Time for arts and crafts, brought to you by Isaac Brown

Issac signed up for ceramics this year in high school. Ferris requires its students to be "well rounded individuals" so therefore they force them to take some sort of music or art class. Isaac nixed the music class because the music teacher feels there is no room for a banjo in the strings section. 

That's okay, Isaac felt he could better express himself through clay. He expressed himself by making a spittoon. Not just any spittoon though, this one weighs a good 10 pounds and features banjos and bears. 

I immediately made the rule that he cannot use it. He immediately told me he already has. I am starting to wonder how much of the weight is from actual clay.

Ike's rendition of a bear, laying down.

Ike's beloved banjo.

I cannot even fathom what his next project will be. Seriously, I have no clue.

Some day my prince will come.......but probably not today.

Our young men and young women of our church had a Disney dance. Dress up as your favorite Disney Character. Daniel had to settle for Woody but he wanted to be......

This was Ike's first dance, and he actually wanted to go. He was really pleased to dress up as Capt. Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. He has a really cool pirate sword,and Ben let him borrow his costume from Halloween.

Here is Daniel as Woody from Toy Story. If you look really closely you can see his sheriff badge says "Sheriff Daniel" it is from when he was 3 years old. Grandpa Reneer brought it back from Las Vegas. He even has the empty gun holster. I can't believe I put off two hours of studying to make a cow hide vest for my 17 year old's Woody costume. 

If you pull he chain he says such clever things as.....

"There's a snake in my boots!"

"You're my favorite deputy."

"Someone's poisoned the water well!"

Believe or not Ike is really excited, he is just in character. Jack is a rather grouchy guy.

They both had a very good time and even remembered to bring home mom a cookies and chocolate milk. 

Happy Birthday Anniversary Dan

We have a lot of little traditions around the house that helps us remember Dan. One of the favorites is his birthday celebration. We have one of his favorite birthday dinners (steak or ribs) with his favorite birthday cake, Costco's Death by Chocolate. 

This year it was voted to have b-b-q'd ribs. Steak or ribs are a huge treat at our house. We make this only once or twice a year because of cost. 

So when the kids get their grubby little hands on them they lick them clean. The girls like to polish the bones with their teeth! I prefer a nice b-b-q'd chicken breast. :) 

This is followed by a sliver of cake. This cake is crazy rich. Dan loved, loved, loved chocolate and yet one year he gave it up for an entire year just because he wanted to prove he could.

Dan would have been 47 years old. 

The girls did cards and sent them up in balloons.

Driving Lessons

Yesterday afternoon I was driving back from the dump with my oldest son, Daniel. Daniel is 17 and will be 18 in a few months. He has been driving for almost 2 years. Two years of early morning seminary (5:50 am). Two years of shuttling between high school campus and college campus, and two years of being mom's back up taxi. Yesterday I began to wonder if this is all really a good idea having him drive. It all started like this.......

Mom: Daniel, the windows are getting foggy from all this talking (see it is winter here so it is dark by 4 pm) I am going to have to turn on the defrost.

Daniel: WHAT??!!

Mom: You know, the defrost button, it clears the windows so you can see.

Daniel: You're kidding right? There is an actually a button that can do that?

Mom: You're kidding right? You did not know about the defrost button?

Daniel: If I did know I would not have been driving with my head hanging out the window so I can see. Sheesh.

Okay boys and girls, here is what we learned......

First: If you notice your windows are fogging up press the magic button that clears the windows so you can actually see where you are going.

DO NOT....I repeat.....DO NOT DO THIS!!!

Especially if it is 24 degrees out side with out the fact you are driving 30 mph down the road. Apparently tears freeze at that temperature.

But no worries, there were no witness because he had on the high beams on as well because it was foggy out. Yes, I showed him were the fog light buttons were as well on the dashboard.

To all the drivers that had to witness this spectacle I apologize profusely on behalf of my son.

At least I got a good laugh out of it. Hope you did too.