Christmas Portraits 2010...

Mantorville Theatre with Family, Friends, and One Stranger...

Last night we went out with family & friends to have dinner, celebrate a few birthdays, and watch a Mantorville Theatre production of Neil Simon's "Fools." Dinner at the Hubbell House Restaurant was tasty as ever.

We occupied the first two rows of the Mantorville Opera House. One seat was already occupied by a curious lady, so we sat around her. Michele sat in the second row with Sammy and Paul sat in front with the mystery lady. At the Mantorville Theatre shows, in particular their melodramas, the audience is supposed to participate by booing at the villain, cheering for the hero, and sighing for the heroine. Last night when the crowd would boo the villain, the mystery lady would cheer for him and then look at Paul. Strange night in that sense.

During the play (which is a light-hearted odd-ball comedy), a character has no fish to sell so she sells flowers claiming they are whitefish. When she tells this to another character, at just the right moment, Sammy blurts out loudly, "That flower is NOT a whitefish!" to which the audience laughed. He made several outbursts like that throughout the night, at just the right time, to add to the laughter of the evening. At the end of the show, the cast stands outside and shakes everyone's hands. When Sammy came out, the cast (no kidding here) broke into loud applause for Sammy. Apparently they were laughing like crazy behind stage at his outbursts. Maybe Sammy will be in a future production there...his timing is uncanny.

Ulysses S. Grant once stayed/ate at the Hubbell House...

The birthday cake...

Amanda, Sean, and Anne...

Sammy runs to Linda and Michele...

The Mantorville Opera House...

Our group filled up the first two rows...

1st Row (l-r): Mark, Bernie, Mystery Woman, Diane, Mike F., Sonny, Barb

2nd Row (l-r): Mike, Georgia, Linda, Michele, Sammy, Amanda, Anne, Sean

Surprise Party for Michele...

Last Saturday we gave Michele a surprise birthday party (Paul's sister Diane did most of the planning). We had family and close friends over. We can't say how old Michele is (to protect the innocent)...but we can say it was a milestone birthday. Happy Birthday Michele!

Roses pale in comparison to Michele...

The table & cake...
we had to edit out the numeral candles...

Playing "Cranium Wow", Chris sculpted with clay what looked like a "male appendage"...

Diane tears up with pride over Chris's sculpture...
...then we realized it was an umbilical cord...
...notice Michele's birthday girl head wear...

Molly, Johanna, and the 2oz bottle of Heinz 57 Ketchup...
...Johann promised to take the bottle through airport security....
...to Uruguay...
...and take a photo of her, her mother, and the ketchup...

We had "n" balloons...one for each year of Michele's life...
...so we can't say how many, but one can speculate...

Chris ties up Sammy to the balloons...
...moments before he lifts off the floor...

Sammy loves balloons a lot...
...and a lot of balloons he loves even more...

After some helium escaped from the balloons...
....Sammy touched down...

Ashlynn gives Sammy a hug...

Sammy instructs Ashlynn on how to be a rock star...

Playing Apples to Apples...

Vanessa, Brian, Jaime, Molly, and Chris...

Chris...
...the man of 1,000 faces...

Brian gives the camera his serious look...

Chris and Veto...

Guitar Hero...

While up in the Twin Cities this past Friday, Chris pulled out his "Guitar Hero" game after we celebrated Michele's [redacted] birthday. Apparently while rock music plays on the screen you are supposed to click colored buttons which apparently have nothing to do with guitar strings...let alone music. No matter, they were still guitars and you could see the look on Sammy's face, "When will my time come to be a guitar hero?"

Sammy wonders...when...when will it be his time...

Relaxing in Grant's arms, Sammy daydreams...

Sammy's time has come...

Meanwhile...Vanessa, Michele, and Anne chat...

The case of the missing number...

This past Friday we were hit with a bit of a mystery. You see, Molly (with Sammy's help) made Michele a cookie "cake" for Michele's [redacted] birthday. But something was amiss...it was the case of the missing number (or how to stay young)...

Sammy sees what happened but does not rat out anyone...

Inspecting Molly's work, Chris notices
a number is missing from the cookie "cake"...

Caught...we found out Michele had removed the number from her cake cookie...

Unable to determine Michele's exact age...
...we still lit the cake...

Sammy helps his mommy blow out candles...

But even Sammy's help was not enough to help Michele blow out the candles...
...fearing the smoke alarm would go off, Ashlynn helps out...

Making a cookie "cake" for Mommy...

This past Friday started several days of celebration of momentous event of Michele's [redacted] birthday. Molly made cookies ahead of time and asked Sammy to help her decorate them.

Sammy watches & learns from Molly...

This one looks good for a a taste test...

Sammy loves being where the action is...

Sammy explains his technique to everyone...

Our little cookie monster...

Happy [redacted] birthday Michele!

25 Years Ago...

Today is the 25th Anniversary of our first date (click here to see our post last year with photos from it). In many ways it holds a greater significance to us than our own wedding date. Our chemistry -- the mutual attraction, the likeness of minds, sense of humor, etc. -- was there from the start.

Since Michele had to work tonight, we celebrated it by going out to lunch today at Chipolte. Yes, after all these years Paul still knows how to show Michele an extravagantly good time.

Since we already have a posting of pics from our first date...
...here is Michele's graduation picture from High School (taken 1985)...

The 80s were great--We were young, in love, and MTV still played music. Here's a flashback from 1982:

Flashback: Almost 25 Years...

Come this October, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of our first date. Yes, we were high school sweethearts. A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. The years have really flown by, and we are enjoying each year more than the previous, especially since we now have our son Samuel.

So in celebration (the third time we've used the word here) of the upcoming anniversary, here are some flashback photos of Michele (if your wondering...yes Michele is at work right now, that's how Paul got these photos on the blog!):

Circa February 1975...
...Michele in the center with her famous glasses...
...with her brother Paul and sister Stephanie...

A mere two months (8/82) before our first date...
...Michele working at our church festival...
...from left to right...
...cousin Haley, Tracey, Michele, and cousin Kristine...
(dressed as clowns)
...we have no idea who cigarette man is...