Friends

In one of my earlier blogs I think I said something about friends being the dessert of life. I love dessert (that's pretty obvious), and I love my friends. I feel blessed to have many friends, and one of the perks of summer vacation is spending more time with them. It seems like I go out to lunch a lot in the summer. Today I got to spend time with two of my dear friends, Cathy and Sue. They have been my friends since grade school. We try to see each other whenever Sue is in town. Today we went to the Parthenon for lunch and didn't leave until 3:30! I had a great time and can't wait until we get together again. Thanks Sue and Cathy for all the laughs, and the conversations about getting old!

Earlier this spring I had the chance to go out with Cathy and Sophie. Sophie was an AFS student from Thailand our senior year of high school. She lived with Cathy and her family. When she comes back to the states to visit, we try to get together. What a fun time we had!

Our Grandkids

One Friday night a couple of weeks ago Mike and I had all four of the grandkids for the evening. We took them to Pioneer Park for a picnic, and then to Antelope Park to play. Afterwards we headed to Zesto for ice cream cones. My mission for the night was to take pictures of all of them together. It was a challenge, especially when they wanted to play more than pose for me.

The Library

I love to read. If I have any free time, I would usually choose to read. Right now I am in the middle of 6 different books. During the summer, I have this urgency to read as many books as I can, because during the school year, I just don't have the time. Earlier this spring my book club read Dewey by Vicki Myron. It's a true story about a cat that lived in the Spencer, Iowa library for many years. In one chapter the author gives the history of the Spencer Library.

The first library in Spencer was built by the Carnegie foundation. "Carnegie was a ruthless corporate capitalist that turned a nation of farmers into factory workers." He made his money in the steel industry. Even though he was ruthless in business, he gave money away to worthwhile causes. One of the causes that many cities in the U.S. benefited from was libraries. Lincoln was fortunate enough to have four of his libraries. They were all constructed with the same classical style, and they were symmetrical in design.

As the author of Dewey began to describe the interior, memories came flooding back to me of my own experiences with Carnegie libraries. The librarian was at the top of the stairs, and there were side rooms small and intimate with bookshelves to the ceiling. The ceilings were high and the windows were enormous. The bottom floor was half underground and held the children's section. "The floorboards with dark wood were polished and wide. They creaked when you walked and often that creaking was the only sound that was heard. It was as quiet as a church."

My first visit to a library, that I remember, was a Carnegie library a block away from our house. I remember walking on those creaking floors, and the wonderful smells of the books coming from the rooms. I loved going to that library! It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many books, and knowing that I could take any of them home with me. I was only five when we started going, and probably not able to read yet, but it was the beginning of my love affair with books. After reading Dewey, I decided to take pictures of the Carnegie library buildings still in Lincoln. None of them are used as libraries now, but three of them are still standing. This is the library where it all started. It's still at 48th and Cleveland.

Probably the one where I spent the most time was the Havelock Library. It looked just like this one, but it was torn down in the '70s.

I appreciate the public libraries so much, and am thankful that Mr. Carnegie realized the importance of them. Now, I need to get back to one of my books. I only have a few pages left to read, and then I can take it back to the library and check out more!

Tuesdays with Lawson

Brenda and I watched the movie "Tuesdays with Morrie" last night. It is a story about a man who is dying from "Lou Gehrig's disease" and goes on to teach what living is all about. The movie was very moving and made me think about our Tuesdays. Morrie said that we must always be dependent on others. As babies we are totally dependent on others, and as we grow old we become dependent on others. He also said that as babies, we need the touch of our parents - by holding them and loving them. This need for a warm touch never goes away, we just bury it deep inside. We have Lawson most every Tuesday and you can also learn so much about living by being with a three year old. Nobody can touch you like a grandchild - or teach you so much in just a simple game of "Lets get granma!"

Hopefully, the pictures tell the whole story!

This is what keeps me going back

It's Sunday night and I get to go to school and teach tomorrow. There are Sunday nights that I can't type those words and mean it. But, last Friday I had one of those moments that as a teacher keeps me going back for more. It was during my first period math class - math isn't easy for a lot of the students in that class. Right before the end of class I was complimenting them on the great job they had done. It was a new concept for them and they had really worked hard. I wanted them to know how proud I was of their effort. One of my students raised his hand and said, "You did a dang good job of teaching us, Mrs. Weekly." That one sentence makes it worth getting up in the morning. Thanks, Tyler!

Overnight at Grandpa and Grandma's Part 2

On Friday night we had the blessing of having Breck and Braydon spend the night. After helping us set up for a brunch at church we ordered Chinese and Subway takeout. Breck and Braydon were disappointed that they didn't have much time to play at our house (especially since it seemed to take forever to get the Chinese food). After we ate we headed downstairs to play Outdoor Challenge on our wii. They loved playing against each other for points. Unfortunately, Braydon did not get as many points as Breck. On one of the games, I challenged Breck. Boy, was that a disaster! Talk about being out of shape! Then Braydon challenged grandpa to a game. It was so fun to watch them both. Both of them were out to win. After a real workout, the game ended in a draw. Grandpa was exhausted and Braydon was pumped that he didn't get beat! We headed upstairs for baths and tea time. After an hour of playing on the wii Breck told me she was really tired! I think they were even too tired to put much effort into our tea time. Breck didn't even drink any of hers.

They headed to bed without one complaint! By the time I got in after cleaning up our tea, Grandpa was into storytelling. Breckthenia and Braydonia the Great had to defeat the Ice Queen and her Dragon. Mike just told me that if you want to know more about the story you will have to wait for the book to come out. Of course, we had to read our Archie and Grandma story (it's tradition) and then it was lights out. Mike and I barely made it out of the room before the kiddos were fast asleep. They didn't stir all night! And the next thing we knew it was chocolates for breakfast!

Honor your parents

In the Bible we are commanded to honor your parents. What a privilege it is to honor your folks when they are honorable. I have had the opportunity to have my parents be part of my life all of my life - I know that sounds corny but to have my parents still living is something that not everyone can say. My parents have their birthdays just eight days apart. My father's was last Friday (the 16th) and my mother's is next Saturday (the 24th). Throw Andy's birthday in on the 8th, we are birthdayed out by the end of the month!

We had the opportunity to take my parents out for brunch today (Sunday). The weather was beautiful and we met my folks at Wilderness Ridge. With my folks both being in their 80's, it is a blessing to be able to have them out in January. We all ate more than we ever needed to eat but hey, if you don't, how can you get your money's worth, right??????

Happy birthday Mom and Dad - let's do it again next year!

Overnight at Grandpa and Grandma's

Emma loves to wear our glasses. These are one's she found in a drawer. Mike thinks she looks like a little Sarah Palin. Look out world!

Grandpa, come and get me!

Emma and Lawson spent the night with us last night because Corrin took Andy to Omaha for his birthday. We have had a busy 24 hours. Since I didn't want to cook, we went to McDonald's. Of course, I was the one who spilled the milk! Then it was on to Target for toys and Saturday morning chocolates. Since it was snowing and slick we headed for home. Grandpa and Lawson played a lot of Woody (Toy Story) camping out in his sleeping bag, while Emma and Grandma crafted with Magic Clay. After baths, it was bedtime - more for Grandpa and Grandma then for Emma and Lawson.

Whenever our grandkids spend the night it is our tradition to have a box of chocolates in bed in the morning (we don't eat the whole box, just two or three each.) After breakfast with lots of whipped cream on our cereal Lawson and Grandpa played "Come and Get Me" while Emma and I baked muffins and did other kitchen things. Then we got our workout with wii Outdoor Challenge. It is so cute to watch Lawson run, stomp moles, and do the seesaw challenge against Emma. Lawson's goal is to not try to knock Emma off, but to fall into the water himself because he likes the splash. Emma took a mine ride and jumped rope.

While Lawson and Grandpa watched a Batman cartoon, Emma scrapbooked. She has her own book she puts her pages in at our house. She is a great scrapbooker and has some very entertaining pages. I did a really stupid thing while she was scrapbooking. Her book fell apart, so I decided to glue it back together. I decided to use super glue so it will stay together. I got a little too much and needed to wipe it up. Without thinking I used my fingers and then put them together. What a mistake. Emma thought I was joking at first when I couldn't get my fingers apart. But when I told her she needed to go get Grandpa, I think she realized I was in trouble. Fortunately, I got them apart and didn't lose hardly any skin. Next time I think I will just get her a new scrapbook.

We had a great time, but I think I'll head to bed pretty soon. I'll try to make it to 7:30 tonight!

Two things

First, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Here is a picture of our New Year's Eve party at Paschold's. We had a fondue party. It was fun trying something new, but the best part was that with 6 fondue pots sizzling, we didn't burn their house down (or ruin Bonnie's table)!

Second, I am trying to join the digital age of scrapbooking. This is my first attempt. It only took Mike and me an hour and 15 minutes to do this page. It has to get faster or this will be my one and only attempt!

Now that we have "tried" to finish this we found out our digital age of scrapbooking is still in the trial and error phase - more error at this point!