Nesting

Earlier this spring, our neighbor was knocking down a bird's nest that he found next to the gutter running down the side of his house, just outside our back door. He said it was a blue jay's nest and mentioned how they can be very angry birds. A couple days ago, we noticed the bird had rebuilt its nest. We're not sure what kind it is, but from what we found on the Internet, it sure looks like a blue jay's nest. Lately, the bird has been sitting on it lot. We think it must have a few eggs in there ready to hatch.

The royal wedding

E and I (and Andy) were all up by 4 a.m. to watch Prince William marry Kate Middleton. I'm glad Andy was up earlier than I and put on a pot of coffee. The wedding was beautiful. Her dress was perfect and I loved the tiara she wore. Love the pomp and boy can those Brits put on a show!

E tried to sneak in a quick nap after the wedding and before she had to leave for school.


Tonight we had another of L's softball games. This time they won! She had one hit in tonight's game. Here's a pic of her playing third base. Right after the game we dropped her off at Irving for the school's annual sleepover. The rest of us went to Lalo's for a late Mexican dinner.

B, who watched some of the wedding this morning, was too tired to keep his eyes open. Here he is snoozing at Lalo's.

Camping out

We weren't camping out in London for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, but E and B did sleep in the living room so they (mostly E, of course) wouldn't miss a moment of the pomp and circumstance. Here E is getting her sleeping bag ready. TV coverage starts at 3 a.m. I'm not sure when she's planning to wake up.

Egg drop

Today was Irving's annual Egg Drop. L whipped up her egg drop contraption over the weekend - a Pringles can tied to same plastic grocery bags. She put the egg inside a Ziploc bag to test it last night. That was my idea - in case the egg didn't survive the fall from the mantle and stairs, I wouldn't have to clean up a runny mess. Her egg survived last night's in-house testing and survived the fall from the window at school today. Good job, L!

Caught in the rain

It's been a rainy, rainy April and today was no different - sunshine for a while, then cloudy, then a bit of rain. Over a month ago, E accepted a dog-walking job from a neighbor who attends our church. She goes to their house about three times during the week, lets herself in, walks the dog around the block and puts the dog back. Today, she was out walking when the sky opened up and started raining. She was with the dog, Raffi, near our house so she bolted for our front porch. Here she is with Raffi while they waited for the rain to end.

Where's E?

E brought home her middle school class composite today. There are so many kids in her graduating class that you can't even read the names below the photos. Here's B trying to find E in the picture. Fortunately for us, she's on the end of one of the rows.

Easter Sunday

Our Easter celebration started with the annual potluck brunch at church. I made a breakfast pizza and banana bread. Andy went in early to cook some pancakes. Notice that B is first in line for the spread of breakfast goodies.

Our church service wasn't as long as I suspected it would be. Still, I snuck out at noon to get home and start making the Au gratin Potatoes I said I'd bring to the family dinner. When everyone was home from church, Andy picked up his mom and we rode over to Allison's house for an Easter dinner.

Allison and I chatted about the upcoming royal wedding and she showed me her look-alike Diana/Kate engagement ring she recently bought from QVC. We all tried it on (including Andy's mom) and I had to get a pic of E posing with it. I think she looks like a princess.

Look what Easter brought

L was delighted this afternoon to learn that her friend, S, was back in town for Easter. He moved to Tennessee last summer. She was out riding her bicycle in the neighborhood when she saw S, and brought him home to play for a while. They played video games in the basement then baseball outside.

Easter eggs

The kids were home from school today because of an institute day for the teachers. After going grocery shopping and taking E to the dentist, we decided to dye Easter eggs. Each kid made seven. I think E wins for most creative egg - a British flag in honor of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Palm Sunday

Today we celebrated Palm Sunday at church. All the kids were given palms during Sunday School and E promptly began showing them how to fold their palm into a cross.

At home, she took it to the next level and created a basket out of palms.

Talent show

Tonight L performed in the Pilgrim Church talent show. She sang "Scream" from High School Musical 3. Here's a pic of her before her performance. She said she was a little nervous, but she did great. Below is a video of part of the song. Several church members said she did a great job - even one who coaches singers!

Happy birthday, Irving!

Tonight was the 100th anniversary celebration at Irving School. L wore her centennial T-shirt to school and the party tonight. The back of the shirt lists 100 reasons why students love Irving School.

The school had all the classrooms open for tours, displayed historical information and hosted the annual Taste of Irving community potluck. It was a nice evening.

5 feet, 3/4 of an inch & controlled chaos

Today is E's 14th birthday, her golden birthday, turning 14 on the 14th! Andy measured her today (our annual birthday tradition) and she measured 5 feet, 3/4 of an inch. She's happy to have reached the 5-foot mark! She grew 3.75 inches in the last year. "Yeah, I'm growing," she said.

After school, B invited three of his friends over. It was controlled chaos as they traded and played Yu-Gi-Oh cards. The volume level at times got pretty high. Here they are at the dining room table trading cards and making their decks before they moved into the living room for the actual games. Meanwhile, E is working on her Lego airplane kit she received as a B-day present and L is trying to finish her homework.

Then we had to head to L's second softball game of the season. Two friends had to go home, B rode his bike to the park and his friend, L, took our pink Barbie scooter. They were so cold at the game (it was about 43 degrees outside and windy) that I let B and his friend stay home when I dropped E off for her karate class.

Early celebration

We have a busy Thursday ahead of us so we celebrated E's 14th birthday tonight with dinner at Olive Garden, E's choice. She also opened up a present from us (a Lego airplane kit) and cards from Grandma B and Aunt Cindy.

Go Wishbone!

Tonight was the first game of L's softball season. Rather than T-ball that she's had for the last two years, she's now hitting from a pitching machine. She got two good hits in - one inning she was the only girl who made it on base. She played third base, short center and short stop during the game, but seemed most excited about being pitcher during the warm-up. In a few weeks, the girls will be hitting from live pitchers rather than the pitching machine.

L's team, sponsored by Wishbone restaurant, lost its season opener. They'll try for a victory Thursday. Rather than put her hair in a ponytail, L insisted I cut it - myself! It's nowhere near straight or even. She said she doesn't care. I had to get a picture of L's socks - they're my favorite part of her uniform!

Spring has sprung

Spring is here! My first daffodil bloomed today. Temps are supposed to get up to 80! Kids are out playing and adults are out jogging. B took advantage of the nice weather and rode his bike to Sunday School this morning. I'm hoping the warm weather sticks around and took the plastic off the living room windows.

Game night

Tonight we headed to church for pizza and a family game night. We brought Apples to Apples games and Mille Bornes. Andy and E were playing Life, and I was playing Mille Bornes with B and two other church members. B was really good at telling everyone the rules and keeping everyone on task. L played around with her friends, not being interested in any game.

After several rounds of Mille Bornes, B and I played a game of Clue with the other two members. It was the longest game of Clue ever and we finally gave up and looked at the answers.

That's bright

Andy took L to Sports Authority tonight to buy her a batting helmet for softball. Wouldn't you know she picked out the neon pink one?

Success!

Our first success of the day was registering E for her two summer school classes: health and a consumer education course.

Then, L had her first softball practice. My fingers were crossed that her coach will be a good one and actually teach the girls the rules of the game. He had them practicing for an hour and a half. They did some warm-ups, drills, batting practice, running. I think L will sleep good tonight. Seemed like a successful practice to me.

Later, we headed over to our friend's house for an Election Day celebration party. V was running for the Park Board and came up successful! He's run for public office before and wasn't able to claim victory. This time, though, the party was a celebration.

Problems

Here's E going through the high school's online summer school catalog. She was planning to register for a health class and a general business course.

Andy was up early, ready to register E for summer school at 6 a.m. Unfortunately, the high school didn't put up the link for registration until 8 a.m. And then, it wasn't working properly. When we entered E's student ID number, it told us she didn't exist. Somehow, E got to a "shopping basket" on her laptop and it showed other kids' summer swimming lessons in it.

Students are encouraged to register early for summer school because the popular close early. At least that's what the administrators told us at the incoming freshmen open house.

I told E I'd keep trying throughout the morning, but when her friend, A, came over to walk to school and told us her mom had no problem registering her, E started freaking out. I calmed her down and sent them out the door. Later, A's mom emailed me to see if I was able to register E. I said no, and that I was about to email her to figure out what magic trick she used to register A.

Andy called the high school and they said they were having technical problems. Later a notice was posted on the school's web site saying that summer school registration would reopen at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Hope we have better luck tomorrow.

A Latvian experience

Tonight Andy and I headed downtown to the beautiful Richard H. Driehaus Museum to a reception to celebrate the opening of hte new Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Latvia in Illinois. The Consulate opened last week in Andy's law office. A fellow attorney in the office, Rob Blumberg, was recently named Honorary Consul of Latvia. He's of Latvian descent and he's working to develop business relations between Latvia and companies in the United States.

The evening started with a champagne reception (the champagne kept flowing throughout the evening) and brief comments from Rob and the president of Latvia, Dr. Valdis Zatlers. There were Secret Service agents all over and a uniformed Latvian soldier guarding the president. The president was friendly enough, but the soldier didn't crack a smile the entire evening.

Driehaus himself was at the reception, with his Latvian wife. Among the other notables were former Gov. Jim Thompson; Federal Court Judge Ilana Rovner, who was born in Riga, the capital of Latvia; and the Ambassador of Latvia to the U.S., Andres Pildegovics. I wish I had my camera with me. The museum was gorgeous.

Two missing :(

After working for a week on a 1,000-piece puzzle of Chicago's skyline, B (who did most of the work on it, with a little help from E) finished today and discovered two of the pieces were missing. That's better than we fared last year. Guess buying puzzles from a second-hand shop isn't such a good idea. At least, we haven't had much luck finding them with all the pieces. This one even came with a few pieces that didn't belong. Hmm.

Orbeez

When we took the family to visit Andy's friend, C, and his family in January, the kids discovered Orbeez. They'd seen them advertised on TV, but C's kids had some and were more than happy to share them. Today, L and E put the remainder in water. Not sure what they're going to do with them now. They are fun to play around with, though.