Day 105 - Tax Day

We finished filling out our Federal and State tax forms today, beat the filing deadline by a whole 3 days.  This is my least favorite time of year. The tax forms take way too long and are way too complicated. I definitely support simplifying this process. We still need to write our checks and add a stamp to the envelopes and then we are done for another year.

Day 103 - Concentration

Another beautiful spring day on MY day with Blake! I captured lots of cute photos today. Here are a few of my favorites. All three of these show his concentration!


Here he is showing me how he can peel his cutie all by himself!

He loves to hit the ball. I love how he is concentrating so hard that his tongue is sticking out!

And he was so cute concentrating on blowing the dandelion seeds!

Day 102 - Butterflies

Today we attended my Uncle Clare's funeral at his church in Rockford. We arrived early so that Blake could run around and use up some energy before the service. We were so happy to see the butterflies hanging from the ceiling in the sanctuary. They make them from fan folded magazine pages and pipe clearners. They are so colorful! The church decorates with these butterflies every Easter season. How wonderful that they were still 'flying' for my uncle's service today.

Day 99 - Easter

We had the Beil family over for Easter today. It was a gorgeous and glorious day! Her Uncle Jeff is helping Blake find some Easter eggs. We are so thankful that Jeff and his family could be with us today!

Day 98 - Birthday celebration!

Happy 40th birthday to my friend, Deb! Her family put on a fun celebration in her honor. Pictured are Deb (far right) and some of our school friends.

Day 96 - Baby

Today is my regular day to babysit, so as always on Thursday, Blake is the subject of my photos. This is my favorite shot from today. Blake's baby brother is due in early June, so his mommy has been preparing him for the new arrival. He is so gentle with his baby doll, taking good care of him. I hope he is just as gentle when his real baby brother arrives!

Day 95 - Rainbow

I'm hosting our neighborhood book club discussion tonight. I made this cheery rainbow of fruit as one of our snacks. I saw the idea on Pinterest. The book we read was The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister, a book about a cooking school, so trying a new recipe was quite appropriate.

Day 93 - Signs of Spring

We have been enjoying such an early spring! Another sign of our early spring.....the robins are back, are plentiful, and busy!

Day 68 - Birthday!

Day 68 - Birthday!, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Today we celebrated Cheryl's 32nd birthday! We had a fun time playing with blake during the day and then took Cheryl, Seth, and Blake out for dinner. Cheryl and Blake did a great job blowing out the candle!

Happy Birthday, Cheryl!!

Day 67 - Chicago

Day 67 - Chicago, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

We drove into the city this afternoon to visit my brother-in-law, Jeff, who had a brain tumor removed yesterday. He is doing very well just 24 hours after being in surgery for 7 hours. He has a long road ahead of him and we ask everyone to keep him in their prayers.

Day 66 - Praying

Day 66 - Praying, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

What a beautiful cloudless sky today! While out for a walk with the dog, I felt like I had a clear shot of Heaven as I prayed for Jeff. He was in surgery when I took the photo. My niece's mantra for today is "Faith not Fear". I have faith and believe in the power of prayer. Thank you God!

Day 65 - Old Friends

Day 65 - Old Friends, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Cathy and Kathy are dear friends from a school I taught at back in the 1980s. Berkley School was closed by our district in 1992. Our Berkley friends have been meeting for dinner on the first Monday of each month ever since. Berkley School was a very special place, where regular ed. and special ed. students both received an outstanding education in a very caring environment. Every member of the staff was topnotch. I've been a more regular attendee at these monthly dinners since I retired and am so happy to be friends with such wonderful ladies!

Day 64 - Fetch

Day 64 - Fetch, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Lucy isn't a dog that plays with many toys, but she does enjoy a game of fetch with one of her toys as long as she gets a small treat every time she brings it back. When we throw it down into the family room, she gets quite a bit of exercise running up and down the stairs.

Day 63 - Jeff

Day 63 - Jeff, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Scott's brother, Jeff, was diagnosed with a brain tumor last Monday. After being transferred from Rockford to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, he and his family met with a wonderful team of doctors who mapped out his treatment plan. He will be having surgery on Tuesday to remove as much of the tumor as possible before he begins radiation. He was able to come for a few days before the surgery since his body needed a few days to clear his blood of any traces of aspirin. The family gathered at his home this afternoon to share love, laughter, and dinner. We love you, Jeff! Our prayers are with you!

Day 62 - Snowflakes

Day 62 - Snowflakes, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I poked my head out the backdoor and snapped a quick photo of the huge snowflakes that had just started coming down. Our weather has been crazy all winter. Today, in the span of 90 minutes, we went from hail, to rain, to snow.

Day 61 - Treasure

Day 61 - Treasure, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

When the snow melts, we're never quite sure what treasures will be found left behind. While out for a walk with Lucy this afternoon, we found this treasure. Certainly makes me wonder....

February 2012

February 2012, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

A recap of the second month of 2012!

Day 60 - Flowers

Day 60 - Flowers, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

A dear friend sent me this vase of flowers. She knew it would send me cheer after being in the hospital earlier this week. What a surprise! Thank you Julie!

Day 59 - Hospital

Day 59 - Hospital, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

This awful blurry photo is the best I could do for today. It does accurately represent how I feel....staying in the hospital is no fun. Today I've had a bad reaction to pain meds I was given in my IV and I'm really sad to be missing the ICE Conference. I'm hoping they let me go home tomorrow!

Day 58 - ER

Day 58 - ER, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Today did not turn out to be a very good day. I was supposed to be checking into Pheasant Run for the ICE Conference. I ended up in the ER at the hospital having abdominal pain. They are checking me out for appendicitis.

Day 57 - Facebook

Day 57 - Facebook, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I've really enjoyed connecting and sharing with family and friends on Facebook. I've just uploaded a few of the photos that I've been playing with as I prepare for the ICE Conference.

Day 56 - Teeth!

Day 57 - Teeth!, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I took this photo of Blake a few days ago. Today I was playing around with BeFunky. Since he was showing off his teeth, I thought it would be cool to exaggerate his head in this shot. BeFunky is a great online photo site for adding a nice variety of effects.

Day 55 - Snowstorm

Day 55 - Snowstorm, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

This was the view out our bathroom window this morning when we woke up. Looks like we got about 6 inches of snow. Scott and the neighbors have already been out using their snowblowers. There is nothing like men and their toys!

Day 54 - Persistent

Day 54 - Persistent, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

At 18 months, Blake is really enjoying the challenge of shapes and puzzles. His mom has set up a new table play area in the corner of their family room (AKA Daddy's man cave) and Blake will often sit down and want to do 'table work'. His attention span is good and he works hard to problem solve on shape sorters and puzzles.

Day 53 - Memories

Click here to view this photo book larger

It has been one year since Scott's dad passed away. Last year, at the memorial service, we had a slide show of family photos playing on my laptop. I had gathered the photos from family and scanned the old ones. I decided that it would be nice for my mother-in-law to have a hard copy of the photos, so I put this book together for her today. We miss you Bob!

Day 52 - Soccer

Day 52 - Soccer, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

There are many great websites for editing and adding effects to photos. This is a photo of our younger daughter, Kristin (who is now 28), playing soccer at age 8. I used Aviary to process the photo and add the caption.

Day 51 - Shirts

Day 51 - Shirts, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I shopped with a friend and fellow Grandma today. We took advantage of some great Presidents' Day sales to snag some bargains for our grandsons. I found some great new shirts for Blake. He's going to look like such a cute little boy!

Day 50 - Tabblo

Day 50 - Tabblo, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Our grandson LOVES to play with balls. When I took him to JC Penny for a surprise photo shoot, it was easy to get cute shots of him playing with his soccer ball.

I am working on my presentations for the ICE Conference. I'm doing a new workshop this year, "Fun with Photos", and am looking at some web tools that I may include.

Later this evening, we met the kids for dinner to celebrate my son-in-law, Seth's birthday.

Day 49 - Photovisi

Day 49 - Photovisi, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Experimenting with websites, stumbled on photovisi.com. It was very quick and easy to turn a few photos into a cute black and white collage.

Day 48 - Phixr

Day 48 - Phixr, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

This was an older photo of Blake that I decided to crop and add a border to using a new (to me) photo website, phixr.com.

Day 47 - Playing

Day 47 - Playing, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

When Cheryl came home from work this afternoon, Blake had just gotten up from a 2.5 hour nap, his longest ever for me! He was full of smiles and energy! Here he is playing Ring Around the Rosie with Mommy.

Day 46 - Bowling

Day 46 - Bowling, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I've bowled here with my district bowling league for many years. We bowl every other Wednesday, right after school. When I was still working, it was sometimes a hassle to get there since there was always lots to be done at school, but I was always glad once I got there and enjoyed fun time with colleagues.

Now that I'm retired, I continue to enjoy bowling with the teachers, some are young, some are not, but all are fun to be with!

Day 45 - Valentine's Day

Day 45 - Valentine's Day, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

This was a tough Valentine's Day for me. I only saw my husband for a few minutes. I had accepted a sub job for today and he had to work from 4-10 p.m. I don't think we've ever missed having dinner together on Valentine's Day. But, he did leave flowers and a sweet card for me, so I smiled when I came home from subbing. Love you, Honey!

Day 44 - Lunch Date

Day 44 - Lunch Date, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

My husband works at the hospital and employees were given a coupon for a free meal at a new Noodles and Company near the hospital. He asked me to join him. Thanks for the great lunch, Honey!

Day 43 - Bath

Day 43 - Bath, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Our beagle does NOT like to be wet, so bath time is never fun for her. Here she is looking up at me as if saying, "Why are you doing this to me?"

Not everything that is good for us is always fun, but we are often better for having done it. Lucy now smells sweet!

Day 42 - Gift

Day 42 - Gift, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Lots of family birthdays in February! Our son-in-law, Seth's, birthday is coming up this week, so I wrapped his gift today. I hope he likes it!

Day 41 - Day with Grandpa

Day 41 - Day with Grandpa, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Scott picked up Blake this morning and brought him back to our house for the day. He's one happy Grandpa when he gets to spend the day with his buddy and his dog!

Day 40 - Curls

Day 40 - Curls, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I always take quite a few photos of my grandson on Thursdays when I babysit for him. He was a cute baldy for the first year of his life! At 18 months, he now is sporting some blond curls. I decided to get a picture of them in case they don't last!

Day 39 - Valentine Surprise

Day 39 - Valentine Surprise, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I added the bow and the card, now Blake's rocking chair is ready to go with me tomorrow. I'm hoping to sneak it into the house and surprise him with it when his parents come home from work tomorrow afternoon.

Day 38 - AHML

Day 38 - AHML, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

We have a fabulous public library in town. Recently, I've been taking advantage more of their wonderful programs. This evening, I attended a book discussion on a book called Girl in Translation. We are very lucky to have such a fine library with so much to offer.

Day 37 - Vera

Day 37 - Vera, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I love my iPad case! My niece gave me this Vera Bradley case for Christmas. It is such a cheery pattern!

Day 36 - Dunton

Day 36 - Dunton, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

William Dunton was the founder of our community of Arlington Heights, Illinois in 1854. This statue, commemorating him, was made recently by a local artist and proudly stands in a small park in our downtown area. When I was teaching 3rd grade, we studied Arlington Heights as one of our social studies units. I hope my former students remember that learning when they pass by this statue!

Day 35 - Inspecting...

Day 35 - Inspecting..., a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

Scott and I put together this rocking chair for Blake today. It will be his Valentine gift. Lucy gave the chair a final inspection and we got the seal of approval!

Day 34 - High Tech

Day 34 - High Tech, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I laid in this MRI machine for about 30 minutes today. When I had my first MRI several years ago, I was terrified. Although a bit nervous today, I was much calmer. It helps to know what to expect. This medical technology has continued to improve and is so automated. It is amazing what the images from this machine can tell about the inside of a human body. Hoping my news is good when I get the report next week!

Day 33 - Giggling!

Day 33 - Giggling!, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

I've been bringing my 'tickle stick' with me whenever I spend the day with my grandson, Blake. It never fails to send him into instant giggles. He often starts laughing before it even reaches him!

Today, he started using the 'tickle stick' to make his Fisher Price Little People laugh and to tickle himself.....so cute!

Day 32 - Old tech

Day 32 - Old tech, a photo by Karin Beil on Flickr.

This morning, I accompanied a girl friend to an appointment to lend moral support. After the meeting, she took me out to eat at a great breakfast/lunch place in the area. I was intrigued by the old intercom system that was still hanging by the hostess station. It isn't used anymore, but it adds some great nostalgia to the quaint decor of the restaurant.