The Royal Family in 2008

Back Into The Groove

School started back the day after Labor Day and two weeks later we're back into the swing of things.


The Queen has just 3 kids in her Pre-K class. All boys. Two of them are from our ward and the other one is our Padgett cousins. She can take three more kids, but I think she wouldn't mind if she didn't get any more. Also, she was released last week from her calling in the Relief Society presidency and called to be the Den Leader for the Cub Scouts ... I think she's really excited to be involved in the scouting program.


The Princess is in the 6th grade this year and is attending a charter school downtown. Somehow the paper work for her to ride the bus got messed up, so I have been taking and picking her up from school and will probably have to continue to do so for another week or so. I enjoy taking and picking her up ... I usually drive her crazy with my choice of music on the way to school and then I drive her crazy asking her questions about how her day was at school. She seems to really like the school, which is great because she was determined to not like it when she found out last May that she was going there.


Prince 1 is back at the school in the dale. He's a big bad 4th grader this year. We were happy that he got Dr. Smart, the homeroom teacher that we requested. We really like her as the Princess also had her for homeroom in the 4th grade. He now changes rooms for each of his subjects. He's trying to get used to it and the extra homework he has.

Prince 2 is a big bad kindergartner. He has a great teacher and she has high expectations of her students. He's not used to having to do homework, so he's been a bit of a whiny hiney when it comes to getting it done. He is doing good work in class and the teacher said that he has been able to go around and help some of the other kids with their work.


Last Saturday the Princess and P1 started back with the youth orchestra program. P1 is playing in the 2nd violin section of the Debut program. The Princess is 1st chair in the first violin section in the Lyric Strings 1 and in the first violin section of the Lyric Strings 2 ... I am probably the only one glad about where the Princess is sitting, and only because it's proof that she's getting something out of the lessons we're paying for. They are still taking their piano lessons and are getting pretty good at the piano, too.


I'm working a lot more from home these days and that is really helping with the auto fuel section of our budget. I was finally released from my calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher last week. I had accepted a calling to be the 1st counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency last month and have been doing double duty.

Happy Birthday To Our Prince

Nine years ago today this picture was taken of our first prince. He was born just a few hours before it was taken. He had a rough entrance into this world but in this picture it's easy to tell that he was blessed with a peaceful, laid back, sweet disposition. That is not to mean that he is not all boy, for he is all that and more, but he is slow to anger and quick to share what he can. He adores his older sister, even though she doesn't suffer him well, and he loves his younger brother and can't stay mad at him even when he pesters the fool out of him. All of those nice things being said, he's not one to be pushed too far because he will defend himself and as Mr T. used to say, "I pity the fool!" He is athletic and can play any sport with all of the coordination necessary to be good at what game he's playing. He is a homebody ... he doesn't like to be gone from home too long and he doesn't like any family member to be gone too long either. When we went on our two week vacation last summer, we weren't even down the road 30 minutes before he asked me when we were going to get back home!! He has a beautiful singing voice and is quite talented at playing the piano and violin even though he detests having to practice. He is a natural performer and will volunteer to sing or give a talk in front of a group at a moments notice. Once in Primary one of the kids that was to give a talk didn't show up, so the Prince volunteered and got up and was able to give a talk on Daniel and the Lions Den, because he had watched the Liken video of it about 20 times the previous week. Here is an odd fact about him, he loves to watch videos with the captioning on. Here is just a fact, the boy loves to eat!

The Queen and I love our first born son and wish him many happy returns on his special day.

Fill in the Blank Part 2

Last Thursday P2's Pre-K class invited their Dad's to come in and make doughnuts and eat them. The were the Pillsbury biscuits and we made a hole in them and then the teacher fried them in grease and then we put them in a baggy filled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. They were pretty good and we had fun making them. For the special occasion the kids made place mats. On one side was a picture P2 had drawn of me and on the other side was a fill-in-the-blank letter to me like the one he had done for the Queen for Mothers Day. He was a little off on the age again, but according to him I'm younger than the Queen! And, I think his portrait of me is pretty good, so as my old friend Bucky would say, ENJOY!!!!

Class of 2021!

This is the youngest Prince with his teacher and they are showing off his certificate of completion of the Pre-K program at the school in the dale. We went to see him perform in his end of the year program this past evening. He did a great job of singing and performing.

For those of you who know the Prince, you will find what his teacher told the Queen after the program very interesting. She said that if she had a class full of kids like the Prince that it would be a boring class ... WHAT?! ... She explained that it's not that he's boring it's just that he is so well behaved, that he never gave her any trouble, whatever she asked him to do, he did ... WHAT?!!!!! ... I would like to live in that peaceful world for one minute! He sure keeps us on our toe here at home, so I do have to say that I am proud of him, and I guess I'm grateful that he saved all of his button pushing for home.

The Queen said that he came home from school today with as sticker on his shirt that read "Class of 2021." Talk about a mind blower! I'll be 57 when he graduates which means I will be marking the the 40th year of my graduation from High School ... Wow!

Here are some pictures from our evening.

It's a Small World!

This little girl has been "in love" with the Prince all year long ... Hopefully we wont have to worry about them getting hitched until 2025.

Here he is with the Teachers assistant. She was very nice and the Prince really liked her.

And, with the Principal.

Way to go Buddy! I love you!

We've Got Annie!

Last night the 5Th graders at the school in the dale performed scenes and songs form the musicals Annie and Newsies. Our Princess was selected to play Annie and I'm sure its because she was so familiar with the songs, thanks to her Aunt Gigi letting her watch it a million times at her place, and the fact that she has a nice singing voice. We were so proud of her and all of the 5Th graders for doing such an excellent job. The school in the dale is a performing and fine arts school and this program was to be a culmination of all the things they have learned through their years of being there. Here are some pictures and video clips from the show. And, remember the sound in the clips is never as good as the live performance.


Here is the princess a Orphan Annie. That's Grace to her left and the staff at the mansion behind her.

Here's a video clip of It's a Hard Knock Life performance.


Her teacher added this solo performance of Tomorrow a couple of weeks ago.

Another video of I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here.

And now for the last performance, Annie and Daddy Warbucks will sing I Don't Need Anything But You.

We were glad that Aunt Gigi, Uncle Harry and Cousin Shelby came to see the performance.

They gave the Princess some flowers!

The Cast!

Daddy Warbucks, Annie, Molly, Grace and Miss Hannigan.

P2 and P1 the tried on the Annie wig after the show and cracked us up. I don't think they would make very good Annies even though they know most of the songs.

It was a great evening of great talent. We have two more events to attend at the school next week ... P2's graduation from Pre-K and the Princess' bridging to middle school ceremony ... which means there will be at least two blog entries from me next week!

Happy Anniversary, Darlin'

Happy Anniversary, Darlin'!

Thank you for the best 12 years of my life!!

I love you, I love you

M. P.

Fill in the Blank

The youngest prince's filled in the blanks on this page from a book his Pre-K class made for their mothers. The Queen wasn't too discouraged by the third answer when she saw that another student had answered 93 for her mother!

Music Man

The 3rd and 4Th graders of the school in the dale did their performance of scenes and musical numbers from Music Man. Prince 1 had a small part (Winthrop), and as always, did a great job. I'm always amazed when I watch him perform because he's never nervous. Here are a few pictures and videos from the performance.

This picture and the next were taken during the "76 Trombones" number.

He was playing air trumpet during "76 Trombones." You know, I don't remember seeing one trombone, real or fake.

Receiving their well deserved applause!

P2 in the yellow shirt running to give his brother a hug after the performance.

Next is a video clip of the song "The Wells Fargo Wagon." P1 is standing at the right of the stage with a straw hat on.

Sorry, I messed up again and turned the camera sideways, so you can either turn your head or close your eye and listen to part of "76 Trombones." P1 comes in at the end playing the trumpet.


This is a clip of the finale. It begins with P1 in the straw hat holding the trumpet.

The End!

The Mother of My Children - All Hail The Queen

This is the Queen. You can see why I married her ... She's Hot! But, better than that, she's smart and she's the world's greatest Mom! Now you may want to disagree with me, but don't, on this point I cannot be swayed.

Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful? (can't you just her Stevie Wonder singing?)

Here she is with her Mother ... Happy Mothers Day my dear Mother In-Law ... Thank you for your Daughter!

Here she is with the kids that gave her the right to be called a Mother ... and an Aunt! That's one of her favorite nieces at the right in the picture.

Now, what follows is proof that she is possibly one of the most fun Moms in the world! I loved that she did this and so did her kids.

I love you, I love you ... Thank you for being such a wonderful Mother to our children ... What is good in them is because of you.

SB & MP FOREVER!

Happy Mothers Day Mom/Grandmother

My beautiful Mother ... I thought I would show what you looked like before your children got a hold of you and put some gray in your beautiful black hair.

Still beautiful!

That's right ... Take a load off, It's your day!

We will always remember Darth Grandmother (good way to cover those grays without all the chemicals)

We love you ... As always.

Recital

The Princess had a violin recital this evening. She did a great job. It was a last minute request. Her violin teacher had been asked by another teacher if she would like to have some of her students perform in a recital she was having. I hope you understood that last sentence because I'm too tired to go back and explain it. Like I said the Princess played beautifully ... I was very impressed. I however did not do so great. We were supposed to be at the church where the recital was to take place at 5:00 pm, but we didn't get there until 5:30 pm because I forgot to bring the directions of how to get there, so I had to do it by memory. What I remembered the teacher telling me was that it was St Paul's Episcopal Church on 36Th and Bull streets ... but, I couldn't find the Episcopal church ... Long story short it ended up being St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheren at 31st and Bull streets, Ugh! Lucky us, the recital hadn't started and we actually got there before her teacher did. All the students were great ... we then came home, left the camera with the Queen so she could download the performance and watch it, and went to Chick-fil-leg (that's what P2 calls Chic-fil-A) to get something to eat. We get back home and I ask her Royal Highness how she liked the performance and she says, "It sounds great, its much better if you close your eye and listen!" I say "Oh, was the lighting bad, can you even see her?" she responds "Uh, just watch and you'll understand why I'm saying that." I now share the video with you so you can see how we will always be able to remember this recital!

Unlike pictures you take pictures you take with your camera, videos cannot be flipped so that you can see them properly. So, keep the camera in the upright position. Sage advise from the Queen.

Tennis

The boys started tennis lessons the other day. They had a good time. I enjoyed watching them even though I was getting tore-up by the sand gnats. Here are some of the pictures that I took.

The Princess In Concert

The Princess performed in a spring concert for a youth orchestra group she has been involved with since September. The concert was excellent and she did a great. She is the Lyric Strings I and Lyric Strings II group. These groups prepare them for the Chamber Orchestra and then from there they work towards getting into the Youth Orchestra.

Here are a few clips from the concert. The sound quality isn't the best ... It sounded much better live. She is the one in between the two girls in the front ... the bow of the girl to the left is going back and forth in front of her head. This clip is "Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead." They also did "If I Only Had A Brain." Those were her two favorite pieces ... At least I think they were ... They were the only pieces I ever heard her practicing.



This next one is "Fiddler Tunes No.3"



Same piece.



The End! (she's the one in front of the older blonde lady)



We were very happy that Papa and Grandmother were able to come up to see the concert! I think they really enjoyed it.



We've had to get up early almost every Saturday morning since September to go to practices, so we're looking forward to sleeping in this Saturday.