Marching to His Own Beat

Never a follower.

Today's Pic

Dinner Out

The kids wanted to go out for dinner tonight, so we did. (Ron is out of town this week.) This was one of the nicest dinners we've had in a long time. Not food nice, but enjoying each other's company nice. The usual arguing was replaced by laughter, and it was very nice.

Tyler was teasing Danielle about taking a selfie with her. His thumb is purposefully covering her face. :)

My (Spring) Bulletin Board

Here is my spring bulletin board in the kitchen at work. I realize it's not food related, but it makes me think of spring and summer, which makes me happy. Considering we got an inch of snow this afternoon, I need those happy thoughts. (I may have gone a little overboard with the cricut machine!)

1/2 a Celebration

We are probably old enough not to need to celebrate 1/2 birthdays, but we're never too old for cake.

 

As you can see, he has changed a lot in the past 12 months.

Grand Prize Winner

Last year around this time I entered some pictures in a photo contest at a local feed store and won the grand prize of 150lbs of bird seed. I entered some photos in the same contest again this year and again won the grand prize! This year the prize was lessened to 100lbs, which is fine with me. I still have seed left from last year!

This is the picture that won.

My prize

The person who judged the photos last year was from a park system in a nearby town. She took two of my three photo entries from the store last year, without my permission, to use at the park. When I found out, I contacted her to find out what she was going to use them for, thinking if she was going to print them in a publication I would like to be sure to get the photo credits. She told me she just wanted to hang them in her office, so I asked her to send them back since she took them without permission. We went back and forth a little, and I never got my pictures back. I wasn't happy, but I let it go. Well, guess what happened this time. I went in to get my prize and noticed one of my pictures was missing. The person judging the photos took it! I think it was the same person but am trying to verify that. I don't think I've ever charged anyone for my photos, but they are mine. At a minimum I think she should have asked my permission before taking it. I probably would have let her have it anyway. A couple months ago one of my FB "friends" laughingly told me she had several of my pictures printed to decorate her house. While I was flattered she liked them enough to hang them, I was a little hurt that she didn't ask me first. So I am a little frustrated with that whole thing tonight.

On a positive note, when I went tonight to pick up about 20 pictures I had printed to hang up at work, I was asked to sign a copyright release to indicate I had the rights to print the professional photos. The sweet girl behind the counter even asked me if I had a business card. Granted, it was Walmart, but it was a nice little ego boost.

Today's Pic

Spring's Hope

The temperature made it to the upper 60s today. Some places got up to 69. The weatherman said last night that today would be the warmest day we've had in 139 days. Short sleeves, no coats, windows open, kids riding their bikes, birds singing. It. Was. Wonderful. We're back to normal temps for this time of year tomorrow (lows 40s), but today's gift was very much appreciated.

Ron suggested I skip getting groceries this afternoon and go for a walk through the park instead. Everyone else had the same idea, but it was still nice to get out. The ponds are still covered in ice, but some of the migrating birds have returned. I didn't really see any other wildlife except for this frog. He wasn't able to move much. I think maybe it was a little colder than he had expected, or maybe it didn't stay as warm as he had hoped?  Either way, I hope he survives. Today's taste of spring brings hope for the warm days ahead. And, not counting spring break or Memorial Day, we only have 8 more Mondays of school.

Another VB Tourney

Danielle's volleyball team played in their second tournament this weekend. They did a great job and came in 2nd place overall. Danielle did a great job and scored several points today. In one game, she scored six or seven points in a row to finish the game with a win. Their next tournament isn't until the weekend after Easter.

Today's Pic

First VB Tourney

That was a lot of fun! Although it was a very long day, I did not expect to enjoy watching the volleyball games as much as I did.

Our team did well, but they have a lot of room for improvement. Thankfully there is potential. We won a few sets and a match but lost several very close games. It wasn't too bad considering it was our first tournament. Danielle was spectacular. She was all over the place, making saves and passing the ball to the setter. She's never had the opportunity to play like that during rec ball, and it was amazing to watch her go. I'm feeling a little bad we didn't let her play last year when she asked. I am looking forward to next weekend's tournament!

 

 

Bump, Set, Spike!

Ready for tomorrow's new sports adventure...

Danielle is excited and nervous for her first club (travel) volleyball tournament tomorrow. She was designated as the libero for her team, so she is feeling pretty good about that. It will be a long day. We have to be there from start to finish, regardless of when her team is done. It's about an hour and half away and we have to be there by 7:30am. You do the math. On a Saturday. Yuck. I hope she has fun. Despite the early wake up, I'm looking forward to watching her play.

A Rare Moment

Danielle needed help with a game on her tablet so Tyler sat with her for a few minutes to help her out. Occasionally they still like each other. Even more occasionally, Tyler will agree to let me take his picture.

At his check up in January he measured 1/2" shorter than me. I noticed a couple weeks ago that I was looking up to make eye contact with him. When I pointed it out, he beamed and called me shorty for awhile. This has been a big year of changes for him in many ways. He seems to be handling it wonderfully.

Beauty in the Cold

I went to the park for a couple hours the other day when the temperature climbed into the double digits. This cold weather has been hard on all of us. I found a sweet little raccoon all curled up like he was asleep, but he wasn't. He either froze to death or starved to death due to the weather, I assume. He was curled up on the bank next to a frozen stream.  It's supposed to reach the 40s tomorrow, which will make everyone want to run around in shorts and flip flops, but we're back down into the negative temps by Friday. In the midst of all this cold and snow, I'm thankful for the increasing amount of daylight, the birds singing their spring love songs, and brief opportunities to watch the deer walk through snowy fields.

Finishing with a Win

Danielle's basketball team played in their last tournament of the season this weekend. They won all 5 games, some by quite a bit, and came in first place in the tournament. Danielle had at least 8 steals between today's 2 games.

Causing a jump ball - which ended up changing the possession

Another steal

A little red faced from playing hard. She was in almost the entire championship game.

I think Danielle really enjoyed herself this season. She learned a lot and had fun with her friends. She got a lot more playing time this year, too. Now we make the shift to volleyball. Her first club volleyball tournament is this coming weekend.

Today's Pic