A Sword, a Kitten and a Rainbow.

Rosie has discovered that she has the next birthday in our family, and while she has only 12 weeks to get ready, she is already certain of what gifts she will be asking for when she turns six.

There are three items on her list.

1) a real metal sword, like a three musketeers weapon…not a fake foam sword.

2) a kitten... a real live baby cat.

3) a rainbow. 

Someday her list will be more like Lily's birthday wishes for books, pajamas and chocolate, but for now I will embrace and enjoy her fabulous, if not so practical, kindergarten gift registry.

Lucky 13!

Today was a lucky day for our family…Lily turned 13 and is now officially a teenager. 

It was a great snowy day to celebrate and Lily was a very good sport about me taking photos to commemorate her birthday.  

With our fresh snow and cute sweater knit by her grandma, Lily has embraced Nordic girl fashion, but don't be fooled...she is traipsing through our backyard instead of the Arctic North. 

Lily had a very cozy snowy birthday and that happily ended with her enjoying her chocolate birthday cake in her brand new footie pajamas.

Happy Birthday blessings to our sweet girl on her Lucky 13th!  

Mary and her not so Little Lamb.

A few true treasures have risen to the surface of our home as we shuffle stuff about during a renovation, one of the very best being this photo of Mary and her not so little lamb named "Lamby."

(I mean really, what else could this dear ewe possibly have been called?) 

Mary was in kindergarten, her sheep was actually younger than she looked here, and together they rocked the sheep lead class at the Warren Co. Fair.

The idea behind the class was that the sheep leader wore a wool outfit and marched around a ring and showed off their very own four legged wool producer. 

(I think that the class was very appropiately sponsored by the Ohio Wool Industry.)
My mom custom knit just for her, Mary's fabulous sweater and Mary and Lamby wore matching Tam o'Shanter caps, though tragically, Mary's tam is mostly cropped out of the photo.
Because they were just that full of awesome.
Mary has always had a very stylish sensibility, even with a big knobby kneed (but sweet) sheep as a runway partner. 

Proof of Life…Harry the Budgerigar.

Several pals expressed concern over Harry, Lily's beloved budgerigar as he did not make it into our Christmas photo this year. 

Rest easy...Harry is alive and well. 

Here is a Proof of Life photo of my favorite little green fellow with his girl.

(aren't kidnapping victims photographed with the day's paper as evidence of life?)

Next time, I will ward off any worrisome thoughts and make sure that Hare-Bear is right there on the couch, with the family as he should be. This past year, I was a little too proud of myself for not forgetting any kids. For future Christmases, I will have higher standards and make sure that the whole family is present…. little green bird and all. 

So Proud of Totally 49!

Karl celebrated his birthday yesterday and much to the excitement of his kids, turned 49.

Rosie hugged his head tightly and gleefully announced that she was 

"SO PROUD of you for being 49, I can't believe that you are actually, TOTALLY 49!"

Henry thought that his handmade card was the most clever… he drew two windows, one with a big #48 escaping through it and another with a big #49 arriving.

"I hope you like your first day of being 49!" reads the caption.

(he would not let me post a photo- he is stingy with his copyrights)

Jamie however is more open to sharing his art and drew this card featuring a scuba diver, Darth Vader and, of course, a big # 49. 

Karl is still trying to figure out if the misspelling of father to fart-her was deliberate in a farty, jokey sort of way.

Either way, we were all very happy to celebrate the birthday of our favorite  FORTY-NINE year old dad and wish him a very happy 49 more!

Freezer Bowl Banners-1982 style.

Karl is really happy that he and Jamie got to skip out of town for a few days on a little father/son scuba trip. For one thing, they are having a great time underwater in the sunny south but equally important is that he has been spared some of the media coverage reminiscing about the last time the Bengals played the Chargers in a playoff game in 1982. Which spared him of the anguish of listening to his wife reminisce about the same game. 

Apologies in advance, but since Karl is away, I will do that now.

A very cold Coach Gregg being carried off the field after the Bengals win...did I mention that I was at the game?

It was really really cold... like nine degrees below 0 which makes it the coldest game played in Bengals history. And so for the past 32 years every time there Bengals have played in the cold, I can't stop myself from reminding my family that I was at the HISTORICALLY COLDEST Bengal game on record as an attribute to my personal toughness when it comes to football games. And then, if I am feeling sassy, I go on to reminisce about how actually I was there hours EARLY for the game, along with my pals Katie, Erika, Anne and our recruited little brothers to hang up supportive team banners urging our favorite team to victory. 

We were the chief banner makers of the early '80's and we took out duties very seriously arriving a couple of hours before the game to hang our signage in the end zones. 

Our supercool banners were made by painting bed sheets in the basement with clever and often rhyme-y messages like 

"Zap 'Em Lapham!" and "Smush 'Em Bush!"

For our favorite and famous wide receiver Steve Kreider...

"Make the Margin Wider, Kreider!"

We were pretty awesome when it came to fun team spirit messages.
And apparently effective, because the Bengals won that historically cold game in 1982 and then went on to the Superbowl.

And they will do the same tomorrow. 

Only this time they will have to beat the Chargers without the sporty spirit Bengal banners... I'm sure they can do it.

Go Bengals...Who-dey!!!