Friday, June 4, 2010

What's in a name?



Or, The Curious Case of Naming the Kitty Bo-bitty. Meet the newest member of our family, a cute as a button red tabby named... well... we're just not sure. Find the Kitty! There he is! Here's why the trouble with naming: When we got the cat, we decided since we already have three A's, it was time for another J for Mommy. We were told it was a boy, so we picked out some great boy names- the girls wanted to name it Skippy John Jeremy, after the children's book Skippy John Jones. Dad was particularly fond of the name Kevin, but that didn't stick. Dad would have been OK with "Alan" as well, but no one likes Dad's cat names. We had settled on Jeremy, when we took the little one to the vet. Our great friend Sally Wolfe said "Sooo, perhaps you would like to make it Skippy John Jane? It's a girl!" That kind of changed things. We were now all discombobulated. Now we had to come up with a girls name. Dad argued that it doesn't matter what we call it, since cats don't come when they are called, and put Kevin back on the table, but that didn't fly.
Mom started calling the little one "Kitty Bo-bitty", and so far, that name seems to have stuck. Abby, who we got the pretty paws for, has pondered the name "Buttercup", but the little one is just too feisty for a name like that. Grandpa came, met the cat, and dubbed it "Trouble", as in "Here Comes."
For now, it's The Bo-bitty. Kind of like U2's The Edge, or something. In any case, we love the little purr factory and like having a little one in the home, though Aubri is reveling a little too much in not being the smallest in the house. If we can just stop her from sitting on the cat, it may live to see it's fourth month...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Easter Fun


Easter is always a great holiday- and an especially tough time of the year for Dad. He has a particular fancy for the Easter candy, a veritable peepaholic. But we digress. Holidays are for children, and we had a great Easter, shared with family members this year.

Multiple Easter bunnies warranted some explaining this year. Abby decided the one at Festival was the real one, and the one at Seroogy's wasn't, mostly because you could tell the one at Seroogy's (above) was wearing sneakers. Nothing gets by this 5-year-old.
We dedorated eggs and celebrated with the Amezcua family- dying eggs and hiding them over and over. And over. And over.
We also went to a local non-denominational church for an easter egg hunt in their gym, that was attended by hundreds of children and their parents. Mostly because it was free, I think, though nothing is truly free. As we waited for each age group to go, we got a great sing-along sermon, and a testimony meeting all in one. Interesting, to be sure. Good to see commited people, and taught me a lesson about sharing my testimony, while giving away candy.


What I called "Easter Town", a fabricated indoor playground with candy strewn about, and golden eggs to find. The elbows were sharp, and the parents viscious.






Also face painting/tatoos, and games for more candy. Ahhhh, the candy.



Easter baskets on easter morning. Let the sugar rush begin!

And of course, what holiday would be complete without a major injury. Playing with the dogs on the swingset, Abby got a little too excited with a rope swing taunting the pooches, and fell off, wrapping her neck in the rope on the way down. Our five year old tried to hang herself, basically. Did I mention she did this while Mom and Dad were at the mall? Poor Auntie Allison had to handle the trauma and crying that ensued. And there was much. Luckily, social services didn't haul us off to the hoosegow as soon as we got Abby back in school. A fast healer, that one.




A great time of year for a kite, and Dad and Abby had a ball with Sammy and Sarah flying the kite. Ben Franklin eat your heart out!



For a second view of our trip to the cousins, check out my sister's hilarious blog-

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Meeting an Apostle

With Stake Conference last week, we had the honor of having a member of the Quorum of 12 Apostles come to our area to preside and give us counsel. It was a wonderful weekend, and on Sunday morning, our stake primary had a surprise for Elder D. Todd Christofferson.


The entire primary gathered in the primary room about 45 minutes before the morning session of Stake Conference, grouped according to height, so it looked like they were on a sloped stage.


Abby waited reverently.


Elder Christofferson came in just beaming at the kids- take a look at video of the two songs they sang- Abby is in the middle of the second row.


I Love to See The Temple



I Am a Child of God


Afterwards we spoke to the stake president and his wife, who are family friends, and Abby and Dad got a chance to shake the Apostle's hand, and he leaned over and gave her a hug! Abby said she felt "really good" when she shook his hand. It was a wonderful conference, and we were blessed to be in the presence of a special witness of Jesus Christ.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Losing the Tonsils

Our sweet Aubri underwent her surgery the first week of March, getting her tonsils and adenoids removed at the same time. They were leading to some serious sleep apnea and were hindering her swallowing, so out they went.


Here's a look at the before picture. Yes, those are tonsils, not boulders or super balls.


We checked in and got a bracelet for our sweet girl.


Talking to the sleep doctor- Mister anestheiologist. We had to give Aubri a little Versed to get her to be a little calmer. We asked if we could take a couple of vials home for later in the year...


Getting the blood pressure. "Giving your arm a hug!"



Not sure about the whole thing right about now...



Though she did win a prestigious award while in the pre-op area.


Mom in the haz-mat suit getting ready to go back into the room with her little girl.


Can you tell Aubri is getting a little sleepy? Yeah. We wanted some of that Versed for our own home use...



In post-op. She woke up a little disoriented, and yelling- and didn't like the IV in the hand. No sir, she did not. In fact, she managed to unhook the end of the IV from her hand, causing blood to quickly seep through her dressing, effectively putting her sister Abby on total freakout mode. Dad had to take Abby out until the IV was replaced and the dressing was re-done.


Sleeping one off!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

An Evening with the Princesses

Meeting Cinderella!


Disney on Ice, the Princess edition
, coming to Green Bay is like if the Yankees suddenly decided to play a home game at Lambeau for Dad, or if the Short Hills Mall moved to De Pere for Mom. Right in the wheelhouse for the little girls! Thanks to Dad's "connections" we got comped tickets, and were invited to a special meet and greet before the show.




As you can see by the blur, Abby was a little hyper even before the cotton candy, pizza, soda, snowcone, popcorn and lollipops consumed on this evening.



Here is a look at the moment of meeting for the meet and greet- my editing skills aren't here for the home video yet, so skip the first 30 seconds if you want-


Saying hello to a Princess.







Abby beside herself with glee at meeting Cinderella.



After the meet and greet- the pizza party, but not after hitting the vendors for some light up spinny battery operated eye pokers, I mean, light dazzlers!









Such fun getting to see seven Disney Princesses and with free tickets. Of course, the concessions/souvenirs/parking cost us a total of $98.00 (not even kidding. At least we kept it under a C note...), so I think the Disney people still came out ahead on that one.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ahhh, Winter in Wisconsin...

Yes, it's still snowing...


Out here they name the snowstorms if there is more than four inches of snow- and that happens pretty often.


The key to a fun winter- correct protection against the elements! I think our kids have a cold gene in them that loves the snow. Plus, they seem to have a knack to know when it is time to come in just before frostbite sets in...


These pics are from the end of last year- we really haven't had that much snow compared to normal- though normal is stinking crazy with snow.




Will the snow ever melt???


The Princesses of the Mountain!


Perhaps spring will come soon...

Andrew