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Getting Mark ready for school has been really fun.  Really.  To his credit, he has been quite the trooper, helping me clean out his room and get stuff packed.  He has kept me laughing through the whole process. I think of Mark as a raccoon.  In fact, one of his favorite impressions is of a raccoon.  If you've read Rascal by Sterling North (an appropriate first name for a favorite author of Mark Sterling Kennedy, don't you think?), Mark loves to reenact Rascal washing his sugar cube in water and watching his disappear before his eyes.  Mark even makes the purring noises while doing it. Mark collects things like raccoons do also, and then he hides them.  Not on purpose--they just get pushed to the side. Too, as raccoons like anything shiny, Mark likes anything soft.  How does he rate the softness?  By testing it out.  Never take him into any "home" department in a store--he just walks down the aisles feeling everything.  If he ...

What a blessing to have good friends.  We don't have a lot of them (friends that is), but the ones we have are golden.  And yes, you all know who you are! We like to think of the Kreiners as the family we would pick if we had that option.  I know that sounds strange, but when John and I list qualities that we want to be as extended family members, the Kreiners fit the bill in every way.  They love our kids like their own, and sometimes I think they think about our kids a bit more than we do! They support them, they know what's going on in their lives, they bring over birthday treats, they talk to them.  For obvious reasons, my kids love the Kreiners. Well, they were gone most of the summer (as were we), but Glen was determined to get together one last time with Mark before he left for school.  I have to look at Glen with extensive gratitude.  When Mark was making the final decision about schools, Glen helped him figure out his feelings.  He ...

Oh my goodness, I just ordered Mark's textbooks for the Fall semester at the University of Michigan (begin choking sounds).  I don't know what it is about music textbooks, but the prices are astronomical. Anyway, for future reference (because I know most of you either have kids, or are a kid), check Barnes & Noble for used textbooks.  I find they are, on average, cheaper than any other site (Amazon, TextbooksRUs, and in the case of Ann Arbor, Ulrich's Bookstore).  Don't even get me started on how much local bookstores charge the unknowing (and perhaps lazy) parents and their kids for books!  I'm all for supporting local economies, but when the bookstores are charging almost double for the same used books, B&N is looking all the better. The final tab for Fall semester for Mark?  Almost $500, and after I add in all of the actual music he was required to have, the total is upwards of $650.  I remember when John and I had to take out school loans ...

Oh man, life is going by TOO fast!  Only the girls were off to school today (with Mark slated to begin at Michigan in a week).  We did the traditional standing with backpacks shot, but the cutest thing had to be when Cathryn (Mark's cutie girlfriend) drove up to pick up Hannah.  She names her family's cars, and this one is Beatrice.  Or Brunhilda.  Or Bonaparte. The Dynamic Duo of Cathryn and Hannah  Good old Bus 62.  Always on time.

1.  The things boys do for the girls they love. 2.  Is he insane? 3.  One last hurrah before college. 4.  At least he's not a Muppet anymore... 5.  I'm glad he wore a hat most of the day.

It all began with glare.  Simple, obnoxious, I-can't-stand-it-anymore glare. Our 60" rear projection TV in the family room was basically unviewable except after 10 o'clock at night.  The glare from the windows was making it impossible to see anything during my 10 minute lunch break each day, and something had to change. Too, the TV didn't fit in the entertainment center from Germany.  John, wanting bigger and better, hadn't considered that the space is only 40" wide.  For the past five years, I have been nagged by 6" of overhang on both sides of the TV stand. I went to Lowe's to price blinds.  $1,043 for five blinds, and that was at 20% off. I figured a new TV would be cheaper than that.  I was right, even with the state-of-the-art receiver and new HDMI cables that sly salesman told us we needed to have. But where to put the old TV?  It just needed a quiet, dark place to retire. Glo's bedroom.  Her TV was a relic from the paleoneoneand...

I have had so many problems with Blogger, I was ready to throw in the towel.  However, when I started looking around, I couldn't find anything as easy to navigate and use.  Even my favorite Apple application (iWeb) is shutting down in 2012, so I didn't want to move there and then have to relocate again. Anyway, I thought that maybe I just needed to try anew with Blogger.  The title of the blog is the same, but the URL is different, so take note if you're still interested in reading.  If you DO read this, could you please drop a comment that you CAN leave a comment...just so I know that this blog works, and I can close the previous one. Many thanks, and thanks for following, Larisa

When I married John over 21 years ago, I assumed that in 21 years, our marriage would be darn near perfect.  Well, here we are, 21 years later, and it's not   quite   there yet. When I married him, I assumed that it would only be a matter of time before I fixed everything that bothered me about him.  From leaving the phone book on the floor (in Wymount Terrace at BYU), to correcting his grammar (the dog was barking at him and   I ), to hoping he would brush his teeth, or eat a mint before he kissed me--I would get him to change, because I was right. Well, I quickly discovered that the large piece of lumber in my eye (i.e. the mote) was harming our relationship.  Not only was my "perfection" (i.e. pride) causing me to ignore the flaws in myself, but it was obscuring the view of the many characteristics of my husband that are divine.  Oh my goodness, the baggage I brought into our marriage--he could have written a   book   about all of my f...

Whew.... as I begin to write this, I let out a BIG sigh.  It's official, and I can finally tell people.  Mark and Cathryn are a couple.  They've kept it under wraps since before Interlochen, but I asked Mark if I could tell people, and he said yes.  Whew.... They are the cutest things together.  Wearing matching Converse to a formal dance, playing Lacrosse for   hours   a day together, planning future knit bombing attacks. They must see each other every day, if not more than once a day.  They are happy and considerate of each other. The only pictures I have of them are from Music Formal (when they weren't officially together), and the one I took several months ago of them playing Lacrosse (I'm not sure they had even   touched   each other before that picture!) I must admit as a mother, it's nice to see Mark with a girl who is more his equal than a controlling personality.  Too, these two have known each other for years throu...

When I travel, I never bring my wedding ring on trips.  I don't wear it, I don't pack it, nothing.  Instead, I leave it at home, safely nestled in its original padded box.  Here's why: When John and I first decided to get married (I was 19, he was 23--enough said), I went to the local mall and picked out a ring for $365. I picked it out purely on looks.  I knew nothing about the diamonds, or their quality.  It just looked nice on my finger.  At the time, John asked me if I was sure about the ring.  Didn't I want something bigger?  Nope.  I didn't want to get into debt, and the diamonds were in the shape of a flower.  What more could I want? I wore that ring for 15 years until one morning, while living in Germany, it disappeared.  We searched everywhere.  I had left it on the vanity in the bathroom.  It wasn't until several days later (and after the trash had been taken out and collected) that John saw one of the cats si...