Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Matt has been busy with school and robotics. For not seeing a lot of him, I was able to take lots of pictures. Here Matt is working on a project for "A Tale of  Two Cities" for English class. It's a guillotine made of yarn. A most ineffective guillotine, if you ask me. The finished guillotine. He says there is symbolism in the use of yarn and the colors of the yarn. It looks like a dream catcher. He got 28 out of 30 on his presentation, and apparently the teacher said he's good at BSing. I asked him why the teacher said that and he explained that his project broke during the presentation and he found a way to incorporate the breakage into his symbolism explanation.  Matt poses for the camera before his band concert the pre-band concert grimace You can never get a good picture of a short trombonist. You can only see half his head.  The Wind Ensemble plays "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas." This is either the third or fourth time I've

First big crossing off of something on my celebrating 50th year list: going to the Como Park Conservatory. It's a gloomy, foggy, misty Saturday in Minnesota, but the conservatory was a day brightener. The tropics room was nice and warm too. Before we went to the conservatory, Jim picked out a cafe for breakfast (which turned out to be more of a brunch because we got there at around 11), Key's Cafe. Jim had a Mexican omelet and I had Eggs Benedict with a side of avocado. The place was packed. While we waited, the staff put out samples to keep us happy. I had a delicious bite of cinnamon roll, and Jim tried the gingersnap cookie bite that was offered. The food was good, but they forgot my avocado and we had to remind them. But it was still good. Then we had only a mile or so from the cafe to the park. I had gone on field trips in elementary school to the Como conservatory, so the place has changed. Lots more has been added. But the part I remember is smaller that it was last

It's quiet again after the college kiddies left. Big news, Hayley is engaged! She has grown up quite a bit capability-wise since she left for college, but it's still weird to have many years of memories of a little girl coalesce into an adult that is independent and different that what you might have thought she was going to be. Anyway, we like Austin a lot and they seem to be happy together. (We also knew it was coming) Hayley is bleaching Katie's hair in prep for Katie eventually dying some of her hair purple. I like seeing my children do things together. Sleeping Emma Sleeping Jackson Sleeping Granddaddy, sleeping Emma, and sleeping Jackson The work-in-progress stage of my Tom Servo ornament. I have since finished cross-stitching it, but I guess I didn't take a picture. Magic Mittens I finished knitting Grandchildren in the kitchen Sleepy Emma Magic is trying to tell me to give him more food. He looks like he