Gruppman Class Reunion

Last night we had a blast visiting with dear friends, some of whom I haven't seen in over 10 years. We met for a reunion of the Gruppman violin class at BYU...and associated cellists. It seems so strange to think there has been so much water under the bridge since these people were my family and my life. Now we have our own families and the number of children on the RSVP list was 36! Igor and Vesna were not able to make it this year but we hope to catch them next time we have a gathering like this. We missed you!!!

L-R: Sterling, Amanda, Ingrid, Emily, Ellen, Sugar, Ramona, Tess, Heidi

Sadly, it did not occur to us to take a group photo until after several people had already left. But the good news is that they are all pictured below.

Ingrid, Ramona, Sugar

Rosalie, Melissa, Heidi

Heidi and KC Bezzant and cute, cute kids

Amy Benson and darling kids....Christopher we missed you!

Ellen VanDam with her youngest 2 of 7!

Rosalie and David MacMillan

Emma Patterson visiting from Germany

The Newlyweds: Yeagi and Jonathan

Rachael Spencer and 5 sweet, active boys

Wow! Who is that good looking family?!

Sterling and Amanda Oaks

Mike and Ingrid Roberts graced us with their presence while on their world tour.

Sweet little Ricks and Oaks girls. I love this photo.

Amanda, Ingrid, Tess

Weston manned the grill.....in a manly sort of way.

Handsome guys. They bonded. KC was off at the playground when we took this. Sorry, man.

I love this photo, too. Oaks, Roberts, and Ricks babies so interested in each other.

Ingrid and Julianna

Mike, you've got something on your head. It looks like a cookie.

Oaks and Bezzant Sweethearts

Ah, Sugar. It's a good thing you came. It wouldn't have been a party without you.

Love to you all! Thanks for the memories. Let's not wait another 10 years.

Mother's Day.....This one will be remembered

Have you seen this?

(you might want to watch it on youtube if the full screen is cropped here. Take the time to watch it. You won't regret it.)

And have you seen this?

Really. Follow that link to my famous brother's blog so you can see the coolest project ever.

Now, I know you've seen this:

And now that you've been over to Kirk's blog, you have seen this:

And now this is the part where I wish I had told you about these things a long time ago. So that you could have followed the project with me. Then you would have known that of all 14 beautiful paintings that Kirk made, there were only two for which he used photographs as references. (The other one was #11. Based on a photo of my sister Angie and her baby.)

If I had told you about these things a long time ago, you would already know what Kirk said about this painting when he posted it for me to see:

"Hey Em. I took an unexpected turn with this painting. I hope you like it, but if not, I completely understand. I was going to leave out the blue pacifier, but ended up painting it in late last night. I actually got goosebumps when I painted it in, thinking about everything you and your baby girl have gone through--the only time I got a shiver down my spine during this project:)"

And you would already know how sincerely I was contemplating trying to buy it. It has been my dream to own an original J Kirk Richards, and the subject matter of this particular painting seemed particularly appropriate to hang in our home.

So, you may imagine my disappointment when Weston and I arrived at the art show to discover that the painting had already sold. "Well," I thought, "At least that makes the decision easier for me." Though I struggled to understand who would have snatched it up so fast? Who in the world could possibly have attached that much meaning to this painting to buy it as soon as it was finished?

Who indeed?

When I pressured Kirk's wife, Amy, to tell me the identity of the buyer, she brilliantly evaded the question with a vague reference to someone who follows the blog. And together they succeeded at keeping it a secret from me for nearly three weeks.

Until last Friday, when after taking my in-laws to the Carl Bloch exhibit, we decided to make a"spontaneous" stop in at Kirk's house to show Weston's parents what remains of the art show. Little did I know, it had all been carefully orchestrated.

I was surprised to find that the buyer of the Blue Pacifier painting had still not claimed it. But was glad it remained there so I could show Rex and Margo. I remained completely oblivious to all conceivable clues up until the very last minute (including the fact that Kirk had the video camera rolling.) Amy mentioned that she thought she remembered the buyer of the painting being acquainted with the Ricks. To which I blindly replied, "Really???" She thought the name of the buyer was written on the back and tried to get me to take it off the wall to read the name. I declined....as I am intimidated by original art. She took it down for me and turned it around so I could see the note, which read:

Purchased by Weston Ricks

for his lovely wife

This was followed by complete shock and perhaps a tear or two. What do I love about the painting? I love the fact that, even though it was not Kirk's intention to create either one of us in a perfect likeness, the baby really is Angelyn. I also like that the thing that sets this painting apart from all the others in the series is that it contains modern baby accessories (including a famous hat by Liz Frost).

Best Mother's Day gift and most perfectly executed surprise, ever.

Thank you, Weston.

I love you.

On the Subject of Curls

I love this girl. And I love these curls. And I can't decide what to do.

Her hair is getting longer and consequently, more difficult to brush, and consequently, less frequently brushed, and consequently, ratty. It's still cute, but if you look closely it's ratty.

I desperately want to cling to those curls, though. I wish I had a crystal ball to tell me what is going to happen when I give her a first haircut. Are the curls going to revive after I get rid of some of the weight, or are they baby curls that will be gone forever with the first snip?

Point #1 in favor of the haircut: I think the curls are genetic. Weston still has very curly hair, he just keeps it short. And, from what I can tell, all the curls in the Ricks family are quite capable of enduring the test of time.

Point #2: The other day we went to open gym and I saw the cutest little 3-year-old girl with blond, curly hair. Well, maybe she wasn't quite as cute as mine, but her hair was looking much better. It was pretty short and the curls were glorious. I asked her mother if she had ever cut it and she said yes. She told me that before the first hair cut, the curls had been weighed down so much that they were essentially gone. And now they were as springy and beautiful as ever.

But, I can't seem to shake the possibility that if they are only baby curls, they will be cut off never to return.

What is your opinion?

April Fools Day

Not that I really get into April Fools Day, but the boys were pretty excited about it so I figured I should do something to play along. So, what started out as an obligatory holiday observance ended up as something I was actually quite delighted with. Probably because it turned out so realistic and they fell hard for it.

I started with a bowl of chocolate cake.

Then I piped butter cream frosting to make it look like spaghetti noodles.

Then I made meatballs out of peanut butter, honey, dry milk, melted choc chips, chopped nuts, and rolled them in crushed rice crispies.

Then I dipped them in strawberry jam and poured some extra "spaghetti sauce" on top.

Then I served it to my boys.

Yes, they were very pleased to be having cake for dinner.

Unfortunately, I can't claim this as my original idea. But, I can claim originality on the meatball recipe. According to Our Best Bites, they were supposed to be Ferraro Roche. But I really didn't think it worth a trip to the store so I determined only to use what was on hand.

Mom, Let's Read

I love to read with my kids.

Really.

Trouble is, the adjustment to four kids means that at any given moment I could count at least 4 things that have to be done next: Feed the baby, change the baby, make breakfast, lunch, dinner, do dishes, laundry, teach violin, get Annelise dressed, change another diaper, Boys' piano practice, Peter's math lesson.....you get the point.

The other trouble is that I was raised with the mentality that leisure should ONLY happen when all other tasks are done. Well, folks? Guess what. My jobs are never done.

So, a few weeks ago when I was gathering up library books to return, I started to realize that I had hardly read any of them with my kids.

I was sad.

At that point I made a goal.

Do you want to hear my goal?

My goal is that, whenever one of my kids says, "Mom, can we read this?" I will try to stop whatever I am doing and read with them, if I can. After all, how long does it take to read a kids' book? Usually not more than 10 minutes. And then I can carry on with the endless barrage of work I have to do.

So, it's been going pretty well so far. As I said, it is only a goal. That doesn't mean I am always successful. Sometimes I am doing something I can't put down. Or that next thing to do really is the next thing I have to do. In fact, now that I have a heightened awareness of the occasions on which my children ask me to read to them, I have realized that there is no earthly way I could possibly always keep up with Annelise. (That may have something to do with her crush on Steve from Blue's Clues and the fact that we have a Blue's Clues book from the library that she wants to read over and over and over again.) But, in general, it has increased the frequency with which we read together and I am happy about that.

So, with that said, I've been wanting to tell you about two of our faves. We discovered both of these at the library and when we had to return them, I just clicked right on over to Amazon and ordered my own.

Orangutan Tongs by John Agee is, quite simply, hilarious. We repeat them, we laugh about them, we have some of them memorized. I have difficulty trying to comprehend how anyone could come up with anything...indeed, so many things, so clever. We have several favorites, not the least of which is....

"Walter and the Waiter"

Walter Witter called a waiter: "Waiter, over here!
I want some water, waiter. Water, waiter! Is that clear?
The waiter brought some water. Walter Witter shouted: "WRONG!
This water's really watered-down! I like my water strong
The waiter brought more water. Walter Witter was upset.
"This water's dry!" said Walter. "I like my water wet!
Bring me wetter water, waiter!" Walter Witter said.
The waiter brought a pitcherful and poured it on his head."

I Did It, I'm Sorry by Caralyn Buehner, is a favorite of mine for a different reason. It teaches basic moral principles in a fun and interesting way. Each story outlines a different scenario with its own unique moral dilemma. This is followed by a multiple choice offering of what the character should do. Once the children have thought over the options, they choose if the correct answer is a, b, or c. Then they check to see if the answer was correct by searching for the letter hidden somewhere in the illustration. They don't ever seem to tire of this game, which I love, because it gives us lots of opportunity to talk about making correct choices.

I'm always open to more suggestions on top-notch books to read with my kids. Knowing there are offerings like this out there, I just want to find and devour them all. What are your favorites?

Game Over

All right, ya big bunch o' yella-bellied party poopers. (Sorry, I just had to say that.) Time to move on...I have other stuff I want to blog about.

I am posting the answers, even though Marec was the only soul brave enough to commit her guesses to the comment board. The good news is that Marec, you were almost exactly right. I confess, I threw in a trick photo just to throw you all off. It's Adam.

See the answers below....

Let's Play "Who's Who"

I was looking at some old pictures of my babies and could not believe how much Angelyn and Annelise look like the same baby. Can you tell who's who? Leave your guesses in the comments and I will post the answers when I get a chance. (ps...don't post your reasons for your guesses. No fair if you have the advantage of familiarity with our clothing and baby accessories.)
I know some of these will be too easy. But I hope not every one will be a dead giveaway.

Annelise

Annelise

Adam

(I used to carry him around in Jonette's pink moby. I had a lot of people ask me, "How old is she?" "well, she's about....." I got tired of trying to explain why I was carrying my baby boy in a pink wrap.)

Annelise

Angelyn

(Kind of too easy since her cheeks haven't totally filled out yet.)

Annelise

Annelise