Tales of a Shoebox Princess

This is an off year for me as far as Halloween goes. I'm caught up in preparing for the wedding. And working. And teaching seminary. I'm blogging about last night's event: Hayley's band concert. It was a fun concert, mostly because it wasn't held in the auditorium, but in the BAND ROOM. See, the fall concert band has only 18 members. The rest of the band students take marching band in the fall. Hayley is the lone sophomore in the band and the only sophomore who was excused from being in marching band because we are favorites of the band teacher. Heehee, no not really. She was excused from marching band because she plays bassoon and bassoons aren't marching band instruments. So the director decided that rather than have a small group perform in a gigantic room, we'd have a little coffeehouse style concert in the band room. He set up tables (and cleaned the band room--Katie, you would be very proud) and chairs, asked everyone to bring a dessert in lieu o...

We leave for UT in two weeks. Then a few days after that, we'll gain another son and Katie will change her last name. Weird. But good. And there is still so much to do. So, while I am getting stuff done (like sewing Hayley's dress for the wedding and purchasing shoes) you can look at a couple of pictures of the happy couple.

I scanned a photo album's worth of pictures into my electronic repository. The photos are from 1999-2000. Here are some of Hayley that I am particularly fond of. I love how Hayley folded her feet underneath her when she went to sleep here Hayley and an amaryllis She chose to use a pillowcase as a sleeping bag and here she fell asleep on a giant Pikachu. The children are still mourning the loss of this stuffed animal. It's their fault that it had to be thrown away--they loved it to shreds. Hayley and her version of a smile. Easter dresses and a rubber snake The little cheeky! She looks so different now.

Matt asked for a simple party with three friends to play the Wii with him. Maybe a little pizza and cake. No presents, just some laffs with three boys he has known for years (two of them since birth, and the other is a cousin of one of the boys he has known from birth and has gotten to know over the years and has become very good friends with). An easier birthday party there has never been, at least in my house. Matt asked for his birthday presents to be given to him a day early, mostly because he guessed one of them was going to be a Wii game and he wanted to play it with his friends. So we indulged the boy and let him open his gifts this morning. Labeled for your convenience He's nearly 14 and he still wants Legos. I suppose he'll be asking for Legos into his adult years. When he gets Legos, he puts he set together in 5 minutes. Then he loses a figure, wails about it for a while, then we find it under a couch cushion several months later, and then he asks for an...

H B as in Happy Birthday. Happy birthday to Matt. His birthday is Sunday, his party is on Saturday and today is Friday. Stuff I gotta do: 1. Bake a cake 2. Frost the cake 3. Decorate the cake 4. Wrap some presents 5. Go to someone else's birthday dinner 6. Make dessert bars for a Super Saturday event 7. Mail wedding invitations 8. Knit 5 more dishcloths, possibly 7 or 10 9. Print out some pictures for a bridal shower next week 10. Not go crazy Fortunately I don't work today (although I will answer calls and I will make some calls later) so I have a better chance at getting some of those things done than most days. And I already have the decorative icing made. Matt will be 14. When did this happen?

I posted pics of Hayley in her pretties, now I have to do the same for Matt. Although his pretties aren't ruffly and ribbony and flowery. Matt has a suit! We got it for him to wear to the upcoming wedding. Doesn't he look darling and cute and spiffy? Jim said it was difficult to find Matt a suit because most major retailers don't carry kid sizes. The smallest adult size is too big for him still. Still need for the wedding: shoes and jewelry for me, shoes and jewelry for Hayley and I need to sew Hayley's dress. Also, invitations are either in the mail or not quite in the mail. Keep an eye out for yours!

Play Killer Bunnies! Hayley went to Homecoming with a friend last night. We had never met the young man (and Hayley insists they are just friends), so when I asked "What are you going to do before Homecoming?" I was most pleased with her answer. She said that perhaps could he eat here for dinner and then could we all play Killer Bunnies? I'm all for parental supervision, so I was happy to say yes. We had a nice evening with Kyle. He was polite and he didn't seem put off by eating dinner with parents. We had chili, cornbread, and salad. We learned that he's an only child and he doesn't have any cousins, which I can't even fathom. Then we cleared the table and played a very loud game of Killer Bunnies. Kyle has played lots of Killer Bunnies so we didn't have to go through the onerous, time consuming task of trying to explain it to him. It takes a very long time to try to explain and in the end we usually give up and tell the newbie let's just s...

Because of the news that LDS young men can now be considered for a missionary service at age 18, we face the possibility of having two sons serving concurrently. Paul has a big decision to make, now that he is suddenly eligible for missionary service. It will be a great act of faith on his part and ours to get him to Elder status sooner than he had originally planned, so we ask for your prayers. No decision has been made yet, and for sure he will finish this semester at college. We are excited for our niece Morgan, who will be able to serve 2 years sooner than planned because the age for young women was lowered to 19. She will make a great missionary! From what I see on facebook, her foot is already out the door. My pipe dream: That Paul will get called in Feb to Tijuana and that he's assigned to work with another Elder Evans.