OLDER BUT WISER

I didn't want to have a birthday this year. Funny enough I did anyway, because that's how years work. The even years are always my least favorite and turning 38 didn't sound fun. However, I'm sure 5 years from now I will be reading this and thinking I was a fool. This year was just kind of hard because I feel like I'm a bit idle in my life. Nothing has really changed except that I'm not as skinny as I was last year. ;)

Still, I learned a lot in my 37th year of life. I grew a great deal and got through so many emotional challenges. So as the song goes: I'm one year older and WISER too. And I am. Plus my life is pretty great.

HSM LIVE!

I've never kept it a secret that we are High School Musical fans. The fact that I still like the songs and am not sick of them after all these years just shows how much we love the movies. Or maybe it is that Zac Efron magic? Who knows?

So when Shari told me that they were going to be performing High School Musical at THE East High, I knew we had to go. Even though we had just seen the play days earlier at Hale Center Theatre. The play itself was kind of terrible, they gave it a good effort, but it was almost laughable how bad it was at parts. My favorites being that the same kid kept losing his basketball in "Get Your Head in the Game," and when the kid playing Troy sang so loud and off key I thought he was doing it as a joke, but um, he wasn't.

Overall the highlight of the night was walking around the school and taking pictures like we were the stars, because, let's be honest...we could have been. If only they had given us a chance...

FIRST PIANO RECITAL

Last year we were out of town during Stella's piano recital, so this year was her second year of piano, but her first recital. She was terrified. Like crazy scared. She practiced so much. She knew the piece perfectly but she would hardly ever play it right all the way through when she practiced at home because she would get nervous. I knew once she actually had a recital experience she would be fine, and hopefully each recital will get easier as the years go on. In fact I video-recorded her hands close up playing her song after the recital was over and she played her song with no mistakes because the pressure was officially off. I was so proud of her though because I am amazed how she can do things that scare her. It is a very admirable skill. She played "Minuet" by Bach.

We were happy to have some fans in the audience. But I think the biggest fan was her daddy. He recorded it and put the video on Facebook for all the world to be amazed by Stella.

I love this first picture of her because it really shows how scared she was...

PHOTOSHOOT AFTERMATH

On November 11th we got together to take the Douglas family pictures. Stella came along as my assistant. The kiddos are so easy to take pictures of now and they are so fun. It was a really beautiful night to be out by the Capitol Building. We snagged a few extra pictures at the end of the shoot of the kids being fun and of Christy and me being adorable. Christy and I were sure to get a picture of us doing Cali's signature pose for the whole photo shoot. I kept having to tell her to put her foot down, because she looked like a flamingo (an adorable flamingo, but still a flamingo). Love these guys all so much.

LITTLE LOUISE

On Friday November 4th, I had Baby Louise and Kathy come over. We had a little photo shoot with the baby. She was about two months old when we took these pictures. One thing I love about Louise is that every time I see her she still seems small. She is tiny and petite and I love it. I also love it when she gives you a grin...which is sometimes followed by her crying, but still.

It was short day at school so I was able to pick up Stella and she got to hang out with the baby for a while. She held her and Louise fell asleep. It was pretty sweet and Stella loved it.