community night

last night was our first community night of the season. it was so much fun!
i was there early, about 4 hours early, but that's because it's our month to cook. we had polynesian volcanoes which are always a hit.

chow mein noodles
rice
sliced celery
sliced almonds
crushed pineapple
shredded coconut
chopped chicken (or turkey works)
shredded cheddar cheese
chicken gravy

danny did a great job of getting us to interact with those we don't know as well. one such was was with tournament of a popular game. i would like to point out that i was the ultimate winner and champion of that tournament. i'd like to thank my wife, my kids, my small group and all the little people.
i really did get to know someone new. this fellow's been coming to church for a while now, but circumstances haven't allowed for us to get to know each other until last night. to be honest, we don't have much in common in terms of hobbies and interests, but his passioned plea to my wife about one particular piece of equipment i'd like to own really, really helped my cause (rhonda just doesn't want me to have a motorcycle, but i think we're winning her over).
so...

• the food was good
• the fellowship was good
• the games were fun
• the info-mercials were...um...well...interesting(?)!

it was a great evening that sums up what community nights are supposed to be. i can't wait for the next one.

it's been a while (pix)

last week wasn't my best week for keeping up with the blog. oh well, too bad for me.

but, it was a full weekend, so i've got lots to talk about and more pictures.

first, as i've been reporting, israel has been sitting on the potty. yes, we realize this is really early according to the current american philosophy of potty-training, but he can sit up, so we have him sit up on the potty for a little while each day. last week was a good week for this because as we figure up the price-per-diaper, we've saved about $3.50 so far. so far, we have not any pictures of him actually sitting on the potty, but i'm sure that'll come soon (purely for embarassment purposes). but, this is a picture of the first thing he did with the potty. please keep in mind, at this point of the process, it hadn't actually been used, so sanitation was not a problem.

Secondly, this weekend was homecoming at kings. it's fun for rhonda to get to go back on occasion to her old stomping grounds. this year had perfect weather and was a wonderful evening. of course, our team won and israel enjoyed the parade and the game (with a hefty-sized nap during the game). courtney, sydney and kara were also in the parade and we were quite proud of them in their respective skills (unicycle and singing). but also, please note what is printed on the baby's shirt.

saturday after homecoming means one thing: the dance. so, our home was full on that afternoon with 4 teenage girls primping and dressing and getting ready for the dance. even though courtney had her own date and dinner plans, she needed her cool aunt rhonda to help with hair and make-up (which the cool aunt rhonda was more than pleased to do). also, kara had 2 friends over and they went as a group (they shared a date between them all). all four of the girls were glamourously beautiful and i was quite proud.

on a side note, of the dresses that i was allowed to have an opinion regarding the amount of cleavage being shown, well, let me just say that there is no way to measure the pride that i felt as kara and courtney both found dresses that were highly fashionable as well as modest. for whomever can hear my voice (ie-read my blog), you can find dresses that show beauty without showing everything else too. that's not to say that they other friends were inappropriate, i'm just not allowed to have an opinion.

finally, another milestone--israel can eat zweiback! it's really cute and he loves them, but almost not worth the mess, i must say.