Happy Birthday, Emily!

I thought it would be fun, and appropriate, to blog about an event that occurred 30 years ago!  I’m going to rely on a document dated July 29, 1981 and quote it verbatim – here goes:

“Laurie woke up at about 1:30 Sunday morning (July 26) and was starting to notice contractions.  So right away both of us were wide awake.  We timed the contractions and at 5:00 AM they were about 5 minutes apart so we called the doctor.  He said to go on in to the hospital.  We called Laurie’s folks so they came over to watch Adam.  After we got to the hospital, the contractions stopped!  There would be one once in a while but nothing regular.  We walked around for about 45 minutes but that didn’t help too much.  The doctor looked at Laurie at about 12:00 (noon) and decided that she was too far along to go back home so he broke her water.  Then things started FAST.  They gave her some of the stuff to induce labor too.  At 1:30 the contractions got real strong and at 2:17 Emily was born.  Her full name is Emily Catherine Irene. She weighted 6 lbs. 13 ½ oz. And was 20½“ long.  She has some light hair, like Adam had.  Both Laurie and Emily are doing fine and will come home tomorrow.”

I looked at the letter prior to the one quoted above and see that I wrote I had finished painting the baby furniture (crib & chest) and we had the baby’s room all ready.  Our timing was pretty good.  Emily’s birth was at Methodist Hospital in Omaha.

Since this all happened 30 years ago, I thought I’d see what was going on 20 years ago for Emily’s 10^th birthday.  We had a party with 14 girls, plus Emily and Rosie.  And, Adam and his friend Scott attended and did a skit for the girls and made balloon animals!  We had pizza and an ice cream cake.  The girls played a lot of games.  Our gifts to Emily were a bike helmet and a lego set.  One of the gifts she got from a friend was the game ‘Scatch’ – we enjoyed playing that for a long time.  Also, 4 days after her birthday, Emily had braces put on her teeth!

10 years ago Emily was working at LensCrafters on her birthday.  She worked until 6:30 and some friends came to see her when she was getting off work and surprised her with balloons and a hat.  They went out to eat at Olive Garden.  We had an ice cream cake at our house later.  We went to the airport that night because Adam came home for the weekend from his intern job at Lehman Brothers in New York.  He was in a wedding for his friend Bill that weekend.  About two weeks after Emily’s birthday, Rosie had her wisdom teeth removed!

There you have it, good times and good birthday’s.  Happy Birthday, Emily, and have a great time tomorrow!

Love ya,

Mom, Dad and Mickey

Happy Anniversary, Emily and Rich!

Two years ago today we were at the most beautiful wedding ever at Lionscrest Manor in Lyons Colorado.  Yep, it was Em & Rich’s wedding and it went off without a hitch. The weather was ideal, the ceremony was elegant, the food was delicious and the reception/dance was rousing. 

June, 2009, was a wet one with lots of rain.  We hosted a picnic on the Friday evening prior to the Sunday wedding and were more than a little worried that we’d need to move it from a back yard picnic to a garage gathering.  It had rained for many days but that Friday the clouds parted and it was a sunny, warm evening.  We had tables in the back yard and the 45 – 50 guests enjoyed a delightful picnic.  Saturday was another glorious day and the rehearsal dinner at a park in Boulder was a great setting.  Sunday was dry all day and the sun was brightly shinning in Rich’s face during the ceremony.

This is my first attempt at posting photos to accommodate my words – note the great photos from that terrific day, two years ago.  Congratulations, Em and Rich!

North American Visitors

We are enjoying welcoming visitors from North America this week. 

Yesterday Laurie’s cousin and family, Carl, Debbie and Justin from Atlanta, GA, stopped by during their Colorado vacation.  I think it’s been 8 years since we saw them so it was great to catch up on what has been going on in their lives. They were living in Denver when we moved here in 1984 and Debbie lined Laurie up with a doctor, who delivered Rosie in April, 1984. We looked at a picture from 20 years ago, June, 1991, and, although the kids in the picture have all grown up, the adult’s looks surprisingly similar, yea for all of us.

Today we had a delightful visit with a college friend of Laurie’s, Steve.  Laurie and Steve graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1976.  Steve has been teaching in Norfolk, NE and recently retired.  He continues to play the organ for two churches and is involved in other community music activities.  We found a picture from a previous visit with Steve from 1982 and enjoyed seeing how little those photographed had changed!  We don’t know for sure the last time we saw him but it was most likely well over 20 years ago.  He called us on Thursday evening from Ogallala, NE. He was on his way to a wedding in Keystone and we are so glad he gave us a call to see if we would be around during his Colorado trip.

Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend and former work associate, Bruce, for breakfast.  Bruce and I worked together at US WEST in the 1990’s. He worked for me doing investor relations and had an opportunity to take the top IR job at a Canadian telecommunications company around 1998.  Laurie and I went to his going away party and he has lived north of the border since then.  He currently lives in Toronto.  We’ve stayed in touch with email and an occasional phone conversation and have seen each other at NIRI events now and then.  It’s been four or five years since I’ve seen him so it will be good to catch up.

It’s always great to reacquaint with people we once saw daily or weekly or at least many times a year.  Colorado is a great vacation spot and we are lucky to live here and welcome friends when they visit it on holiday!

Happy Birthday Laurie!

The word on the street is that today is Laurie’s birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!  There are many rumors about which birthday it is.  While I won’t divulge her age, I will say that it rhymes with “bifty beven’. 

I though it would be fun to see how we celebrated her birthday a year ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago and 30 years ago.  Last year, we were in St. Louis on day 2 of our 25-day road trip.  We enjoyed a delightful meal in an empty restaurant.  The waiter was very attentive and the food was great, even though no one else eats there.  It reminded me of what Yogi Berra used to say, ‘No one goes there anymore.  It’s too crowded’.

Ten years ago we celebrated with an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  Her gift was a sand hill crane that joined another one in our back yard (decorative, not live).  Rosie and Emily were at home and Emily was working as a frame stylist at Lens Crafters.  Rosie and Laurie played in a quartet for a wedding in Golden a few days after her birthday. Adam called from Central Park in NY where he was watching an outdoor opera.  The high temperature in Denver was 84 and it was sunny on Laurie’s birthday.

Twenty years ago we celebrated her birthday by going to see her Aunt Velma and Uncle Louie at their mountain home.  Laurie’s cousin Carl and family were visiting from Atlanta.  We gave Laurie an answering machine.  The day after her birthday, Laurie went to the wart doctor . . . she had laser surgery on her foot two weeks before her birthday and the doctor blasted off a piece of her foot and the place where he did the work looked like a piece of pepperoni.  She had previously treated the wart with beetle juice.  The wart was caused by a virus that her immune system wasn’t fighting. The high in Denver was 78 and it was a sunny day.

Thirty years ago we went out for dinner and left Adam with Laurie’s parents. She was pregnant with Emily and had a back ache quite often.  We spent time reviewing LaMaze books so we’d be prepared for the upcoming birth.  I gave Laurie a wooden egg crate for her birthday.  The high in Omaha on her birthday was 96 and the humidity was 97%.

I can’t go back any further since I didn’t know Laurie forty years ago.  All I can say is that the high temperature in Omaha that day was 86 and there were storms in the evening.

The Dog Days of Summer . . .

Yesterday was a lazy, hazy first day of summer.  While relaxing in the family room last night, I turned on TV to catch the final 15 minutes of ‘The Voice’.  I really enjoyed the last act and you can find it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkV-QFL1j98

It wasn’t what Mickey wanted to hear but he needs to be reminded that dogs are not in control, and humans still have a little influence in the world.  Check out the video and sing along, if you like, ‘cause the lyrics are shown below.

Florence And The Machine
Dog Days Are Over lyrics

Happiness, hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming so you better run

Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind you
Can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses
Cuz here they come
And I never wanted anything from you
Run fast for your mother and fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your loving behind you
Can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are gone
Can you hear the horses because here they come

Summer, 2011

Happy summer, 2011.  It was a delightful day in Denver, sunny and calm with a high temperature of 78.  Very glorious indeed.

A year ago we were about to depart on our 25-day, 10-state road trip.  On June 21, 2010, I picked up a U-Haul trailer that would accompany us on a journey to Nashville, TN.  We packed as many of Adam’s things inside as possible so he could surround himself in his new home with everything from Taco Bell Chihuahuas to videos of his childhood to stuffed monkeys that once overtook his Pathfinder to books on every subject under the sun, and a big office chair that he sat in as he did homework assignment after homework assignment.  But, before we did that, we took Laura on her first visit to Casa Bonita!  A fine Mexican fiesta was enjoyed by all.

OK, another post of family history, this time, 1981 and Emily enters the scene!  Enjoy.

1981 – 1218 North 146^th Plaza, Omaha, NE  68854

Laurie attends lecture ‘Foods, Moods and Alergies’, we remove peanut butter from Adam’s diet and replace feather pillow with foam – his mood improves dramatically, Adam gets hearing and speech checked by Boys Town Institute, Jim Poulicek gets married, Larry completes 28 tax returns, Laurie’s grandfather turns 99, Bille Jo and Jerry move to Tampa and we host a going away picnic in our driveway, Laurie’s friend Debbie moves to St. Louis, we plant a maple tree in the backyard, Laurie is asked to teach summer school for 5 weeks, she says no, we make strawberry jam, I give Laurie a wood egg crate for her birthday, Laurie plays for several weddings and for a George Benson concert, dryer quits working so I fix it by replacing belt, Laurie’s parents and Bobbie vacation 3 weeks in the New England states, Larry counts money at church, we watch the toddler room at church the first Sunday of the month, Larry joins a car pool with 4 others, while staining in the shop, Larry bumps can off ladder and splatters a quart of stain all over, Laurie plays for the Messiah, quits the bowling league, Larry goes to Pierre, SD.

January    Laurie has lots of morning sickness

               Adam learns to climb out of crib        

February Laurie is on a bowling team

ER with Laurie due to chest pains.  Are there 4 hours, did an EKG, chest x-ray and lung scan.  Sometimes when pregnant, baby will lie on blood vessel, restrict flow and cause a blood clot.

March     Larry wallpapered master bedroom; Laurie made new drapes

April        Bought single bed for Adam, deck furniture (wrought iron table w/4 chairs and 2 spring chairs (Nebraska Furniture Mart)

               Adam falls off changing table and breaks his arm

May        Attend the musical ‘Annie’

               The cable company lays cable to our house, service begins in August

June        Purchase first gas grill

               Paint baby bed and chest

July         Adam has roseola

               Laurie buys an antique kitchen table that has a leaf, currently in basement

We go to the hospital at 5 AM on July 26, Emily is born at 2:17 PM, weighs 6 lbs, 13 ½ oz and is 20 ½ “ long, she comes home on July 30

August     Emily gets bad rash on her bottom, needs to be changed a lot.

               Larry spends a week in Minneapolis for work

               Install wood molding on kitchen and hall wall and paint upper wall, put wallpaper on lower part of wall.  Hire ladies to hang wallpaper in entryway.

Sept.       Emily really likes to cry

               Larry has business trip to NY

Laurie gets offer to teach 2 hours a week in her old neighborhood

Oct.        Emily makes a change for the better, much happier!

               Adam is a raccoon for Halloween

Nov.       We make little buildings and a board with streets painted on for Adam

Dec.        We cut a Christmas tree at a tree farm

               We buy our first VCR

Family History, 1980

I hope this blogging thing doesn’t turn into a competition – but, seeing Rosie’s post earlier today made me think I’d better post something today.  And, Laurie is sending strong signals that she will soon create her own blog.  With blogging permeating the family, we may need to consider adding more technology devices so both Laurie and I can blog from the comfort of the family room.

I wanted to share information about creative new products enabling companies to participate in $$’s from the spread of technology. There is an iPhone case that taps into our sense of smell.  ESI has developed a colorful, scented line of cases by partnering with Jelly Belly jellybeans. Your device will smell just like some of their most popular flavors.

If president Ronald Reagan were alive today, he would love this case for his iPhone 4. This is a great gift for any jellybean lover, or those who want to make their purse or pocket smell sweet and fruity.

The cases are available for the iPhone 4, iPod touch, iPod nano and BlackBerry devices. It is made of a durable TPI plastic and will protect your device along with making it smell great!  The cases come in five of the most popular Jelly Belly flavors: Strawberry Cheesecake, Very Cherry, Blueberry, Licorice and Berry Blue.  In addition to the cases, you can compliment your scented device with jellybean shaped earbuds. These are unscented, and come in five colors to match the Jelly Belly cases.

I’ll add more family history, read about 1980, below:

1980 – 1218 North 146^th Plaza, Omaha, NE  68854

Highlights: Laurie’s grandmother Ekwall falls and breaks her hip, we attend Laurie’s grandfathers 98^th birthday party, Helen goes to live with Cathie and Frank, the Peter’s family moves in across the street, Laurie refinishes old wooden trunk and cob box, Adam rides in a child seat on the back of our bikes, Laurie goes to Sidney with Cathie (brings home a spool cabinet) and Larry’s parents come to Omaha to watch Adam, neighborhood picnic on July 4^th, Adam attends ‘Tiny Tunas’, Judy Jacobson gets married, the Peter’s install an above ground pool that holds 18,000 gal of water, hail does paint damage to our house so I do extensive touch-up painting, Laurie continues to play in the UNO orchestra, we have a big carrot crop, our Christmas tree comes from Cathie’s farm.

January   Adam begins to take a few steps and loves to dance, jabbers a lot and says ‘what’s that’ a thousand times a day

              Laurie begins to paint needlepoint canvases

Larry rides the bus to work, gets a leather coat with sheepskin for birthday, and begins doing taxes for many clients (makes $400 during season)

February Larry paints house interior ceilings and walls

March     Laurie plays 8 performances for Glen Cambell

April       Adam is starting to talk, says baby, duck and hot, likes to stand on the dishwasher door when it’s open

              Larry is installed as a church trustee

May        Have new carpet installed in living room

              Attended Palmer alumni banquet

June        Purchase and install oak parquet floor in kitchen

July         Vacation in Denver (Larry has class), Adam’s first flight

               Laurie played for a Melissa Manchester concert

August    Purchase unfinished wall unit for TV/stereo (now in garage)

Sept.       Adam watches Captain Kangaroo during breakfast

Oct.        Laurie has a cello student (overflow from her mother)

Adam falls to the floor while trying to climb into his high chair, bit his tongue and it bled all over him and the floor

              We buy a sofa sleeper, sell the black naugahyde sofa

Nov.       Laurie plays for Doc Severinson, a North HS musical and a wedding

              We host Laurie’s parents, Cathie’s and Aunt Bobbie for Thanksgiving

Dec.       Laurie is pregnant. Due date is August 8, 1981!  Has morning sickness

Laurie buys a Victrola (now in the entryway) and a commode (now in the kitchen)

              Laurie’s Dad gives her a painting table he made for her, now at Silverheels