Eagle's Nest

Both kids fell right to sleep tonight after a hard day of playing with Colin and Damon at an indoor playground called the Eagle's Nest. Little Justin was there too, but, being too little to join in the fun, he just got to watch his brother and cousins from the sidelines.

First we had lunch at Angie and Jason's. Here's the kids' table: Laura, Colin, Karl, and Damon.

After lunch we headed over the Eagle's Nest so the kids could burn off some energy. This is how they looked when we first got there:

This is how the boys looked after going full-bore for a couple hours:

Laura was better at pacing herself. She stopped midway to refuel with an ice cream sandwich.

On our way home, we had to get groceries at SuperTarget. Karl stopped in the Star Wars aisle to organize the wish list in his head.

Matt's 34th birthday was on Thursday. Somehow the tradition started in our family that we eat cake doughnuts with sprinkles for breakfast on birthdays. Since Laura had school, the birthday boy had to get up early so we could all eat our doughnuts together. (fun fact: Karl is the only morning person in our house. The rest of us are zombies when we get up, making it especially difficult to make school-day birthday breakfasts festive.)

Quarter Break

Laura and Karl didn't have any school today because they're in between quarters. Instead the lucky ducks got to go to the dentist (no big deal; they're pros by now). After lunch we decorated eggs for Easter, and then Luke came over and played with Karl (I'm realizing how lucky the kids are to have so many cousins around!).

Karl and Luke always get along really well together, even though Luke is almost 9 and Karl is 5. Karl acts just a little bit cooler when he's with Luke, and Luke is good about playing things that Karl wants to play, so they kind of meet in the middle.

Out of 24 eggs, only 6 cracked... four of them by me. Unfortunately, I broke the one that said "Karl" after we had cleaned everything up. Karl looked at me with his big teary eyes and I realized we need to do all this again (and next time I'm going to make a whole bunch with their names on them!).

"I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly"

Today our church put on a "Best of Broadway" show, and Laura got to be one of the kids in "The Sound of Music" section. She got to sing "So Long, Farewell," and "Do-Re-Mi." Matt had to got to sing in a barbershop quartet ("Lida Rose"), in the choir ("76 Trombones"), the men's chorus ("Hello Dolly"), and a duet with me ("Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better"). It was about as good as a small church production can be, but it was a lot of fun, despite what Matt says.

Since Matt and I were singing in the show, we couldn't get close enough to take pictures during the performance, but here are the kids practicing today before the show started.

Laura took advantage of the time before she went on stage to wiggle her loose tooth.

Laura the Dinosaur

Today we went to the Science Museum and Omni Theater, so we could sneak one more free visit in before our membership expires in a couple weeks. One of the kids' favorite exhibits is the dinosaur skeletons. Laura has the funny habit of posing like whatever she is standing in front of at the Science Museum, so here she is being an Allosaurus.

On our way back to the car, we stopped to take a picture with F. Scott Fitzgerald in Rice Park. Unfortunately, Karl had had enough by that time. He was tired, hungry, and on the verge of a meltdown, and certainly not happy about having to stop and pose by a stupid statue. This is Karl mid-scream while Laura looks on in smug maturity.

Earlier this week, Matt caught Laura and me having a tasty bedtime snack. Doesn't everyone eat ice cream before they go to bed?

And here's a picture of Karl and Aly taking a snack break this past week when Aly was up visiting. They are quite the pair...

Cousin Day

Karl and Colin got to hang out once again, since Angie and the boys came up for lunch. We went out to Firefly's, the new coffee shop in town. We weren't so sure it would be a good idea for Colin and Karl to sit next to each other, but they promised to behave so we gave it a try. They did very well!

Meanwhile, Laura was having lunch at school with two special visitors, Oma and Aly (Aly is staying with Pam and Fred this week because she's on spring break). After school, Laura went to Oma's house and they had a tea party with their dolls.

Yay! It's Spring!

After lunch today we took advantage of the gorgeous 60° weather and spent some time outside. Karl got out his scooter first, but later went to get out his bike to ride while Matt, Penelope, and I walked. We walked over to my parents' so Karl could show off his bike riding skills to Grandma and Grandpa.

A couple days ago we had "Supper Club" at my parents' house. Here are Karl and Colin "birdwatching" on the porch.

Goodbye, Sweet Veronica

Our family suffered a huge loss today when we had to let go of our beautiful greyhound girl Veronica. She had been steadily declining, but remained a lady until the very end. She would have been 11 years old this June.


We adopted Veronica, a.k.a. "Puppatariot," in April 2001 at the age of 2½, and brought her home the week I found out I was pregnant with Laura. Once at home with us, she quickly caught on to the life of a housedog with the help of her mentor, Laddie. When Laddie died in 2005, Veronica lost just a little bit of the twinkle in her eye. Veronica recently served as a big sister to our new greyhound Penelope, and set a very high bar for her to reach.

We are all missing her, but my heart is especially broken. She was mine.


Here is a link to her racing record.

This is our Christmas picture from December 2001, just before Laura was born, with Laddie, Veronica, and Harry the cat.

Here is the first video we ever made with our video camera, starring Laddie, Veronica, and Harry. Turn up the volume and enjoy.

Cousin Buddies

Yesterday we had "Lunch Club" at our house, and Angie came up with Colin and Justin. Karl and Colin had a great time raising a ruckus and having fun. They briefly took a break so we could take a picture of them.

On Tuesday, we went out with Mom and Dad to Dixie's to celebrate my birthday. Laura and Karl were so entranced by the train that went around the top of the bar that they hardly ate any dinner.

Laura wouldn't even look away from the train to pose for a picture with Grandma!

Hat Day

Laura got to wear her cowgirl hat to school today for Hat Day. Pretty fancy, huh?

Who Needs Snow Tubing When You Have the Maplewood Mall?

Yesterday we had big plans to go snow tubing at Elm Creek, but decided against it after finding out how windy and cold it was. The windchill was going to be below zero all day, so we had to come up with alternate plans to appease our severely disappointed children. How about riding the carousel at the Maplewood Mall? Yay! The trip was made extra-special when we told them we could even go in the Barnes & Noble store. I love these kids.

Karl was a little tentative about riding on a horse, so he opted instead for a rocking seashell.

Laura was excited to ride in a spinning teacup, but was very careful not to go too fast. She didn't want to get too out-of-control.

We had a glamorous lunch in the food court. Guess what Laura got in her Burger King meal?