It's a Disease

Yes fine blog readers, if you look closely, this tree trunk is covered in...you guessed it....knitted yarn. (Actually, it looks more like a crocheted stitch, but that is besides the point.) My point is that for some of us, once we started knitting, everything we looked at then became something that we could in some way copy or cover in yarn. This picture just cracked me up.

Surprise!!!

My Dad and I were able to fly down to Donna, TX over the weekend to attend a surprise 95th birthday party for my Grandma that her friends were throwing for her. She had no idea that we were coming--I know, that sounds like a risky decision to surprise a 95 year old woman in that way....but, trust me, she is a strong lady!

There were over a hundred people in attendance at the Victoria Palms "Cactus Club". The Cactus Club is the hip and happenin' place where all special parties are thrown. My Grandma cooks her spaghetti with her famous spaghetti sauce for 150-170 people there regularly. Victoria Palms is a retirement village--and a really nice one at that--nestled among beautiful palm trees, cacti, and citrus fruit trees in Donna, Texas. When I get older, I soooo want to live there. Heck, I kinda want to move there now...

This is the moment that Grandma saw my Dad.

She looked at him for a good long while before recognizing him. She recognized him after she saw me. Priceless.


Awww.


The back story on this picture is hysterical. Apparently, my Grandma has been telling her friends in Victoria Palms that all these years she wouldn't dance with anyone because she only would dance with my Grandpa. My Dad and I just snickered when they told us that, because she NEVER danced with my Grandpa. But she knew this was a good way to get out of dancing with people for the last 20 years (they are quite a bunch of party animals down there...there is always opportunity to dance the night away). Anyway, they hired "Double Decker" to sing cover songs all night, and to get my Grandma to dance. He was good with the ladies...and he was able to get her to dance with him. It was sweet. And funny.

This is Grandma telling everyone how surprised she was that she was being thrown a party. She TOTALLY knew there was going to be a party, but wouldn't admit it. She was given a sizable cash gift and a gift basket full of vodka, brandy, chocolate and body oils. Pictured on the right of my Grandma are Louise and Bert Daquay, the folks who spearheaded the planning of the party.

For more information on an awesome place to send Grandma & Grandpa, visit VictoriaPalms.com! ;)

WWW.elcome

My 100th post to my blog is an announcement.

My hubby has taken his construction expertise to the world wide web, where he offers practical help and direction to those who wish to build their own home.

Here is a warm "cyber-hello" to www.grantgeneralcontractingresources.com

Good job, Honey!

Fluttering Butterflies

The girls presented their butterfly exhibit tonight for our homeschool educational fair. We thought it might be neat to add a little face-painting fun to the mix. They have worked together with their friend Sophie to investigate and present the lifecycle of butterflies, butterfly anatomy, their predators, differences between butterflies and moths, and flowers that attract butterflies. They have had a great time. Here are some highlights:

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Display board 1: Pictures of our '08 butterfly release, Sophie's report on flowers that attract butterflies, Marah's praying mantis & lizard watercolor, and Belle's bird and wasp watercolor. Sophie did the dragonfly and spider watercolor artwork. Display board 2: More butterfly release pictures, along with pressed leaves collected last summer. Marah's butterfly lifecycle and anatomy diagram; Ellie's butterfly vs. moth charts.

Mimi, Bucky and Andrew stopped by for awhile.

My Mom has no idea that my Dad is reaching for her throat.

He's getting a little weird as the years go by...

The girls and Sophie.

Marah explains all about butterflies to Mr. Kennedy.

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Argh.

Belle thought she had figured out how to curl her hair on her own. I have used a curling iron on her hair in the past, so she KNOWS that such technology exists. I guess she was just trying an alternative method. It took a LONG time to untangle this comb...I picked and picked, I snipped off the bristles...and I finally had to take a wire cutter to the main spine of the comb and slowly cut it out of her hair millimeter by millimeter. Argh!

(Belle gave me permission to post this story and picture. I told her that if Mommy had a picture of the moment in which she irreparably damaged her old tail bone while sledding, that I would post that too...because some kinds of terrible things are just plain funny.)

Look What I found!

I came across this picture that my cousin-in-law Deb took over the holidays. Rarely do we ALL pose for a picture as a family...so I thought I would share.

In the back from left to right are Jon & Dani, Debbie & Scott, Andrew, Cameron, & Nick (this was taken during the period of time that Andrew and Cameron said that true male models never look AT the camera...they only look off into the distance...weirdos!). That's me in the red with Ellie & Marah, and Steve in the black. Our dear Grandma who turns 95 this year (or maybe it's 96?), with Kris holding Jaiden in her arms, and Canaan in the blue stripes and Lily in the striped sweater. Mom & Dad are in the front.

A New Teaching?

Every Saturday morning, Steve snuggles up on the couch with the girls and reads the Torah portion for that weekend. There is always a section from one of the Books of Moses, a section from one of the prophets, and one or two chapters from the Gospels. This schedule allows us to methodically work through all 5 books of Moses, an abundance of important sections from the prophets, and all 4 of the Gospels in a year. (See torahportions.org for a schedule and an audio bible link)

A lot of the time is filled with squirming, jockeying for couch position, random questions about the weekend, complaints about morning breath...you get the picture. But occasionally...occasionally there is an awesome insight into the scriptures by one of our girls. And then, of course, there is unexpected hilarity too.

I don't know how to explain the following twist on the story of Jesus' teaching about paying taxes to Caesar. It was given, of course, by my youngest. I will just tell the story of what happened this morning while reading the Scriptures together on the couch.

Dad: (reading from Mark 12): "Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words." They tried to do that a lot...but He was so wise. "They said, 'Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity...you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?" You see girls, there was no right answer in their minds...if he answered 'no', Jesus would have been in big trouble with Caesar...if he answered 'yes, we should pay taxes to Caesar', he would have been nullifying his own position as King over Israel. It was a trap. How would he answer? What would he say?

Girls: (On this rare occasion they were sitting completely still and silent, waiting to see how Jesus would get out of this one)

Dad: (continuing reading): "But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. 'Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.' They brought him the coin, and he asked them, 'Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?'. 'Caesar's,' they replied."

Belle: *GASP* I know!! I know!! He knows which side it will land on!!!

Yes, fine blog readers, in the mind of my youngest, Jesus flipped a coin and answered accordingly.

Strange Financial Advice

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

(If that doesn't work, try http://danwho.net/mp/index.php?id=snl_dontbuystuff)