He Writes the Song that Makes My Whole World Sing

Saturday we attended the Barry Manilow show at The Palace of Auburn Hills and I was reminded why I fell in love with the 19-year-old-Kathy those many years ago and, actually, may have fallen in love years earlier with the 15-year-old version, I just didn't know it. And though my ticket said Sec 213 and failed to indicate these seats couldn't be further away from the stage, my wife made this ticket worth more than gold and the best seat in the house.

If I had known how overwhelmingly excited and happy Kathy would be at a Manilow show, we'd have gone to see him years ago.

"Excuse me, SIR! This is the ladies room."

Ah, my wife. Just when I think she's done all the hilarious things she'll ever do, she goes into the ladies room and sees someone who doesn't appear to belong there. "Sir, sir, sir," she yells (and I can see her from the concourse)! She thought this person was a man. "Sir. This is the ladies room," she continues. The "man" turns and says, "I know." And if Kathy hadn't come running out of the ladies room laughing hysterically, she might've found herself in a very uncomfortable situation where she had to back pedal and explain why she thought this was a dude. Instead, I have a funny story to rival the 10-Year-Reunion Bathroom Staircase story and a few Key West stories.

Oh how I love my Kathy. As my Grandpa used to say ...there's only one Kathy in this whole world as we're stuck with both of them. I never really "got" this expression, but I love it and use it, often.

Robert was our usher. How do I know this? Kathy made best friends with him. He was in charge of handing out glow sticks so the audience could sway-along with their favorite Manilow tunes. Kathy decided these were fun and asked for (2) additional glow sticks for our kids. "Three kids," she told Robert. He didn't believe it and said something like, "no way do I believe YOU have three kids." Many women might've taken this as a charming compliment, but my Kathy charged back to our seats on a mission to produce photos and make him eat his words. And she did. But not before the Grandmas seated behind us asked if they could also have glow sticks. Kathy obliged, showed Robert the photos, and returned with an armful of sticks. A nice young couple next to us asked where we got the glow sticks. Kathy handed them our two and then shouted, "Robert! We need more glow sticks." So, thanks to Kathy, our entire section had glow sticks and we were ready for "Mandy", darn it.

We had a great time dancing and singing along with the Grandmas and with Robert. My date for the evening even shed a few tears during "A Weekend in New England". As the story goes, when Kathy was a little girl, she used to sit at night and sing this song out her window and into the night sky. For me, I can't imagine a cuter, nicer story. I'm pretty sure Kathy regrets sharing this story with me while we were dating, because I've told it many times (much to her embarrassment). I'm not sure I even knew the song ...but I knew it when I heard it Saturday because Kathy screamed and sang along as if she were right back on Bridle Creek. I kinda a felt a little like I, too, was back on Bridle Creek, trying to impress Kathy, make her laugh, and make her fall in love with me all over, again.

As for the show, it was rather eventful. We laughed at the opening band. Kathy took forever to order a drink at the Palace bar acting as if she'd never seen a drink menu before in her life. And Barry Manilow barely made it in from Cleveland due to his flight being canceled. He came jogging out onto the stage about 5 minutes before he should've gone on and told us all to go get a drink and he'd be out in no time. He had just spent six hours in a car driving like heck to get to Auburn Hills and needed a minute. It was quite comical. His show, then, felt very casual and friendly and it was truly amazing how he made a 15,000 person audience an intimate setting. It's like he's been doing this for a while.

The show was late, the snow was blowing and the night air was frigid and cold ...but ...the show was hot, my date hotter, and the entire evening warmed my heart and rekindled my love.

I know ...sorry. I promise my next post will be more on the "cute" side and less "mushy."

It's the Holiday Season...

I'll only tease you with a brief glimpse of the amazing photo session we had for our Christmas cards and annual family photo.

Jimmy inches ever closer to being fully potty-trained. This morning he hopped up on the big-potty all by himself and had himself a little morning constitution. He got the blimp from Cars.

There should be more, right?

Our vacation plans are set. Round-trip, non-stop tickets to Vegas for less than $170 per ticket ! ! ! Insane. Kathy and the kids will travel for two weeks and I'll join them for the second week. 4 months away, and yet, I'm already excited.

Coming soon ...my family's Christmas Card letter ...blog-style.

Walking, Skipping, and Strutting

It's official: Ada's walking. Took her15 months, but she's there. She can also retrieve things, pretend she's sleeping on command, and enjoy the nuances of a rousing game of bubble-gum-bubble-gum in-a-dish. You may also know this game as catch-a-tiger-by-the-toe or as eeny-meeny-miny-mo. Point is ...she loves it.

Sadly, and I'm only writing this because they can't read, some boys in Marylin's class are claiming Santa as phony. First, I want to go yell at these kids myself. But, second, our Marylin has become a star defense attorney on behalf of Santa.

"I told them they are wrong! I mean, who brings presents? We leave him cookies and carrots for Rudolph, and in the morning, they're gone," she argues. "They'll see," she continues.

We've tried not to dwell on the topic, but she keeps bringing it up. I can only tell her that the notion of "no Santa" is ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.

4 1/2 year olds should believe! Luckily she does. This happened Monday and that evening Kathy and Marylin went to Somerset Collection (no ...not a "mall" ...puh!) and when Marylin saw Santa she yelled, "I love you Santa! I believe in you. I know you're real."

My wife just smiled ...I would have bawled. Apparently our Marylin is Shirley Temple.

Lastly ...who says a father
can't have fun playing Barbies
with his daughter? I've
refrained from making Ken
talk like Huggy Bear, but I
have made him strut.

Boo! (A Halloween Entry), Pt 1

Aunt Denise made a good point whilst eating dinner last night. When did Halloween become a "season?" She firmly believes that Halloween used to be a week ...tops. And I concur. In fact, I remember it as a single night. One night of candy, dress-up, a costume parade at school, and maybe a week-long pumpkin contest or something.

But not in today's world.

The Halloween season started about a month ago when Kathy entered us in Plum Market's scarecrow competition. The winning prize was a trip to Disneyworld. Having never built a scarecrow before (I know, can you believe it?), I think we did all-right. We chose a Hawaiian theme in memory of Mom/Grandma as this month marks 3 years since she passed away. We still miss her like crazy. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote. We came awfully close. But in the end, some brat from Derby Middle School won ...check out her winning entry!!! Are you kidding!?!?!?! That's not even a scarecrow!!! It's a stack of junk leaning up against a stick. OK ...but since my kids might read this some day ...I'm a good sport. Congrats, bratty girl.

Next up in the Halloween season, a fun gathering of old friends at frat brother Paul Schmid's house. The man bought some land in the country, had a couple of kids, and has been keeping himself busy building his entire house himself. He and wife Karen invited us all out for the Spartan game, cookie decorating, a hayride to the pumpkin patch, fun, and laughter. Yes. We basically spent a Saturday in a Norman Rockwell painting. I kinda hope this becomes a tradition. My kids had a blast, as did we.

Moving on ...Zoo Boo. The Detroit Zoo has a nice event through the zoo with candy stations and cool pumpkin displays. Grandpa Mustache joined the Dave & Don Kowalewski families and we got in, got out, and got candy all before the rain really started coming down.

And lastly ...actual Halloween and trick 'r treating. If you can't tell from the pictures, Marylin designed her own costume. She likes butterflies. She likes princesses. So, what better than a Butterfly Princess? I told her to tell people she was from Ice Cream Land and that her house was made of marshmallows - I mean, as long as you're combining all the things you like, right? Why not? She didn't appreciate my patronizing her. But she told people and it made her smile even bigger and brighter, so I smiled bigger and brighter. Jimmy was Lightning McQueen's Pit Crew Guy while Ada went with the standard Pumpkin Elf get-up.

Once again, Uncle/Granpa Jerry and Aunt/Grandma 'Nise came over to have a spooky dinner and help with Ada while we took the older two around the neighborhood. Did this year's Pumpkin Hamburger Pie out-do last year's Brain Peppers? Hard to say. I'm going to call it a tie. Kathy and Aunt/Grandma 'Nise have set the bar quite high for future Halloween dinners.

All the pictures from the entire Halloween "season" can be seen here.

Have a scary one!

Three to the One

Hard to believe, but Jimmy is three and Ada is one. Don't believe me? Here's pictures to prove it.

We got lucky and both cooperated for many pictures and even a wardrobe and set change or two. If you'd like to see all 146 pictures (and who wouldn't?), you can find them here.

Jimmy is three. He is finally potty trained. He knows all his numbers. Most of his letters. He's ok on his tricycle. He's even stopped getting up at night and Jimmy is also starting to sleep in until 7:30 or later - much better than the 6:45 wake-up calls we got a few months ago. Jimmy loves Cars. We used the die-cast toys as incentive for him to learn to use the potty, so he has just about the whole set. Just in time for Disney to release a dozen or so more characters for Christmas. He loves playing with Marylin and really looks up to her. His best-buddy is his Snoopy doll.

Ada is one. She's really starting to make her voice heard. Ada's got about 7 or 8 words in her arsenal. Remember how I may have mentioned that she never cries? Well, it took her a while, but she's figuring out that crying has power. However, its still really not too much and too bad for her she's the 3rd child, so we're pretty much desensitized to crying. She stands. She stands and dances -dance to the beat, I might add. But still not walking (13 months at the time of this posting). Lack of walking doesn't mean she's not mobile. Oh, quite the contrary. Ada climbs stairs, up on couches, and uses furniture, strollers, and push toys to make her way around rooms. She puts fewer things in her mouth these days ...for a while there, EVERYTHING went right into her mouth. The other two never really did that. She laughs alot and she's famous for her scrunchy, smiley face.

Time is really flying by. Blog atcha soon.

Fall into Fall and Fall on Fall all Fall

It's Fall. And that means birthdays, leaves, pumpkin patches, and Halloween!!!

While I was away in Columbus watching MSU take on #1 ranked Ohio State University, my neglected family was getting together with cousins and pickin' and paintin' some pumpkins. All the photos are here.

We also celebrated Ada's birthday with the cousins ...and we all know it ain't official until you sing Happy Birthday with grandmas, grandpas, and cousins. Aunt Dana, as always, came through with a cake that was ...well ...#1. Don't believe me? Just watch Jimmy. He was unable to resist an early taste of frosting.

And finally ...leaves. Having lost my own trees, I've resorted to raking the neighbor's lawns so my kids aren't denied the autumn tradition of jumping in giant piles of leaves. Somehow, giant piles of grass just ain't as fun to jump into.

See all the leaf jumping fun at my flickr pages.

Little Miss Sunshine

If you maybe, possibly happen to read another blog besides this one, you might know it's National Popcorn Popping Month. So, its Friday. Pop up a bowlful (preferably the good ol' fashioned way) and enjoy a nice night of TV or maybe a movie. Heck ...it's gettin' so cold you might even have reason to start a fire tonight and pop some corn right over an open flame.

Here's Marylin's tribute to this magical month. It's also a tradition in our house that Thursday morning, the only day without school, that the kids have "Pajama Morning". No rushing around, no chores, maybe just a little bit more TV than a normal day, and, of course, pajamas all morning.



And when the music moves my daughter, well, my son ain't usually far behind. Now, for the first time anywhere, the Jimmy Shimmy.



And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go call Marlyin's dance teacher because I'm not so sure about a few of those moves.

Happy Popcorn Poppin, to ya!

Fancy Nancy

This was too cute not to blog. Our local library hosts these special bedtime storytime programs where the kids can get dressed in their pajamas, go have a snack, do a craft, and hear a new children's book. This night's theme was Fancy Nancy and all were encouraged to dress to the nines. Kathy took Marylin.

Our little princess was fairest of them all.

Blogged Down (1st and 3rd Birthdays)

The pressure of keeping up a blog is unbearable. With each passing day and each non-post, memories stack up, get lost, and fade. A few memorable moments from this summer and early fall were the Family Reunion Golf Outing, Torch Lake - I can't believe I haven't blogged Torch Lake, yet, and a few birthdays.

Well, as they say, you gotta start somewhere.

Jimmy turned 3 (photos). He's very into Disney's Cars, so that's mainly what he got for his birthday - all the way down to his Lighting McQueen cake. He isn't potty trained, but boy are we working on it. He knows all his colors, shapes, numbers, and probably 18 of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Honestly, I don't know how or where he's learning it. He's good on his scooter and getting better on his bike. Jimmy's getting much better with his baby sister.

Ada turned 1 (photos). She's still about the best baby anyone could have. Sleeps through the night; never cries. She's standing but sees no reason to walk. We thought for sure she'd be an early walker (compared to Marylin's 14 months and Jimmy's 15), but as the days and weeks go along, she may also be waiting. She has 6 words in her arsenal. 4 she can actually use correctly - "Momma", "Dada", "Oh no", "Doggy", "more", "hi", and "Bah" (which could be "bottle", "ball", or just an exclamation of some sort).

We've been keeping busy ...Michigan State football games, birthday parties, apple orchards, the park, school, and work. Marylin is going to preschool 4 days a week, Jimmy's going 2 days, and even Ada is going on Friday's while Kathy logs a few hours as a teacher in the "baby room." OK ...so maybe she's not teaching, per se, but its close

Here's a few of the cousins at the apple orchard (photos). We enjoyed the day even though the 88 degree temperatures were a little out of place for early October.

And last but not least, a serenade (thanks Uncle Jerry for always having the camera going) . . .

First text, then pictures, now this

I can't believe how far we've come. In the olden days, all you really could do was write stuff down in a journal, throwing them into a storage trunk when you were done, and then hope like crazy that someday when you were dead and gone your grand children would find your journals, marvel at your creativity and insight, and publish a book using your material. How splendid that I don't have to wait that long. BEHOLD! Written stuff ...and video stuff so I don't have to write that much.

The video above is Marylin baking cookies with Kathy in 2004 (I'm pretty sure). It's also on You Tube ...check it ... Marylin making cookies.

So Much to Blog

A ho-hum, mundane, long summer suddenly is bristling with activity. Among the things I want to blog about are my (Crazy) Aunt Geri's passing, my family vacation, my youngest daughter being used in promotional items, and Jimmy.

Dream Vacation, revisited

I won money. I won't say how much, but who will argue with free money? You may remember I entered an essay, 150 words or less, regarding my dream vacation (that post is the post just previous to this one). And lo' and behold (how I've longed to use "lo' and behold" on my blog) ...I won. Hooray for me!

I'm definitely going to be entering more essay-related contests.

Dream Vacation

Keep your finger's crossed that this 150-words-or-less essay wins my family a trip. Entrants were asked to describe their dream vacation and the best essay wins their "dream."

If you had asked me 4 years ago about my dream vacation, I would’ve said, “running with the bulls in Italy.” Or maybe I’d have said, “Seeing the Great Wall of Russia.” Like George Bailey, my only limits were the size (and accuracy) of the dreams I could dream. But now, with three kids under 5, my dream vacation has changed. With each viewing of Cinderella, Finding Nemo, Snow White, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, my dreams of kayaking through Great Britain’s mighty rainforests are no longer the important dreams. Instead, the possibility of meeting Mickey Mouse, of having breakfast with Donald Duck and Goofy, and of watching fireworks explode above the Magic Kingdom have become the vacations of my dreams. My children’s dreams have become my dreams. What was it Jiminy Cricket used to say? “When you wish upon a star…?” Yes. Your vacation dreams come true.

The Other Birthday Boy

As I mentioned just one post earlier, the other birthday boy, my Dad, and Grandma Sally, went to see the Kieth Urban-Faith Hill concert.

That last sentence needs more commas.

A radio station took their picture. Hee haw! Or is it "yee haw!" Whichever, my Dad had fun - even without a thunder & lightning storm every 20 minutes and giant animatronic animals everywhere.

Birthdays

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays. Four in the last two weeks. It's a fun part of the year. Normally there probably wouldn't be so much hoopla around two of them, but there was something in the air this year.

My nephew turned 3. His birthday is on the 4th of July, so we all get together for fireworks and grilling out at my brother's place, and why not have some cake, too. The cake was good ...it was made entirely of ice cream sandwiches. It's true.

Let's see. Who else? Oh, yes. Me! I turned 34. Ya know, I'm still in the 18-34 age cell demographic, so I'm listening to all the rock music I can, watching MTV alot, and saying "rad" and "tubular" as much as I can because, well, next year I'll be an Adult 35+ and those people don't talk like that. It was a great day full of family cooked breakfasts, presents, and was capped off by everyone - brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, wives, nieces, and nephews - joining me for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. What a day! I would bet not every birthday boy who turns 34 gets as much fan fair. I loved it. My Dad turned 63 but opted to go see a concert with Grandma Sally. Probably a better choice.

I'm sure 18 year olds say "tubular", right?

Most notable however was Dana, my kid sis, who turned 30. She's a thirty-something, now. I feel like I can relate to her better now that she's a bit older. Her husband threw her a wild, crazy, thirtieth birthday blowout! It was awesome. J-Lo and Kid Rock were there. Or maybe it was all her friends and family and their kids and it was just a "really nice time." Whatever it was, it was nice and I had fun. I made her a CD full of music from her 30 years on this planet. I'm kinda proud of it. The CD cover is included her, as well as the liner notes and track listing. Please to enjoy.

1. Three's Company Theme Song
2. Dancing Queen, ABBA
3. Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac
   
4. London Calling, The Clash
   
5. Star Wars Cantina Song, John Williams (I assume)
   
6. Step By Step, NKOTB
   
7. Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bangles
   
8. I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Whitney Houston
   
9. Livin' On a Prayer, Bon Jovi
   
10. I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston
    
11. James Brown Is Dead
12. Can't Touch This, MC Hammer
    
13. This is How We Do It, Montell Jordan
    
14. The Freshman, The Verve Pipe
15. MMMBop, Hansen
16. A Moment Like This, Kelly Clarkson
17. How Do I Live, Leann Rimes
18. Lose Yourself, Eminem
    
19. Makes Me Wonder, Maroon 5
20. Girlfriend, Avril Lavigne

And the liner notes... included here for your reading pleasure and for my memory book. Blog to you soon!

The year was 1977 and the country had just finished celebrating its bicentennial. Three’s Company made its television debut, Fleetwood Mac released their quintessential album, “Rumours,” ABBA was taking the U.S. by storm, Jimmy Carter was President, and The Clash and The Sex Pistols were launching the British punk invasion. Star Wars was playing at the local cinemaplex and an entire generation longed to go far, far away and see the band at the Tatooine cantina. And on June 29^th, Dana Kowalewski was born to Bill and Mary Lou in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

10 years later. 1987. MTV was the new music trade, a launching pad for a new breed of look-good pop stars like New Kids on the Block, Debbie Gibson, and Tiffany. You wore leg warmers. You did. Gas was .89cents. Your hair was feathered and permed. We said things like, “awesome,” and, “tubular.” We may not have actually said, “tubular.” But we did enjoy watching Cheers – the #1 show on TV that year, and we all were “walkin’ like Egyptians” and “living on prayers.”

For a good part of the next decade, you spent your time dancing. The Dana Kowalewski of Sterling Heights became the Dana Kowalewski of Kentwood. And it was in Kentwood that life really started taking off. You turned 16, got your license, and no doubt drove all over Grand Rapids singing Whitney Houston’s smash hit, “I Will Always Love You.” Your brother often borrowed your “James Brown is Dead” CD for DJing at his frat parties up at MSU – this was before the days of burning a copy for people. And I’ll bet you and your dance team friends thought that Montell Jordan wrote “This is How We Do It,” just for you. You probably wore a flannel shirt or two – you definitely wore legwarmers. You watched Blossom and Friends on TV.

Can’t touch this.

You may not know this, but Verve Pipe’s “The Freshman’ was written and performed at MSU frat parties, The Riv, and Rick’s during your freshman year in high school. Years later, coincidentally, when you were a freshman at MSU, it was released and rose to #1 on the billboard charts nationwide. If this song never really meant anything to you …well, it should, darn it. Two freshman years, one “Freshman” song. Crazy, huh? I’m sure there were many musical memories from college, but I’ll bet no song better captures those college years than Hanson’s “MmmBop.” Included for your pleasure.

College, college, college. Graduation, student teaching, actual teaching, falling in love, etc, etc. All of which lead to “true love” with some Italian dude from Down River. All of which lead to marriage. Interestingly enough, you wore legwarmers at your wedding, too. 2002, the year you were married, you and Trent danced to Leann Rimes’ “How Do I Live.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. American Idol emerged as the driving musical voice of this new generation and gave us Clarkson’s immortal classic, “A Moment like This.” We “lost ourselves” in Eminem’s Oscar winning rap anthem. Survivor was the #1 show on TV, and I think you had a kid or something, too.

What now? 30 years have come and gone. Today, we listen to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” and Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder” and we wonder …which of these songs will be on your 40^th birthday CD? We will never forget dancing to them at your Super Sweet Thirty party and how you looked in those legwarmers.

Happy Birthday, sis! I can’t wait to make another CD in another 10 years.

Love,

Don, Kathy, Marylin, Ada, and Jimmy

Summering

Time flies. Fireworks fly. My heart soars.

My baby Ada is now 9 months old. Ahem ...to say she's fat and happy is an understatement. Kathy just came from her 9-month check-up. Drum roll . . . 21 lbs, 14oz. 90th percentile. Marylin was 14 lbs at her 9-month check-up, so let's just say that Ada is a Marylin-and-a-half. I find it all quite amusing, actually, and I'm just happy she's healthy. Ada really is the easiest baby. She's crawling. Pulling herself up on things and trying to stand. This is months ahead of either Jimmy or Marylin. She's ready to start runnin' with the big kids.

Speaking of big kids, my li'l sis is suddenly a big kid. Dana left the world of twentysomethings and joined us thirtysomethings. Trent threw her a party last weekend and it was fun. I mad her a mix CD full of 30-years worth of musical memories. I hope she has as much fun listening to it as I did making it. The picture to the left are all the cousins watching Cars and getting ready for bed.

Marylin turned 4. Ada is 9 months. We learned that Dave & Melissa are adding to the family and the cousin-count. And Vito turned 3. Yankee Doodle Vito really lucks out because the entire country lights fireworks in his honor ...as we did again at Dave & Melissa's for the 4th. As you can see, the kids were half-scared, half-thrilled.

Vegas 2007

Another year and another set of great memories from Vegas. It was a vacation we had been looking forward to for months and it did not disappoint.

I'm pretty sure, even with all the mayhem that comes with 3 grandkids under the age of 4 staying in their 2 bedroom condo, that Grandma Lenny and Grandpa Jimmy had a good time, too.

The kids only took the first two days to adjust to the time-change. Ada handled it the best and did nothing to change my opinion of her as the best baby ever. As I said to Kathy on the plane ride out, "a well trained St. Bernard could babysit Ada."

Some highlights of the week included daily trips to the condo's pool. I'd say we swam 5 out of the 8 days, even though the weather was rather cool when we were there. Of course, it was in the 90s the entire week before we got to Vegas and immediately following our departure, but we've just come to accept that as our Vegas fate. Honestly, I'm not complaining, but it only rains 10 days every year in Vegas and Grandma and Grandpa rarely see clouds - they say. But everytime we go, we have at least one day of rain and this time we had multiple overcast days.

Much to our surprise, Marylin put on her swimmies and jumped right in the pool, swiming all by herself. Much to our chagrin, the floaty-vest we bought for Jimmy didn't float. Oh, well. Next year.

Grandma and Grandpa played the role of well-trained-St.-Bernard and we took Marylin and Jimmy on daily adventures. Although Vegas doesn't actively market it, there really is a great deal of things to do with your family. Highlights included the lion habitat at the MGM, the lions and dolphins at The Mirage, the M&M store on the strip, the midway at the Excaliber (which looks like Disney's Magic Kingdom to my kids, and that was good enough), the Ethel M Factory Tour, and the aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

As always, there was dining out. Our new favorite buffet is at South Point. We ate there twice. Also good was a Mexican restaurant at Mandalay Bay. Otherwise it was ham sandwiches, chicken nuggets, and pancakes back at the condo. And really, who could complain about that?

Grandma and Grandpa also happen to live right along a flight path so we're able to watch airplanes landing from sun-up to sun-down, and for a 2 1/2 year old (and even the 4 year old), this is the best show in town. Grandma and Grandpa's sun porch made the perfect plane-watching outpost.

I'm going to guess that Grandma doesn't typically build forts with all the pillows in the condo, spread toys from one end of the family room to the other, and she probably doesn't watch The Backyardigans and The Wiggles. So, I'm also going to guess that Grandma slept for two straight days after we left. But while we there, she had more than her fair share of floor exercises, games, coloring, Playdough, and children's videos. If she dared seek respite, Jimmy would go running and asking "where hama Lenny" (translation: Where's Grandma Lenny?)

And, even better, on the very last night in Vegas, yours truly was chosen to stay in with the kids while Jimmy, Lenny, and Kathy went to the casino one-last-time, and let's just say Kathy hit enough to pay for the entire trip, again. Woo hoo! Viva Las Vegas.

A Week in the Life

I'm reading a book called "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog." As you can see from the infrequent posts, I lack for motivation some times. It suggested I take pictures of everything and anything for a week and see what inspires me. The pictures I took this week reminded me of all the little things that happen every day all around us ...and it made me wonder if we truly appreciate them all. Its like the old saying goes ...sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses.

Here are my roses.

Jimmy loves puzzles. Jimmy loves his sister - sometimes too much. He tries to treat Ada like a stuffed animal, but we know its only because he loves her SOOOOO much. He also loves his cousins. A big highlight of last week was the arrival of cousins Jeremiah and Amanda - and of course Uncle Dick and Aunt Isabel, but they weren't nearly as exciting to Jimmy and Marylin as their cousins. If you wanna see hyper kids, bring a 12 and 14 year old cousin around. Jimmy and Marylin were bouncing off the walls. Luckily I got to go to the Pistons game with them and Kathy was left with Jimmy, Marylin and Ada for bedtime. Phew!

Jimmy and Marylin love our birdfeeders. The feeders sit right outside our kitchen window, so its like they have a big screen TV to watch during every meal. Most times we can't keep them in their seats because they prefer a birds eye view (is that a pun?)! The J & M show also have given up on Mom and Dad building them forts, so they've taken matters into their own hands. To the right you'll see a pillow fort courtesy of J & M Construction.


Oh, yes. That other kid. Ada. Good gal. Lots of smiles. Sometimes I really have to lecture her about doing more blog-worthy stuff. Eating solids, holding toys, and lifting her head up ...well ...been there done that. But, for the record, this is what she's doing at 6 months: rolling across rooms, sleeping through the night, waving, trying to crawl, laughing, and reading the newspaper.

In case you can't tell from these pictures, its finally Spring and Easter is here. The neighborhood Easter Egg hunt should be featured in "An Inconvenient Truth, Part II." Ridiculous. We didn't know if the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus would show up.



Here's that other kid I keep mentioning ...Ada. At the mall with the Easter Bunny. After the mall, Kathy and the kids visited my office. Jimmy worked the phones and closed some big deals. A natural salesman. Marylin mostly daydreamed and looked out the window at the cars. We have an appointment with her guidance counselor this week. Jimmy did say he'd give her a weekly allowance as long as she was trying to find work. He's a good kid.

Jimmy and Marylin were kind enough to set the table for Easter and then do a dry run of Easter brunch. They set and blocked the entire day featuring their "buddies." The next day came off without a hitch thanks to their pre-planning efforts.

And every Easter, Marylin kinda double dips. Candy and an Easter surprise in the morning, then Birthday presents and cake that afternoon. Aunt Dana hit another homerun with an incredible Strawberry Shortcake cake. The kids ate cake and ice cream and more ice cream. A milestone was reached ...Barbies officially became a toy in our home. Things will never be the same. Uncle/Grandpa Jerry really liked the new train cars and Ada Louisa. Aunt/Grandma 'Nise was more than happy to help feed Ada. And the rest of the shots just capture another great Easter-slash-Birthday. Oh, and Uncle Dave debuted a new, longer hair-do.

I guess I kinda ended up tellin' ya what I "ate for lunch" after all. Oh, and sorry for the lack of photo compression ...I'll figure it out one of these days.