Every time I see this I laugh.

This is what we do at lunch-watch funny clips. Middle School teachers are easily amused.

BFF

A few weeks ago Jeff came home for a visit. He is in cooking school in New York and was on his way home after doing a 6 week externship (that's what it's called in the cooking world) in New Orleans. Jeff and Matt have been friends since they were about 3. I was taken by surprise when they walked into the house looking so similar. They were even dressed alike. While this was common when they were younger, I thought they would have grown out of it at 22.

It was a bit sad though. These two used to spend every waking moment together. Now their lives are, more than likely, taking them different places. I think that both boys were blessed with a good childhood friend that is, hopefully, one of those rare lifelong friends.

Mohawk Man

Nate came home to do laundry. I know many of you are anxiously awaiting pictures of the haircut. Here they are. I asked him if he wanted me to cut it off. He starts morning conditioning for football this week, so he is about to have it redone. I guess it's a football thing.

We are still alive

I know that some people check blogs every time they get on the computer, and to see I haven't posted anything for a few weeks is a bit disheartening for some. Here is what's going on at the English house - in a nutshell.

Matt registered to substitute teach-he'll be me on Friday while I have our taxes done.

Nate got a Mohawk. He said a friend asked if he wanted one and he said yes. Matt thinks Nate lost a bet. We'll never really know.

We bought a hot tub a few weeks ago. I have wanted one for years, and the day is finally here. I don't sleep well and have noticed that I am sleeping better after going in the hot tub before bed.

It looks like tomorrow we may have a snow day. The kids are overly excited today in anticipation. If we are in school tomorrow it won't be a good day.

I am training to run a half marathon in May. The date is Sunday May 16 and the race is in Chicago. I have been training for this since we got back from Jamaica. This Saturday I will run for an hour and a half. My goal is to get 8 miles in in that time.

The phone rings at 2 AM

"This is Adrian Campus Security..."


No parent wants to hear these words at that time of the morning. Luckily I wasn't thinking very clearly or I may have really freaked out. Last night someone (for whatever reason) decided to go through the parking lot and rip rear view mirrors off vehicles. The Saturn was a causality.

Every student vehicle has a sticker with contact information. When Matt registered the Saturn he put our home phone number as a contact number. Campus Security (along with the Adrian City Police Department) was looking for Matt. They wanted to know if he wanted to press charges against the person. Apparently they still had him in custody at the scene-which happens to be right outside Matt's front door.

I tried calling Matt- No answer. N8 went down there for the night, so Dan tried his number-again no answer. It wasn't until Dan texted one of their friends - who happened to be down there- that they return our calls.

One of the baseball players was going through the parking lot damaging vehicles. I think Matt told the police that he does want to file a report, because he has to take the car to a body shop the get estimates and them take those to the police department.

Both boys are coming home today to watch football with their Dad. If there is any more news worth mentioning I'll post it.

Jamaica update-Finally!!

So we've been back a week. I'm sure those of you who check this site have been wondering where the pictures are. I've been busy. It's hard taking a week off work. I am finally caught up. I figured the least I could do was get all those papers (I had the kids do when I was gone) checked and returned.

The trip was great. We were a bit worried with the security scare at Metro that things would be a bit hairy at the airport. We got there in plenty of time; it only took 30 minutes to get checked in and through security.



There were a few cloudy/rainy days when we were there, but compared to the cold spell in Michigan we did OK. We still had three days where we did nothing but lay by the pool. The ocean was choppy the entire week we were there so we weren't able to snorkel or scuba dive (that was a bit disappointing)


We did go zip-lining. Holy Cow. It was awesome. I'm not a big fan of heights, so being tethered to a rope and asked to jump off a platform was a bit scary. There was one line that was completely vertical. Yes, that means we jumped straight down.

With Dan and I waking up early and the boys staying up late we definitely got our money's worth. For the boys the best part of the trip was open bar and unlimited food.

I know that the trip was a success when I heard Nate telling one of his friends how great it was and everything we did. We are very blessed that we are in a position to do this for our family.

Who knows, the next time we do this there may be girlfriends, wives, or even grandchildren in the picture.

Christmas 2009

What a great day-lots of laughing, fabulous food, and gifts galore. The little boys LOVED "Santa". As Santa left the basement, both of the little boys were waiving goodbye to him-so sweet! There were so many gifts on the floor it seemed like an obstacle course. As the night wore on many of the adults started playing with the little ones' toys. I guess everyone is really a kid at heart.