Sandy at Five Months Old

Happy birthday, Sandy! He's 5 months old and weighs about 46 pounds. He is long-legged and getting a real mohawk hairdo down his back as his longer wavy hair is coming in. He's gotten so demanding for exercise time, that we're having to walk him every night now once it sort of cools off here. David is training him to walk without the leash, just using verbal commands. He does good on everything except picking up the most disgusting things he can put in his mouth AND not crossing the alleys until he's told it's OK. He'll stop at the end of a street where we're going to turn and many times he will sit down there and wait for us. He's getting better around people on HIS SIDE OF THE STREET. People on the other side don't demand his attention. Cars don't bother him at all. He loves sprinklers when they're going. He runs through them and plays and roots around in the grass. Here we are at our 5 month old picture. He's such a good dog!

Locks of Love

Ana, our 4 and nearly 1/2 year old granddaughter has a new hairdo. Ana had her first dance recital on May 10 and wanted to have long hair for that. But last week she got her hair cut and donated it to "Locks of Love" for kids who are going through treatments like chemo and have lost their hair. They use the human hair and make wigs for these special kids. Your hair has to be at least 10 inches long to donate it and she was there. What a neat thing to do! I understand about the no-hair situation and for kids that has to be really a bummer. Here Ana is prior to the haircut and here she is after.... Too cute!!!

She is thrilled with her new hairdo. She looks more like her mom now. We're proud of you, Ana, for your donation! But wait! You look about 3 years older now. Reckon we could just glue some hair back on you?

Kora's Piano Recital

Last weekend we travelled south again, this time to San Antonio to the other Smith household located in the center of muggy. They still have more humidity down there than we do here in Dallas. I got to leave work early about 1:45 so we could eat the traffic a little. We actually took the new toll road to go around Austin instead of through it. It is a mystery to everyone who's ever been through that town as to why traffic slows to a snail's pace all the way through Austin until you get around the curve south of Lady Bird Johnson's lake. So we tried the new toll road. Nice, really nice. There was little traffic and we didn't slow down once. We didn't even have to pay---then. There are cameras up there at the 1/4 way marks that take your license plate number and send you a bill in the mail. Supposedly it's $6 one way. How they think anyone can afford that is beyond me. But it was worth the time and stress-free drive to not have to drive downtown Austin.

Kora had her first piano recital on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. Tami's mom & dad, Marva & Bud Cagle, from Odessa were there for the weekend, too. It was great to get to see them again and visit and have those 6 girls around. We took Sandy, of course, and he was in hog heaven out in their backyard because the 5 older girls gave him lots of company.

Kora has been taking lessons from the Christian Music Conservatory at Castle Hills First Baptist Church for about a year now. Tami taught her the basics (like I did with Tony) and then sought a higher level teacher for her (like we did with Sharon Bishop in Odessa.) Kora has always loved to sit at the piano and make up songs. She can just make up melodies constantly and she has a very nice touch on the piano. Her recital performance was so wonderful. She played Canon in D and just played it so beautifully. That is the song that was played at Kelly & Tami's wedding as the bridesmaids came down the aisle. Her teacher, Ms. Penny Pitamber, put Kora in the Intermediate class for the recital and she played up to the challenge. I was just sitting there bawling on our pew and wasn't too bad off until she was finished and came and sat back down. Then it was like somebody opened a faucet. Marva leaned forward and gave me a package of kleenex so I could quit slobbering all over my hands.

The Austin kids came down for the recital so we had everybody there, which was so nice. But did I think to get a picture of all 8 grandkids now with Miss Ashlynn???? NOOOO! This church has a beautiful atrium outside that would have been the perfect setting for a group picture. And I didn't get a picture of Bud & Marva with the 6 girls either. Just wasn't my day. It was a wonderful weekend though. You did so good, Kora Brianne!

Here is a link to Kora's performance on YouTube: Thanks to Tony for videoing the event! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QD115lvPDU

The Weekly Weigh-In

Sandy weighed 46.7 pounds today. The hair down is back is really getting wavy and the backs of his legs and his tail are feathering out. Last night on our walk he found another sprinkler going in a front yard and had a blast running through the water. He bites at the water coming out of the sprinklers. Then he runs through the yard. Then he stops, drops and rolls---rooting his nose in the wet grass. And he loves it when there is some water on the sidewalk that he can splash in. He's just too funny. One night he fell off of the grass and fell into the gutter right beside the street and got muddy deluxe. When we got home, we just went in the backyard and I turned on the water hose to wash the mud off. Sandy thought that was just OK, too. He tried to bite the water coming out of the hose. I didn't have any problems with him and the hose.

Soccer Medals

Another year of soccer is over and medals have been awarded. Here are Nikita & Ana with their medals. This was Ana's first year to play. Nikita has a whole slew of medals from sports he has played.

We are so thankful that we are able to go to see the grandkids in their sports and recitals. It's like reliving the boys' ventures through the grandkids! Some things change, others stay the same. The whole process is more sophisticated now, but the kids are the same----just wanting to have fun and have you there to see them set foot on the field.

Ana's Dance Recital

Ana had her first dance recital Saturday night for Brooke Lowden's School of Dance in Kyle. Ana did so good! She knew her routine without having to look over at the teachers on the sides of the stage. She's in the middle here with her little tuxedo outfit on during the balleria song, "Born to Entertain."

Elena & I took her to rehearsal, while the other kids went to Nikita's soccer game. We laughed so hard during the rehearsal. Those little kids, aged 3 & up, would do some of the funniest things. One little girl threw a shoe and caused a major traffic jam as the rest of her troupe was supposed to be in a row following each other and she wasn't doing anything without her shoe!

Well, that night during the show, the same thing happened to another little girl. She tried to bend down and put it back on with no success. She reaches down, grabs the shoe and runs over to the side of the stage where the teachers were behind the curtains. She puts the shoe down and with much fanfair, motions down to her foot & shoe as if to say "Put this thing back on me!" The teacher did, and she ran back onstage to finish the dance. It was a hoot!

Here she is with her teacher, Kristina. They were big buddies. Flowers were in order for the dancer and the teacher. Ana even got to wear makeup and glittery spray on her hair and shoulders. She was just gorgeous.

The auditorium was full, there were people standing up because it was so full. Kelly's 5 oldest girls were there with us to see the dance. It was so much fun to have them there. They were all into the dances----especially when Ana danced and when one group did a "Pirates" dance to the music from "Pirates of the Carribean." That was a real hit, as they had swords and were dressed like pirates. We won't even talk about the amount of money in the auditorium spent on costumes. But the fun and self-confidence this brought to these young ladies is priceless!

Oops! Sorry, thanks for Calling!

I called the IRS this morning about the $24K they wanted from us. The lady I spoke with was VERY nice and knowledgeable. They only needed to know one thing: That the stocks I sold were from a STOCK OPTION. Then she says, "Oh, I see that on your W2 now. You completed your tax form 1044 just right. Just disregard that letter. In about a week you'll get a letter from us telling you everything is OK." OK? OK? I get a letter saying we owe $24K and it's OK? It would have been nice if the letter had just said, "Please call us as we have stupid questions about your tax return." But then that would be too easy.

Six Flags Over Rowlett

Sandy is just thrilled now that lawn sprinklers are coming back on and we've had some rain recently. We walked last night and he was just hyper, running here, running there, rolling around in the wet grass. He is so funny, when he walks right up to a sprinkler and sticks his face in it. Then he jumps back and runs around like crazy trying to get the water. Then he lays down belly-flat and rubs all over the wet grass. Next comes his nose rooting and his sides.

Last night he found a basketball in a yard. He had to sneak up on it to see what it would do. It might be another one of those killer-attack lions or panthers (tabby & black cats) that we have in our area. Once he figured out he could walk up to it, without getting spat at, he ran around it and barked and barked. We figure he needs a BIG ball to play with. PETCO'S cash registers are ca-chinging already!

Uncle Sam Wants You or Your $24,000

The IRS sent us a correction for our 2006 tax filing. It appears that I didn't include 2 sets of stock options that I had to sell or lose when I retired from Bank of America in 2006. They want over $24K including a penalty and interest for not reporting the $69K in stock option sells. We wish we would have gotten that much!!! I have the 1099-B that they sent me stapled with all of my tax forms behind the 1044, but I didn't include a Schedule D to show the option income. So tonight I went through the Schedule D & instructions. I got out the forms from the transactions and they took our 28% in taxes on the option sells, so they got their money, but I didn't report it. I'm still not sure how to report it, so I'm calling the IRS in the morning to get their guidance. Turbotax was no help with stock options.

I should have had someone prepare our taxes that year. . . . it was filed during the aftermath of cancer treatment and right before surgery. But I can prove it all to them with copies I have. Just not sure how to fill out their form! Looks like we might actually get some of that back from them!