no noelle for a week! :-(

noelle is heading to florida this week for spring break, with a friend from school and her family. this is obviously a giant step for us as parents. it doesn't seem like very long ago when just going to a friend's house for a sleep over was a big deal. now she will be hundreds of miles away from us for whole week! we did put a lot of thought into this, weighed the pros and con's and in the end decided that this would be a great experience for noelle. we are rigging her up with a cell phone so that we can stay in daily contact with her. i'm resisting the urge to teach her to twitter as i don't really think it's necessary :-). maybe if she takes some pictures we'll do a post trip wrap up later. have fun noelle, we'll miss you! see you on good friday.

like new...

this morning i found an old pair of pants buried deep in the archives of my closet. i think i took them out of the rotation a couple of years ago because i didn't like the way they fit. i tried them on out of desperation this morning and - ta da! they fit great. it's pretty much like getting a new pair of pants without spending any money. that's how i roll during a recession.

bringing home the hardware...

alaina participated in the annual mcyo spelling bee contest and placed 2nd in the 6th grade. this afternoon we went to the awards ceremony at ascension church in minneapolis. the ceremony is primarily for athletic achievements but as her basketball team did not fare so well we are very proud of the fact that she succeeded academically. a side note, the word that she missed she actually spelled correctly the first time and then decided to change it. a case for always going with your gut. congrats lainie!

the great outdoors...

thinking spring...

today is the first day of spring and the light coating of snow we received overnight does not dampen my spring mood. in fact, the snow is already gone, which is what happens this time of the year due to the ground being warmer, and sun angle (so i'm told). this has got to be the best time of the year in my opinion. the long winter is pretty much dead, robins and cardinals are glimpsed occasionally in the yard, and you can venture outside without gloves for more than 2 minutes at a time. plus, it's just nice to see more greens and less grays and browns. other less romantic signs of spring are the ncaa tourney, mlb spring training, running out of girl scout cookies, and a trip to mc d's for a filet.
i'm enjoying the last of my pto frenzy for awhile. i'll have more to use next quarter but shouldn't have to use it as randomly as i'll have less.
back with more later.

my big day weekend...

today completed the weekend long celebration of my 41st birthday. i have to say, turning 41 is not nearly as traumatic as turning 40. it's more or less just 40 + 366, which is really no big deal. we had a nice dinner out yesterday with family and today the wife and i went skiing sans kids, which was a nice treat.
thanks to all who wished me well and sent greetings, emails, and such. i am blessed to have such great friends and an awesome family. i hope to post a video or two from my new flip video gadget.

update
here's a couple of new video's. not for those prone to motion sickness or otherwise easily bored.

a couple more days off...

after working a grueling 4 consecutive days i am enjoying a couple of more days of downtime. it all seems rather silly, and it sort of is, but when your company says, "use your pto, or lose it" the choice is pretty clear. again i find myself with no particular schedule, which isn't all bad. having monday off as well, we have toyed with the notion of going skiing again but with temps projected to be in the mid 30's that will be a last minute decision.
i have two more days to take by the end of first quarter so i'll be repeating this scenario later on in the month. lest you think i doth protest too much, let me be clear. i'm grateful for the time away from a sometimes stressful job, and happy to have said job. in this day and age i am well aware that it could be much worse.