Mr. Popularity

The poor boy doesn't stand a chance.

Center of Attention

I wonder what wisdom he was sharing.

Pocket Pic

Just walked by and saw this on the counter. As Noble's pockets go, today was a tame day.

Talent Show

Kayci performed "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" one more time today at the Krause Elementary talent show.

Check it out...



I was so happy that not only did she play well, but that she had fun doing it and felt cute in the new outfit she got just for the talent show.

And at the end, I get points for refraining from screaming out, "Kayci has left the building!"

Great job, Bitty!

Recital Video

Some people are reporting that they can't see the recital video embedded in their e-mail.  If you can't, then just click to the blog site at http://ipharaon.blogspot.com/2012/05/piano-recital.html and view it there!

Piano Recital

Saturday was Kayci's second piano recital.  As you can see, she's come a long way from her first recital last December.

She played:
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow
• Snake Dance
• The Perfect Nanny (from Mary Poppins)
• Sugarfoot Rag

Thanks to Mrs. Foster for being such a great teacher to our Bitty.  We're so proud of her!

Found: One Dog

This is Sami.  Sami has been gone for almost exactly 2 years.  For 15 years, she was the best dog you can imagine.  If you've been around a while, you know that Sami lived with Grandpa for several years and when we moved to Brenham, we got Kayci a "new dog."  Our mistake?  Thinking the new dog would be like Sami.  Jessie's a great dog, but we weren't ready for a puppy (we were used to a well-trained dog).  When we got pregnant with Noble, we started searching for a new home for Jessie and found a great lady at Germania who lives out in the country and was willing to add Jessie to her family.  It's been a great fit, and we're so grateful (and happy for Jessie!).  I was very clear after that:  no more dogs.  Then Dad got sick and you know the rest...Sami came to live with us a few months after he was diagnosed.  It's hard to believe that she outlived him by 1 whole year, but she did.  That's another story, though.  The moral of this story?  We didn't want a dog--we've already had the best dog in the world, loved and lost.  

Two days ago, Noble and I were in line at WalMart and struck up a conversation with the elderly gentleman behind us.  For some reason he and Noble got to talking about pets, and Noble announced as only a 4 year old boy can do, "Our dog died.  She's in heaven with Grandpa now."  He went on to explain how we don't have ANY PETS...well, except a couple of real, swimming frogs.  I told the man that we'd never be able to replace our dog, and we wouldn't try.  

Sigh.

This morning, I was thinking about the Advocare 24 Day Challenge James and I are about to begin...and I thought, the key to success is going to be MOVING every single day.  I wish I had something that would MAKE me walk every day.  Ha!

Today was a different kind of a Sunday; I was on schedule at church to do the hospitality stuff, but then Kayci and I needed to leave for Kingwood for a baby shower so we weren't going to stick around for Sunday school or church.  All was well, we were right on time.  Kayci and I headed to the donut store to pick up the church's order and get our family's breakfast.  Daddy and Noble were going to go to church in the truck, and we'd meet them there.  

Well, when we got to the donut store, there was a dog outside who bore an amazing resemblance to Sami.  Of course my heart melted a little.  I talked to her, then we went inside and got in line.  As we stood there, I was watching the dog outside and I realized she wasn't with anyone...she was on her own.  I asked around in the donut store and they told me she'd just shown up, that she was lost.  So...I couldn't do it.  I couldn't let her get hurt or really lost, so I went out to look at her collar.  She had a tag from a vet in Bryan, but no owner's name or phone number.  Poor James is used to stuff like this--I called him and asked him to come get her to put her in our yard until we could track down the owner.  I left our phone numbers with the donut store employees and we went on our way to church after James put her in the backyard.  

After set up, Kayci and I went back to the house.  Driving up and seeing this in the yard made my heart skip a beat...she looked so much like Sami standing there in the yard.  She was already digging out, so we moved her into the small yard where she'd be safer.  Once I got a good look at her, I realized that she was somebody's baby because she was so well taken care of.  I told Kayci that most likely she'd be with us overnight and that we were going to find her owners, that somebody would be missing her.  (You KNOW the kids were absolutely ecstatic...thinking they were going to keep her!)  I won't lie, when the puppy rolled over and showed me her belly at the donut store, and looked up at me with Sami's big brown eyes...I hoped.  But then I reminded myself, I don't want a dog.

I didn't want a dog.  And I definitely didn't want an inside dog--I've gotten used to clean floors, no pet hair, being able to bake and leave stuff out to cool...we've all gotten spoiled to be able to leave toys and stuff around.  We've been telling the kids for 2 years, we're NOT getting another dog.  Heck, they're lucky they got frogs!  (There was Otto the orphan kitty last year...but even his cuteness didn't last long.)

But you know, God knows what we need more than we do.  If the lost dog outside of Max Donuts hadn't looked so much like Sami, my heart would have been harder and I may have even left her there or pawned her off on an animal lover so someone else would have to deal with finding her owners.  Or not...maybe I would have just ignored her and hurried Kayci by, too.  But she DID look like Sami, she did roll over right into my heart, and we did take on the task of finding her owners.

Which turned out to be pretty easy--James left a message with the vet on her tag, but we weren't hopeful of hearing anything before tomorrow.  But about an hour after Kayci and I left town, I got a phone call from her owner.  He and his wife live right by us and their puppy dug out of the yard this morning.  The owner and his wife are in their 70s, and they adopted this puppy a few months ago (she's a year and a half old, exactly what we thought).  After he and I spoke briefly, the owner asked "do you want to keep her?"  Uh, yeah.  I told him I needed to talk to my husband, but I'd get back with him.

I barely had time to call my Boy before the owner's wife called me back; she was so excited at the thought of their dog having a home with a family!  Well, they came over this evening with a basket full of everything you could possibly need for a dog (these people were just amazing and generous and so wonderful...I hope this dog knows what she's gotten herself into!).  It turns out we did find the dog's owners--us!  We don't know what will happen next, but we do know that it's been a great day and the dog has made herself right at home in our family.  Keep us in your prayers that she'll continue to adjust well...and our house will survive!

  

And that is how Trixie became a Pharaon.  The...beginning.  :)  

Maifest Magic

*I'm sure I'm infringing on BlueBell's copyright, but the title just seemed fitting.  This week has been magical!

If you're not from or in Brenham, you may not know about Maifest.  Click on their website to find out more about it, or here's the summary:  it's one of the oldest German festivals in the south.   We were unsure about it, I think, because it just seemed like such a "Brenham" thing.  Well, that's not a bad thing, and once we got involved we realized it is the LEAST exclusive event around--they work so hard to make it open to everyone, and then work hard to make sure every child feels special.   Last year, one of Kayci's friends talked her into participating and her mom included Kayci in one of the dance groups.  Remember this?

Kayci had so much fun, and we did, too.  She and Kate did the go-go dance in the talent show last spring, and then a bunch of the girls wore their outfits for Halloween this year.  We got our money's worth and then some!  But more importantly, Kayci had a great time, and she loved, loved the dancing.  This year, she was so excited to sign up for another dance number, and Maifest didn't disappoint.  Kayci was a Genie with a fantastic group of girls and parents.  From start to finish, Maifest 2012 was well-organized, kid-focused, and a ton of fun.  And most importantly, Kayci had FUN!

Here she is, waiting to go to her group before the Coronation.  Did I mention that Kayci ROCKED as a Genie?  She loved the dance, and it showed!  We love to watch her dance, and we're even willing to bend our "one activity" rule to let her take dance lessons...but she's content to dance for just a couple months each year.  I love that kid!

And afterwards, we snuck away to ride a couple rides while we waited for Daddy to gather his equipment.

We were up bright and early Saturday morning for the parade...the Genies' float was gorgeous, and so were the girls.  :)  This year they had to combine the Jr. and Sr. parades, so after we got the Genies off the float and back with their families, we went back to watch the rest of the parade.

When Daddy went back to film the Senior Coronation, the knuckleheads and I went back so they could ride the 40-ft. slide (YOWZA!) and get some more of the awesome fresh lemonade.

Did I say YOWZA already?!  Geez, that's a tall slide--the look of pure, abject terror on their faces...needless to say, nobody asked if they could go again.  :)

And I made them take the obligatory goofy picture...I bet next year we'll see his nose, too...they're both growing so fast!

After dinner, Noble was arguing that he was too tired to sleep (and trying to get out of taking a bath).  He lay down on the floor in protest...and proved himself wrong!

I hope you guys had as much fun at Maifest as the Pharaons.  Congratulations, Queen Kate and King Jake--you and your families did a wonderful job of making Maifest unforgettable for everyone!