Poetry Jim Jam

So today was Brynna's 1st grade Poetry Jim Jam at school. It was, well....interesting. Mrs Dajany had a cool spotlight set up against a black background. The kids had all written their poems at school...so we had heard nothing about the content of her poem. Brynna waited her turn patiently and then walked up to the front of the class and very solemnly read....


Dog
By Brynna Taylor

The Dog
Went to the bathroom on the rug
At Night
In the living room
Because she needed to go to the bathroom.


I think I laughed out loud for real. Kind of a silly day at Barratt Elementary.

Matthew speeds to a third place finish

I tried to convince Matthew to use his car from two-years ago in this years pinewood derby. He is only three weeks from moving on to the "new scouts" and no one in our new ward would be any the wiser. However, Matthew, being the good and honest boy he is decided he wanted to do it one last time... and do it himself. He worked very hard and long on it...both with the sanding etc. and with the design. He sanded it himself, did the paint job himself, and put the wheels in himself. An hour before the weigh-in, dad helped him put in the weights. He went for a BYU paint job. I was hopeful it would simply make it down the track...to the end...without falling apart in pieces. I was seriously worried, but it did great and he placed higher than any other year. He even got a trophy with a huge wheel glued to the top of it...it was very creative. Speaking of creativity, for the treat they let the kids make cars out of twinkies...they were so cute...Brynna's favorite part by far.
We also spent the last couple months finishing up Matthew's requirements for his webelos (we did not get every single one of the awards...but just enough to get the actual webelos badge), as well as the arrow of light. He had a great arrow of light ceremony where a very tall man with a fox on his head summoned the great spirits...it was actually very entertaining. So in a few weeks Matthew moves on to real camp-outs and klondike derby's and such...not sure how I feel about that.

Our Tinkerbells 7th Birthday

Brynna, turned 7 years old today. I can't believe it has been seven years since she was born. We are so grateful to have her in our family. She really is a blessing to us all.

She woke up to her favorite, McDonalds breakfast...Got sung to at school... And then came home to fun and presents. After school she dressed up in her tinkerbell shoes, dress, wings and tiara. She also had a Tinkerbell cake...I bet no one can tell she loves fairies and Tinkerbell. She also was so happy to get a phone call from her great older sister, Melissa...who she likes even "more" than Tinkerbell.

She had a great day, despite soccer practice, scouts, singing lessons and young women's (for her siblings) all on her same day. It was tricky getting time to open presents and blow out candles. Grandma and Grandpa Taylor took Brynna out for pancakes last night and Brynna got a beautiful belle cake, cute dress and zhu zhu pet accessory from them. Grandma Nuttall and Katie came over today and spoiled Brynna with a new crocheted blanket and Cinderella polly pocket.

We are so lucky to have such great grandma's grandpa's and aunts.

So now, on the evening of her birthday, since all has quieted down, Brynna sits next to me on the couch in all her Tinkerbell glory wrapped in her new blanket, holding the sleeping puppy. Happy Birthday to our baby girl.

Bella and Our Little Silly April Fool's Day

The kids are pretty excited to have a new puppy. We named her Bella...not because of Twilight but because Bella means beautiful in Italian. Although, Bella is white like a vampire. She has been a pretty good puppy...no "accidents" so far. She loves to be held and played with. She loves all the kids. She will make a great guard dog someday I am sure; she is going to get up to probably three to four pounds.

Our April Fools day was pretty much uneventful. Brynna thought it was hilarious to draw a picture of a cow and tape it to the back of her sister with a caption that said..."I'm a cow". No idea where she got that from. She laughed for a good five minutes though. All the kids rubber-banded the sink squirter so by the end of the day all had been squirted and the kitchen floor was drenched.

Just by chance, On April Fools day, a long ago lost mouth retainer (two or three times back) appeared in the dryer...I think from a jeans jacket recently handed down to Emily...finally worn and sent through the wash. So I took it, made pudding for dessert, and served Aubrey's pudding with a huge dose of retainer at the bottom. Silly...but we thought it was funny knowing her history of retainers.

They also had the 9th grade students register for Highschool on april fool's day which was likely appropriate given the difficulty and stress involved. Aubrey of course went temporarily insane and wouldn't let anyone in her family help her...but we eventually got it worked out...it might even be "o.k."

We are also excited to announce that Melissa is expecting again and she is having a boy. Boys are hard to come by in our family...needless to say we are all thrilled, but no one more than Matthew.

A Retainer of Peace

Our lovely Aubrey recently got a new beautiful retainer. The message of peace will remain in her mouth on hopefully a consistant basis.
We thought we would take a poll to see how long you think this one will remain in her possession. Here are some hints for easier voting: It is her 6th retainer in the last year. The last retainer lasted a mere two to four days. She believes the just previous retainer went into the garbage, wrapped in a napkin, the first day of school after Christmas break.
So, if you find a retainer that looks like the above, please give it to Aubrey. Any donations for use in future retainers would be greatly appreciated;) We are, however, hopeful this retainer will be the last.