The snow is going....going.....going....gone!

Well the snow is just about all gone, so I thought I would post a before and after picture of our Buick that was buried under the snow and now has re-emerged, it is almost a 6 week difference between the pictures.

I have not tried starting it just yet, we need to fill the front tire first.  As you can see by the comparison we had quite the accumulation of snowfall.

Now our Rhubarb is beginning to pop up and things are slowly getting warmer, there is still ice on the lake and people are still walking out on it to fish.

They finally opened the supervisor position for my area and I put in my application for that position.  No word yet on interviews

Mary was home on spring break last week and we celebrated her birthday.  We were glad to have her home for a week to just "hang-out"

Sarah has her play production with the Tripoli High school students on Friday night we will be attending.  We are looking forward to watching that.

Matthew will be hiking in Texas over his spring break next week, and that will be a lot of fun for him.  At least it will get him away from his XBOX for a week.

Everybody is doing well in school.

We went over to Garner for Parent teacher conference for Daniel's shop class,  the instructor showed us some of Daniel's projects.  Daniel is doing quite well, he made a nice crowbar, and wooden truck and his welding is very good. He has already made a boot scraper and a nice scoop.

Philomena is doing well in dance and her recital is coming up shortly.

Stephen is having fun with cub scouts and he is currently signed up for swim lessons

our sump pump is working very nicely keeping our basement dry.

OK,  second half of the March Birthdays goes out to

Nathaniel,

Greg H.,

Janice
 
Dominica
 
and
 
Raphael
 
Happy birthday wishes to all
 
and a happy anniversary wishes goes out to Carlon and Connie who will be celebrating their wedding anniversary at the end of this month.
 
Easter is just around the corner and Spring has sprung so everybody enjoy the nice weather whenever it comes!
 
posted by Randy

Philomena's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Philomena

We did the traditional family singing Happy Birthday to her this morning to wake her up.

She had a fun day, we celebrated her birthday the night before, with presents, cake and ice cream.  We surprised her, she thought we were going to celebrate it later, but we fooled her.

As you can see with 3 out of the 8 people not present our celebration participants are much smaller, and the cake seems to last a little bit longer now also.

I did win a cake at the boy scout roundtable meeting this week so we have two cakes to eat.


The view outside our windows is still white, eventually things will warm up.

Stay warm and keeping thinking warm thoughts!

posted by Randy

and stephen wanted to go on the log ride...

but i didn't...

although i did go on the tornado, which was my first roller coaster. and the first time is always the worst. and now thinking back, i do kind of want to go on it again. along with the raging river, the sawmill splash, the silly silo, the bumper cars, the underground the g-force and the tilt a whirl.
so technically another trip to adventure land.

I'd forgotten how much fun it can be...

..especially after going on the tilt-a-whirl, the bumper cars, the silly silo,the silly silo again, and then the tilt-a-whirl again...can really make you nauseous, but i did NOT throw up! ;)

but i still had a great time with my friend Chris [second from top in photo], my mom and my younger siblings.
i think Philomena especially had fun going on [one right after the other] the log ride the silly silo the tilt-a-whirl and the tornado. and then later in the day going on the dragon twice in a row.
along with Chris who went on the log ride the silly silo twice the tilt-a-whirl and the tornado with the only break being the walk between rides. and also went on the dragon twice in a row with Philomena.
and it was also moms first time on the raging river because she was always holding one of us in a stroller! and while we went down the river i went directly under the water fall and got soaked!
and then dried off on the combination of rides i mentioned above

only Stephen escaped unscathed

and then proceeded to go on the log ride where he got drenched.


sorry mom that your anniversary was the only available day to go, and i thank you for bringing us!

posted by Daniel

Its my Birthday

Well it is my Birthday! One year less than the half century mark.

Our church bulletin yesterday had an announcement of an open house next Sunday for Monsignor Slepicka who will be celebrating his 80th birthday. He does not look a day over 60 and he has been to Alaska this past year. I hope I have that much energy when I am at that age!

We will be celebrating my birthday tomorrow. Things were too busy today.

Everybody have a good week

Posted by Randy

de ja vu on birthdays

Thanks Daniel for adding variety to the blog by posting a new blog.

Well another round of birthdays for the week.

Happy birthday to Paul on last Monday and Emmanuela today! Paul I hope you had a fun birthday party and you had enough cake and ice cream left over so you could have seconds

Emmanuela I hope you had a real good time today on your birthday enjoying cake and ice cream and blowing out the candles, and you felt like a queen all day today!

I see Tom and Melissa will be celebrating a wedding anniversary on Saturday, Congratulations on their wedding anniversary.

Nancy will be celebrating a birthday on Sunday (will all those candles fit on one cake?, I guess it depends on the size of the cake!) Not to worry I will find that answer out in a couple years! :-)

Doug and Janice will be celebrating an anniversary on Sunday also, so we extend a heartfelt congratulations on their wedding anniversary. I hope they have a wonderful day.

And on Monday I begin my final year in the 40's bracket. Do they still make Geritol? What does it taste like?

We just finished Matthew's Eagle project tonight. The bat house is done! I am sure he will post pictures of it on his blog sometime soon. I am really proud of him. It was a good project and is an excellent addition to the outdoor classroom at Clear Creek School. Now the nagging will continue to get the project put on paper and sent to the Boy Scout office in Waterloo before August 24, 2009.

Sarah has left the building!
Sarah has now moved down to Sumner, IA and begins her new career this week starting Thursday with new teacher orientation. My first tax deduction has flown the coupe!

Mary is finished with summer camp for the year, she is up at Valley Fair, having fun. I wonder if she is getting her phone wet again?

The pyrotechnic Guild International (fireworks) is back in town for their big conference. they set off fireworks every night showing off their stuff and styles. Pyrotechnic professionals from around the world come to this conference. It is like a big trade show for people who put on firework displays. Instead of rolling out a new car or computer to show off or display they shoot off fireworks they design. They were here 4 years ago, and they liked Mason City so much they came back. It definitely brings in a lot of people.

Well have a good week

Posted by Randy

Birthday Salutation little Sister!

I wish a Birthday salutations to my little sister Marcy!

She is still in her 30's so she has not reached the mile marker 40 yet like the rest of her older brothers and sisters, while some of the siblings have even made it to milemarker 50 already!

So if anyone happens to sees Marcy today, please wish her a happy birthday and maybe even tell a story about her when you were growing up with her.

I will start,

Back when Marcy was in the second grade (picture on top left) I did custodial work where Marcy was in school. I would hide notes in her desk when I cleaned her classroom. Some of the notes said "Marcy is a Nerd", and "why are you reading this when you should be listening to your teacher?"

Also, I believe the video of her rendition of "Wayne's World" is still at mom and dad's house!

If her other bothers or sisters have a story to share about Marcy's younger years you can add them to the comment section, or share them with her family!

Happy Birthday Marcy!

Posted by Randy