Happy Birthday, Dad A!!

There is an old saying amongst rotary wing pilots: there are old helicopter pilots and there are bold helicopter pilots, but there are no old and bold helicopter pilots. We'd like to add one more to that - apparently there are also really, really old helicopter pilots!

If you can believe it, it has been 60 years (60!!!) since this guy was born. I know, that's a shocking number. How can it be true, you ask? The guy who now answers to Granddad has in fact been preserved by years of inhaling JP-8. It has infiltrated every one of his cells and keeps them from losing the battle against time. Its properties are amazing, he is even still capable of talking and walking.

Actually, he's a guy that is capable of and good at just about anything. At 60 he can still run circles around his son (maybe not his daughter-in-law, but his son anyway). He loves his family and there isn't a thing he wouldn't do for them. We miss him and we can't wait to see him again, hopefully with a freshly snared trout on the end of a fly line.

Happy birthday, Dad. We hope you had a great one, because you sure as heck deserve it.

Excuse Me, Blessed Virgin, But You Have Some Salt On Your Cheek

Mary in a pretzel.

Happy Birthday, Mom A!!

It was only a few years ago on this day that a certain Mr. and Mrs. Kranz, in the state of New York, brought forth Matt's mom onto the Earth. We would not be the people we are today if that day 40 years ago* had not happened. There is much that we owe to our favorite Bun-nut, and we hope that she knows that she is loved, greatly appreciated, and that we were thinking of her on her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Is it coincidence that today there was a total lunar eclipse, in fact the last lunar eclipse until late 2010? We think not.

* It is possible that her actual age does not, exactly, match this number.

Robot...Robot...Robot...

I got Generation T, a book that shows you how to restyle t-shirts you don't normally wear. My first effort combines a couple of things from the book (hood, sleeves, taking off all hems) with my own ideas (cutting, inserting, and lacing the sides). I know I'm in my 30s, but the shirt didn't fit and I loved it, and I like it even better now. So there. And I don't know why it's sideways. I can't fix it and I have stuff to do. So there again.

At playgroup today, best friends were reunited after a long time apart. They decided that they were robots - here they are demonstrating what they made up:

Pierogi Mania

Here are some pics from our pierogi fest on Saturday. The girls cooked, the guys drank whiskey, and the kids played. After only about 8 hours of solid work on dinner, we finally ate around 9pm, but boy was it worth it. There were enough leftovers to feed the Soviet Army.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May cupid's arrow be squarely lodged in your buttocks on this day. I'm not done with G's lion, but here's what I made M. He was waiting for him this morning, ready to go to work. He's got his security clearance and all the cards he will need to work there. He even wore a tie for his first day of work.

Here's a video of the kids at playgroup exchanging their valentines yesterday.

Houseguests and Elephants

We occasionally have a visitor on our front porch, but yesterday we let him come in for a tour of the house and fed him some Cheerios and milk. G had the great idea of bringing Choco over to say hi so the cat didn't feel like the only animal in the house. I think it worked; the cat felt right at home.

Yesterday, Chip requested that I make him an elephant. He very specifically wanted a white one, so I made his body and trunk before I ran out of white yarn. We went to four places today to find more, but we couldn't locate any so we bought a comparable skein. When we got home, I gave G the option of having green or blue extremities instead of white, and he chose blue. That was my choice, too. This was made from a free pattern from Lion Brand, but I changed the tail and added a smile. Please to enjoy.

Craft Stuff

Today was Iggy's birthday party, and here's the card and hat we made for him:

And here's what she made for favors (except without the flower), along with meringue mushrooms that were delicious!

Health Department Test Subjects

We took G to a MOMS Club event this morning because it was something different to try. We took him to Stevi B's (don't get us started about the spelling) to make his own pizza. Here are some photos.

First, they got to see what dough feels like.

Next, they got to tour the kitchen and walk-in areas.

Then they decorated their pizzas. G added crushed red pepper to his.

Now it was time to try their creations. G was, well, you can see for yourself. He just ate the crust. He must have realized that this was not the same pizza that he'd made! They can't fool him!

Well, later we went out for our traditional every-other-Friday sushi lunch. Today, we went to Fuji, since we were already in the plaza. Fantastic, as always. [By the way, it's true what they say about white tuna. Yikes.]

We Missed Our...

300th post! Boo! Oh well, Happy 301! And away we go... I (P) just got back from 13 hours of work for CASA. I had court at 8:30, but first one attorney, and then the other, were not available, so the case was continued (delayed) to 1:30, then 2:00, then 3:00... by 4:00, the judge was off to one of her friends' funeral (see this - these were really good guys, by the way, who did a lot for the community) and I had some info I wanted to gather at one of my families' houses. Because Enquiring minds want to know, here's what I wore (loves me some Banana Republic!) - the top has a tie that you can't really see:

In other, more exciting, news, after waiting for over a year to get our bonnet stripes for Otto, here are the before and after photos!

If you are ever in the market for any kind of vinyl work, you must get thee to Eric Neumann at Global Imports MINI in Atlanta. Not only did he do some amazing custom work, but he charged significantly less than he was going to originally, just so I could use exactly the amount of my gift certificate and not a cent more. He wouldn't even let me add a tip. Every time we go there, they always find somehow to do something extra or surprise us in some way that leaves us amazed (in a good way). Oh, and he gave G a toy car - a MINI Cabrio, of course - to keep.

By special request, for Bunnut, here is the Chipster running around before class last week in his gi: