Laney turns 8!!

Good Morning, Birthday Girl!

I stayed up all night to make those cinnamon rolls, so I want the love to wash over you as you feel the sugar course through your 8 year old veins. 

Feel the love!

Our plan for the day is a trip to the ZOO!!  It was slightly overcast supposed to get sunny. Perfect zoo weather.

Having your birthday fall on the first day of Spring Break has its benifits.

Enjoying the Merry-go-round.

And I couldn't resist the beautiful light falling on their sweet faces. I snapped photos of each one of them so I could have an up to date shot of each of them.

I am so happy with all of those. I can see their personalities shining through.

We rode the train, tram and skylift and Megan jumped at the chance to play a couple tunes on the way out.

Her dinner of choice was "Chicken and Rice"....one of our most popular meals. (Mainly because we usually have the ingredients on hand and it's not particularly adventurous. No cilantro was harmed in the preparation of this meal.

She received Pokemon bedding and a HUGE wolf that she fell instantly in love with.

I knew she would.

He was naturally invited for a slice of cake.

Trying to keep the candles lit.

Super perky face!!

Thinking over her birthday wish options.

Success!

I think she would agree that it was a great birthday.

And I would agree that she's a great kid.

Deception and survival

I had every intention of making homemade brownies....I really did.

But then I was informed that they like to hand out their treats during recess...not at the end of the day. 

So...this is happening. And if I know anything at about kids, they will have zero problems with this.

No longer stickin it to the man

When it comes to participating in school fundraisers, my kids know that they might as well hand it straight back to their teacher. I refuse to let the kids sell things to our families and neighbors. It's my way of stickin it to the man! We will not blindly hawk your wares!

But Mathew is a salesman at heart. He convinced me to let him sell cookie dough in the fall and he did an amazing job.  He went door to door and politely talked to the neighbors. He was kind and happy if they declined to buy and he did a bang up job of following through. I was impressed.

So, when the candy bar fundraiser rolled around, I knew he would want to do it. I agreed to put the word out on facebook and he had sold 2 entire boxes (140 candy bars!) in a day. It didn't hurt that he did some pretty good business with his brothers and sisters. It's hard to resist spending your allowance on chocolate when it's right there in front of you.

The written word

Well, that was a nice surprise!

Hello? It's me...

The girls love Adele. 

And you should sometime experience the pure happiness that comes to you when you are in the car with them and "Hello" comes on the radio.

They hold nothing back.

Meadowlark Quartet

There are two things in my life that I do to remind me that I am Maren. 

Not mom. 

Not "Sister Hufford".

Not "hey, where's my lunch?!" 

One is Crossfit.

The other is Meadowlark Quartet. 

We started playing together a couple years ago and we occasionally play at church or for a wedding or charitable event. 

But pretty much we just get together every Thursday night and talk and play and talk some more. 

I love it....and sometimes I hate it. (It depends on how much I've practiced.)

So after about a year of working on the same (crazy difficult) pieces, we decided it was time to play them for somebody. Anybody!

So we rented a recital hall, picked a day, begged Leslie (Nate's wife) to make us a cool flyer with a retro design, made cookies and showed up on the designated night!

If we hadn't, we would still be playing the same Mendelssohn and Haydn that we've been practicing for a year and a half.  So here's to getting new music soon!

Go Fish...3rd grade musical

What little girl wouldn't love to be an aqua blue seahorse in her 3rd grade musical?

I would love to freeze this moment...please?