Yes, I think so, it's finally Spring!

I think I can now officially report that spring time has come to Lake Geneva. We've had some good weather, both warmer and sunnier. Mother's Day we had brunch out on the deck. That was our first real meal there since the crazy 80 degree day that happened about a month ago. The piers and lifts are in at Covenant Harbor, so that means the boat (which we've cleaned out and re-packed since getting out of winter storage) is basically ready to go in. The kids have both had their first ball practice (softball for Emma and baseball for Tim ... both "coach pitch" which is the step up from teeball). I had my first softball game (with a bunch of friends from church, bowling, the neighborhood, camp) which we won in dramatic fashion (we were down 9-0 after the first inning and something like 14 - 3 after two innings ... we came back and won 19-18!). Weather.com says that it is a high of 78 and sunny in LG today! Unfortunately, I'm sitting in a meeting in Baltimore for work on a last minute trip. Boooo!

On the kid front, Emma has been really interested in Cyndie's new cell phone (Mother's Day present) ... so if you get a strange text or phone call from Cyndie, beware, it could have come from Emma. Timmy is VERY into sports right now. He loves to watch baseball games and play sports in the yard ... basketball, soccer, and especially baseball. He's very into hitting, and is getting really pretty good. At his first baseball practice, he hit every single of the 15 - 20 pitches that the coach sent his way. It's fun for me that he's turning into a sports maniac like I am. To close this out, I'll relate a quote from Tim the other day. This from when the Royals and Twins were playing (this for you Jane and Dad) ...

"The Twins should start playing soccer because they are so bad at baseball"

Ha, a man after my own heart.

Ahhh ....

I'm sitting on the deck watching a baseball game and listening to the rain with a stomach full of awesome Indian food, hanging with Cyndie. Can't beat that for the end of a fun late-birthday day.

That is all!

Snow

Yes, it snowed last night, and was still snowing when we got up. It looks beautiful! There was probably about an inch or two. The trees are all covered, the grass is covered. The driveway and roads were clear. That black box above (if it doesn't show up for you) is a youtube link to Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen singing "Snow" (four part harmony ... snow, snow, snow, snow). I always think about that song when it snows. I have a feeling it will melt rather quickly, but it was a bit of a surprise! Cyndie had to dig out snowpants (needed to go "off the blacktop" at school during recess if snow is on the ground), boots, etc. It looks like the rest of the week won't be horribly pleasant weather wise, but the nice weather WILL come.

The weekend went quickly. Friday night we went down to Casparis for a cousin's weekend. We did some birthday celebrations and hit Costco for some essentials. We also picked up a new tow-behind for the boat at a great price, as well as new life jackets for the kids. Thanks to Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Fred, and Grandma Weaver for that money/gift. It'll be well used this summer.

So there you have it from a White Winter Wonderland in Wisconsin.

Music

So, I've been working on a little pet project lately to find some decent music for Emma to listen to. We're starting to realize the inevitable ... she's moving slowly into tween-hood. She'll be 9 next month! So, we'd like to kind of steer her toward some things (music in this case) that are positive, rather than more passively allowing her to float where ever her peers are going. She seems to be into that teeny-bopper kind of stuff ... Miranda Cosgrove (Carly of iCarly fame who has an album out), Miley Cyrus, etc. Since that path only seems to lead to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, I'd rather be a little pro-active. So that lead me to search a bit on the web for some good tween-ish music. I found the iShine website which looks pretty interesting. I'll embed some you-tube videos of a couple of the bands there for your perusal ...

The Rubyz ...

Mission Six ...

So, we'll see where this leads. She has a CD player in her room, so we'll probably buy her a couple of CDs and see if she likes them.

So all this music thinking made me think about what I like to listen to. Here's my top 5 albums (not bands) of all time, just because ...

Back in Black - AC/DC - The best rock album ever. Even if you're not into them, I bet if you listen to music at all, you'd probably recognize almost every song on the album.
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd - Just good and interesting music here. Nice guitar riffs.
Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi - I'm guessing lot's of people make fun of me on this one, but it's packed full of fun, good rock. This one was the album of my childhood. I remember hanging out (or, I guess, it was "playing" back then) with Laura in the basement of our house in Iowa listening to Casey Kasem's top 40 countdown. I think Livin' on a Prayer was on that thing for at least a year!
Silence is Madness - Bride - Maybe the album of my high school experience. I had a tape of this and I remember listening to it over and over. I also distinctly having a conversation with my Mom regarding whether it was music or not. She just thought it was loud noise. I remember singing (or humming) a few melodies of songs to her as proof that yes, it was music.

I'm having a hard time identifying another album. Some candidates ... Red Light, Blue Light by Harry Connick, Jr., Amy Grant's Christmas Album, Beat the System by Petra, To Hell With the Devil by Stryper, Fallen by Evanescence, A Person and a Heart by Jon Troast. There are many candidates. Now that I'm not buying whole albums much at all, there are fewer candidates to consider. I think in the end, I have to go with Stryper ... I spent a lot of time listening to them.

To Hell With the Devil - Stryper - These rockers are a blast in concert (I've seen them more than anyone else). It's a tough pick, actually, in selecting this album over their "new" album, Reborn. It's pretty darn good too, but I have to pick the classic.

So there you have it, my unsolicited top 5 albums of all time (for me), and some notes on where we're heading with Emma.

"Catch"ing up

Well, we'll start with a little foreshadowing in the title of this blog post. It's been a while (again). There's nothing too unusual to share today. The weather has been great. The kids have been playing a lot of basketball. Cyndie's Clothing Exchange for Charity went very well (45+ women, (I think) $700+ dollars raised for the Agape House Shelter for Girls). She's been busy packing up the left over clothes to donate to the Agape House. I had a school board meeting last night and she cooked dinner for the local homeless shelter. This weekend we're looking forward to a cousins overnight down at the Casparis. Hopefully the weather will be nice, but it looks like it's supposed to be colder and rainy.

So, the leading title to this blog. This morning we're out in the driveway playing basketball as the kids wait for the bus (Emma) and a ride to before school Spanish class (Tim). Pepper runs off behind the house. I'm yelling to him to come back so he doesn't wonder off too far. He comes back 2 or 3 minutes later with something in his mouth (which is not too unusual since he's always picking up sticks and stuff to chew on). Only this time the thing is floppy and there are two legs sticking out of this mouth. So I make him put it down. He's caught a little group squirrel/chipmunk. Of course that makes Emma cry! The think was still twitching a bit. So I congratulated him and brought him in the house, and we dug a hole and had a little funeral for the chipmunk. Exciting times for Pepper!

Yesterday afternoon Emma lost her first canine tooth (her lower, right). It was a little funky because it fell out, but there was still quite a bit of flesh/gum over the incoming tooth that was kind of flopping around and bleeding a bit. She was a little freaked out by that, but it wasn't too bad. She left the tooth fairy a note and asked what her name was. The tooth fairy said it is a secret! She also left a cute t-shirt/skirt outfit.

Awesome, just awesome

Yes, it's currently in the 70s. I'm sitting here on the couch with the windows open, a tank top on, no shoes ... it's beautiful! Auntie Jane and the kids and I were out in the driveway playing basketball at 9am and it was hot enough to get a little sweaty, even though I wasn't working at all hard. We had breakfast outside on the deck too, which was great. As I sit here and write this, Tim and Auntie Jane are playing cards and Cyndie and Emma are off on their first horseback riding lesson. A perfect day for that.

Yesterday was a totally relaxed day. We went to a park over in Fontana with the Gowans, then went their way for lunch (a fun steak meal ... a thank you from them for helping them out with their house when they first got it last fall). It was cool during the morning, with lots of fog. But by the time we got home around 3p, it was in the 60s and lovely. We ended up hanging out on the deck (for the first time of the year) ... me watching a baseball game and Cyndie reading. Then we got a last minute invite for dinner with our friends the Goreckis, so we headed over there to grill burgers. It was fun to be able to stay out "late" ... we left around 9p. The kids are definitely getting older, and can handle the occasional late night with out totally melting down.

So, it's been a great weekend. Hopefully this marks the official start of nice weather. Monday evening, Cyndie has her big clothing exchange, so we've been getting ready for that a bit this weekend too. There should be 40 or so ladies here for that. The kids have been very into basketball lately. Timmy has a basketball camp three days a week (6 - 7p, T/W/Th, last week and this). We also go the new hoop up in the driveway. They're both doing pretty darn well with it, so that's fun.

So, that's it from the beauty of spring in Wisconsin!

Exciting Times

Yes, these are exciting times. Witness:

The snow is gone from the yard ...

The ice is off the lake ...

Forecasts for the foreseeable future (10 days according to weather.com) show highs in the upper 40s and lower 50s ...

The first piers on the lake started appearing yesterday ...

Yes, it's nearing boating season. Now, it is not likely that we'll be in the water (tubing, skiing, whatever) for quite some time. But, we'll probably bring the boat back from storage in the next couple of weekends and get it cleaned up and ready to go for the summer. After that, it's just a matter of getting the docks/lift in at Covenant Harbor (sometime around Easter according to the latest word), and we're back out on the lake!