Do you know what time it is?!?!

Bo just stumbled out of the bedroom with a look of absolute bewilderment to ask what in the world I am doing. It is half past midnight. Well, here you have it. Jenny has finally guilted me into another blog posting.

So, what is the news of the clan? Let's get the serious stuff down first and then we will move on to the frivolous. About the time I would normally have been doing another blog posting (at a three week interval) our family was walking through the very difficult and sad business of saying good-bye to a loved one. On March 4th, 2008 my grandmother Barbara Lee Hampton passed away. She had been struggling with some health issues, particularly asthma and emphysema (sp?) and then she contracted pneumonia late in the winter and her body simply could not recover. I went down to Houston on a whirlwind trip to be there for the memorial service and to see my grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousin. It was very good to be with the family during that time and we are SO grateful to the Hengsts and the Browns for watching Katherine, Jacob and Jane during the time I was gone.

On a lighter note, I took William into the doctor shortly after we got back only to find that there was some difficulty with his circumcision and here I will summarize in a painful alliteration: Clamp, Cut, Cauterize. POOR WILLIAM. But he seems to be recovering very well. And if you should have much sympathy for William, let’s share some of it with Jacob who also just went to the doctor, hopefully for his final visit. He had an outbreak of some sort of virus on his skin that grew these terrible wart/blister “things” all over him and he had to have all 25 or so of the bumps frozen off of his arms and legs. We didn’t manage to eradicate the bumps the first time, so he got to go in a second time . . . and a third time.

So truly now, in lighter news . . . Bo’s job is very busy, but he is still enjoying the work. Bo, Jacob and Katherine have the lean-to off the garage all prepped for our baby chicks' arrival in a few weeks time. And Jane celebrated her 2nd birthday during this blogging interval. Actually, Jane turned 2 the day the my grandmother passed away, 3/4/08. Bo and I got to go to our county Republican Convention and Bo was selected to go to the State Convention as a delegate and I as an alternate. Alas, I think the summer schedule will prevent the trip to the state convention.

And now for the funny stories . . . the other day we were out to eat at IHOP and Katherine finished her meal far before Jacob did, so Katherine took stock of what Jacob still had . . . Pancakes and hashbrowns. Then in a very cheerful voice Katherine proposed this to Jacob, “I’ll make you a deal. If you give me your hashbrowns, I’ll let you keep your pancakes.” Jacob, none the wiser, amiably obliged her. William now reaches for toys and regularly rolls from him tummy to his back. He has great blue eyes and is truly a cheerful and mellow child. Jane regularly tries to ride him like a horse, but William is developing his first line of defense in that he now has 2 teeth and is very apt at getting things into his mouth (including Jane’s hand). Jane is starting to speak full sentences. Some of them are rather funny, but of course nothing specific comes to mind at the moment. I do like how she says “energy bars” as it comes out “keekeekee bars.” The other day I promised the children a walk and Jacob trying his best to be patient asked me “How time will we be walking out?”

Oh! And the children found an earthworm today and picked it up and put it in a Tupperware with dirt all of their own accord. The new pet (Katherine asked if we could keep it forever.) is currently residing, lid in place, on the kitchen counter. Bo came home and thought the dirt a bit dry for the earthworm and added some water. So in the nice moist soil the earthworm disappeared under the surface, so after dinner when the children went to check on it they couldn’t see it. Jacob announced with an air of finalily, “I think Daddy drowned our pet!” The children (read here Katherine) also thought to catch a honey bee today and had gotten into a fair bit of my good honey in their attempt to make an alluring trap before I halted their endeavors. So the rest will be told in pictures. All in all we are well and looking forward to Easter. He is risen. What a great celebration!


Such a sweet baby boy! I really can't get over it.

The girls are licking up spilled "pot au crem" (chocolate pudding) from the table.

Jacob enjoyed the fancy dessert, too.

Katherine and Jacob thanked Jane for having a birthday so they could have cake.

This picture was taken right after someone snapped the elastic on the party hat on William's chin.

The party crew less William and Shannon Anderson who visited for the weekend.

The birthday girl. Two years old.

Of course, Jane must have her cake.

And eat it too!