Mr. Todd Memories

So after we told the kids this morning about Mr. Todd and cried together as a family, we cleaned up and went to breakfast. We wanted to have a celebration of his fabulous life and the time we spent with him.

These are some of the facts we came up with, thought that maybe it would give you a peek into the fun guy he was.

I started off with a night two years ago when we were camping and Mr. Todd took them on a snipe hunt. This was no ordinary snipe hunt, this was the mother of all snipe hunts! Trust me you have not heard the snipe story told until you had heard Mr. Todd tell it. Who knew that snipe calls change depending on your region? Luckily Mr. Todd knew all the calls. I will never forget sitting by the fire with Paula and laughing as we listened to our two men and seven children calling for snipes. These kids totally bought it. That is how convincing he was. After they got back to the campsite they had "caught" one. Mr. Todd had stuffed a big raw hide dog bone in a sock and shoved it in a bag. The kids were so excited, some where making plans to keep it and where they were going to keep it. Let's just say none of the children talked to Mr. Todd for about an hour when he unveiled the bone. Oh, except the littlest boys, they wanted to go on another snipe hunt!

Seth mentioned his favorite was Agatha Hagatha. Mr. Todd had made a brown bag puppet and named her Agatha Hagatha. She had all sorts of adventures and she was very annoying. Her voice was a Mr. Todd classic. At one point the kids made an anti- Agatha Hagatha to combat her.

Kylee's said everything was fun with Mr. Todd. Which was just true. He was such a big kid, and everyone wanted to be around him. We also had fun remembering how he spoiled her always but most recently when they had taken all of the kids, including mine to a baseball game. He told Paula when he walked in that if Kylee wanted this stuffed monkey that had the team logo on it he was going to buy it for her. Let's just say Kylee had another monkey to add to her collection when she got home that night.

Faith mentioned our sledding trips. Mr. Todd especially loved sledding. Who doesn't enjoy standing on a cold hill while the wind is blowing at top speed, soaking wet, numb from head to toe while you slide down a hill just to walk back up? Well Mr. Todd loved it! Or at least he was very convincing that he was having a great time.

Joshi said he loved that Mr. Todd loved playing drums. He was sad that he didn't have a chance to tell him that he is going to be buying some drums very soon (thanks Mr. Brad :). I told him he could tell Ms. Paula and she would rejoice with him. He also loved the way Mr. Todd would use Joshi as weights.

Mike of course mentioned all of the many holidays, vacations, meals, games, and fun that we have had with Mr. Todd.

He was a great friend, and will be greatly missed.

Kristen