Just a Few Things on My Mind

We don't have alot of new and exciting news to share. Just trying to enjoy the last week of summer. It has started out a little strangely. The weather was terrible today....it was actually a little chilly! It was terrible because we couldn't go to the pool, and that was one thing we wanted to do for sure this week was enjoy the pool as much as we could. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

We went to the beach last week......it was great, of course. I will post some pictures of that excursion a little later.

Chris and his friend Geoff did a recording for the Broadway Christmas CD. He is also getting ready for his Carnegie Hall gig...that will be great fun!!! We can't wait to hear him!

Jordan and I are working on our auditions for "Wicked"......just kidding!!!!!! We WISH!

On Wednesday we will celebrate Jaron's 6th birthday. I am having alot of trouble realizing that my little boy is actually a big boy. He will start school next week. I am not ready. I am going to miss both of them so much during the day. Fortuately, Jaron will be around in the mornings; we only have half-day kindergarten here. But still, I will miss them arguing and being pests!!!! So, there will be lots of pictures to share in the next few weeks.

We are still praying for Wes and Candace and the kids. He is done with chemo, virtually cancer-free, and only facing one more scan and surgery. The surgery is only supposed to have a 10-14 day recovery period. Praise God!!!! At first it was going to be like 6 weeks!! Please continue to pray for nothing more than the healing power of Jesus Christ in their lives. I wish I could be there to give them all big hugs, so for those of you that ARE there, please hug them all for me.

And lastly, I wanted to share a link with you. It is to the website for the church we attend. Please read about "Prayer in the Square 2009". Spend some time in prayer, if you feel led. Click here for the website.

Visit from some more Texans!

So Nana, Papa and Grandpa Small drove in a few weeks ago for a nice visit. Yes, you read it right. They DROVE. Started on a Friday, got here by Monday at lunch time......and the whole weekend I was answering this question, "When are Nana and Papa gonna be here?" They finally arrived, and we had a great time seeing all three of them. Jordan and Jaron love it any time their grandparents come to visit (hint, hint).


Jaron is teaching Grandpa his version of playing Hulk Operation. Of course, he does not play it correctly at all. He actually wants to hear Hulk makes noises, so he doesn't even try to get the pieces out quietly.

We had fun playing Uno the whole time they were here. Jordan taught Papa how to play Snap, and she got frustrated because he kept cheating!!!!!

We had to take them to one of our favorite places in Princeton. We discovered it when Granny and Jaden were visiting. It's a self-serve frozen yogurt place called Twist. We LOVE it there, and it's only 18 calories per serving.

Of course it adds a little fat and sugar to it when you put Reese's cups on it like I do!

Yummy!!!!

Pretty! I noticed this time that when Nana is around, Jordan likes to make an extra effort to look nice. She carries her purse with her, she wears some of her jewelry and she always has to have lipstick on, preferrably the one that Nana is wearing. I wonder why she doesn't do that when I am around??

Twist is right across the street from the main entrance to Princeton University. So we walked over there and looked around.

The kids love this sculpture. They have to climb on it every time we walk through campus.


Here's George Washington's buried cannon again. NO ONE wanted to look at the camera!!!

This is a theater on campus.

Doesn't this look like a castle? You can walk through that tunnel..........

........to the other side.
I feel like I am at Hogwarts when I walk through this campus. It is absolutely beautiful.

Princeton Tigers!



And what's a visit to our home without heading over to the farm :)




We picked blackberries. Had to search for them a little, they were hiding in the bushes. I disturbed a wasp, got stung on my hand.....boy, it hurt!

Jaron loves these sweet dogs, and they love him. They love to be pet :)

We left with a huge cantaloupe, tomatoes, peaches, blackberries, apple cider donuts and apple cider slush. I LOVE THIS PLACE!

Jordan and Nana made a delicious blackberry and peach cobbler. The crust was wonderful, my favorite part!

We drove over to Philly on Friday to pick up Grandpa's new girlfriend, Jeanette, at the airport. So we took her on a super-fast tour of the city. This one street we drove down had a bunch of different flags flying.....Jordan was the first to spot the Texas flag :)

Our first stop was at the oldest Philly cheesesteak place, Pat's. It was in one of the Rocky movies. We all got an authentic cheesesteak. You don't call it a Philly cheesesteak in Philly, it's just a cheesesteak!!!



Granpa and Jeanette, sitting in a tree......

Then we saw the Liberty Bell.


And Independence Hall.....



And the grave yard at Christ Church.........(look at how worn the headstones are)



where Benjamin Franklin is buried.

It's said that throwing pennies on his grave gives him good luck......isn't that funny? Considering he said, "A penny saved is a penny earned."


Ben Franklin's ghost is flirting with Jeanette :)

Saturday night, everyone but me and the kids went to NYC to see Chris in Phantom. Here they are standing on the stage with the chandelier behind them.

And one of the last things we did together was share a wonderful meal at Olive Garden. We had a great visit with everyone. Jordan and Jaron were NOT ready for Nana and Papa and Grandpa and Jeanette to leave. In fact, they had to sleep one more time in the living room on the air matress like they did with Nana and Papa. They are certainly missed!!! We look forward to the next time the get to come. We LOVE all of you!!

Jaron's Bus Orientation

Jaron went to bus orientation at HIS school last week. He is insisting that Dutch Neck is no longer Jordan's school, but it is only his school. HA!! Anyway, all the little kiddos ride the bus to school everyday (very different from how I grew up in Lubbock), and he has been very excited about it.

We decided to take his backpack, I thought it was a good idea for him to know what it will be like to carry it with him on the bus. When we got to the school the assistant principal asked us to drop off the kids in the media center and then leave. It took me a second to process that request.....they wanted us OUT!! They explained that it would be easier for the kids if the parents left the room. So Jaron went and sat on the carpet like he was supposed to, I tried to linger for a second, and then they shooed all of us out......I didn't like it. I needed to watch Jaron and make sure he was OK.

So a couple of my friends and I waited out under the tree in the front and those precious little kindergarten babies came filing out, in nice straight lines, loaded the bus, AND IT DROVE OFF!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how close I was to jumping in the car and following the bus......I knew beforehand that they were going to get a little ride, but I wasn't prepared for the sight of the bus driving off with my child, and not knowing where it was going!!!!!

However, it wasn't but 5 or 10 minutes and they came back. They all hopped off the bus, beaming and waving like they had just accomplished a huge and exciting task. I can't tell how glad and proud I was to see my little boy!!!

So in 3 weeks, Chris and I will put him on the bus everyday so he can go begin a new adventure in life. Honestly, I am dreading that day. I am not ready for my youngest child to be in school. I am going to miss his company, and more than anything I am not ready for him to grow up. I hope and pray that he will enjoy every minute of it, that he falls in love with his teacher, Mrs. McGuiness, and that he gets a chance to share some imformation he has gathered about his precious sea animals :) He has asked me several times recently if he will get to learn about crabs in kindergarten, I told him I am not sure, but I hope with all of my heart that he does. Pray for our little Jaron on his first day of kindergarten, for Jordan on her first day of 2nd grade, for Mommy to have strength and for Daddy to have patience with Mommy :)

I love my Jaron, my precious kindergartener. And I love my Jordan, my amazing 2nd grade princess.

A Day in the Life of Piangi

I have been waiting to do this post for weeks. And here's why:

#1 I have been waiting for Chris to download some of the pictures from his phone.

#2 He has been intending to take the camera to work and take pictures of himself in all of his costumes for months, and he just now did it this weekend!

Anyway, I post pictures of the kids and all of their adventures all the time. I wanted to show you some of the things our hero does on a daily basis. He has quite a few adventures, too!!!!

Chris has been way into fishing lately. He loves going, and has even taken the kids several times, even though they just distract him when they go!! He bought an inflatable boat at Walmart recently so he could go further out on his little lake and fish for better fish. That last sentence just sounded really stupid.......forgive me, I am NOT a fishing pro, nor do I want to be one. So he took his boat out one day, had quite and experience tying it to his car, getting into it at the lake, sitting in water in the bottom of it, running over rocks and rowing with only ONE paddle. He caught this fish.......I can't remember what it's called, maybe a sunny?

He hasn't taken his boat out again but he did order two oars, so he should be a little more productive the next time he goes out. This is a pretty decent-sized large mouth bass, huh?

And another one.....

And another one! I just don't know how he can stand to stick his hand in their mouths.....YUCK!


So a few weeks ago, Chris got to go to the Yankees game with a few of his friends from Phantom. Chris has become a Yankees fan since we moved here, and he jumped at the chance to go check out the new stadium. From left to right, this is a picture of Geoff Packard, Evan Harrington and some guy named Mike (I think) who is not in the show but is Evan's friend. Geoff is a member of the ensemble and plays Monsieur Reyer (a part at the beginning of the show). If I remember correctly, he is a cover for the part Raoul, Christine's love interest, which completes the love triangle between her and the Phantom. Evan plays the part Ubaldo Piangi, the part that Chris covers. They also share a dressing room and fill their time with video games, fantasy baseball and various other sporting events on TV. I call them Chris's boyfriends.......just as a joke!! It bugs him!!!! Ha ha!

Geoff and Evan again.



It seemed like all the pictures Chris took that day, someone was showing off their guns!! They crack me up!

Just about two weeks ago, Howard McGillin had a party to celebrate his time with Phantom, ten years and over 2,000 performances as the Phantom, more than any other person. He is a Broadway legend; he has had leading roles in several award-winning Broadway shows. I feel very honored to have had the chance for me and the kids to meet him, and I know Chris feels honored to have had the chance to work with him. He was remarkably talented, and a phabulous Phantom!! Happy Trails, Howard!

OK, so onto the costumes. These are the costumes that Chris wears when he is playing the part of Ubaldo Piangi, he has a different set of costumes when he is the Porter/Fireman and part of the ensemble. Maybe in a few months I will be able to post some of those pictures, hahaha!

Anyway, these first two pictures are his costume in the "Hannibal" scene at the very beginning of the show. During this scene they are rehearsing for the opera "Hannibal"..........so it's basically a show within a show! Chris is Hannibal, the triumphant warrior. This is the scene in which he has to sing a high C.......I can't tell you how many times the kids and I have heard him practice...we love it!! He also has to climb a big elephant at the end of the scene too, with this huge costume and cape. I think it weighs like 20 pounds or more.



This is his costume in the first "Manager's"scene. It involves all of the principal actors and actresses, discussing the mysterious happenings around the opera house due to the relationship between Phantom and Christine.


And this is the best costume of all.......the Masquerade Ball!!!!!!!!!! And yes, that is a big sun on his tummy and a purple wig on his head :) The second act opens with the entire cast in bright, extravagant costumes. The Phantom magically appears in his "Red Death" costume.....Ooooooo!

Manager's 2........similar to Manager's 1, only this time they are planning how to use Christine as bait to capture the Phantom once and for all during their performance of the opera "Don Juan", an opera that the Phantom wrote and demanded Christine play the lead.


And this is Chris's "Don Juan" costume. He is Don Juan in the opera, but unfortunately he is murdered by the Phantom. The last thing we see of Daddy is his body being carried off in a stretcher!!!

Now, I apologize if I have left out or gotten any of this information wrong. I was dying to show Chris off a little!!!!!! Hope you enjoy.........please come visit us sometime so you can see our star in real life :)