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!

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!