Why you should never put your tuba into the washer/dryer!

 Because you end up with a Baritone - obviously!

(September 2012 - Carolyn with her school tuba)

Carolyn with her own baritone (May 2013) !!  The enormous difference in size isn't done justice in the pictures.

Carolyn decided to try playing the Baritone instead of the tuba at the end of 5th grade and I went to rent her a school Baritone for the summer.  (I then learned that the school actually uses a Euphonium....who knew - see below for your new info of the day)  

I then went to the music store to buy her a mouthpiece so she could keep one at school and one at home.  In the window was this beautiful Baritone.  It is an antique, but plays beautifully.  Now I don't need insurance on a $2000  instrument nor need I worry about every bump and scrape it might receive.  It doesn't have a case, but the cost for purchase was approximately the price of 2 years rental + insurance for the school horn  (and I thought that the rental was a great deal!).  Plus it is gorgeous - I want to hang it on the wall when if she ever stops playing it!  

(She gets to use a school euphonium for band practice, so she doesn't need to lug this one around.  Didn't know that these were two different instruments - but the euphonium has an upward bell and keys-the band instructor said it was fine to play one at home and one at school.) 

   (euphonium pic from Wikipedia)

This is our mantle,above our fireplace.  My sister gave us the lovely "family name" art.  I love it.  My parents have their name as do my sister and brother's families.

You might call them boys but we call them GIANTS

While we were gone on vacation, Joel's baseball team - the Giants - played 3 games in our year-end tournament.  They lost the first game, which put them in the consolation bracket.  They won the next 2 games, which put them in the semi-final game tonight.  One of the player's grandmothers pitched to Joel in the batting cage to help him warm up, since he had been gone so long....yep we had a great team.

It was a nail-biter folks, but they played like champions.  Bottom of the 4th - final inning - we were up by 2 (19-17) and we quickly got two outs.  Unfortunately, the Brewers came back and won by one.  It was the best-played game of the year and the boys had a lot to be proud of.

The Giants were a team that didn't exist after the first draft this spring, but the league decided that the teams were too big.  Our coach wasn't signed on to coach originally, but stepped up when two more teams were added and was fabulous.  Here he is at the end of the game telling them how proud he was of them and how hard they played all season and that he hoped they all played again next year.  He let everyone who wanted to pitch try it during games.  He let kids play all different kinds of positions and it was such a change from Newburgh-cut-throat baseball (no offense Indiana).

Here is our favorite Giant with his cheering squad.  Ken is in Minneapolis for work and ironically was invited to a Twins game at the same time our Giants played tonight.  He told everyone he would much prefer to see the Giants - and he meant it 100%.

The 6 year-in-the-making trip!

Around the time that Anna was born I had friends and family taking trips to Orlando.  It was then that I decided that I wanted to visit this vacation destination, but only once :0)

I decided that summer 2012 or 2013 would be perfect - Anna would be 5-6 years old (and might have a memory of it) and Matthew would still be young enough to not have a summer job.  I was in school last summer, so that was ruled out for both time and financial reasons.  So June 2013 was the our goal.  We planned most of the trip in January to book flights and hotels etc.  It was especially exciting to find out that Ken had enough "Hilton points" to pay for all but one hotel night and we could stay on "Universal" or "Disney" properties.  Before I write a book about our trip - which was great fun - let me post 2 pictures and focus instead on downloading all the pics to Snapfish and fold some of the dozen loads of laundry!

Day one - Universal Studios - The boys biggest thrill was getting to ride the Transformers ride at a "soft opening", weeks before the ride officially opens.  Anna liked the simpler things, like playing at the Curious George ball factory.  Carolyn alternated between thrill rides with the boys and hanging with Anna and me.

The Harry Potter area at Islands of Adventure was a big thrill for the majority of the family (even me - and many things about theme parks don't get me too excited) .  Every thing was made to be realistic looking and felt authentic-LOVED it.

Other days found us at Magic Kingdom, Sea World, water parks and the beach, but the laundry is beckoning me and sorting through the 900 pictures we took will be a pleasure! I love digital, because you can print just what you want and make sure you got a great shot without wasting film!  Also I will print many "collage" photos that will put several related pictures on a 4x6 - perhaps I am trying to convince myself that this will be a reasonable amount of photos in the end!

A little bit of this and that

 I have been a slacker with posting and so rather than going for perfection I am just posting a bunch of fun photos that make me smile!

Anna's first organized sports team!

 Joel going for a shot.  

 Easter with Ken's folks.

 Kate's wedding.  Carolyn and I shared a room and a lot of fun with Leslie and Julie.

 Although there were no young cousins, Carolyn had great fun with her big cousins (shown here - Andrew and Christopher, brothers of the bride).

 Flower girl!

 From "I need my training wheels again" to "go speed racer" in about a week.

 Carolyn's school presentation

 Miss Bev and Mr. Charlie, our beloved crossing guards

 2nd to last day of kindergarten

 Carolyn's design was chosen for next year's art shirt!  (also Girl-Citizen of her class!)

 2nd to last day of 3rd grade

 2nd to last day of elementary school

 Carolyn performs at the Spring Talent Show

 Spring Break with Grandma and Grandpa Schilling

Anna's big day(s)!

Finally!  Anna had her first birthday party with friends.  It was fairy princess (think Tinkerbell) themed and was a great success!

 The girls made their own pizza and did crafts and played outside!  It easy to please the 4-6 year old girl group!

 Ken took this photo on Anna's actual birthday.  I think she is talking on the phone to me, because I was in Iowa City at the time for my Dad's surgery.  (He is on the mend now!)  The unicorn helmet and American Girl craft book were her gifts from us.