Update from Jeff City

I hadn’t posted an update in awhile, so for those of you who were wondering what we’ve been up to . . .

We had a nice Mother’s Day weekend. We celebrated on Saturday with me, Hannah and my mom attending a Tea Party sponsored by the Eagles Ladies Auxiliary (my mom is a member). It was a lot of fun, and Hannah decided to dress the part with her Easter dress, hat, and gloves. Of course, no pictures. Saturday evening David, Hannah, and I went for a long bike ride. Hannah can ride just about anywhere now, so we explored parts of the city for over an hour and enjoyed the pleasant weather. It was nice to have some time together with the three of us.

As I knew would happen, David has graduated from set building to acting in a local production. He will be playing Orderly #1, Mahoney (a reporter who also sings backup in one song), Dell (a piano player/composer), and a butler. I think total he has about 12 lines. I’m sure, however, that once they see how good he is and discover that he can actually sing that they will try to talk him into a bigger role in the next production. The downside is that he has play practice 3 nights a week. He is also playing softball again this summer. And, we are planning a canoe trip on Monday, July 6 if anyone wants to join us.

On the work front, David is happy to announce that his first roundabout will start construction TODAY! Hopefully, it will be completed before school starts up again. His next roundabout is still in negotiations (you wouldn’t believe what he has to go through), but hopefully will be constructed next summer.

Hannah is anxiously awaiting the end of school. A few months back she was saddened to discover that the school year and summer break weren’t both six months long. She was appalled that summer break was so much shorter than the school year. She will discover, quickly, however, that she will miss being around her friends, so I’m sure she will be looking for school to start way before it actually does.

Her last day of school is May 22, and our summer is already booked pretty solid – as usual. I will be working 3 days a week, so Hannah will go to my cousin’s again those days. She has three younger kids for Hannah to play with so it is easy money for the teenage daughter who babysits her. She will also be attending 3 different camps this summer – Girl Scout camp, Art camp, and Camp Invention. We also will be going to Colorado for vacation in late July.

My family is doing very well. Stephen and Matthew will be staying with us this weekend so Susan and Mark can attend Christopher’s and Thomas’ graduation from Notre Dame. We are all so very proud of both of them. For those who haven’t heard yet, Christopher has decided to stay on at Notre Dame and join the seminary there – the Congregation of the Holy Cross. This summer he will work on campus, and this fall he will begin the one-year discernment process. Then, it will be five more years before he would be ordained a priest. Thomas will be moving to California this summer to attend UCLA’s graduate physics program. His ultimate goal is to be a college-level physics professor and do research. We will miss them both terribly but know they will both flourish.

Stephen is finishing his junior year in high school and was just confirmed with David as his sponsor. He is umpiring baseball games this summer and working at Helias High School part time. He will continue to play football and participate in the Academic team in the fall. Matthew is finishing 7th grade and is playing baseball (pitcher, 1st base) this summer.

My sister Susan spends most of her free time at ball games and practices. My sister Karen is finishing up her school year and will be teaching kindergarten next year. (Her school has a two-year cycle where the teacher stays with the same class in kindergarten and first grade and then starts over again.) She is going to take the exam to be a principal this summer as she has completed her masters. My folks are doing well. They’ve both slowed down a bit – Dad in particular, but they still enjoy traveling. My family has gotten too big and too busy to go camping the past couple of summers, so this year we are going to try something different - - we are all going to Silver Dollar City during the bluegrass festival. That way, Dad, Mark, and Jay can sit around and listen to music; Mom, Karen, and Susan can shop; and David and I can take the boys and Hannah on the rides. I’m hoping it will be a lot of fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there.

Well, that’s about it for us. Sorry this was so long. I hope all of you are doing very well and have a wonderful summer. Hope to see you all.