Day 173

Thank you, Easter Bunny! Fortunately for me, this is not a real chocolate bunny. If he was, those ears would be history by now.

Day 172

After a mid-day meeting, I had a few moments of down time with a colleague from out of town. We had a little time to kill before a business dinner so we went to Northpark for a few minutes. There were bunnies in a hutch that were beyond adorable, but this big sculpture in the middle of the mall was kinda cool, too.

Day 171

Boy Scout, Second Class. He's got one achievement left to his First Class rank, an open-water rescue, which couldn't easily be done over the winter months. His goal is to get all his rank advancements short of Eagle by next summer, so he can focus on his Eagle project during his junior year in high school. Good job!

Day 170

About the time I was hungry for a snack, I realized I hadn't taken today's photo yet. Two birds, one stone.

Day 169

We spent part of a beautiful sunny day with our friends the Simpsons, as they celebrated Natalia's fourth birthday. Since we only have boys, seeing how the "other half" lives is always a fun and enlightening experience!

Day 168

Finally remembered to take the camera with me to gymnastics tonight. Sadly I couldn't get very many shots of the monkey in motion, or at least not many that I was happy about. Thankfully, the boy's skills on the apparatus are improving faster than my photography skills!

Day 167

Back when I was traveling for work, I used to read a good book (one on those "100 Books Literate People Should Have Read in High School" lists) about every two weeks. I made the most of my airplane time then, but lately, the most literate thing I've read is last week's Entertainment Weekly. Sigh.

Day 166

Just a few days ago, the tree in front was bare with tiny little buds. In the last week, the leaves have come through and it is now a haven for all our little feathered friends. This one and his buddy spend the day at the very tops of the tree, enticing the cats to sit in the window all afternoon waiting for a glimpse.

Day 165

We had a great day of sunshine today (actually, truth be told, it got a little warmer than I like so early in the spring. I know, sorry!) and I had as many windows open as possible. But the cats were mostly content to sit in the patches of morning sunlight and look pretty.

Day 164

Nuts. Salted, apparently. Not nearly enough pecans and cashews in there, though. I'll pick those out and leave the peanuts for John. Ooops, was that out loud?

Day 163

The options were a haircut or a bandana to keep his crazy Kramer hair from getting matted up under his helmet during skating practice, so we went with the Apolo Ohno-inspired bandana. It's a rather sporty look, no?

Day 162

Only my cousin would be sure to wear big ol' hoop earrings for her first 5K! Gotta be sure she's styling as she crosses the finish line! WTG, Melina!

Day 161

Dinner Club - otherwise known as standing around in someone's kitchen eating dessert, drinking wine, and discussing the merits of The Karate Kid.

Day 160

Nom, nom, nom, nom... 's okay, I help myself... nom, nom, nom, nom...

Day 159

Believe it or not, there was only one dandelion in my whole yard... Bazinga! Yeah, the place is crawling with 'em. They are kinda pretty close up, though...

Day 158

It's coming! Despite cold rain and the need to turn on the heat again today, spring it definitely on its way. And not a moment too soon, either, for my taste. After all, there is a reason I live in Texas!

Day 157

Strands of DNA procured by Ben from the CSI exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History... or maybe just a vial of DNA candy. Either way, it's fun to look at, floating it in a vial of plasma-ish substance. Glad he opted to skip the vials of candy blood, candy saliva and candy urine. Eeew.

Day 156

Ben at his second speedskating practice this morning. He definitely looks the part, since we have the skin suits and traded out too-small boots & frames for a trial pair from coach. The most promising aspect of his training thus far is that he keeps wanting to go back, even after dry-land drills!

Day 155

Happy Birthday, John! His birthday isn't until Thursday, but we celebrated with family tonight by having a great fajita dinner and then watching the Pacquiao fight on PPV. The fire department has been notified it's clear to stand down...

Day 154

Just because we haven't had a burnt orange sighting around here in a while...

Day 153

We used to spend a lot of time at the roller rink, in the time BH (Before Hockey). Ben has decided he's ready to try speed skating, so we went to the roller rink today, to get him started on inline rollers first and get some basics down before moving to ice. This should be fun!

Day 152

The flowers I got for the baby shower on Saturday have been in my office, where they are mostly safe from the nibbling of the cats. As pretty as they were for the party, they've really opened up nicely and look even prettier now. Except for the empty spot where the cats ate a few blossoms...

Day 151

About twice a day, Baby Cat looks up at the ceilings or the walls and stares very concentratedly for several minutes at a time. Mostly we think she's nuts, but every now and again, we're convinced she's looking at the ghosties in the house. Only she knows for sure, and she's not talking.

Day 150

"Cheese, Gromit!" This was dinner, or a late evening snack. Either way, it was yummy!

Day 149

Balloon animals are way too fun! The best part is that these were acquired by a bunch of 13-year-olds, who probably had more fun with them than the little kids!