February 2019

           Our month started off with my 40^th birthday party at the Blind Owl brewery.  The turnout was overwhelming from family and friends.  I appreciated everyone coming, especially Jason, Joe, Matt, Tim and Amy who drove in from out of town.  The evening flew by but I enjoyed every minute getting a chance to see so many people that I’ve come to know over the years.  Of course, as we get older, we realize that we don’t recover from our hangovers as much as easily as we did in prior years.  I know I took one nap the day after the party and I think Deb actually took two! 

 

            We had planned to go skiing in West Virginia over President’s Day weekend, but the weather didn’t look like it was going to cooperate, so we talked with the O’Rourke’s (family we were planning on skiing with) and pulled an audible and went skiing in Michigan.  We found a place in Cadillac, MI and spent 3 days at the nearby Caberfae resort.  We put all 5 kids in ski school the first day and we enjoyed a day skiing all over the mountain.  The kids did really well and on the second day everyone was doing pretty well.  We had 2 kindergarteners, so they required some help from the better skiers in the group, but we got everyone up and down the mountain!  Off the mountain, we had a great condo with an indoor pool on the lake.  The kids enjoyed the pool and got along really well.  The lake was frozen, so we were able to walk with the kids on it…which was pretty fun to do for the first time.  The kids got along really well, sleeping in the same room, and playing hide and seek for hours. 

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

Sarah’s YMCA team has really improved over the last month.  The honest truth is that they are an all-girl team playing against teams that mostly consist of boys.  But, they show up each week excited to play and seem to be having fun.  Sarah also went to Liam’s birthday party this month which was at Main Event.  Sarah’s class went on a field trip to the Children’s museum to see the dinosaur exhibit and also check out the other exhibits.  Her class helped lead the school mass this month and she sang in the choir. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

            Allison has really improved her basketball skills this season.  She is dribbling better, playing better defense and actually going after some rebounds.  Her team hasn’t won a game this year, but that hasn’t stopped her from having a good time.  Enough of the girls from her class have shown enough interest, we found a league where they all can be on the same team in a Park Tudor league starting in March.  Allison’s class also organized a wax museum for the school.  She was Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross.  Allison had to do the research and put together a 1 minute speech for anyone who was willing to listen!  Allison’s class also helped lead the school mass this month and she did one of the petitions.   

A few more items from this month:

• We were blessed with another niece who was brought into our family.  Erin Elizabeth Dodson was born on February 26^th and we have had a chance to visit with her.  She is adorable and my sister’s family is adjusting from being just the 3 of them to adding a 4^th. 
• On Superbowl Sunday, I took the girls over the Dodson’s house for their annual party.  The girls did well playing with Molly and we got them home around kickoff.
• We started our renovation of the girl’s bathroom.  We also continued to plan and think about our first floor renovation that we are aiming to start in August / September. 
• Debbie had dinner with Diane.  They enjoyed getting some sushi and catching up. 
• Laura came to town to meet our new niece and I was able to meet up with her and the Wahmans for a late dinner at Basbeaux. 
• Jeremy and I went to a Pacers game toward the end of the month.  I got some tickets from a buddy at work and we had dinner at Brother’s and then watched the Pacers beat the Timberwolves.