Anyone Can Sing "Happy Birthday"

But this is REALLY special. Our sweet friend George Dyer, our favorite tenor, sang Monte a special song to celebrate his birthday!

Monte's 9th Birthday Party!

Ok, I know you were all as worried as I was that we didn't get to celebrate Monte's birthday on his birthday...due to the hospital stay and ect...
Better late than never, we had an amazing time on Friday, here's the recap!
Welcome to Monte’s 9th Birthday Greek Mythology Adventure!
To ensure a fantastic experience, make sure to do all of the following activities:
o Try out flying shoes with Hermes.
o Learn to throw a lightning bolt with Zeus
o Play water tag with Poseidon.
o Eat pomegranate seeds with Persephone.
o (Sisyphus was a king punished in Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill). Practice with him!
o Avoid Medusa’s stony glare in freeze tag!
o Roast a marshmallow for s’mores with Hades
o Search for the golden apples with Paris.
o Drink Nectar of the Gods! (Nectar of the gods, to put it simply, is a name for the drink which has the sweetest taste of any drink in the world. The first time someone consumes this sweet, sweet nectar, they will instantly realize that it is by FAR the best thing they have ever tasted in their entire life).
o Eat Food of the Gods! (Theobroma is Greek for "the food of the gods," and the common names are taken from the Aztec and Mayan languages. Aztecs considered cacao to be man's inheritance from Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air).

Piperisms

I keep laughing at the cute things Piper says, and I want to record them for her for later! I keep forgetting to jot them down, but here's a few:
Pretending to play doctor...but pausing to hep me instead, "The doctor was delivering a baby, but she'll do the baby next week and help you instead."
Putting on dressy shoes for sale in Old Navy and following me around, "Look at me, I'm a short mommy!"
Irritated that Amy, Allison, and Josiah hadn't responded to a text-ed picture of her, she was unhappy with my excuse, "Oh, they're in school and working, they're busy people." She said, "In school?!! Why are they still kids?" Implying that they're WAY too old to be in school still.

Barbara Bradshaw Smith

I was reading an article about Barbara Bradshaw Smith, former General Relief Society President, and loved this quote:
"'All the world is a stage and each one plays a part' is a popular paraphrase from Shakespeare....Each mother should be the leading lady on life's stage...Being part of the life-giving moment is a great and significant thing that each mother finds anew with wonder and discovery. Although it has happened millions of times through all the centuries of time, each moment of birth, when hallowed by the eternal perspective of the restored gospel, is in fact a new beginning in the drama of life....

The magnitude of the challenge to rear a family is hard to comprehend. It requires the most continued effort of the part of the mother so that she can grow fast enough to be able to enrich her children by the quality of her own life.

Certainly a house needs order. Certainly, it needs to e a place of preparation where needs can be met. Just as certainly, it needs to be a place of stimulation where people can grow in faith and knowledge and where their hearts can expand with wisdom and love and service. The great message for all mothers is to accept the challenge of the mighty task. Rearing children is worthy of our best efforts and the joys and blessings of this challenge are great....

Motherhood is a cause to command the best effort of every woman who has the opportunity. The care and training of the next generation is a cause to engage the finest minds and the greatest spirits in the world today, just as it has been in the past."
"Let every day be Mother's Day," Church News April 30, 1977.