Photos are starting to appear under the Fiveforks gallery. More to come:

stonegate.fiveforks.com/gallery/Anna-Maria-2006

Over a year ago Kelly decided to grow her hair long enough to donate to Locks of Love which is a program that helps poor kids suffering from long term medical hair loss get free hairpieces. She needed an extra 10 or 11 inches. She was a bit worried about getting it cut short right before entering high school for the first time. You know high school. Wouldn’t want to be pegged as part of the “short hair crowd” day one.

One advantage of the program is that you get a free haircut with any stylist that supports the program. The stylist handles proper cutting and submitting of the hair. However, Kelly’s regular place was not part of the program. This meant she had to go to “Studio 21 Hair Salon” which is the fanciest barbershop in Snellville. The girl that cut Kelly’s hair was very careful and did a great job. Kelly ended up getting a $60 haircut for free. She looks older and more sophisticated with her new haircut.

Just in time for high school where they will peg her day one as being part of that “sophisticated crowd.” I just think she looks like part of the cute crowd.

Claire is also growing her hair for Locks of Love but reports her haircut will likely be in January. (Future link.)

Nicole writes:

…Sometimes I forget I have a camera. Here is a funny picture from the tour. Have you heard of South of the Border? It is 0.1 mile south of the North Carolina border, in South Carolina. There are billboards for it that stretch 40 miles before you get there. You may have, it is 40 years old and one of the silliest places I have ever been.

*see hippo attached to e-mail.

Grandad returns from Ireland tomorrow. I’m driving down to the airport to pick up the 4 Irish golfers. He was able to play two warm up rounds of golf before he left, and he felt fine. That was 4 and 5 five days after heart surgery to install a second stent. His second game was against (with?) Danny. They had a nice outing and Danny claims to only have lost three balls. Grandad reported: “I like Danny. He’s a good guy. Of course I liked him before I played golf with him…”

Spotted Bob on line just moments before Taylor Hicks was announced the 2006 American Idol winner. Sitting in the basement with Kathy, Kelly, Claire and the dogs. It was really a pretty good 2 hour show.

Gramalie and Grandad had us over for Easter lunch and what turned into a series of contests. Gramalie’s lunch was delicious with the oldest and youngest eating on the porch and all the middle-agers eating in the dining room.

Grandad, Danny, and Nicole helped hide all of the Easter Eggs for the annual hunt. This would be Kelly’s last try at winning a silver dollar (she won one in the early years) since she is going to be in high school next Easter. Kelly and Claire were given a 10 egg limit each. Claire ran around with great speed, strategically shaking the eggs in search of the illusive Silver Dollar. Fiona ended up finding the silver dollar, but she seemed more interested in the chocolate that came with it. Grant quickly hid the silver dollar in his truck just to make sure Uncle Jeb did not steal it to give to Claire. Not sure why this family believes in conspiracy theories.

It was an unusually warm Easter day, so we spent most of the time outside. Grant, Kelly, and Danny had a berry tossing contest. Claire, Kelly, Danny, Fiona, and Jami all participated in a run-around-the-house contest, Grandad and myself being dual timers.

Ted, Kelly, Michael, and Claire were seen playing baseball (see photo). Danny, Claire, and Kelly had a “hang from the tree” contest.

Susan rested her voice after having to sing through three services in the morning. Jeb and Kathy mostly took pictures, which can be seen at: http://stonegate.fiveforks.com/gallery/Easter-2006. The Lakeland gang were surely missed. We could have used the competition.

Jeb and Kathy

Getting through Dad’s heart crisis was the event of our quarter. Everyone pitched in to keep Dad company through visits and calls. Carol gets special thanks for possibly saving Dad’s life. Mom gets special thanks for being with him through it all.

Nicole and the band, Psychic Hearts, are ramping up for a new album release with lots of practice, recording, and promotional tours. They just finished a 10 day tour that took them to Augusta, Louisiana, and the South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin. They say they took in more cash than they put in the gas tank. And even more exciting, Nicole only has two more car payments.

Danny is studying hard at Spring Hill. The four of us went down to visit for Family Weekend and enjoyed dining with Danny and touring the campus. He has picked up a part time job on campus three nights a week and when showing us where he worked, we ran into the president, Father Lucey. Danny did a good job introducing his sisters and mom and dad. We told Father Lucey about Danny’s great, great Uncle O’Leary (whom I clarified used to have Father Lucey’s job) and told him about Aunt Margie’s portrait of him that she was planning to donate.

Kelly is finishing up her last year in middle school. We got a welcome package from Brookwood High School for her, which was a bit shocking. She is currently playing soccer, but plans on running cross country in high school. She likes to run. We are quite proud of her for having volunteered as an assistant teacher in Sunday school. She has been very disciplined about rolling out of bed early Sunday mornings to help out.

Claire is finishing up elementry school and heading for middle school. Our last child leaving elementry school. I’m sure tears will flow at graduation. Claire is also playing soccer on a very competitive team. There is not a single weak player on the team, and the they play very well together with passes and trick moves. A new level for her. She came home covered with mud after her first game, and quite happy about it.

Kathy continues in her new job of selling Ugly Houses and Jeb continues in his old job of selling pretty checks. Both of us are putting in a lot of extra hours with the church because of RCIA, but we have both enjoyed (re)learning a lot about Catholicism with the candidates we are sponsoring. We highly recommend everyone go to church each week and listen for a call for volunteers. It sure can be rewarding, but you have to be around to hear the call.

Mary Claire attended two birthday parties this weekend. Both had a crazy costume contest built into the party. Claire was not sure about it, so she did not dress up for Saturday’s party. Realizing there were prizes involved, she did not miss the chance to compete for the second birthday party on Sunday. She won!

The prize was a very nice bath gift set including soaps, lotions, and bath salts. Good thing. She needed a bath to get rid of all the crazy makeup.

We all very much enjoyed Kelly’s chorus concert in Athens on Fiona’s birthday. However, I never did write about how really good these kids were and how impressive the show was on the following Saturday. The Athens Classic Center is something of a small Carnegie Hall with a double balcony and two levels of box seats along the side. Kelly had never performed in anything so grand.

Each chorus was composed of the honors singers from many schools across Georgia, and each was conducted by a guest music professor. The boys chorus (about 100 members) made a very theatrical entrance from the back of the theatre, singing an African-sounding chant as they came in: Eh Ohooro Obayafayo Owa Eh FehOh Ohwa Awafaragay. The effect on the CD makes it sound like a large tribe of young warriors coming towards you across the plains. The girl chorus members sitting in the audience exploded into applause and cheering.

I may be biased, but every song sung by Kelly’s 8th grade chorus was exquisite. Nicole claims it brought me to tears. (And it did, although I was suffering from a cold and very itchy eyes, so I had been in tears all day.)

One of my favorite songs was Berlin Irving’s “Sisters”. It makes me think of the sisters we have in our family:

Nicole + Kelly + Claire

Betty + Julie + Patsy

Carol + Kathy + Jami

Here is the song as sung by Kelly and 124 friends: Sisters.

Here are the lyrics:

Sisters

Who comes between me and my man

See also:

The boys singing Eh Ohooro.

Mac 5 music library: Compilations : Middle School.

Kathy and I had a tripple birthday blitz over the weekend that included John P’s 40th Friday night at Sampan downtown, Kathy’s birthday at Dominick’s in Norcross on Saturday, and East West Bistro for Nicole’s birthday in Athens on Sunday. In between we got in soccer games, Kelly’s All State chorus audition, and RCIA class. I was just able to squeeze in a lawn mowing in between all the coming and going. I’m not sure we have ever eaten out three days in a row. We can highly recommend all three restaurants. Dominick’s in Norcross is probably the best family experience, especially if the family enjoys Italian food and collaborative table-coloring of bizzaro stick figures.

Happy Birthday Kathy, Nicole, and John P!