If I Was a...

Chair,  By Robert James Schmitz

This is pure gold!

Lest ANYBODY doubt that he is my son, let this act as exhibit A, his writing about being a chair:

And exhibit B, his teacher's response to his writing:

Atta' boy!  Keep'em coming!!

Class Character Robby, 2015 Style!

Both boys have done it again!  Each lad has received the S.E. Polk Class Character award for following the Rams Way, for each year that they've been in school!  They get that from their own Dad... obviously...

Robby's teacher sent us an email on Monday letting us know that she had selected him for this round and was not going to tell him, so we could let it be a surprise or tell him ourselves.  We tried to let it be a surprise but other kids know us and our sneaking into the gymnasium was unsuccessful, even though we had though otherwise.

Oh well, as a daddy, I'm am still well beyond proud of my boys.  This time?  Robby!!!

Can you guess which one of the kids he is out of this shot of the 3rd and 4th graders?  Hint: he likes jerseys.

This is Robby accepting his Rams Way dog tags from the Four Mile Elem Principal, Mr. Mohning.

This is Robby and his fabulous teacher, Mrs. Rafdal, reading what she had written about the boy. I always like this part because it's sort of fun to watch all of the kids and their pose as they watch their teachers reading something nice about themselves.  Most kids have a very nervous, uncomfortable pose.  Robby has his hands in his pockets and looks somewhat natural compared to most. Does this worry me?  Maybe...   Also, did anyone notice the big grass stain on the left knee of his pants?  It's from a football game at recess.

Getting his congratulations from his teacher and likely feeling a bit awkward. :-)

A shot of the eight 4th graders that were honored today.  The three teachers in the background all figure into his life as well.  The one right behind Robby has done some magical thing to him where he HAS to finish any homework from her class.  The one in the yellow sleeves is obviously Mrs. Rafdal who was reading his award to him in the photo above.  And the other is, and I'll probably screw this up, his 2nd grade teacher who dearly loved having the boy in her class and identified with his "talkitivness" due to one of her own children that he reminded her of.

And this is what Mrs. Rafdal had to say about the fine young lad.

My boys make me a very proud daddy even when there are no awards ceremonies or public recognition of any kind.  They are great kids and I have to be the luckiest man on God's green Earth.

Nebraska Wildlife Safari

Pretty much forgot all about this.  I was going thru photos and getting ready to back stuff up again when I stumbled on to these from our little weekend trip last October.  We went on a little trip to the Nebraska Wildlife Safari.

This safari is a drive-thru in parts, with opportunities to get out and walk/hike/climb as well.

There were a bunch of these fellows as you enter the park and drive down into the guts of it.

The swans.  They were literally right outside of our vehicle as you cross the little land-bridge.

The boys with some bald eagles in the background.

Calebber and the American Black Bear!

This was the best part; the wolves!!  They were out and busy!  Some turkey legs had been put in there with them and they were actively working those.  This young lady was trying to  bury hers...

...only to have the darker one dig it right back up.  This went on for some time.

We were about this close to them.  Beautiful creatures!

Ham #1

Ham #2

The great white buffalo!

That was truly a day well spent!  Good times and should you be in the mood for a museum as well, the Omaha Strategic Air & Space Museum in about 1 mile from here.

Science Class Done Right!

It was brewing day at my friends house so I bought the kit, and the boys and I headed down to Knoxville, IA for science class.

The boys got in there and got their hands dirty.  Bob, whose house we're at, wouldn't let them just be innocent bystanders and merely watch, so they participated and did well.  This is a shot of the sparging process.  The middle cooler has our milled grains in it and has been sitting for roughly an hour in 150 degree water.  The top cooler is 170 degree water that is dripping down in the grains and filtering thru to the brew kettle.  When this process was finished, we headed back outside into the wind and cold to boil for an hour while closely monitoring the hops schedule.  

He sent me a photo this morning of the beer starting to ferment in the secondary!  Wooo-hooo!  

It will be a few weeks before we can sample the prize of our efforts, but if the smell of the boiling hops was any indication, we're in for a treat!

Whoa, Baby!!

She's a beaut!!

About 4 weeks to go!!

Randomness...

I don't have much time, which is good, because I don't have much to say either.

Just going thru pics and found a couple that made me giggle.

I told the boys that they couldn't play with the new Playstation 4 until they had done some math and also read a few chapters in their books.  After they tore into the educational tasks, I went in to take a shower.  I come out of our bedroom to the site of Robby helping Caleb read his book.  And yes, Robby still really likes wearing his knee-high neon football socks.

The puzzle master!  He does puzzles in three stages;  Crazy excited, crazy frustrated, and then finally, crazy dedicated to getting them done.

Christmas 2014 - At The Bushmans

One of the most amazing things for kids is that Christmas morning will NEVER get here.  

One of the more amazing things for adults is how long it seems to go on!

That's not a knock on anybody but just an observation that while time still goes fast enough to frighten most of us silly-straight, Christmas does seem to go on for a while thru partial work weeks and all the other "schmootz" that life can throw at you.

So on we go to our third Christmas gathering/celebration. 

Don't know what's going on here at all, but since we know him as the master of faces/expressions, I figured I would include this gem to get us off to a robust start!

Here is the small Chinese lad a little more happy than the previous post as he opens his new socks.  The cool thing (or one of the cool things) about the Chinaman, is that he is equally excited for socks as he is a game of some sort.  Doesn't matter, it's a present to him, it's COOL!!  Wish we were all like that, including myself...

The good woman and her daddy as he opens the gift that he obviously knows what it is.

Aunt Molly opening her first gift under the watchful spectacles of Caleb and Robby.

The next 3 or 4 photos are to be presented in order according to how it all went down.  It's Robby's present from Aunt Molly;  a Pittsburg Steelers Bumblebee throwback jersey of Le'veon Bell.  Robby was fascinated with him this season.

Weak in the knees...

Down for the proverbial count...

And Aunt Molly's reward for her gift!

Caleb with a new and expanded set of Magformers!  He was fascinated with the original set of these and now  has two sets to combine and build bigger and better "stuffs".

Momma opening something with her Momma and Daddy in tow.

The inimitable JB opening another gift.

Dear ol' Dad opening something under careful supervision of the Larger American Boy, Robby.

Calebber McCheese after opening his Russel Wilson jersey.  He was a happy boy!!

Ugly fella again with a jar of balsamic vinagrette which was used as a reduction last night on a fantastic pizza!

And, larger American boy again, this time with "sewed on" Brian Hoyer Browns jersey.  He was elated with the two jerseys even though they are division rivals and so on...

Another great Christmas season wraps up and I am so happy and thankful that we had the bulk of our family, in various stages of health, with us once again.

Sadly, we will forever miss my Dad, Uncle Frank and others as we enjoy those that are still with us.  May Christmas never be a time to celebrate "stuff", but rather the birth of our Lord and Saviour and the family that has meant so much to us thru the years.

God Bless you all!!