The Kassel Family Project Life 365

Andy picked Laura up from school today and took her back to his office.  She drew this picture with a pink highlighter.  Note that the highlighter *had* to be pink (Me thinks our beautiful daughter likes pink).

Every Wednesday, the Gymnastics Express bus comes to John’s daycare.  The kids get a private gymnastics/sports lesson for 30 minutes.  This week, they did “some Nastics and Golf” (or at least that is what John said).  At the end of each session, the kids get a stamp on their hands.  It is something different every week.  This week’s stamp was an airplane and John was especially proud!

Yesterday, after I took John to get his ear rechecked, I stopped at Rolling Hills Veterinary Hospital to pick up Oscar’s remains.  It turned out to be a much harder experience than I thought it would be.  Originally, I had asked Andy to go and pick him up because I didn’t think I could do that.  Well, since I was already over on that side of town and the Vet’s office is on the way, I did it.  I saw the beautiful box and the paw print and the tears were in my eyes again.

Oh, how I miss my beautiful, furry friend.  I’ve had many other cats in my life and none of them have quite touched me the way Oscar did.  Oscar always seemed to know exactly when I needed some love and attention even when I didn’t realize it.  What I wouldn’t give to pick him up, flip him over, and watch him slowly stretch into an upside-down arc as I balanced him on his back just one more time.  For 14 years, he has always been here and it’s just so hard not seeing him.  I actually caught myself looking for him as I gave Newman some treats.  I stopped when I saw the box on the counter and again tears came to my eyes.  I know every day will be a bit easier and that we made the right decision.  I just wish my heart could agree with my head.

I stayed home from work today because I wasn’t feeling well.  Despite that, I did find a bit of ambition.  I ended up baking the three pie pumpkins that we had and turning them into pumpkin puree.  I now have three 2-cup bags and two 1-cup bags of pumpkin puree in our freezer.  Fresh Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Muffins, and Pumpkin Brownies (this year’s experiment) here I come!

Every year as we put up our Christmas tree, we tell the kids about some of the ornaments and where they came from.  Laura gets a kick out of seeing some of my ornaments from when I was little and hearing the stories about the ornaments.  So, last year, Andy and I started a new Christmas tradition with the kids.  Every year, they will pick out a new ornament for our tree.  Someday, I will dig through my substantial amount of Christmas decorations and gather all the ornaments together to pass on to them.  Hopefully, one day, they will be describing to their kids where each ornament came from.

This year, the ornaments came from a stand in the mall.  They were both so excited that they got to choose their own ornament and that they also got to have their names written on them.  They took about 15 minutes to find just the “right” ornament and then both stared quietly and intently as the clerk added their names.

Laura chose a unicorn.

John chose a train.

The kids and I went with the Lowerys to Chuck E. Cheese’s today.  The kids had a great time…I didn’t have a beer, but I must say that after 1 1/2 hours there, I know why parents NEED the beer (LOL)!  John went around with me and wanted to play any game that produced tickets.  Laura and Alia hung out together the whole time.  They rode more of the “rides” instead of playing a lot of the games.  Rachel took this picture of them riding the virtual roller coaster.

All in all, it was a fun time.  The kids really enjoyed themselves and it seemed to burn off some energy…that is until we got home and they decided to play with a box and be robots…

Dad and Marilyn stopped by today on their way home from Kansas to bring John a new toy – a train!

They had been visiting some friends in Kansas.  The husband of the couple they were visiting is a woodworker and had made some of these trains.  He decided that he wanted to give one to John so Dad and Marilyn stopped back through Columbia to deliver the train.  John was so very excited and loves it!  Now, I just have to find a place to store it….