Yesterday was Lucy’s 8th birthday. When she woke up, we all hopped into her bed. She looked at us and said, “I don’t feel 8!” We laughed and told her that is a pretty common feeling, NOT feeling a year older on your birthday. She got ready for school, sporting her new High School Musical t-shirt, she brushed her teeth with her new High School Musical toothbrush and then opened her present, High School Musical Barbies.

She had a great day at school and thankfully I did remember to drop off donuts to her class. That was a close one!

After school we asked her where she would like to have her birthday dinner. She wanted California Pizza Kitchen. We drove downtown to CPK and found a parking spot right in front. (Which was miraculous) As Aaron parked I looked out my window and noticed a small group of people standing less than 5 feet from my car door. First I recognized Kenny Ortega the director of High School Musical! “NO WAY!! That’s Kenny Ortega!!!” I shouted to Lucy and signed to Leah. Then I realized that Vanessa AKA Gabriella and Zac Efron AKA Troy were standing with him!!! Zac had a hat on and Vanessa had BIG sunglasses, you could tell they were trying NOT to be recognized. “Oh my gosh!! Lucy look it’s Zac and Vanessa!!!!” I threw open my door, grabbed Lucy and walked the 4 steps to stand in front of them. “I am sorry to bother you, but it’s her birthday today and she’s even wearing her HSM t-shirt and got HSM barbies as her gift can we just say Hi?!!!” They said, “Happy Birthday!” and Zac asked Lucy to give him “5″. She did. Kenny started waving at Leah, letting her know it was okay to come out of the car. Leah wheeled forward in her heeleys, white as a ghost with her jaw to the ground. “ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!”, she all but screamed. Zac said, “I like your heeleys!”

We let them know how much we love HSM and are excited for the next one. (They shoot here in Salt Lake City). And you may have recognized “Coach Bolton” in our Signing Time DVD “Family Feelings and Fun”.
Then they quickly made their way through the mall before too large of a crowd formed. we stood their stunned. I realized my legs were shaking. LOL. Lucy looked at us and said, “This is the Best Day Ever!” We had to agree.

After lunch we ran into Kenny again. He stopped Lucy and was talking to her. He had his little Yorkie with him and told Lucy that he loves her name, and when he gets another Yorkie, he is going to name it Lucy.

When I told my sisters what had happened they all asked, “How did you pull that off?” I just laughed, “Oh what we won’t do for a birthday around here!”

We didn’t get pictures with them, but I will be posting Lucy’s afterglow picture when we got to the restaurant.
Here it is!

This morning I am going back to Ghana! You may have noticed that we have moved my Ghana Journal, Blog and video to the Signing Time Foundation site. All future updates about Ghana will originate on the foundation site. I posted the details about today’s trip in a post called, “Going Back to Ghana Saturday.” Hop over to that site and subscribe to the blog for updates about our continued work in Ghana. Again, I have NO idea if I will have internet access while I am there. I promise that I will journal and take pictures!

I will be back late Thursday night.

Rachel

When Aaron and I were in Las Vegas last week, Leah broke one of her toes! She was at a roller rink with Alex. They were not skating but climbing up an obstacle course/bounce house. She was standing at the top of a cargo net watching Alex on the rope swing. As she says, “Patiently waiting for my turn!” She lost her balance, and started to slide down the net. As she slid, one of her toes got stuck in the cargo net webbing.

Doesn’t it seem like we are breaking a lot of things? I broke my elbow last May, Leah broke her thumb in January and now her toe! Somewhere in there Aaron had his wrist x-rayed after a “rough” weekend of snowmobiling… he pulled a tendon and had to wear the same hand splint that Leah had for her broken thumb, a larger version of the splint obviously Let’s see… Oh, Lucy had an MRI of her brain 2 weeks ago and nothing is broken in there… That’s the good news!

I like to bake cakes. But I usually bake them when I am not really into eating cake. Is that strange? Probably. I baked a cake 2 weeks ago, it was a Pecan Pie Cake, recipe from a Southern Living Magazine of course!

Aaron keeps asking, “Why are you baking a cake? I always have to eat the whole thing!!”

I do have a piece but that’s all. I just want a taste, but you can’t really bake a taste of cake.

This week I baked a Lemon Cream Cheese Cake (not cheesecake). I haven’t had my taste yet. Can you tell I like just a taste of coconut too? Baking cakes and not eating them.. just one of the silly things I do!