The Things That Entertain Us

This is my son Adam.

And this is my brother-in-law Pat.
As you can see, sometimes we just find that 1 thing that gets us acting a bit silly, and it gets  passed around. I love that in these pictures Adam's face is full of pride, Pat is trying to keep a straight face with a crooked mustache (that looks suspiciously like the mustache he really used to have) and DEE's face is full of pride and admiration for her dear, darling husband. Our family has many objects that tend to get passed around like this. We have a set of Billy Bob teeth, a Kaneland girls' sports team poster,  several mini-Barbies and a set of wire-cutters (that aren't used to cut wires but that's enough about that one). I love that something that costs nothing or next to nothing can be passed around our family and provide days, months, years of entertainment and laughter. And clearly...priceless photographs!

That Robin

Along with many others, I've been experiencing some "winter blues" and general crabbiness at the recent cold, wet, windy weather we've been having. February is a yucky month that is usually still like winter. Now that it's March I can feel the hope of Spring around the corner. I've been enjoying the mornings that are sunny, and have even had a few days that I had to put my sunglasses on while I'm driving to/from work. I went to the mailbox when I got home last week and spotted some very determined daffodils working their way up, and some equally ambition tulips along the sidewalk flower beds. Hope began to stir! Then of course the stores are filling up with St. Patrick's Day green and Easter bunnies. But it was this weekend while driving here and there that I saw that true sign of Spring...that robin! As we made another trip to Lowe's this afternoon (that's another blog entry) it seemed like I saw that robin everywhere I looked. And I guess that's the point. That hope I was needing, would have been there sooner perhaps if I had just taken the time to look for it. As soon as I was open to looking for it, I saw it everywhere.

Building Bridges

This week has been our state's standardized achievement testing time, and to blow off some steam at the end of each day our grade level has been celebrating our Engineering Week as well. The students have had to make cars and bridges out of uncooked pasta. I've enjoyed this part of the day, the kids all excited about the car runs and the bets on whose bridge will break first (and last!).  It's been a pretty fun way to end the day. Mark got into it too and asked me for the info so that he could make a bridge too. I could tell he really enjoyed the task, but to me it was more excited to see him interested in my job (and therefore interested in ME) to the extent that he decided to build. He built a bridge between the two of us in this way, and he may not even know it! So honey...I'm telling you now...thank you for building this bridge and taking an interest in what I do! I love you!