Happy Birthday, NomiAnn!

Well Mom, Happy Birthday! It's hard to show enough appreciation for the woman who carried you around in her belly for nine months before enduring birth for you. Considering the absolutely rotten time I gave you during my grand entrance into this world (30+ hours of hard labor, followed by a traumatic forceps delivery), I'm grateful you allowed the doctor to resuscitate when I then stubbornly refused to breathe. Many others might have said good riddance!

I could write a lengthy diatribe recounting for the entire world how wonderful you are, but knowing how much you love being spotlighted, I'm hoping you'll like this gift better: pictures of your favorite grandkids. The photos are a rather random assortment, so be warned and enjoy.

One of the most wonderful things about NomiAnn is how generous she is with her time, coming to visit whenever her busy schedule will allow. During these visits, we often get so busy playing hard that I forget to grab the camera. Fortunately, I snapped a cute photo of NomiAnn baking with Talia Lily on St. Patrick's day.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn and Eli kept themselves entertained with NomiAnn's bright purple iPad. The purple is naturally in honor of Central High School where Mom coordinates the International Baccalaureate program. (Central recently received notification that their program has been officially authorized, so kudos!)

At last, our green meal is served. On the menu: broccoli soup, cucumber salad, artichokes, Irish soda bread, and lime sherbet cocktail.

Talia loved the artichokes, as you can see by the pile of leaves in front. She kept insisting on dipping them in her drink.

And then, she drank up all the artichoke soda water. Ewwwww!

Those who know Cathy Ann know that she is an amazing seamstress. I love how her creations live on from generation to generation. Here's Brooklyn in a pioneer dress Mom sewed for her nieces.

And here's Talia in a dress Mom made almost three decades ago for Aunt Callie. It's two sizes too small, but she still loves wearing it all the time. I love how this picture of Talia at our neighbor's Easter egg hunt really captures her energy.

Here's Talia on Easter, dressed a bit more serenely, but still every bit as spunky.

And here's Brooklyn, basking in the Easter glow. This was an important Sunday for Brooklyn since she was asked to sing a solo in sacrament meeting when the musical number fell ill. We talked for a long time about how the reason they asked her was not necessarily because she has the best voice, but rather because of her courage and willingness to help at a moment's notice. I think I was more nervous than Brooklyn, but in the end her song was lovely.

Some more photos of Brooklyn working on the Brownie Taste Test for her science fair project. The pumpkin brownies were fairly well-received.

The broccoli brownies? Not so much.

Talia Lily at soccer practice. The four and five year-olds are so cute scooting all over the field! We took a break from gymnastics for soccer season, but Talia seems to have developed her own cross between the sports. During her first game she must have turned nearly a dozen somersaults.

Outrunning the boys. As one of two girls on her team, Talia has to be quick.

Brooklyn's also playing soccer, so our family is being initiated into the world of organized sports. Both of the girls are doing well, but the schedule is wearing Mom out. Here's Brooklyn at Girl Scouts, pink-cheeked and still in soccer clothes after coming directly from practice. By the way, the Easter bunny stuck shin guards in the girls' Easter baskets. Clever.

Creative play time. If you don't have a violin...

...make one! Our self-proclaimed violin prodigee.

Heavens, Talia, that hair!!! So you may remember that Talia gave up thumb-sucking a year ago around Easter. Since that time she hasn't gone back. Unfortunately, she now trades off between her index finger and her pinky. Sigh. Why do we have so many fingers?

Crazy and unruly as that hair can be, it also has lovely moments of great beauty.

I think the same can be said of your darling grandchildren. Happy Birthday, Mom!