Neleha: Photo Assistant and Forest Institute Celebrity

My little Neleha tagged along with me one day as I was taking some promotional photographs for the school. The Admissions Department was updating their website and I volunteered to shoot some photos around the school and the clinic. Neleha and I had a blast walking around the campus and taking pictures. The best part was of course taking pictures of her.

Every time I would begin to take photos of another area of the campus she insisted on being in at least the first one. She was a wonderful model!

It really made her day when we went to the clinic and she got to pose for an actual promotional photograph. We needed a kid for a photo of our play therapy room and she served very nicely as our newest Forest Institute Celebrity. In fact she was a little upset when it was time to go.

To see all the photographs, including the one above of Neleha in the play therapy room, on the Forest Institute website just go to: Forest Institute Virtual Tour

Another Zoo Class for Neleha

For the first time I had the privilege to accompany little Miss Neleha to her Zoo class. Let me tell you she sure loves these classes. She has taken so many of them that she literally knows what to do without any instruction.

After reading time she heads right over to her first station and begins whatever project is in front of her. She really acted like a professional Zoo Class Student.

She painted some wonderful pictures, made a stamp book, and had such a wonderful time.

She worked so hard and so fast on all her projects that she was the first kid done and thus the first to enjoy their snack. I had such a blast following her around to all her stations and watching as she independently accomplished each task. Neleha sure is fun to spend time with, she makes me laugh just by the matter-of-fact way she approaches the world.

This Zoo class was like the rest, Neleha had a wonderful time and left with some more Master Pieces.

Sponge Bob at BK

If anyone tells you that kids are not affected by commercials here is proof that they are. Neleha kept seeing a commercial from Burger King advertising that they had Sponge Bob kids meals. Eventually she put 2 and 2 together and realized that there was a BK right down the road from our apartment. I must admit it would have been very hard to ignore her excitement when she made this realization. She was so excited! So we promised that we would get BK Sponge Bob kids meals this week for our FHE night. Neleha and Molly was sure looking forward to tonight and they were so cute when we went through the drive-thru and they saw those Sponge Bob bags emerge from the drive-thru window. It is so fun watching our girls get so excited.

The Rootbeer Brothers Form and the Brew Begins to Flow

A very good friend of mine from back in the Navy, Jeff Hertz, and I have undergone a project that has been many years in the making, sort of anyway. Him and I have been swapping soda from around the country for years. So the other day I decided to start back up this old tradition of ours and bought a mailing tube with the thought that we would exchange a bottle of root beer every so often. As I was preparing to do this the thought came to my mind that we could really carry this further than just simple indulgence of a smooth cold draft brew. You see he has been blogging for about a year now, which is listed in my links list (check it out, he has an awesome family) which makes him very familiar with blogging in general. So with all that in mind I presented an idea to him, start up a website that is primarily based on our adventures with root beer. I registered our domain and Jeff made the logo and before long we were up and running. So if you like root beer check it out. http://www.rootbeerbrothers.com/

One of our goals is to evaluate and rank as many root beers as we can. Our first root beer was Sprecher and after I was done with my evaluation I asked Neleha what she thought. She agreed with me, Sprecher was better than A&W. Check out the website to read not only my evaluation but also Jeff's. Hope to see you at Rootbbeer Brothers.

Neleha's Third Zoo Class

Neleha's third zoo class went like the previous, she had a great time learning and exploring and Kristy had a fun time watching her do it. Neleha has grown so fond of these classes that it is now officially her school, or "zoo school" as she puts it.

This time the kids got to interact with desert animals including a lizard. Neleha has loved lizards and snakes ever since our little encounter with that lizard in Arizona. This was an especially fun class for her.

Neleha was really become an artist as each zoo class she gets to paint another animal. Our little lizard lovin' painter. I must say these classes are priceless for our little Neleha.

Asleep at the Desk

Ever since Neleha was crawling around we have often found her sleeping in the most unusual places. Kristy caught this photo of her asleep at her desk. She was playing music and switching out different cds when all of a sudden she drifted off to sleep. She is so cute.

Sharing the Fish Museum with our Friends

We had the fun pleasure of being able to take our little neighbor friends Kara & Adam to the fish museum. Our girls love that place but what they love more is being able to take other people there. I guess for them it's like sharing one of their prized possessions, they want everyone to enjoy it.

Kara & Adam enjoyed this place as much as our girls do each week. They all had such a wonderful time watching the fish and exploring the museum.

Of course they were as amazed by the sharks as we are every time we come.

They really thought this old Ozark story teller was a pretty neat guy.

Good times, as usual, at the fish museum!

Valentines Day (Love Day) 2007

My girls couldn't wait for the big day any longer..... on the night before Valentines Day Kristy, Molly & Neleha all ganged up on me with their beautiful "puppy dog eye's" and I gave in. I showered my girls with Love Day gifts which filled their faces full of smiles. I sure loved watching them go through their gifts and laughing and getting excited over their new treasures.

The girls made me a very happy camper as well with A&W Root Beer wear (hat and shirt) and lots of yummy chocolate covered cherries. They sure know how to take care of me.

From PJ's to candy the girls had lots of goodies, but I think Kristy was the most excited of them.

Molly & Neleha helped me pick out the perfect gift for Kristy, a pearl wish necklace, but this was no ordinary pearl necklace.... the pearl was still in the oyster. That's right, the shell was still whole and it came with instructions on how to open it and harvest the pearl and then how to place it in the necklace.

Kristy really worked for this necklace.....

Step by step she pryed the shell open....

And then !POP! the shell gave up it's treasure!

We all made out very well, for sure!

The next day (Valentines Day) we had the wonderful privilege of spending the holiday with our Molly in her classroom. What fun we had with all the activities and snacks....

It was so fun watching Molly and her peers exchange cards and play together.

We had so much fun watching Molly read all of her Valentine wishes!

She has gained a wonderful new friend by the name of Aliea who happens to be the daughter of one of my classmates and who just moved into our student housing apartment complex. What was even more ironic is that out of the three other classes Aiea was placed in Molly's Kindergarten class. They have been instant friends ever since. We all had such a great time.

We finished the holiday off right with a very nice family dinner. We had a spread of our favorite foods and enjoyed each other and the wonderful cuisine. Another awesome Love Day with the girls I love with all my heart!

Another Zoo Class for Neleha

Our investment in Neleha's zoo classes is certainly been returned at least two-fold. She enjoys these classes so much and they make her feel so special, such benefits are priceless. On top of all that these classes provide Kristy a wonderful opportunity to spend a morning with our littlest angel. They have such an awesome time together.

This particular class was about insects and was topped off by Neleha's favorite activity, painting! She looks so cute in her little apron and painting that fresh piece of paper with more confidence than might be expected from a 3-year old. These classes make for much fun and joy for my Sweetheart and our Neleha.

Daddy - Daughter Date at Bass Pro's Hemingway's

Kristy and I decided that we were going to implement something that we have talked about doing soon after Molly was born......it has taken awhile but well worth it all the same. What we have decided to do is hold regular (monthly/bimonthly) nights were we each take one of the girls for a night on the town to do their choice of activities. Our first attempt at this effort went perfectly. Kristy took Molly and Neleha was with me. Molly chose to spend the evening at McDonalds at the playland and Neleha....well she loves Bass Pro, and so we headed for the fish restaurant as she calls it in Bass Pro, a.k.a. Hemingway's.

This restaurant serves up some very good sea food and local barbecue flavor on a buffet that just wont quit. On top of that they have a huge salt water aquarium over the length of the bar which easily captivated my little fish lover.

Neleha was especially fond of what she called "baby lobster" which actually was crayfish but not much difference really. We had an awesome meal and spent some real time together enjoying what my little Neleha enjoys, fish and food.

I later learned that although Kristy didn't get to enjoy the high quality food that we did, she had just as much fun with Molly. And so it was that our first effort went very well at spending time with our little angels.

Kristy & Neleha Overcome Their Fears in Branson

During our little excursion in Branson we came across an announcement board at the Shoji Tabuchi Theater that peaked Kristy's interest. The message was announcing an open audition for stage performers on the morning we were to depart from Branson. I casually joked that it could be her big chance so she should try out. To my surprise she agreed. So she practiced a few songs and then got all dolled up for the audition.

We drove back to the Shoji theater after checking out of the lodge. I must say I was so impressed with my sweetheart, she was so brave, she walked right in that theater like she had auditioned a million times, this time of course being her very first. However she soon called me to come back, after filling out the paperwork they learned that she did not bring an 8x10 head shot portrait and background music and told her that they would accept her audition the next morning if she were to get those things together. She agreed to do so.

So we headed down to Branson Landing to enjoy the beautiful day and ended up having another brave one come out from amongst us. What happened was that we walked by a Claire's jewelry store and the girls wanted to go in. Kristy told them only if Neleha agreed to have her ears pierced. Molly quickly told Neleha that she should do it and before we knew it Neleha was actually excited about getting her ears pierced. For about the last year Kristy has been trying to talk Neleha into this but every time she was other wise persuaded by my statements about how much it would hurt. This time my efforts were useless. When Neleha decides to do something, no one can change her mind.

As she jumped up in her Mommy's lap she was so happy and excited, she kept saying that she was a big girl and that she was ready for ear rings.

Her smile quickly turned into a very concerned look as two strangers garbed her ears, marked them and then counted to three.

At first she got mad and gave those women the most evil look she could. Neleha is well known for her evil looks so I am sure those women felt a bit threatened.

But the pain quickly overwhelmed her and she let the river of tears flow.

They showed her how pretty she now looked but it wasn't much comfort for her.

They even gave her a sucker...didn't help.

It wasn't until they laid the long string of stickers in front of her that she calmed down and was happy again. Our little Neleha is now all grown up. She did look so cute in those ear rings though.

Our brave girls, Kristy and Neleha, certainly deserved a reward after this most trying day. Where better to reward someone than Lambert's of course!

To Lambert's we went and for the first time ever there was no wait....at all.....I mean there was not a single person outside........this was too cool.

We were immediately shown to our seats where Molly quickly spotted the very same tin sign we have at home of Tim Williams endorsing Moxie

We enjoyed a most wonderful meal and talked about Kristy's and Neleha's most awesome day and even talked about what Kristy was going to face the next day when she had to actually get on the stage at the Shoji theater. I was so proud of her and Neleha, my brave girls.

Neleha of course was just beaming with joy as she showed off her new ear rings to all around her. Good times for sure!

Once we arrived home we quickly snapped some photos of Kristy for her head shot requirement which turned out so good! Then we downloaded two karaoke tracks for a Loretta Lynn song and a Patsy Cline song. Kristy spent most of the night practicing, she sounded so awesome!

The next morning she was off again into the Shoji Theater, my brave angelic wife, off to her first professional audition. I could not have been more pleased with her. I could tell that she was scared, but her overcoming that fear so easily was a clear indicator of how badly she wants to be a stage performer.

Kristy once again walked into that theater as if it was second nature for her to perform on stage.

We impatiently waited while she did her very best. Once she emerged from the theater she filled our car with the wonderful experiences she had inside during the audition. She talked about although she was nervous she did very well. She told us how she had to sing along with the established staff including Shoji's daughter Christina Tabuchi. She talked about what an amazing experience it was and how they smiled during her songs, she was very hopeful that if this wasn't her big break at least she knew what it was like to audition for a professional show. I was so happy for Kristy and her courage to do what so many others would never try to do. They told her that it would be a month or so before they would let her know.

The Shoji show is one of the most well known in Branson, to learn more go to their website:

http://www.shoji.com/