Leo's first birthday

What a busy, busy weekend. We celebrated Leo's first birthday on Saturday, even though it was a little early. Both of my grandmas attended. They traveled with my mom and dad. Marian's parents and brother also came. Marian's best friend and her husband and their one year old came too. Marian worked hard all week to get the house in order for the guests, not that it is ever much of a mess. It's just that she was distracted all week with spring cleaning and that usually produces a huge, temporary mess. She made a carrot cake, from scratch. She'd made a silhouette of a rabbit from powdered sugar to decorate the top. She also made some carrot cupcakes. She served some finger food of veggies and dip and those ham, pickle and cream cheese tortilla roll-ups. I wasn't any help through the week, other than keeping the boys occupied and out of her hair when I could. All in all, I think everyone enjoyed the afternoon.

Leo has such a good extended family. They all get along and there was no "drama" like you hear about in other families. He received some nice books, toys, and money we'll place into his savings account. I was very proud of him and I felt great when he'd crawl across the room through the guests talking to him and offering their arms to hold him, to me. He'd pull himself up on my pant legs and want me to hold him.

Jack was also pretty well-behaved. He hadn't had a nap and did pretty well. Jack also received a few presents so he wouldn't be left out. See how thoughtful our families are?

I was busy Saturday acting in the short film that's being made. I learned alot about how movies are made, even if it was on a small scale, and equally small budget. All of us had quite a pleasant experience. I returned there after the birthday party until almost eleven. Then, I returned to film some more all Sunday afternoon. I'm anxious to see how it all comes together after the editing.

I know eventually I'll get to posting more pictures on this blog instead of all the writing. But, once again they'll be no pix this time.

Spring is here! . . . maybe

Things around Franklin county and Ottawa are looking up in one regard: weather. As most of you noticed here in the midwest, our first day of spring brought with it a dump of up to 4" of snow. Enough snow arrived on Saturday night it made the outlying county roads around here impassable and Monday's school was cancelled. Then, on Monday we were treated to a snow day where we enjoyed a day of sunshine and upwards of 50 or more degrees. Go figure!

Spring break just concluded. Most of it was cold, damp, and gray. I did manage to rake 95% of my lawn and haul off the leaves; six pickup loads. I also sewed some fescue in the lawn and broadcast some fertilizer. So, the damp conditions were favorable for that, at least. Mostly I was home helping to keep the boys occupied while Marian tried to do things she needed or wanted to do. We attended the Lawrence St. Patrick's day parade. Though the parade was good, we were situated on the other side of the bridge, and were bothered by traffic delays which caused big gaps in the parade at times.

Both boys are doing well. Marian went with them to Oklahoma to visit my sister and her family in Ada. They had a big time with my aunts, my mom and my grandma.

This Saturday we'll have a birthday party for Leo who will turn one on the 31st. Also, filming for the short film I will be in begins this Saturday.

Meanwhile, it's back to work and trying to get into the swing of things again after the break. We've entered our last quarter, and I expect it will fly by. Take care everyone. Best wishes and fortune to you all.

Sickness making the rounds

Good news, the sun is out! It's still nice and brisk, but at least the light is bringing some color to the sky. Everything else seems kind of washed out in color. I think everything needs to have some green grass growing and the trees to sprout some leaves for the other colors to come alive. the forecast predicted up to 50 some degrees today. Of course it's welcome.

Our household has been battling sickness over these last few weeks. Two Mondays ago I remained home from school because both Mare and I were not feeling well. This most recent Monday I stayed home again to care for the boys while Marian recovered and rested. Jack had a night where he was unable to keep his food down. Only recently has Jack and Leo both been sleeping through the night without hacking and coughing enough to keep them and us awake. Last night was my turn. About midway through my college course my stomach didn't feel right. I knew I would go directly home, though I wished I felt better so I could join the others afterward to celebrate the end of a particularly difficult course and to say goodbye to some of them who had reached the end of their masters program, while myself and some of the others have two more classes to complete. I went to bed but didn't stay there long. About midnight I needed to relieve my stomach of its contents. But, it made me feel better. I didn't eat any breakfast, but I'm not hungry either.

I think all of us need some good walking out in the sunshine and raking, and playing in the park to get us back up to the health to which we're accustomed. We're thinking about a possible one night camping trip at the lake over spring break coming up after next week. It will still be a little cool at night, but hopefully it will continue in this sunny warm trend during the day.

Last Saturday I performed at the talent show. Grandma Bonnie and Grandma Irene both attended with Mom and Dad. We all met at Poncho's for supper. Grandma Bonnie ate fried ice cream for supper with a coke. She deserves it.

The performance went well. They had the monitors turned up and pointing at us so we could hear ourselves, and that was something I hadn't experienced before. I thought I sounded nasally and flat. But, apparently that's how I always sound because no one made a comment about it. We didn't win, or even place, but there were some genuinely good talents there. I was disappointed that first and second place were more or less karaoke acts: singing to a compact disc background. But, they did sing well. I guess I thought the judges would have more respect for singing and playing instruments, and some wrote their own material, which we did not do. But, in the end it's what the crowd likes and the crowd likes the popular. It was a good experience and I'm glad I participated. I learned that the corporate sponsors they contacted for the fund raising benefit raised $2,000., while the crowd present that night raised over $5,000. So, like the emcee said, Habitat for Humanity was the real winner.

I'm glad I have family who takes the time and effort to attend these events like I'm still in school. Some of these students here where I teach probably couldn't get their parents interested in anything they do, good or bad.

We're doing state tests this week and next before spring break and the end of the third quarter. We'll be glad when they are done. We're all crossing our fingers because the sophomores who take the test are kind of lacking.

It's been determined we will no longer have a block schedule next year, but instead will have the seven hour school day like I grew up with. I've never taught that way, but it may turn out to be something good. We'll see.

Happy spring to everyone and best health and prosperity.

cb