Lou! In the News!

Relax! He's not the guy who wrecked the train as my wife was relieved to find out. But his face was all over the St. Louis area today. There he was holding the little clipboard that coaches use to draw up the plays that the players never run. His team did look motivated though. If you want to know who won, give Dave a call. He actually called me from this game with about two minutes left until halftime. The score at that point? 8 - 6. Hannibal. And Dave's wife was with him. Julie, I hope you get him back for that someday.

It's amazing. I start a blog , and my friends go crazy. They're in the news on a daily basis. They're getting pregnant. I was just hoping for a few pictures of some kids. I encourage you guys to keep it up. But go about it the way Lou and Howdy did, not the way Jeff did.

Crazy News from who else? Jeff

Read this and weep. Or at least try not to laugh.

My good Friend Jeff in a transparent attempt to upstage everyone and get to the top of my blog attempted to burn down his house. Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Don't put your hot coals in a paper bag. (To be fair, Jeff swears they didn't feel hot.)

But seriously, Jeff and Lania lost most of the stuff in the garage and now own a 'crispy' car. So drop them some prayers, and next time you see Jeff buy him a beer or twelve while you tease him about 'hot coals and paper bags.' (I hope my attempt to show compassion wasn't too transparent.)

News, News, Great News!

If you aren't checking out the comments section you are missing out! My old friend Howdy announced in the comments that he and Michelle are expecting another child! Michelle is 12-weeks pregnant. The first ultrasound came Monday on Wade's third birthday. Wow, Wade's three?? Time flies.

Congratulations to the Howdys! Another wonderful child is on the way.

If you email him or post comments make sure and tell him you'd like to see him post on here once-in-awhile. It would definitely up the entertainment factor on the blog.

The first actual bit of news

Shelly and I are excited to announce that we're uprooting the family this summer. The idea has been in our heads for about a year now. Circumstances have conspired to make the idea possible and very attractive.

We are headed to Springfield, IL. That's where my brother and his family live. That's also where Mom lives. It's closer to Wisconsin for my cheesehead wife. It's closer to Busch Stadium for Willa and me.

We are excited! Willa and Isa will get to play with their cousins, Parke and Ben, all the time. I'm looking forward to golfing with Roy. It's closer to Troy, too. I'm hoping to get back there and pound on Myron and Lou at golf as well.

A big thanks to Roy and Sarah and to Mom for helping make this move possible.

Want a Bite of Cake?

Anybody want some of my cake? It's delicious!

Isa Loves Nicky

Isa has a new pillow. His name is Nicky. Too bad we had to leave him at Cori's house. This photo was taken by Andy.

Question about the Tigers

Already my blog has provoked the kind of repartee that I hoped it would. My friend Andy has questioned why I didn't solicit Missouri Basketball conversations. I must confess it wasn't an oversight. A different day, a different week, I would have listed them right there after the Cards. But not this week.

I think it was in 1981 when we went to the Checkerdome and watched the Tigers upset Denny Crum's Louisville Cardinals. I remember that Mark Dressler had a huge game. It was one of the many peaks in my life as a Tiger fan. When you're a Tiger fan though, the valleys sometimes come upon you fast with little warning.

The current valley makes me strangely nostalgic for the days of Stormin' Norman. The number of teams that make it to a final four isn't large. The number of coaches with championship rings is tiny. It's not an easy thing. You are competeing against a hundred or so of the most motivated basketball minds in the country. Maybe we should have cut Norm a little more slack. It's not settling for mediocrity to recognize achievement. Besides, Norm always managed to fry us up a little Jayhawk every now and again.

So, if you are a Tiger fan, click on the comments and leave a favorite memory of watching the Tigers. You can register or click on the 'post anonymously' link to leave a comment.

I think my favorite memory was AP's baseline dunk against OU on the day Norm fell ill.

Hugging on the Train to Chicago

This is what I want this blog to be about.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope to use this blog as a place family and friends can go for news about one another. It will be a place where I can post pictures of family, friends, and events. I tried a page similar to this before, but blogging software makes the whole thing easier. Plus, people can interact by leaving comments or sending me items to post.

I would also like to use it as a place for us to converse a little about important things. This means as spring training rolls around I'll be posting about the Cardinals and hoping for some response from the myraid of Cardinals fans I know. And of course, I always enjoy discussing religion or politics.

So to start things off on this dark day in American history, I'd like to leave you with the words of Thomas Jefferson, which I pilfered from this post on this fantastic blog:

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt...If the game runs sometime against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."
Thomas Jefferson, 1798

Isa's handprints