Gymnastics meet

 Lily Hansen and Nikki

Nikki did a great job at her meet on Saturday. She got 2nd place overall in her group, and she took 1st on the beam. She was so excited about it. I love watching her. Since she has 2-hour practices now, I don't get to stay and watch her very often. It was so fun to see the progress the girls have been making. They are really getting good. Lily is a friend from church, so it's been great to have these girls in the same gymnastics class.

Our Talent

We had a talent show at church last week, and all of the performance slots were filled up by the time I decided to take a look at the sign-up sheet. That really was just fine with me, but I thought we really should do something to participate. So, Hannah and I made some origami to display. We were going to make a bouquet of flowers. It turns out there are not very many beginner flower designs, so Hannah had more fun decorating paper than folding it. She did make a great ladybug, frog, and crane. She also designed a couple of her own flowers. I thought that was pretty neat. I would much rather take a pre-designed piece of paper and follow the instructions someone else has come up with. I guess my talent is being a copycat. :) Anyway, it was fun working on this project with her.

A Little Romance

See, Nate? Romantic poetry really isn't that hard to come up with.

Is this what you were expecting, Nikki?

If Nikki ever needs proof that I love her -- here it is. My fantasy of becoming a professional cake decorator died today. I am DONE with cake pops. Who ever said there was anything wrong with a truffle without a stick? Cakewrecks could have a blast with these puppies. If you want a really good laugh, you could check out Bakerella's rendition of these that I tried to copy. Just don't tell me how hard you laughed. It's not funny to me yet. How does she get the chocolate so smooth?!

I forgot to get the styrofoam block that you're supposed to stick these in to dry. My colander was the best idea I could come up with. So sad! Oh, I also accidentally bought white candy melts with pastel sprinkles in them. Hmm, not quite the canine look I was expecting.

And the best of them all.....

Okay, I can laugh at this one. Not sure what breed of dog this would be. I still don't know why Nikki wanted a dog cake for her birthday, and I am pretty sure I will never let her look at Bakerella's website with me again. Her birthday isn't for 2 more days, but I'm going out of town on her birthday, so I went ahead and made her cake pops tonight. And tomorrow Hannah and I are going to surprise her by getting her out of school early to go get her ears pierced. Maybe that will make up for these ugly puppies.

{dramatic intake of breath}

 

Oh, Nate, I am so sorry!!!

That's what I said last night as I started giving Nate a haircut. I don't even know what you call those things that you put on the end of the clippers to keep from buzzing his hair when you cut it, but I forgot to put it on. My mind is always in 5 different places at once, and I think that is probably a bad trait for your hairdresser to have. I was talking and moving along at a 100 mph trying to get this haircut done before I went to finish up my preparations for my sharing time at church today. I got partway up that first strip of hair and froze. He handled it so much better than I did. I was crying and laughing and was just hysterical, and he stayed so calm!! I don't know how he did it. It is such a good thing our roles weren't reversed in that moment! He wanted me to just buzz it all off, but I couldn't do it. His hair is just too pretty. This picture is just halfway into the haircut, and I never did get a picture of the finished product, but I was able to blend it in a bit. I wasn't crying anymore by the time I finished it, anyway. He didn't mention any comments from church today, so either it wasn't too bad or it was so bad nobody could come up with a decent remark. :) Hopefully by the time he makes it home this weekend it won't even be noticeable at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Nikki

I took some pictures of Nikki in her baptism dress this afternoon. It's hard to believe she's almost 8! It was cloudy outside, so I might do it again another day -- she certainly won't mind! There are only a few times a year when I really wish I had a great camera, and this is one of them. Which of these pictures do you like best?