Thursday, May 29, 2008

In Memory of Ralph Edward Stauffer





I have been dreading this post. For almost a week now, I've been tossing around ideas of what I might say about how losing my Dad has impacted my life. I'll go back to that day momentarily and then progress forward. It was a Tuesday and I was scheduled to work a full day. The weather wasn't very nice, rainy, in fact. I received a call from Dennis around 1:30 p.m. that Kitty had been in an accident and he was on the way to the hospital; she had fallen on a pencil and had a puncture wound in her forehead! I rushed from work and arrived just as they did. I scooped Kitty up and carried her in. After it was determined that she would receive stitches, Dennis left us to go back and pick up the other children from school. In my mind, I thought to call my Mom and Dad and let them know when I got home. Kitty was feeling lousy, of course, but she was fine - Thank God.

Well, we got home, had supper to make and dishes to do as well as a community meeting to attend a few houses over. I did manage a call to my Mom before we left. Daddy liked to stay up late to watch the evening talk shows, so I knew I could catch him when we returned. We had just arrived at the meeting when Dennis' cell phone rang. It was my sister-n-law, Laura from Texas. She said that something was wrong with Daddy and it didn't look good. She had no more information than that. I hung up, looked at Dennis, said I had to go, and started running for home. By the time I made it, there had been several more phone calls to the house and I needed a moment to catch my breath! Very quickly after that, Daddy was gone. Pronounced dead at the hospital. I was on my way to Texas...

In the year since he died, my grief sometimes becomes overwhelming to me. There is a TV show, a joke, a newspaper article, a political contest, an e-mail, a hug that he is missing. Not only is there a huge gap in my life, I see so much of the loss in my children. A ball game that Dad will never see Jack win, a dance he won't watch Kitty perform or a band concert he won't hear Ali play; Watching them grow and seeing what wonderful people they are becoming. I believe collectively, my siblings and I, can all say we miss him most for our children. He was such a wonderful Grandpop. We were so blessed to have him for 50, 47, 38 and 34 years of our lives - what an amazing grace we were given!

I LOVE YOU DADDY. I miss you each and every day and hope that you have peace and joy, warmth and laughter, access to a beautiful golden horn to rally the angels, a nice Saltillo plate every once in a while and a Harley Davidson for when your wings are tired.

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Saturday, May 24, 2008

I just can't get enough....

Please enjoy, again and again and again....

David Cook - Guitar Hero

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Walking with Dinosaurs



Wow! Last night was such a treat for us :-) We went to see a traveling production of Walking with Dinosaurs. It cost 20 million dollars to develop and requires two days of set-up at the venue. They travel with thirty 18 wheelers and the venue must have a clearance of 50 feet (ours had 52!). The sounds, the lights, the dinosaurs were amazing. It is wonderful to have opportunities such as these to not only educate but entertain the kids. They couldn't stop talking about it all the way home!! I don't know that this will spark any new curiosities in our household, but certainly when the time comes for them to study history, geography, science; they will be able to recall something that they learned last night and then enhance it. Super Cool!!!


























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Friday, May 23, 2008

Thought for the day :-)



Life is short! Break the rules!
Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly!
Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably..
And never regret anything that made you smile.


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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Alison's Band Concert

It is hard to believe that Alison has been thinking about or actually playing the flute for a year now! The process at school is great; you decide if you want to play in the band and then they have an instrument try-out day. The Saskatoon Symphony comes to school and they show you how to play each instrument and then basically give you a top three choice of the instrument that you are best suited to play. If I remember correctly, Ali had her heart set on playing the clarinet (her Mom's choice of Grade 6 instrument, by the way) before this instruction. The flute is a lovely fit for Ali and I do believe she has enjoyed playing. In fact, I know that she is going to continue into band next year - yea free music lessons!!! Here are a snapshots from the evening as well as a sampling of the talented skills of 6th graders from 4 local elementary schools. They are led by their band teacher, the wonderful Mr. Peter Pizurny!


















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YES!

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

American Idol Prediction

DAVID will win!!!! Ha Ha, funny, funny - I know... I am anxious to watch the show tonight and see the results tomorrow after Alison's band concert - thank goodness for my PVR. I think this will be a great final with two very talented artists. I am leaning towards David Cook as my go to guy - fingers crossed but not able to vote north of the 41st parallel! So, somebody call once or twice for me, eh?! Thanks :-)

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Monday, May 19, 2008

Four more golds, plus Championship Bronze and Silver

We have had a glorious long weekend! What a luxury to have 4 fabulous days off in a row :-) We actually even started our long weekend early, by pulling all of the kids out of school on Thursday so that they could watch Kitty dance the first of her two numbers after lunch. Kitty performed her large group ballet and her large group jazz; which both received first and gold in their categories! Friday was yard work day in which I dutifully received my initial sunburn of the season. I did get a lot of weeds picked though!! Jackson had a baseball game and then Dennis and Corey went to the Dakota Dunes for some card playing while Tannis and I took the kids out to dinner. By Saturday, we were up and at dance again by 10:00 a.m. Kitty performed her solo and then her large group tap. Again, two gold medals were to be found at the end of the rounds. Tannis and Emma came to watch as did Grandma. We then enjoyed a wonderful evening of homemade burgers and hand cut french fries at the Nichols. Delicious!!!!! The Dance Power competition also provides for a Championship dance off on Sunday evening and Kitty's ballet and tap were chosen as two of the top five numbers in their division. We were very proud that the 7-8 year olds were able to place so high against the 9-10 year olds in their division. Sitter School of Dance took the three top spots with Kitty's tap garnering third and her ballet second!!! Today we went to a movie and saw "The Chronicles of Narnia ~ Prince Caspian". Awesome, Amazing, Adventurous Epic! We loved it. Tonight we are going to BBQ and just enjoy the lingering hours of our holiday time!! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too :-)




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Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Prizes Arrived!!!!

Okay y'all, now I get to add words to my Wordless Wednesday pic! It is me, in my kitchen, of course, but I am trying to show you all of my beautiful prizes from the "Great Blog Hunt" that arrived in the mail yesterday. The doorbell rang around 11:00 a.m. and I was so happily surprised to see that it was freebies being delivered by my postman instead of bills!! My gorgeous apron is from a company called, Flirty Aprons. It is so cute and I can't wait to get to cook something fabulous while wearing it :-) I also received two Spot On wall hooks and a Skinny Strip, which is an adhesive-backed magnetic bulletin board. Sarah Kimmel, the sponsor of the contest, also sent me a DVD of her daily home planner software. I haven't tried it yet, but I am hopeful that I can begin the 2008-2009 school year in September more organized than ever!

How fun is it to win something?! I am actually on a virtual roll these days as I won something on Monday night at the Silver Spoon Dinner too. I am definitely thinking of buying a lottery ticket - soon, before the luck wears off!!


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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mother's Day 2008




Today was a wonderful day filled with Family and Friends. I am so proud to be a Mama! My job as Wife, Mom and Grandma make me complete. Who could ask for anything more....?

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

A long time coming...

I am terribly sorry that it has taken me so long to post our update from the second trip to Moose Jaw! Life was obviously continuing on without us at home and I had work, a retreat day at school, another rehearsal for next weeks competition and laundry that captured my attention prior to sitting down and knocking this out!!! Kitty garnered two more first place finishes to make it a grand total of 4 for the week. She is very proud, as am I, of her job well done. The trip to Moose Jaw is an easy one, but I'll be very happy to be posting the results from the next competition right here at home. It will be nice for Dennis, Alison and Jackson to be able to show their support for Kitty as well.
So, without further adieu, I present our photo montage from Moose Jaw, SK. Enjoy!!!!


Our hotel was a spa - woo hoo!!!





Kitty in the lobby...
Look I was there too :-)
The flags of all the countries from people who have "taken of the waters".









The indoor pool is around 98 degrees and the outdoor pool 104 degrees.






A few sites...




Kitty's evening performance was "Down on the Farm". As you can see the whole barnyard was present! These 7-8 year olds won 1st place with a mark of high distinction for a score over 90.







We went to DQ for our celebratory treat for a job well done!


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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Sunday, May 4, 2008

I'm a Winner!

Back in early April, when I was just beginning to think about becoming a blogger, I participated in a contest called "The Great Blog Hunt". It took me to 22 different blogs in which I had to read posts and find a clue. After finding all of them, I sent an e-mail saying I was finished and attached all the clues I had found. Well, lo and behold, yesterday I received an e-mail saying I had won first place!!!! Woo hoo :-)

It got me thinking, had I ever really won anything before...? What about you, have you ever won anything? I attend several functions a year here in Saskatoon and honestly, never win any of the draws or early bird prizes. I "win" silent auctions regularly, but then submit my monies that I pledged, so , it isn't really the same thing. I had to dig deeper and recall my younger days, I remember being about 11 and having my name drawn from an entry in which I won an "Air Supply" album -yes, folks, a vinyl record! I won a Dallas Cowboys keychain for a drawing or slogan I submitted in Grade 6 at school. And believe it or not, I still actually own both of these items!!!But it would appear that my luck dried up somewhere around 1980...

Everyone loves to win - something, anything really. So, I will continue to fill in the slips of paper or send back my Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes as you never know when it will be your turn. I am anxious to find out what my first place finish has earned me, and I will make sure and let you know when I do. Until then, happy submitting to whatever contest or sweepstakes you currently have your eye on. Good Luck!

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Saturday, May 3, 2008

Ist Place x 2

Moose Jaw, simply put, was a success! They did so great and really knew their stuff :-) Two first place finishes and smiles all around....


The Brass and Sass Team


Miss Kitty
The Hot Shots

Congrats Kitty - You ALL were amazing today!


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