Originally posted May 6, 2008…
Being this age really puts things in to perspective. We can really appreciate all that our parents did to raise us and can empathize with the sacrifices they had to make to raise a family. Getting old is harder than it looks… It must get easer at some point right??? Thankfully, there are so many positive moments in our life that help to offset all the crummy things we have to deal with… First, the crummy stuff… Tom put together a cool collage of about 50 pictures he had collected over the years at work of his friend Daniel. It was on display for the viewing and for the funeral ceremony on the 27th and 28th of April. Tom helped train Dan when he first came to the facility – then known as Koala. They worked in the back together throughout the changes that eventually saw the facility renamed to BHC. All told, they worked together for a dozen years out there (presently known as Columbus Behavioral Center). Ann also had to deal with death this past week. Her Uncle John Morrison passed away April 25th. He was MaryAnn’s youngest brother. Grandma and Gigi traveled to Kokomo for the ceremonies. We thought we had a third when Rosie’s dad also had a health scare up in LaPorte. It was pretty touch and go for awhile and Keith & Rosie flew in as the family gathered in preparation of the worst. Thankfully, he is doing better now and Keith & Rosie are back in New York. We wish both he and “Grandpa” Dick Helmeich a speedy recovery…
Now on to the things that make life worth living… Truly, these are the best days of our lives right now and we do our best to take every advantage of these situations and enjoy every moment! Matt finished up his track season in the pouring rain this past Monday. The boys’ team finished the regular season undefeated – heading in to competition sectionals. Matt improved with each outing and has said he’d like to throw the discus and shot put again next year. Matt also began league play in baseball with an opening-day, 10-run-rule victory in 5 innings! He is in his second year of “Majors??? (11 & 12 year olds). Matt has only a few months left of tutoring from his drum teacher, Alex – as he will be heading off to college at the end of summer. Matt’s pretty bummed about that, but is trying to learn as much as possible. Matt is wrapping up 6th grade at the end of this month and is working hard to balance good grades with all the extracurricular activities in which he’s currently involved.
Abby continues with softball practice and dance classes – both twice a week. On the 26th of April, she attended a “Showstopper American Dance Championship??? competition at Roncalli High School in Indy. She was part of a class entered in the Open Class / Small Group / Recreational competition. The gals did great, exceeding all expectations and earned a 1st place gold medal – coming within .4 points of the coveted “platinum??? performance! But that was only half of the good news that day, as they also earned the Grand Champion award for their category! We’re still not sure how she pulled it off, but Abby was chosen by the group to accept both trophies! What a special moment for our little Bu… We stayed around afterward and caught up with Amy and watched Baili perform as well.
Lukey continues to attend pre-school and is making progress in leaps and bounds. The teachers are thrilled with his abilities and told us he’s the best-behaved child in the class. After we picked ourselves up off the floor and made sure we were talking about the same child, we told him we expected to see that same little boy at home with his siblings… Well needless to say, we’re still waiting for him to comply with that request. Luke also began his regular season of baseball. He was actually too young to join instructional league this year but we snuck him in. As it turns out, he is better than most of the kids on his team – at hitting and throwing anyway. We’re still working on the fielding! He is learning a lot and wishes he could play baseball every night, asking us constantly if he’s going to play ball that day (and even coming out of his room a couple times fully dressed in his baseball uniform!). LOL! : ) Luke really enjoyed going to the local semi-pro wrestling (www.WCWO.com) event at the Greensburg Armory this past Saturday, May 3rd. The WCWO put on their usual show and Matt was ornery as always – showing his brother a few things we wished he hadn’t… Luke is still learning the concept of “what happens at wrestling stays at wrestling!??? LOL!
In other news, we were glad to hear that Grandpaw Bryan’s transfer came through (finally!) and that things are starting to settle down for those two lovebirds down in paradise. Here locally, we are starting to get the itch to work around the house and yard as spring slowly creeps in. Helping us in this endeavor are the trees we planted last year – which bloomed beautifully this past week. We hope to do even more with the backyard this summer. In addition, having Lola has had a positive impact on the kids wanting to play back there more often. She is learning to fetch and loves to run, chase, dig and jump! She and Luke can go for hours, but this is where she ends up when they’re done! She is such a funny dog…
Well, thanks for dropping by and keeping up with us. Until next time, have a good one and get outside and enjoy that weather…