Hello, Mr. President

Sam and Awyn got to meet President Theodore Roosevelt. He was delightful and knowledgeable.

Poor Mojo

We had Mojo groomed into his summer cut early because of the trauma involved in brushing him. He's been shivering without all his fur. I knitted this sweater for him and it's too big and funny-shaped. I'm going to pull it apart and try again.

My family

Thanksgiving Battleship

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had family and friends and more food than we could eat. We were very thankful and blessed to be in such company.

A boy and his legos and cat (who steals legos)

Khristmas Kitteh!

Jim likes the tree. Mostly she naps under it, but sometimes something shiny catches her eye (and paw). Mojo ignores it.

My guys...

Eric took the kids to Okmulgee the last weekend to help celebrate that park's anniversary. They had cake and a wonderful time.

Awyn has a flower...

Sam's first Camporee

Eric and Sam went to Sam's first cub scout camporee, and I think they had fun. Sam enjoyed the activities and meeting new friends.

Jumping off the board...

The diving board is popular, although we don't allow actual diving. The depth becomes shallow too fast for that. Notice the landscaping in progress around Eric and Sam. We love the palm tree, the crepe myrtles need trimming, and we don't care for the junk trees that have been growing around the pool dropping leaves in all the time.

Pool Fun

Awyn is wearing her lifejacket for an unknown reason. She really can swim, when she chooses to.

New Job!

I've started a new job. I'm hoping it will remain family friendly. Right now it seems like the perfect fit for me for scheduling. I will be selling petcare products over the phone. I am enjoying the company so far, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Awyn started the gifted program, so now both kids are in the gifted program. I am very proud of both of them. Dance continues as well, and they are rehearsing The Nutcracker. This year it's a beach theme, so it will be a lot of fun. In the Spring they'll be performing in Alice in Wonderland. (I hope I got that right!)

Now I'm going to hunt down some pictures. If I have time before work.

Ten Years Ago

When asked where I was 10 years ago on 9/11/2001, I have two answers. One is flippant and snarky, and the other is so honest it takes too long to tell. Out of respect, I’ll try not to use the snark that lurks even in the honest answer.
I first heard about what was believed to be a small, private aircraft accidentally bumping into the World Trade Center while I was in my car, driving to my morning class. It was one of those morning radio shows that is obnoxious but helped to keep me awake. I am not a morning person. My commute was an hour long, and I must have been at least halfway there, running late as usual. The announcers were laughing about the pilot needing a guiding light, etc. Then there were rumors that it might be an attack, but I didn’t believe it. In fact, I thought the whole thing was a morning show prank. I parked in the student lot, caught the bus up to campus, and went to class, and somewhere in there the second plane hit the other tower.

At this point, I have to say my class was in Middle Eastern Studies, specifically Israel and Palestine. There were Arabs, Jews, Palestinians, and more typical Arkansas natives in the class. The topic of the towers went strong and the teacher, a graduate student, finally gave up and let us go about halfway through class. It was interesting in how we were fairly united in horror at the idea of it possibly being a terrorist attack. We went back and forth whether or not it was domestic in origin, or an anti-US faction from another country.

I wandered over to the student union, to the glassy bridge where there was sure to be a giant TV turned on. There were students of all types in there, from all over the world. We all whispered together, to each other, sharing the same worry and fear about such an awful thing.

Here’s where I confess to my inner snark requesting a voice – at that point, I still didn’t think it was serious. Really. I didn’t see why people didn’t just vacate the building. I mean, sheesh, there was smoke and flame, but I was certain I would have gotten out. I couldn’t believe my eyes, seeing the specks falling from the towers that were people jumping. It was so awful that I couldn’t grasp the reality and let the snarky part of my brain take over.

Then the first tower collapsed. Suddenly, as if someone were standing on a podium directing, everyone started separating into little insular groups. The women with hijabs, the men, the women, all moved into little pockets that could have represented each culture, country, race. I was shocked at how complete the separation was. People were glaring at each other. It was very quiet in the room, and it felt hostile and full of fear.

The second tower fell, and I realized I was standing all alone.

Carters and Leonards

We went to Sunday School at President Carter's church. Jimmy Carter is a wonderful Sunday school teacher, very charismatic. The service was nice and the kids had a blast. If you go to Sunday school and stay through the service the Carters will pose for a picture with you. You get one take.

Skip To My Lou

Can't you just see his moves? He had fun with this song and number.

Tornado scene

Isn't this rather trippy? Eric was manning the camera here. I like how artistic it is.

Sam's turn in The Lollipop Guild

It had a long way to go...

And here is the nearly empty pool that needed filling. It took two full days to fill.

Front door of Harrold House

Awyn posed for us as we ran to check the level of the pool that we were filling. You can almost tell how flourescent her pants were. The tiara was a gift from Daddy for a show well danced. They were selling them in the lobby and she really wanted one.

Tapping as an Emerald City Citizen

The pants are far more flourescent green than they appear in this picture. Trust me, they are eye-bleedingly green.