Dancing in the streets...

Another year, another neighborhood block party. I'm not really sure why we went this year, we only know a handfull of our neighbors, and most of the ones we do know aren't here. Laura is on a retreat with her new showchoir group (they're bonding) so she's not here. Oh well, I suppose there are worse things I could be doing now...

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Lunch

School is out now, and it's a father and son kind of day (what with momma still having a few days left, and sissy off on her school trip to Disney World). So, in celebration of yet another excellent report card, we went to the golden arches for lunch.

Yummy!

I'm dreaming of a white Easter

I was talking to a customer at the store a week or so ago, and she mentioned that only around here was it as likely to snow at Easter as it was at Christmas. And here, a day after Palm Sunday, is the proof. You can't tell from the picture, but it's actually still coming down...

What a day...

It was 60 degrees today. Can you guess what a lot of people were doing today (mine is the blue one)?

Birthday Madness III

Yeah, it caught us off guard too, but it's that time of year again. For the third year in a row, your humble blogger is posting a picture of the mayhem in the garage that is Gage's birthday party. I'm not sure what's more remarkable - that I've been doing this long enough to cover 3 birthday parties, or that I'm still crazy enough to endure madness. This year it's a transformer themed party. Oh boy!

Home Sweet Vacation Home

This is the view form the top of the lighthouse. It's over 5 stories tall, and it's all stairs to get to the top. It does have a nice view though...

So here we are again, another visit to our favorite vacation spot - Branson. This time we are staying in our nicest timeshare, a small 2 bedroom house in a resort out west of town. We bought this 2 years ago, but this is the first chance we've had to stay here.

HO HO HO!

The kids and the yearly visit with Santa. My brother-in-law spent a great deal of money a few years ago buying a very nice Santa costume. It turned out to be one of the best things he's ever done. On Christmas Eve he goes around to several families and does the whole Santa routine for them. No one can say he's not a nice guy - at least at Christmas.

A Black Gospel choir in suburbia...

This is the part of the choir from the Broadview Missionary Baptist Church - here to perform for us before Christmas. They are a very typical African American church choir, and we are a very typical very white church. Still, it is nice that we can get a group like this to come all the way down from Chicago to sing for a bunch of stiff suburban white folk. I hope they aren't too disappointed in us - we aren't as stiff as a bunch of Episcopalians, but Lord knows we aren't the most demonstrative of groups.

Still working on things...

I have a new phone -- the third since I started this blog going. The first was a Moto E815, the next was a Samsung Alias, and now I have an LG ENV2. It's a nice enough phone, but I"m still trying to figure out the camera and messaging. Sometimes, it will shrink a picture before sending it, and sometimes it won't -- and I can't figure out when and why it will.

Alex's Christmas program

These are the 1st and second grade classes at Alex's school. You probably can't see him, he's kind of short and we're in the back of the crowd.

Update: You actually can see him, he's in the first row, about 4 kids to the left of the one wearing a white shirt and red sweater. Alex is wearing a red sweater vest...

a Christmas song come to life...

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth, my 2 front teeth, my 2 front teeth...

This was the view from my back window this morning. I guess this means it's officially winter now. most of this will probably melt off today, but it was here for a little while anyway. I wonder if we'll have more for Christmas?

Evening in Suburbia

It's like a scene from a movie isn't it. Here we are, in a closed cul-de-sac, sitting on lawn chairs and watching our children run amuck. It just doesn't get more American than that...

At the zoo

Well, we're having another vacation and we are at the zoo. woohoo!

STARR riders

This is the third year Alex has participated in the STARR program. It's a physical therapy where kids do tasks while on the back of a horse. It helps to develop their sense of balance, as well as helping them to become more comfortable with situations they're not used to - such as being 5 feet in the air on the back of a very large animal. Alex is the 'old man' of his group - so this is old hat for him. It makes me feel better because I see how well he functions compared with some of the other kids. I can even foresee a day when he might be a normal kid...

Jimmy make fire

I took about 5 pictures trying to catch Jim in the act of trying to set himself on fire.

Alex's big night

Alex is having his end of the year show at school tonight. A big bunch of kidergarteners singing about the alphabet. Sesame Street, here they come.

Oh, Alex is at the end of the third row kind of behind the letter 'B'...

Hair today, gone tomorrow

It was finally time for father and son to get their spring haircuts. Alex had been slowly mellowing out about getting his hair cut - he used to freak out - so I thought this was as good a day as any. This was the hair she cut off of his head - more than anyone else had ever managed to do. Needless to say, he looks like a different kid now.

Drive My Car

This is a view of my car that I don't get very often. We had Sharon's car in the shop getting her rear window fixed, so she has been driving mine. It's ok, I still have the truck, but it's easier to get Alex in and out of the car.