Snowstorm!!

Putting M4 to work! Spring in Iowa...sigh...

Fun with the new camera...finally!

Now I have a computer that can handle modern technology! Finally, I can download videos from my new video camera. So here is a swimming video (from December). Notice the lovely zoom capacity:

P.S. It takes a frakkin' long time, though. Big file, I guess.

Sold...

Well, it really felt real today. We are selling our yellow house, which of course is good news. But it didn't hit me until I went there today and saw the new owner's belongings. (We are letting her move some stuff in early.) I lived in that house as long or longer than any other house in my life, plus it's the only house M3 and M4 have known. We won't be able to chart the passage of time this way anymore:

The funny thing is, they are looking at the house in which they'll probably spend the rest of their days in this town.

More spring break pics...

All aboard!!

Peekaboo! Hello, 80 degrees at Loose Park!

Signs of spring...hallelujah!

On top of the Liberty Memorial on a beautiful, clear day.

I've already seen this look too many times in my life.

Spring break!

Some images from M2, M3, and M4's trip to KC while M1 is gallivanting about Europe. M3 holding her newest cousin, whose eyeballs we have never seen! I forgot newborns sleep so much! (Except at 3 am, of course.)

M3 sampling a smoothie and modeling her new hat. How 70s of her.

At the Wizard of Oz exhibit...take a good look at this munchkin's T-shirt!!

M3's favorite float at the St. Paddy's Day parade. It featured drag queens, hula hoopers, and drag queen hula hoopers. Oh, and a busty Dorothy Gale. Is she a drag queen, too? Just what is this organization, anyway?

Congrats M3!

M3 got invited to the State Invention Convention for her heated monkey bars (see below)! Pretty cool! It will be fun to go and see what all the kids came up with.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

Pater familias (oooh, just looked that up...maybe not), professor, project master, Polish speaker, purveyor of fine baked goods and silly dancing...happy birthday! We love you!

Invention Convention

I love this age of M3's because she can proudly accomplish this: That's her at the regional Invention Convention with her heated monkey bars. I was a judge. I don't know why I was a judge. I'm sure I was a terrible judge. Then she can turn around and play whatever this story is with her brother (they were cats of some sort):
Blackmail pictures!! Then of course, she was all excited to have a "makeover" from the 16-year-old babysitter she had a couple weeks ago. This picture makes my eyes water. It also reminds me of what a 16-year-old thinks is good eye makeup. (Not all 16-year-olds, I'm sure!)

Mark and I saw Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last night. They were amazing!! Wish we'd taken the kids as the first set included Old McDonald Had a Farm, Itsy Bitsy Spider, It's Not Easy Being Green and something by Mr. Rogers.

Here's the snaggle tooth...

I think he's got room for two teeth in there! And could someone do something about that kid's bowl cut?

M3's poem

Untitled as far as I know. She wrote it the other night when she was supposed to be in bed sleeping.

Nature sings,
Nature sings,
Hear it?
Wind blows,
Leaves shake,
Birds sing,
Dogs bark,
Green grass helter-skelter over the ground,
Water ripples,
Nature sings,
Hear it?