Dad & Mom visit

Brent, his dad Elbert and my dad Rocky

Lucas, Eric & Jared

My mom and dad came out to visit a few weeks ago, it was great! The boys were so excited to see them! They could only stay a few days, which actually felt more like hours to me. We tried to make the most of it by going to the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati and just hangin' out around the house. We celebrated Lucas' 2nd birthday, went to Eric's last school concert and ate at White Castle. They were gone before we knew it!

Lucas & Papa

Mom & me

Grandma Mary's Fruits & Wine painting

I remember seeing this painting in my Grandma Mary's house as I was growing up. She had painted it circa 1975. Initially, this painting had been given to me by Larry, after my Grandpa Larry passed away. But at the time, we lived in a small apartment, and had no where to hang it. I asked Larry to keep it for me. Some years later, my uncle Raymond had it hanging in his house and some how found out that it was mine. My uncle Raymond was nice enough to let go of this precious family heirloom and present it back to me at my brother Nathan's wedding. Since then, I have kept it up as to not get it damaged. Recently, Brent was kind enough to take it to a framing store where they took very good care of it, cleaned and re-framed the painting to my delight! I chose an older rustic looking frame, to go with the Spanish style of the picture. We also painted our dining room a deep red to with the colors of the pitcher and background in the painting. Click on the painting to see it up close and scroll over to see her signature at the bottom. I think it looks fantastic!

There's a tree on our house!

Yeah, that's right, a 60 foot tree on top of our house! There was a huge storm and it blew so hard that a tree that was on the bed of our creek, fell from the pressure ripping the roots up and landing the tree on the second story of our house! It sort of laid on our house really, since it, Thank God, didn't go through the roof.


But, as you can see, it was just a few feet from the first story which, is exactly where Brent and I were when the tree fell. We were watching a very funny movie(The Holiday), and had to with regret, resume it at a later time. Not much damage to the house except some of the eaves and gutters were broken and our bridge flipped over, unlike our neighbors down the street whose tree fell through their kitchen and bathroom.

Tootin' his horn!

Eric just graduated from 6th grade, at the beginning of the year he picked up an instrument for the first time. Brent asked him why he chose the trumpet, saying "Don't tell me it's because you want to play "TAPS"." Eric looked at him without saying anything, and we knew that was his answer. From that point on, he has been enjoying every minute of lessons, class time and practicing. He absolutely loves music! He goes to bed with classical music playing in the background every night. It helps him relax that machine brain of his, so he can finally fall asleep! By the second concert of the year he was moved to 1st chair, which is a big deal, it means he is doing very well and his teacher Mr. Ling is blown away! He was shocked that this was the first time Eric ever played an instrument. Along with the trumpet, Eric has taught him self to play the piano (still learning, he practices after his trumpet), and has just recently picked up our acoustic guitar. He has a great ear for this stuff!