --Miley Cyrus (For all of you closet home dancers, here is the link to how we learned the dance. I'm sure Big A would be happy to give you all lessons as well! And here is proof that I can do the dance as well! One more thing...who recognizes that awesome gold shirt? Yeah, it was mine, back in my old clogging days.)
"And tonight's gonna be a good, good night."--Black Eyed Peas (He's at it again. He's added some new moves to some old moves. And he's even added a prop...the bathroom stool! Here is a fun link for inspiration. Gotta love, Jack Black.)
"Dreaming"--Amy Beach (This is a dance she made up all by herself. She's taken ballet since she was 6 years old, and now is becoming quite the choreographer. Her teacher is Tazia Murie of Adagio Dance Studio. Here is a link for more information on the composer. I think the music is beautiful. It reminds me of something from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.) It has taken me the last few days to figure out how to get these videos on here. Sheesh! I wanted to make sure their Grammy had a chance to see them dance!

Soccer

Soccer started Thursday and Friday.

Aryn and Isaac wanted to play. SO they are.

Zoe did NOT. Now that she's seen all her friends playing, I think she's changed her mind for next year!

Asher is just happy to play on the playground. (Wearing his much-loved river shirt.)

Rappelling Adventure

The two oldest kids went adventuring with their dad and some friends!

I Can Make a Difference

{this post is written by the girl herself!}



last year I drew a picture for the recycle contest. I didn't think I was going to win but I gave it a shot, and guess what I WON!!! I won 2nd place and got my picture in a 2010 calender.

Get Ready for Summer GIVEAWAY

So, today is the last day of school. Aryn and Isaac have really liked their classes and their teachers. They've learned so much. One of the best things is that they both really love to read! I can't tell you how happy I am about that. We decided to make a little Thank You gift for their teachers. I found the instructions to make these cute bookmarks here.

Aryn and Isaac drew the pictures, and picked the colors for the fabric on the back. Pink for Isaac because he said that was his teacher's favorite. And green for Aryn because she said that was her teacher's favorite. I did the stitching for Isaac, but Aryn did hers on her own!

We thought it would be fun to get this summer started with a GIVEAWAY. So here you go... This time around, there's going to be a few twists...Just to add to the excitement!

1. I'll draw TWO winners. One for "Martian Man" and one for "Les Fleurs." (Original artwork by my children.)

2. Since it's mother's day month, if one of your names or one of your mother's names matches either of Gene or I's mother's MAIDEN name (does that make sense?), you get an extra entry. Their maiden names are: HEATON and EDWARDS.

3. We're going out of town, so the contest will close Tuesday @ 12:00 noon. Just leave a comment to enter.

4. Good Luck! And have FUN with the kiddos this summer!
I have to share one more piece of excitement. While Aryn and I were stitch, stitch, stitching away, Zoe wanted to try. I got her a little yellow hoop (her favorite color), she drew the picture on the fabric, and off she went! Now she's stitch, stitch, stitching away! She can even thread the needle! She's getting so big. She's so happy with herself too. And that makes me so happy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The contest is now closed!!! I will draw the winners and post them soon!

The winner for "les fleurs" is... the TONIOLI'S

And the winner for "martian man" is... the MOORE FAMILY

CONGRATULATIONS! I'll get these sent off!

A Wonderful Time

My brother and his wife came down for a visit. They decided to go camping. (Her sister and two children came along as well.) We decided to join them Monday night for dinner. It only took a little more than 30 minutes to get to our destination. Gene and I were so happy we decided to go. So were the kids!

We cooked hot dogs and tin foil dinners.

We all enjoyed the fire. (especially Isaac)

We played a game of Skipbo. (Nicole, Alex, and Gene)


We had so much fun that I decided to take the kids back for lunch and the afternoon today! It was so nice to be in the outdoors, away from our regular schedules and lives. It was calming and grounding, to stretch our bodies and our imaginations... to do something a little different and out of the ordinary.

We built and added to the woodland fairy houses we'd started the night before.

We scrambled up rocks and crowed like roosters. (He thinks he's king of the world!)

We ran through the trees and picked up bits of nature. Most of all, we enjoyed ourselves and each other.

It was a wonderful night and a wonderful day.

H-A-Double P-Y

2 days old

18 months old

We're feeling H-A-Double P-Y! Cuz it's your Birthday!

Aryn celebrated her 10th birthday on Saturday.

It's strange in a way because I remember bringing her home from the hospital. And it doesn't seem possible that it was a DECADE ago.

She was so little and tiny. And we fell in love with her.

Sometimes I think about her being our first child. I think about all of the responsibility that comes with raising a child. Sometimes I focus so much on all of the things I feel we should be teaching her. I forget that I'm actually supposed to be learning from her as well. And I have learned so much from her.

Aryn is such a lovely girl. She has a funny sense of humor and is so fun to be around. Her brothers and sister love to play with her. She brightens up our home. We love her very much.

It has been a wonderful 10 years. I feel so blessed to have her in our lives. We are still in love with this girl!

5 years old

10 years old

Late Night Birthday Soiree!

Aryn had a Late Night with friends on Friday to celebrate her birthday. Everyone came dressed in their pajamas. They ate food, played a game, popped popcorn, and watched a movie! The movie was Nancy Drew, of course. I know she had fun. (Late Nights are such a GOOD thing.)

Amazing A

My daughter amazes me. I was putting some pictures on the computer and I found this picture. It was taken by Aryn a few weeks ago after we'd had the snow and wind and freezing cold. I love it. It speaks to me. She and a friend made up a word that describes it perfectly...

FANTABLIAWESOME!

A Tale of Two Ballerinas

Aryn and Zoe had their dance recital last Tuesday evening. The dancers performed

The Nutcracker.

They have a new dance teacher, Tazia, so I was anxious to see how things would go. I have to say that this year was a pleasant surprise. In fact, both Gene and I were thrilled with the performance! Each group had the same amount of time to dance, the girls' dances showcased THEIR abilities, and the whole recital was less than one hour.
This is Aryn's fourth year dancing. I am so pleased with her progress. She has been dancing since she could stand and I think she is just a beautiful dancer.

This is Zoe's first year dancing. I didn't let Aryn start lessons until she was in school. Zoe has been watching her sister dance, and wanted so badly to take lessons this year. She was so cute in her pleading. I couldn't say No. She loves going every week!

Zoe's dance helper was a little girl from our ward. Sadly, Gene didn't get all of her dance.

We had a video of Aryn's dance, but I can't get it to upload. Maybe I'll try another time. She danced well.

P.S. Tomorrow, I'll be posting my first Giveaway!