We finally had a calm week around here. It was sure nice to catch our breath for a change.
It snowed all day on Wednesday. It has been so cold all week, but this was one of the coldest, getting in to the 20s…brrr! Bu had Spellbowl practice after school and will have a competition coming up pretty soon, I think. There has been a lot of talk about Matt Painter moving to another team, namely Missouri State – offering him a LOT more money, along with bigger budgets for both recruiting and assistant coaching. Thankfully, Purdue matched everything and a press conference was held to announce an eight year extension! I applaud this effort by the university. It was so cold on Thursday. Matt had to scrape the frost from the car windows! It was also Dad B’s birthday. I tried to call him in the morning and Ann & the kids tried in the evening, but we ended up leaving voice mails with some lovely renditions of the birthday song. We welcomed back my boss, Kelly. She had a cute picture from her trip to PA with Ben Franklin touching the baby… Bu had her tap dance practice and then later lost her mind when she broke her iPod. She somehow got the inside damp by having it in the bathroom while showering (likely from all the humidity) and she lost it when it crapped out on her. “That’s my whole life in there!!??? Ann said it was an absolute meltdown. I missed it, trying to catch up on all the little things that had gotten lost in the past couple weeks. Gracie joined us that morning before school for morning routine; so it was good to see her again. That day I heard from a couple of my old teammates, Billy Wilmsen and Matt Boardman, regarding preparations for the Slicer Football Association Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I am already so anxious! I have no idea what I want to say…Friday morning saw Gracie return again; hopefully she will stay with us the rest of the school year. It was April Fool’s Day but thankfully had no pranks played on me, but Maryann got Deanna pretty good! In fact, I’m pretty sure she is still upset as I write this today. Ann went out shopping that afternoon and evening with Tonya to prepare for their upcoming “staff retreat??? – which of course is a poorly veiled excuse for a girls’ week out for beer, beach and sun! With Ann out of the way, the kids and I went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant (El Chile Poblano) for dinner and a 48 oz margarita, which enhanced my parenting skills (or at least my coping skills!!). We came home for a walk but it was raining cats and dogs and continued for the whole night. So instead we put on a couple Netflix movies and fell asleep on the couches. I found some more great pictures of friends and family on Facebook this week, as seen below…as well as pictures from Luke at school, Megan taking karate lessons in Buffalo and some artwork he made at Meema & Gigi’s house for us.
With all the rain overnight, we woke up unsure if Abby would still have her softball workout at the softball complex that morning. All the girls in her age bracket (she moves up a league this year) had a workout session for the coaches so that we could have more parity in the league than in the past few years, which was dominated by the same team over and over. It was on, but it was bitterly cold. Even though the sun eventually came out, a brisk, sustained, 20 mph breeze made it fell more like February than April. Bu did fairly well, I thought. She wasn’t perfect by any means, but all the gals were cold and she had some really good hits during batting, including one that went over everyone’s head! She also made a couple good stops and some really good throws. She was upset that it wasn’t 100% her best day, but she did just fine – probably top 10. Afterwards, Ann took Bu to dance practice for a couple hours. Matt went to Joel’s house for his birthday party and sleepover. After dance, Abby, Luke & I played outside for an hour. Afterwards, we went to Dairy Point for ice cream. It was really nice out, but still had a cold breeze – in fact, we had a wind advisory. Luke swore someone was trying to get through the bathroom roof! That evening, Bu went out with Megan to Allen & Sharon’s house for a bonfire. They got home late and crashed in the playroom. Luke was initially with them, but quickly became the third wheel and left crying to sleep in his room.
On Sunday, Luke & I worked on the truck and enjoyed the outside weather, which was finally up in to the 70s! Abby went shopping with Megan and her Dad and then went with her Mom to a dinner function and got back late. Luke was inspired by the Martinsville race we watched to set up a race track of his own for his go kart in the front yard. I’ll have pictures and videos next week. I have several new pictures from Facebook, including of my cousin Haley (Barney’s oldest) who, unbeknownst to me, has an 8 month old baby…meaning of course – we have another Great Grandma Scheu in the family…not named Rita, but June!! We really need to get back home more often. I have lots of pictures from Lukey’s DSI, as well as a video collage with audio below in the video section.
Here are this week’s videos:
Next up is our Waybac feature. Again, we concentrate on the late eighties to early two thousands. Leading off, we start in 1989 – Christmas dinner with Grandpaw Brown in LaPorte; Mom with her snow friends in the backyard (seriously, who could see those from there??); and then several pictures at White Birch Village in WI from earlier that year; and finally Christmas with Grandpaw Brown in LaPorte.
Next up we have Haley as I remember her – as a small fry in ’94; then Treasure Island in May of ’95; Christmas morning in ’95 in Rossville; Matt out in back of our townhouse in Columbus in the early Spring, 1997; Thanksgiving of ’97 in Rossville; Christmas of ’97 in Columbus; and Matt’s 2nd birthday in our living room on Main St. in ’98.
Next up we have pictures of our trip to Florida in May of ’99 with Matt and Mom on the plane, Matt with Tigger at breakfast in Disney and Dad & Matt at the Sand Pebble in Treasure Island; then the Morgan family reunion in August of ’99 with Uncle Ralph and Aunt Norma, Wendy & Brenda and Bob and Brent at the little church outside of Lafayette; and then several from Christmas Eve of ’99 at our old house with Deanna, Mom, Vera (Owens), Chad, Baby Bu, classic pictures of Matt coming down the stairs to find his Mongoose bike; and then several of us and the kids on the beach at Treasure Island in May of 2000.
Rounding out final section, we have a few pix of Abby before her first birthday party, riding her new tractor in September of 2000; a couple of us on Christmas Eve a little later that year; and then several from about 2000 – Aunt Dorothy at Tammy & Brett’s house; Dad B sleeping with Moe in Rossville; Bu eating in Mom’s old highchair in our dining room; Ann with the kids on our new bed, upstairs in our bedroom on Main St; Matt & Bu in the tub upstairs and Matt taking swimming lessons at pre-school at the YMCA; several of Mom & Dad with the Week 19 crew at the Sand Pebble in May of 2001; Mom with Moe in Rossville at Christmastime in ’01; and finally a couple from May of ’02 – Dad with a lady in FL (I think this may have been one of his neighbors from Lafayette when he was a kid??) and then me at the ‘Pebble, just waking up after another long night of…sea air. LOL
OK; well that does it for this edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks as always for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu