Two Weeks in Kansas with the Carson Family

Just a few days after my recital I flew back to Kansas to spend two weeks helping Krystal with the kids while Garrett was away being an instructor at an ROTC camp.

I didn't get to hold Matthew too much because he mostly needed his mommy, but I enjoyed it when I had the chance!

 
Matthew is only about three weeks old in these pictures but he looks so bright-eyed and alert!

One of my tasks was to drive Makayla and Daniel to swim lessons every day at noon.

 Makayla proudly displaying her very tall lego tower.

 Alexa reading a book to herself.

Adam playing at the Lawrence city museum we went to one day.

 The two girls showing off their cool look with their sunglasses.

 
One day we went outside to play with sidewalk chalk. Looks like Alexa mostly wanted to carry it around!

 At the ward linger longer after church. I made rosy refrigerator rolls and K-bars as our contribution and I think that's about all the kids would eat from the potluck.

 A fun moment of the girls on their mommy's lap, and Indie getting in on the action!

There's a room in the basement that the kids call the "run around room". The middle three kids had fun riding their bikes around the room, since it was really too hot to ride them outside.

Doing a craft that I brought to help keep the kids busy.
I'm glad I was able to spend so much quality time with the Kansas Carsons!!

Kent's Visit to Vancouver

Suspecting that my Mother was near the end of her life, I took the opportunity to go visit her several times this year.

Sitting n the new lift recliner we bought for her.

I could not get away for moms 90th birthday party but came a few days later so all of her remaining children were home together for a day.  

Marty helped me pt in a new sidewalk so mom could wheel around the outside of the house to enjoy the back yard.  Grandson David Hassa built a ramp for the front door previously.  She cannot walk down the steps to the back patio anymore.  Steve Johnson watching from behind

Cutting the pavers

Laying the pavers

Still laying the pavers

Added some red stones and pavers for plant stands - The finished product

Marty and I went to help my high school friend Steve Johnson cut up and burn some of the piles of wood left over from the 35 acres of trees he had logged earlier in the year. 

We cut up a lot of the bigger logs for Steve to burn in the fireplace. 

Then burned the first of the over 100 piles of wood left over

I spent Sunday for Church and lunch with Elaine's Parents in Forrest Grove, Oregon.

Some photos of moms back yard

She loves gardening, and wishes she could still get out there and dig in the dirt. 

End of Year Gold Star Themed Piano Recital

I had LOTS of fun with my gold star theme for my end-of-the-school-year piano recital!

 I gathered all the gold and black decorations I had, plus bought a few more. I used some of my glittery gold  and music note ornaments from my Christmas decorations, too.

I found some black with gold stars scrap booking paper to use for my invitations. I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the lettering, piano and gold stars out of shiny gold foil. I used a gold paint pen to draw the border around the front of the invitation.

I bought square black envelopes from Hobby Lobby and used smaller gold stars to decorate the envelopes.

I dressed up my "piano recital" chalkboard signs with gold star stickers and used a black with gold cloth from my Halloween decorations. The program was also dressed up with gold star stickers.

I bought a dozen gold star helium balloons and put some piano key stickers on them, and put them around the room. My one regret is that I didn't make the piano keys larger!

I covered the backdrop with a black sheer curtain and put shiny gold fans on it. This was the back of the room above the refreshment table.

This is what the front of the room looked like.

I made slides of each student to be shown while they were playing their songs.

I covered the walls with a black sheer curtain and put shiny gold fans on it. This was the back of the room above the refreshment table.

I pulled these gold stars out of my Christmas decorations, and found the little gold star tea lights at the dollar store!

Since I was kind of obsessed with my gold star theme, I didn't ask the parents to bring refreshments this year. I wanted everything to match, so I made star-shaped sugar cookies with gold sprinkles;

I made brownies with peanut butter frosting because they fit my color scheme, as did mini eclairs.

I found these black with gold stars cupcake liners, and made turtle cheesecakes to go in them.

I also found these AWESOME shiny gold shaped plates at the dollar store. 

I made each student a wooden star with their name on it, that I gave them after the recital. I don't know how I ever got along without my Silhouette machine to make my decorations and gifts for the students!

 As usual, I played lots of duets with the students, but didn't play a solo piece this year.

 I divided the group into two so the recitals wouldn't be as long, as I've been doing for the past several years.

The only thing I dislike about splitting the group is not being able to get a photo of all the students together.

I was very pleased with the way everything turned out and felt it was a successful recital!