Sacramento KING?

Although things didn't quite go according to plan, the king-sized welcome that Mr. Smith received at the airport was still royally funny. :-)

The Arkansas Traveler was returning from a few day's visit to Little Rock, so the kids decided we'd ALL go meet him at 10:45 last night. The Smithlings had learned about the free root beer float night at Sonic that ended at midnight, so we agreed to take Daddy there after we picked him up. Sounds innocent enough so far, right? Ah... but we forgot to add in the Greg-factor. M's Bible study buddy decided he'd join us -- mostly for the free float part of the equation. Things turned very silly & somewhat boisterous (rather quickly) with Greg along for the ride.  :-) What fun!

The boys decided they'd make a sign to hold up so Doug wouldn't have any trouble finding us -- just to be funny. When they couldn't get the printer to properly print the name on one sheet of paper in landscape mode, they opted for individual letters on a single sheet of paper. Is it possible for a sign to LOOK loud?

As the sign was printing out, Greg spied M's old crown, and his SILLY creative juices began to flow. He soon had an old costume & cape to complete the look. Off to the 'port "the King & I" went... oh, and the 3 Smithlings were in the mix. (As an added note, we enjoyed a WONDERFUL thunderstorm light show along the way. It never rains in CA in June, does it?!)

We had to stop for gasoline, so that delay caused us to be a little too late to implement the original plan of dropping the guys out on the curb so they could "lie in wait" for the frequent flier to exit the terminal. When Mr. Smith called to tell us he was on the ground, he was already getting near the curbside pick-up point, which was at the very far end of the terminal. We were just nearing the baggage claim area when he called. This called for a change in the plan because Doug was already outside the building. Greg hopped out of the car at the mid-way section of the drop-off/pick-up zone, and began running toward a very unsuspecting (and weary) traveler. Greg was yelling, "I'm looking for Doug Smith!" as he was holding the huge sign up. There were many people from Doug's flight waiting for rides, so they all were laughing at the scene. When Greg finally reached Doug, he turned to all the other people & exclaimed, "I found Doug Smith! I found him! I found him! He's right here! I found Doug Smith!" Our car finally made its way through the traffic to reached the king and the travelin' man. There is still a look of shock & awe on Mr. Smith's face, even if it was a few seconds after his initial reaction. I don't think anybody has ever had a welcome quite like this one...

Our next stop: Sonic @ 11:30 p.m.

The floats were free indeed. Although free ice cream is good, the best part of stopping at the drive-in restaurant was that we were treated to another incredible lightning display as we waited on the carhop to deliver our order. God's free stuff is better than anything Sonic can dish up.

Cat's fur to make kitten britches

There's more than one way to skin a cat?! 

That phrase may apply to cat fish but not to Maine Coon cats.

There was no skinning done here, despite what it looks like.

Jemima certainly finds molting revolting; however, it was time for her to shed some excess winter weight in the form of fur.  There was fur everywhere, and the pile in the photo is not representative of all that came off of this one cat. It's amazing that we got such a huge collection of mats & fur, yet the feline still looks remarkable fluffy after the extensive grooming process is over. If only we could think of something worthwhile to do with this mound of fluff (the fur or the feline?) we'd be in business. For fun, I decided to "Google" various uses for cat's fur.

Wow! There are many wacky things one can learn from a little research. This lady who lives in CO found a way to recycle her cat's fur.  She spun the fur into yarn & knit a sweater. I wonder if dander is a problem, or if she sheds when she wears the sweater. Fleas? Hmmm... I also wonder if she gets cat fur on her fur sweater if she holds her cat while wearing said sweater. You'd never be able to tell.

There is another woman in SC who uses chatangora (cat hair yarn) to make adorable handbags. Really! I am not spinning a yarn. She even has her own business aptly named Catty Shack Creations.

I wonder if anyone has come up with a use for hairballs? We get plenty of those, too. I don't think I'll spend any time researching that topic. YUCK! :-(

'Mima's fur found its home in the trash can. Nobody in this house knits.

They are still my little girls...

...and he's still my little boy! 

(I MADE him pose this way -- he was afraid he was crushing my legs!)

What a nice, relaxing Mother's Day I enjoyed. I received nice cards, flowers, a lovely bracelet that Millie made,  a coupon for a mani-pedi outing, & lots o' XOs!

Visit from the Boyce Boy!

Things on Raleigh Court have just not been the same since Nathan moved to T-Town... :-(

We were so glad that he stopped by to visit us, even if it was only for a few hours. I'm glad that I had plenty of red hots on hand!

The long and the short of it

Our house is a hairy home -- between having long-haired cats and long-haired girls, we vacuum often, keep lint rollers handy, and we pour through the shampoo & conditioner. Despite the hairy situation, we like long hair.

Change is good. Right? But not too much change.

Liesey decided to have her tresses trimmed after "Alice in Wonderland" was finished, but the requirement was that it still had to be long enough to go into a bun with minimal effort. Her mane could be shorter, but not TOO short.

Here's what the ballet bun looked like before the hair appointment. It kinda looks like a giant Cinnabon minus the gooey glaze.

"BEFORE"

Debbie at "Article" was the stylist chosen to cut Rapunzel's hair. :-)

Snip, snip here. Snip, snip, there...
and lots of hair on the floor!

The new 'do is about 8 inches (or more) shorter than
the old one, and there are a few light layers in the
front. There wasn't quite enough hair cut off to
donate to Locks of Love, but all that hair did
make a nice contribution to the garbage can.

The "AFTER" photos:

Behind the Scenes

Pictures can tell the tale better than I, so I won't write toooo much about this past weekend's performances of Alice in Wonderland.  It was a full, yet fun, weekend. Millie, Hayley, AJ, Mark, and I attended the fourth & final performance. Of course, it was a wonderful show. :-) 

Tessa posed with Fairies Kyla, Liesey, Emily, and Cheyenne.

Cheshire Ruth

Sienna -- Caterpillar/Butterfly

Liesey the Duchess & Cook Anna

Where's the pig/baby?

The (Lobster?!) Duchess & Friends

A trio of Smiths

(How 'bout that castanet man?!!!)

The Duchess & Fairy Naomi

Darian (The White Rabbit) & Chloe (Alice)

Hayley, Fairy Haley, & Millie

The girls picked some pretty flowers.

The Smithlings were allowed to sleep in this morning. (A homeschooling perk) Ahhh! That's a collective sigh of relief. We may be tired, but this really is a fun family activity, or we wouldn't keep it up.  Alice is the 10th Placer Theatre Ballet production that our family has been associated with, and I have a feeling we'll be participating in many more in the years to come.

Only four months until Nutcracker auditions...

Shake! Shake! Shake!

Who says that you can't teach an old cat new tricks? Well, maybe that has never been said...

Thanks to our friend Janice, we learned that even six year old brown mackerel tabbies can learn to do things on command. Or at least sit & shake "hands" for a treat. :-) It took less than 10 minutes to teach Jemima this new trick. What's next? Roll over? Speak? Fetch? Vacuum the floor? Do the laundry? I am certain that we will progress to more difficult commands as time goes by.

See the video below. The noise in the background is from our fountain. If the water was still you'd be able to hear Jemima purring loudly as she shakes. She LOVES to perform. Bartholomew is somewhat envious of his sister's newly-developed skills, but he will not participate in such an activity as this, even if it does garner a few tasty cat treats. 

We obviously have had too much time on our hands.

Easter 2009

He is Risen!

We had a WONDERFUL day today. We started out by attending an 8 a.m. worship service at Bridgeway Christian Church. After returning home, we all talked to G-ma & G-pa on the phone, sampled the goodies in our Easter baskets, had fun on Raleigh Court with the neighbors, ate dinner, made a quick trip to the airport to pick up AJ & Mark, and ended the day with watching Ben Hur. Of course, I had to make sure that plenty of photos were taken. And we even managed to get a family picture. Hooray! Check out our photos:

Let the hunt begin...

Cre-egg-tivity?

After a trip to Costco, we "hatched" a few eggs on the driveway. We opened the back hatch of the car & out the eggs came. Despite the water conservation mandate that forbids hosing down sidewalks, driveways, etc., I washed the scrambled eggs off the concrete. I am sure that there is some creative design in the yolky mess -- kind of like an ink blot test. What do YOU see?

Not a single egg was spared...

The girls & I did manage to NOT crack any eggs as we learned a new craft -- Pysanky! Thanks to Denise & Nicole, we created some lovely Ukrainian Easter eggs.

Look at that concentration. Look at that skill.

Now she's playing with fire...

Millie & Mimi discussed color selection.

What EGGcellent designs!

Millie was egg-cited about this artsy activity. Her kitty/angel design was purrfect!

I am sure that this is a traditional Ukrainian pose.

All of our eggs are in one basket. We should be okay as long as we don't put 'em in the back of the car.

1/2 of a CENTURY?

Mr. Smith turned 50 today!

The Smithlings gave their daddy four "nearly indestructible" Cornilleau ping pong paddles (with "Michelin Man" surfaces) that should last for another 50 years. (I can just see us all playing table tennis with these paddles and a few canes on D's 100th b-day!) Ha! Ha! I ordered a backgammon set for the guy who likes fun & games; however, it had to be returned as it didn't look as nice in person as it did on-line... He didn't even get to see it, as the game set didn't get past Smith quality control. Isn't that lame that I didn't have a gift for my boy on his special day?! Guess I will need to take him shopping with me. 

I did throw him a FUN party, but that was the easy part. All we needed to do was add great friends -- and a little food. Grilled salmon with pesto, brown rice, spinach salad, Caesar salad, bread, corn on the cob, & Italian sodas were on the menu. YUM!

The inside of the card says, "You will soon!" 

Perhaps our resident quinquagenarian will soon be able 

to explain this great mystery to us.

The black & "old" gold balloons actually matched the napkins & plates that were chosen for Mr. Smith's BIG party. This was not a Purdue Boilermaker-themed event, although it appears that way!

He's 50?  Wow! I must've married a much older guy... HA!

These dear friends created a photo album just for the b-day boy. The book is filled with photos & memories from MANY years of fun with our 

"Family Game Night" family.

What great pictures -- what fun memories!

Nathan is a long way from being 50!

Cool spectacles!

Pettits, Millers, Ericksons, Weihers, & Smiths

Yes, we really had 50 candles on the "cake" -- well, there wasn't just ONE cake. There were 25 gourmet cupcakes of various flavors, and each treat held two candles. It took four people lighting the candles as fast as possible. Then we had to sing quickly to avoid a 3-alarm fire. (The fire extinguisher was handy...) 

In addition to all the chatter, laughter, silliness, and other fun & games, we were all treated to a lively (original) ditty, It's Your Birthday, by the musical Pettit duo.  

What a memorable evening! Thanks to everyone who helped the "old guy" ease into a new decade. The gift of friendship is a blessing, and we are blessed indeed. :-)