We Oughta take it Easy

In like a lion and out like a lamb…yeah; but in reverse. The week started off nice enough, allowing us to go for bike rides the first three days, but snapped back to reality with a dismally cold, wet end to the week. On Monday, Matt returned to track practice. Again this year, he will compete only in field events (shot put & discuss). Abby returned to her tap & jazz dance classes that night as well. Our sheriff race is really heating up as evidenced by the hundreds of yard signs that have popped up over the past few weeks. I saw the biggest one out by the park and it made me think. Luke had been bugging me about playing with Grandpaw Brown’s police and sheriff hats last week, so I had an idea…

On Tuesday, Ann got her original cast off and promptly got a new one that is removable. She also started physical therapy and continued to experience days filled with pain, but remains positive that she made the right decision. That night, we rode around the neighborhood on our bikes before coming back home and working on our hitting by playing a game of wiffle ball in the front yard. Boy, Luke hits that ball really, really hard!! On Wednesday, we went for a long bike ride for nearly an hour and then came home and practiced our throwing and catching. Abby has gotten much better with her catching. On Thursday night, we left work early to get over to the junior high for Matt’s wrestling awards banquet. Matt was recognized several times for his statistics. He made the record books for his varsity record of 11-2, a top 10 winning percentage!

On Friday, Aunt Sharon sent me several pictures of the newest edition to our Bryan side of the family! My cousin Katie and her husband Jake just had their daughter Reese Elizabeth on 3/19, our niece Megan’s birthday also. Congrats, guys!!! Now you just need to have one more kid to tie us! 😛 That night, Ann went scrapbooking with Amy and her friends at Mrs. B’s, here in town. Matt & I watched Purdue play in their Sweet Sixteen ball game against Duke. I thought they would embarrass themselves, but they did fine and had a chance to win it right up until the end…with five minutes to play Duke finally started to pull away and that was it. We were thrilled to see Butler bring it home and eventually (the next day) make it to the Final Four in Indy!!! When this season started, I was hopeful that there would be an Indiana team in the Final 4…I just didn’t expect it to be this one! Way to go Bulldogs!

On Saturday, we continued to take it easy. It has been a nice little break to be honest. We will have another week or so of this before things will slowly begin to build to a crescendo with us having multiple events happening simultaneously again…but in the meantime we took advantage of another nice, lazy weekend. We did a few things around the house but nothing too intense. We got our Easter decorations and supplies out, in anticipation of the Easter Bunny’s arrival next Sunday. Ann’s brother, Keith, and his family will be down this year as well. We are looking forward to seeing all of them again. The last time we saw them was at Thanxmas. We drained water off the pool cover again (of course it rained cats & dogs again that night…) and did a few small things in the backyard before we saw some kids flying kites in the field behind our house. It was perfect weather for it, as the wind was blustery but the sun was bright and warm…not too hot, not too cold…shorts and sweatshirt weather, ya know? That has to be my favorite type of weather…reminds me of an autumn afternoon, except not as dry. I taught the little kids how to fly kites. 🙂 We had a blast! Abby hadn’t flown a kite in 6 years and Luke had never flown one before. Matt, of course, chose to stay inside and play Call of Duty on the Xbox instead. We were out behind the house for a couple hours playing with those kites. It was so quiet and peaceful… Ann napped most of the day, resting her arm. We eventually woke her up and took her out for dinner at Buffalo Wings & Rings, where I won the trivia game over Matt & Bu. 😉

On Sunday it rained all day. Ann was interviewed for the Columbus Republic newspaper, regarding pregnant patients with Medicaid coverage. Luke & were bummed to see the NASCAR race get rained out, but enjoyed some March Madness in its place. Here is a video from this week:

Let’s take a look at this week’s batch of Waybac photos. Leading off we have Grandpaw Brown in February of 1961, listening to the Cubs game (I presume) on his radio in the front room of their home on Elmwood with Aunt Midge looking on; next Ann’s cousins Tony & Lisa aren’t sure what to do with a whiny Keith as they prepare for the Fourth of July parade in 1967; Mom’s serving ladies at her first wedding (the back says Gray, Tam Cherry, Vicki Zaring); Ann at approximately 2-3 years of age, circa 1972; Grandpaw Brown in his sheriff’s uniform (minus the hat that Luke wore earlier in this post) in his dining room in February of ’74; also from ’74, but in August, we have Great Grandma Morgan and Mom, is that Great Grandma-in-law Spoor? Next is “Aunt??? Lou with Schnapps in Grandmaw’s chair during Christmas of ’75; Keith’s school picture around ’76; the new fence Dad built in our backyard in Temple City; and Ann in about 3rd grade, circa 1978.

Next up is Dee in about 2nd grade, circa 1980; Grandma Morrison in the early eighties/late seventies; Robby in the fall of ’83 with his new Big Wheel in our Rockwood living room; Rob w/ Katie (and I think Uncle Dan in the very back) at Kokomo’s Showbiz Pizza, also in October of 1983; Grandpaw Brown in our kitchen in LaPorte in approximately ’84; a Brown family reunion and fish fry at Kenny & Marylou’s house in Rossville around ’85 or so; celebrating Grandpaw’s birthday on our front porch in LaPorte around ’86; Ann with her duck shirt in approximately 1987; and Mom, Rob & Peanuts in our living room, circa 1988.

The last section is all about the nineties; with Mom, Dad & Rob in the first boat after the pontoon (I think); Ann & Dee at Keith’s wedding in LP in ’92; Ann with Stacy, painting Mom O’s front room when she first moved in to her Russell home; Dee in ’93; The Smith’s at the Bryan Christmas in ’95; Ann, Rob, Dad & I in March of ’96 (this had to be RIGHT before she gave birth); speak of the little devil – here’s a bunch from Matt’s first year of life: in August at Mom & Dad’s (he loved to be in that basement!); Mom O. & I with him at his first Halloween in our Columbus home; and two from Christmas Day in Columbus showing Grandma how he can pull himself up and then opening presents with her.

Well that’s it for this week’s edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for spending some time with us today and we’ll catch ya next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu