End of Year/Birthday Celebration

On the last day of school, Michelle had a bunch of her friends over to celebrate the end of the year and her 14th birthday.  Michelle made a Family Feud game about herself to play with her friends.  They also played Wheel of Fortune/Hangman with white boards.  They had pizza and an ice cream bar and talked and laughed and had a good time.

We should have gotten a picture of everyone together earlier on because by the time we took this photo, several friends had left.  Michelle is blessed to have a large group of really wonderful girls as her friends.

Piano Recital

On May 13, the girls had a piano recital.  Suzy has been teaching them piano.  But in April, she started at BYU as a professor (yay!!)  Since she is no longer working in Salt Lake, it wasn't convenient for her/us to have her continue to teach them.  So in April, they began taking lessons from Julie Carlson.  So they had only had lessons for a few weeks from her when they had a piano recital.

Ella played "Village Dance." Gabby played "The Baseball Game."  Michelle played "Furiant."  It was fun to be at the recital and see a number of children that we know well play piano.

Fabulous Fourteen

Michelle turned 14 two weeks ago.  (I just can't keep up!)

Her birthday was on Mother's Day.  So we went out for breakfast on Saturday (Einstein Brothers...her favorite breakfast place.)

Mother's Day...my sweet girls with me.

Michelle got this cute dress for her birthday.

14 Reasons Michelle thinks it is fabulous to be 14:
*One more year until she can learn to drive!  (She thinks this is fabulous...I think this is overwhelming!)
*I am a year older (and wiser too!)
*Youth conference...I'm going to Lake Powell!
*I'm going to high school.
*I'm excited for this year's girls camp.
*4 years left until I graduate.
*I have amazing friends.
*I get to go on a lot of trips this summer.
*I get to redesign my room.
*I'm working hard to complete Personal Progress and earn my Young Womanhood Recognition.
*I have completed junior high!
*I get to meet new people in high school.
*I have cute clothes.
*I can do more grown up things.

She also got these cute shoes.

14 Foods Michelle Likes:
* Ramen Noodle Soup
*Toscana Soup
*Cake
*Ice Cream
*Empanadas
*Pupusas
*Thai Chicken Pizza
*Panda Express
*Cafe Zupas
*Chocolate covered strawberries
*Grilled Cheese made in the oven
*Pesto Ravioli
*Tortillas with meat, melted cheese, tomatoes, onions, garlic and sauces
*Grilled onions

Alfredo bought her an ice cream cake.

14 Songs Michelle Likes:
*Halo by Beyonce
*I Was Here by Beyonce
*Nobody Like You by Little Mix
*Seamless by Sabrina Carpenter
*No Promises by Demi Lovato
*Reminding Me by Vanessa Hudgens
*Unconditional by Kehlani
*Change Your Life by Little Mix
*Attention by Charlie Puth
*Lady  by Meghan Trainor
*Hey Soul Sister
*Style by Taylor Swift
*Sledgehammer by 5th Harmony
*Stone Cold by Demi Lovato

Elaine brought her these delicious cupcakes.

Because her birthday was also Mother's Day, we invited Elaine and my grandpa over for dinner.  Michelle chose the menu so we had Toscana Soup and rolls and salad.

Twelve!

I can hardly believe it!  My sweet Mirielle Ilana turned 12 last Sunday!   She is turning into a beautiful, sweet and smart young woman.  It seems just yesterday she was a little toddler learning, growing and about to undergo heart surgery:

Or a young girl, excited for Christmas:

And now she is almost finished with elementary school, beginning young women's and entering such an exciting and busy time of life:

The night before her birthday, I took her out for ice cream at Menchies:

 On her actual birthday, Michelle and I were gone all morning because Michelle was competing in the Utah National History Day competition.  She and 3 friends had created a website about the internment camps.  I signed up to be a judge for the group performances at the competition.  A couple of the groups from Michelle's class will go on to compete at the national level this summer.  Michelle was disappointed that her group didn't go on, but I am pleased with how hard she worked and all that she learned.

That evening, we went to dinner at Pizza Rev (Ella's choice) and went to a movie (Boss Baby).  Then we had cake at home.  It was a fun opportunity to be together as a family and to celebrate our sweet Ella!

Alfredo bought Ella this cute outfit.  Other than that, her gift is to go on our trip together this summer!

 Twelve reasons Ella is excited to be TWELVE:
*Young women's program
*She can sit in the front seat of the car.
*She'll get a phone when she starts 7th grade.
*Girls camp.
*Activities for young women's program
*Going on a trip with Mom to Church History sites
*Being 1 year older
*Going to the temple
*Finishing elementary school
*She can babysit now.
*She got money for her birthday from several family members/friends.
*Personal progress

Twelve foods/treats Ella likes:
*pizza
*ice cream
*Einstein brothers bagels
*chips
*strawberries
*empanadas
*pancakes
*rice
*hamburgers
*toscana soup
*sugar cookies
*freeze dried yogurt bites

Twelve Songs She Likes:
*Most Girls by Hailee Steinfeld
*Simple Things by Brooklyn and Bailey
*Something Like This by Coldplay
*Halo by Beyonce
*Blank Space by Taylor Swift
*Good for You by Selena Gomez
*Water Under the Bridge by Adele
*Run and Hide by Sabrina Carpenter
*Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara
*Eyes Wide Open by Sabrina Carpenter
*Stand By You by Rachel Platten
*I Was Made For Loving You by Tori Kelly

We love you, sweet Ella!

Easter

Somehow life got busy and I never posted about Easter.

We decorated eggs:

We had dinner and an egg hunt with Alfredo's family. Unfortunately, the photos of the egg hunt were taken on my phone and my phone broke this past week.  I lost most but not all of my photos when my phone broke.  So I have a few photos from our visit at Patty's house but none of the egg hunt.

Teacher Appreciation Week

I seriously have the cutest and sweetest class ever this year!  I am going to be really sad to send them on to 4th grade.  They have been genuinely FUN to teach!

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week.  I received several thoughtful gifts and notes.  But my favorite part was that my room parent had the students fill out a thank you form to give me which she put into a darling book with a vinyl owl and my name and the year.  Here are some of the responses on the forms:

My favorite thing about my teacher is...
she's always sweet to others when she is mad at another student (I guess this means I don't punish all the students for one student's misbehavior?)
she is really nice.
if she wants to do something, she does it.
that she is a great writer.
she is fun and very challenging.
she teaches us.
she reads books to us.
she reads to us.
she makes things fun.
she makes us laugh.
she is kind.
she always does cliff hangers (when reading aloud).
She is nice, so fun and is always in a good mood.
she does fun math games.

My teacher always says...
Write, write, write.
Did you do your homework?
Write, write, write up a storm.
Good morning every day.
kind and happy things.
Solve problems.
Keep up the good work.
Let me hear four things you learned today.
You can do it.  Don't give up.
That's a move on the noise level meter.
Keep up the good work.
Don't give up.  Be happy.
Write, write, write.  I want to see your hand moving across your paper.

What I am going to miss most is...
the other students and my teacher.
my class and the math games.
her saying, "Good morning!"
reading.
math.
everything.
our character traits.
her love for owls.
Mrs. Panameno.
her jokes.
parties.
how fun she is and nice.


My favorite memory is...
the Snake math game.
I don't have a favorite memory.  They are all so great.
the first day of school when I met Mrs. Panameno.
that she helps me with math and makes me feel happy.
reading Bunnicula.
the pajama party.
when you started being my teacher.
my great teacher.
when I helped the teacher.
getting Arnie the Doughnut to read.
her reading to us.

Don't you wish you had my job?  Aren't these kids the cutest and sweetest ever?