Kyle's birthday party

Today we went to the Rupes' house to celebrate Kyle's 9th birthday. Lisa made a special cake for herself and Kyle, a white bundt cake with chocolate frosting and sinful brownies for the rest of us. We drank tea from a Russian tea set that Lisa bought in 1994 and had never used. They were so beautiful...I'll have to take a picture of the set the next time I stop over. The grownups talked politics and/or Army stories while the kids played.
The coffee table was filled with chips, salsa, guacamole, and a tray full of veggies. Kyle took many chips, but did eat a couple carrots and some broccoli. It was a cold first day of Spring, with snow covering the grass, but it was nice being together with the Rupes.

*Ella and Katherine having drinks

*Brett and Kyle

*Kyle looking at his new Nerf gun set from his grandparents

*Kyle and Fatime

*singing "Happy Birthday"

*Kyle blowing out the candles

*friends

*two nine year olds

*cousins: Maddie and Ella

*Ella and Katherine playing with the marble game

*Kyle and his Uncle Jeff

*siblings: Lisa and Jeff

*cousins: Brianna, Ella, Maddie

*Brett and Kyle

*friends

*Ella, Fatime, Lisa, Katherine

Happy birthday, Kyle!

Friday, March 19th

Logan called from Animal Kingdom today. He has gone on two rides and is having fun! He found a t-shirt and beach towel that was cute: Pooh Bear standing next to a tiger and says, "Tigger, is that you?" I reminded him to take lots of pictures. Thankfully, he did remember his camera when they left the hotel this morning.

I had a day off today because of parent/teacher conferences. It was so nice to get errands done and some work around the house. We went to Mount Olive's fish fry in the evening. I am telling you it was the best fish fry ever. Then it was time to head to MLHS for Position Day. Our team played at 7:00 and 7:30 P.M. It was the first time for us to see how they would perform in competition. We lost the first match but won the second.
They all did well in some way. It's going to be an exciting season!

Thursday, March 18th

The buses arrived safely and on time: 8:00 P.M. The kids had free time, so Logan and a few others were walking around outside of their hotel. Logan said that it was really hot there. He was bummed to hear that Marquette lost their game.

After school Brett, Katherine, Lucy, and I stopped at the Rupes' house. Today is Kyle's 9th birthday. It was a quick "Happy birthday to you!" and visit. Then it was time to get homework done before volleyball. We had a busy evening...Jim & I are coaching the 7/8 grade boys' volleyball team. Practice was from 5:00-6:30. Then we rushed to Milwaukee Lutheran for parent/teacher conferences. By the time we got home, we went over Katherine's memory work and sent her to bed. Brett stayed up a bit to read .

MLHS Band Trip (3/17/10-3/27/10)

It took many shopping trips to Kohls, Target, Trader Joe's, and Walmart to get everything he needed, and Logan was all set on Wednesday, March 17th.
We arrived at 6:15 P.M. to a packed parking lot.

Brett helped Logan carry his belongings to the bus. Brett has the heavy carry-0n (from Mr. Bartz) with all the drinks and food, all the essentials...water with electrolytes, chocolate bars, gummy penquins, chips, licorice, cookies, and apples.

There were three charter buses being weighted down with luggage, instruments, uniforms, carry-ons, teenagers, and chaperones. God bless those chaperones!

Jake, Logan, and Peter have gone to school together since they were in Kindergarten.

As scheduled, the buses left at 7:00 P.M. Ten days is a very long time, but we believe this experience will be good for Logan. We pray that he and the others will be safe and enjoy their time in Florida.

Grade School Solo Ensemble

Today was the Grade School Solo Ensemble at Milwaukee Lutheran High School. Brett's scheduled performance was at 10:10, but that didn't stop him from getting to the high school by 9:30 A.M. to hear his friend, Karl, perform. Karl did well and earned a '1' rating. Cyrus came early (he wasn't playing until 11:00 A.M.) to hear Brett's performance. Understand that for years I have called the two of them 'twins'. Unbeknownst to either child, they had both picked the same piece,
The Entertainer...weird but cool! They both did well and were awarded a 1 rating (Gold). Good job, boys!

Book Review

The 4th grade has been assigned a Black History Month project. Katherine gets to do

a poster project about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. I went to the Tosa Library and checked out My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir. It took me a week and a day to read it cover to cover. It is an inspirational story for children of all races. In the book you learn about Clarence Thomas' upbringing and struggles. You find out that Missouri's former senator John Danforth is wonderful, and Vice President Joe Biden is not. Our nation is blessed to have this Godly man on the U.S. Supreme Court. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Girls' Day Out and Date Night

We had friends over today, and it's always a special treat when we can get together! There were only 11 of us, with Liz being on a birthday trip to Idaho, and we were all scattered. Logan walked to his basketball game. Jim took Steve and Sam to the game. I took Amy, Anna, Bethany, and Katherine out for the day (a couple hours, anyway), while Brett and Elijah stayed home. It was a sunny afternoon, and I knew that I did not want to spend it indoors. I asked where they wanted to go. Bethany said, "somewhere awesome." Since that didn't narrow it down any, we stopped at sites I thought they might enjoy.

First stop was the Wisconsin Humane Society (www.wihumane.org). We looked at all the puppies and dogs that were up for adoption. You can click on the site above to see the ones we saw. Once we left there, we drove down Wisconsin Avenue and got to see various landmarks along the way to the lake.

Our next stop was the Milwaukee Central Library (http://www.mpl.org/File/branch_central.htm). It is a very impressive building, and I think we could have left Amy there all day. She loved the fact that she could touch and read the books, unlike at the Library of Congress! We walked up and down and in different parts of the library.

*outside the Central Library

*Katherine, Bethany, and Anna in the lighthouse, which is in the Children's Library

*the girls on the staircase in the library

How rude of me to make the girls walk on such a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon. We parked down at the marina and walked to the Milwaukee Harbor. There was a ten year old who couldn't believe we were getting out and walking, but we all had fun walking on the icy path and looking out at Lake Michigan. There were many geese and one beautiful swan. We didn't walk the whole length, because it was getting late. I promised the girls that we could pack a picnic lunch this summer and come back to the area. Anna is holding me to it!

After driving past amazing houses on Lake Drive, we made our way to Trader Joe's. Anna found Millie right away, and all the girls got lollipops. We picked up a few things and got yummy samples. Anna asked, "how many samples do we get?" Are you kidding me? One, please!

Then it was definately time to head home for a quick supper of Chinese food before our friends left.

I am thankful that these four beautiful girls spent part of their day with me!

Tonight, Jim asked if I wanted to see a movie with him. As most of you know, I am not a movie person but spending time with my James is always nice. We saw "Blindside" at the Times Theater. We loved it! To quote a famous cucumber, "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob!" We highly recommend all take time to see this movie. Take your family. Take your youth group. It is based on a true story.