Our Worst Fears Realized

Clara Grace turned 10 Wednesday, and her mother got her a dog for the occasion. This is especially nice since her mom is not even on the same hemisphere with dog lovers. So today was the big day when the new dog arrived. All we knew was that it was a 1 year old tea cup poodle. Now, for years I have indoctrinated the children in naming dogs. My ideal was to have the most harmless, insignificant animal ever placed on the planet by the Lord, and to name it Doom. (Childish I know, but funny none the less.)

So Quent and I have spent the last few days trying to talk Clara Grace a cool name for the animal. Here are a few of our favorites:
Brutus, Maximus (Max for short), and Wolfgang among others. Our favorite name, Quent and I, was to call the dog Frank after Clara Grace's uncle Frank. It was sort of a Pirates of the Caribbean "we named the monkey Jack" kind of thing. We even offered $20 bucks a piece, but she turned down the 40 francs in order to name the dog herself.

Finally, the big moment arrived, Clara Grace brought the dog to my house and introduced him as Pierre. That's right, Pierre - a name that makes even a French man snicker. Oh well, Clara Grace loves him, so we do too. We are happy to welcome (I can't believe I'm saying this) Pierre to the family.

Wrong on So Many Levels

Uncle Frank decided to let Clara Grace and Carly cut his hair. I knew teaching them to spell was dangerous, but I never imagined the horrors that would ensue.

Happy Birthday Nanny!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. As a surprise for Nanny (as she is now known) all my brothers and sisters and their children came in as a suprise. As an added suprise her sister Laura flew in from Charlottesville, Virginia. We had her husband, sister, five children, 12 of 13 grandchildren and three dogs. A splended time was had by all. Check out the photos.

Happy Birthday Nanny!

Fight TCS!

We recently found out that my nephew Hunter has been struck down with TCS - Terminal Cute Syndrome. While all children suffer from milder forms of the syndrome, they normally out grow their symptoms. In the more severe cases, permanant and painful damage can occur leading to it's most horrific form, DAMED, or Donnie and Marie Entertainment Disorder.

Hunter first started displaying symptoms at about age two. He couldn't say his own name and called himself "Hun Toe". Too cute. Like most TCS suffers, he is unaware of his cute actions, as evidenced by the above picture of his falling asleep on the family hound. We first became concerned that Hunter might have the more frightening form of TCS when after hearing a really good fart from uncle Frank, Hunter replied "That's common!". No scarier words have ever been uttered by a four year old boy.

His dad is doing all he can to combat the disease. He's teaching him the joy of "pull my finger" jokes, the convenience of not bathing, and the love of football. However, his mother (my sister Laura) is an enabler. As a little girl we worried that Laura might suffer from TCS. She referred to cows as "M&M's" and M&M candy as "TeePee TeePee's". As she got older her symptoms faded, but apparently she went on to be a carrier. Now she perpetuates the disease by sending out emails of his latest cute escapade, making sure his hair is always properly combed, and pointing out his cuteness whenever she can. She's all but dooming the boy to be a little bit rock & roll!