Happy Birthday Brother!

Today is Uncle Joe's birthday and so in honor of my children's beloved Uncle, here are just a couple of my favorite tribute pictures of him with them.

Potatoes and Aquanet

Monday, 3 July 2006

GR's friend Dime spent the weekend with us for all the 4th of July festivities. Part of his goal this weekend was to construct a Potato Gun – something he’s been planning for years. He spent a lot of time researching designs and perfecting them, purchased the materials needed Saturday and then used Bob's workroom to construct the gun. Between the two of them, they got it working and this afternoon after testing it, they let us ammeters have a turn firing the beast. It was so cool!

Once they determined just the right amount of hairspray (aka accelerant) to put in, the potatoes were easily able to clear the tree line! I have video of Sam shooting the gun, and as soon as I find a way of cutting the size down a bit, I'll post it. So you can experience the sound of the gun going off, and the distance the potatoes traveled.

Horsey, Horsey, On it's Way

Wednesday and Thursday, 5-6 July, 2006

For Rebecca and Emily's birthdays Grandma signed them up for a two-day horse camp at a ranch in southern KC. They had an amazing time learning about the different parts of a saddle, how to brush a horse, clean a bridle and saddle, how to walk around a horse and how to ride a horse.

The camp was for 3 hours each day and they were with 7 other kids (1 boy and 6 girls). They broke the kids up into three groups of three... one group would ride, while the others did a craft or worked with the gear. All of them really enjoyed the camp, and we had beautiful weather for those two days (low 80s).

Sam really wanted to ride a horse too, so while the girls were at camp, I took him to the Deanna Rose Farm (about 100 streets north of this ranch) and he got to ride a horse too.

We're looking into places a little closer to home so the girls can do some more horse back riding. They were very upset when the camp was over and want to make sure it wasn't going to be their last opportunity to ride horses.

Here are pictures of the girls with their horses... Emily has Bob, Rebecca has Dapper and then there's a picture of the pony Sam rode at the farm.







After their first day, Becca and Emily insisted on taking an apple or carrots the next day to feed their horses. Since I didn't have any carrots, the girls took apples. Emily took two apples with her (I'm still not sure why) and when we got to camp, everyone had something to feed their horse, except the little boy - either he didn't hear he could bring something to feed his horse, or didn't remember to tell his mother - anyway I asked Emily if she'd be willing to let him have her 2nd apple so he'd have a treat for his horse and she happily agreed to give it to him. His mother was so grateful at Emily's willingness to freely give her son her other apple.

Tradition!

Tuesday, 4 July 2006

If you've ever been around our house at the beginning of July, you know it isn't a big secret that GR LOVES the 4th of July. Specifically, he loves fireworks and setting them off. And for as long as I've known him, we've done our own show on the 4th.

Bob and Diane's house has a large open field (the size of 2 football fields?) behind their house that is perfect for launching and watching fireworks. And over the last three or four 4th of July's GR has been perfecting his show. This year it was one of his best shows yet. It was well attended and well organized.

Last year we had an open invitation to everyone at church to attend our fireworks display and have root beer floats, blending the two family's traditions... GR's fireworks show, and my serving root beer floats before the show. This year we did the same, opening the spectrum a little wider to include two wards.

All in all I think we had 100 if not 125 people attend this years show. We went through seven boxes of ice cream (112 servings) and a little less root beer (in a perfect world it's a perfect ratio ... 1 box of ice cream to 1 2-liter of root beer = 16 8oz. root beer floats.).

The kids loved doing sparklers before the show, and Sam made it through the first half of GR’s 30 minute show – with his hands covering his ears – before deciding he’d had enough of the show, and went in to play with a couple other little kids who’d had enough lights and loud noises.



GR has gone to the same fireworks tent in town for the last three years. And this year, as always, the owner was very good to “the four fat men.” GR was suppose to get a picture of all the fireworks before they got blown up, (I have yet to actually see the volume at which they purchase – probably best for me to simply not know) but I haven’t found it yet.

We use to joke that GR would spend more on the 4th of July than on Christmas... that was before we had kids. I'm not thinking that's completely true anymore. Although he does spend more than some, he is very, very good at making wise, smart purchases. Something I'm learning few people know how to do when it comes to fireworks.

I got more than one comment from a few of the dad’s bouncing tired babies at the back of the show, went something like this:

“So why does GR want a commercial license? What could it give him that he doesn’t already have?”

“Oh these were all purchases at ______ tent in town… with a commercial license he can buy bigger fireworks.”

“Really? These were ALL purchased at a tent?! … Wow, this is so much better than what I thought it was going to be!”

Thanks to Sandra, GR also got the email address of someone he can apprentice under to get his own commercial license. By September at the latest he should have it. So next year's show should be even bigger and better … mark your calendars, and plan your vacations to KS early!

Getting Ready for Baby

While the children were out of town June 17-23rd, I wanted to use that time to do some things to get ready for the baby... namely paint Sam's room (which had beautiful murals done by a resident 2-year old artist and his assistants done on a canvas of blah flat white).

My friend Stormy (Stake RS President - the other blonde in the pictures below) is an amazing interior designer and I asked if she would help me pick paint colors for Sam and the baby's room using the curtains and quilts I'll be using in their room as the jumping off point. We picked paint colors Monday, I purchased paint Wednesday, and painted all the solid walls, and she and I spent Thursday and Friday doing all the detail work (FYI the dresser took 12 hours to paint... with minimal breaks to add the red squares upstairs, eat dinner, and test paint Sam's bed... I can't believe how much blue tape we used in two days!). I still need to take pictures of the final room... you'll need to wait for that. But here are spoiler before and after pictures. You can tell what an amazing designer Stormy is by this transformation.





We got Sam a big boy bed and some cute sheets to coordinate with the room - $5 each at Linens & Things! In the next 15 days I need to hang pictures, call a custom furniture maker to make the finishing details for Sam's head board and foot board, deliver Sam's quilt to be quilted (see bears paw quilt), oh yeah... and actually put all the baby's bedding on the crib! :)

Heavenly Autopsy Team

Tuesday, 20 June 2006

I've been told I have an old spirit... Shannon meant it as a compliment... meaning I'm someone who (in this particular case) just knows what needs to be done and does it. Maybe that's why a year and half ago the stake presidency decided I should serve as the 2nd councilor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. Most women who serve in a stake RS Presidency have children my age and grandchildren the ages of mine... try as I might, that simply was not a good enough reason to turn down the responsibility, and I've loved it ever since!

Last year as part of our effort to help bridge the gap between Young Women and Relief Society, we approached the Stake YW Presidency to see if they would like our help with some (we were hoping for small) part of girls camp. This has started a tradition of us putting on a mini fireside the Tuesday night of girl’s camp.

This year’s theme was EMT -- Eternity Means Today, and everything centered around medical terminology (Emergency Medical Team). With only a few days of preparation time, we knew we needed to do something fun and a little silly while still having a spiritual message with some meat to it. The idea was suggested we do a skit, more specifically, a surgery. What evolved was The Heavenly Autopsy Team ... a sister straight from Earth is "autopsied" to show the girls all the benefits of Relief Society. We started a the top of her head, and ended with her feet... pulling all sorts of things from her body to showing the benefits of being a faithful daughter of God and a member of the Relief Society.

Eyes ---- Water Pitcher --- She poured over her scriptures
Mouth – Mouthwash – never used profanity or said inappropriate things… spoke kind words about everyone.
Lungs – Balloon – When she meant business she could yell her children’s full names loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.
Legs – Running Shoes – anxiously engaged in a good cause.

We had a lot of fun with this skit, and although the girls didn’t laugh at all our jokes and puns, they were riveted on what bizarre thing we were going to pull out of Carol next.

Follow up:
After our little portion of the night, the girls finished the night with some camp maintenance... lost and found, awards for the day, etc. and then started on some camp songs. I asked my friend Beth (a member of the Stake YW Presidency) if the girls knew a camp call? Turns out years ago they did, but no one knew it now. She asked if I'd be willing to teach it to the girls and I said yes. We spent 5-10 minutes going over it and on Friday when I picked up the girls many of them still remembered the call and answer. I need to go looking for my old camp song book to find this call and answer written out... here's my best attempt and writing out all the sounds. Maybe my sisters can help me perfect the phonetics.

Call:
High low
Enny meany I ki-ki
Ooo chow chow
ooo wow wow
Ta u-who

Answer:
Heck-ta-min-i-ka In-i-ca-saw
Ta-boom Cha-la
Ta u-who

Sock Fashion

My 1982 picture (thanks Mary Ann) sparked some discussion of kid sock fashion, so I'm posting a montage of pictures of Rebecca over the last year. She still prefers to wear her socks two ways, straight up - whether or not they are intended to be worn that way - and rolled. I have no idea where she got the idea to roll her socks - and although it was my preferred method of wearing socks at her age as well, I certainly did not teach her to roll her socks. And from what I can remember, none of her preschool classmates did either, but she must have seen it somewhere, because there was no telling her it looked silly. So the trend continues with the next generation. I unfortunately don't have pictures to document some of her funnier combinations of clothing and socks.

Library Kids

Mom found the picture of all of us kids (minus Barb who wasn't born yet) sitting outside the library in Kennsington. Suzanne is the baby, so this was probably taken the summer of 1983 or 1984.

Headshots

Friday, 23 June 2006

The children spent a fun filled week in Door County, Wisconsin with Bob and Diane and started the trek home this morning, stopping for the night in Iowa City. Our favorite mall is in Coralville right next door to Iowa City. The kids love the carousel, play area, ice skating rink, restaurants, and favorite shops. They took these pictures at one of those little booths in the middle of the mall.

Picking your battles

Friday, 9 June 2006

After we got the baby bird delivered to the nature center, we rushed home to finish packing a lunch to take to the zoo. Innitially we had planned on going yesterday (Thursday), but playgroup was schedule to go to the local wadding pool, so we opted to do the wading pool and wait to do the the zoo today.



Sam and I are working on becoming more independent. Picking out his own clothes and dressing himself are part of this - you're nearly three, you can do this, effort. This morning I asked him to pick out a t-shirt and pair of shorts to wear. As she typically does, Rebecca offered to help him. A few minutes later, he came downstairs in his Incredible's pajamas. These are NOT the pajamas he went to bed in, nor are they the pajamas he woke up in.

For a good hour, I tried and tried to get him to pick something else, explaining that it was going to be HOT at the zoo, and his pj's were not going to be very comfortable. He would have NOTHING to do with changing. I finally decided it simply wasn't that big a deal ... heck on Tuesday there was a girl at library story hour wearing her Cinderella dress-up dress. So, I swallowed my pride, put a t-shirt and pair of shorts in the backpack and we went to the zoo.




We had a great time at the zoo. And met up with two other families from playgroup that mentioned they were also going to the Zoo today. We saw about 1/2 the animals this time around, had a great picnic lunch and then rode the train. Every child on the train got a chance to blow the whistle, which they LOVED.

As we rounded the bend to see the Elephants I passed a mother who said ...

"Sometimes it's just easier to let him stay in his PJs?"

"Ahhhh, no." I said, "He actually slept in something completely different. That's what he choose to wear today."

Snowflake Dream Cake

Thursday, 15 June 2006

Tonight was our wards quarterly HFPE. The theme, Family Reunions (family history, genealogy, etc.). I volunteered to bring a dessert and earlier this week came upon the idea to make and take one of my Grandmother's signature desserts. One of the desserts she prided herself on, a dessert she took to EVERY function... reunions, church socials, family dinners, etc.

As a teenager, whenever Grandma would send me a letter or card, she'd include some handwritten recipes. Most were things she made all the time - carrot cake, fudge, rolls - but some were just things she'd found or seen and wanted to pass on. I put these long thin slips of green paper (undoubtedly scraps from Uncle Mike's print shop) in a file box that's still at my parent’s house.

In hopes of finding the recipe, I emailed the extended family, and then called my mother. Mom spent the next hour sifting, first through my little recipe box, and then through her recipe drawer... a dresser drawer stuffed with recipes. Within the drawer, just as my father walked in the door from work to see a kitchen that had exploded with recipes, she found the card with the recipe written out in her beautiful script. Hurry! Thank you Grandma!

At one point during our search my mom suggested a few other dessert options. We both got a good laugh at my reaction.. "Mom I can make a dessert, I have lots of dessert options, the point is to take Grandma's dessert!"

It's been over 10 years, possibly even 15, since I last made this cake, and she was right at my side making sure I did everything just right. She'd make the cake in a metal cake pan and serve it chilled. Grandma's cake was a melt in your mouth, could easily sit down and eat the entire pan, kind of cake. It's gonna take me a little bit to get my cake to that standard, but my first solo attempt wasn't a bust. I even put the coconut and walnuts on top, just like she did.

Side note: Grandma put walnuts in and on just about everything and as kids we didn't like nuts - no crunch for us thanks - she and my mother seriously wondered how we were ever born into this family... but she humored us when ever she could and would even leave out the walnuts in our batch of Christmas Fudge.

Eight Years - A trip down memory lane

Proof we were skinny before we had kids:

**********************************

This anniversary also marked the departure of our most untilized wedding gift... the Vornado my Mother gave us as a wedding present. This fan faithfully kept one of us (mainly me) from out of frustration and sleep depravation sleeping on the couch for the last eight years, running daily and in many cases, non-stop every night we've slept in our house... and whenever possible it's gone on the road with us. On the 3rd of June it finally met it's maker and a less efficent replacement was acquired until our local Bed Bath and Beyond gets more Vornado's in stock.

The Library Tradition

Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Yes it's true, today was the first time I took my children inside our local public library. This coming from the woman who's mother took her and her siblings to the public library DAILY from the time she could walk to the time I entered school, and once I got in school we still went to the library as frequently (if not more so) than church.

We have a really good public library that puts on amazing story times and other activities for children and young adults of all ages. Today happened to be story time when we arrived, so the kids wiggled their way into spots on the carpet and listened to a handful of books and then got to make a sun visor. We spent nearly 3 hours at the library listening to the stories, making the craft and then playing on the computers.

Sam and I picked out some books for us to read for the summer reading program - some Rebecca can read herself, a couple classics from my childhood, and a few new ones.

During story hour, I discovered I was standing in front of a good size and diverse selection of young adult literature on CD. I decided to give this medium a try for our bedtime stories. For our first book on CD, I choose Charlotte's Webb. I went for something a little safe and somewhat familiar ... Rebecca's going through a phase of being leery of unfamiliar media - movies specifically, and I guess for her books on tape/CD are in the same category. And although I'm still getting a bit of resistance from her, she's listening to the story, and hopefully enjoying it. Emily and Sam seem to really be enjoying the story as well.

I'm really looking forward to making this apart of our weekly summer routine.



After our visit to the library, at the request of the children, we went to lunch a Wheatfield’s, a restaurant they love to go to for breakfast. I should have just gotten everyone a cinnamon roll or cookie and gone home to make PBJs, but they really wanted to eat lunch there and after looking at the menu, I thought I found something safe ... a turkey and Swiss sandwich on country French bread with apple slices. I purchased two sandwiches for the four of us to split and got everyone their drink of choice. We ate at the stools facing in the big picture window and 20 minutes later, I wrapped up three sandwiches in various stages of being dissected, and off we went.

Note to self... next time, forget that it's technically lunchtime, and the kids should eat something nutritional, and order the cinnamon rolls.

It's ALIVE ... yet not for the faint of heart

We've had a busy week and I have lots to post about, but this one took the cake and therefore trumped the others in getting posted first!

Last night I finally planted my garden... I know Grandfather, June 8th isn't really the most ideal time to plant a garden in Kansas, but I purchased the plants at least 8 weeks ago... very embarassing... and figured they should get in the ground. They'd survived this long ... actaully produciing one small tomato and bell pepper ... they should be given the opportunity to thrive in real dirt with plenty of space, sunshine and water. Anyway, one tomato plant in particular looked a little droopy when I put it in the ground last night so this morning I went out to check on it to make sure it was still alive and had soaked up all the water I gave it last night.

Well from the pictures below you can see what I found. A baby bird had fallen from it's nest - in my dryer vent 2 stories above my garden... AND it was moving! Head, neck, wings, legs, all were moving! I frantically looked for the Nature Center's phone number and dial... praying that someone would answer the phone even though it was 45 minutes before they were to open.

The naturalist I talked to told me to bring it in, they don't nurse animals, but they are a drop off site, so if possible they'd find someone to nurse it to adulthood. I really didn't want this little guy to die in my garden, and if possible I wanted it to at least have a chance at survival - something more humain that what it was doing in my garden dirt.

Using great care, I scooped the little guy into a box filled with shredded paper and topped off with 2 squares of toliet paper, and off we all went to deliver the baby bird. The children were really good with the baby bird, they were quite concerned about the little guy and wanted to make sure it would be okay.

When I showed the naturalist the bird, he was surprised at how young the bird was and was doubtful they'd be able to do much for it given it's size, but he took the bird and said they'd do what they could ... sadly it's injury's were pretty extensive. Since it landed on it's belly, there was massive brusing, and the naturalist was pretty sure they'd have to put it down. More than likely it became lunch for one of the animals they have there at the nature center.

In the car on the way home, the kids were asking about the baby bird and if it would be okay. I explained that they were going to do everything that they could to help the baby bird. But that if they weren't able to help it feel better, that they baby bird would still be okay because he'd be with Heavenly Father. Emily decided that the baby bird would be happier with Heavenly Father.

And, Sam kept asking if the baby bird was going to miss us, and I'm sure in some small way, it might.

Girls T-ball

Monday, 5 June 2006

Tonight was Rebecca's first t-ball game! She had three weeks of practice, one practice each week and tonight they showed us and the other team, what they've learned.

This summer Parks and Rec. had enough girls interested in playing t-ball to create six kindergarten all girl teams, which I find really exciting! They are pretty good size teams, and I've been very impressed with the parents and coaches. Everyone is very encouraging and supportive of these girls – who are each at very, very different skill levels! GR and I are both really impressed with how well Rebecca has done over the last four weeks. She has come a long way from last years basketball experience!

Becca’s a social bug, and likes to have fun… and when she has an audience, oh boy! So, we had a couple of conversations throughout the day about staying focused on the game and the ball - not being silly, or loosing concentration, ‘cause that's when the ball goes somewhere you don't want it to and someone gets hurt. Somehow she managed to do exactly that, squarely hitting the ball both times she was up to bat and playing third base. Yet , at the same time, she never let go of her personality - she talked to every person that stopped at 3rd base and a few times enthusiastically motioned them on to home, and of course she had to have a conversation with the 2nd base coach and player when she was tagged out – I fully expected her to debate with them, but she didn’t, nor was she upset.

The games last an hour, and both teams were well matched. Both teams managed to have two great plays, and both were able to get two players out on base during the game.

GR took this opportunity to brush up on his sports photography, and despite feeling VERY rusty, he got some great shots of the girls. I’m hoping we’ll have enough pictures by the end of the season, to put together a little scrapbook of pictures of the season for her coach.

Butterfly update

Sunday, 4 June 2006



Before loading up the car for church this morning I checked in on our chrysalis' to see if they were making any sign of opening up. Their color had changed from grey to a dark grey/black color. I contimplated taking the entire pavilion to church with us so we wouldn't miss them emerging, but then decided surely they would wait 3 hours ... plus where would I put it during church?

To my horror, when we got home we had a pavilion full of butterflies! After a quick count, we had 8... so we had two chrysalis's that were thankfully, taking their time to emerge. We got to watch one emerge from the chrysalis and that was amazing!

Our little booklet recommended feeding them a sugar water solution on fresh flowers. We tried using flowers from my garden, but they didn't stand up easily, so we opted for the second and third suggestions - a paper towel soaked in the sugar water solution and sliced oranges. So far the paper towel is the favorite.

Now Emily has to decide when she'll be willing to release the butterflies into the wild. Their lifespan is about 2-3 weeks, so by this weekend I'm hoping she'll be willing to release them. It's been a really fun project, and is defiantely one we'll do again!

Weekend Warriers

Saturday, 27 March 2006

While the children played in a new sprinkler, GR and I continued to work on cleaning out and organizing the garage. We started Friday night by taking down some shelves we put up last fall that despite our best molly bolting efforts, ripped themselves from the walls.

It seems that every 5-6 months we need to spend a Saturday morning reorganizing the garage, sweeping out all the dirt and leaves that find their way into the garage, take a load of cardboard boxes to the recycling center, and clear space to park bikes and organize the outdoor toys.

GR talked me out of taking a picture of the heaping pile of trash we set out Tuesday AM. I did feel better as I drove around the neighborhood Monday evening... everyone in our neighborhood either cleaned out their garage or basement this weekend because nearly every house on the street had twice as much trash out for the Tuesday morning pick-up as they normally do.

One item that got thrown away worth noting: The original W Family tents that were 18+ years old. These were the tents we used to camp for the very first time as a family in Bryce Canyon. Daddy would remember the exact year. They were used on many a family camping trip, father son camp outs, scout camping trips, etc. Barbara brought them to use at girls camp the summer she nannied for us in 2002. They didn't get opened then, and they haven't been opened since - just sitting rolled up in my garage. I wanted to make sure everyone was satisfied that they had served their purpose. Daddy assured me they had, and in the trash they went, bugels sounding as they made their way to the end of the drive way.

Toddler for Hire

Friday, 26 May 2006

Monday, I was franticly looking everywhere for a talk I'd written back in March that I need to give on Sunday at another ward conference. For a number of odd reasons, I'd hand written this talk, and not written on the computer the way I typically do. As a result I cleaned out the computer desk and created a rather large pile of papers to shredded.

With school out and no schedule to stick to, this morning was the perfect day to shred papers and Samuel became my diligent helper. For nearly an hour he and I shredded documents. Once we got through my pile, we started searching the house for other piles waiting to be shredded.

While I sorted, Samuel shredded and then once the container was full, he'd dump in into a large black trash bag. We filled two bags with paper pieces. What I found suprising was that he quickly learned that envelopes didn't need to go through the shredder, so when he came across an envelope, he'd toss it in the trash bag and move on to the papers.



Saturday, 27 May 2006

Garage Clean Up Day. Sam helping GR salavage some shelves he was getting ready to rehang in the garage.

House Guests

For Christmas Emily got a Butterfly Pavilion - a pop-up mesh cylinder complete with post card to mail in for your own Painted Lady larva, aka caterpillars, to hatch your own butterflies at home. At the beginning of the month I filled out the post card and patiently waited for our larva to arrive. Monday night GR brought in the mail and there they were, 10 little caterpillars barely an inch long each. The peanut butter looking goop at the bottom of the "habitat" (jar) is what they eat. And the webbing - silk - is what they spun to help them more easily move around the habitat.

The kids and I have been amazed at how quickly the caterpillars grew and formed their chrysalides. Friday night the kids had a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa, and most of the caterpillars had migrated to the top of the habitat. By Saturday they had started to form their chrysalides, and by Sunday night they were pretty much done.

The next step is to open the habitat (something we haven't been allowed to do until now), remove a paper disc that the chrysalides are attached to, and pin it to the inside of the pavilion and then wait for the butterflies to emerge. This has been such a great project!

I've been trying to ask Emily how long she wants to keep the butterflies in the pavilion before we let them go - since the temperatures out side are perfect right now for butterflies. She's still working on that concept. The idea that a butterfly doesn't have a life span like that of us humans or even other creatures, is starting to sink in. So we'll see how long they last in the house, before the children are ready to say good-bye and release them into the "wild" of the neighborhood.

Becoming a 1st Grader

Thursday, 25 May 2006

Today was Rebecca's last day of Kindergarten. They had fun little Mexican Fiesta to finish off the year, and their month long study of Mexico and Spanish culture. Rebecca has been quite interested in Spanish for the last few months... wanting to know how to say lots of different words and phrases in Spanish - of which I'm no help, my Spanish is barely at Sesame Street level... I'm not even to Dora the Explorer yet! So this past month she's learned a few songs and words for common things... baby, hand, etc.

I was asked to come up with a craft for the Fiesta and found the directions for a Mexican Bird Rattle which looked fun and do-able with a little prep work. I started saving toilet paper rolls and found a stash of them at my mom's house Mother's Day weekend which helped me complete my set of 14 needed for the class. As the prep work, I assembled the basic rattle closed the ends of the toilet paper roll, and taped the handle to the roll. Then let the kids, color and cut out the beak and bottom decorative strip. Then all they needed to do was glue everything together. It still took much longer than I thought... surprise, surprise, they weren't very focused... but the kids enjoyed the end product - they looked so cute! - and they used them to perform the Macarena for the parents who were there to help with the fiesta.

Rebecca wrote a really cute little note to her teacher, which we enclosed with a pendent I got for her on a jewelry website I love! Her teacher always wear's beautiful sterling sliver jewelry so I've been watching the site to find just the right pendent or ear rings to get her. I ended up going with an oval pendent with a mother of pearl center. Simple, classic and would go with just about anything. Rebecca's Thank You note to her teacher, went as follows... she dictated it to me, I wrote it out for her and then she copied it onto the card:

"Mrs. C____ , Thanks for the great things you have taught me. You are a wonderful teacher. Love, Rebecca."

P.S. We just found out Emily will be in AM kindergarten and Mrs. C (who I think is the head/senior kindergarten teacher) told me today she put Emily in her class! Excellent! We couldn’t be happier.