Cassandra's Madlibs Birthday

Cassandra recently celebrated her birthday and since we couldn't be with her, we got together as a family and made birthday cards for her.  We also composed a write-up on her birthday and then did a Madlibs version of what we wrote.  Here is the Madlibs version, and the real version is in the post that follows this one.

Soon it will be Cassandra’s appleday and she will be 13.  It is a special era for Cassandra and her lackey, Herbert Hoover,  because they are expecting an ice cream cone in July.  Cassandra has kept herself superfluous, painting for bathtub markers and trying to lava sled her toenails without having a twig.  She still likes bouncy balls, in fact, she can’t get through  a tree house without  talking to it.  In honor of her animal-day, we have found some floppy palm tree quotes for her which are as follows:

“One of the very bleakest things about a picture frame is the way we must regularly Jimmer whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to excreting”—Wilbur the Pig

“You cannot truly say you kiss well unless you Google well.”—Brittany Spears

“You can tell you hyperboled  too much for National Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day (Sept 19) when you have to let your owl out.”—Rambo II

She should know that we agree with all of these gingerbread houses, and we are sure that she does, too.  

Cassandra’s dear ninja , Rand, is a very threatening man who screams hard to remember her sewer,  keep her golden hair trimmed and to keep her from sweating slinkily.   We are sure that he will be twitterpated when the super nova is over and they have a helpless silhouette in the dead flower so that he can get some manure.

We slither Cassandra very much and are grateful for all the elephants she births to us and for all the painted waxed fruit chunks that she twists.  Today, we will eat a plagerized work  in her honor

Cassandra's Real Birthday

Here is the real write-up of Cassandra's birthday.

Cassandra’s Birthday by her parents and siblings April 2011

 Soon it will be Cassandra’s birthday and she will be 23.  It is a special year for Cassandra and her husband, Emerson,  because they are expecting a baby in July.  Cassandra has kept herself busy shopping for baby things and trying to cut her toenails without having a tantrum.  She still likes food, in fact, she can’t get through church without eating it.  In honor of her birthday, we have found some food quotes for her which are as follows:

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating”—Luciano Pavarotti

“You cannot truly say you live well unless you eat well.”—Nigella Lawson (in the New York Times)

“You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out.”—Jay Leno

She should know that we agree with all of these quotes, and we are sure that she does, too.  

Cassandra’s dear husband, Emerson, is a very patient man who works hard to remember her snacks,  keep her toenails trimmed and to keep her from falling over randomly.   We are sure that he will be glad when the pregnancy is over and they have a helpless newborn in the house so that he can get some rest.

We love Cassandra very much and are grateful for all the calls she makes to us and for all the fun blog posts that she writes.  Today, we will eat a roast in her honor.

Spring Break!

I always consider spring break as a mini summer run-through.  Last year spring break was a disaster—by it’s end, the house was in shambles, the budget was blown, and the mom was a nervous wreak. Last year’s summer proved to be the same, only more so—the worst summer on family record.  Thankfully, if this year’s spring break was any indication, our summer will be wonderful.

Thomas's New Groove Part II

Before reading, you may want to refer to  Thomas's New Groove Part I.

Written with more than a bit of help from Thomas, himself.

Well, I guess Thomas wasn’t the only one who thought he had a sexy groove because he not only made it into the Junior High Idol finals, but he also won the entire competition.  When it was announced that Thomas was the winner over the school intercom, the entire student body erupted in a cheer that could be heard throughout the whole school.  Thomas stood up on his chair in class and did what he called his either his “sexy dance” or his “wolf dance” (don’t ask.)  The following days he was surrounded by adoring fans and was starred in his school news with an exclusive interview.  Girls in older grades call him “little sexy man” and he won twenty five dollars.  I eat my words; yes, my 12 year old son, still under five feet and only 80 pounds, apparently is sexy and has a heck of a groove

Conference Weekend

This is conference weekend--the time where latter-day saints gather in their homes to listen to God's prophet and apostles speak. Yesterday was a wonderful conference Saturday.    It began at 8:30 am when we went to a stake center nearby to hear Miriam and Katrina sing in a choir  at a pre-conference morningside.    The songs they sang were so beautiful!  They sang “My Shepherd will Supply My Need,” “Shall the Youth of Zion Falter,” “Carried by Love,” and other beautiful hymns.   After eating muffins, we went home to listen to conference.  Outside it was 75 degrees and ridiculously windy;  Inside we gathered and listened to prophets of God.   The messages of service is especially stirred my soul.

     My interest is particulary timely since it is the 75^th anniversary of the church’s welfare program this year.  No wonder there were so many talks on service at Conference.  I am resolved to do a better job at mourning with those who mourn and comforting with those who stand in need of comfort.

Yesterday after the second session, we cleaned the house up for Sunday and also got the boys something to eat.  At 6:00 they and Brian went t to the stake center to watch the Priesthood session of general conference.  The girls and I bought ourselves a fun meal and enjoyed eating it and watching “Anastasia.”  When the guys got home, we all had sherbet floats.   It was a nice day.

Today, we woke up to snow.  No kidding!  They say it always rains or snows on conference Sunday.  Maybe that’s Heavenly Father’s way of encouraging us to stay home and watch conference!  Even if it had been sunny, home for conference is where we’d want to be.  The girls made muffins for breakfast which we enjoyed eating together as we began conference.  For me, I especially liked Elder Eyring and Elder Burton’s talks on service.  Brian found Richard G. Scott’s message on marriage and family to be the most memorable,  and my kids enjoyed the talk on repentance by C. Scott Grow.   We all loved President Uchtdorf  and President Monson’s talks on the Savior.  Thus ended 8 hours of a wonderful general conference--4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours today, plus 2 more hours for the men.

On Friday I got to substitute teach seminary.  The teacher asked me to give a lesson on preparing for General Conference.  I took my lesson from Elder Holland’s talk, “And there were Prophets in the Land Again.”  I love that title!  In the talk, he highlights three things that general conference declares to the world.   These three things are 1)  That there are prophets on the earth today, 2) That we are called to action, and most importantly, 3)  that Jesus is the Christ.  We talked about these three things in class.  The students were wonderful, and teaching about conference, along with praying for the Holy Ghost to be with me and my family during conference, helped prepare me for conference.

Also on Friday, Brian and I went out, on a date, of course.  We ate at a barbecue place and walked from the laundry to down town and back.  It was so nice.  We got home and to bed early so that we could be bright eyed and bushy-tailed for conference.