Soccer, Visits, Tigers and other noteables...

We've had a busy few days. This may be a little longFirst, we had the OBU new faculty staff banquet this past thursday. Now this is an annual event. We watch slides introducing ALL of the new faculty and staff at OBU and hear remarks from the president. This sounds like it might be a chore to attend. It is NOT! It's MC'ed by Jeff Root who has lived in Arkadelphia and been tied to OBU all of his life. He knows the school inside and out and is pretty witty. He manages to make each years entertainment fresh and funny. This year was the Doo Wop Diner. We all got to dress 50s style. I made a purple poodle skirt, but did not use a pattern and it didn't turn out so well. So I went in the standard rolled up jeans and man's shirt. We had a blast. The OBU faculty quartet sang. This is a group that formed in 1966. One of the gentlemen who sang Thursday is 99 years old! Then a younger quartet sang and our "Presidents Remarks" cracked us all up! Here's a shot of me and Casey with our friends Chris and Autumn. Casey and Chris got their doctorates together and A&M. This year Chris joined the history faculty at OBU. We are thrilled they are here!
On Friday, Josh had his first soccer practice. This will be his first team sport to play.

My mom and cousin, Jennifer came in on Friday to spend the weekend with us. On Saturday, OBU had their first game of the year. We won 58-7! It was beautiful weather. A little hot, but it could have been worse. Everyone got a little too much sun (Sorry, Jen!). The kids were all decked out in their OBU best. The boys had new jerseys and Sydney had a new cheerleader outfit. Here she is with Caroline and Anna, some of our good friends. Their dad is the offensive coordinator so they clearly had a GREAT day!).
Jennifer brought a dress for Sydney that she had worn as a little girl. My aunt Roxanne hand smocked it about 20 years ago! Sydney was SO excited and wore it to church today. We had LOTS of compliments on it starting before we could even get all the way out of the car!

Mom brought me all kinds of goodies. My aunt Sheryi died about a year and half ago. While I didn't see her very often in recent years, I used to go and spend time with her and my uncle during the summers. She taught me how to cross stitch. They taught me how to frame something (they had a frame shop out of their house). I got to spend wonderful hours with my little cousins Rob and Emily. They are all grown up now. Emily is in advertising in Little Rock and Rob saves the world as a Navy Seal! They are precious memories. My aunt had a business selling stuff (I think mainly through the internet). She carried a lot of Rowe pottery and Nancy Thomas stuff. I LOVED her house. Well, my uncle was trying to clear out some inventory and mom brought me some really neat things. My favorites are the things Shery cross-stitched, but I don't have them hung yet. I did redo my mantle though. It's still a work in progress. I need to get something for the crock on the left and a candle for the holder on the far right. What do you think?