Coming soon....

- Shaunika slept in a drawer
- Jeff and the chicken
- John and the potato bug
- Merika cuts her own hair
- Logan- the big brother

Jeff and "a note"

Jeff was in 1st grade at Washington Elementary School in Redondo Beach. One day he came home from school and said he didn't feel well and crawled into bed. I think he woke and had a little supper, but then went back to bed. In the morning, I let him sleep in thinking he would just stay home sick. When he woke up he was worried that he was late. I said he could stay home. He got really worried then and said that he had to go to school. I couldn't figure out what was possibly so important that he couldn't miss that day. When I asked him, this was his response. "The teacher said if we are sick and miss school we have to bring a note - and I don't know how to write a note!"

Logan goes to the library...alone

Logan did not read at an early or precocious age, in fact he was well into 1st grade, and had really not caught on. I went to Pic-n-Save and found some black and white comic books that were classics. (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, etc) They were .19 each, and I bought every different story that they had. At home, Logan discovered that they had an interesting and fairly advanced story, but in comic form. I was glad- he seemed interested in the books himself.(Instead of being read to)I thought, OK, this might work- you read a comic from left to right, like a page in a book. By the time he had gone through all those comics he had caught on to the concept and really started to want to read everything...

Years later, to the despair of his teachers he would read 3-4 books throughout the school day- instead of the boring work that they were trying to teach.He always had several books at a time that he was reading.

At the library in Redondo Beach a person was allowed to check out 10 books with their library card. We discovered that 10 books was just not enough to keep him happy between trips to the library.

In about 4th grade we decided that if Logan could safely ride his bike to the library and home again then he could take everyone library card and get multiples of 10 books for himself. It was a little difficult to show him the way there and back because their were so many one-way streets.

With my fingers crossed and a prayer in my heart I let him ride off the the library, hoping that he would return safely, and knowing that when he did he would have 40 books with him (and that might be enough for a week or two).

I waited for his return, and it didn't happen quite as soon as I expected, but eventually he did make it home. He was so happy, he just went into his room, tossed the backpack on the bed, took out a book and started reading.

Later, he did admit that he was reading a book as he was riding home, and missed his turn and was not quite sure where he was until he realized that he could see Warren's house in the far distance- and he knew his way home from there, so he would be able to make it home ok- so that he would be able to ride the bike again to the library in a few weeks.

2400 Ralston Lane, Redondo Beach

When we moved to Redondo Beach in 1980, it was our 11th move in 7 years of marriage. Kirt had come from Kansas by himself to buy the house. I told him I wanted a good neighborhood, a big back yard, and not to walk into the house and see the kitchen sink. I got all that, but as he tried to tell me about it there was no way I could imagine it- I mean, if you were spending $100,000 on a house, "how bad could it be?" Where we were living in Kansas some friends were unable to sell their huge house for $130,000 and it had 1 acre of land, an indoor BB court, formal DR, and formal LR, lot of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc..... Our new home was about 900 square feet.
Shaunika was 3 months old, John was 2, Jeff had just turned 4, and Logan was 6. I felt it would be a good starter house- but we ended up there for 8 years, and by the time we moved to Placentia, Merika had been born, and Jessica was living with us. Logan was just going to start HS when we moved to Orange County, in 1988.

Stout Brothers Roofing Company

We were living in Kansas, Kirt was still in the military. Wayne called to invite Kirt to join him in his roofing business. "There way surely enough roofs to keep two families supported". "It pays well, and you will earn $3000 a month!"
We planned for that even though many advised us not to go into business with family, we were naive and even remarked, "If anyone can go into business with Wayne it would be Kirt as he gets along with everyone and had a good business head."
Kirt went out from Kansas and bought us a house- 900 Sq. ft. for $100,000.
Our house payment without taxes would be just over $1000 a month. We never actually made $3000 any month. Each Friday, Wayne would give Kirt a check for $500- his earnings for the week. I went and stood in line at the bank to put half in savings and half in checking. The savings so we would have money to pay the mortgage, and the checking to pay for food, and all other expenses.

Swimming in Trash Can Lids

Shortly after we moved to Redondo Beach we bought new large trash cans. The lids were about 12 inches high/deep. When they were new, and it was hot(summer)we would turn them over and fill them with water. They made nice, individual swimming pools for whichever child wanted the comfort of the cool water.
Later, the kids told their teachers that they went swimming in trash can lids. I wonder what they thought!
These lids were also great to make a terrarium type thing. John would fill them with dirt and he and Jeff would put in some twig trees and make diorama type places for the G.U.T.S. guys, or little GI Joe guys.
Sometimes John would make a little nature scene and collect bugs in them.