In Sophie's Words

Last night Sophie noticed my nose stud. She aptly pointed out that there was something "shiny" on my nose. When I tried to explain, she looked at me and replied, "It's okay, Miss Jessie. It'll go away soon."

19 Special Things About My Birthday

1. My mom cooked a delicious dinner of some of my favorite foods and made this super yummy blueberry cake (a fulfilling birthday cake without chocolate! :)

2. A trip to the Farmer's Market

Fresh vegetables are so beautiful! And I just love those blue flowers! (Can't remember what they're called...)

3. A picnic at Park Ave

4. The most gorgeous day a person could ask for!

5. My family :)

6. Trains! Gabe has taught me to love trains, and I can't help but think of him whenever I see one.
7. Tali Rose

She's so crazy, and I love it! She gave up attending an all-day youth group event just so she could be with me. :) In the first picture, she's successfully catching a piece of kettle corn that I threw at her.

The card she gave me was filled with purple glitter that went flying everywhere when I opened it (thanks, Tali! ;) and these fun adjectives that she thinks describe me.

8. A phone call from Jenna that I just received while writing this. :) Not to mention a wonderful song from Jessica and all the other sweet calls and messages I received.

9. Speaking of phone calls, I was able to talk to Zach and Jeremy (currently traveling the country). It was the next best thing to them being here. :) Miss you guys!

10. Adventure!

After our lovely picnic, we ventured back to discover that our car was dead. Thankfully, some nice people let us borrow their jumper cables (of course the jumper cables couldn't be found the one time we needed them!) and we eventually got going again.

Carissa's new car rescued ours

11. On the, flip-side, I'm so thankful for a most relaxing day! I was doing stuff all day, but none of it was part of my weekly routine, so it was wonderful!

 

12. My sunday school class today!

13. My favorite sunday school teacher (that would be you, Sierra! :) and the time we get to spend together each week. I guess during busy seasons of life, time spent with some of your best friends changes form. I'm thankful for any I can get. :) Love you, Sia!

14. Sprinkle doughnuts! Mmmmm. I realized later that the sprinkles were hiding chocolate. Oh well. =/

15. Tristan's intensity and hard questions: "Why did God let evil come into the world?"

Boy! If that doesn't prepare you for parenting, I don't know what does!

16. Time spent with some of my favorite kids yesterday. Ty and I walked over to Gabe and Sophie's house to find their whole family (minus Hannah) enjoying the beautiful day and each other. We stayed and played for a while. It was wonderful. 

(I was super sad my other kiddos weren't home when we tried to stop by!)

17. Another amazing dinner made by Tsukasa! Thanks, Tsu!

18. Tyler and his sweet gift

First of all, isn't this a crazy candid shot? Ha ha! (Proof Ty was hogging all the popcorn, minus the pieces Tali and I were throwing)

It says "19 Special Things About Jessie" and there are 19 roses each with a special thing attached. :) I've included some of my favorites.

Apparently when I talk I add "sound effects" to my stories. I never noticed it before Tyler pointed that out.

Also one of my favorites...

My dad took the liberty of adding this one...

Which brings me to # 19...

19. After we jumped the car, we girls and Ty piled in the van. All of a sudden, a blindfold was tied around my head!

We drove for a while, and when we finally stopped they let me out and Tyler led me into...

No worries, I didn't get a tattoo...

But I did get a nose stud!

In case you're wondering, I left my Dad's addition to Tyler's gift on there, because he is indeed a terrific dad! I've been after him for more than 2 years to allow me to do this, and he finally said I could! I totally didn't expect this kind of surprise for my birthday.

It didn't really hurt (obviously there was some pain), and it's been so painless that I keep forgetting it's there! I didn't even have trouble sleeping on my left side last night. I was going to put up a picture, but the stud is really so small that it's hardly visible! As soon as there's a good photo, I'll post it.

Well, I've been struggling with all these pictures for a long time now, so I'll wrap up this post. All in all, my birthday exceeded any and all expectations! It was best day ever!

A Favorite Drawing

Ever since I finished reading Wuthering Heights, I've not been able to get it out of my head! If you've ever read it, you know the story just sticks with you. I'm always thinking through the intricate plot-line and trying to uncover all the figurative treasures. There is just so much! I'd love to read the whole thing again, pen in hand, dictionary at side, mind sharp.

I found this drawing via Google Images (apparently it's artwork that was done for the cover) and just fell in love with it! I printed a few out, put one up in my room, one in my journal, and even one in my locker. Yes, I was recently granted use of a music locker at school. It is the most amazing thing to not have to carry 10 pounds of music repertoire everywhere! Not to mention it's my first locker ever! The first week I opened it a bunch, just because! But I digress...

If you've read the story, one look at this picture evokes so many emotions!

Just talking about it now makes me want to drop everything and dive into the story!

Instead, I'll be practicing piano and preparing for the FCAT. Yes, you read that correctly; it's an assignment for my education class. But all day tomorrow is going to be wonderful! I'm going to sleep in until 8:30 (hooray!) and allow myself to just practice for 2 hours. :) Then, it's off to the Farmer's Market and to a picnic! Oh, and did I mention it's my birthday? That should make the day great. Tonight my mom is making me a delicious dinner. Mmmmm. Better go practice so I can be on time for my own birthday dinner. Have a wonderful weekend!

An Evening With MaggieMoo

I was scheduled to watch Wesley, Emma, & Maggie on Friday night, but their mom called to say the older two were invited to go camping with their cousins. That left just Maggie.

While practicing this really cool piece (check it out!), I was suddenly inspired. I called Maggie's mom to see if I could pick her up an hour early and take her painting. Her mom is great and readily agreed to my spontaneous, crazy plan. Fifteen minutes, later we set out on our way to paint.

When Maggie was a baby I watched her every Tuesday afternoon. I saw her through many baby stages (teething, crawling, walking, jabbering, etc.) and grew to love her very much! 

Spending time with her Friday reminded me of times past. :) I loved it! When I arrived at her house, she ran up the driveway, excitedly asking, "Miss Jessie, will you take me painting?!" After she was secure in her car seat, we took off. If you think toddlers don't notice every move you make, think again. "Miss Jessie, why aren't you driving with two hands" Yikes. Reproved by a three-year-old, and guilty as charged!

Here's Maggie, preparing to paint.

Picking out the colors was so fun; she knew exactly what colors she wanted. (Apparently purple was the color of the evening. Notice her purple shirt and the purple chair she requested to sit in.)

She quickly used up all the paint on her pallet, so I went to get more colors. When I came back, I found my piece strikingly different than how I had left it.... ;)

In an effort to protect my creation, the next time she said she wanted new colors I suggested she mix them and she what would happen. :)

Three pairs of beautiful blue eyes met us at the painting place just as we were finishing up. (Thanks, Ty for taking the pictures!) Afterward, we walked around a nearby location. Well, Maggie ran, and I mostly ran after her. Finally, we ended up at Panera where Maggie and I shared a turkey sandwich and managed only to knock over one cup of water.

Here we are with our masterpieces!

In the one above with Kelly, Maggie was probably in the middle of saying, "Happy cheesy day!" Every time I pulled out the camera, she started smiling really wide and saying that. :)

Ty and Glenna. :)

I just love this one! Maggie's eyes are saying so much.

Sillies

This afternoon my mom and I went to a piano concert. (Yes, another required one!) We were chatting on the way there, and when I opened my mouth to say something, a bug flew in!

Yes, I inhaled some sort of arthropod. Of course a coughing fit ensued, and the rest of the trip was accompanied by terrible laughter. It is a most dreadful feeling to have an insect stuck in your throat; it becomes hilarious when you have your mom in the seat next to you (thankfully, she was driving). She even began to think she, too, had something in her throat! We just couldn't stop laughing.

We arrived late, with laughing tears in our eyes to a very serious event. Our sillies mostly subsided for the concert, but because it wasn't all that interesting, there were a few flare ups.

Off to practice...

New Blog!

I finally gave in and switched over to blogger!

All of my old posts will still be located at my old blog. You can access them here. I'm sad I won't have a photo page anymore, but I'm hoping that you will actually be able to see the pictures I post from now on.

I spent the evening with my favorite three-year-old, Maggie. I took her to All Fired Up (they were actually open this time!), and we had a wonderful time painting together. Pictures to come. It's time to practice my snare drumming rudiments for my percussion class.