Happy Birthday, Kate! Ciao, baby!

This house no longer has teenage children.... instead of "I am this many ... 2"
Kate is now this many.... 2 - 0! Happy Birthday to our Kater! :-)

Somewhere..

in Italy, my youngest child is capturing 100s of beautiful photographs and having a marvelous adventure....

in Wisconsin, my older child is working hard, enjoying some time away from school, thinking about trying some new things, and pampering her kitty cat....

in the Journal Sentinel, my bookshelf will be featured in "before" and "after" shots - the result of winning a bookshelf makeover...

and somewhere...

my dear friend's spirit lives on... as I will see when his life and times are memorialized next Tuesday.

10,000 miles................

If I had a friend
All on this earth
You’ve been a friend to me

One mother and one brother....

The mother... :-)

and the brother....

Happy Mother's Day!!

Book Freak.

Just a couple sections of one branch of The Barr Family Library. I know. I need an intervention.

A month.... ya, I know.

Just one thing after another... reports for school, lessons, lots of district testing, meetings for each one of the reports, budgets for next year's supplies, stuff around the house, Easter, reading books for the book groups (The Book Thief... Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty... ), and other books (Here If You Need Me .... Schuyler's Monster... ) and will need to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle before the end of the month... Kate will finish the semester and then will head off to Italy on the 19th... Molly will be glad to be done with this semester, too.... especially when the studio class is wrapped. Charlie finally was able to get out on the golf course a few times...so there's a happy guy...

Doesn't matter how old you are... when the Easter Bunny leaves bubbles and the day is sunny and bright .. you just have to try 'em out!

This look is the one I open my eyes to see first thing in the morning sometimes.... two tennis balls in there, folks!
What happens when people ask for your name so they can call your order, then they realize they don't know how to spell it? R-E-N-I-A = Renee..... close, but no cigar.

Egg rolls... eye rolls... and ROFL...

With the goal of arranging family gathering times that are more consistent, rather than few and far between, the tag was made by my youngest brother-in-law to me/us (Ole, too) after seeing my brother- and sister-in-law off to Russia with the last one. We thought April might bring Rachel home to us, or Shallece in for a visit, but when one or both of those "reasons" could not happen, we just decided we didn't need a reason. So, the word was sent out to those in the near vicinity...to see if and when people could gather on relatively short notice.

And responses came back. Some would be able to gather this time... others were definitely with us in spirit as they celebrated other things, traveled, were in other locations or were working hard. This time, the group ventured to Moy's Restaurant in Elkhorn, which has not lost much of its original appearance even after the renovation.

I ordered an egg roll (and sweet and sour shrimp)... and was kind of worried. Since the Cantonese restaurant closed in Fort, we haven't been able to find a place that makes egg rolls quite like theirs. However, tonight we had success!!! The egg rolls are wonderful! Garlic shrimp, moo shoo pork, General Tsao's chicken...sesame chicken..... etc... were other choices made from the menu.

Much laughter, teasing, and story-telling occurred for the roughly hour-and-a-half we were able to spend together tonight. After talking for a bit afterwards on the steps outside Moys, we headed off, once again, in different directions, with talk of where and when the next gathering would occur being bantered about.

Hopefully, we will be able to continue this plan of action with people joining the group whenever their schedules and lives allow.... let someone (Jamie, Ole, Mary, Charlie, me...) know what works for you, so all who want to know get the word. We'd love to see everyone from time-to-time...

P.S. What? No visuals you say? Ask Kate...:-)