Liam was six yesterday

Liam had an exciting day at school.  One of his best friends has the same birthday and they both wore their crowns and had morning cookies and afternoon cupcakes.  Once home, he had a hard time thinking about anything but opening his presents, but managed to wait until Bob got home. Then we all had a dinner of his choice - hamburger.

Easter bike ride

Tui and I spent our Easter morning riding (some walking) our new bikes to Starbucks. Our kids were not up at the crack of dawn for egg hunting.

Easter = Candy

Our "spring spheres" came out particularly beautiful this year. Ben, espacially, was very excited about the prospect of candy in the morning, and was up at 2 minutes to 5. I video taped the egg hunt, and the movie is remarkable only in making obvious, and immortalizing just how untidy a housekeeper I am! (Made for lots of good places to hide eggs though.)

Easter did coincide with Earth day this year. If I had thought ahead, I would have had us all volunteer at a city park to work off some of the candy.... Good plan for next year.

Easter Bunnies

Sydney and Cameron are looking forward to the day that they can join Ben and Liam in Seattle for the "spring sphere" hunt.

The final decison is...

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

I have paid my enrollment deposit and have already been assigned to a dorm (I wont find out my roomate assignment till July I think).
As for the high school events coming up theres prom on the May 7th and graduation on July 15th (finally!).

A White Christmas-like experience on April 17!

Driving back and forth yesterday in the rain resulted in a very muddy Jaguar, so about an hour ago I thought, "nice sunny day, I will wash the car and then we can go back to Rochester." Half way finished the wind changed to come off the lake, the temperature dropped from 45 to 33 degrees, and we were in the middle of a lake effect snowstorm with now flakes coming down that must be an inch in diameter. Not up to tornados in North Carolina, but still an interesting freak of nature. In spite of this excitement, the car appears to be reasonably clean and the snow tires are still in place so I expect we will make it home in one piece.

Soggy weekend at the lake

The swale is full and overflowing.  GPJim almost got stuck in the drive. The daffodils are just beginning, not as far along as last year.We are going to play bridge with Jim and Martha Mitchell this afternoon, while enjoying the fire and listening to the rain on the roof.  Dinner at the Crooked Door in Albion.

Painted Nails back in style

Getting ready for a night out in New Orleans!!

Cameron Exercising

Here's Cameron exercising hard while I coach and drink a glass of Napa Sauvignon Blanc.

Happy Birthday Mom, and Grandma Extraordinaire

Happy Birthday Grandma Sherrill

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you (cha cha cha)

Happy birthday dear Grandma, mom

Happy Birthday to you

And many more

Weekend at the Lake

We are in the midst of our first weekend at the lake this spring.  Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, crisp outside and toasty warm inside with our wood stove fire (actually, it got too warm inside by mid-day).  The crocus are in bloom and the daffodils have yellow tips.  We turned on the water, hoping that hard freezes are over.  Janice came out for a brief visit in the morning.  After she left we did our usual loop walk through lakeside.  I finished my book and Dad finished writing his paper.  A good day!  Today is warmer but not so sunny.

Getting Back into the Groove

The boys have returned to school, and seem, by and large, happy to be back. Ben, thankfully, is doing decimals in math, which he finds quite easy. He also just started the poetry section for his writing class which is his favorite. Liam arrived back in time to go on a field trip to the zoo. Liam's class was especially happy to see him, and most of the parents seemed to have followed our blog! Here is Ben's first public poem of the year:

The Ghost

The ghost, blurring over the dead body
seems almost real, in the second life
the body stands reassembling, the ghost's shape.

I stand there not knowing what
to do possibly facing my fate.

The ghost screeches like a banchy and passes through me, I turn
pale and silently walk away.

Root canal today

My tooth troubles should soon be over.  I'm thankful for Rochester's good, responsive health care.