A STAR IS BORN

On Thanksgiving, Scott and I host anyone in our family who wants to come for dinner - sometimes my family and his, sometimes just his. This year it was just the Jaspers. Since they moved to Madison from Hazlehurst, Scott's aunt and uncle have come to eat with us as well. Scott's Aunt Betty is the sweetest thing and has such a knack for picking Kate out the perfect "happy" when she comes to see us. In the past, she has given her pianos, but this year she brought a guitar. Unfortunately, lunch happens just before Kate gets grouchy and ready for a nap so she didn't act thrilled when she opened the guitar. However, when the crowd dispersed and she got a bath and some fancy striped pajamas on, the show was ON! When I figure it out, I will have to download the video we made of her with this pink guitar onto vimeo so that the talent scouts can see her. Watch out Sheryl Crow, your replacement is on her way up.

SUNDAYS WITH POPPA D

Mitch Albom had "Tuesdays with Morrie", but Kate has Sundays with Poppa D. Almost every Sunday Scott's dad and stepmother (I hate that word, especially because Scott has one of the sweetest in the world, so let's just say Kate's Poppa D and Granna) come by after church/lunch to see Kate and find out what's new with her. Kate knows that this means going outside - her favorite place to be. I only had one grandfather growing up and he was not the world's most outgoing person (good, but not outgoing), so I don't have alot to compare things to, but I can tell you that Kate Jasper hit the jackpot with her Poppa D. There is no one who loves a grandbaby the way this man loves his. She's got him so wrapped around her little finger and he will do just about anything she wants. He's always bringing her some little surprise that he knows she will love. She spent the night with them this Saturday so that Scott and I could go to a 40th birthday party and she came home with a stuffed MingMing duckling (check out the Wonderpets on Nogging if you don't know Ming Ming). They know just what she loves! Now if we can just get him to move closer to us, we will have it made!!

HAVE YOU EVER?

I am seriously thinking of writing a book called "Have You Ever..." For my (present and former)teacher friends, you will SO understand this. The other day, I gave my class this HUGE lecture about letting me be the teacher and them being the students and that how Mr. Thompson (our Headmaster) had complete confidence in my ability to lead the class spiritually and academically and that if he felt I needed an assistant, he would hire one for me. (Are you getting the picture that maybe I have a couple of self appointed "helpers" in my class?? Don't misunderstand, I love them and they are precious - pushy, but precious!) Anyhooo, a few days after the lecture, I was almost finished giving a spelling test - we were on number 14 of 15 words and one of my sweetest, non bosses has her hand raised. I called on her and she says, "I know you are capable of giving a spelling test and we are not supposed to tell you what to do, but I think you just called out all the wrong words." I looked down at the list of words and sure enough I had called the words from last week!!! I felt like a complete idiot and said something spectacular like "oops" and "let's just throw that away and start over." Maybe God was trying to show me that sometimes everyone needs a little helping hand.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This is the year of some really fun firsts for Kate. It is definitely the first year she has shown any interest in Halloween and her first time to say, "Trick or treat!" We practiced all afternoon before going out for a little trick or treating. One thing Kate wasn't interested in this year was a costume!! The closest I could get was letting her wear her new MSU cheerleader suit. She loves doing cheers in the bathtub and her favorite is "We've got some dogs up in here, woof! woof!" So, we got her dressed and tried very unsuccessfully to take her picture in the backyard. No good shots. Last year I bought an SLR camera that was fast enough to catch her, but this year, I needed a telephoto lens because if I get too close with the camera, she turns away or runs. I'll put that on my birthday list!!

We stopped by Scott's Aunt Betty's house first. She always gives Kate the sweetest happies! Then we went to Ashton Park to have a little fun with Kate's favorite big girl, Perry Powell. Attached is a shot of her first solo trick or treat. She loved this guys house. In fact, she walked around him at the front door and went right into his house!! That must have been her version of a trick!! She was on a roll and doing great until someone had a barking dog at the front door and then it was all over for her. We went back to the Powell's for snacks. Kate had more fun sitting in a chair eating cupcakes than she did all night. Life is good.