Caroline's 5th Birthday Party!

Caroline turned the big "5" on August 1st, and we celebrated with a party at "Paint-a-Piece", which is a local paint-your-own pottery store. She had quite a grand time, and painted a purple, light blue, pink, and white glittery unicorn! For her birthday package, she got a plate with fingerprint animals from each of her guests on the back...very cute!

Here's a slideshow of her special day...

As Promised...More Otis!

So I'm sitting in the house on Saturday, 7/26, sometime in the morning. Karen got an email from Becca, one of our super-star babysitters. Becca's mom has a Boston Terrier named "Emmy", which has fueled Karen's fire for her very own Boston for years. She's apparently wanted one "all her life". The email was forwarded from Becca's mom, directly from the breeder where she got "Emmy". She had one left from a litter born in early May, a male, and was selling for less than half price. After some time in prayer, and trying to reason through this decision, we withdrew some money from savings, and picked up "Otis" - the precious lap-dog Boston that Karen has always wanted!
As you can tell, he's a fat & happy lap dog. Apparently Bostons are either hyper rambunctious, or lazy, go-with-the-flow pupsters. We got exactly what we hoped for!
Hallelujah is not 100% sold on his new baby brother, but seems to be warming up a little bit. Otis likes to get nose-to-nose with Hal, and at first this was met with a stern growl from the elder statespooch. After about a week, Hal still is not crazy about Otis' bonding attempts, but at least isn't growling every moment. There was a time when Otis got a head start and dove right at Hal's face. This was not welcomed with Hal's usual indifference, and it literally scared the "pee" out of Otis, three times!
He's a lot of fun, but has altered our standard operating procedure! The moment my feet hit the floor in the morning, I have to take Otis outside. His first week with us, I spent many of those nights up every couple of hours, taking Otis to pee, or cleaning up the accidents, but he seems to be settling in nicely. Come see him!

Welcome to our Family!

In a word, OTIS!



























I'll add the story later, but I had to get these photos up for our extended family!

Nicholas' 8th Birthday

Did you ever have parents with older children tell you, "They grow up so fast..."? Wow, I never fully understood that when I heard it. It seems like just yesterday that we moved to Memphis, and I was holding Nicholas with one arm, or sleeping on the couch with him sleeping right on my chest.

The "little guy" turned 8 this past June 6th, and for the first time, he got to celebrate his birthday at school; on the last day of school no less! What a way to go out!

Here's a slideshow from the birthday festivities, which included a party at school, a best-buddy (Reed) spending the night, and of course, cake & ice-cream at home.

We also celebrated Nick's birthday (41 years young this year) and Father's Day along with Nicholas' birthday, and we got the family a Wii...It's an absolute blast. Our favorite games are Mario Kart Wii, and Speed Racer. The best part is the opening phrase, where Mario and friends sing/say "Mario Kart, Weeeeee" and the kids chime right in with the most gleeful "wee" I've heard.

Princess Camp 2008

Caroline had her first camp experience this summer - she attended a "Princess Camp" here in Memphis! Her Princess Camp was a morning camp, and included everything from "table manners", "charm school", "make-up and hair", "acting their favorite princess role", and finished the camp week with a song and dance they prepared. Absolutely smashing...

The girls were able to earn stickers for positive behavior, and Caroline was none to pleased when she didn't receive one for not singing one day, though she was certain that she did. Needless to say, Queen Mommy had a conversation with the madams at the court, and things were happy ever after from there...

Here's a slideshow from her camp performance, as a young Tinkerbell...

Down! Set! Tune?

If you haven't heard yet, Nicholas is playing tackle football this fall, and in June had his first oboe lesson! What a combination!

He actually asked for oboe lessons in the summer of 2007, but Nick couldn't get him connected with the oboe professor at Memphis, and we put it on the back burner. There's actually a funny story behind this - last summer during music camp, Nicholas would come hang out with me after Coach Cal's basketball camp (basically the late afternoons and evenings). One afternoon, I was working with an African hand-drum ensemble, and I got a picture text on my cell phone - Nicholas in his basketball uniform, leg crossed, playing an oboe in the band office with the rest of the staff. I chuckled, and continued. After rehearsal, I walked down the hall to my office and heard a beautiful "A" on an oboe. I assumed that one of my students was showing Nicholas some stuff on the oboe. When I rounded the corner, it was him!

After several reminders and hints throughout the year, we finally got him a lesson with the oboe professor. I expected a 30-minute lesson, max. I really didn't think he was that interested! 50 minutes later, I had to leave and sign for the music camp pizzas...even later than that, Dr. Vigneau escorted Nicholas downstairs to me...wow!

During his lesson, Dr. V put him through his paces, working on "crowing", posture, putting the instrument together, and producing sounds. He quickly mastered B, A, and G, and after some time added F-sharp, E, and stretched to D. Then, she played a tuning game with him; she produced a tone, and he had to match it (tune with it). She played a B, he played a B, and matched her. She looked at me in disbelief. She played an A, he played an A, and matched her again. She said, "I've never seen anything like this...but let's check some more." She played a G, he played a G, and matched her again. He had to "hunt" for her a bit, but eventually landed right in tune with her. Stunned, she said, "Oh My God! That's never happened in all of my years of teaching! Even my college students couldn't do that when they got here!"

I immediately felt incredibly guilty; I always thought Caroline had all the musical talent. Boy was I wrong! That being said, he sure is excited about his football season as well. He loves to put on his full pads & helmet, and go out in the back yard just to have Dad "pound him". Too much fun...

Praise Team Practice!

Well, not exactly...But, this was a neat moment captured by Karen!

Nicholas was attempting to spend the night at a church camp with some kids from our church & the youth directors just north of Memphis, and Nick agreed to help lead the youngsters in a few songs the next day.

Nick and Caroline were working out their lyrics, among other things, while Caroline enjoyed playing in Nicholas' loft bed. Yes, her microphone is pink with leopard spots, sponsored by Hannah Montana...

Nicholas didn't make it...Nick went to pick him up just before midnight. They did make it back out the next morning, and had a great day. Nick even capsized his canoe, all by himself! Soaked to the bone, shoes & all, with no change of clothes...neat.

Here's a short video of the "Praise Team Rehearsal". Remember, Nick is NOT a pianist...