Laura "Versace" Elfrink, designer, seamstress

2008 Fashion Show

Laura modeling her Christmas stocking and ornament


Laura modeling her funky shorts


Laura modeling her 2 drawstring bags

Laura and her friend Joyce modeling their skirts. Laura and Joyce arrived for a sewing class with the same fabric and the intention of making a skirt!

More skirts!

Laura began sewing classes this summer after many months of pestering us! She is loving them! They are taught by this wonderful instuctor named Rocci Kendall. She is super talented and super patient with the girls. Laura has taken 3 classes and completed 2 drawstring bags, a pair of shorts and a skirt. In early November she completed a sewing camp where she made a Christmas stocking and an ornament. She also spent a Sunday with her Aunt Paulette sorting through Grandma Elfrink's quilting material. She chose some colors and made a quilt top throw pillow. Laura is always creating and making something for her sisters or a doll. Lack of a pattern has never stopped Laura from designing and sewing clothes for her American Girl doll. Hopefully, the lessons will help her combine her creative eye with some sewing basics!

Lestat, 1992-2008

With heavy heart, we have to share the news that Lestat, our beloved pet, had to be put to sleep in late November. It was a tough decision we hated to make. He was the best dog you could ask for.

I would like to share some moments...

we picked him up from the Humane Society way back in March or April of 1993. They said he was somewhere between 9 months and a year old. His name when we picked him up was Nevada Snow, so we knew we had to improve it, naming him....Lestat!?

Right away, we realized he was a very smart dog, pretty well behaved, and, best of all, potty trained (is that what they call it for pets?) He never grew anymore after we got him. He started with us at 45 pounds and in his heyday, he was up to 51 pounds.

He was fast as lightning and loved to play fetch/catch. He was so smart, that when he played catch and got tired (yes, he actually did get tired) he would lay down AFTER he chased the ball but BEFORE he returned it to me. I would take a ball on the ground and he would stand "ready", down on his front paws and hind quarters in the air, waiting for me to flick the ball with my foot/toes. Which ever way I shot the ball, he would snatch it right away, catching it like a good shortstop. If I flipped it over his head, he would catch it "with his back to the infield"

He was so well behaved, also. For instance, if we were having company over, he was never bothersome after the initial contact. And, if we were having appetizers, put them on the coffee table (just at the right level) and we would leave the room, he would not bother the food. However, if we came back and gave him the food, he would eat it then.

One of his tricks was for him to lay down, with his paws in front of him, and then for him to "stay". I would put a treat on his paws, tell him "NO" and he would not touch the treats. If I held him too long, he would look down at the treats, but still wouldn't touch them, not until I said "Okay".

When we traveled, he knew when we were getting ready. He'd be following us around, keeping an eye on our progress and when he figures it was time, he would climb into the vehicle, lay down in a small area and we would never hear from him. When we would stop to eat, we'd leave him in the car/van (with the windows cracked, of course). While we were in eating, he would sit in the driver seat and watch for us, looking like he was driving the van. Later on, after he was knocked down a notch or two on our list (read: once we started having children), when we traveled, the kids would drop things on the floor, and he still wouldn't move, almost to the point of being covered completely with "stuff".

He had unbelieveable control of his facilities, to the point of us taking advantage of it. There were many times when we would leave him alone all day, for over 12 hours, if not longer, and he would NEVER have an accident. Not until the last 6 months.

He never snapped at anyone, wonderful with the kids, smart enough to just get up and walk away if the kids got too friendly.

Our kids go over to my brother's house, where he has a young dog, around a year or so old. The kids have so much fun with him and his energy. I keep saying it was too bad they missed Lestat in his prime, they would have had a blast with him, too.

We were so lucky with him, we will never find another pet like him.

We'll miss him!

Human Croquet Wicket

You know how, as your kids are growing up and playing sports, you sometimes, deep down, hope they are good enough to get a scholarship somewhere, anywhere for some sport. Just so you can get some financial assistance with college? Are there scholarships for Human Croquet?

Like most families with children in the lower grades, Laura and Vincent are very active in sports. In Vincent's case, he was involved in baseball and soccer, along with participating in Cub Scouts. He did very good in all three activities, but his favorite is soccer. He LOVES soccer. It is, probably, his best sport also. He started playing soccer where they have goalies this year (what a novel idea!) but, in some cases, the goalie wasn't much better than having an empty goal. Vincent was good/lucky enough to actually scores some goals this year, but his best abilities is usually on defense. Most people who watch him play would say the same thing, that is why this video is funny, because it's not typical of his play. I video taped about 5 minutes of his soccer all year, but I did get this. He was not happy about that, although he laughs harder than most when he watches it. Watch the goalie's reaction. Enjoy!

Dentists, Schmentists! They don't scare me!

Guess who went to the dentist for the very first time? Lucy made her first trip to the dentist, with her wonderful big sis, Sophia, showing her the ropes. As always, with younger siblings, they always want to do what the bigger kids are doing, and this day she was able to join the ranks of Dr. Henderson's lucky patients. The sunglasses, besides looking cool, are used to keep the bright lights out of the kid's eyes. When I go, I just close my eyes, so I don't have to see what they are doing. (Our next stop was to the Podiatrist to have him put Lucy's feet back on the correct legs!)

"This is how you open you mouth without talking!"



Sophia showing off the great stickers she got for being a super patient.

"Don't you wish you could look this cool visiting the dentist?"

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Just kidding!"

Lucy being a "big girl" at the dentist's office!

If this is the way my dentist visits went when I was growing up, I probably wouldn't have hated going.

Stitches for Laura!

On September 12, for a late birthday gift, Laura received 13 stitches in her knee. This photo is a couple of weeks after the fact. It's also blurry. You can imagine how gross it looked at the beginning.

The family had spent a very busy Friday, doing tons of things that seem to need to be done at that time of the year - school functions, sports activities, Laura's birthday, who knows what else. At the end of the day we were invited to a friend's house for a little party. We arrived late, probably 8:30, after dark. It was a damp night, dew was forming on the ground and grass, making shoes wet. We were at this house for the first time, so not familiar with the lay of the land. We showed up with drinks and eats, getting settled in. The kids are off playing with friends. Marcie and I had just sat down, not having time to enjoy our first taste, when Laura comes over to us, saying she fell to the ground and her knee is bleeding. Again, it's dark out, so we can't really see how the knee looks. We don't think it's too bad, because Laura is not screaming, carrying on about it hurting or making any kind of fuss. But, Marcie decides we should have a look at it in the light. Well, it was pretty bad. We had two cars at the party, so Marcie took Laura to the emergency room for treatment. She ended up having 13 stitches, a knee immobilizer and a bad attitude. She was signed up for soccer, she got to play 2-3 games and now she can't play the rest of the season.

Anyway, to give you an idea of how subdued the event was, after Marcie and Laura went to the emergency, both Vincent and Sophia came up to me at different times and asked where Mom was. I told them she took Laura to the emergency room for stitches. They both said "No she didn't. Where is she?" I had to take them to the front of the house to show them the car is gone. After they both surveyed the whole situation and realized that neither Mom nor Laura was there, they finally believed me. Apparently I must tell them tall tales too often.

Her knee is better now, but still kind of ugly. She is finally given clearance to participate fully in all activities. Hooray! Just in time for basketball!

Happy 18th Anniversary!!

Today, November 10, 2008 is our 18th wedding anniversary. When I was younger, I thought only old people celebrated wedding anniversaries for that many years, knowing 25th anniversaries celebrated eternities. Now that I am older (old), I realize how special it is to be able to celebrate 18 wonderful years with a soulmate who I love more now then ever before.

Marcie, thanks for 18 GREAT years and looking forward to the next 18.

I love you!

-John

See, I didn't throw up this time! - Lucy

Three year olds are a wealth of entertainment and brutally honest comments. Tonight's comment fall into this category. In the last couple of months, we found out if you give Lucy a packet of peanut butter and crackers, she has a problem eating and swallowing them.

Like all kids, she loves them and eats them at a quick pace. However, instead of swallowing her food before putting more in, she will squirrel it away in her cheeks. She continued eating until she couldn't swallow, work the food in her mouth or basically even breath easily. She would get to coughing until she lost her cookies. Or in this case, her crackers. We thought her mouth was empty and didn't realize peanut butter was stuck to the top of her mouth. We've all been there. So she would continue to cough and spit up until we went digging and found the peanut butter on the roof of the mouth. Amazing what you do as parents!

Well, Lucy is a bright 3 year old. Tonight, we were eating dinner, pulled pork, french fries and vegetables. She was eating the pulled pork, realizing that the pork was affecting her the same way the peanut butter and crackers did. However, she was able to finish her food, empty her mouth and keep it down with no problem. Afterwards, she proudly proclaimed, "See, I didn't throw up this time!"

In the beginning...

You know... these things are everywhere. Everyone has one. Or so we are made to believe this. I am not doing this to be "trendy" or "on the cutting edge" because those are two things that have never been associated with me. And it's not going to start now.



I am starting this because of one main reason, and a bunch of little reasons. The main reason is because, around the Christmas holidays, we are sooo busy, doing things that HAVE to get done, we have missed a Christmas letter the last couple of years. So, instead of trying to remember everything that happened with our family throughout the year on a Tuesday evening in December while also trying to do everything else we do for Christmas, like baking, shopping, wrapping, DEC-OR-AT-ING, etc, I am going to try to capture the moments as they occur throughout the year and then send out Christmas cards with our blog address on it. This way you can learn more about us than you'd ever wanted to and we will have more time to buy, wrap, decorate stuff.





Once I get the hang of this, I'll even try to make sure the titles make sense so you can skip to the high point or points of the year. I hope I will keep this pretty current. I will probably have guest bloggers (Marcie and Laura and who knows who else) but for the most part it will be me providing the running commentary. I hope you will come back often to check up on us. Spend some time with us, laugh with us, cry with us and, if you want, discuss and share with us.





Enjoy and talk to you soon!

Picture from Easter 2008

(l-r) Vincent, Laura, Lucy and Sophia - all dressed up!