Kliewe Family Highlights for 2000
<1999 2001>
- January
- While we try to convince ourselves that the dining room rug tassels are just disappearing by themselves, friends and relatives offer up various suggestions -- mouse, squirrel, rat (thanks Joe), and very small stray dog (please, Mom).
- February
- For Black History Month, Sammy prepares an oral report on Duke Ellington. In his excitement, Sammy winds up referring to the great bandleader as "Black Ellington". John starts using Priceline.com for groceries and quickly discovers that the grocery store cashier really doesn't care if you pick up exactly what you ordered online.
- March
- John pulls off his greatest Priceline caper yet by substituting Mrs. Paul's Extra Crunchy Fish Sticks for the no-name brand he was supposed to get.
- April
- Dining room rug-chewing mouse is caught, thanks to the poison we bought at the grocery store. Of course, Priceline thinks it was two loaves of Home Pride Butter Top Wheat.
- May
- The boys play baseball in the local Little League. Sammy loves the game. Harry likes it too, but is a little annoyed that he has to keep moving from base to base every time some other kid hits the ball.
- June
- In a moment of extreme weakness, and against John's better judgment, Miriam agrees to look after two African water frogs for the summer. We set up the aquarium and the kids name the frogs "Ribbit" and "Fifi." Later that day John gets some real "I-told-you-so" satisfaction when the aquarium springs a leak all over the upstairs bedroom.
- July
- John spends most of the summer discussing "Survivor" with anyone who will listen. Meanwhile Miriam is busy scanning our Visa bills to make sure that Priceline has not charged us extra for the brand-name fish sticks.
- August
- At the beach the kids have invented a fun new game they call "Farm". It involves shovels, rakes, and exclamations like "Harry, your chickens are dying!" and "Hey Sammy, your horse is dead!"
Later that month Aunt Joan discovers that Ribbit has mysteriously disappeared.
- September
- Soccer season begins! Two small problems : (1) we notice that Harry's assistant coach is cheating and (2) the head coach seems to think that Harry's name is "Ali".
- October
- Bad news: Ribbit's remains have still not turned up.
Good news: the soccer coach is finally calling Harry by his real name.
- November
- Good news: we still haven't been charged for the fish sticks.
Bad news: Harry's coach is back to calling him "Ali".
- December
- The boys seem destined for a career in stand-up comedy. Here's a sample: "Knock knock." "Who's there?" "C" "C who?" "Watch out, I'm a talking C!"
We'll keep you posted.
Wishing you the best of everything in 2001!
Sammy, Harry, Miriam, and John Kliewe
www.Kliewe.com
<1999 2001>