Anya "conducting"

Anya loves to conduct the music in family night. She likes to stand on top of a step stool or Aaron's "junk trunk" and conduct us with her hand or a chop stick, if she can get a hold of one. It's so cute we wanted to get a video of it. But the lighting in the living room wasn't bright enough for a video so we had her conduct in the kitchen. She was pretty excited about performing for the camera and decided to put on a show while conducting. Funny girl. She memorized the primary song we are singing because she heard it over and over as I was preparing for our Primary's Sacrament Program. When we did the program she stood next to me and tried to conduct the children. She was so pleased with herself! Luckily she's so short the kids couldn't see her, so she wasn't a distraction. Anya would be so excited to see her Aunt Sarah conducting a whole band!

In our little home school the kids love music time and one of their favorite songs is "Old Aunt Sarah had a band" sung like "Old MacDonald had a farm"--- Instead of animals old Aunt Sarah has percussion instruments in her band. So in her band she has things like a Triangle, finger cymbals, a tambourine, and maracas. The kids love banging away and singing. They have also learned the name of a variety of percussion instruments and what they each sound like. It's too bad that I didn't think to change the words to "Young Aunt Sarah had a band" before I taught it too them. Sorry Sarah but it's stuck as "old Aunt Sarah".

Thanksgiving "Tea" Party

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at home today. After the kids nap we had a "tea" party with fancy tea cups and hot chocolate. The kids loved it. It took some time for them to figure out how to hold their cups. Talmage practiced sipping with his pinky finger up. Anya was nervous about dropping it so she was extra cautious holding her cup. Fun memories!

Sunny Days in November

Talmage and Anya wanted to plant flowers that they could be in charge of. When we went to the store Talmage new he wanted a flower named Cosmo. We had to look at all the flowers and plants to see which he thought looked like a "Cosmo". He picked this pink flower and named is Cosmo. Anya picked hers and of course named it Elmo, like everything else. The kids love watering there flowers! And each other.

Anya chasing Talmage with the sprinkler. Swimsuits and playing in the sprinkler in November, the kids love it. Talmage barely remembers snow and cold weather. Anya thinks coats are dress up clothes.

Swings

The kids love going to the park near our house. They always go on the swings first. Talmage has learned to pump. I just have to get him on the swing and start him going and he does the rest. Anya loves "under dogs" and swinging high. This was a cooler day last week, probably about 70 degrees.

Way to Go Aaron

Aaron has been chosen to be on a new, highly visible development team at work. He will be the "lowest ranking" member of the team and he is very excited to be included. He wont have to do any support or "on call" work anymore. He will be doing what he's most interested in, developing "stuff" from start to finish. He has recently been recognized for an application he built that has allowed specific tasks to be done in a small fraction of time that it used to take. One manager reported it taking him 2.5 hours to complete a task that took 300 man hours to complete before Aaron's application. Everyone that has used it is very pleased. So, they are expecting good things from him. And he's ready to show the company what he's got.

I know my explanations are a bit vague but the "computer talk" I do understand I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell. There is so much information he's not supposed to share that I try not to repeat things he says for fear it's "classified" information.

I can share though, that his current manager cried twice as she was telling his team that Aaron would be moving teams soon.