Photo-A-Rama

This is one of the views from our yard. I wish I had a really good camera that was capable of capturing the beauty of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They regularly take my breath away.

This is the hill across the street from our house. That white stuff is snow! I have never seen the snow come down that low, and we've lived here for 7 1/2 years. I loved how low the clouds were, also.

Somebody please shoot me if I ever take our views for granted.

These were Jack's Valentines for his 3rd grade class. I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips for dipping the strawberries. It was ridiculously easy. For the first batch, I melted the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl over a pot of boiling water. Then I tried melting the chocolate in the microwave -- it was faster and easier. I didn't notice any difference in how the chocolate looked or tasted, so I'll probably just use the microwave for this in the future.

Jack's birthday party was on Thursday (12 February). It was very low-key. He invited his friends Cole, Mason, Grant, Logan, and Nate over. They ate pizza and chocolate cake. They played on the XBox 360. They watched a movie. They wore silly Bert and Ernie party hats. (I bought those hats for Luke -- the older boys saw them and wanted to wear them. Silly boys.) I think they all had a good time, and the older boys were sweet to let Luke hang out with them. (Parker went to a friend's house that night.) Anyway, Jack's party was a slumber party, but we aren't sure how much slumbering actually took place.

Jack

Jack's self portrait that he painted in art class about 2 1/2 years ago. You can tell that they had just had a lesson about Pablo Picasso and were asked to paint a Picasso-esque self portrait.

Nine years ago today, John ("Jack") Thomas Suorsa was born. He wasn't born till 10 days past my due date, so I was very happy when he finally arrived. He has a cool date of birth -- 2/2/2000.

Jack is such a fun kid. One of my friends, Karen, an artist who often volunteers to help teach art at Jack's school, says that Jack is a "free spirit" and joy personified. She said that she loves to watch him when he's drawing -- he gets totally into it.

Jack loves art. He takes after his Grandpa Burdell and a few of his artist uncles. He goes to art class once a week after school with another one of my artist friends, Yovanna. Jack and Yovanna have a wonderful relationship -- he would live at her house if I'd let him! He loves her studio -- he feels so at home there. Yovanna is his second mother.

Jack also loves music. He takes piano lessons and wants to learn percussion next year in school. (Tim and I want him to learn the trumpet. We'll see...) He'll probably be in a rock band someday because he is already a rock star.

Jack also loves playing with his friends. He is definitely a social creature.

Jack, thanks for being part of our family. You are a good son. We love you. Happy 9th Birthday!