4-3-2009 through 4-10-2009 Paris in the Spring!

It was Shera's turn to go to Paris this year.
Holly watched Noel and Luke while we were gone over Spring Break.
I took over 1000 photos! Here are 19 of them!
Very hard to choose!
We first arrive and hit the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triumphe.

The Plaza Athenee's famous apple juice - we try to copy it at home!

The artist's square at Montmontre.
Hajer has done four of our children's portraits now.

The Japanese Bridge at Monet's Gardens.
So beautiful there, you can't describe it!

The castle ruins of Richard the Lionheart.
Luke's Flat Stanley went with us everywhere!
(School Project!)

Shera's favorite day at the Eiffel Tower!

We had lunch Jules Verne Restaurant on the second level!

Notre Dame from the Seine River!

We climbed to the top tower of Notre Dame to see the Gargoyles.
They really are as cool as you can imagine!
Lifesize!

Shera took this on our boat ride!

The Champs Elysees at night!
They say it's the most famous street in the world!

In the Louvre, we saw the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa and several others!

Le Grand Colbert for lunch. This is from the movie, "Something's Gotta Give"!

Tea Time!
And Dessert Time!

The Tour of the Sewers of Paris. Think Les Miserables and The Phantom of The Opera with a REALLY BAD SMELL!

She just looks Parisian!

The Gardens of Versailles were gorgeous!

Re-gilding the roof line. A 17 year updating project on the whole palace!

The bridge Shera knows from the movie "Anastasia".

4-2-2009 Thursday - Pistachio Ambrosia

Today I was finally making good on my promise to make Pistachio Ambrosia for Holly's birthday. The weekend of her birthday was so crazy, I had remembered the beef stroganoff and BTS cake she wanted, but forgot the special salad. So Luke and I took a little time off and did this together for her to enjoy that evening. The other crazy thing was, I wanted to do this because I was leaving for Paris the next day - and if I should die or something while I was gone, I didn't want her thinking I never made it for her. I know - it's crazy!!! But Luke had a fun time as you will see from the video below! :)

The finished product! Holly will be soooo happy!!!

Okay so here's Jeff's mom's recipe:

Pistachio Ambrosia
In a large bowl put in 2 small cans pineapple tidbits and 1 small can of crushed pineapple with the juices. On top sprinkle 1 small package of instant pistachio pudding and let it set for a few minutes. Then stir in 1 cup of shredded sweetened coconut and 3/4 cup chopped pecans. (My family won't eat the nuts, so we leave them out.) Fold in 12oz. regular cool whip and 1 cup of mini marshmallows. Don't over mix - just do it until it's all green. Chill for about 2 hours. Super easy and fun for the kids to do!

4-1-2009 Wednesday - Holly's Spring Choir Concert

Holly sang in the MVHS Concert on Wednesday. It was so beautiful. Her teacher, John Elg does a fantastic job with the choirs. I hope he stays long enough for all my kids to sing with him. He asked Holly to sing "O Mio Bambino" in between choirs. So here it is again. I know I've already put it on before, but I think she just gets better and better each time she does it. I think part of it is getting over nerves and just being more comfortable with singing in Italian. Anyway, here it is again...

3-30-2009 Monday - Spring Has Sprung!

Yay! Spring has sprung at our home and we are so happy!
We have lavender wisteria covering our backyard fence.
I think wisteria is my all time favorite flower!
Let me know what your all time favorite flower is!

For family night last night we made Great Aunt Doris's Strawberry Cream Cake.
It was delicious! We had the Penrod family over for dessert and games too!

Noel had two girlfriends, Arelli and McKenna, over today too.
They played on the swing and worked on a school history project together.
It's just been a nice week so far with beautiful weather.
I love Southern California!

3-26-2009 Thursday - Scrapbooking Weekend!

I know... I know... What in the heck do "Sprinkles Cupcakes" have to do with a scrapbooking weekend? Well, everything if you want to indulge during your scrapbooking weekend! My best friend, Barb Hehl, and I went to the Marriott Newport Coast Villas for four fabulous days of playing with photos, paper, stickers and computers! I got half of 2008 finished - about 60 pages front and back! So I was pretty happy about that. But the funnest part is being with Barb. It is like one long therapy session talking about everything under the sun from our childhood to our future goals. And we do eat great too! We had delicious pasta from Rothchild's, Mexican food from El Ranchito, Pizza, Turkey sandwiches, Corn Pops Cereal, Asian Pears, Strawberries, and of course... Our Sprinkles! (Photos of us are too gross to put on the internet! ;)

3-25-2009 Wednesday - Noel's Spring Choir Concert

Noel performed in her Choir Concert at RSM tonight.
She had a duet part with her friend Olivia and they were really cute together!
She is here with her two friends, both named Kaitlyn!

3-22-2009 Sunday - Holly's 17th Birthday Celebration!

Holly chose the perfect comfort food to match our comfortable clothes we immediately changed into after we got home from the competition!
Turkey Stroganoff With Egg Noodles (Holly doesn't eat any beef), Asparagus, Green Salad, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, and Martinelli's!

My friend Fawn, has been teaching me how to wrap and make pretty bows. She took me to this cool store a few months ago and I bought this beautiful paper and ribbon. It's been a lot of fun, especially since I have never been a wrapper. I like to hire out high school girls at Christmas usually. I don't know, I just see it as a waste of time. But now that's all changed and I look forward to using my pretty ribbon. My paper still gets all crinkled though! LOL

Patience Holly! Patience!
(Let's get a photo of that cute present I wrapped!)

She got all the things girls love: Bags, scarfs, makeup and jewelry!

She has large lung capacity because of her singing.
(In other words... Holly's full of a lot of hot air!)
He! He! He!

These plates were just too cute to not show off!

Holly chose a BTS (Better Than _ _ _) Cake for her birthday!
Holly was so bad - double dipping her candles!!!

We made Grams wait to take a bite until after Holly had the first one.
She could barely wait! Ha! Ha!

So she made sure that Grams could see her taking this bite nice and slowly.
What a trickster!

Somebody else got a little bite too... :)
Happy 17th Birthday Holly!

3-21/22-2009 Saturday/Sunday Holly's Rotary Voice Competition

Holly sang Saturday in the semi-finals for the OC Rotary Club Young Singer of the Year Competition. She represented the Mission Viejo City Rotary Club.
There are 47 cities that compete.

These are the finalists this year.
Holly got 3rd place in the Female Classical Division on Sunday.
Last year, Drew won 1st place in the Male Musical Theater Division.

Holly's friend, Ryan, won 3rd this year in the Musical Theater Division.

After the awards were handed out, we got this quick photo and hightailed it back home to celebrate! It was cold and windy!

We forgot the roses back home we had bought for her,
but she loved them anyway!

Here is the song that won her 3rd in the county...

3-21-2009 Saturday - Holly Goes To Mormon Prom!

Holly went with a nice boy from our stake to the Mormon Prom last Saturday night. His name is Trevor from the Lake Forest Ward and goes to El Toro High School. That is where Jeff went, so he liked him right away.
We have a policy in our home that whenever a boy wants to take one of our daughters out, he has to come over a day or two before the date and we meet him and kind of put him through "the interview"... It was a little hard on Holly when she first turned 16, and I think she thought it wouldn't last. But it has, and now it's something that we all kind of look forward to doing together. (She gets a kick out of watching them squirm just a little!) She warns the boy after he asks her out, and he gets all nervous, dresses up nicely and comes over one evening with Jeff, me and her. We ask all kinds of questions and just get to know him. It's ended up all being good so far with the boys she has brought home. And we find that afterward, the boys have all kind of liked it too! So it ends up being good for everyone. This last week, Trevor even brought his mom so that she could meet us too!

Here they are exchanging their flowers!
Don't you love the hat?

They look like a really sharp couple!

Holly wore her 4 1/2 inch heels and danced all night!
She took the shoes off an hour into the dance!

The progressive dinner was great with appetizers, dinner, and dessert at three different homes.
Does anyone know how to get photos from face book larger???
Please help me!

3-20-2009 Friday - Holly's Weekend!

This was officially Holly's weekend with her schedule so busy, we didn't get to celebrate her birthday until Sunday night.

1. Friday 1:30pm - 10pm Chamber Choir Festival at Azusa Pacific University with her high school class.

2. Saturday 10am - 2pm The Orange County Rotary Club's Semi-Final Young Singer of the Year Vocal Competition.

3. Saturday 5pm - 12:30am The Mormon Prom - Dinner and Dancing at Soka University.

4. Sunday 8am - 12pm Choir Practice and Church.

5. Sunday 2pm - 5:30pm Back for the Rotary Club's Finals - she made it!

6. Sunday 6:30pm - 9pm Celebrating Holly turning 17 years old last Friday! Whew!

Now that's not including getting dressed for 3 formal events, church, homework, chores, and sleep! She's so busy - but she loves what she does!

3-17-2009 Tuesday - St. Patty's Day Celebration!

St. Patrick's Day started for us the night before for Family Night. We had green gnocchi and green salad for dinner. I told the kids that I had caught a colony of Leprechauns dancing around our fire pit outside earlier that day so I cut off their heads and cooked their eyeballs for dinner! I had Luke going there for a minute! (You should have seen the expression on his face!)
Then I told them I was joking!
We read a St. Patty's story and did a little jig together too. Jeff's back was hurt, so he video taped us. Here it is...

Noel made a green St. Patty's cake for dessert. Delish!!!

Then we played the game, Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul.
It was a cute night we all enjoyed!

The next morning we had the full blown green pancakes with turkey sausages. When I asked Noel to pour milk for everyone we all got a big surprise - GREEN MILK!!!

Here we are all ready in our green clothes - even Jeff had on his shamrock tie today!

Luke, Shera, and Noel made a trap to catch the Leprechaun the night before. After school that day we found chocolate gold coins inside and around the trap with gold dust! Then we started looking around the house and we saw the coins and gold dust all over in little nooks and cranies! The kids said that the Leprechauns were tricking us because of my joke the night before on them. But I said it's because they are trying to catch him! Well, they were now out to find the REAL pot of gold now!

Luke knows how much Leprechauns like fairies, so he disguised himself as a fairy and tried to lure the Leprechauns out so he could catch them in his trap! They spent the rest of the afternoon playing "Leprechaun Music" and running around the house searching for the pot of gold!

Later that evening, our nephew, Dane arrived to stay with us for a few days with 6 of his buddies from the University of Utah (we'll forgive him for that! BYU RULES!!!) and we had a huge St. Patrick's Day feast! We had corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes, green salad, green grapes, and green knotted egg bread for dinner. It was delicious and nothing was left - as you can imagine with 7 boys there!!!

Around bedtime, Noel went to put the puppies outside and she noticed some new gold dust behind the sofa! The kids began searching and behind the firewood bin - they found the Leprechauns pot of gold! Yeah!!!
Hope you all had a great St. Patty's Day too!!!

3-15-2009 Sunday - Voice Recital At Our Home

We had the girls Spring Voice Recital at our home last Sunday afternoon. There were about sixteen students who performed and about 60 people watching. So this was a great experience for all of them to get up and sing in front of their peers, family and friends. They all did two songs each, except the seniors did four each. Holly did two classical pieces. Noel did a classical piece and one from South Pacific too. Shera did two songs from Carousel and Anastasia. Joan is their voice instructor and she's a genius! We love her! I love hearing them sing and watching them continue to strengthen their talents!

Here are Shera, Holly and Noel singing...