Welcome to double digits Josh. Let’s see how you got here…
You were so anxious to join us that you got here 2 weeks early
You were so busy talking that you waited until you were 15 months to begin walking
Disney at almost 2
You’ve always been a ham
You are always smiling
You went to Preschool
And kindergarten
You are a water baby and have already learned to snorkel
Skiing has become one of your passions
and so is traveling
You have even learned to surf.
Whatever your hopes and dreams we know you will get there! Happy Birthday dude!!
Latest
Living the Dream – Jack Style
When your kids grow up playing sports, everyone has an opinion. They need to play on this team or that one. They need to have this one coach. You need to meet these people or those. All focused on one goal, making the high school team. We sweated through the choices, took turns coaching and bringing snacks to games and tournaments and drove our turns in the car pool. And now for Jack the time is here. And his first season is going great. Are they undefeated? No. Has he had a great game every time he has played? No. But this team, these team mates, this school, these coaches, our friends the parents. This is what he’s been waiting for. GO KNIGHTS!!
Living the Dream – Josh Style
I am not sure there is anything more exciting for a singing dancing 9 year old, then having the chance to go to New York City to see a Broadway Show
and then coming home and dancing the title song in your own dance recital
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Santa was good to us…
… hope he was good to you as well.
Merry Christmas Everyone
Josh says it better than I could, so Merry Christmas to you and your family…
A happy accident
In life there are good days and bad days. There are things that you work hard for that work out and those that don’t. But some things aren’t any of those. Some things are just happy accidents. We got up got dressed and got packed this morning with the goal of getting to the go carts in time to be first in line- no waiting. But it turned out that we were an hour early. The boys went back to the room to watch cartoons and decided to treat myself to a chai latte from the coffee house in the resort. When I got there what did I find? One happy accident… 
And by the way? They were delicious!
Raising a Broadway Boy
I am not sure how, here in the middle of a cornfield, I ended up raising a Broadway boy. I have a feeling it has mostly to do with 2 sweet little old ladies who are no longer with us. This is Grammy. 
One of Josh’s great grandmother’s on his father’s side. She was a singer and a piano player. After she began suffering from dementia, she could still sit at the piano and sing and play from memory. This is V.
She is Josh’s great grandmother on my side and she loved to go to shows. All kinds of shows and knew all the words to all the songs. So here we are far away from the lights of Broadway, with a boy who loves nothing more than to get up on stage and sing and dance. Good thing we are blessed with a dance studio and a teacher who knows how to nurture boys(Center Stage Perfroming Arts Academy), and a local theater (Center for Living Arts)that puts on amazing shows with casts of kids from the area, and finally with a boys choir (The Moline Boys Choir) that teaches fundamentals and discipline. So he sings, and he dances and he performs every chance he gets. And when we need to feed his soul? We went to New York
and saw the big guys do it for real.
Anything Goes
Wicked
The Lion King
Spiderman Turn Off the Dark. He had a blast and is already compiling his show wish list for the next trip. I’m just glad I have at least 1 kid who enjoys the theater.
Good Luck Jack
Basketball tryouts start today for Jack. He has always loved the game, playing on his first YMCA team in kindergarten.
Then there was his years playing AAU with Matt coaching.
Next came the Catholic School League
and Rising Knights.
But now its time for the high tops to hit the floor. For two days none of this history matters. What matters is what he shows the coaches. And all that matters to him, is that his name appears on the roster at the end of tryouts. So good luck Jack, we’re rooting for you!
Worth 2000 words
Before
After
Enough said.
I Hate Fall
I know so many people who get to this time of year and they go on and on about how much they love fall.
They love the cooler weather,
they love the colors,
they love football season,they love getting out their boots and sweaters for winter.
Me I love spring, the promise of warm weather, baseball season and spring flowers. Nope I don’t care for fall at all, but it sure does make for pretty pictures.
May I introduce my 3 sons…
… Spooky, Creepy and Too Darn Old?
Gone are the days of cute costumes,
fun costumes,
superheroes,
character costumes,
and costumes based on Buzz Lightyear.
Instead may I present Spooky
Creepy
and too old for trick or treat…
He’s Been Singing as Long as He’s Been Talking
Josh rarely talks around the house. That’s not to say he’s quiet. So as soon as he was old enough, we let him audition for The Moline Boys Choir – and he loves it.Loves singing, loves the performances but most of all he loves when he has a solo. Here is the processional from the second half of their show this weekend.
Reading and our boys
I love to read and frequently read 2-3 books a week. For a book I have been waiting to be released I will frequently read all night to finish it in one sitting. So miracle of all miracles I married a non reader. I can probably list for you from memory the books Matt has read in all of the years we’ve been married. He is many things, but a reader is not one of them. And we are raising 3 non readers. They all can read, they all read well. But over the years we have tried many things, prizes when they were little, money when they were older, requirements and threats. But they only read fiction when it is assigned for school (books like 1001 gross facts or how to dominate the world are another story altogether). And even then trying to get them to finish the fiction can be a chore. But recently we have come across a solution they seem to like. Boy + LED book light plus 100 degree hot tub = as much as 100 pages a night.
I’ll take it (and for my photography friends – this shot is both SOOC and shot without a flash)
Photowalk 2011
On October 1st I participated in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk, specifically the one at Chicago’s Navy Pier. At the end of the walk each walker is asked to submit their best/favorite picture to be considered for the photo to represent that location in the contest for all the photowalks worldwide. Here is the photo I submitted
Guess what? Mine was picked for our walk 
It Starts Now
3 1/2 years ago I started this blog as a way for friends and family to follow along on Jack’s People to People adventure. Well J.D. just left for his interview to be a part of next summer’s delegation. Good luck J.D. We know you will knock ‘em dead.
Photoshop World 2011 Vegas
Can’t wait for PSW to start! I learned so much last time, can’t wait to see what’s in store this time!
Photomatix Pro plus Topaz Adjust
Ok so Photoshop is wonderful and yes I know that many people have switched to processing their HDR photos directly in Photoshop, but I really like Photomatix Pro for the first step.
First the three raw pictures
Next here is what the picture looked like after just the Photomatix processing.
Next I ran Topaz Adjust filters over it using 2 different presents, each on their own layer and adjusted their opacity.
Finally I used layers to add a mat and a frame
The Infamous Sign
Jack was 2. Matt was 31 + 2. Jack’s favorite mode of transport was riding around on top of dad’s shoulders. When we would go under something with a low clearance you would hear Jack say “dunk” and they would both duck to avoid the obstacle… Except… This one time where no one said “dunk” and Matt ran Jack smack into this sign. What did Jack say? “you forgot the dunk!!!”
Of course nowadays Matt can’t even lift Jack up that high…
Above the clouds
We were lined up at the end of the runway waiting for clearance to take off. I looked over at Jack, who is a giant compared to the little boy who sat between us on the airplane plane so
long ago. I called to Jack ” don’t forget to push the button to make the plane go up” and he laughed. I don’t know if he remembers believing that pushing the button on the armrest would make the plane go up or if he has just heard the story so many times but either way he laughed. And that first flight? He rode as a lap child, now he barely fits in the seat.
But first – a look back
This is what Jack looked like on his first trip to Disney. He was 22 months old.
