Sun, 29 Mar 2009
Happy birthday to me!I suppose it's a little self-centered, but I've nothing to write about this week except that today is my birthday. I was going to write about Bryan's track meet yesterday, but it was canceled due to heavy rain. The rain turned into snow last night and we woke up this morning to two inches of snow. The roads were clear and the sun came out and melted it all, but it was pretty for a while.
It was a pretty day for a birthday and everyone treated me stupendously. Melody made me a yummy breakfast and Marc made me a pot roast for dinner. Bryan did the dishes. I got hugs and cards as well as a Wii fit from everyone. What a nice day. Even though the Wii says I am old and everyone beat me to pieces at the various activities. I should be used to that by now.
Oh yeah, Melody also made me a yumelicious ice cream cake. We only ate a part of it. And I blew out the candles, so I get my wish, but after all that royal treatment, I couldn't think of anything to wish for anyway…
Sun, 22 Mar 2009
Spring breakSince it was Spring break, I took one day and had lunch in the cafeteria with Thomas. Parents are encouraged to do that around here and I don't know for how many more years Thomas will want me to visit. While we were eating, the boys down the table were showing off their biceps to each other. Thomas rolled his eyes and said that they do that a lot. I thought it was funny, because although the guys around our house aren't obsessed with it, they do the same thing occasionally.
Besides lunch with Thomas, there wasn't much else that I did special. I got to take Thomas back to the doctor for strep throat again. I guess I'm glad that happened when I had time. Otherwise, it was a normal week. And on normal weeks we have our traditional Friday night pizza and movie night. I alternate between making pizza and buying it at either Aldi or Sam's club. But we have a new option. We are really excited that a Papa Murphy's opened not too far away. We used to like them when we lived in Shingle Springs. So Friday we enjoyed a Papa Murpy's pizza and cheesy bread along with our movie.
On Saturday, we had several things going on. It was the regional science fair for Thomas as well as the robotics competition for Bryan. So I dropped Thomas' project off at the community college, packed a picnic lunch, and we all drove to Saint Louis University (SLU) for the robotics. The event this year was called Lunacy and consisted of throwing "moon rocks" in the trailers towed by the robots of your competition.I didn't get any good pictures, but team 1094 is in the upper left corner.You'll have to go to the First Robotics web site if you want to see better pictures of this event. This is really a good organization.
It wasn't as fun to watch as in some previous years, but still was fun. The weather was a little chilly, so our picnic was eaten sitting in the van in the parking garage. The sun came out after lunch so we took a couple of pictures outside. It is a really pretty campus. I like the old brick buildings. The SLU mascot is a "Billiken" and in case you've never heard of one, I took a picture. Now you know. It is supposed to be good luck to rub the tummy.
Bryan evidently didn't rub the tummy enough because his team was eliminated after the quarterfinals. So we drove back to Thomas' science fair to find that he'd come in first place in the regional fair!
I didn't see him rub the tummy either but maybe he got close enough cause I know judging at these science fairs is always a matter of luck. Thomas was happy about the big trophy he received. And Bryan enjoyed the evening BBQ and hanging out with the robotics team anyway. A final picture, lest Thomas get a big head about his win. How smart do you think he is to do this?
Sun, 15 Mar 2009
Spring break is finally here (for me)
Did I mention that Thomas has been studying Peru in his JET class? Two weeks ago he had an open house and we got to go and see all the projects that the class had been making. They had quite the display. Here Thomas is standing on the bridge that goes over the Amazon River. If you look closely, you can see a pirahna sneaking up to attack his foot. Thomas also displayed weaving, a copper mask, and a model of Machu Pichu out of paper mache. Since I've always been interested in Peru, it was interesting for me. Maybe Thomas and I can visit the real Peru together someday.
Since I had this picture, I remembered the above event, but otherwise couldn't think of what else has been happening this week. I am THRILLED to be done with my clinical assignment and move on to a five-week preceptorship at my nearby hospital. I think the hardest parts of my semester are over. Adding to my joy is the fact that this is Spring break for me and I can start to get caught up before the preceptorship starts. Maybe I'll clean the house…no, that would be too drastic 
Speaking of cleaning up. What do you do when your refrigerator is filled with leftovers? Some weeks I have quite the collection by the weekend and make everyone live on leftovers on Saturdays and Sundays while I choose not to cook. That does get old, however. Yesterday, I told people they were on their own, but the leftovers were still waiting for me this morning. Marc said, "It sounds like a restaurant for dinner tonight." That is one of our ways of getting rid of our extra food. I took a picture of our menu tonight but think it might be too small to read. The menu was very cryptic like "mud with scoopers", "brown goo", "pricklies", "green balls". Anyway, tonight we had this obnoxious waitress who took everyone's order and then served us. I should have taken a picture. Melody and Thomas used to get into this and make us nice paper menus, but the last two times we have gone to this restaurant, the menu has just been written on this tacky white board. So that's how our exciting life goes around here, school and leftovers. Next week the kids will have time off so maybe we will do something more exciting than leftovers.
Sat, 07 Mar 2009
Another weekNo pictures this week. Nothing to say. I find that when I get out of the habit of writing, then I can't think of anything to write. When I know I want to sit down and write once a week, I am looking at my week in terms of which parts of it I'd like to share with all of you. But when I'm not used to writing, I sit down and can't think of anything interesting at all in the world that is happening in our family.
That is why I am going to tell you about our cat. She has always liked to play with pom poms, but lately she has turned into a cat who plays "fetch." The last few days she'll bring me her blue ball (a pom pom about 3/4 of an inch around)and drop it beside me. If I throw it she runs after it, skidding all over the kitchen floor with it, and then brings it back to me and drops it. It's kind of like playing fetch with a dog. This is unusual behavior for a cat.
When things get really boring around here I tell you about the weather. It turned warm at the end of this week. Yesterday was just beautiful. The birds sang, the sun shone, the flowers bloomed (the first of them) and we all had to stay inside. Except lucky Thomas who got to go on a field trip to our local toxic waste site. He got to hike to the top of the Weldon Spring Superfund Cleanup site and learn about radiation and rocks. He came home sunburned and we were all jealous. He had a fun day.
The weather was so nice that Marc and I, instead of our usual movie night, went to Old Town St. Charles and walked down the street to just enjoy the warm weather. Old Town is really pretty at night. We had dinner outside on a balcony overlooking the street. It was a nice change from our rushed and harried week. Today everyone is just relaxing and getting caught up. The weather is still warm, but it is cloudy. The warm weather always brings thinderstorms and they are predicted for tomorrow.
Bryan started track this week so was pretty busy with practices every night in addition to his regular activities. And Melody stayed after for her usual activities as well as getting ready for the talent show in two weeks. I'm always glad to see them having so much fun with their activities.
Speaking of activities, I just thought of some things that I have to do around here, so I guess I'll end this rambling for now and try to come up with something interesting to write about.
Sun, 01 Mar 2009
A missed monthAnd now it's March. I'm not sure what happened to the month of February. It really is a short month and likely to be missed if one blinks a couple of times. I mean, it's not like I missed writing in my blog for the month of March or something! Actually, February was an awfully busy month for everyone, punctuated by the occasional snow day where we sat home and did nothing. Some highlights were:
Thomas forgetting to bring home the paper telling me about the science fair, so when I finally learned about it, he only had five days to put together an entire project… Good thing he's had his idea since last summer. The resulting project on whether people could identify the taste of Skittles without seeing them won third prize in the science fair. Imagine if he'd had a whole week.
Melody deciding to try out for her school talent show. Since I don't sing at all, I couldn't help Melody or her friend practice their singing act. Marc set up a microphone for them, and Bryan even gave them a few pointers, but they mostly put together their act on their own. Yeah, they made it through auditions and now have to prepare for the actual show in three weeks!
Bryan working long hours to help backstage in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." The show was the last three nights and was a hit! We saw it on Friday and were very impressed with how far this young drama department has come. Here Bryan is sitting on top of Schroeder's piano.Once again, my pictures turned out fuzzy. It must be about time for a new camera.
Marc, working days, and lots of nights too, to solve fascinating problems that shouldn't have happened in the first place.What a great job!
And me, just counting the days until spring break. Thankfully, there are only thirteen.
To celebrate Valentine's Day as a family, we ate chocolate fondue. Yum.
We have crocuses blooming on the back hill, and tulips just peeking out of the ground in the front yard, so spring is around the corner. This has been a mild winter, but we're still anxious for spring as always. I hope things are more sane around here and I can find time to write regularly.
Jan Dill Hall St. Peters, Missouri
Page created: 09 November 2008
Page modified: 31 December 2009
