poor zach...

all in the same day...

zach walked out of school the other day with mary. he was looking at the ground, barely even said good bye to her. it was kind of weird but he's six years old and inherently weird. as we got in the car he nearly burst into tears "did you know that mary is going to a new school?" devastating!

then we get home and he ritualistically checked on his frog, amp... only to find he was not moving. and very dry. and very stiff. that's right, his frog had passed away during the day.

his girl moving. his pet dead. life is hard, but the little man is taking it pretty good.

puppy watch 2008

So today is officially day 63 since the "procedure" and possible puppy-making event. We've brought Lily with us to Mom's Thanksgiving Day Feast "just in case". If she doesn't have the pup(pies) today, then who knows when it(they) will be born or who the puppy-daddy will turn out to be.

Will keep you informed :)

(((and happy thanksgiving all!)))

How to fix a turkey, by Zach Boyles

Go to the market and buy a 45-pound turkey. Put it in the oven for 4 minutes. It will be black when it's done [clearly he's used to mom's cooking]. Eat it with butter bread, tomatoes, watermelon, and apples. Have chocolate ice cream for dessert. Have chocolate milk to drink.

papa don't preach

our baby, our sweet little lily, has found herself in a bad situation. it's really not her fault. she didn't mean to. she didn't understand. papa don't preach... cause she's made up her mind... and she's keeping her baby.

*sigh*

reactions are mixed. some of us are worried (me). some are mad (jim). some are "a little" happy (tali). and some are just plain ambivalent (zach).

we didn't exactly want this to happen. in fact, we had our sammy (miniature pinscher) neutered to prevent it. what remains to be seen is whether he had one last horrah before his surgery. he was neutered 61 days ago. gestation for dogs, turns out, is 63 days.

at this point, there's not much we can do. ideally it will turn out to be sam's, and she will have just one. sam is also a small dog and we know what we're dealing with. if we manage to make it to thanksgiving with no puppy(ies) we may have bigger issues on our hands, as we have no idea what dog managed to get to her (inside our fenced in yard!) and will have to watch closely to make sure she's not having babies too big for her to deliver.

never a dull moment. will keep you fully updated... and hopefully i will be able to report on a safe, healthy delivery of one cute, keepable little puppy VERY soon.

i do too, mary... i do too

I've been really lucky to get to help out in Zach's classroom some lately, and it's been such a blessing to get to see him in his element, to get to know his friends, and to see how excited he is to have me involved. Last Thursday his excitement bubbled over as he saw me walk into the classroom... as I got about halfway to his desk, he couldn't wait another second, flashing a pink piece of paper at me, he proudly proclaimed "Look what Mary gave me!"... no sooner were the words out of his mouth and the little note was already stashed back in his desk. Mary has been a friend of Zach's since preschool, in fact he started calling her his girlfriend not long after they met. I was curious as to whether or not Mary knew of this (after all, that happens alot in the single-digit crowd), but her mom quickly confirmed for me that she heard just as much about my little man as I did about her little girl. Relationships among five-year-old are of the fickle sort, however, so I didn't give much thought to it.

Until a couple of weeks ago in the classroom. We were making turkeys on that day, and Joseph said "hey Becky, you better help your daughter"... smiling I informed him that Zach was my son and I didn't have a daughter in that class. As I walked away to get some supplies I heard Mary say "that's not my mom" and he informed her that he thought Zach was her brother. She promptly put him in his place "we are boyfriend and girlfriend, not brother and sister!" I could barely contain myself it was so cute!


Anyway, last week we got busy with papers, math bingo, centers and preparing to go home. The little note all but forgotten by yours truly.


But not so by Zach.

As soon as we got home, he pulled it out and asked me to read it to him. I have to be honest, the first two lines were a little tricky to translate (Mary is, after all, in kindergarten). The third however, was clear as can be...

I like the green color

I like the green color

I like the ZACH

-Mary

(note also the picture of the little Zach and Mary,

complete with two little hearts)

Honestly, you are melting right now aren't you? "I like the ZACH". Mary's obviously not your "do you like me, circle yes or no" kind of girl. She knows what she likes and she's willing to go for it. I like her already.

We hear a lot about Mary. We have a Mary Mii on our Wii. We have her school picture pinned to Zach's bulletin board. And now we have this proclamation of affection pinned right next to it. It makes me smile to see Zach coming into his own. Establishing friendships, being confident in his own skin, being Zach. I'm not quite ready for the world of girlfriends... but if he has to have one, I'm glad it's Mary. We have obviously have similar taste... because I'm pretty fond of the Zach too.

Mary and Zach at Preschool Graduation. May 2008.

Free Dr. Pepper!

It's like a special little smile from God, just for me :) (and Courtney)...

This Sunday you can go onto Dr. P's website and download a coupon for a free bottle of thirst quenching deliciousness. Read why here.

friday flashback

This is one of my very favorite pictures every of Tali and Zach. I took it in 2006, the day that the Boyles family went digital. I was so excited about my new camera (at the time a Sony Cybershot) and was determined to get "the money shot". I got tons of great pictures that day, but just could not get both of the kids to look at me and smile so that I would have one of them together. Finally, just as I was about to give up, Zach hopped on his bike. I asked Tali to try "one more time" for the picture (which she actually knows means as many pics as it takes to get the shot)... she walked over, put her arm around him, and BAM... there it was. We were having so much fun that day, and you can see that in their unusually genuine smiles... Tali with her sweet little smirk and Zach showing off every pearly white in his head. This is how T & Z look at their happiest, most contented, peaceful moments. This was the last picture I took that day. Mission complete. Seriously, aren't they they the cutest kids ever?

Nutcracker Schedule

So I know that most of you won't be able to trek to Evansville or Henderson for this year's showing of the Nutcracker... but if you are I promise the show will be better than ever! Tali has three small parts in this year's show, but she is thrilled with each of them. For those who are interested, there are shows on Dec 5th, Dec 7th, Dec 13th, and Dec 14th that are open to the public. For more information on times, locations, or to order tickets visit http://www.childdance.org/. You can also order roses or "break a leg" wishes for a certain little dancer in our lives. Go to "Forms & Etc" then click on "Nutcracker Tickets Order Form".

Hope to see you there! And fear not, if you cannot make it, I will have pictures :)

my hot date

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to work at the Area Wide Residence Council... it is a function where all the Residence Councils of local nursing facilities (that's the pc term for a nursing home) get together to honor one another, have a great meal, and play a mad game of BINGO. Every local facility brought 1-10 residents... so there were A LOT of people there.

I hadn't planned on helping with the event, but a last minute email of desperation changed my mind and I volunteered. Driving there on Thursday I prayed that the Lord would help me be a little bit of Jesus to the people that would be there. That He would help me to take time out of the busyness to sit down, have a conversation, look these amazing folks in the eyes, and let them know that we really do care about them. They are not forgotten. They are valued.

The morning started off with assisting people into the building. Walking along with sweet ladies and their walkers, there was plenty of time for a conversation. Pushing wheelchairs there was always something to talk about. And when everyone was in there was certainly time to sit and chat with people from all over the area. There was an award presentation (one of the awards is incidentally named after my uncle- Kenneth Talley- who was a pretty cool cat on the nursing home scene in his day!). Then a yummy meal. And then....

drum roll please.........................................................................

Elvis entered the building. Yep. Elvis (ie Bruce Borders). And there are really no words to describe how much these people love Elvis. Suffice it to say they love him a lot.

I was standing in the back of the room watching the fun when this gentleman in a green cardigan wheeled up to me.

"How old do you think I am" he asked.

If you ever find yourself in this position, shoot at least 15 years below their actual age. It's a trick of the trade. "Oh, I don't know.... 72???"

"Nope! I'm 89 years old!!! Will be 90 soon" clearly delighted that I was so horribly wrong.

"Well goodness gracious! You're getting around great! And still as sharp as a tack!" I replied with great gusto and enthusiasm.

"I can walk, want to see?"

At this point I start to stutter and make eye contact with his aide, standing directly behind him. Sometimes it's not safe for people to hop up out of their wheelchairs, and that's what this fella was in the middle of doing... her lack of concern indicated that it was okay, so I offered my hand for stability... and sure enough, he stood up, took a few shuffling steps, turned to me and said...

"Want to dance?"

Weeeelllll, now.... The smooth sounds of Elvis... a distinguished older man in a green cardigan... OF COURSE I WANTED TO DANCE!

Taking his hands I told him that of course I'd love to dance. And dance we did. No slow dance either, we were dancing to "Don't be cruel". He led me around in circles, arms going up and down with the beat of the music. It wasn't a long dance as he tired quickly... but it was so much fun.

And it made me cry. Because I'm a nerd like that. I made him promise to come back next year, because I'd never danced with a 90 year old before. So it's a date. Don't tell Jim ;)

This is the interesting thing... All the while that day I had asked God to allow me to be a little bit of Jesus to someone. And it turns out... this fellow was a little bit of Jesus to me instead. Isn't that how it always seems to work?

just when you've all given up on me...

I am finally BACK on-line and ready to blog! I am also ready to get back on track with all my bloggin' buddies... I have recently realized that I miss out on about half of my friend's lives without access to their blogs!

Life has been so good since I wrote last. Hectic. But good. More to come on that.

Thanks to those of you dedicated blogerotsky who didn't take me off your link lists :)