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.