Happy Birthday, Melissa!

In this happy picture, I am posing with one of my best friends in the whole wide world. Melissa is so fantastic and has become like a sister to me. She makes me smile and laugh, and we have great adventures together, including hunting down our favorite authors all over the Southland! She loves books as much as I do, and she is the one who introduced me to the Twilight series waaaayyy back when the books were new and Stephenie was a regular visitor to twilightmoms.com. Melissa was one of the original Twilight Moms and got to visit more than one movie set and meet Robert Pattinson and the other stars. She has been on TV in various capacities, sings at Segerstrom Hall on a regular basis, and is the queen of all that must be organized. I love her sense of humor, her capacity for understanding, and the value she puts on friendship. She is very creative -- coming up with awesome ideas for her girls, whether it's for their scrapbooks, for their parties or to reinforce a spiritual lesson. She is passionate about education and I know that she will change the world for the better. God has given her so many talents and gifts, and I am very happy that she shares those with me. Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday, Henry

Yesterday was Henry's birthday. Just look at this baby picture. Can you tell why we love this puppy so much? He is so much fun and has brought such joy to our lives these past 10 months. Yes, he sheds. Too much. Yuck. And yes, he eats all kinds of crap -- including, you got it, crap, as well as shoes and sticks and rocks and magazines and plastic straw wrappers and anything fun he finds in the yard or on his walks. And yes, his very existence complicates vacation plans and any activity where we're away from home for eight hours or more.

However, he makes us laugh. He makes us smile. He licks away tears and sad faces. He cuddles against you and keeps you warm. He plays a wonderful game of tag or soccer. He protects the family from scary intruders like the mailman and the UPS guy. He is goofy. He barks at the TV or the fireplace just to keep them on their toes. He plays hard and sleeps hard. He suns himself on the hot pavement. He is the first to greet you when you walk in the door, and he is always happy to see you. He answers to several nicknames including Boom Boom and Teeny Tiny and Wookie. As Sean summed up once, "I'm glad we got Henry, Mom, because now we're a real family."

Happy Birthday, Henry Hope Mosher; we're so glad you're part of our clan.

Happy Birthday, Michelle!

Happy, happy birthday to our favorite piano teacher in the world! She is awesome and makes learning about music interesting and engaging. We are lucky to have her in our lives. And, she is such a great friend -- so much fun and always up for laughs and craziness. She's also one of the wisest, most beautiful and kindest people I know. Happy birthday, my friend. May you have a wonderful and special day.