A Very Prichard Christmas

You probably all have already heard about the snowstorm to affect the Midwest and the resulting impact on travel plans. We are among that group. We'd planned to go to St. Joseph today for the Wagner family Christmas, but no one from out of town was able to travel including us. We were lucky that Adam came down Wednesday night so he is here to celebrate with us at least! We're about to have some Christmas lasagna (yay, Stouffer's and Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve for backup plans) but in the meantime, thought you'd enjoy my little attempt at creativity. So without further adieu, "The Twelve Days of Christmas, Prichard style." And yeah, it's really the last 24 hours or so, but whatever. :)


On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
an Adam shoveling snow.



On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
two hours of bulldozing and
an Adam shoveling snow.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

three stuffed stockings,

two hours of bulldozing and

an Adam shoveling snow.

(Side note: "Santa" brought these animals that poop candy. The boys loved it. See why I say I can wait to have kids?!?)

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

four heaves of pushing,

three stuffed stockings,

two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
five adorable kids!

four heaves of pushing,

three stuffed stockings,

two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

(In full disclosure, this pic is a couple weeks old, but it's too cute not to include. Merry Christmas to Ben, Grace, Molly, Isaac, and Will from those crazy people that hang out with your parents!)


On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Six o'clock church service,

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Seven Christmas Carols

Six o'clock church service

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Eight cups of rice at Kobe,

Seven Christmas Carols,

Six o'clock church service,

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Nine o'clock presents,

Eight cups of rice at Kobe,

Seven Christmas Carols,

Six o'clock church service,

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

(And these last two presents can tell you exactly why I have time to do this today... guess what the boys are doing?)

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Ten Christmas cards (times two!),

Nine o'clock presents,

Eight cups of rice at Kobe,

Seven Christmas Carols,

Six o'clock church service,

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Eleven zillion ornaments,

Ten Christmas cards (times two!),

Nine o'clock presents,

Eight cups of rice at Kobe,

Seven Christmas Carols,

Six o'clock church service,

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Twelve-ish inches of snow!

Eleven zillion ornaments,

Ten Christmas cards (times two!),

Nine o'clock presents,

Eight cups of rice at Kobe,

Seven Christmas Carols,

Six o'clock church service,

Five adorable kids!

Four heaves of pushing,

Three stuffed stockings,

Two hours of bulldozing, and

an Adam shoveling snow!

I took this looking into the streetlight before we ate at Kobe last night.

The view out of our bedroom today. That's Crestline Drive over there... somewhere.

This drift is higher than our doorknob on our front door!

And the song is over, but I couldn't leave you without an appearance from Linus saying his monologue (see previous post for the real thing).

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

Love to you and yours, and remember the real reason for Christmas today.

Missing my Dad

One year ago today, I got the call from my aunt Gale that my Dad had died. I remember that when the phone rang, I was eating Tuna Cheesy Pasta Helper - something that I haven't been able to stomach since. (Yes, I know I'm not missing anything!) I vaguely remember thinking about when I should fly home, and talking with my sister, and I remember eating a LOT of Chick-fil-a in Odessa that week. Pretty much everything else is a blur though all the way through Thanksgiving. Or really, the rest of the year - "last year" has often meant 2007-08 when I discuss kids this year. The things that stand out are the kindness of good friends: the ones who drove me to the airport, the ones who came to the funeral, the ones who collected money to help with expenses, the ones who took the time at a party to ask me quietly how I was doing, the ones who took me out for Mexican food and shopping when it was desparately needed... you all know who you are and I remain deeply grateful for your friendship.

There's absolutely nothing that prepares you for the loss of a parent, particularly just before his 54th birthday. Yes, I guess I knew it was possible - after all, he'd had two previous heart attacks, and we all DO die someday - but Kristi and I used to joke when we'd worry about things that Dad would probably outlive us all with his uncanny luck. There's no step-by-step guide called "What to do when your dad dies," and I know this for sure because I googled it (and seriously think someone should make one by the way). My supervisor, Donna, said it best when she said to prepare for fighting waves in the ocean: some days you're fine, other days you're a mess, and there's not a lot of predictability to it at all. I can definitely attest to the truth of that.

I miss Dad every day. I often think of things I should have said or done that I won't get the chance to do. Sometimes, I almost call him to discuss the latest football win of a favorite team or to tell him something cool that happened. I thought of him a lot in England this summer - which is strange because he never went there - but there were often little things that would remind me of him. I even find myself using some of the sayings that he used when we were little.

I wonder what he would think about things and what he'd be doing if he was still here. I know his last six months or so were the happiest he'd been in a long time, and I hope that would have continued. It's so hard to think of all the things that Dad didn't get to be a part of - meeting my sister's boyfriend, hearing about our time in England, seeing B.J. help coach the Katy Tigers to the district championship, on and on and on. I grieve that he won't be there to dance with my sister when she gets married, and he won't get to hold his grandbabies. He would have loved that. I hope that I am able to convey to my kids all of the great things about Dad enough that they feel like they had him as a grandpa, even though they won't remember him.

I took a personal day today, knowing it would be a hard day. I'm going to go to IHOP in a few minutes and get a "Rooty Tooty Fresh n Fruity". I wasn't sure what I would do with the rest of the day, but it turns out that I have to go to the cardiologist - kind of an ironic way to honor your dad who died of a heart attack, I know. I'll blog later about all my health stuff.

Here are a few photos of my Dad with us. Thank you for letting me share this with you.

I would love to hear your favorite memories of my Dad too, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Fun weekend

We had a great weekend! Here are a few pictures.

First up - Thursday night we went to the Urbans' house for Wheat State Pizza dinner. Julie had PWS (Prichard Withdrawal Syndrome) and Jeremy had MWS (Molly Withdrawal Syndrome) so it was a good remedy for everyone. And yes, I know Thursday's not technically the weekend, but I'm still posting these here.

Jeremy and his buddy Molly

Molly actually lets us tickle her feet now - she used to hate having her feet touched.

Seriously, how could you not love this kiddo?

On Saturday, we attended the wedding of our friends Christine and Karl. We arrived early in the morning to help decorate the reception site, then decorated the church, then went to the ceremony and reception, and then helped clean up. It almost felt like a day trip even though we were just in downtown Lawrence!! I posted a few photos on facebook so I won't repeat them here, and you can see all 364 photos I took at this link: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=e5d37cbe19618283&sid=8Yat2LNo4YvQ

The happy couple. Congratulations, Karl and Christine!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! I spent the past couple of weeks working at Fun and Games, a locally owned store that sells costumes, wigs, accessories, and tons of other things. I got to see a ton of fun costumes and got a chance to exercise my creativity in a way that I normally don't.

Last night, we went to a party at Steve and Chris Tuckers'. Here are some pics from the evening.

Jeremy and I as "Swine Flu"

Our hosts. Chris was "The Plague" and Steve was "The Grim Reaper"

Jason - the Best Overall Costume - "Gnome on a Toadstool"

Ryan as a Roman gladiator and Emily (and baby) as "Deviled Egg"

Karl and Christine as the "King and Queen of Hearts"

Philip as "Indiana Jones," Marcella as "the Chiquita lady,"

and Lydia as "a bunch of bananas"

Our Funniest Costume trophy!

A very belated post...

but Happy 30th birthday, Jeremy!

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated with a surprise party at Free State Brewery. Somehow I managed to keep Jeremy from finding out the truth until we got there - he thought that we were going to meet a historian from Stanford. I can't take credit for that idea (thanks, Sheyda!) but I'm still impressed that I didn't blow it. :)

Here are some pictures from the evening.

The cake

Jeremy still in shock over the surprise (and I also love Amanda's big grin!)

Steven Tucker, Jason Roe, Ryan and Emily Gaston, and James Quinn

Sheyda Jahanbani, Jonathan Hagel, Lena Withers, and Christine Anderson

Kristen Epps, Amanda Schlumpberger, Chris Tucker, and Lindsey Roe

The Banz Family - Bryan, Julia, and Will. Will gets the award for being the youngest guest there!

Jeremy, Adam Prichard, and Brandon Urban

It was awesome that Adam could make it down from Nebraska to celebrate with us!

Proof that even though he's old, Jeremy still has good lung capacity.

The birthday boy and his wife. :)