An Easter Story

At the breakfast table, Colleen tells a story to Amelia ---

Once upon a time in a galaxy far away, Jesus was coming to town and everybody was there saying "Yay! Yay! You rock!" and Jesus was tired so they gave him a donkey. He was riding the donkey and there were kids there and they said "Hoshana!" And Jesus said "I'm the King of Peace!" Then they had dinner and Jesus got in trouble with the police and they arrested him and threw him in jail. And they lived happily ever after - except then he died. But that's okay because he came back on Easter morning. But then he went away again. It's all very confusing. The End.

Amelia clapped and said "Yay! Yay!"

Gap kids

Who lost a tooth now you ask? Robert!

He lost his first tooth at bedtime tonight (evidently a good time to lose teeth, who knew?). He calmly handed me his tooth and said "It's out." This doesn't seem to bother either of them. Doesn't anyone freak out when losing a tooth anymore? I remember coddling my loose teeth until they were hanging literally by a thread.

Robert doesn't really get to have a gap tooth picture though. His permanent tooth has been coming in steadily right behind. He still looks like a shark though, the spot right next to his new gap has both the baby tooth and the permanent one behind it.

Okay, so that's an inventory of Robert's teeth, just in case the world was wondering. Now, he's off to sleep. Right, Robert?

Four

Happy Birthday, Colleen! Cake will come later. I promise.

This morning I asked Colleen what she wanted for breakfast, waffles or a bagel. She looked around the kitchen curiously and said "I don't see a cake." She thought the cake came first thing, like finding a quarter from the Tooth Fairy under your pillow or something. Cake will have to wait until her party on Saturday but she did recieve three phone calls today with special birthday wishes from Nanny, her Godmother Jennifer, and Nonna (on her own birthday vacation in sunny Iowa).

And... she and Cousin Amelia had their first fight at lunch. Amelia really wanted to trade her sippy cup for Colleen's water bottle. Amelia tried to hand it to her but Colleen said, "I have my own water. I don't want yours." Amelia grunted and tried again a few more times, with pointing and everything. Amelia finally gave up and chucked the sippy cup at Colleen's head. She's pretty strong and of course hit her mark. Colleen whipped around and shouted at her, "Amelia, you are so rude. I don't like you anymore and you are NEVER getting my water!" Amelia screamed right back, something which will in the near future be "MINE!"

The argument didn't last past Amelia's tears because Colleen then gave her a kiss on her cheek and told her "Poor little kid. Don't be sad. " Amelia forgave her too, leaned in for another kiss and patted Colleen on her shoulder. Amelia then handed her some watermelon to share and Colleen accepted it. Awww.

Colleen just came in as I'm writing this. She wants to know why her name is everywhere. I told her that I'm writing about her birthday. She wants you all to know that she looked but there was no cake.

Happy anniversary, mom and dad

Mom and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary Sunday afternoon by inviting the whole parish over to hear a local folk duo. So Neal and Leandra played and the children drunk lemonade and about a hundred people came out to listen, on a beautiful day, inside. (The adults had champagne.)

In all, a great idea. We were asked to save the date back when they sent out their Christmas cards in February. And it turns out we were here a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Mom and Dad spoke briefly before the concert. Somehow Dad kept his prepared remarks below 20 minutes, Cate was very impressed. Mom related a story: she was talking to her mom one day about a year after they were married and she said she couldn't imagine being together for 35 or 40 years. And Nanny said, "the first five years take forever. And then the next 35 just fly by."

I could manage to agree with that assessment. Cate, sitting at the laptop next to me, says she is still waiting for the flying. "I was promised flying by!"

Below, Dad is wearing The Wedding Coat, which he wore to many summer weddings in the ... '70s, I would assume from the looks of it ... and became part of the family lore. He's recently been able to wear it again. (I added this later, ran out of juice last night, both in the brain and the laptop.)

Many people that I hadn't seen in years, obviously. The Schroeders (John and Dana) from a few blocks down the street jokingly took some credit for my career in journalism, but I told them they were definitely entitled to some of it. They ran a newspaper in rural Minnesota in the '80s and came to our neighborhood when I was in grade school. They helped St. Thomas put together a student newspaper and I was the photographer. (That was the only way I wanted to be involved in journalism, yet I ended up on the word side in college.)

Ann Marie Kotre, who was my parents' realtor in Michigan, was in town. Didn't recognize her, of course, but remembered seeing one of her sons play Tony in West Side Story. Always wanted to play that part, but couldn't dance well enough or sing low enough.

Our cousin Kelly was in from out of town, as well as friend of the family/godmother to Colleen Jennifer. And the family repaired to the family domicile afterward for dinner.

Great time had by all.

I just wrapped up a big D3football.com project, so this is my first chance on the blog in a while. Thanks for your patience. More photos on my Facebook page.

The glasses are found!

Mom called me this morning to report that she found Elizabeth's glasses. In the car, where I suggested :) but buried deep in a seat. Sounds familiar.

In the process, she related to me a story from her childhood where a friend of hers named Elizabeth lost a pair of glasses in their car in Chicago. Years later, when Nanny and Pa were selling the car, they pulled the seats out to clean it and found the glasses.

Thankfully this only took a couple of weeks and didn't last all the way to sale. The car is brand-new.