Mason Dancing

Mason has been taking dancing classes the past few weeks. The classes are for 7th graders only and focus on the classic dance steps, waltz, mambo, tango, etc. While she doesn't want me to, I'm planning on attending the final class in a couple of weeks. I'll take some pictures and post them - hope you'll come back to see them.

Meanwhile, Mason and I scanned and uploaded more photos from our past this evening. Feel free to take a look.



~ Max

Remembering Jenny

Well, the scanning project continues. I finally found the album that contained the pictures of our wedding. They bring back a lot of really great memories. At this pace, I'll be finished with the major event photos in about 3 months. Just click the picture to see what else I've managed to get uploaded to flickr.



~ Max

Done For The Night

I've scanned a bunch of photos and film - not so easy, pretty tedious actually. I'm living an exciting Saturday night - party across the street, invited but didn't feel like going. Instead, I'm going to pour a glass of something to drink and head to bed, look at photos on Flickr and try to get some sleep (I don't do that very well these days, but gotta keep trying, right?)

Besides the many photos of Jenny (oh how I miss her), I captured this one - Mason is so pretty.



Good night.

~ Max

I Really Miss Her Smile

Well, we put the xmas money to use (thanks Mom) and finally purchased a scanner. It's going to take the rest of the winter to scan and label all of these photos we have around here (but who cares, if the weather stays like this).


This is the first photo I scanned - it's probably my favorite picture of Jenny. We had just started dating. I'll be posting most of them on Flickr - but I won't be making all of them available to the public, so to see all of them, you'll need to get a Flickr account and I will lable you as "Friends and Family".

~ Max

A Lighter Topic

Daisy and I went for a walk today in the Forest Preserve. It hasn't been any warmer than 15 degrees in the past week - that was today. The lowest it got was zero, with windchill it was minus 25 (how does that work exactly? something to do with evaporation I think). Tomorrow is Saturday, so we'll take a long walk in the morning - it's snowing right now, so the forest should be pristine when we're out there. I'll try to take some new photos, it's serene.


~ Max & Mason

Another Milestone

On January 23, 1943, Jenny's parents were married. Yep, that's right 65 years ago, Robert and Viola VanVuren made a commitment to spend the rest of their lives together. Here they are, still together - he's 90 and she's 83, still happily married.

Mason and I went over to their place for dinner this evening. Viola cooked of course (too snowy to go anywhere, and she likes cooking!). We had a very yummy mid western meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans and fruit salad. For dessert we had brownies and a delicious cheese cake - all made by Vi.

Jenny would have loved to be here to share this day with them. I remember, shortly after Jenny and I were married, we (Jenny mainly) organized a surprise 50th party for them back in their hometown of Fulton, IL. Jenny contacted and gathered about 100 of their friends and family and we rented a banquet room at the Ramada Inn. You should have seen the looks on Bob and Vi's faces when they saw the marquee of the hotel - "Happy 50th Anniversary, Robert and Viola". They had no idea, it was quite a surprise.

~ Max & Mason

90 Years Old Today

Bob, Jenny's dad, celebrated his 90th birthday today. As amazing as that is, I'd lay odds that he makes it to 100 (and probably longer). We ate dinner and talked. Without question, he wished for three things when he blew out the candles (although, he couldn't tell us, because then they don't come true, right?) 1. To have Jenny sitting there with us. 2. For his son Rob to fully recover and get healthy. 3. For the Cubs to win the World Series. I know we can't have number 1 (although, I wish for this everyday - and would trade places if I could), but I sure hope he gets the other two.

We didn't do anything too exciting, that's not Bob's style. Mason and I took Bob and Viola to dinner at Francesca's Fiore in Forest Park - a little more upscale than Grandma Sally's or Blueberry Hill (their normal haunts). I've posted pictures of the grand event on flickr.

Today is also Jenny's half-birthday. It's still painful to do things like this without having her here with us. I often wish that I could trade places with her, she should be spending these special times with her mom and dad - we all miss her so much.

~ Max

Phew, Holidays Over!

Mason had a successful first week being back at school. With 17 consecutive days off, it's hard to think of things to do and still be productive. Then, once it's over, it's hard to get back into the groove. Luckily, I have Jenny's dad calling me at 6:30 every morning to make sure that I'm up. Three out of five days, I went back under the covers, but we managed to make it to school on time - today was easiest, because I didn't have to make a lunch, the kids get "Fun Lunch" on Fridays - believe me, it's worth every penny!

I posted some pictures of our Christmas and a few others since our last post (none from Thanksgiving, because I forgot the camera, but we had a great meal with Bob and Vi). We are doing our best to keep with the traditions that Jenny and our friends (Susan & Chris, Bill & Elizabeth) established way before I entered the picture over 18 years ago. We spent Christmas Eve with our great friends the Elsey's (and their four beautiful and fun children) and the McNeill's (and their two very funny and beautiful kids). As usual, a great time was had by all - but Jenny was sorely missed.

A few (about 25) of our holiday letters came back, so I guess I will be able to shorten the list for next year. If you didn't get one, email us your new address and we'll be sure to make the changes so that you get one next year - with great hopefulness, next year will be a picture so that you can see how much Mason has grown and have something nice to hang on the fridge ;-)

Other than that, we keep getting by. Thank you for your thoughts, letters, cards, emails and prayers - they do help. Thank you.

~ Max and Mason