Even manly men can't resist a baby!

It is impossible to resist holding a baby.  It's like eating one potato chip.  And even the manliest of men will do it.  They may not smile, but they'll hold that baby!  Here's a line up of some of the important men in the prince's life, not to mention a great opportunity to look at how he grew from May through December of 1995.  Awwwww.

 With Grandpa Rick.

He was still in the hospital in this photo.



 With cousin Matt in early summer.

Had some nasty baby acne going on here.



 With Great Grandpa Darrell.

4th of July in Glacier.

 With Shane at the grand opening of his liquor store.

Late summer.

With Grandpa Chuck at Christmas.



And finally with Uncle Blake the same Christmas.

His t-shirt says, "Santa Rules!"

Happy Birthday to the Prince

Happy 17th birthday to our baby boy!  We used to call him "nugget" (as in gold, not chicken) when he was little, but we would shorten it to "nug".  If he was upset we'd say, "What's the matter Nug?"  One day he toddled up to me and said, "What's the matter Nug?"  It was his way of telling me he wasn't having the best of days.  He was such a cutie.  He still is.  He's funny, smart, and a loyal friend. 

We simply couldn't love you more! 

Happy, happy  Birthday!

Batting a Thousand

For the second week in a row, the king has had to come to the rescue of a family member who locked their keys in their vehicle on a Friday night.  This week it is the prince.  Good thing we have the king around to rescue us!

About "Tears In The Darkness"

Phew!  I finally made it through "Tears In the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March And It's Aftermath" by Michael and Elizabeth Norman.  It has taken me a month PLUS to read this book.  I didn't really want to read it, but since I didn't finish a recent book club pick, I wouldn't allow myself to not finish this one.  I didn't read anything while trying to get through this one either so it was just one of those books I forced myself to read.  It wasn't long enough to merit taking this long to read.  I just avoided picking it up for days at a time.  I gave it 2 stars.  I might have given it 3 if my attitude had been better.  This is the true story of Ben Steele who joined the military during WWII and had the misfortune to be sent to Manila.  The Japanese took control of this island after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and Ben and thousands of other US troops were taken captive and forced on a grueling march to the other end of Manila.  Along the way they were tortured and killed in staggering numbers.  Ben survived, later became an artist and helped document the atrocities through his drawings.  They are part of the book, and they are gruesome.  This book was long on military war details and shocking beyond words about the horror of war.  I feel much the same about this book that I felt about reading Elie Wiesel's "Night": I'm glad I read it, but I'll never read it again.  And I'm glad I finished it, because the last few paragraphs about Steele's heart aneurysm at the age 82 are as amazing as his journey.  By the way, Steele is a well-known artist in this area, and is still alive.  He continues to speak about the torture he suffered and even engages young people with his story.  This book is also required reading in our area at the highschool level, and both the prince and the king have read it and really enjoyed it.

We're so proud!

Tonight the princess was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  This is a great honor.  In addition to having at least a 3.6 GPA, you must also get the highest score possible on our state testing in math and reading and meet the character criteria as well.  We are so proud of her!

 Here she is lighting the candle for character,

 before giving her speech on character.

She did a great job,

and was so poised and professional.

 Signing her name in the Honor Society book

that holds the names of so many

students who paved the way.

 Getting her gold cords--gold denotes a 4.0 average.

They will wear these cords at graduation.

 Taking the oath.

And finally, here she is after the ceremony with her English teacher.  This teacher runs the Honor Society program and will also be the chaperon the princess has been assigned to during the upcoming trip.  We love her and have been so grateful that she's taught both the prince and the princess!

What a great night!

Final Choir Concert

Yesterday the princess performed in her final choir concert at the school she has attended since Kindergarten.  By my calculations, she's performed in at least 18 choir concerts, a couple of musicals, and one opera.  She has also been a member of several elite choirs that she auditioned for.  She's headed to high school in the fall, and I'm excited that she's chosen choir as one of her electives.  She's lucky to have had such a rich music program and some really outstanding music teachers throughout these years.

Dodged a bullet!

The princess will, on Monday or Tuesday, get to be in the senate galley in Washington DC to observe a session.  This is a cool honor, as not everyone gets tickets to this event.  I'm excited for her opportunity to witness our government at work.  I'm really excited that she won't be there on Thursday.  On Thursday they start the hearings in the Secret Service Prostitute case.  While it's certainly topical, I'm not sure it's middle school appropriate.  Phew!  She'll be in NYNY on Thursday and headed home by late afternoon at that!  Good timing.

The No-No Girl

While scanning some photos the other day, I came across these.  They were too cute not to add to the blog, and I see a pattern.  Can you spot it? 

No, Mama, I'm not sitting in the dishwasher.

At least it was full of clean dishes.

And the prince thought this was hilarious.

I'm thinking maybe he helped her up there!

 No Mama, I'm not playing in the refrigerator.

Check out all the dairy products in there!

 No Mama. 

I wasn't playing in the ashes of the wood stove.

 No Mama. 

I am not climbing up to touch the stove.

 No Mama. 

I didn't just write all over myself

AND the car seat with a green marker.

No Mama. 

I am not in the living room,

on the white carpet,

with the chocolate beaters!

These cracked me up!  I love the marker one.  And clearly it's hard to not cut of the heads off little people when photographing them...couldn't be my camera skills.  Gotta love the kitchen too with it's gold appliances.  We had replaced flooring at that point but not appliances or the base boards.  Kids are expensive you know...what with the need to keep replacing the markers and all.  Given her antics I have to wonder where her mother was in most of these shots (probably running to get the camera), and how did she survive injury-free?

Aunt Robin

My brother's phone has a fun ap...if you like rabbits!  Where was this photo at Easter?  And Robin's a good sport for letting me put this on the blog.  Oh wait, don't tell Robin I put this on the blog!  :)

Jackie

Look at that great smile!  Braces didn't stop her!  She wasn't nuts about babies, but she was a good sport to pose with her cousin.  Early 1998.  Smile on, Jack!

A Death In The Family

It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of Cat, the beta fish.  Cat lived for 1 and 1/2 years with the Prince (part of a clever invite to a dance).  He survived the dungeon that is the Prince's room, irregular feedings and infrequent bowl changes, not to mention the introduction of a gold fish who lived there for a couple of months.  Yesterday the Prince found him floating belly up.  RIP Cat.

Refugees

Look at these poor little children.  They came to visit us for a week during the summer, and this photo was taken toward the end of the week.  I think they really, really wanted to go home and see their mama.  Poor little orphans. 

Dance Recital!

 Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year--DANCE RECITAL.  It was a great recital.  It started on time.  It was only about 2.5 hours long (including intermission), and the dances were GREAT.  Perhaps the best moment of the night (for me) was when, after the girls got done with their modern "Pearl Harbor" piece, someone gave them a standing ovation.  I have no idea who it was, but something tells me it was a veteran.  All the girls (and the two little boys) did a great job.  I can't wait for next year! 

Every dancer needs a great support system.

The princess couldn't ask for better.

The princess and Christian with one of their dance teachers.

She cares so much about these girls.

With Val. 

She has danced with Val for 3 years  now.

She teachers two dance classes under Val's guidance.

Val's off to college in the fall.  We'll miss her.

Pizza party afterward.

Great friends and great times.

The princess always tells us not to get her flowers.

This year she was given flowers by one of her dance teachers and by Val.

They look great on our mantle.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Football Update

Today they celebrate a WIN!

Congratulations!

On what planet it this okay????

Who parks like this?????  On what planet is this okay???? 

Here's the story...for those of you who didn't get my text last night.

MB and I went to dinner with another friend last night while the girls were at dance practice.  This is a once-a-year event and was much anticipated.  Dinner was cut short when the other woman's older daughter called to say that there was water dripping from her bedroom light fixture which is below their kitchen.  She had to rush home to survey the damage...there was much water in the kitchen, and her husband was out of town. (Because that's always the case when disaster strikes.)

Feeling grateful for my own small problems, I decided I needed a diet soda to sip on after a delightful dinner.  MB and I decided to head to McD's for the $1 mammoth drink, which we would enjoy while watching the end of recital practice.  Alas, it was not meant to be.

Some IDIOT had parked next to me in fine fashion!  Still, I was okay with crawling over the center console in my small Honda (because there's nothing prettier than that mental image), but I decided that first I must write him a SCATHING note to put on his window.  MB read the note.  I didn't even cuss.  (I'm not very good at being scathing.) 

And this is where it all went very wrong (if it weren't wrong enough already).  When I reached for the napkin to write the note on, I dropped my keys into my purse which was sitting on the front seat of the car.  I must have hit the lock on the car door because after putting the note on the truck and snapping a couple of photos of the cars, I realized my keys were now locked inside my car.  WWWWHHHHAAAATTTTTTTT???

Oh, the karma.  The bad, bad karma.  Luckily my husband was not out of town and when I called to ask him to bring the other set of keys, he was quick to agree.  Meanwhile MB had to walk back to the theater to let the little girl know her mom wasn't coming to get her.  Walking back meant dodging a fierce gauntlet of sprinklers.  The sprinklers won! 

But the king rescued me.  The weather was great to be waiting outside for him.  The drunk (I assume he was drunk...why else would he park like that) didn't come out while I was waiting, which was my fear.  I'm pretty sure he couldn't have gotten his truck out w/o damaging mine.  And I was able to back out of the space--after hurdling the center console and having to manually drag my right leg over said console (it didn't really like the angel I needed it to be in) without scratching my car.  Both the king and another man suggested I door-ding the truck.  I just didn't have the heart to do it...at least not in broad daylight!

Here's hoping for better karma today!

Meanwhile, back in Colorado...

It was a rough week in Colorado.  Amid the birthday celebrations, the football player got sick.  Really sick.  Sick enough to need some pretty serious blood work.  Yesterday he was feeling better, the blood work wasn't showing anything specific, but still he wasn't 100%.  Today he's on the road to recovery...he's even playing football this morning!  Go Jay!

Not everyone was sick though.  The Diva (I'm not allowed to call her Princess anymore so her mother suggested "Diva".  I'm not sure about that yet.) and Sparky went to a luau.  The photos are cropped strangely because I was cropping other people's (whom I don't know) kids out.  I vote we all go to Hawaii for our next family trip.

For My Mother The Day Before Mother's Day

Dear Mother,

I saw this and thought of you.

All my love on Mother's Day,

Your Darling Daughter

A Birthday Gift

Last year the prince took all his birthday money and bought a summer membership to Anytime Fitness.  He hit the gym a few times before the unfortunate SECOND broken arm.  We suggested he go suspend his membership until he was healed, but he "never got around to it".  This year, when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he told me he wanted another summer membership to the gym.  As luck would have it, they are a running a promo, and you can get May-August for $100 with no additional fees.  SWEET!  So the other day we went down to purchase this awesome birthday gift.  And since he had already been a member and still had his key fob, the entire process took about 5 minutes!   Love it.  And I love that I don't have to shop for gifts now.  Happy Birthday, a little early!

Columbines

Here are my yellow columbine.

 Here are my blue columbine.

What's wrong with this picture?

Last year they grew as well as the yellow!

I wish they bloomed all summer.

I really like them.

Though I can't help thinking of the school shooting each time I look at them.

Maybe that's the point.



Birthday Girl In Da House

WHAT???

What?  She's only turning 9???  I thought she was turning 10.  Phew!  She's not in double digits.  We get to enjoy her childhood for an extra.  

PS:  Clearly I am not the go-to person on the age of the people around me--including myself!

Happy Birthday Ariana!

This gorgeous little miss thing is 10 today!

Double digits!

Our babies are getting older.

Sniffle, sniffle.

Love you PRINCESS!

Happy  Birthday!

This post might also be titled, "Did anyone every comb that poor child's hair while she was visiting last summer?"



That was loud!

At about 4:00 am this morning I was awakened by a loud noise.  It took me a second to figure it out because there were really 2 noises.  One was the king snoring, loudly.  The other was a cow mooing, even more loudly.  That cow must have been right by our fence.  What on earth did she have to tell the other cows that early in the morning?  Eventually she stopped, but I was not amused.  The king stopped sooner because I elbowed him!  :)  By the way, Thursday is the most difficult day of the week for getting up!

Fantastic Mango Smoothie

We used our mangos and some of the strawberries to make this delicious smoothie.  I threw in a little of this and a little of that.  I have to say, it tasted very close to the delicious goodness Orange Julius produces!  The kids approved!

Recipe

2-3 cups crushed ice

1 cup diced mango

1 cup sliced strawberries

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

2 6oz containers vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup milk

Blend all in blender until smooth.

Mine made 3 large glasses.

Cheers!



Sparky's Program

Sparky had a spring program at school the other day.  Doesn't he look nervous?  I think he must save up all his courage for the wrestling mat.  His mama said the program went well.  He'll be moving on to 1st grade soon!

Schupfnudel

Schupfnudel is a German dish.  The king's dad used to make it.  He would get a big pot of water, potatoes, sausage, and spices going and then would drop this dough he had made into it at the end.  After the dough was cooked through it was ready.  We ate it on a plate, and I remember putting syrup on it.  (Everything tastes better with syrup, right?)  He also made a dish called "knepfla" which also had the dough going on but other ingrediants.  Both were ethnic dishes that he made once or twice a year.  Grandma hated it when he did, not because she didn't like the food, but becasue she wasn't too keen on the mess he made in her kitchen.  I have no plans to duplicate the recipe, but I share this because I think "schupfnudel" is a great word. 

Below is a photo of a schupfnudel dish, taken off the internet.  It doesn't look like Grandpa's but does give you an idea of the look of the dough (this photo shows it served with sauerkraut, which the internet told me is quite the norm). 

And below this photo is a photo of another kind of schupfnudel.

Long live the schupfnudel!