January: I swear we have a psychic child! When we were headed home from Christmas, we got on the plane & the stewardess told us our seat number. Jenny, who was in front of us, turned right into the seat! Maybe she was counting seats?
When we landed in Boston Jennifer knew where we were and started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I don't want to be in Boston, I want to be in Rexburg Idaho."
I made some yummy Hawaiian Chicken for dinner. I hadn't made it since we were first married. I never said what it was but as we dished up Jenny said "Is this Hawaiian Chicken?" Chris and I looked at each other in surprise! She keeps amazing us!
Jennifer's Third Birthday!
1612 Stearns Hill Rd, Waltham MA
Feb: We got tickets to the BYU tournament game. Jennifer was SO excited to see Cosmo! I think Cosmo could tell because he came over and picked her up! We were on the 2nd row behind the basket so we told our parents to watch for us on TV. Mom said during half time the camera zeroed in on me standing up holding Sharilyn! :) At the end they zeroed in on Chris. Fun!
June: We have the cutest little girls! Jenny is very thoughtful of others, complimentary, polite and mannerly, apologetic when she gets in trouble and always so grateful
Where we lived the second year in Needham MA
180 Hillside Ave
Aug 23 - Today after church we went to Lugtons to discuss some church assignments. As we drove, the girls were sticking their fingers down their throats. Sharilyn has learned that if she sticks her fingers down far enough it makes her gag. She thinks it's funny. But she threw up all over the car and herself and we were too far from home to turn around. Oh boy!
Again this year we baked cookies and brought them to friends for Halloween. We only went to five places (people in the ward) and the girls we're just so cute.
Nov 9:
Dec 6 - 1st snowfall of the year came yesterday and today church was cancelled because of it so we went out and built a snowman. Jenny just couldn't wait to put a hat on it! (we used an upside down flowerpot) I think she was a bit disappointed to find that the hat didn't bring him to life. Yesterday the girls got to sit on Santa's lap! I wish I had a picture. Jenny asked if we could invite Santa over for dinner. Ha ha!
Dec 10 - Today we got some shocking news. Chris lost his job. He was hired at Graphic Communications as a Manager of Special Applications with a promise of ownership in the company, but they got him busy first programming so that they could meet their deadline. (Chris was clear in the hiring agreement that he didn't want to program). Chris invested a lot of time & energy into this business startup, writing most of the code for their new product and he also worked on advertising it. As soon as the deadline was met, Randy Wise (his boss & a church member) told him that his role overlapped into their responsibilities too much & they were paying him too much to be a programmer so they let him go. They really only wanted him long enough to meet their deadlines and the title was just to persuade him to accept. Randy had wooed Chris away from a more secure job that payed better, with a promise that his investment in the company would be rewarded in the future. We were very shocked needless to say. I love it here. We want to go where ever the Lord wants us to go. I hope to be in tune so we will hear the promptings and make a correct decision. (*a year later Randy sold the company to Lotus for several million which mainly included the product Chris wrote. Sadly, Randy and his wife ended up divorcing and Randy later committed suicide.)
A bright spot - I am so amazed each day at our sweet little Sharilyn. She is pure love and tenderness. She has a sweet soft voice and gentle expressions. When she asks me for a snack or something, she will almost always run in and give it to Jennifer first, then come back for some for herself. The other night Jennifer was in bed and I hadn't gotten to Sharilyn yet. Jenny asked for a drink and I told her she'd have to wait. Sharilyn disappeared and came back with a glass of water, she got from the bathroom for Jennifer. So thoughtful.
Dad called with some good news. He was sitting in his office thinking about us coming home for Christmas and the expense etc and thought to himself "Dog-on-it I'm going to call and see if I can get any deals around here for those kids" and he did! :) Such a blessing! This was the last day of the deal too so Dad must have been inspired. I've been so excited - jumping around like a kid!
Another psychic Jennifer moment: Dec 19 we flew home for Christmas. We connected in Chicago and knowing that, Jenny kept asking if we were going to see Chris Kite there. We said no but when we got there, there was Chris Kite!! He was seeing his brother Gregg off with the rest of the BYU basketball team. The team was on our flight!!
Home for the holidays!
Jennifer's Third Birthday!
1612 Stearns Hill Rd, Waltham MA
I can't believe Jennifer is 3 years old. She's sure a sweet heart. She is a cute little mother to Sharilyn and likes to take care of her. She's helpful and loving and wants to please. She's very creative with a pencil and scissors and has a great imagination.
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| Cosmo and Jenny at BYU game in Providence RI (NCAA tournament with UCLA) We won 78-55 |
Sharilyn's First Birthday!
May: I love to paint. Just finished this one:
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| Sharilyn enjoyed her birthday but Jennifer enjoyed it more ha ha. Poor little Sharilyn wasn't feeling well because she is cutting a molar. Poor little thing. You can tell she isn't feeling at all well yet you'd hardly know it because she is so pleasant, smiley and giggly and sweet! |
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| From my scrapbook |
We went to a play where someone was dressed up like a bee. Jen said “I can sure tell that bee is just someone dressed up…but they are trying as hard as they can to make this a nice show.”
Mom and Dad Clarke came to visit. (picture in Salem etc) Jennifer cried and cried when they went back home.
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| Jennifer with Mickey and Minnie Grover Cronin Dept Store, Waltham MA |
A cute story - Jennifer wanted me to put water in her little pool outside. I was just home from the dentist (wisdom teeth) and didn't feel up to it so she went into the kitchen and filled up a glass of water and began to fill the pool one glass at a time! She had the will, and she thought of a way! Persistent little thing!
Sharilyn is SO good! She's so mild mannered, smiley, cheerful, loving and so patient! She wakes up in the morning or from naps and is all smiles & happy! Even when I'm downstairs, she just starts talking in her bed and waits patiently for me to come and get her. She amazes me.
Sharilyn is SO good! She's so mild mannered, smiley, cheerful, loving and so patient! She wakes up in the morning or from naps and is all smiles & happy! Even when I'm downstairs, she just starts talking in her bed and waits patiently for me to come and get her. She amazes me.
August
Jen was telling me about how Alisa hit her and she said "I wanted to hit her back but concentrated real hard and thought of the Primary song: "Jesus said love everyone."
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| Jennifer is growing up! First day of Summer Pooh Camp, Waltham MA I bought her a lunch pail and she was so excited! |
Our rent is being raised so we are hoping to buy a house. I called a realtor and while Jenny is at Pooh camp I've been looking at houses with a nice lady named Marg.
For the last while Jenny has been calling Sharilyn, Amy Christy! When she wants her to be a boy she calls her Tommy! I asked her why she calls Sharilyn Amy Christy and she answered: "Oh because I think it's such a beautiful name." Other pretend names: Missy,Jandy, Marinesa & Taffy. Ha ha!
Jennifer really loves Sharilyn and is protective of her. She worries whenever anyone picks up Sharilyn and she tells them they can't have her. She tells them "That's my little babe" or "Little ol' babe".
June 29th Chris started working in Boston, for Graphic Communications. Transportation has been a challenge. I got the morning bus figured out but not the evening so I pick Chris up after work each evening at the Belmont bus stop.
Jennifer really loves Sharilyn and is protective of her. She worries whenever anyone picks up Sharilyn and she tells them they can't have her. She tells them "That's my little babe" or "Little ol' babe".
Chris does a lot of driving for Avis for our ward budget. They have to pick up cars and take them where they need to go. He gets home really late at night.
July 7: Today I made a picnic dinner to surprise Chris & loaded it into the car with a change of clothes for him. We ate at the park in Belmont. We had a fun time and Jenny just loved helping to plan our secret all day! She was so cute and excited and didn't even break the secret once Chris got into the car.
July 18 - Today we picked up some of Chris's stuff from SI (Strategic Information) to move to his office in Boston. We stopped at Burger King on the way so that Jenny & I could use the bathroom. It was so funny - while Jennifer was on the toilet she started saying a little rhyme that she was making up on the spot! "I want to go to Boston, I want to go to Lynn. You better watch out or you're going to fall in! I want to go to Boston, I want to go to Lynn. Watch out Sharilyn or your gonna fall in!" ha ha - she kept repeating that over and over even when we got back in the car.
July 24 - I rode the subway to Boston with the girls and met Chris. We ate at Wendy's then walked to the Esplanade to hear the Boston Pops. Jenny saw that they were selling helium balloons and really wanted one. Chris said no so Jenny walked over to a girl close by who had about 6 of them in her hands. Jenny asked her if she was selling them. When the girl said she wasn't Jenny looked so sad that the girl gave her one!
Where we lived the first year in Waltham MA
1612 Stearns Hill Rd
July 31: Palmyra pageant and Watkins Glen (see other chapter)
July 18 - Today we picked up some of Chris's stuff from SI (Strategic Information) to move to his office in Boston. We stopped at Burger King on the way so that Jenny & I could use the bathroom. It was so funny - while Jennifer was on the toilet she started saying a little rhyme that she was making up on the spot! "I want to go to Boston, I want to go to Lynn. You better watch out or you're going to fall in! I want to go to Boston, I want to go to Lynn. Watch out Sharilyn or your gonna fall in!" ha ha - she kept repeating that over and over even when we got back in the car.
July 24 - I rode the subway to Boston with the girls and met Chris. We ate at Wendy's then walked to the Esplanade to hear the Boston Pops. Jenny saw that they were selling helium balloons and really wanted one. Chris said no so Jenny walked over to a girl close by who had about 6 of them in her hands. Jenny asked her if she was selling them. When the girl said she wasn't Jenny looked so sad that the girl gave her one!
Where we lived the first year in Waltham MA
1612 Stearns Hill Rd
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| Neighborhood gathering |
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| I bought a bottle cutter. Made an empty salad dressing bottle look pretty |
Where we lived the second year in Needham MA
180 Hillside Ave
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| We lived in an apt in the upstairs above a furniture repair shop. The tree didn't cover the window when we lived there. |
September: Jenny got accepted to the Needham YMCA nursery school. She had a wonderful first day. They have a gym and once a week they will get to ice-skate and next semester they get to swim once a week! I help out when they go ice-skating and I get to bring Sharilyn too. Found skates & helmets at a thrift store.
I was so worried about her with our move to Needham and leaving all her friends from Windsor Village. Windsor was quite a melting pot. We had friends from Italy, Scotland, France, Germany, Brazil...
I found a wonderful thrift shop where the back room is a mountain of unsold clothing. You can buy anything for 10 cents or fill a bag for a dollar. I bought a red and blue velour robe and corduroy shirt each 10 cents! I made both of the girls a shirt out of the robe and sewed a Sesame Place patch on it. I made them both some pants out of the shirt. (see photo of shirt on Sharilyn below at Christmas)
Sister Knighton compared us humans to fruit saying "When you're green you're growing, when you're ripe you're rotting." ha ha. We are not only blessed with talents but with the challenge of inabilities. It's okay to feel green because it means we're growing. I love the members here. The Knightons, Daniels, Lugtons, Andersons, McDonalds, Goldburgs, Bowmans, Pete & Vicki Clarke, Bernard & Jane Murphy etc. have become like our family. It's also so special to hear beautiful conversion stories of converts. Their testimonies bless my own.
I have a new favorite thought. Some say "I don't know how to do that" when faced with an obstacle but Intelligence is not what you know how to do. It's how you act when you Don't know what to do.
October
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| Skating at the YMCA in Needham |
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| Chris at work - Graphic Communications, Inc., Boston |
Jennifer came home from nursery school so excited! She told me there was a surprise and she couldn't tell me what it was. She rambled on about going to the school at night for the adults - not kids. ha ha. I got a sitter for the girls. Chris had to get his work completed at Harvard to he worked late and couldn't come. It turns out it was a delightful open house where they showed slides of the kids in candid shots and they had us all make a self portrait out of odds and ends and glue. (The kids did theirs and had them hanging up.) They will try to guess which ones are ours.
17th I had a parent teacher conference at the nursery school. They told me that Jennifer is doing well and participates in everything, loves music and shows no signs of fear. She tends to relate to adults more than children.
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| Ready for the Golden Green Ball |
Nov 26 - We had a very nice Thanksgiving at home and watched Shirley Temple and Doctor Doolittle on TV. In the evening we took the girls to Needham Cinema to see a double feature of "Singing in the Rain" and "Wizard of Oz". It was part of a special film series. It was such fun to see it on the big screen. I was amazed at how well Jennifer followed and analyzed the show! She's a good little thinker.
27th: After Sharilyn got up from her nap, I loaded all of our trash (9 bags) into the VW bug and we headed to the dump. A few blocks away the car broke down. I didn't know what was going on, (our gas gage was broken but I thought we had enough gas) it just slowed down and down and quit. I just didn't know what to do. I tried wiggling wires like I'd seen Chris do but it didn't work. We sat there crowded in the car with all the smelly garbage and Jenny could tell I was worried. She decided to cheer things up a bit (so typical of her) and suggested cheerfully "Let's sing a song and tell some jokes!" So we sat there singing in the car trying to decide what to do. Jennifer is always singing. Sometimes when we're in a rush and there's tension in the air, she says "Let's sing." (Amazing therapy)
Anyway, I took the kids and went across the street to a house and asked to use the phone. The lady was so nice and kind...I called a friend, Joan to see if she could pick us up and ...to make a long story short adding gas from a gas can didn't work & the VW place next to the gas station was too busy to help so I went to the Texaco and the guy was super nice "Sure we can tow you! Trouble huh?" He called to someone in the back saying "We have a fair maiden in distress. She needs a ride to her car and don't elope with her!" At the car I unloaded all the trash, took out the back seat and had
him jumper the battery to see if we could get it going. (Chris suggested that) Yay! it worked! Payed the guy $22.00 then drove to the gas station to fill up the car and also via Chris suggestion, I checked the water in the battery and it was almost gone.
Dec 6 - 1st snowfall of the year came yesterday and today church was cancelled because of it so we went out and built a snowman. Jenny just couldn't wait to put a hat on it! (we used an upside down flowerpot) I think she was a bit disappointed to find that the hat didn't bring him to life. Yesterday the girls got to sit on Santa's lap! I wish I had a picture. Jenny asked if we could invite Santa over for dinner. Ha ha!
I've been making clothespin dolls. Regular and jointed. Norma Hartman from Batesville really loves them and I've made several different ones for her. She asked for another so I sent her one. (I think she has 5 now)
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Dec 10 - Today we got some shocking news. Chris lost his job. He was hired at Graphic Communications as a Manager of Special Applications with a promise of ownership in the company, but they got him busy first programming so that they could meet their deadline. (Chris was clear in the hiring agreement that he didn't want to program). Chris invested a lot of time & energy into this business startup, writing most of the code for their new product and he also worked on advertising it. As soon as the deadline was met, Randy Wise (his boss & a church member) told him that his role overlapped into their responsibilities too much & they were paying him too much to be a programmer so they let him go. They really only wanted him long enough to meet their deadlines and the title was just to persuade him to accept. Randy had wooed Chris away from a more secure job that payed better, with a promise that his investment in the company would be rewarded in the future. We were very shocked needless to say. I love it here. We want to go where ever the Lord wants us to go. I hope to be in tune so we will hear the promptings and make a correct decision. (*a year later Randy sold the company to Lotus for several million which mainly included the product Chris wrote. Sadly, Randy and his wife ended up divorcing and Randy later committed suicide.)
A bright spot - I am so amazed each day at our sweet little Sharilyn. She is pure love and tenderness. She has a sweet soft voice and gentle expressions. When she asks me for a snack or something, she will almost always run in and give it to Jennifer first, then come back for some for herself. The other night Jennifer was in bed and I hadn't gotten to Sharilyn yet. Jenny asked for a drink and I told her she'd have to wait. Sharilyn disappeared and came back with a glass of water, she got from the bathroom for Jennifer. So thoughtful.
Dad called with some good news. He was sitting in his office thinking about us coming home for Christmas and the expense etc and thought to himself "Dog-on-it I'm going to call and see if I can get any deals around here for those kids" and he did! :) Such a blessing! This was the last day of the deal too so Dad must have been inspired. I've been so excited - jumping around like a kid!
17th - funny moment at dermatologist. (for red peely skin on face) I told him we were headed to Idaho for Christmas. He said "Not Pocatello!" I said no but close. He said he was 3 years in the service in SLC and traveled to Pocatello all the time. I asked him if he was Mormon and he put his head on his desk and said "NO!" I said "Well I am". He replied "Oh a jack I hope!" I said "No, I'm a real one." "Oh a real live one!" He was cute about it and funny and nice to me.
Another psychic Jennifer moment: Dec 19 we flew home for Christmas. We connected in Chicago and knowing that, Jenny kept asking if we were going to see Chris Kite there. We said no but when we got there, there was Chris Kite!! He was seeing his brother Gregg off with the rest of the BYU basketball team. The team was on our flight!!
We spent a couple days in SLC before going to Rexburg. Visited Bestima and Bestifa. We danced around the Christmas tree and Gma played her violin in that sweet old fashioned sound and Gpa played his harmonica like nobody else! We had a brunch at Aunt Carols and saw the pretty lights at Temple Square.
Home for the holidays!
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| Jen, Dannah & Daniel at Clarkes |
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| Sharilyn and Dustin at Troniers (Sharilyn's shirt is the one described above - made from a 10 cent robe at the thrift store.) |
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| Playing with costumes at Klingler's Melissa, Dustin, Jen, Steve, Sharilyn |
Sad, we've been taking so many great pictures. Over 60 of them and camera wasn't winding. Pictures with family and beautiful winter photos, the girls with Santa, Temple Square, Jordan River Temple, Christmas morning. :(
