Happy Birthday Jim!

Young Authors Award

Angel was choosen (again) as a winner in the Illinois Young Authors contest. Last year she placed 3rd & got a medal. This year she got more of an honorable mention which yielded a ribbon. But she's now in Jr. High and competing in a much bigger pond of fish, so to speak. Either way we are proud of her & her efforts. Good job Angel!

KUK SOOL WON award night

Jim, Brianna & John have been doing karate since last summer. They are each doing very well in their classes and plan to continue for quite some time. Last week there was an award banquet they attended. Each of them received awards for Student of the Year nominee.

Jim was also nominated & choosen as the Most Improved award. He had no idea he was getting this award. Master Ed called me in the afternoon to tell me he was receiving this special award. I had no plans to attend at all. Knowing Jim was to get this award I had to try & get there & keep it all a secret from him. I skipped the dinner portion of the banquet & showed up just in time to get video of Jim getting his award. The other students in the studio are the ones who picked Jim for this award. It's no surprise that Jim would be seen as a person who is always striving to do better & go above & beyond what is considered normal.

Good job Brianna, John & Jim! I'm so proud.

Grandma Zimmerman

Last week Jim's Grandma Zimmerman passed away. We spent the first part of this week up in "Chicago" for the funeral services. It certainly brings on some tears to think of her not being around anymore. But what a long (91 years!) & wonderful life she lead. From my point of view, she was an excellent grandma to Jim while growing up. She was also a wonderful great grandmother to all of our kids, as well. Here is the last pic we had taken of our kids with her. She never had a chance to meet (baby) Carmen.

Happy Easter!

First & foremost I want to pause & reflect on the reason WHY we celebrate Easter. Yeah, it's great that we get nice pretty dress, have family over & eat a specially prepared dinner. And the fun with the egg hunts & more candy than we need to eat. Aside from that all how wonderful that Jesus Christ came to this earth to die on the cross for our sins. I certainly do not deserve all He did for me on that cross so long ago. It's our prayer that you have also taken the time to take in such the gift of Christ's love. Christ is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

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What a crazy, yet wonderful day! It all started with a nice layer of snow on the ground. It was more of a dusting. It's still not what you want to see when you've got frilly dresses to put on your girls. And what is Easter without our best dresses. We have had years past where we didn't get special outfits for the day, but was indeed blessed this year to be able to do so.

The cousins were even part of the special appearal. It was completely unplanned. I, of course, got my girls the matching (but different color) dresses. Much to our surprise, Hannah & Krystyne, had the same dresses!

The highlight of the day was John getting baptized. Praise God that John wanted to show this step of faith to the church.

After church we had grandparents, aunts & cousins over for dinner. Followed by the traditional easter egg hunt. It was cut quite short since it was too cold to be outside.

First chuckle?

I got (baby) Carmen to laugh...well, maybe it's a chuckle. She's ticklish, like all the rest of us. So I was playfully poking her & got her to laugh (um, er...chuckle). I was not expecting it at all, it caught me off guard. So I run & get the camera to try & capture the moment. Of course she didn't do it as good as the first time off camera. But I caught a little bit of it.

This is a coveted milestone for Jim. He always makes our kids laugh first. Which you will hear me talk about in the video. And since it means so much to him that is why I call it her first chuckle. Later when I told Jim he clarified that he is always the first to make the kids laugh by his funny antics (making faces, telling them *jokes*, etc.). So technically mine doesn't count. Enjoy the video.

Luck of me Irish

Last Monday was St. Patrick's Day. Somewhere on my mom's side there is some Irish. That makes my kids about 1/10 Irish along with a mix of other nationalities. (Yes, we're basically mutts). However for some fun I whipped up some leprachan mashed potatoes for supper. The kids were a little hesitant at the sight of them,but I promised them they would taste no different.