Happy Birthday Gigi!

My OLDEST sister is Gigi and today is her Birthday!

Here's wishing you the best on your day and many many happy returns!

And, in your honor I'm posting a video of Dalida singing your song!

ENJOY!

Jesus Christ

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.

All Hail the Queen Again!

Before we were married the Queen instructed me that I could forget our anniversary and all other significant events in our lives, but I could never forget her BIRTHDAY! Do you think I have ever forgotten her birthday since received those instructions? NO! Today is the Queens 29th Birthday! So, ALL HAIL THE QUEEN, and join me in wishing her the best birthday ever and many many happy returns!

Also, I'd like to shout out a Happy Birthday wish to her sister Tammy who also was born on this day 12 years after the Queen! They are the only girls in their family. They are the oldest and youngest of the children in their family, and the most important!

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.

Our Puppy

We have a puppy. Her name is Sam and she's been with us for about 2 months. We got her from Amanda and Josh. Her mother is a Lab and we don't know what breed her father is (Amanda leave a comment if you know what breed her father is) Her veterinarian thinks the father could be a hound of some sorts. I think the vet is right ... she smells like a hound and she has an unruly side like a hound/hunting dog. The kids thought she was cute when we first got her, but they're not nearly as excited about her now ... they moan and groan a bit when it is their turn to take her out. Basically The Queen and I are her primary caregivers. She has been a lot of work, but she has worked her way into our affections.

Here are some pictures I took sleeping in her puppy bed. In the picture on the left I had wrapped her up in her blanket ... the picture on the right shows her 5 minutes later. It's how she sleeps all of the time, on her back all stretched out. She out grew this bed about a month ago.

Sam loves water! This is her pool and she loves to get in and play or just lie down to cool off on hot days. She can't stay away from the water sprinkler when we are watering the lawn which she will demonstrate for you in the video below.

Bringing In The Crops

We're in the midst of our summer harvest ... We planted zucchini, squash, peppers, tomatoes and two types of cucumber. So far we've picked this one light yellow squash, the 2 zucchinis you see and all of those jalapeno peppers ... someone gave us that other squash and the light green peppers you see. We have about 10 tomatoes that we're hoping will get bigger, and a couple of cucumbers that are coming on strong. We've planted vegetables over the eight years we've lived here, but they really haven't produced anything to shout about, so we're pretty excited about what we're getting this year.

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!!!!

Happy Fathers Day Dad/Papa!

This is my Dad. My sister call him Daddy, and I used to call him that, but I switched over to Dad around the time I went away to college in the west. I like that I'm the only one of my siblings that calls him that regularly ... Dad just feels right to me.

I'm not sure he knows this, but he is the man I most admire in this world. He has always tried to live an honorable life and in my opinion has done so successfully. He has always, even today, set a great example of being a hard worker ... giving a honest days work for an honest days pay. He sometimes worked two jobs to provide for our family. One of the greatest things he showed me was that he loved my mother ... I sassed her once and he told me to never speak to his wife that way again ... That impacted me profoundly and now that I have a wife and family I understand why he needed to defend my mother! He loves our Heavenly Father and I know this because he has always honored his Priesthood and he has been a willing, faithful servant in fulfilling his callings. My Dad also showed me how to laugh and have fun ... our family did a lot laughing, singing and playing when we were growing up and he was usually at the center of that. And, he taught me and my sisters how to stay warm in a car without a heater ... One cold Sunday we were headed home from church in San Mateo in our Falcon station wagon and we were so cold because the heater didn't work. He told us kids that if we put our thumbs under our arm pits and flapped like chickens that we would get warm and we all did that and sure enough we got warm. I crack up at the thought of kids flapping like chickens flying down East End Road.

He has been a great Papa to my children and they love him dearly.

Thank you Dad for all of the good you've brought to my life.

I love you and the Queen loves you!

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!