SUNDAY NEWS
January 11, 2009
Christian returns to Arizona. With the Christmas decorations put away, life returns to its normal routines. It has been cold enough here in Arizona for long enough now that the trees are all loosing there leaves. We have two seasons here in Arizona. Fall and winter combine, as do spring and summer. By the way, did you see our Cardinals yesterday?
Very Vayden
People won’t believe us! The kid loves to watch Noggin. She will watch it for up to an hour. It is great if you want to get some work done. Her favorite show is Oswald. She starts kicking her feet laughing and talking to Oswald when he comes on. She also really likes Oswald’s dog Weeney, and another show with this Moose guy. For those of you who don’t watch Noggin, and we assume most of you don’t spend a lot of time on a channel designed for pre-schoolers; Oswald is a big ball shaped blue Octopus. We are going to video her. She has been watching it since she was 2 and a half months old.
Going Nutts
If Vayden someday turns out to be a little nuts, we all will know why. Although Lori hardly ever ate nuts before coming home from the hospital with Vayden, for the first month of Vayden’s life, all Lori ate was nuts. She had to have this certain mixture that they sell at a Health Food Grocery store called Sprouts. Lori was going through several pounds of nuts a day.
Completely Christian
Missing the Bus
Lori is sleeping when Christian comes into the bedroom to say ‘Good Morning’. Lori rubs her eyes and looks at the clock and then tells Christian, “You better hurry up and get dressed. You are going to miss the bus!” Karl smiled and helped Christian pick out his clothes. Christian dresses in a hurry and yells as he runs out the front door, “Bye, I love you guys.” A few minutes later he comes back with his head hanging, “Mom, I missed the bus.” A grumpy Lori throws off her covers, gets up, and starts putting on her clothes. Karl watches her for a
minute with a smile on his face and then says, “I hate to tell you guys this, but it’s Saturday.”
The same basic scenario happened recently with Lori again mistakenly telling Christian he needed to get ready, only this time Christian’s response was, “Nice try Mom, it is Saturday.”
Sooooo Shelby
The Horrible Math Teacher
During the second half of 8th grade at Gateway Pointe, Shelby’s math grade was not . . . well let’s just say it didn’t involve the use of any of the first 4 letters of the alphabet. For months Shelby would come home from school and tell us that her Math grade was a result of the poor teaching skills of her horrible Math teacher. Now you have to picture Shelby’s face at the dinner table when we disclose to her that we have had a parent teacher conference with her Math teacher and learned from him that Shelby hasn’t turned in her daily math homework in over 2 months.
All Alyssa
The Talking Horse
When Alyssa was 3 years old, Karl and his parents took her to Disneyland. She had a million and one questions all day long. On Main Street there has been a horse drawn carriage that travels the length of Main Street since anybody can remember. The horse is a giant Clydesdale. Alyssa really liked horses or any animal for that matter when she was young and noticed the horse right away. She asked why the horse was saying ‘yes’. Nobody picked up on why she was asking the question and she was told “We don’t know.” Later in the day she saw the horse again and asked, “Why is that horse saying yes Daddy?” Her answer was a quick, “I don’t hear him saying anything.” The third time Alyssa and the horse crossed paths she again asked, “Daddy, why is he still saying ‘yes’? This time curiosity set in and Karl decided to see if he was raising some kind of a Dr. Doolittle or a horse whisper. Finally paying attention, Karl stopped bent down and asked her, “Why do you think he is saying “yes’? Alyssa went on to explain that the horse kept nodding his head saying ‘yes’. Looking at the horse through her eyes it was very plain to see that each time the horse stepped pulling the heavy carriage he bobbed his head forward. Sure enough he was saying yes all day long.
Being Brittney
Brittney says she had a great time in Arizona and says she can’t wait until school starts tomorrow. It is good to see Brittney excited about school. We are proud of her and the goals she has set. Brittney’s cousin Josh came to Indiana to visit with his girlfriend, and Brittney enjoyed getting to see him. Brittney says that she has also come to the realization that she is too old for Chuck E. Cheese but still enjoys going.
No Cell Phone
Please see the attached pictures. Brittney was very popular in school. So popular in fact that she was able to accumulate a $1,100.00 cell phone bill one month which almost gave Lori a stroke. After that she didn’t have a cell phone for quite awhile. Brittney is very responsible now and we are proud of her. We only tell this story because we do feel a little sorry for her when we come across old pictures of her like these ones. Poor Brittney, she resorted to talking on an imaginary cell phone.
Really Roxy
No real news on Roxy, she is staying out of trouble these days. She was very, very happy to have Christian back.
Family Stories
Life’s Speed Bumps
A couple of days after surgery for and an appendectomy, Karl decided he was well enough to drive. The apartment complex had multiple speed bumps every 50 yards or so. The decade old suspension on Karl’s truck and the speed bumps made for a very painful combination. Each time Karl had to go over a bump he would wince with pain. Then in anticipation of each bump Karl would hold his breath and close his eyes. As he was going over what seemed
like endless speed bumps leaving the apartment complex he came up behind a Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle was traveling just ahead of him and coming to almost a complete stop each time it slowed to go over a speed bump. Karl following behind the Beetle closed his eyes in anticipation of the pain as he went over the speed bump. To his surprise the Beetle had stopped on the other side of the speed bump and he bumped the Beetle in front of him. There was no damage.A very, very large irate black woman immediately got out of the Beetle and stormed back to Karl’s driver side window. It is hard to describe in words the look on the woman’s face as Karl answered each question with complete honesty. The conversation went like this:
Woman: Why’d you hit me?
Karl: I didn’t see you.
Woman: How could you not see me fool?
Karl: I had my eyes closed.
Woman: You had your eyes closed?
Karl: Yes.
The woman had a passenger, another very large woman who was still in the Beetle at this point.
Woman: Linda, you better come over here, you is not going to believe this. Dis fool say he was driving wit his eyes closed.
Woman: What kind of fool drives wit their eyes closed?
Karl: I just had surgery and it really hurts to go over the bumps.
Woman: When was your surgery?
Karl: Two days ago.
Woman: Do you really think you ought be driving?
Karl: Apparently, not over speed bumps.
Woman: Well APPARENTLY you ought not be running into the back of my car. Boy, I don’t even know what to say to you. You are some kind of crazy.
