Ah, the obligatory picture of the Magic Kingdom castle--just to prove we really were there.
In a year or two, it would be fun to take the extended family, grandkids and all! This grandma won't mind sitting out with a stroller while everyone else rocks out on the Aerosmith roller coaster.
Mr. Schilke has a wonderful sense of humor, works well with these kids, and loves music. You would think they would HATE giving up their Friday evenings for four months, but they actually look forward to it! That's the difference a good leader can make.
Elle is the first chair violist. Who knows where her music will take her? She does have some yearnings to go to BYU and play the fiddle in a folk group--I wonder where she ever got that idea?!? 
It is too high for me to see into the nest, so one morning when the bird flew off the nest, I reached up with the camera and snapped a picture. Three eggs!
Then a day or two later, four eggs. 
We're waiting for the eggs to hatch now. And the finches have been able to keep their nest hidden from the sparrows. Some years we have to remove large sparrow eggs, and even once, a starling egg. It's fun having nature right at our front door.
The brethren came to the site from the priesthood leadership session of stake conference, so I got to catch Kevin arriving, with Steve Oesterle. (And our Toyota Camry).
There were shovels aplenty--some silver, some gold . After a few words telling the history of the stake and the need for a new stake center, the shovels were ready. 
Everyone was happy--with the exception of the youngest daughter of a family in our ward. She was not so certain about this all. When the new building is ready to go, it will only take us 60 minutes, instead of 75, to get there. I'm always happy with less travel time!
Alice, endulging in her love of reading while enjoying the spring sunshine.
What's missing on this apple tree? Blossoms! There just aren't the blossoms that should be adorning the trees right now.
Some of the tulips and daffodils made it through the terrible freeze, but not all. Some heads have tried to bloom still, but their stems were frozen, and mushy, so they have no strength to stand up. Most of my daffodils are yellow varieties, with one bed of these apricot-colored beauties.
A strong wind came from the northwest; temperatures dropped. It stayed below freezing--way below freezing--for almost a week. My beautiful daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths were flattened. But if the sun shown for a bit, even though it was still so cold, the flowers valiantly opened up. 
And now it is snowing. We actually have 3 more inches of snow since Elizabeth took this picture this morning. And more snow is coming.
Cars were slipping around in the heavy, wet snow. In delivering Alice to her early morning orchestra practice, we saw several places where car tires had left the road and made their own way. It will be great snowman snow!
This cedar waxwing has been hanging around, eating the berries off the juniper bushes. Today, he is just sitting in the bush--all fluffed out to keep the snow off.
Guess I'd better get the snow shovels out of the attic, again. We thought we were through with them for the year. At least school hasn't been cancelled. That would be the final straw!
ck to the minuet, and finish it, with a final comment (and a wink) about how they really enjoy practicing. The audience liked it a lot!
before Alice did and didn't wait to let Alice catch up, so the first 8 measures were way out of sync, and she didn't know about the repeated sections. Alice was pretty flustered, though I'm sure the judge will take all that into account. It was still a good experience for Alice. She's only a 4th grader, and the Festival is typically for 5th-9th graders.
e. Now can you tell who this one is?
f. And lastly?
Oh, how fun it is to see all these sweet little ones. Wish I could give you all a hug right now!
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
We experimented in making "shamrock" cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. They were delicious! (We used balls of aluminum foil to help form the clover leaf shape inside the tin, but on the outside of the liner. Does that make sense??)
But the best part was all the help from the kids. I think a few fingers got licked in the process.
Then there were more walks--especially to walk the dog. Alice shot this Wisconsin sunset.
We're glad that Catherine and Aaron are willing to put up with us visiting! Of course, we did let Aaron win at Phase 10.
Connor was the EMT in an "ambulance", with Alice as his patient.
Elizabeth mentored Brenna, and it was nice having the older girls helping. Even though we had three adults (Catherine, Aaron, and myself), there was enough chaos with lots of children and enough places to go that it was a constant job keeping track of Connor and Brenna.
I especially enjoyed looking out on the serene waterfront of Lake Michigan! 
There were puppet stages and marionettes; a young children's play area with sand piles, and play houses; 
a TV studio with blue wall ("and in California, there are tall trees and overpriced real estate...") so the children could pretend to do the News or the Weather; an area of puzzles (some of which still have me stumped as to how to solve); and a great variety of machines and ramps that used golf balls to show the effects of gravity; an area on the workings of the body--how the body balances, how digestion works, using a wheel-chair to go through a doorway, and of course the ambulance and doctor's office. It was hard getting Connor away from the little trains.
Kevin shoveled out the driveway before heading off to work (he has a 7 a.m. meeting on Fridays), and there were higher drifts than he'd anticipated. 
Now it is a little after 9 a.m. The winds are still howling, and some snow is drifting, but the sun is breaking through periodically and things don't look as bad as they did at 7 a.m. I'm still wishing they'd just had a 2-hour delay!
(a road just outside of Waterloo--photo by The Courier)
