Another Teenager!

Annmarie had her 13th birthday on Saturday when Spring Break started.  She chose to have crepes for her birthday breakfast and they were delicious!  She also chose to sing at the Wylie Opry on her birthday and did fantastic as usual.  She just keeps getting better and better.  Here's to another teenager!
 

Jonah's Birthday

Jonah turned fifteen on the last day of school before Spring Break.  I was subbing that day so Corey took him lunch.  He has a quick wit and sharpness about him and has lots of friends at school and church.  He keeps super busy with sports and band.  Happy birthday to Jonah!

 

Nathan is TEN!

Nathan turned ten while we were on our cruise, so we celebrated when we got back.  The baby is in double digits!  Time is going by way too fast.  He loves baseball and video games and playing outside with his friends.  I also went and had lunch with him at school, and In-N-Out was his request.  


 

Mom's Birthday and Messiah Concert

My birthday celebration was nice. We had our Christmas program in Sacrament meeting at church. The choir sang a number and I played the piano (I'm the accompanist, that is my new calling, released from YW in September). I also played a cello/violin duet with Eric Whetten. My parents came over for dinner that night, which was chicken cordon bleu. Dessert was angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. The best part was that Westley, Alejandra and Caleb got into town in time for dinner, so they ate with us as well. On Tuesday, the Dallas Bach Society was doing Handel's Messiah at the Meyerson in Dallas. I've always wanted to see Handel's Messiah performed in its entirety by a choir and orchestra. This wa the perfect opportunity. So I bought tickets for me and Corey, Westley and Alejandra, and Caleb and Eliza. But Eliza ended up not getting the night off work, so we ended up finding a blind date for Caleb instead, Eva Shipp from the 3rd ward. It was a nice evening and I really enjoyed the concert.

 

Celebrating Eliza

Since we weren't able to celebrate Eliza on her birthday, we celebrated the next night.  I made her the dinner she wanted and a cookie cake and we gave her a few presents.  Happy 18th Birthday!  Our fourth adult.

Eliza's Actual Birthday

Eliza turned 18 on December 6, 2025, but this post is not about her birthday celebration.  That's because she did not have time that day to have a birthday celebration.  Instead, she had an orchestra cluster concert.  We had a ward Christmas dinner.  And she had a combined choir, orchestra, and band concert.  Corey and I were supposed to go to the In-N-Out Christmas party, but we decided to skip it this year in favor of these other events, especially since it was in Fort Worth.  

I caught this picture of Jonah and Nathan being silly with the fox hats we have.  Had to get the picture of them matching with the hats because who knows when it will happen again?

The ward Christmas dinner was really good and we had some fun games they had planned.  Nathan got to be decorated as a Christmas tree.  Unfortunately, our group did not finish first.  The theme was Luau so we all wore our Hawaiian shirts.  I wore my Hawaiian shirt, which is white with red and yellow flowers and green stems and I won an award for the most "Christmas-y Hawaiian outfit".  I really just wore the only Hawaiian shirt I have!

We left the ward dinner early to go to the other concert.  It was a busy day!  

 

Jonah and Annmarie's Birthdays

We were pretty busy when Jonah and Annmarie's birthdays came.  We did not take any pictures of the celebrations.  We had Grandpa and Grandma over for dinner for both of the birthdays.  We did Jonah's 14th birthday on Sunday the 16th, while Eliza was in California.  He asked for Chinese food--honey garlic shrimp and orange chicken.  It turned out pretty well.  We had a regular chocolate cake for dessert.  

We celebrated Annmarie's 12th birthday the following Sunday at the end of Spring Break.  She had a pie for her dessert as well as some pavlova.  I did get one picture of that.

Nathan's Birthday Party

We owed Nathan a birthday part from when he turned eight.  For some reason, we just never got around to giving him one.  The earliest after his birthday that we could do it wasn't until the middle of Spring Break.  He still had fun. We just had a play day with the Wii and outside playing football at the park.

Nathan Turns Nine!

Nathan turned nine and we celebrated him with a Nerf Football cake.  I can't believe this is my baby's last year of single digits.  It's going too fast.

Parade and Birthdays

Sunday the 8th was Wylie's annual Christmas parade and tree lighting.  We have never gone, mostly because it always coincides with the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and it's on a Sunday.  But this year, varsity football was marching in the parade, so Travis was in it.  It was very cold that night.

We also celebrated Eliza and Corey's birthdays at dinner.  She turned 17 and he turned 46.  We have a busy week coming up, so that was the best time to do it.  We had cookie cake for Eliza and banana cream pie for Corey.

Happy 20th Birthday Caleb!

I sent Caleb some Domino's Pizza and some cupcakes for his birthday.  He did not get pictures of the cupcakes, but obligingly sent me the picture of him and his companion eating the pizza for dinner.  It's nice having missionaries serve in the states so I can do things like this.

Travis is EIGHTEEN!

We celebrated Travis' eighteenth birthday a day early because of the Homecoming Parade on Monday night, his birthday.   The varsity players march in the parade.  Travis' girlfriend Allison came over to celebrate with us.  We had shrimp for dinner as the main dish.  Can't believe another one is eighteen!  

Annmarie Turns 11!

Annmarie turned 11!  We usually do pie on her birthday for Pi(e) Day but we started doing a Harry Potter sorting hat cake when the kids turned eleven because that's when wizards in HP start at Hogwarts.  Annmarie was sorted into Hufflepuff, though on at least one occasion previously, we had done an online quiz that resulted in Slytherin.  So, who knows?  She did join Pottermore for her birthday and was sorted into Hufflepuff and has a panther for a patronus.

This girl is getting so mature.  I read somewhere that fifth grade girls could rule the world, and that is certainly true for her!

Teenager #5

Jonah turned 13 years old!  He requested homemade donuts for breakfast.  And because we have two birthdays in the same week, he decided to let Annmarie have the cake this time (usually we do pie for hers due to it being on Pi(e) Day) and he chose to have Root Beer Floats for dessert, so we put his candles on a piece of bread.  We have our fifth teenager!