Luella and Tony, Opus 1

100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America

2010-08-01T21:35:00.001-04:00

Here is the 100th anniversary show of the Boy Scouts of America! Nicholas is there right now, and he's having a blast!

Motocross Mountain Bike Cake

2010-06-21T21:26:00.005-04:00

Nicholas' Boy Scout fundraiser was last Saturday. The Boy Scouts and the Young Women prepared a taco dinner - and let me tell you, tacos prepared by people of Hispanic heritage are out of this world! The Young Women president is from Columbia, and her cooking is delicioso! The families who attended were all invited to donate home-baked treats for auctioning. Michael and I found a Motocross Mountain Bike Cake recipe on the Family Fun website.

It was super easy, and everyone thought that it was so difficult and complicated! It sold for the highest amount, and Michael and I are very proud of ourselves!

This is Michael with the woman who bought the cake. She was planning to give it to her son for Father's Day. What a gift! Now Michael wants me to make it for his birthday party this Saturday. Let the baking begin!

Happy Father's Day, Tony!

2010-06-20T21:40:00.002-04:00

We woke up this morning and went downstairs to find Michael in the kitchen with a cookbook open. He was trying to figure out what to make for breakfast. When he decides to mix something and turn the burners of the stove on without adult supervision, we are in trouble! Anyway, he found a neat recipe for "Nutty Breakfast Rolls". They consisted of pancakes(which we had leftover from yesterday's breakfast), peanut butter, and bananas. I helped him heat the pancakes and spread peanut butter on each one, then fold an eighth of a banana into it. I am not a peanut butter fan, but the boys loved them!

Tony was very happy(I hope) that we gave him a BBQ grill basket, a panini maker, and a mesh back support.

After church, Michael brought home a candy lei from Primary for him. It was Saran Wrap with different candies rolled up inside with ribbon tied throughout it to separate the candies. Michael was convinced that Daddy was not going to want the chocolate, so he was ready to eat them before we got home. I convinced him to wait until we got home to let Dad make that decision. Of course Michael was right, and he and Dad had a good time taking the candies out and eating them!

Tony had a fantastic day!(I'll post pictures tomorrow)

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-05-09T21:58:00.000-04:00

Today is my 44th birthday! as well as Dad, and Holly's birthday. It would also be Gayla's birthday. I hope they have enjoyed their birthday celebrations as much as I've enjoyed mine!

It's Pinewood Derby Time!

2010-03-11T19:41:00.000-05:00

Lincoln Center

2010-02-28T20:36:00.004-05:00

Nicholas has been playing with a youth symphony orchestra this year. Yesterday, they performed at Lincoln Center.

We brought Nicholas in early for rehearsal, then went to an early dinner at an Irish Pub, and saw Bruce Willis and his new wife!

After dinner we went to the concert. We were not allowed to take pictures, but the youth orchestra had hired a photographer to take pictures during their rehearsal. Here are a few of them:

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2010-02-28T20:20:00.004-05:00

This is the snowiest winter we've had since I was pregnant with Nicholas 14 years ago. I so wish I could put my boots on and play in the snow. As it is, I can sit on the porch and enjoy the view.

Michael is loving the snow! Nicholas is not loving it so much, now that he's old enough to be shoveling it.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-19T20:22:00.006-05:00

I've been having a lot of pain in my left foot, and my podiatrist told me that I would have to have a 2nd bunionectomy to fix the problems I was having(I had a bunionectomy about 14 years ago in both of my feet). So I scheduled my surgery for February 9, and I had plans to be home for recovery for four days of school, then we would be off for winter break.

Two days before that, Michael woke up with a raging fever, and had to stay home from church. Tony brought him to the doctor, where he got some medicine. Our school district's policy is that children should stay home for 24 hours after a fever breaks. I stayed home with Michael the next day, and was also able to prepare for my surgery. He was an adorable little mush, and we spent the day watching movies together.

Nicholas and Michael spent the night before my surgery at Grandma's house, because I had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. the next morning. My surgery was successful, and I came home to recover.

There was a winter warning for the next day, and late that night, both Tony and I got a call from our school districts telling us that school was closed the next day(whoopee!). So my first full day of recovery was going to be with my whole family. It was really nice!

I like any opportunity to be crafty, and there is a website that gives me lots of great ideas. At http://www.familyfun.com/ , Michael and I found a neat valentine card to make for his classmates. It's called the "Magic Message Card". I cut out the hearts and strips of paper, and Michael helped me weave the papers through. It took some doing, but we figured out how to make them work.

Once we were finished with the class valentine cards, we worked on his teachers' valentine cards.

For his classroom teacheer, Michael made a popcorn holder and we taped a package of popcorn to the back of it. You can't see the message, but from what I remember, it says "I don't mean to be corny, but you're the greatest!".

Then for his music teacher and the classroom helper, Michael gave them a hot drink cup with a packet of hot cocoa and a heart with the message "Valentine, you warm my heart!"

Our winter warning turned into a blizzard warning, so school closed for a second day. It was really nice to have my family home with me for another day, but I had planned to watch girl movies. Oh well, it would have to wait for another day...

Family Life Merit Badge

2010-02-19T20:02:00.005-05:00

As part of Nicholas' Family Life merit badge, he was required to complete two projects that benefit his family. The first one he completed last summer, and it consisted of spreading mulch all through the garden beds. I'll try to remember to post a picture of it soon.

The other project Nicholas chose was to bake a meal for the family, which he completed back in January. He decided to make meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a cake.

He had to peel all of the potatoes - which you can see he thoroughly enjoyed doing(not!).

He was also going to bake a loaf of bread, but thanks to my visiting teachers, who brought over a loaf of home-baked bread for us that day, he got out of it!

I think his favorite part of preparing the meal was baking the cake and decorating it.

At the next Court of Honor, when he received his 2nd class Scout badge, Nicholas also received his Family Life merit badge. We're proud of you, Nicholas!

Baby, it's cold outside!

2010-01-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

I helped Michael's Cub Scout pack learn how to make a quilt. They decorated the squares, helped me sew them together, and then they tied it. Here's the finished product! Now we're looking to donate it to a well-deserving organization...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T22:34:00.006-05:00

The day before New Year's Eve, we drove into New York City. Nicholas and I went to the Manhattan Temple for a baptism session, and then Tony, Nicholas, Michael, and I went to Times Square and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We saw all of the stages being set up for the New Year's Eve TV broadcasts.

When we went into the Hard Rock Cafe, we were told that there was an hour long wait for a table. We entertained ourselves by browsing around the waiting area and looking for rock star paraphernalia. Here's what we found:

When we finally made it into the dining area, we gave Nicholas the camera, and he went around taking more pictures:

The food was delicious, and I highly recommend a visit to any Hard Rock Cafe near you!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-31T19:57:00.000-05:00

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve dinner. It is traditional in the Pinelli family to have fish for Christmas Eve dinner, so we ordered luncheon specials from a fish takeout restaurant. It was delicious!

We celebrated Christmas day at our house. Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Dina came to our house early in the morning to spend the day. Michael was soo excited to open his presents - it was more interesting to watch him open his gifts than it was to open our own! After our gifts were opened, we had cinnamon rolls, baked oatmeal, and PB & J muffins. The rest of the day was spent watching new videos, playing games, playing with new toys, eating, and basically just enjoying each other's company.

Our Christmas Decorations

2009-12-31T19:29:00.003-05:00

Here are our Christmas decorations, both indoor and outdoor.

I love this decoration we found of Charlie Brown, Linus, and the Christmas tree. This is what it looked like when we first put it up.

Six days before Christmas, it looked like this. We got 18 inches of snow!

Michael's school picture

2009-12-04T22:14:00.002-05:00

Here is Michael's Fourth Grade picture. Doesn't he look great with braces and glasses?

Rest in Peace, Mikey O

2009-11-19T18:52:00.002-05:00

I remember going to my first music theory class at Ithaca College and sitting next to a cute and very nice guy who turned out to be a very good friend all through college. We were in pretty much all of the same classes together except for band and orchestra( he played the euphonium, and I play the violin) He passed away of a heart attack today. I am very sad, but I am also glad that he is in a better place. My prayers are with his family.

Day of Alternative String Styles

2009-11-14T22:42:00.002-05:00

Tony, Nicholas, Michael, and I participated in a day of Alternative String Styles, hosted by the American String Teachers Association. We learned how to improvise in different styles - blues, jazz, Indian, rock and roll. Musicians like Bridgid Bibbens, Michael Coffey, Mike Bloch, and Steven Uh were the clinicians. At the end of the day, there was a concert, where the clinicians showed off their various styles and invited the students to join them. Michael played a solo with Steven Uh, and Nicholas played a solo with Bridgid Bibbens' group. It was a great day!

Veteran's Day Performance

2009-11-14T22:40:00.000-05:00

Tony and Michael performed with the Metrognomes at the VA Hospital on Veteran's Day. It was a great performance!

Carving Pumpkins

2009-11-14T22:28:00.000-05:00

Tony helped Michael carve his pumpkin for Halloween. Michael was very proud of it!

Homecoming 2009

2009-11-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

I have a few pictures to catch up on. Here are a few pictures of my students at the Homecoming parade.

Fundraiser for Hospice House

2009-10-18T21:53:00.003-04:00

Nicholas and Michael played with their teacher's violin group, the Metrognomes, at a concert to benefit the local Hospice House. Their teacher's sister is a dancer, who joined the children along with her dance partner, to entertain the audience. I hope you enjoy the performances!

This song is called the "Taka Taka Polka". While the children were playing, the dancers were dancing around in the audience. I tried to catch them on this video, but had no luck.

Check back through the week for more videos!

Celebrating Fall!

2009-10-11T19:10:00.000-04:00

To begin our Columbus Day weekend, we went to the Outback for dinner. Nicholas built this card house using the coasters.

The next day, we went shopping for Halloween decorations. We didn't buy this skull, but Michael had fun modelling with it!

Surprise!

2009-09-21T22:28:00.004-04:00

I woke up yesterday morning at 7 a.m. to get ready for church. I heard my cell phone beep. It's not uncommon for me to have someone call me on Sunday morning to ask for me to fill in and teach their Sunday School or Primary class, so I thought nothing of it.

After I got ready for church, we were eating breakfast, and Tony reminded me to check my phone. As you have probably guessed, it wasn't somebody from church - it was Faline. She and her family had an 8-hour layover at JFK, and wanted to know if they could spend a few hours with us. It was short, but a wonderful visit!

Faline, Glen, Carson, Shanda, Jason, Tegan, Janica, and Kierra all came to visit us. Tony cooked a pork butt in his new smoker he got for his birthday. It was delicious!
Janica couldn't take all the excitement, and fell asleep in our guest room.

Kierra loved playing with Michael's robot and other stuffed animals.

Tegan, Carson, Nicholas, and Michael had fun playing in our basement.

We had a great time visiting with everybody! Shanda and Faline have some great ideas about our reunion at Disney. I am very excited about having a Grand Gathering while we're there, and we will definitely look into it!

So many times, the moments that are unexpected are the nicest. Thank you, Faline and family, for making our Sunday so wonderful!

Camping

2009-08-30T15:56:00.010-04:00

The week after ASTA camp was our camping trip. Nicholas went to Boy Scout camp,

Michael went to Cub Scout day camp,

and Tony and I just camped.(This is the inside of our pop-up camper)

Well, we didn't just camp. We drove around the East End, went to lunch one day, we went shopping(and found some great deals!), and Tony helped out at Nicholas' Scout camp for one day. The day that Tony helped out, the Scoutmasters had a "Scoutmaster Shootout" at the rifle range. I happened to be there when he had to pick his team member, so guess who he picked. That's right - me! We called ourselves "the Sharps"(get the play on words? "sharp musicians" and "sharpshooters") I have never shot a rifle before in my life! so the Rifle instructor brought us to the rifle range to give us some lessons. Here's a picture of me shooting a .22:

Now my brothers and sisters know that I have amblyopia, or "lazy eye", which means my eyes don't focus well together at all. To shoot this .22, however, I only needed my right eye(that's my good eye) to look through the sight at the target. I was absolutely amazed that out of 10 shots, I got 5 shots in the bullseye area! I know, I know, it must have been beginner's luck.

Well, that afternoon was the shootout contest. The target was a picture of billiard balls. Each team was assigned to shoot out the middle of their ball number, and whichever team got the closest grouping of shots together won the contest. Tony went first, and did pretty well. His 5 shots were all within an inch of each other. Then my turn came, and I managed to shoot all 5 of my shots in-between Tony's. I was pretty impressed with myself! Now, you would think that all of these Scoutmasters who have been at rifle ranges numerous times would be excellent marksmen. I didn't see how everyone did, but the teams' results I did see were much further apart than ours were. Needless to say, when we went to visit Nicholas the next day, his Scoutmaster told us that Tony and I won the shootout. I'm still shocked about it! Tony told me that because of my cross-stitching and sewing, I am able to keep my eyes and hands steady and focussed. I don't know if I'll go to a rifle range again, but I must admit that I kind of enjoyed myself!

ASTA Camp

2009-08-12T22:39:00.004-04:00

The first week we were away, we went to ASTA(American String Teachers Camp). Tony taught the bass students and some chamber groups, and Nicholas was a camper at the camp. We reached Ithaca on Saturday, and had a few hours before Tony had to go to meetings. So we took advantage of the time, and went to Upper Buttermilk Falls, and then to Lower Buttermilk so the boys could swim. Michael went right in, but Nicholas said the water was too cold. I couldn't argue with him one bit, because I remember how cold the Falls water is! Besides, we've been having a relatively cool summer, so it's been hard for the water to warm up at all.

On Sunday, while Tony was in teacher meetings, Nicholas, Michael, and I went to church at the Ithaca Ward. It was nice to see old friends!

While Tony and Nicholas were at camp, Michael and I went to see some of the LDS Church History sites. We visited the Joseph Smith home, the Hill Cumorah, the Peter Whitmer farm, and the E. B. Grandin print shop, where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. The print shop was Michael's favorite site, because he loves to read, and he was fascinated to find out how books are made. We also went to a children's science museum, called the Sciencenter, with some friends from my high school.

At the end of the week was the Chamber recitals and the concert. Nicholas' quartet made it into the Honors Chamber recital. They played "Sunshine of Your Love", and sounded really good!

The last day of the camp was the orchestra concert.

I'll post videos when I can!

Michael's Wildlife Conservation Project

2009-07-20T10:10:00.000-04:00

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Award for Cub Scouts, our pack had to do a project that helped the local wildlife. One of the men in our branch has a woodworking shop, and he helped the boys make screech owl houses. Then the boys went to a local preservation farm and had a presentation about the screech owl's habitat, and they helped put up the houses on the trees. Check back for more information and pictures on this project!

Girls' Night Out!

2009-07-12T22:44:00.001-04:00

The girls from our branch Relief Society got together and went to a concert at the local town park. We had a good time!

Our Summer Vacation 2009

2009-07-11T22:32:00.002-04:00

We started our vacation by getting up early on Monday morning and driving to Hershey. We spent the day in the park. For those of you who have not been to Hershey, PA I highly recommend it! There are 11 roller-coasters and lots of other rides. There's even a waterpark, too! My personal favorite was a water ride called "East Coast Waterworks". We couldn't take pictures there, because we didn't have a waterproof camera. There was water spraying, pouring, and flowing everywhere! We were soaked! After the water park section, we dried off and enjoyed the other sections of the park - lunch, roller-coasters, a sea lion show, and of course, Chocolate World, where we got some free chocolate!

Monday night was spent in a hotel, then we got up on Tuesday to drive to Philadelphia. We saw the Liberty Bell - a historical landmark that I highly recommend, Independence Hall(the outside of it, anyway. The tours were sold out by the time we got there), Congress Hall, the Betsy Ross home, and the original printed versions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

After a few hours in Philadelphia, we drove to Atlantic City for the next two nights of our vacation. We walked on the Boardwalk, ate at Johnny Rocket's and the Hard Rock Cafe, Nicholas rode go-carts, and we played on the beach. We had a great time!

More Baseball pictures

2009-07-05T18:43:00.000-04:00

My sister-in-law Dina sent me these pictures, so I created another collage for your enjoyment.

Baseball take 2

2009-07-04T22:38:00.000-04:00

Here's another view of the pictures.

Baseball!

2009-07-04T22:36:00.000-04:00

Nicholas and Michael played with their violin group at the Ducks baseball game. Afterwards we were treated to a fantastic fireworks display!

Fishing Trip

2009-06-30T21:48:00.002-04:00

One of the benefits of living close to the water is being able to go for boat rides. We took a charter fishing boat out yesterday to try our hand at catching fish as part of Michael's Wildlife Conservation award for Cub Scouts. Here we are waiting to cast off the shore.There were lots of boats on our way out of the harbor, and at the end of the harbor was this lighthouse. The view from the water to the land is just stunning, isn't it? One of the rules for catching fish is that they have to be a certain length, or they have to be thrown back into the water. Tony caught 3 pierogies, two keepers, Nicholas caught 2 pierogies, one a keeper, and Michael caught 2 fish. I caught only one little fish, but lots of fish managed to eat the bait off of my line before I could bring them up!
Oh, and Michael caught a horseshoe crab, too! It was so heavy that one of the sailors had to help pull it up and get it off of the line to throw it back. Of course, we had to get a picture of it! You probably can't see them, but there are lots and lots of jellyfish swimming around in the water in this picture. We stopped at three different ideal fishing spots(determined by the sonar that the captain had), and tried our hand at catching fish. The largest fish was caught by a gentleman on the boat. It was a 3 pound bluefish! Here we are on our way back to the harbor. I just love watching the sunset! Remember the lighthouse? Here it is again with the sunset in the background. If you look carefully, there is a large hawk's nest on top of this structure in the middle of the water. We had a lot of fun fishing! I am definitely looking forward to going again!

Happy Birthday Michael!

2009-06-17T12:26:00.014-04:00

We celebrated Michael's 9th birthday on Saturday. Can you believe he's 9 years old already? We had a friend of mine who is a gym teacher(FitKidz Birthday Parties) come and help entertain the kids. He kept them busy with an obstacle course,

a Star Wars game with hula hoops(one team(the Jedi) carry one color hoops around their waist, and the person who is "It"(Darth Vader) has another color hoop. Darth Vader tries to run and tap the Jedi and get them out. It's lots of fun!),

Dodge ball,

and they ended the party with the Limbo game.

After all of that running around, the boys had lemonade, mini hot dogs, carrot sticks, grapes, and of course, ice cream cake!
After the boys left, Tony's family and some friends came over for a barbecue and we had another ice cream cake for Michael.

He had a great day. We love you Michael!

This week

2009-06-07T21:58:00.003-04:00

I don't think there has ever been a week where nothing exciting happens in the Pinelli household. This past Thursday, my school participated in an all-day Dance Festival. Somehow I have the great fortune of being in charge of the day(no, it's not fun to be in charge!). I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but by the end of the day, it was very positive and all of the teachers and students enjoyed the day.
On Friday night, Tony took me, along with some neighbors of ours, to see the Broadway revival of West Side Story . I loved it! To all of my family, please take advantage of our close proximity to Broadway, come visit us, and see a Broadway show. It is well worth it!
Back in January Nicholas was invited to participate in the Johns Hopkins study of Talented Youth and take the SAT's. He decided that he wanted to do it, so on an early Saturday morning, we took him to a local high school to take the test. He performed so well on the Math portion that he was invited to an award ceremony to honor him and other students who also performed well. So after Nicholas, Michael, and I went to church this morning, we went to Stony Brook with Tony and his family for the awards ceremony.

NAILS IN THE FENCE

2009-06-03T17:47:00.001-04:00

NAILS IN THE FENCE

There once was a little boy who
had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every
time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had
driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.

He told his father about it and
the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he
was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young
boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the
hand and led him to the fence. He said, 'You have done well, my son, but
look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.
When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.
You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. But It won't matter
how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound will still be there. A verbal
wound is as bad as a physical one... Remember that friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.

Please forgive me if I have ever left a 'hole' in your fence.

Our Garden

2009-05-31T21:18:00.004-04:00

We have lots of shade in our yard, so all of our plants have to be shade-friendly. It has taken a long time to find shade-loving flowers that we both like. We have lots of hosta plants, which are nice, but their flowers are teeny-tiny, and they grow way too big in my opinion. So here is a tour through our garden of my favorite colorful plants.

Oh, how I wish you could smell these lilacs! Their perfume permeates our entire yard!
Here are our lilies-of-the-valley. Aren't they pretty?
This is our pink bleeding hearts that we have growing in various places in our yard. We've got white bleeding hearts, too. There's a rhododendron bush in the background, and some daylilies as well.This may look like one bush, but it is really three different azalea bushes. I think this is probably one of my favorite spots in our garden by the street. And there are ferns, ribbon grass, and Scottish bluebells in front of it.
When we first moved into our house(which has been ten years ago, by the way!), we bought some lilac bushes and planted them in the garden by our house. They never bloomed until this year, when we finally got two blooms, which you can see in this picture. Someone told me that it's because they were finally pollinated by a male lilac plant. Does anyone know anything about this? Is there really such thing as female and male lilac bushes?

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed your tour through our garden. Tony works very hard at keeping it beautiful, and he deserves some accolades!

Nicholas' performance with the High School Orchestra

2009-05-26T22:13:00.003-04:00

Nicholas was invited to perform his NYSSMA solo with the high school orchestra. For those of you who do not recognize it, the piece of music he played is the first movement of "Spring" by Antonio Vivaldi. We are very proud of his accomplishment!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T22:30:00.005-04:00

Today was our town's Memorial Day parade. It wasn't anything big, but it was still fun! Our friend is the director of one of the marching bands.

Happy 13th Birthday Nicholas!

2009-05-17T13:48:00.011-04:00

I gave birth to a beautiful little boy 13 years ago, and he has grown into a young man that we are so proud to call our son! Moms are always allowed to brag, so please bear with me as I tell you how wonderful Nicholas really is.

He has been in all Honors classes since they have been offered in our district(which in our school is 5th grade), and has maintained an average of over 95 every quarter.

He was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society this year. Those of you who are familiar with NJHS know that the character traits that are required to be a member of this organization is Character, Scholarship, Leadership, and Service.

He is an active participant in his Boy Scout troop, and encourages the other boys to participate as well.

He wrote a song for English class, and is so humble about it that he didn't want to share it. His father convinced him to allow it to be posted on YouTube so you can hear it now.

On June 15, Nicholas will reach a goal that he set for himself long ago, and that is to play/practice the violin every day for 2000 days in a row. (I wish I had that kind of persistence when I was his age!)

He has participated in honors orchestras every year since 5th grade.

He performed a level 6 NYSSMA solo this year(for those of you who don't know, level 6 is the highest level you can reach) and received a 98 A+ for his performance. His chamber orchestra teacher was so impressed with his playing, that he invited Nicholas to perform with the High School orchestra. By the way, the name of the piece he will play is the first movement of Vivaldi's Spring Concerto.

He is diligent in the performance of his priesthood duties as a deacon at church, and knows who he is and what is expected of him.

He is always willing to help out around the house and do what is asked of him.

He loves his little brother, and he is very affectionate!

Now if only he would make his bed. . .

We love you, Nicholas!

Happy Birthday!

2009-05-10T21:04:00.007-04:00

It is my fortunate lot to share my birthday with others close to me for the rest of my life(and through eternity too!).I was born on my Dad's 40th birthday, my sister Gayla is 11 years older than I am, and my sister Holly is 3 years older than me. Those are the only birthdays and ages I never have to struggle to remember! I was 4 months shy of turning 18 when Gayla passed away, and it has been hard for me to celebrate our birthday without being able to share it with her.

I love being able to tell people that I share my birthday with my father and two of my sisters, and see the look on their faces!I have always felt extra close to my Dad because I was born on his birthday. I remember always climbing on his lap and snuggling with him. He was my Daddy, and I wanted to be with him as much as possible. I loved hearing him sing - he wasn't very good at holding his own pitch, though. He used to tell us that he could only carry a tune in a bucket! Sitting next to him in church was fun, because he listened to people next to him singing, and he followed whatever pitch they were on. I don't know if he ever realized that we would purposely change from singing soprano to alto to tenor, and then back again. As long as he had someone to follow, he had a beautiful tenor voice, and I'm sure he still does!

One of my most favorite memories of my father is of him bringing me to my orthodontist appointment once a month. My Dad worked long hard hours and would collapse in a chair and fall asleep as soon as he got home from work. Being able to spend his waking hours with him was a real treat! We lived in Aurora, NY at the time, and my orthodontist was in Ithaca, NY. Those of you who know the upstate New York area, know that it is a good half-hour drive. I had that entire time with my dad all to myself. I loved it! We spent the time talking, listening to the radio(did you know that Dad liked Country music?), and talking some more.

Gayla had a beautiful soprano voice. I always wanted to have a voice like hers. I tried to audition for the All-State chorus, but I didn't make it. I was devastated! I haven't given up, though, and I love singing. I can still hear her voice singing the descant to "Silent Night". I can't bring myself to sing it, because I cry too much, but I can play it on my violin.

A few months before her death, Gayla and her husband John, moved to upstate New York to be closer to us. Gayla told Mom that it was because she wanted to get closer to her little sisters. I believe that Noelle, Rachelle, and I were home at the time. We used to spend hours talking, laughing, reading dramatically, singing together, and so many other things that I will always cherish. When she died, it was the morning that I was supposed to audition for an All-County chorus. Mom told me that I could go or not, it was my choice. I decided that Gayla would be mad at me if I didn't go to the audition because of her, so I went. I was accepted into the chorus. It was my senior year, and it was very hard to be without my big sister whom I had just gotten to know really well. I am so glad for that time I had with her.

Holly and I have always shared a unique relationship. I guess you could say that there are so many qualities of my older sisters that I wanted to emulate. Holly plays the violin beautifully, and I love playing the violin, too. After Holly decided to major in violin performance, I decided to major in performance and education. I have always loved being able to share our violin abilities, and playing duets with her. I used to love staying up late nights talking with Holly. She could usually out-talk me, though. There were many nights that I would be mumbling my answers to her as she was trying to talk with me. I'm sure I missed many things she said to me because I had fallen asleep!

I brought Nicholas and Michael went to our stake's Father-Son campout on Friday, and Tony met them there later. (Tony was very tired after a tough day at work, but trying to be good) They returned Saturday morning at 10. So I had Friday night into Saturday all to myself. It was a great birthday gift! I watched a movie, went to bed, and went to breakfast the next morning with my visiting teachers for my birthday. I went and got my nails done, too(I very rarely do that!), then went home and helped Tony prepare for a neighborhood birthday party. We have two neighbors who share my birthday week, and we decided to celebrate together. Unfortunately one of them wasn't able to make it, so just Liz and I celebrated!

Tony made me feel so special on my birthday - it was a great day!

PTA Reflections and National Junior Honor Society

2009-04-26T21:56:00.007-04:00

We have been blessed with two very talented boys. (I wish I was a better photographer!)
Michael made up a song which I helped him write out and record. We submitted it to the school PTA Reflections contest. He won an award at his school, and his song went on to the next level, which was the County contest. At the County level, he won a Certificate of Merit. I'm sure there is a way to upload the song so you can hear it, but it's going to take a bit of research to figure out. Nicholas is outshining himself this year in 7th grade. He has stayed on the high honor roll all year long. He has gone to two orchestra festivals, and distinguished himself in both. He is the only 7th grader in the first violin section of his school's chamber orchestra, and this past week, he was one of 132 7th graders in his school to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society(There are about 500 7th graders in his school). We couldn't be prouder!

Planting Season

2009-04-19T21:21:00.002-04:00

Since March 20, the weather has been sunny and cold or rainy and cold. It is not much of spring weather this part of the country is used to. Yesterday was the first beautifully warm day we have had all Spring! Tony's Spring vacation was at a different time than ours, so he took advantage of it and went with some of his friends to Atlantic City for the weekend. Nicholas, Michael and I took advantage of the warm weather to plant some flowers that Aunt Dina gave us for an early anniversary gift. We planted foxglove, winter creepers, astilbe, white and pink bleeding hearts, and I don't remember the other names of the plants. I couldn't take pictures because my hands were wet and dirty! It doesn't look like much, only some dirt with buds sticking up. As the garden grows, we will take pictures and post them.

The Pinelli Family in Pictures

2009-04-13T10:55:00.001-04:00

Here is a photo collage of everything our family has been doing in the past two months. Enjoy!

Today is my Mom's birthday

2009-04-09T21:59:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, I have a lot of catching up to do. There are lots of pictures crying out for me to post! and I will! The school year is incredibly busy right now.

My mother Georgie Gay Bateman, would be 80 years old today. I can't imagine her ever wanting to age any more than she did. She was a beautiful woman!

Extended Vacation

2009-02-22T21:29:00.008-05:00

Okay, I have been home from school for three weeks now, and I am ready to return. I am feeling much better, and I understand why the doctors told me that gall bladder surgery is a two-week-long recovery. After two weeks of being home sick, we had yet another week of winter vacation. We packed this week full! On Monday, because I still was not feeling well, we took it easy and watched videos together. Nicholas got a two for one free ticket to see the Islanders(a hockey team), so he and Tony went to the game, and Michael and I stayed home and read together and watched Stuart Little(I love that movie!).

On Tuesday, Tony brought me to the airport to fly out to Utah to see my family - especially my Dad. I love the fact that I have such a big family, and I wish I was in Utah for a longer time to see more of my brothers and sisters.

Rachelle picked me up from the airport, and brought me to Brennan and Tammy's house. Shortly after I got there, Tammy rushed me to the door to wait for Dad and Harriet. I loved seeing the look on Dad's face when he saw me standing there! We had a delicious dinner together, and made plans for the next day.

Wednesday morning came early. I spent the morning with Dad and Harriet, and then Dad, Rachelle, and I went to lunch at Cracker Barrel - I love that restaurant! and then we went to the Ogden Temple together.

Here are two of Rachelle's boys. Aren't they adorable?

On Thursday it was time to travel back home after a visit that was way too short! I was happy to be back home with my hubby and children. We went bowling on Friday - it was the one thing the boys didn't do yet, and they wanted me to join them. The bowling alley was packed, and we had to wait for an hour before we could get a lane. We finally got a lane and had a great time! Oh, and by the way, I won, I won, ha ha ha ha ha ha!(it doesn't usually happen - Tony usually wins - he was just way off his game that day)

Violin Recital

2009-02-15T20:08:00.007-05:00

This afternoon was Nicholas and Michael's violin recital along with other students in their teacher's studio. Michael played the Gavotte from "Mignon" by A. Thomas.

Nicholas has been working very hard and has learned two movements from Vivaldi's "Spring" Violin Concerto.

We are sooo proud of our two boys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T20:07:00.009-05:00

We began our winter vacation week by celebrating Valentine's Day together as a family. We woke up and had cinnamon rolls and egg sandwiches. I wish I could say I made the cinnamon rolls from scratch, but Pillsbury helped out very nicely!

After breakfast, we spent some time in the Jacuzzi. It was only 30 degrees outside, but the Jacuzzi at 99 degrees was just right!

After Jacuzzi time, we headed downtown to a violin shop for a bow for Michael, then we went to a new hamburger restaurant called American Roadside for lunch. Delicious!

Because I am still recovering from my gall bladder surgery, a lot of activity is still wearing on me, so we headed home so I could rest, and the boys helped Dad pick up branches out in the yard that had blown off of the trees because of the 45 mile-an-hour winds we had during the week.

These are the flowers Nicholas and Michael picked out at the florist for me. Aren't they beautiful? And they all gave me boxes of Godiva truffles. Yum! Now the theory is that because Luella will share all chocolates except for Godiva, they would give me enough so that I wouldn't mind sharing them. What would you do?

Our Valentine's Day dinner consisted of roast chicken, Parisienne salad, and french bread. It was delicious!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Dina came over for dessert after their dinner. Our family loves any reason to celebrate being a family!

My Hospital Adventure

2009-02-05T19:18:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago I had a terrible headache. I went to the doctor, who gave me antibiotics for a sinus infection and a stong headache pill. I spent the week at home recuperating, and in spite of the sinus headache, felt well enough to go back to school to teach.

This past Sunday, my chest began to hurt, and I thought that my sinuses had drained into my chest and aggravated my asthma. I took my inhalers, and they kind of worked, so I went to bed that night and went to school the next day. My chest was still hurting, however, and the inhalers didn't seem to work as well as they should, so I decided to stay home the next day and see my doctor for a nebulizer treatment and a cortisone shot(both of which have happened in the past, and I was okay.)

I called the doctor the next morning(Tuesday), and the nurse I spoke to looked at the schedule, and told me that they couldn't see me until 2:00 that afternoon. She heard the distress and pain in my voice, and suggested that I get someone to take me to the emergency room at the hospital. I called my mother-in-law, who immediately came over(I love my mother-in-law!) and took me to the hospital. We got to the ER around 11 a.m.

Because I said that I was in respiratory distress, the triage nurse took me in immediately. When she tested my oxygen level, however, it was at 100%. I was brought to a room in the ER, and the doctor I saw started checking me all over(you know, pressing everything). She said, "no, it's not your lungs, it's your abdomen. You may have gall stones." She ordered an x-ray and a sonogram, both of which I had to wait for, because I had eaten breakfast that morning. So we waited longer. Eventually I was brought to the x-ray room to check my lungs. The girl took the x-ray, and then left the room. I waited for a long time for her to come back. I had been given morphine for the pain, and wasn't supposed to walk, and had no way of paging anyone. So I did what anyone else in my position might do - I took a nap. An hour and a half later another girl peeked in and asked, "what's your name?" I told her, and she said that she had been looking for me for the sonogram, and couldn't find me anywhere!

Well, throughout the rest of the day, I was taken for a sonogram, waited longer, had the sonogram, waited more, brought back to my room in the ER, and waited even more. Finally, the doctor came and told me that I did have an inflamed gall bladder, and they were going to have to take it out. This was around 7:00 p.m. I was going to be admitted, but they had to wait for a room to be ready for me. I told Tony(who left early from work and took over for his mother) to go home and I'd call him when I got to the room. The surgeon came in then, and told me that he wanted me to have a CAT scan to make sure it was only my gall bladder that was giving me pain.

Apparently, the classic symptoms for an inflamed gall bladder are four F's - female, forty, fair, and fat intolerance. I fit the female, forty, and fair, but I have never(I thought) felt sick when I ate fatty foods.(apparently I have and didn't know it)

So after I was given a pint of what looked like orange Tang to drink, I waited for two more hours for the CAT scan. Finally, by 11:00 p.m., I was brought up to a room in the hospital.

The nurse announced to the three other residents in the room that they were getting a roomie, and their response was "we hope she's not a screamer!" I was too tired to respond. We have nicknamed them "the Golden Girls". One was chatty, another was mouthy, and the other just lay there. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night, but I did my best to be nice about it.

My gall bladder operation was scheduled for 3:30 the next day. Tony and I spent the next day getting acquainted with my roommates and laughing at their antics. It was just like being in a Golden Girls episode! Two of them kept moving and setting off their bed alarms, and "Chatty Cathy" never stopped talking. There were constant problems with their IV's, and they kept our poor nurse on his toes the whole day. It was quite humorous.

The nurses felt so bad for me being woken up so much the night before that they made arrangements to move me to a quieter room after my surgery so I could sleep that night. I was sooo thankful! After my surgery, all I wanted was to sleep.

Well, it is now Thursday, and I was discharged from the hospital this morning at 11 a.m. I am still not allowed to go to work until maybe Monday if I feel up to it, and I have at least three doctors to see next week.

I definitely did not go to the emergency room expecting any of this, which is why I can laugh at it. It was quite an adventure!

Pinelli activities

2009-02-01T17:00:00.010-05:00

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we went to one of the local hills to go sledding. Nicholas and Michael did all of the sledding, because I had a massive sinus headache. No, I take that back - I went down once and stopped because my head hurt too much. I was on video patrol.

We have a great time with my Wii Fit game. I get accused of hogging Wii, just for wanting to play for 15 minutes a day. Here is a picture of Nicholas playing Wii Fit.

One of our friends asked us to watch her daughter so she could go to her concert. Carleigh had a great time at our house, following Nicholas and Michael around, and helping Copper eat her food and drink her water. She was adorable!

Michael had his first orchestra concert. Here he is with his orchestra teacher. He wasn't too excited about posing, so this was the only picture I could get of him!

Here is one of the songs Michael's orchestra played. Michael is in the back of the 2nd violin section, so we couldn't see him too well.

We got a letter from Michael's school nurse telling us that his vision test was not good, and that he needed to have his vision tested further. We brought him to the eye doctor, who prescribed glasses for him. He is near-sighted in one eye, and far-sighted in the other eye, so he has bifocals. Here he is in his new glasses!

Solving the Tetris Cube

2009-01-22T11:11:00.002-05:00

We got the Tetris Cube for Christmas, and it is still in pieces all over the the basement! I looked up how to solve it, and I thought I'd share it.

Concert Season

2009-01-18T17:03:00.010-05:00

Most schools that I know of have winter concerts in December. Someone in their infinite wisdom decided that December was just too full of concerts, so "let's move some of those concerts to January so that December is not too stressful". Well, now our January has been filled with concerts! Nicholas had his school concert this past Monday, Tony had a chamber concert last Tuesday, Nicholas was part of a String Festival this past weekend, and Nicholas' chamber orchestra is performing for his school's board of education meeting. Last but certainly not least, Michael's orchestra will be performing at the end of this month. Whew! Here are a few highlights from Nicholas' concerts:

Here is the program from Nicholas' school concert.

Nicholas is the concertmaster in his 7th grade orchestra.

This is the song "Cakewalk" by Norman Leyden from 'Serenade for Strings'

The orchestra is made up of the best of the string students from 44 different school districts. Nicholas was the only 7th grader chosen from his school. There were about 5 other children from other grade levels selected as well. Nicholas is playing in the first violin section. If you look carefully, you can see him in the middle of this picture.

Our sons' accomplishments

2009-01-11T14:59:00.004-05:00

Michael earned his Faith in God square knot award at this week's Pack meeting, as well as his Wolf badge. He is soo proud of himself! and so are we!

Nicholas wrote a song as part of an extra credit assignment for his English class to go along with the book "The Pearl". We also made a video recording of him playing the violin part and me singing, but it would completely embarrass him if I posted it.

We're off to see the Wizard!

2009-01-11T14:46:00.003-05:00

Here are just a few of my adorable students. These ten were chosen to be part of the high school's production of "The Wizard of Oz". They couldn't be happier!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T07:13:00.004-05:00

I remember years ago when I was little, that I would wake up around 4 a.m. on Christmas morning along with my brothers and sisters, and we would clang the cowbell around the house, yelling "Merry Christmas!. Mom and Dad would roll over, tell us to open our stockings, and they would be up later. Around 5 a.m. they would appear - I can only imagine how late they were up the night before! We would rip into our presents and had everything open by 6 a.m. and ready to start the day!

Tony tells me that he would stand in front of his parents as they were sleeping on Christmas morning(around 4 a.m. also) They would sense his presence and tell him to go back to bed!

Now, on our Christmas morning, I still wake up relatively early - I just can't get past the excitement of early Christmas morning! Nicholas woke up at 7 a.m., and we sent him to go wake up Michael at 7:30 a.m. We even sent them to bed early, and they just can't get into waking up early on Christmas!

Ever since I told my mother-in-law about my Raggedy Ann doll I got for Christmas when I was young(I don't remember how old I was), she has gotten me a new doll for Christmas. Today I got three dolls - two of them were dressed as a Cowgirl and Cowboy, respectively. The other was a Dorothy doll from the Wizard of Oz. My sister-in-law didn't even know that 10 of my students were chosen to be Munchkins in the high school production of the Wizard of Oz, and that I've been telling them all about the show!

It was a wonderful day!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

2008-12-19T21:50:00.002-05:00

My Winter concert was a huge success! My student teacher played the part of Santa, and the kids loved seeing him. I had five classes worth of 2nd graders performing at the Sing-Along. They sang about 10 holiday songs, along with a few other songs that they really wanted to perform. One of the songs "Risseldy Rosseldy" is a very difficult song to enunciate, but they sang it so well that the teachers commented on how well they understood the singing.After the sing-along, I arranged to leave school a bit early so I could be at Michael's school for his Culture Day presentation(I really appreciate teaching in the same district where I live which makes this possible!). Michael researched England's animals(red deer), natural resources(coal), authors(J.K. Rowling), and food(oatmeal cookies, bread pudding). Then we served his classmates bread pudding. I couldn't believe the number of children and adults who had never tried bread pudding before!

Today was the snowstorm that left a foot of snow in Las Vegas a few days ago. Tony's school closed for the day, while Nicholas, Michael, and I had to go to school. Driving to school was no problem, but the afternoon was rather tricky driving home. Luckily I don't live far, so what usually takes seven minutes to get home only took me 20 minutes.

After we got home, Nicholas and Michael built a snowman who will hopefully last for a few days before he melts!

The First Snow of the Season

2008-12-07T15:23:00.006-05:00

We woke up this morning to everything coated in two inches of beautiful fluffy snow!

Nicholas and Michael were very happy with the snow! Nicholas was happy to see it, and Michael was ecstatic to be able to throw it, run in it, and everything else you can do with snow!

Tony was at Rochester, NY for the annual NYSSMA(music teachers) Conference for the weekend. They had snow up there, too, but thankfully he arrived home safe and sound!

2008-11-23T18:56:00.012-05:00

At the beginning of this month, we waited and waited for a dry day to try and clean up the leaves. We finally got one on Veteran's Day, November 11.

Yes, Michael is standing in that pile of leaves! We were able to clean up the front yard and rake up the backyard before the rain came again.

I love our leaf-blower. It's lightweight and very easy to run - even Nicholas and Michael can start it up and run it!
Michael decided that sitting in a pile of leaves would be the best place for reading his book.

In-between raking and cleaning up the leaves, Michael and Nicholas went to perform at the local VA Hospital with their teacher's violin group.

The nurses at the VA Hospital allowed a few pictures as long as we were only taking them of our children. They discouraged videos, because of the privacy of the veterans.

Now at the end of November, the weather has become unusually cold for this area of the country. Our dog Copper is a coonhound, and is very cold! So I never thought I would need to put a sweater on a big dog, but here she is:

Isn't she cute?

Yesterday we went into NYC again for the Young People's Concert. The theme was Ravel's Paris, and they played French music for the program.

Our friend Jen was also at the concert with her daughter Amy.

After the program, we went to Times Square and a restaurant called Carmine's for dinner with some friends. It's an Italian restaurant that is served family-style. It is delicious food!

Our friends Liz and Kenny had gone to see "South Pacific" at the Lincoln Center Theater. They loved it! Liz and I took a picture with one of the cast members after the show.

I Still Love Fall!

2008-11-09T18:39:00.004-05:00

So with the beautiful colors of Fall comes the cleanup! I still love Fall, but it takes a very long time to rake up and bag the leaves. We had a lot of rain this weekend, so the leaves are too wet to pick up.

This is our backyard completely covered with leaves.

Here is our front yard, also completely covered with leaves. Michael is loving being able to walk through the leaves and jump in the piles!

Today was my first day in Sunday School and Relief Society after 10 years of serving in the Primary. I didn't know what to do with myself! The Primary children made me a beautiful turkey with their names and "Thank you" notes from the teachers. I love the Primary children, and I loved being in Primary, but I am also happy to be with grown-ups!

Michael's School picture

2008-11-09T18:15:00.003-05:00

We just got Michael's school picture along with a photo CD so I could post his picture. Enjoy!

I love Fall!

2008-11-02T21:26:00.005-05:00

For those of you who miss the colors of Fall, I have posted a few pictures for your enjoyment.

Michael wanted to dress up as Harry Potter for Halloween this year. His violin teacher had a Halloween violin class two days before, so he got to wear his costume early.

Nicholas didn't want to dress up for Halloween this year, so he was in charge of handing out the candy.

Tony made a killer batch of chili to hand out to the adults. It was delicious!

I dressed up as Raggedy Ann, and I will post a picture when I get it back.

The week before Halloween, Michael and I carved a pumpkin. Nicholas carved a pumpkin at his Young Men's activity night(so unfortunately I have no pictures).

Oh, and the last bit of news I have - I was released today as Primary President! As of now, I have no calling, and I don't know what to do. I'm sure in the weeks to come, I will figure it out easily, and besides, in our small branch, I'm sure I won't be without a calling for long!

Paul Mitchell Hair Academy

2008-10-26T20:59:00.004-04:00

Tony's father is a hairdresser - an excellent one at that! Before he retired two years ago, he was a partner in a group of beauty schools. After he retired, he was contacted by some executives who wanted to start another beauty school, and they wanted him to run it. He was reluctant, but they convinced him to return to work for another five years.

Well, this past Monday was the official opening of the school.

John Paul is the owner of the Paul Mitchell Beauty Industry. You may recognize the name of the Paul Mitchell hair products line. I didn't meet him(John Paul), but he was there that night.

The New York Philharmonic

2008-10-19T21:36:00.012-04:00

We are fortunate enough to live close to one of the world's greatest symphonic orchestras! We have a subscription to the Young People's concert series, which includes four Saturday matinee concerts. This is the first timewe have done this, and we had a blast! We drove into New York City yesterday and parked in one of the parking garages. Before we walked across the street to Lincoln Center, though,

we stopped in to the Manhattan Temple to visit some of the cleanest restrooms in the city.

There was a farmer's market in Lincoln Square Park, where we had lunch - soft pretzels, hot apple cider, and lemonade(and water).

Then we went to Lincoln Center to Avery Fisher Hall, where the concert was going to be held.
Before the concert began, there was Kidzone Live set up in all levels of the lobbies outside of the concert hall. If you're not sure what I mean, check it out for yourself at http://www.nyphilkids.org/ . It's really neat!

The boys tried out different instruments,

saw New York Philharmonic Musicians performing,

and participated in a quiz show.

They won some neat prizes, too!

Block Party

2008-10-12T22:17:00.003-04:00

We celebrated a block party yesterday. I'll post pictures tomorrow. We have a really long street(a mile all the way around, surrounding other streets with state names), but we limited our invitations to about 15 houses. There were people on the rest of our street coming to us and asking us to include them the next time we have a block party, because they live on the(as they put it)boring side of the street!

We had Karaoke in our front yard, Guitar Hero, a firepit in the street, lots of snacks, a BBQ, and lots of music. The children rode their bikes, scooters, played basketball, and stickball. It was interesting to notice that most of the families in our neighborhood have mostly boys.

Apple Pie Mix

2008-10-09T17:28:00.002-04:00

Noelle asked what I would do with all of the apples we picked at the apple orchard. Well, here it is! It's apple time, and I have gotten some requests for the apple pie mix recipe. One of my visiting teachers gave it to me a long time ago, and we have canned apple pie mix every year since then. One batch makes about 8 jars of apple pie filling, and depending on how thick you like your apple pie, you can use one or two jars for each pie. It is absolutely delicious, and I hope you enjoy it!

Apple Pie Mix

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
10 cups water
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 drops food coloring(optional)
5 1/2 - 6 lbs tart apples

Directions:
Mix all but lemon and food coloring. Cook and stir til thick. Add lemon juice and food coloring, if desired.
Pack peeled, cored, and sliced apples into clean 1 quart canning jars(about 8)(we have found that wide-mouth jars work best), leaving one inch of head space. Pour the thickened mixture into the jars. With a clean, damp cloth, wipe the outside rim of each jar, and place a sterilized lid and ring on it.
Place jars into a hot water bath, making sure the water is about an inch above the jars. Let water come to a boil, then time the bath for 27 minutes.
Carefully take jars out of water bath, and place on toweled surface. Allow to cool, then put in storage.

To make apple pie, place one jar of apple pie filling into a prepared pie shell, and bake for 50 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Basic Pie Crust
2 cups flour & 1 tsp salt(sifted together)
2/3 cup shortening & 2 Tbsp butter(combined)

Cut half of the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until it has the consistency of cornmeal. Cut the remaining half coarsely into the dough until it is pea size. Sprinkle dough with 4 Tbsp water. Blend water in lightly, until dough can be formed into a ball. Bake according to pie recipe.

Hint: to keep the crust from burning, wrap foil over the edge of the crust. It will brown nicely, and will not overcook.

Christmas Day Secrets . . .

2008-10-08T23:03:00.005-04:00

Annie's and Wi...

Poem by Sophia P. Snow

By compiled by Luell...

Book Preview

Nicholas' school portrait

2008-10-04T07:54:00.004-04:00

We got Nicholas' school pictures yesterday along with a portrait CD so I could post it!

Fall Camping

2008-10-01T20:31:00.010-04:00

This week is Rosh Hashannah, the Hebrew New Year. We had Tuesday and Wednesday off from school, so we went out to Eastern Long Island to go camping. The weather was beautiful and cool, and wonderfully relaxing! We went to an apple farm to pick apples

We got 18 pounds of apples - they are delicious!

One of Tony's friends lives in a gated community in Eastern Long Island. It is part of a horse farm that rescues battered thoroughbred horses. He invited us to come and see them. Someday we will have enough land for a horse for me, but for now, this was a great opportunity! We took our friend's daughter Amy with us - she loves horses just as much as I do.There were about seven horses altogether at this farm, but Tony took pictures of me with this horse, because I fell in love! We brought carrots to feed the horses, and this one was very communicative! He tapped his hoof on the gate of the corral, and I was told that I could go in. Well, I didn't need another invitation! I went into the corral, and the horse got so excited! He did everything he could to tell me that he wanted to take me for a ride. He butted up against me, walked next to me at the right angle for me to climb right on, and when I didn't get on him, he did it again at least three times. He was adorable! Unfortunately, I had foot surgery a month ago, so I couldn't even if I was given permission to.
We were told that these horses are up for adoption, so if/when the time ever comes that we get a plot of land large enough for a horse, I am definitely there!

Back to School and sundry matters

2008-09-28T19:18:00.010-04:00

Nicholas' Back to School night went well. It was extremely crowded with all of the parents! I walked into Nicholas' homeroom, and it felt like his preschool all over again - so many of the children from his preschool are in his 7th grade homeroom, too! His back-to-school night consisted of following his schedule through the school day, where each of the periods lasted for 10 minutes. I walked from one wing, to the next, to the next, then back to the first one. I was tired! and Nicholas does this all day every day with his backpack(carrying his books, not in his backpack, so I'm told)!

I played for a Russian wedding service yesterday. I barely understood the service because most of it was in a language I did not understand(maybe Russian?). Before the service, a little boy came and stood in front of me, watching me play.He stood there for 10 minutes - so cute! I have not played for weddings for quite some time. It was fun playing for people who enjoy listening to violin music so much!

Today, we went to Tony's parents' house for dinner. My mother-in-law made delicious spaghetti and meatballs. I've posted pictures of my in-laws. They are wonderful people!

This is my father-in-law Tony Sr. Notice his t-shirt!

This is my mother-in-law Judy. She is a wonderful grandma!

2008-09-23T22:28:00.002-04:00

School is now in full swing. We had Michael's Back to School night two weeks ago. He has a super fantastic teacher, who just happens to have been Tony's student when he was teaching at our high school. She is so sweet! My favorite thing she told us about is the weekly Bubble-Gum Blowout. Every student in her class who completes every homework assignment throughout the week gets a piece of gum after lunch on Friday to see if they can blow the biggest bubble. Of course, the children who didn't complete their homework don't completely miss out, because they get to be the judges. So it's lots of fun all around! Michael couldn't wait to tell us all about it when he came home on Friday!

I had my Back - to - School night tonight. Not many parents came to see my classroom, but I had lots of visitors in the hallway. I got to listen to lots of music, and chat with the other teachers who didn't have much to do either!

Nicholas' Back to School night is Thursday. He is doing really well in school, and I'll post more afterwards.

Happy Birthday Tony!

2008-09-14T20:51:00.007-04:00

Today is Tony's 40th birthday! We celebrated it yesterday by going to Chili's for lunch and having birthday cake back at our house. Today after Sacrament meeting, we went to the local minor league baseball game - the Ducks.

Nicholas and Michael played the National Anthem along with the rest of their violin teacher's students. They call themselves the Metrognomes.

School Days, School Days...

2008-09-04T21:57:00.004-04:00

School has finally begun here in the east. We began on Tuesday, September 2. We woke up at 6:30 the morning before to get all of us in school mode again, and had waffles and strawberry-banana smoothies for breakfast.(I ended up drinking all of the strawberry-banana smoothie, because no one else liked it.) Afterward, we went to a branch Labor Day picnic. The first counselor in our branch presidency owns a sawmill, and we had the picnic on his property. We played badminton, volleyball, three-legged races, wheelbarrow races, and balloon races. It was a lot of fun! Plus, the food was excellent! Tony cooks great corn on the cob and burgers, too!

The next day, Nicholas began 7th grade and is officially in Junior High. So far he's having a great time. He is in all Honors classes, and is thoroughly enjoying the coursework.

Michael began third grade and a new school. He loves his teacher, and wakes up every morning excited to have another great day with his class!

Nicholas and Michael's Artwork

2008-08-21T10:43:00.001-04:00

Our Summer 2008

2008-08-21T10:04:00.003-04:00

Michael Sings the Fireman Song

2008-08-20T20:20:00.002-04:00

Tony was cleaning out the old computer CD's, and came across this funny video. A few years ago, I brought Nicholas and Michael to visit the local firehouse, and Michael was singing(like he always does). The fireman on duty liked his singing so much that he wanted to videotape him to show the other guys, and he gave me a copy. Enjoy it!

2008-08-17T22:27:00.002-04:00

Here is the full version of Nicholas' performance of the Millionaire's Hoedown at Boy Scout Camp at Baiting Hollow, NY. Enjoy!

Camp Week

2008-08-08T21:28:00.013-04:00

We brought Nicholas to Boy Scout Camp this past week, and we camped at a campground ten minutes away. Tony was the chaperone for the day because our Scoutmaster couldn't take the whole week off. We got permission for Nicholas to perform at dinner for all of the Scouts, and he and Tony brought down the house. Everyone loved the Millionaire's Hoedown!

Michael loved digging in the sand at the playground...

and made new friends at the campground - Danny and Brian. Their mom is a music teacher, too!

We are home for a few days now, but we are leaving again to go to Albany. The New York State School Music Association(NYSSMA) is hosting a summer conference. Tony is in charge of the orchestra sessions, and he has invited Mark O'Connor to present some of the sessions. For those of you who don't know who Mark O'Connor is, he is one of the top fiddlers in the world. Tony had the guts to call him up to ask him to come to New York to present at the conference. (The worst he could say was no, right?) So Mark said, of course, he'd love to come! I am sooo looking forward to meeting him!

Read a good book lately?

2008-08-02T12:29:00.005-04:00

The National Endowment for the arts estimates that the average adult has read only 6 of the top 100 books . . .How about you??? (Copy and paste the list, then put in bold the books you've read, and star (*) the books you loved.)

I thank my high school English teacher Patrick Armstrong for getting me into so many of these great books! and thank you Noelle for the idea!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen*

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling*

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible(once you get past the begats, it reads really well)

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (one of my favorites!)

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I've only read a few)

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell*(love it!)

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis* (I love these books!)

34 Emma - Jane Austen*

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen*

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis*(another favorite)

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden(good movie)

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown(very interesting movie)

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery*(one of my favorites)

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen* (very good book)

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville(do children's versions count?)(Revenge of the Whale, the story behind this book is very interesting)

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (never actually read it, but I love the movie)

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett*(one of my favorites!)

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens*

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker(good movie!)

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flauber

t86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White*

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom(very interesting concept)

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery(good movie)

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas* (good book)

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl(Matilda's a good book, too)

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (the musical is fantastic!)

Memories of Luella

2008-07-31T15:53:00.002-04:00

Okay, I've been reading a bunch of blogs today, and a lot of them have asked for memories from people who read their blogs. I'm jumping on the bandwagon and asking for visitors to post memories they have of me. This should be fun!

2008-07-31T15:40:00.002-04:00

I had to go to the hospital early this morning for an emergency procedure, and am now confined to the couch for the next couple of days. I'm feeling a bit sad, but D&C Section 122, and the hymn "How Firm a Foundation" kept running through my head this morning and gave me lots of comfort. Tony told me that while I was in the recovery room, the doctor told him I couldn't stop crying(I don't remember) and wanted to give me anti-depression pills. I do remember telling her no, and I'm glad that I am feeling much better now.

I made raspberry and blueberry jam yesterday. I haven't made jam in a few years, so I found the whole process very therapeutic and satisfying. Nicholas wants me to teach his Scout patrol how to make jam - I'm not too sure about letting a bunch of boys into my kitchen! For the past few years, Nicholas has only wanted to eat peanut butter sandwiches. After trying the jam yesterday, he decided that he wants to start eating pb and j sandwiches now. Even when he was little, he would only eat my homemade jam - he didn't like the storebought jam or jelly.

2008-07-28T21:41:00.002-04:00

Check out Michael havin some summer fun!

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me!

2008-07-26T19:36:00.006-04:00

I went to the Manhattan temple yesterday with one of my friends. As we were sitting in the garden room, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love. The feeling was so strong that I was moved to tears. I know I am a daughter of Heavenly Father, and that He loves me!

Tony and I went to a wedding of a friend from Tony's school today. Her name is Jeanine Montuse(Tony calls her Toots). She is a French teacher, and she also plays tennis. She has given Nicholas tennis lessons, and he enjoys tennis so much that he wants to play on the boy's tennis team in the spring.

Nicholas went camping last night with his Boy Scout troop and spent today with one of the boys after the campout was over.

Michael stayed with Grandma and Grandpa last night and went to one of his cousins' birthday parties today.

As you can see, we were childless last night and today. We took advantage of it by going to see the X-Files movie. It was good, but I had a nightmare last night about it!

2008-07-22T23:09:00.002-04:00

To everyone in my family who struggles to forgive - here is a beautiful article that I would like to share with you. To those who have no problem with forgiving others, you can read it too!

We all make choices in life - let's make the choice to be happy and not take offense, even if there are people out there who love to offend us just to see what our reaction will be!

2008-07-20T22:12:00.002-04:00

Tony's Facebook

Tony has a lot of family and student pictures on his facebook page. You have to join in order to see the pictures. It's just another Internet medium to get acquainted with!

Luella and Tony Opus 1

2008-07-18T21:38:00.000-04:00

Michael's birthday

2008-07-18T08:51:00.009-04:00

Michael's birthday party was on June 14(his birthday was June 15). He wanted to have a space theme for his party, so we put star curtains in the treehouse, and he and his friends made flying saucers and decorated their hats to look like aliens. Michael ran the party, and decided what everyone was going to do. He was very happy, and they all had a great time! Oh, and his cake was decorated to look like the moon, too!

Michael got a new sprinkler for his birthday. He loves it!

2008-07-13T21:25:00.004-04:00

I know, I know, it's been a long time since my last post. Michael is going to be baptized this Tuesday, July 15. I was searching in SugarDoodle, and found a beautiful YouTube video about "My Three Dresses"(I did it! Thanks Noelle!)

Here are some pictures from Michael's baptism:

Michael was sooo excited!

One of our good friends from the branch - Frank Mansuetto - performed the baptism.

2008-06-22T21:49:00.002-04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It was Michael's 8th birthday on June 15, which was also Father's Day. We will keep you posted for when Michael's baptism takes place. We had Branch Conference today, and next week we are leaving for Disney for a week. Plus, there are five more days of school. I know, I know, most of you are thinking "Well, come on, you should be done with school already!" and I agree, as well as do most of the children. They are definitely done with "school, books, and teachers' dirty looks!"

The end is near...

2008-06-08T22:17:00.008-04:00

I believe that being a teacher is the only career where there is a yearly end and beginning. We are now reaching the end of a very busy year. I don't know why it has been so busy - maybe it's because Nicholas and Michael are getting older and more involved in activities.

It is getting late tonight (10:19) right now, and tomorrow I will complete this post. For now, here are a few pictures of what has been happening in the past two weeks:

Nicholas received the last of his Webelos pins before officially leaving Cub Scouts.

Nicholas is standing in front of his artwork from his school's Challenge Center program. All year long they studied freshwater and saltwater sea creatures.

Michael at his 2nd grade picnic getting ready to run a relay race.

Michael in the ball pit at his class picnic. The principal's husband opens up his Day Camp and brings all of the children to spend the day there. It is a lot of fun!

This is a video of Michael playing a game called "Gaga". It's kind of like dodgeball.

My busy busy week!

2008-05-25T20:17:00.016-04:00

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I wrote a lot last week, so I am going to post mostly pictures today of everything we did this past week.

This week was my Second Grade Sing-Along concert. It went very well!

After the sing-along concerts were finished, one of the teachers wrote a thank you note for me, and went around to all of the six classes who performed to have every child sign the note. They presented it to me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers!

On Saturday morning we went to Belmont racetrack for "Breakfast at Belmont". We met Sam the trumpeter and Michael got to hold the trumpet along with Flat Stanley.

Breakfast at Belmont was from 7 - 9:30 a.m. We were able to watch the horses being exercised on the track. Big Brown had his workout at 5:30 that morning to avoid the media and the crowds(what a shame!).
We were treated to a tour of the park and shown all of the riding paraphernalia.

After the park tour we were taken on a tram ride around the backside of the track.

Here is Kent Desormaux(sp?) (Big Brown's jockey) riding a horse back from their workout.

After the tram ride, we were shown the starting gate, and the children were invited to go into it.

The gates are closed.......

And they're off!

The best part of Breakfast at Belmont is that it was all free! (I'm sure that they make enough money in other ways) The only money we spent was a small amount for the breakfast food. It is definitely something I would be happy to bring our family or other visitors to.

Today was Nicholas' first day to pass the sacrament. I never imagined the pride I would feel watching him. It was an incredible feeling! He looked so proud of himself!

Nicholas is now a deacon!

2008-05-18T20:57:00.002-04:00

We went to church today like every other Sunday. Nicholas asked his father to join us today for his special day. Tony came later during the third hour.

Our Branch President announced that Nicholas would be receiving the priesthood today, and he was sustained by the members of our branch. I was so proud I couldn't stop smiling! Nicholas and I played a violin duet "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" for Sacrament meeting. The talks were very inspiring. It was High Council Sunday, and our speaker spoke about strengthening homes and families. There are three things we can do:

Family prayer
Family scripture study
Family home evening

Anyway, when Nicholas walked into the Primary room after his class and asked me if he should go to Priesthood, I started to cry. I have been with him in Primary since he was 3 years old - it was so strange to not have him there today.

Tony met me in the Aaronic Priesthood room, along with one of my neighbors who was very interested in the ordination. The blessing was beautiful! Nicholas told me later that he definitely feels different now. It has been a wonderful day!

How many people in the world share my name?

2008-05-18T20:44:00.003-04:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Yes, that's right! There is only one Luella in the world, and that's me! It makes me feel pretty special!

Here are the results:

There are 25,848 people in the U.S. with the first name Luella.

There are 1,156 people in the U.S. with my last name .

I looked up Luella Bateman, and there are 2 of them in the U.S

My mother-in-law found another Luella with my last name who was born in Elmira, NY in the late 1800's(I was also born in Elmira, NY in 1966). The coincidence was pretty freaky!

By the way, thank you Shanda for posting this on your blog. It's cool!

Today is Nicholas' birthday!

2008-05-17T21:32:00.003-04:00

Nicholas is 12 years old today!

Nicholas was born on May 17, 1996 at 11:17 p.m. He was supposed to be born on May 15, but he decided to prolong his entry into the world. At 8:30 p.m. on that night, I called Tony on his beeper because my contractions had begun. He was conducting his orchestra at a concert, and his beeper went off just as he ended the last song. He turned around to the audience and announced that he needed to leave right away. Of course all of the parents knew that Nicholas was due any day, and they broke into ahh's and applause.

We spent the next two days walking and walking and walking. I was trying to encourage the process, and nothing was working. At night I was woken up every 5 minutes by another contraction. By the time May 17 came, I was tired! Around 12:00 noon I went to my doctor, and she told me to go home and take a tablespoon of castor oil, and meet her at the hospital around 3:00. I do not recommend tasting castor oil, but it did work! After taking the castor oil, the contractions became much stronger and more painful, and sure enough, by 3 p.m., we were ready to go to the hospital.

By about 6, I was sooo tired! Tony looked at the doctor and told her that I needed an epidural. I originally wanted a birth with no painkillers, but by this time I was too tired to argue with anyone. Once I got the epidural, I finally slept with no interruptions for about 4 hours. The next thing I knew, I was being woken up and told that it was time to have my baby.

It was such a special time. I will never forget the first time I held my baby Nicholas in my arms. (I'll post the picture tomorrow)

He is growing into a young man that any parent would be proud of. He memorized all 13 Articles of Faith by the time he was 8 years old. He has earned his Faith in God award, and has done a lot of it on his own. When I became Primary President, the Cub Scout program in our branch was struggling. I was encouraged to build it up, and I asked Nicholas if he wanted to be a Cub Scout. (he had just turned 8 years old) We got his Wolf book and his uniform, and he began reading the book and studying it. He earned all of the Cub Scout awards, and just recently was awarded his Arrow of Light award. There were many different cub scout leaders during his time in Cub Scouts, and Nicholas was instrumental in encouraging not only the cub scout leaders, but also the cub scouts in his den to earn their awards. I don't think he realizes what a strong influence he has had on the Scouting program - not only in our branch, but also throughout the stake. Our Young Men leaders have become motivated to make the Boy Scout program strong because of Nicholas, and he is now working on his Tenderfoot rank. I am so proud of him!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

2008-05-16T23:16:00.004-04:00

Nicholas and Michael both take violin lessons with a wonderful teacher. She is a traditionally trained violinist turned Suzuki teacher. She teaches from the Suzuki books, and takes other songs from many other places to help her students learn lots of repertoire. Every Wednesday alternates between Dalcroze/Reading classes, and Repertoire classes.

I took a video of each of their classes for you. Enjoy them!

Michael loves playing Hunter's Chorus!

Nicholas leads all of the 2nd violin parts (this song is called Galop by Michael McLean)

2008-05-12T21:51:00.004-04:00

Things have been insanely busy around here! So much has happened since my last post - I have been wanting to post an entry, but I had so many other things for work and family that had to be done. I have lots of cool pictures on my camera - here they are!

Faline and Colter came to visit us. We had agreat time walking with them through Central Park(remember Balto? there he is!) We stopped at MOMA(the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art) to give our feet a rest and to get a bite to eat.

Nicholas' orchestra concert was the Wednesday(April 30) after vacation was finished. I didn't take pictures, unfortunately. After the concert, we went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. When we got there, it was very crowded. We thought we got out of the concert early enough, and were upset that so many kids beat us there. We found out later that it was the anniversary for Baskin-Robbins, and they were selling ice cream for 31 cents a scoop! What a deal for ice cream lovers!

My birthday was May 9, and Tony and Nicholas were supposed to go to our Stake's Father-Son camping trip. Tony was very tired, and it was raining, so they decided not to go. I invited some of my girlfriends to a nail spa to help me celebrate my birthday. We each had a manicure, a massage, and a pedicure. I was only going to have a manicure and a massage. My feet are so ticklish that I do not allow anyone to touch them! The girls talked me into trying the pedicure. I did it, and I have pictures to prove it! We had a blast!(although I'm not sure that I would allow anyone to touch my feet ever again!)

The next two weeks will be very busy. Nicholas' birthday is coming up - he's turning 12 on May 17. Our branch president is going to ordain him to the priesthood on May 18. My second graders are performing their concert next week. On May 29, our entire school is participating in a Dance Festival.

That's about it for now. Enjoy the pictures!

Our trip to Kentucky

2008-04-24T12:41:00.009-04:00

We drove 800 miles to and from Kentucky this past weekend to visit Noelle, Jeff, and their baby Rachel. We were also able to visit with Brennan and Tammi who were there at the same time. Driving in the van for 13 hours with Nicholas and Michael was surprisingly not too bad! We are fortunate enough to have a van equipped with lots of bells and whistles(DVD player, Sirius satellite radio, AM/FM radio, outlet plug, etc.), and we were all able to keep ourselves entertained throughout the ride. Now if only there was a way to exercise while riding in the car....

Rachel is just as Noelle tells us she is - cute, adorable, lights up at any mention of her name or whenever someone points a camera at her! She is a very agreeable little baby, and loved it that we were there to hold her, snuggle with her, and play with her! I'm sure that she misses us now that we are not there anymore!

This is what we did while we were in Kentucky with Noelle and Jeff:

Saturday - we arrived at 6:30 p.m. and went to a Boy Scout dinner, and then to a friend of Noelle's and Jeff's for chocolate fondue treats - yum!
Sunday - Noelle, Nicholas, Michael, Brennan, and I played a special number on our violins(Noelle at the piano) in Sacrament meeting - "The Lord is My Shepherd". The speaker was very impressed that Nicholas and Michael played the violin so well at their ages(Nicholas is 11 and Michael is 7). After church services, we went to Jeff's parents' house for dinner. He has a very nice family - we enjoyed getting to know them better. That night we stayed up late for some fun Karaoke!
Monday - We swam in the hotel pool - Rachel's first time swimming! she loved it! then we went to the nearby park(Tom Sawyer park) for a picnic lunch. After hanging out at the park, we said goodbye to Brennan and Tammi. : - ( They had to get back to their family.

Tuesday - We went to Churchill Downs for a museum tour and a backside tour of the race track. It was very cool seeing the horses, trainers, and other staff getting ready for the Kentucky Derby on May 3.
After lunch we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, where we got to see how bats are made, and we each received our own little bat as a souvenir. Tony, Nicholas, and Michael tried their hands at the batting cages. We won't discuss their scores here, but they had a lot of fun! Nicholas
and Michael both said that going to the Louisville Slugger Museum was the best part of the visit for them.(Nicholas says he also likes the riding crop he got from the Churchill Downs gift shop too!)

Tony loved seeing the final season Shea Stadium bats being prepared at the Museum.That night, Jeff, Tony, Nicholas, and Michael all went to play miniature golf, and Noelle, Rachel, and I went to Noelle's chorus rehearsal. Noelle's chorus is a Sweet Adelines barbershop chorus named The Pride of Kentucky. They just won a huge upset at their regional competition which they were very excited about! After hearing them sing, and learning of the history behind the regional competition, I can understand better why they were so excited! I got to sing with them, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Wednesday - we woke up at 3:30 for our return trip, and after 12 hours of smooth sailing, got caught in a slight snarl at the George Washington Bridge that made our trip last longer than we were hoping. We reached home at 6:45 and our dog Copper was very happy to see us home!

We are the newest bloggers!

2008-04-20T19:25:00.002-04:00

We are now the proud owners of a new blogspot! Thanks to Noelle, we have it all set up, so everyone can look forward to seeing lots of new entries.