Senior Moments

Today is the day! Completing the mailing list and addressing the envelops and finalizing the senior picture for printing.
Of course now she's addressing and I'm blogging and she's wondering what the heck just happened. We shopped for flowers earlier - the open house is my excuse for all the annuals and hanging basket. Can't wait for some mother daughter action in the flower garden!

Nate gave me a lovely rose earlier. (Nobody buys me rose bushes anymore. It's just a lost cause.) Jamie surprised me with the "Cherry Garcia" Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the freezer. Jeff is making crepes - both chicken AND fruit. It's going to be delicious!

Better go before Jamie figures out she's doing all the work!

weekEnd

Jamie, Jeff & I watched "To Kill A Mockingbird" this afternoon (and evening) - what a great movie!  It's one of my favorites - and the book is at the top of my list of must-read American novels.  New movie trivia:  a young Robert Duvall plays Arthur "Boo" Radley!  I don't know how many times I've seen the movie and never noticed it.  Today Jeff said, "Doesn't he look like a very young...?" And sure enough, a quick Google search later - it's Robert Duvall - with not a single line to deliver!  Still love the movie after all these years.  I think I find a new favorite scene every time.  I love Jem & Scout together - their relationship is just so easy and seems SO real.  And Gregory Peck - so perfect.  The entire courtroom scene.  And I'm still scared every time Scout & Jem are coming home through the woods in the night! Do you have a favorite scene?  Did you know Robert Duvall was "Boo?"  Comment below!


Alex performed with the jr high FM Area Youth Symphony for the last time this afternoon for their Spring Concert.  It was fun as ever.  They performed "Prelude in C" with guest pianist, Mary King - area music teacher still giving lessons and today, performing, at 98 years old!  So cool.  Mr Cole is always looking for new, creative and fun opportunities for learning and musicianship.  This afternoon, they performed the US debut of the "Catcerto", complete with the large screen video of the cat playing the piano you see in this video.  It was very fun.  Alex hasn't decided whether or not he will audition for the high school youth symphony program for next year - the audition pieces are very challenging!  He did begin lessons with a cello teacher this week which will help him prepare for the May audition should he decide to go for it!  He will continue playing with Moorhead High School program and may audition for the community group in years ahead.


Nate & Jamie helped the youth group at Valley prepare breakfast early Easter morning - then we all went to services together at Salem.  We had a delicious mid-afternoon meal and enjoyed Easter baskets (will the kids ever outgrow them?)  It was a beautiful spring day - I posted some pics on facebook.

Each month seems to bring another string of appointments - dentist, orthodontist, lessons, etc.  Jamie had an exciting visit the Dr Deb this week for help with a wart that keeps coming back on her index finger. Dr Deb scraped and froze the bothersome little thing and sent her home to use the usual wart remover treatment for a month.  Then she'll go back for more digging and freezing!  Brave girl.  Jamie's graduation announcements arrived this week - look for yours in the mail!  Open House and Grad dates are posted in the sidebar over there ------>  We're looking forward to celebrating with Jamie!  We're all looking forward to a visit from my parents at the same time.  She will be leaving to work at Pine Haven right after graduation.  She has been assigned to half time on the "Outdoor Crew" and half time on the "Indoor Crew."  She is so excited.


Jeff & I have been slowly building a social life.  ;-)  I have been having coffee about once a month with an old friend I hadn't spent time with in years.  We just talk, talk the minutes away and are surprised when our hour is gone!  Jeff & I had dessert at our house with her and her husband last month.  This Friday we're going to their house for dinner.  They are both educators and conversation is lively, entertaining, thought-provoking and just plain fun.  We're looking forward to the visit.


The beautiful weather has been brought all the kids out - our basketball hoop has been busy and we're having more visitors than ever.  I'm glad our house is a good place to come - but I'm pretty sure Jeff would rather not be chasing little kids and girls out of our basement window wells!  (yep - too much fun in the side yard this afternoon!)  

Mia finds the silliest sleeping positions!

With the windows open, Mia has been making everyone crazy barking & growling at every new noise.  We've become more aware of her age.  We adopted her when Alex was 5.  The vet estimated her age at maybe 2 at that time - so we figure she's about 11.  She has had seasonal allergies for the last several summers that make her very, very itchy.  We were hoping that she could get by with just the antihistamine this year, but it doesn't seem to be helping so looks like we'll need to add a steroid again.  (She loves taking her pills since I found Pill Pockets at her vet's office.  Genius.)  She also seems to be having back pain off and on.  And now has added a weird circling behavior and sideways walking thing more and more often.  Poor old puppy.  She's such a good dog.    


Hope you're having a lovely spring where you are - let us know how you're doing!


~L

monday memory: tradition

We were wondering on the way home from church yesterday if we would still have snow for Easter Sunday this year.  We had a pretty snowy winter this year and there are some pretty big piles still hanging around in shadowy places and parking lots and our side yard.  


And it's certainly not unusual to still have snow this time of year in the northland. 

Kathryn, Marissa, Jamie, Ashlee

The girls shed their coats for this chilly Easter Sunday picture.

Easter 2007

I have a lovely little collection of memories in a series of pictures I took on Easter Sundays at Valley Christian Church.  I used to gather the girls (as many as I could herd) on the platform at the front of the sanctuary to get a snap of them in their Easter dresses.  One of my favorite includes Sam Caton (and his curls!) in the middle of the group - he was maybe about two.  I love to look at these annual pictures and watch the beautiful girls growing up.  In our 19 years in one church, we watched children who are forever kindergarteners in memory grow up, graduate high school, college, get married and have their own babies.  


Yesterday Jamie and I were remembering our Palm Sunday tradition of giving each of the children palm branches - yes, real ones - and having our own little procession at the beginning of the Palm Sunday morning service. The adults provided the marching music:  usually a hymn like "Hosanna, Loud Hosannas!" or later perhaps "Shout to the North."  It turns out this is one of my children's most favorite things of all time.  They were disappointed to "grow up" and and be too big to march.  The girls even snuck in sometimes by volunteering to help lead and "herd" the little ones.  One year in a fit of liturgical passion, I even saved some of the Palm branches to burn for next year's Ash Wednesday service (not something that became an annual event in our nondenominational Christian Church).  I'm pretty sure the adults loved the annual procession as much as the kids - even in the toughest fiscal times, we found the cash to buy the real palm branches for the kids.  I seem to remember one year in our smaller sanctuary giving branches to the adults too and inviting them to participate.  Again, didn't make the annual tradition.   ;-)


I'm often surprised at the things that are important to my kids - like the Easter picture or the Palm Sunday palm fronds, colored eggs and Easter baskets.  These things that act like hooks upon which we hang our shared memories.  Things that cost us so little but which in time are priceless.


Here's to making new traditions.  Like 1st Sundays out to lunch, Good Friday services, family movie nights and predicting snow for Easter.  Our car was a unanimous "yes."  In one short, tradition laden week we'll know.


~L