Monday, March 23, 2009

HENRY TURNS 8!!!

Our little Henry turned 8 on Saturday! He is our baby, and it has been bitter-sweet seeing him reach this milestone. I can't believe how the years have flown by! Henry is hilarious and sweet, and we love him. Congratulations, Henry!

Our church building is under construction, but the room with the font in it was finished, so we could use our font. Many of our good friends came. Max gave the opening prayer, I gave a talk on baptism, Charlotte gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, Bill baptized and confirmed Henry, and Hannah gave the closing prayer. It was very sweet. Yesterday at church, Henry was called up on the stand, and Bishop Tait welcomed him as the newest member of the Oxford ward. It is very moving to see your own child make the covenants that you know are the key to happiness.
We love you, Henry!

Henry wanted to do a cannon-ball into the font, but he lost his nerve.

Henry loves his scripture set and the carrying case. Finally, he has his own real scriptures like everybody else!

After the baptism, we went out to dinner with some good friends: the Nicholas Family, the Pratts, the Telfords and the Ordynas. We went to a new Hibachi place, and the funnest part was watching the kids' faces. They loved it!

Max looks like he could be having a business lunch. He is so cosmopolitan.





Henry had his party at The Skate Place. I must have had my camera set on blurry.

The kids had fun skating, running around in their socks, playing the arcade games, and having cupcakes.


Henry especially likes the way his name is written on his scriptures--it's "fancy."

post signature

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

That Darn Cat

First of all, let's just be clear: I am not an amimal person. I don't hate them, I just want nothing to do with them. I feel nothing for them. They are animals. However, Bill and the kids LOVE animals. Therefore, we have a dog and a cat. I am not involved with the pets. They leave me alone, and I leave them alone.

The other day, our cat was wailing and rolling around and acting very strangely. The kids were worried, and were in tears thinking she was sick and was going to die. Because Bill was still in China, I had to pretend like I cared. So to avoid the whole ordeal of having the cat die on my watch, I took the cat to the Vet. As soon as I opened the car door, the cat somehow got out of the carrier and bolted.

I called to the stupid cat, but of course it made me chase it for 20 minutes. Then I gave up and went into the Vet's office, and told them our cat ran into their woods. They called out a big search party, and were trying to comfort me and give me hope that we would find it. I had intended to just cancel my appointment, and tell them I lost our cat, so never mind. But then I was surrounded by animal-lovers, so I had to pretend that I cared. Totally awkward!

As I described the cat's symptoms to the animal-lovers, they all said it sounded like she was in heat. The aminal people looked at me like I was a terrible person. Why hadn't we had her spayed? What, she is not current on her vaccinations? I was surrounded by looks of disapproval, like I was a crack-head mom who didn't change her baby's diapers.

The vet's staff volunteered to keep search parties going throughout the day, and they wanted to make fliers to put up everywhere. On the inside, I was so irritated--this had already taken up my whole morning! But on the outside, I was so grateful to the animal people!

The kids were so relieved that she wasn't sick and going to die. Then I told them I had lost her. They, too, wanted to make fliers. Charlotte made this flier.


Conclusion of the story: The Vet's search party found the cat that night. hooray. I was guilted into spending $300 on the stupid cat by the pressure of the animal-loving Vet staff. That's $300 on a cat. #$%^&*!+#$%

post signature

Bills' New Office Burned Up

Bill's company had been remodeling (for almost a year) a beautiful building on The Square. They were scheduled to move in this week.
In the middle of the night, some rags in the building caught on fire, and the whole inside burned. It just made me sick to see it.
Looks like it will be another year...

post signature

Hannah's a Superstar!

Hannah was in the Oxford Middle School production of "Annie." She was Duffy, one of the orphans. They have been practicing for three months, and the big show was last week. It was so fun to watch! Hannah did a great job and had so much fun.

This is the cast party after the show.
Hannah and her friend who played Lilly.
It's a hard knock life, for us.
This is the last scene where they all sing "Tomorrow." The kid who plays President Roosevelt's name is Chester Shivers.
Miss Hannigan was hilarious.
The orphans plot against Miss Hannigan.

Orphans' curtain-call.
The entire cast. The boy who plays Rooster asked Hannah to a movie and gave her a gold diamond-encrusted heart necklace for Christmas. Awkward!



post signature

Monday, March 2, 2009

Lately...

Lately I have lost the will to blog.
Lately my creative juices have dried and withered to nothing. The magic is gone.
So it is with great effort I chronicle the latest happenings, or lack thereof. Bill has been in China for the last three weeks, and we have missed him. He is coming home tomorrow night. Maybe we will go to China Royal to celebrate. I'm sure he would love that.

It snowed here overnight, and we woke up Sunday morning to cold whiteness. The kids were up and outside at 6:30am. There was much disappointment that church was not cancelled.
A mini-snowman was built. Of course Max wanted to destroy it.

The sun is not up yet, but we are.
This was a nice day at the park. The kids got cat-tails and turned them into fuzz. They could have done that all day long.

Henry and Charlotte belly-slid down the hill.
Henry's big hair.

Hannah was in a choir competition. They got "Superior" marks in the three choir groups she is in. This is sextet. Hannah is the one with devil eyes.

post signature