Tales of a Shoebox Princess

I don't think I posted pics of Matt actually in his marching band uniform.  At least not on this blog.  I must rectify this. 7 or 6 trombones led the big parade Here is our trombonist! There. Pictures of Matt, in his marching band uniform, playing his instrument or marching. I'm done here. Oh wait, not quite. I'm done with Marching Band for this year, but not done with yammering on about my precious charming little children. I saw a quote on Matt's facebook page--said by Matt himself--that either makes me want to give him a good pounding with a broom, or laugh myself silly. He said " the pro to having twins is that when a guy is trying to steal one baby, you can beat him with the other." Have I said before that he strikes me as kinda weird? Hayley came home from school one afternoon, and the first thing she said to me is: "My friends are telling me things about Matt. Like they are glad he's in Robotics because he's SO funny."

Family birthday celebrations are getting smaller and smaller. It was weird. Matt had his requested birthday dinner of taco salad, blue and green jello, and strawberries with just Jim and me. Hayley was at work. And the rest of the kids...well, who knows where they were! They all chimed in as much as they could though. Both Elders sent emails wishing little brother a happy birthday, and Mrs. McCall (that is still weird to say!) sent appropriate electronic greetings as well. Behold, the birthday TARDIC: Color is close enough, although it looks lighter than it does in real life. Either he's a hipster, or he's cold. Matt and cake candle duty So there you go. Matt turned 15. Today he came home with a smallish box. He said as he opened it to show me what was inside, "This is my assignment for the Halloween dance at school. As a member of the Robotics team, I have to help and they told me I was in charge of these." He opened the box. Tarot cards. (

1. My mother has complained about me not updating. She is sick of looking at Matt in the tree and all those apples. So here you are, Mother. 2. I hear things while in the shower. Bumps and thumps and noises that I don't hear when I am not showering. I don't know if I'm more paranoid when wet or if we have a poltergeist that gets rowdy only when the house has one occupant who is in the bathroom. 3. Also the cats have taken to following me around constantly. They waited outside the bathroom door while I was showering, and right now, they are sitting in the living room looking at me. It's creeping me out. 4. Happy birthday to Matt. 5. I have a TARDIS cake to finish (TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space and I am thinking of calling this cake a TARDIC--Time and Relative Dimension in Cake. Har) 6. I'm worried about getting the correct color of blue for the TARDIC. Apparently Doctor Who fans are rabid about the correct color of the TARDIS. There is e