Teddy loves pigs.  I made a pig birthday cake for him, and we found a huge pig that Ted was sure his namesake would be excited to get for Christmas.  Frankly, I thought it was a little too big, but we bought it and it was a hit with Teddy.  He kept it at his side all day on Christmas, and fell asleep with it when he got home.

Now Kari’s family has a new kitten and Teddy is in love with the kitten too.  This makes it a tough choice when it’s time for a snuggle break, so Teddy relaxes with his two best buddies:  the pig and the kitten.

Thom and Katie introduced Sefton Aron to us yesterday, January 11.  He weighed 8 lb. 4.5 oz. and was 21 in. long.  Mom, Dad, and baby are doing well.  Sefton is the patient type.  He was born nine days after his due date.  This gives us seven grandsons and still only one granddaughter.  Kyra retains her status as our favorite granddaughter.

I can’t wait to hold Sefton!  We’re going to Seattle February 1 to meet him. . . . and to see the rest of the family too–Julian, Thom, and Katie.

He’s so cute!

Mommy loves him.

Daddy and Sefton in an airplane?   (Or a birthing center.)

Coming home.

It was wonderful to have three of the kids and their families with us for the Christmas weekend.  Jeff’s family arrived for lunch on Friday; Kathy and Annette arrived for lunch on Saturday; and Kari’s family lives only 12-15 minutes away (depending on the traffic lights) and is on call to arrive at any time there’s fun on the schedule.

Naturally, we began the group activities with our time-honored tradition of lunch at Steak ‘n’ Shake.  SnS, based in Cape Girardeau, MO, used to be a small regional chain, and was quickly established as a favorite among our grandchildren.  It was also a favorite stop for Thom and Jeff, who couldn’t get those steakburgers in Colorado or Washington.  SnS has spread out over the years and is now available in a much wider area, but too late–it’s already a family tradition to start a group visit with lunch at SnS.  We must have had a new waitress this time.  La commented that the waitress went pale when we said there would be ten of us for lunch.  I missed her lack of facial coloring, but saw that she froze for a few seconds while processing that number.

Here we are at Steak ‘n’ Shake, with our menus at the ready, pondering which flavor shake to order.

Teddy has what he wants:  the double chocolate brownie shake.

Another tradition of our family get-togethers is board games.  Some of us (Jeff and Kyra) are board-game-aholics; others of us, not so much.  Jeff usually has a new game the rest of us haven’t heard of, and it’s always something we enjoy while we play it together.  This year included a remarkable Michigan Rummy game.  The king/queen of hearts combination struck three times for payoffs (twice for Kyra and once for Ted) and the even more rarely played 6-7-8 combo struck twice–Ted hit it early in the game, and I won it on the last round.  By then, the container we use to hold all the chips on that spot was full to the top, making me the big winner with that single pot.

Jeff shows us his obligatory goofy photo face during a round of King of Tokyo, a new game for this visit.

After all these years of hosting family get-togethers with so many people eating with us every day for several days, I’ve become pretty good at finding recipes I can prepare ahead.  Then I only have to put them in the oven or the crock pot when it’s mealtime, minimizing my cooking time and maximizing my visiting time with the family.  Of course, I always have offers of help from everyone and they take turns helping with food prep, serving, and doing the dishes.  This year, Jeff and La’s family completely took over a Christmas brunch (prep, cooking, and dishes), and Kathy and Annette did the same for the Monday lunch.  Kari dedicated herself to helping me with all the evening dinners, and I felt like we had a well-oiled system, leaving all of us well-fed with plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company.

Of course, the highlight of Christmas weekend is the gift-opening.  It takes a long time for everyone to open gifts one at a time and then to show them to the group.  One or more of us sometimes gives the same gift to everyone, and we quickly begin to see a pattern after the first two people open an identical gift from the same family.  This year we tried opening gifts by family and it worked very well.  We all opened the things we got from Jeff’s family and showed them to everyone; then the gifts from another family; and so on.

The gifts are packed tightly under the tree and extend behind the tree on both sides.

Zack was excited about receiving gaming headphones and a gaming keyboard.  He can now be a gaming superstar.

Aunt Kathy and Annette scored a hit with Star Wars caps for Dylan, Teddy, and Sky.

Teddy loves pigs and was thrilled with his two new pigs.  Kari texted us a photo of him sleeping with the big pig after her family went home on Christmas Day.  Notice that the pig likes Teddy’s Star Wars cap too.

Dylan won the figurative gift presentation award and a literal round of applause when he described the gifts he had received.  I don’t remember which gifts he was describing, but it went like this:  “I got a (this) and a (that) and a (something else),” he began.  Then, holding up something in his hand, he finished with, “And I lost a tooth.”

Dylan with one less tooth than he had a few minutes ago.

We missed having Alex with us, but Christmas is one of the days he is able to call home.  Jeff’s family generously allowed all of us to share in the Google Hangouts conversation with Alex for about an hour.  It was fun to see him and to hear more details about his life than he is able to write in his weekly emails.  After a year, he is fluent in Spanish (except for a few fine points, he said) and we all got a kick out of the fact that his English now frequently includes a Spanish speech rhythm as well as a few Spanish-accented English words.

Sharing Christmas with Alex on a Google Hangouts video call.

Now the Christmas family gathering is over.  Kathy and Annette left Monday afternoon and Jeff’s family left this morning.  Thom, Katie, and Julian were not able to join us, as Katie’s due date is January 2.  We talked to them by phone and are looking forward to getting a call from them very soon, letting us know if we’ll be meeting our seventh grandson or our second granddaughter when we go to visit them the first weekend of February.

Our still-growing family.  Picture Thom, Katie, Julian, and (?) with us.

Speaking of breeding Packer fans, I was looking at old photos and found this one of Ted and Teddy when Teddy was seven months old.  Yes, those Wisconsin folks start developing Packer fans early.

Still too small for the cap, but he’s in the hallowed green and gold.

Yesterday, Ted watched Teddy, who wasn’t feeling well enough to go to school.  While they were sitting in the living room and petting the new cat, eight-year-old Teddy blurted out, “I just don’t get the Big Bang.  I mean, what started it?”

Since the scientific community has not yet definitively figured that out, maybe Teddy will be the one to do it.

Last night, we were able to attend Teddy’s school Christmas concert.  They always have such cute songs in the elementary school programs that I thoroughly enjoy the concerts.

This year, the story line was about a dog who wanted to sing with the choir, but could only howl out of tune.  The other choir members didn’t want the dog in the group, until one of them thought of the perfect songs they could sing so that everyone (even the dog) could be a part of the Christmas spirit.

It was a happy ending to the story–except for Teddy, who thought there should have been some cookies for all those weeks of practicing the songs.

Teddy is on the left, at two o’clock, above the head of the lady in the bright blue shirt.

Our favorite elf.

Today, to “be the light,” Ted and I helped two ladies with their walkers.  As we left the building, they were getting out of their van in a handicapped parking space and I could hear the lady nearest to me huffing and puffing as she very slowly worked her way back from the car door to the open trunk, holding onto her van for support.  I asked if I could help–just as another woman in the same condition appeared on the other side of the van.

The ladies gratefully accepted the offer of help and I got the walkers out of the trunk, opened them up, and put them in a ready-to-go position for each lady.  While I did this in the 20-degree weather, Ted helped Lady #2 put on her much-needed coat, which was also a struggle for her.

When everything was ready to go and the van was all locked up, both ladies thanked us profusely.  They were so appreciative of our small service of a few minutes that one said, “You’ve done your good deed for the whole year.”

This is something Ted and I would have done anyway–with or without Jeff’s “light the world” project–because that’s what our parents taught us to do.  I find this to be true of the kindnesses I’ve done this week as part of our family challenge.  Every act has been something I would have done anyway.  The difference this month is that, instead of doing these small things as they occur in my life, I’m making a greater effort to find someone every day who needs an act of kindness.  That’s definitely a positive thing.

Jeff’s church has launched a campaign to “Light the World.”  The initiative encourages people everywhere to do service for others and to “be a light” to them.  Jeff challenged our entire family to find ways to “light the world” this month, and we have all accepted the challenge.  Here are things we’ve already shared that we did yesterday:

–Jeff left a note on the front door of his office building that said “You are awesome.”

–Kathy fed stray cats.

–Thom helped a “wrong number” caller find the right number.

–Kari helped a fourth grade girl look for a lost-on-the-playground hair tie her grandma had made for her.

–Ted and I made an anonymous scholarship contribution to the community college.

I have always enjoyed performing random acts of kindness, but Jeff’s challenge will encourage all of us to make a special effort to be kind and helpful to others in the coming days.  The challenge continues, as I encourage anyone reading this to “light the world” a little bit every day this month and afterward.

Over a year ago, while we were sitting around at Thom’s house during his wedding weekend, Kari told me she thought it would be fun to have date nights with Dean.  I immediately offered to babysit any time.  Well, only fourteen months later, they finally asked us to babysit the boys.  Beam was hosting a company dinner, and Kari and Dean wanted to attend the event.  Ted and I assumed we would babysit at Kari and Dean’s house; Kari and Dean assumed we would babysit at our house.  At least the location issue came up in conversation so we could clarify that before zero hour.

We picked the boys up and gave them the option of choosing where they wanted to eat dinner.  Guess what they picked.

Teddy marks the spot.

Of course, everyone ordered a shake and the boys ordered their regular menu item:  chicken fingers.  Yummy!  It’s questionable whether Sky and Dylan had more chicken or more ketchup on the chicken.  Whatever.  They definitely enjoyed the meal.  (And ours was not the table that spilled a liquid beverage over three people and a large floor area, requiring a major clean-up by the SnS crew.)

All the tables were full, so we crowded into a booth.  Teddy got all the SnS hats.

After we finished eating, we came home, Ted lit a fire in the fireplace, and we watched Home Alone and The Polar Express–both perennial favorites for all of us.  Of course, movies require popcorn, and salty popcorn likes to be followed with cold and creamy ice cream, so we broke out the food between movies.

Watching “Home Alone.”  Note that Ted and Sky like to sit with their arms behind their heads.  Each of them also has a foot pillow.

With dinner and a double feature, it got to be a late night.  Shortly after 10:00, Kari and Dean arrived to pick up the boys.  The Polar Express still had 30-40 minutes to go so I offered to send the DVD home with the kids, but the majority vote was to finish the movie and sleep later in the morning.

What an enjoyable night!  I hope Kari and Dean want more date nights soon.

Tonight we were able to attend Sky’s middle school orchestra concert.  Wow!  The music they played was noticeably more difficult than what they play in the elementary school concerts.  The program was a mix of classical, holiday, and pop music.  The highlight piece was undoubtedly the Star Wars theme, complete with light sticks attached to the bows.

The music director has obviously done this before.  At the opening of the program, she announced that this is the best the kids will look, so she’d be stepping aside to give us a chance to take our pictures.  We did, and we had a very, very enjoyable evening.

Sky tuning up before the concert

The middle school orchestra.  Sky is in front of the bass ahead of the doorway in the upper right.

“Light sabers” attached to the instrument bows in the darkened auditorium to perform the “Star Wars” theme

Kyle sent us some wedding photos.  I assume the official photographer took these, since they look good, have good lighting, and are all front views rather than off-side views from where the rest of us were standing for our free shots.  I’m posting them here, even though some are duplicates of those taken with our camera.  These have much better lighting effects.  ♥

Guess who?

Bride and groom with favorite aunt and uncle.

Celebrity shot–the bride and groom posed with four of their fans.

Dancing to a slow song. (We didn’t know we were on camera.)

Kari’s family joined us for Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  We included Kari and Dean’s friend, Jerry, who is recently divorced and would have spent the day alone.  Jerry brought a bottle of wine and another pie, so he’s welcome to come again any time.  (Just kidding.)

When Ted and I were in Wal-Mart recently, we saw Thanksgiving tablecloths and napkins for $1.00 per package.  Who can resist a bargain like that?  With the colorful table “linens” (hah!), my pumpkin-vased fresh flowers, and some fall-colored candles, the table looked very festive.

Not surprisingly, we had ham for the meat course.  The boys were so eager for it that they skipped lunch to make sure they’d have plenty of room for ham and for pie with whipped cream.  They ate so much food, they couldn’t finish their pie.  A good time was had by all, and Teddy took his leftover pie home in a to-go container to eat for lunch tomorrow.

I am amazed almost daily at the number of things I have to be thankful for in my life.  I am truly blessed in many, many ways.

A few days ago, I sent this to Katie.

Today, Katie replied with this.

Fact check:  I’m sure both of the above statements are absolutely true, although the first one should say its, not their, and the percentage goes down in the second one if you factor in the second set of grandparents.  We need better editors when there are such important pieces of wisdom to be shared.

Over the weekend, we drove up to Sterling Heights, MI (near Pontiac) for my nephew Kyle’s wedding.  It was beautiful fall weather for a wedding:  sunny and warm with red-gold leaves on the trees.  It’s rare that I see two of my brothers at the same time twice in a year (maybe never before), but we were together at Brandon and Maddy’s wedding in September, and again to celebrate Kyle and Lauren’s wedding this time.

The pastor’s homily was unusual.  He gave Kyle and Lauren the chance to select one of three wrapped gifts (“Do you want Door Number 1, 2, or 3?”) and then connected the gift to the Biblical texts they had chosen for their wedding.  Their gift was a pretty crystal clock.

Kyle and Lauren Soerens

The wedding partyIt was fun to socialize at the hotel between the wedding and the reception.  Tom and Jo provided some beverages and snacks, and the conversations were lively.  The hotel provided shuttles to and from the reception, so we out-of-towners didn’t have to worry about finding the venue.  The dinner was delicious and was followed by wedding pie for dessert.  After that, it was time to talk, party, and dance.  Woo-ee!

The bride and groom sharing a piece of wedding pie

Tom (father of the groom) making a toast.  He quoted Ella Genzmer.

Tom and Jo with their family

Steve and Joan

Ted and meThe DJ played until midnight and even included The Beer Barrel Polka.  That wasn’t enough for this crowd, though.  More beverages and snacks appeared at the hotel after-party, and Jay and AJ ordered pizzas and buffalo wings for everyone to share.  Ted and I surrendered and left the after-party sometime after 2:00 a.m., but some of the other attendees carried on longer.

We had beautiful weather and an extra hour of sleep for our trip home.  It was a weekend of fun!  I wish we knew someone else who’s getting married so we could do it again.

As part of his birthday gift, we gave Sky his choice of an outing with us that included lunch.  He chose miniature golf.  This is a five-day school holiday for the boys, and I want to know why we didn’t get five-day October school holidays when we were in school!  With all that available time and the beautiful weather, today was a perfect day to go golfing.

Sky had the power to choose the lunch venue and he chose–where else?–Steak ‘n’ Shake.  Surprise!  The boys (Sky and Dylan) ordered chicken fingers and large shakes.  Just to give him a hard time, I asked Sky if he was confident that he could finish a large shake.  His response was, “It’s been done.”  Sure enough, it was done again.

From there, it was on to the 18-hole miniature golf course.  Is there any skill required to play miniature golf?  I’m pretty sure the answer is “no.”  The course is simple and easy, yet rigged with hills, ridges, traps, and grades.  Any kid who can hit a ball with a golf club can play, and any real golfer enters an alternate universe compared to a real golf course.  It was fun.

I needed seven strokes on an early par 2 hole, so we made seven the maximum score any of us would get.  There were a few 7s on our score card that were at least representative of the actual number of swings required.  Ted (who was a high school jock) scored 46, the lowest score by almost 20 points.  Sky, Dylan, and I are considering limiting him to scorekeeping next time because he’s too much better than we are.  The three of us scored above 60 on the par 36 course.  The good news is that the more strokes it took us, the longer we got to play!  How’s that for putting a positive spin on a high golf score?

At the end of the game, we all agreed that on another beautiful day we’d like to do this again.  Score for Grandma and Grandpa!

Sky reaching to retrieve his ball from the hole.

Ted going after his ball in the same hole.

Dylan making a putt.

Me–the only one who shot a hole-in-one.  It wasn’t enough to get close to Ted’s score.

Today is my brother Denny’s birthday.  He died 39 years ago–twelve years longer than he lived.  He and I used to fight all the time.  We sat on the same side of the table for meals and made sure the elbow of the other one of us never crossed the crack between the two halves of the kitchen table that divided our seating places.

As my oldest brother, he was the one I sought out in high school on the day I was told our mother had been in a serious accident and was unconscious in the hospital.  A teacher was going to take me to the hospital, and I asked Denny to watch our other three brothers after school until I got home.  That’s the most serious-looking face I ever remember seeing on him.  Maybe he thought the same of me at the time.

We didn’t get along with each other while we were growing up, but we became closer when we left home.  He was stationed in California while Ted and I lived in Washington, DC, so long distance phone calls were tricky with the time difference and having to wait until the cheaper evening rate kicked in.  (Remember those days?)  We wrote regular letters to each other, though.  In fact, Denny wrote letters to several of us in the family within weeks of his death.  Was that meaningful or not?  Of course, we all wondered about it at the time.

Denny and Bev became engaged a few weeks after Ted and I announced our engagement.  Denny was a groomsman in our wedding and Ted was a groomsman in Denny’s wedding.  We had Jeff in February 1972; Denny and Bev had Eric in July.  Then we had Kathy in April 1973, and Denny and Bev had Cheryl the following January.

Today, on your birthday, I want to say I still miss you, Denny.  I have four brothers, but one–you–lives only in my heart.

Love,

Your big sister

This is the picture of Denny I carry in my mind.  He’d just bought the car and was so excited about it.

Due to the delayed swim party for Dylan’s birthday, it wasn’t long before Kari invited us to Sky’s birthday dinner.  He chose an all-time favorite meal:  ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and Waldorf salad, topped off with chocolate-chocolate cake (cake and frosting were both chocolate) and ice cream.  Yummy!

Then it was time to open his gifts and to build the Lego set he received while Ted and I visited with Kari and listened to Teddy tell us about school and how he has to do stuff with Google Docs, science, math, etc.  It was a very enjoyable evening, and Ted and I love being able to share these celebrations with our grandchildren.

Yes, he’s a teenager now.

A nice assortment of birthday gifts.  (And he’s starting to look so grown up!)

Sky and Dylan were eager to build the new Lego set.

We were on our awesome European vacation on Dylan’s birthday, so we couldn’t celebrate with him and share his ice cream cake, but we left birthday gifts for him to open while we were gone.  One of the gifts was an afternoon at Creve Coeur Park for him and a friend, to be arranged after we returned.  Ted and I thought it would be fun to rent kayaks at Creve Coeur Lake for the afternoon and then go out to dinner with the boys at a restaurant of their choice.

As it turned out, a previous kayaking experience for Dylan made that more of a stressor than a gift, so we offered him an alternate activity.  After family discussions at Kari’s house, it turned out that what he wanted to do was spend an afternoon in our pool and then go to Pizza Hut.  That’s pretty simple!

On a beautiful afternoon, Dylan and Teddy played in the pool while Sky entertained himself in the basement with his art supplies and the Wii.  After the swim and a snack, Dylan got my treadmill going up to 10 mph for a sprint and Teddy watched Sky play Wii games, prior to playing “footstool” with Dylan.

Big brother plays.  Youngest brother gets the “privilege” of watching.  Both are happy with the arrangement.

This is how you play “footstool.”We closed the afternoon with dinner at Pizza Hut and took the boys home in time to get ready for bed.  They talked and laughed a lot during our time together, so I think it’s safe to say we all had a good time.

Pizza Hut–always a hit with kids.

A tour of the Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate factory was included as part of Teddy’s birthday gift.  Today we had the opportunity to take the tour and then (oh, happy day!) to browse in the gift (i.e., candy) shop.  Teddy’s friend, Cash, came with us, so Ted and I were treated to an entertaining and very imaginative conversation on the half-hour drive back and forth.  For example, the boys invented a new language and decided that all words with a “bl” would be included in the new language.

CCC is a fair trade business and makes and melts its own chocolate.  Having toured other chocolate factories, I was personally disappointed in the tour because it covered so little of the process.  It was a small tour group (us and two other families), and we basically stood in one corner of the factory floor while the tour guide talked.  She didn’t speak very loudly and she didn’t always talk facing the group, so I didn’t get much out of the tour.  I learned that:  (1) CCC uses cornstarch instead of something else for some reason; (2) every piece of candy has two layers of chocolate on the bottom; and (3) the top of each piece of candy is decorated by hand.  The remainder of the 20-minute spiel was fill-in-the-blank because I couldn’t hear it.

The boys, however, had no previous chocolate factory tour experience and were very happy when the tour guide gave each member of the group a piece of peanut butter and marshmallow candy.  And then we hit the gift shop.  Ted and I bought each of the boys (and ourselves) a few pieces of candy.  At $24.95 per pound, it wasn’t really kid-priced.

We closed out the afternoon with another entertaining discussion in the back seat on our way home.  A memorable  thread from this conversation was “I see a dead body” immediately followed by “I see a treat.”  It wasn’t clear to Ted or to me whether the dead body and the treat were the same thing or not.  It’s always fun to hang out with kids.

Teddy  and Cash looking in the candy kitchen window

Watching the peanut butter candy get its chocolate coating

A friend of Jeff’s has, not only a 3D printer, but also a program to print the tiles for the “Settlers of Catan” game.  The friend knows Jeff’s family enjoys the game, so asked if Jeff was interested in playing “Settlers” in 3D.  Of course, Jeff said “yes.”   The printer produces only plain white tiles, so Jeff’s family has been working on painting them.  There is a lot of detail on the tiles, and many colors of paint are required to make the tiles look realistic.

Ted and I were offered the opportunity to contribute our negligible artistic talents to the project while we were visiting for Kyra’s graduation.  We quickly learned that it takes a steady hand to paint some of the tiny details, but we turned out six acceptable tiles, bringing the project closer to game-ready.  It was an enjoyable afternoon of family fun turning blank white tiles into artistic masterpieces.  We expect to play “3D Settlers of Catan” the next time we visit.

Master artist Jeff painting plain blue ocean tiles (he finished 7)

Novice artists learning as we go (we each finished 3)

The results of Ted’s and my labors (brick, wheat, and plain ocean for me; desert and two oceans with boats for Ted)

The full set of tiles (white ones in the back still need to be painted)

We had beautiful weather today for Kyra’s graduation ceremony.  La got up extra early to stake out a good viewing spot for us, and Jeff found a prime parking spot.  With our granddaughter graduating, what more could we want?!  What a wonderful way to spend our day!

Kyra on the platform

She’s got it!

Proud parents

Equally proud grandparents

 And then it was time to open the gifts.

An afghan I made for her . . .

. . . and lots of other cards and gifts.

Last night, we attended Kyra’s graduation party at her church.  It’s a great idea.  The graduates from the congregation use tables and wall space to display items representative of themselves.  Each graduate’s family brings some food to share, and there are tables and chairs for family and friends to sit together to eat and to celebrate with the graduate.

The buffet

Kyra’s family table

Kyra’s display

Teddy opted out of the multi-birthday celebration last weekend in favor of waiting for his “real” birthday.  Yesterday he had a birthday party with some of his friends and we joined the family for a birthday dinner.  Teddy loves pigs and wanted a devils food “pig cake” for his birthday cake.  Surprisingly, I found over 100 pig cake decorating ideas on the internet.  Who knew that many people connect “pig” and “cake” when they think of dessert?  Kari was busy preparing for the party, so I offered to make the cake for Teddy.  He had fun at the party, loved the cake, and got lots of neat presents.  It was worth waiting for the “real” day.

Teddy and his pig cake.

Teddy embracing his birthday gifts.

We were able to attend Sky and Dylan’s spring orchestra concert and thought we recognized some of the pieces from the winter concert.  We were right!  The orchestra director said she’d intentionally programmed the repeats so we could hear how much the students had improved.  It was a very noticeable improvement, and that’s a good thing (our tax dollars at work).  The elementary, middle, and high schools all played separate pieces and then joined together for the closing number.  It was fun to be there and even more fun to watch the orchestra members rush out the door at the end to grab cake and punch before it (possibly) ran out.

During the last “cool” piece, the kids could wear sunglasses to fit the music. Sky is second from the right in the first row; Dylan is right behind him.

Left to right: Elementary, middle, and high school orchestras.

The St. Charles School District sponsored an art show at the Foundry Art Center in Historic St. Charles, and one of Dylan’s artworks was selected for the show.  It was amazing to see how many different mediums were used for the exhibits.  Some of the work of the older students was good enough to sell in a gallery.  I wish I had talent like that.  Way to go, Dylan!

The assignment was to use only primary colors. From a distance, the applied layers added good depth.

With five family birthdays and Mother’s Day falling between April 26 and May 19, we have a mega-party when we can all get together at that time.  Over the weekend, Kathy was here, and we were able to celebrate birthdays for her (April 26), Dean (May 3), and Kari (May 19).  Teddy (May 15) opted to wait for his “real” birthday and Thom (May 4) wasn’t here.  Mother’s Day (May 8) was also included, with my traditional Vienna Torte birthday cake that I postponed until I could share it with the group.  It was fun to have so many things to celebrate and to spend a weekend together.

Double birthday cakes with easy-blow candle arrangements

Kari with her load of gifts

I said I already have everything, but could probably use a bag of M&Ms. My wish came true.

Science + music = fun!

Tonight we attended Teddy’s second grade concert at his school.  The musical the kids presented was named “Bones.”  Some of the kids had white capes with pictures of the different bones in the body, and the other kids were in the chorus.  One of the second graders narrated the story line, complete with lots of bone puns, and punctuated with songs about bones.  The puns?  Try these:

The ankle speaks to the foot and leg bones and asks, “May I join you?”

The leg joint speaks to the leg bone and the thigh bone and tells them, “You knee-d me.”

The pelvis tells us he’s pretty hip.

Someone tells the weak and bent backbone he needs to grow a spine.

Songs in the program included Shake, Rattle Them Bones; I’m a Broken Bone; and the ever-popular Them Bones, plus a few others.  It was a very enjoyable program and we’re so glad we could be there.

Teddy, waiting to begin singing

Teddy, with some of the kids in the chorus

The “bones” kids. Each one has a drawing of a bone on his/her cape. Note: The “hip” pelvis is second from the right.

Dylan and Sky like to build elaborate Lego scenarios and, every so often, they demolish what they’ve built and reconstruct something new and different.  While we were at Kari and Dean’s house last night, Dylan gave us an audio/visual presentation to describe his newly re-designed Lego city.

On the right and in the upper portion of the city, you can see tan building bases, as opposed to the green ones.  These are the desert areas.  Note also that in the upper right corner of the city is a mountainous building base–obviously the mountainous area of the town.  Whatever a city needs to survive is included:  merchants, parks, wheat fields, homes (including Lego furniture inside), trees, flowers, farm animals and pets, a well, a guard at the city gate, and even a king and his residence (which has fancier furniture than that of his subjects).  Dylan has always been very creative, and I enjoy watching his creativity develop as he grows.

P.S.  He definitely inherited some of his mother’s creative genes.  Just like her, he likes to use a lot of Scotch tape when he works on paper projects!

Legoville by Dylan

My baby brother and me

My youngest brother, Russ, will be starting a new job in Seattle on March 21.  This week, he’s driving cross-country from his current home near Philadelphia to Seattle.  He stopped at the Schroeder Hostel last night to spend some time with us, then hit the road again this morning.  Russ and I haven’t seen each other in person for ten years, so we enjoyed some face-to-face time.  My sister-in-law will stay in Philadelphia with their two youngest sons until the end of the school year.

In spite of Russ’s getting up early, driving for 15 hours, and arriving here at 8:30 pm, we stayed up talking until after 1:00 am, then got up right after 6:00 am and talked until he left at 8:00.  It will be less than ten years before we see each other again, since we go to Seattle regularly to visit Thom’s family.  I’m looking forward to that.

Teddy isn’t feeling well today, so Ted stayed with him while Kari went to work.  While Ted was busy with something else, Teddy went into his room.  In a little while, he appeared before his grandpa in his latest regalia.

What do you give to a man who has everything?  An M&Ms sculpture, of course!  This was a birthday gift to Ted from Jeff’s family.