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.
When I received an invitation to Katie’s baby shower, I thought it would be fun to use some frequent flier miles to attend the event. I called Katie’s mom and Thom to make arrangements for airport shuttling and sleeping, and they both thought I should surprise Katie, because she wouldn’t be expecting me.
I flew to Seattle on Saturday. Katie’s parents, Scott and Carmen, picked me up at the airport and I stayed at their house overnight. As shower time approached Sunday afternoon, Carmen suggested that when we saw Katie’s car coming up the driveway, I should go to the bedroom and wait a few minutes, then “mosey” out and see how long it would take Katie to notice me. It took her less than five seconds, even though I was trying to be inconspicuous.
This was the most elaborate baby shower I’ve ever attended. I admit that it’s been many years since I was at a baby shower, but they used to be much simpler: chairs in a circle, women friends and family members, gifts for the mom-to-be, and dessert. This shower included a plethora of decorations, including signs, banners, decorated clipboards for the obligatory shower games, and decorated gift bags for the guests. In addition to what’s in the picture below, there were also banners hung on the windows, decorative strings of pine cones, table decorations, and a photo wall. Whew!
A few of the decorations: “Mountains” on the cabinet top, a hand-made sign for the “Don’t Say Baby” game, a handmade sign on the fireplace with a chain of mountains and clouds below it, and another handmade sign between the fireplace and the door that said “You are our greatest adventure.”
The menu included chili, chicken salad croissants, a veggie tray, a cheese and cracker tray, cake and cupcakes, and a variety of beverages. This is a lot more than dessert and coffee! Carmen was the head chef and did an awesome job. Everything was delicious.
We played the bare minimum of shower games at Katie’s request. She did not want to guess the baby food, etc. (Thank you, Katie. You’re a woman after my own heart.) I counted thirty-one women present, but they kept moving around, so I could be off by one or two. It followed that there was a huge pile of baby gifts and all of them were very nice.
Ted and I bought a few baby toys for the shower, but I decided to go mainly with heirloom gifts. I opened the boxes of baby things I’ve saved, and I pulled out the lion quilt and the yellow knitted blanket I made for Thom. I also selected a white blanket my mom made on her knitting machine and two sweaters she knit for my babies. She knit the hooded striped sweater for Thom, and the white one with the matching cap for Kathy. Katie asked for baby books instead of cards, so I brought one of Tom’s favorites: The Read It Yourself Storybook. Thom wrote his name on the pages (he was Tommy at that time) and, inside the book, I had noted that he received it from his Uncle Tom and Aunt Jo for his fourth birthday.
Gifts from the baby’s great-grandma, its grandma, and its father
Yes, I remember when he was Tommy, not Thom.
Katie just unbagged the lion quilt. Thom loved this quilt. Several of the women at the shower told me later that it was really thoughtful of me to give away my baby things, because we often find them hard to part with. (If this weren’t true, I wouldn’t still have them in boxes when my baby is in his late thirties.) They also commented on the good condition of everything. When she saw the tiny knitted baby cap, Katie became a little bit tearful at the thought that she will soon be holding someone who is that small. It was a very touching moment at the shower.
. . . and then it was time to eat cake and cupcakes and to take pictures at the photo wall. There was a designated official photographer who took pictures and printed them on the spot.
Katie with the grandmas-to-be
After the shower, we loaded the gifts into Katie’s car and went to her house. Thom and Julian helped unload the car and then Thom started making dinner. (What a good thing I taught him to cook.) After dinner, while Katie showed Thom all the gifts, I had some one-on-one time with Julian.
All too soon, it was Monday morning. I hugged Julian good-bye when he left for school, and Thom and Katie took me to the airport before going to work. My flight home was uneventful, and I was glad to see Ted again. It was fun to be a part of Katie’s baby shower and I’m glad I could go, even if I was there for a only little while. Ted and I will stay longer when we go to Seattle to meet our eighth grandchild, who is due to be born January 2–or whenever it chooses.
P.S. There were rain showers outside throughout my short visit. It’s Seattle.
Kathy and I enjoy meeting in Columbia to spend an occasional one-on-one day together. We live three hours apart, and Columbia is the halfway point–about 90 minutes of driving each way for both of us. There are enough shops, restaurants, and points of interest in the city to let us do something while we talk.
Yesterday, we met in Columbia for the first time since February. (It’s been a busy year!) We did most of our favorite things, beginning with a long lunch. When we were tired of sitting in the restaurant, we went downtown and browsed in the shopping area.
The only place we spent money downtown was at the chocolate store on Cherry Street. The owners melt and make their own chocolate, and it’s delicious. We each selected a few pieces of our favorite varieties and then headed for the Columbia Mall for a sit-down break. A frosty beverage, a table in the food court beside the calliope, and our chocolate, and we were set until dinner time. When we finally felt hungry enough to eat dinner, we decided to try the “new” Shakespeare’s Pizza.
About a year ago, Shakespeare’s tore down their entire building across the street from the MU campus and re-built a newer version of it. Most of the main floor is the restaurant; the remainder is rental space for small shops or offices. The upper four floors of what used to be a one-story building are dedicated to “deluxe” student apartments. The restaurant expanded into its previous parking lots, so the kitchen is larger and there’s more seating, as well as a new full-service bar. A (literally) yellow brick path on the floor leads patrons from the seating areas to the rest rooms.
Shakespeare’s is family-owned and is always very busy, attracting people of all ages. It’s also very user-friendly, and you’re welcome to sit at your table as long as you like. Kathy and I had cheese garlic bread, pizza, and a beer plus two more hours of talking before we decided it was about 90 minutes from when we wanted to be home. We went back to our starting point to pick up her car and, after hugs and good wishes, we headed home, looking forward to our next Columbia Day.
The “new” Shakespeare’s Pizza, all the way across the first floor, including two more sets of windows on the right that didn’t fit in my picture.
Still the same plentiful supply of t.p. in the new rest rooms, but now it’s on a new varnished wooden rod instead of hanging from a long heavy chain.
This sign is at the rest room doors. Kathy and I don’t know if the lights and buzzer really flash and ring, but we always wash our hands, just in case.
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.
Ted and I took a five-day road trip last weekend and spent some time with his sister, Mutzie, and with Kathy and Annette. We went to Grand Island, NE first and had a very enjoyable time with Mutzie. The weather was beautiful, so we went to the Eagle Scout Park and walked around Eagle Scout Lake.
Ted and Mutzie at the lake
Then we went to Kearney to visit the MONA–Museum of Nebraska Art. The displays were very good. One room featured heroes. John Falter, a native Nebraskan, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and was commissioned to create recruiting pamphlets and posters, as well as a series of twelve portraits of war heroes. The war hero portraits and their accompanying stories were published in Esquire magazine in 1943-44. The portraits and stories were very interesting, but probably not found in any history books. Each story described an “ordinary” soldier (if there is such a thing) who did an extraordinary thing simply because that’s what needed to be done.
There were some playful exhibits as well. I especially enjoyed these two.
This is titled “Dilemma Wheel.” On a dilemma wheel, all choices are unfavorable.
This one is titled “Pencil Box.” (A creative “duh”!)
It was Lisa’s birthday, so Mutzie took Lisa, Doug, Ted, and me out to dinner for a celebration. After dinner, we went to Lisa and Doug’s new home for a tour and for more conversation. Their house is beautiful and they have plans to make it even better. As usual, the time to leave came too soon.
It took us seven hours to get from Grand Island, NE to Kirksville, MO and it seemed like a very long drive. We are used to driving only three hours to Kirksville. Before leaving the state, we had to take a picture of a “Nebraska skyscraper” in Nebraska City.
Nebraska skyscraper
We had a good time with the girls too and never ran out of things to talk about. Annette made one of her specialties and one of Ted’s and my favorites–potato soup. It’s a winter comfort food, but it was cool and rainy and the soup was a perfect choice. We ended the visit in our traditional way with dinner at Pizza Hut. It was a happy ending to a short road trip.
Pizza Hut for dinner
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.
Dyer, Indiana is too close to our eastern Wisconsin friends and family to pass up a chance to visit the area. (Not to mention that it’s a good excuse to bring cheese and hard rolls back to Missouri.) We visited with Ted’s brother, Gary, and while we were in Kiel, we went out on a limb and decided to try a different kind of cheese this time. We went to Henning’s Cheese Factory near Kiel, did a little cheese tasting, and spent a chunk of money. We didn’t tour the cheese museum because a tour bus arrived at the same time we did and the museum had a maximum capacity of approximately one busload of visitors. Now we have something to do on our next visit to the area.
Cheese-y, I know. Note that we are not climbing on the cow nor on the sign.
Jake, one of my brother Tom’s good friends, lives about two miles from the cheese factory (just down Henning Road, in fact), and we’ve gotten to know him through visits to Tom’s house for various events. Jake was at Brandon and Maddie’s wedding and insisted he would be very hurt if we went to Henning’s without stopping in to see him. We’re so glad we accepted his invitation, because we had a very relaxing visit.
I could get used to a view like this from my back porch.
Jake in front of his cottage. He has park-like property across from the cottage and it’s beautiful!We also spent a very nice evening with my cousin, Donna, and her husband, Jon. We had dinner at Rupp’s–a Sheboygan favorite that Ted and I haven’t been to for many years–followed by dessert and good conversation at Donna and Jon’s home. My Uncle Gibby was supposed to join us, but decided to visit his son/my cousin, Mike, in Menominee during the time we were in the area. Uncle Gibby will be 90 years old in November. Donna and Jon are planning a party to celebrate the event, but we won’t be able to attend, since my brother Tom’s other son, Kyle, is getting married in Michigan on the same day as Uncle Gibby’s party. We’ll have to get together with Uncle Gibby next time.
Settling in at Rupp’s
Driving along Highway 57 between Plymouth and Waldo, we saw a pig car. Yes, a pig car. Since our grandson, Teddy, is crazy about pigs, we had to stop to take some pictures for him.
A unique way to advertise a pig roast.
Naturally, a pig car needs a curly tail.We needed some exercise one rainy evening, so we “walked” the Wal-Mart store next door to our hotel. It took about 40 minutes to go up and down every aisle and gave us a good idea of the scope of what can be purchased at Wal-Mart. It also showed me how people get to be such die-hard Packer fans. In Wisconsin, they breed Packer fans, dressing them in green and gold beginning at birth!
Baby Packer regalia to get the little ones accustomed to wearing the green and gold–booties, bibs, caps, onesies, etc.
When the kids grow up, they can buy nearly every essential item of clothing in the green and gold they’ve learned to love. Adult Packer pj pants are hanging in the background.As long as I was picking up hard rolls in Oostburg, I took time to visit with some high school classmates. Audie and Sally met me at an Oostburg restaurant and we had a nice visit. Audie’s husband died two years ago and she is now engaged and planning a wedding for late October. She looks very happy and said she feels blessed to have been given two such wonderful men in her life. We also went through the “What are your kids and grandkids doing?” routine, which is always fun.
On our way home, we stopped in Brookfield to have lunch with my cousin Judi. Time flew by because we had so much to talk about, so we left later than we’d planned, but it was worth the time and we’re retired–we slept late the next morning. Unfortunately, I forgot to have Ted take a picture of me with Judi. I’ll have to hold that memory in my heart.
I-55 parallels the old Route 66. When we stopped for gas, we felt more like tourists than travelers in need of gas and a rest room. Jake’s, a huge store/gas station near Waggoner, Illinois, is obviously the place to stop for everything Route 66-related.
The tempting window display to attract our interest. Everything says “Route 66” somewhere on it.
Route 66-themed rest rooms.
Any Route 66 souvenir your heart desires.When we got home, we put the cheese in the refrigerator, the hard rolls in the freezer, and the luggage in the laundry room. Ted checked the rain gauge and discovered we’d had 3.2 inches of rain during the week we were gone. Now it’s back to normal life for a few weeks before we head to Grand Island, Nebraska and Kirksville, Missouri to visit with Mutzie, Glenn, Kathy, and Annette. Good times!
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.
