One Week Ago

From left: Lauren, Emily and Elena show off their balloons.
A week ago today, we packed up the Suburban and headed downtown to the Old Market to eat at the Spaghetti Works.

This particular restaurant is the site of Mom and Dad's first "official" date. If Dad is not mistaken, it was Wednesday, April 24, 1991. And yes, he was pretty brave (or just plain dumb) to invite her to dine over a messy plate of spaghetti on a first date.

On this night, we were joined by Aunt Dee-Dee and Uncle Jon, as well as Jon's parents. Also with us was Emily's friend, Elena, who spent the night while Olivia was still staying with Elena's family and her sister, Layla.

The girls (and Jon) enjoyed some pretty clever balloon creations, as you can see from the pictures above and below. Lauren had a flower hat, Emily had an alien, Elena had a motorcycle and Julia also had an alien.

Julia (left) had an alien while Jon sported Daffy Duck.

Meet Sprinkles

Sprinkles is Lauren's newest Webkinz pet.
Lauren added on the funny lips.

About Those Brackets

Olivia was a little short with Dad tonight when it came to discussing those NCAA Tournament brackets. It seems that she knew what Dad was getting ready to tell her: that her bracket was shelled out during the regional round of 16 (or "Sweet 16" as it is better known).

Olivia had only one chance to stay alive: Texas. And the Longhorns lost to Memphis.

The other girls are faring a little better. Emily successfully picked three of the Final Four teams, while Julia has Memphis and Veronica has Kansas and Memphis.

So, with only three games remaining (the semifinal and next Monday's title game), here are the point standings:

Emily: 28 points this weekend + 43 points previously = 71 points
Julia: 16 points this weekend + 37 points previously = 53 points
Veronica: 16 points this weekend + 26 points previously = 42 points
Olivia: 8 points this weekend + 21 points previously = 29 points

Trip To Norfolk

The girls used a blanket to stay warm.
Saturday dawned early in the YD household, thanks to a bicycle race that Dad was going to officiate in Norfolk. He invited the four oldest girls to tag along and they happily obliged.

The drive to Norfolk is about 115 miles - or about 2 hours and 15 minutes, according to Google Maps. But that is no longer the case, as we would find out. A couple things have changed since Dad first started making the drive north for bike races: a faster speed limit and a lot more two-lanes-in-each-direction roads.

The girls wondered, though, why we were "going so slow" when the speed limit dropped from 65 to 60 as we got closer to Fremont. They also thought it was funny that every little town we went through had a sign advertising the churches in it. Other notable things:

- Cows. Lots of them in feedlots near Norfolk.
- Single stop light towns.
- The number of roads that lead nowhere or stop.

A little less than two hours after pulling out of the driveway, we arrived at Northeast Community College, where the races were taking place. It was windy - very windy - and pretty cold. The nice thing was the sun was out, making it seem halfway decent.

The girls were originally going to help Dad with the officiating: counting laps, scoring the races, working the wheel pit, etc. But because of the less-than-desirable weather, the girls opted to watch a movie ("Curious George") with a couple young boys whose parents were also working the race.

However, for the last two races, the girls braved the chill to watch the riders fight the wind themselves (see photo above). Emily even helped ring the bell on the last lap. The highlight had to be, though, the two stops at McDonald's (once for lunch, the other on the return trip - for ice cream). They even asked Dad if they could attend the training race in Omaha this coming weekend.

Dad grinned, thinking of warmer days in California next month.

The "Other" Emily YD

Dad recently stumbled across a familiar name on the Internet: Emily YD.

It just so happens that the other Emily YD lives in Wisconsin. And get this - she plays basketball. And her basketball team was pretty darned good (8-0, according to the article in this newsletter) two years ago, when she (like the Emily we all know and love) was in fifth grade.

Very interesting.

Ready For The Weekend

The NCAA Tournament continues this weekend.
The girls are geared up for a big weekend.

Mom has her sights set on getting some much-needed spring cleaning accomplished.

Dad will be taking the four oldest girls to officiate a bike race in Norfolk. They're pretty excited about this - and not just because the local team is sponsored by Monster drinks. They honestly like helping score the race and work the lap cards and bell.

Of course, the NCAA Tournament resumed action last night and continues with more games through Sunday. In fact, by that night, we will know which four teams are remaining from the original 64. The girls were checking their brackets last night, rooting for Xavier and North Carolina and UCLA to advance. (They all did.)

Comic Life At The YD Cafe

10 Years From Now

Can you imagine Olivia (left) and Veronica 10 years from now?
While Mom was off giving a presentation at school tonight to potential Pre-K parents, Dad was speculating with the girls what life will be like 10 years from now.

In 2018, Emily will be 21, Lauren will be 19, Julia will be 17, Olivia will be 15 and Veronica will be 12 - or about a year older than Emily is now.

The girls always laugh when Dad plays this little game. It might be just the concept that they'll be older. Or perhaps they're devilishly thinking of the hell they can put Mom and Dad through once they start driving.

Anyway, Dad was thinking that on a typical night in late March, he'll be getting a phone call from Emily, who wondered if the family had been watching her team play in the NCAA Tournament.

Lauren, meanwhile, would be reading books in her dorm room back east where she was a freshman in college.

Julia would be playing in her own basketball game at her high school and Olivia would be cheering her on from the sidelines as a cheerleader. (Olivia later protested this, saying she would actually be either A) shopping or B) getting her nails done.) Veronica would probably be wondering if she actually had an older sister named Emily because she never sees her.

Of course, Dad would be (gasp!) 50. And we won't mention how old Mom would be, only that she would still look like she's in her mid 20s. And would there be any more YD girls (or boys) hanging around the house? Hmmm... that remains to be seen.

The Life Cycle Of A Candy Easter Egg

Emily must be learning about the life cycle of plants and animals because she showed Dad an unusual series of photos she took today.

As you'll see (when Dad gets them off the camera), Emily took pictures of the life cycle of a candy Easter Egg. Somehow (you'll have to figure it out), the Easter egg goes from being perfectly round and uneaten down to its inner shell. Finally, it's gone completely. Hmmm.

Dad also learned this week (much to his delight) that the girls don't particularly enjoy Reese's Easter Eggs. You know, those large Reese's peanut butter cups that are shaped like eggs? As much as the girls like Reese's, they don't like the eggs. So when Dad noticed they were selling packages of six for $1 each, he bought five of them at the grocery store. Yum.

Two Days Off From School

One of the few things that has not changed over the years when it comes to schooling is the tradition of an Easter or "Spring" break. For the girls and Mom, that meant a solid four days off from classes - and six overall if you count the weekend in between.

Meanwhile, the weather continued its awful trend of being cold. Could it be that Dad jinxed us by spending nearly three weeks in California in February? Temperatures there were in the 60s or 70s nearly every day, with so much sun that he has already has a mid-summer tan.

Despite the chilly and windy conditions, Dad has been taking the girls to the park nearly every afternoon after school. The two requirements are to have changed out of your school uniform and to have all of your homework done.

We go to the park that's pretty much down the street. The girls have requested to go to other ones (Elmwood has been mentioned), but Dad says as long as the price of gas remains high, he's not operating a recreational shuttle. This means that if we go to the park too early (before 4:30 p.m.) we often run into the Mercy High School tennis team. And, since the girls like to play tennis, we often don't leave the house until close to 5. (Plus, Dad has work to do, too.)

In addition to tennis, there's plenty of play equipment to enjoy. Veronica gets a lot of help from her older sisters when she wants to swing or climb up to go down the slide. It's one of the few times when they're not bugging each other.

Checking Those Brackets

And Emily thought she was under pressure on those inbound passes.
The first and second round games of the NCAA Tournament at the Qwest Center Omaha have come and gone, so now it's time to update those brackets.

Emily has 11 of 16 teams still in her bracket. Wow.

Julia has eight. Not bad.

Veronica has have five teams left, while Olivia has four. Hmmm... That's probably about as good as Dad would have done.

Some of you have wondered how the girls would be doing if we were tracking points for the brackets. Here is how points are awarded:

First round win: 1 point
Second round win: 2 points
Sweet 16 win: 4 points
Elite Eight win: 8 points
Final Four win: 16 points
Correctly picking the champion: 32 points

So, using that system, here are the point standings:

Emily: 21 + 22 = 43
Julia: 21 + 16 = 37
Veronica: 16 + 10 = 26
Olivia: 13 + 8 = 21

The next round of games begin Thursday night. We'll keep you posted.

Easter Sunday 2008

Despite extraordinarily chilly weather and a very early date on the calendar, the Easter Bunny made his way to the YD house.

The girls had arranged their baskets by the fireplace and Lauren even made Dad a basket of his own (apparently boys don't get the nice cloth ones). So come morning, there they were - filled to the brim with candy and goodies. (Who knew the Easter Bunny had even heard of Webkinz?)

The rest of the morning was busy for Mom as she hurried to prepare a few food items for the forthcoming party at Tante Frans' house. The nice thing about Easter this year would be the mass-party combo that Grandma Bep had arranged.

All the cousins were there - which made it easy for Mom and Dad because everyone loves to take care of Veronica (she's actually pretty self-sufficient). It wasn't too many minutes, either, before the NCAA Tournament was replaced on the TV by "Guitar Hero" battles. (I guess we all have our phases and in the early 80s it was Atari.) The girls watched their cousins play before retiring to a back bedroom to play with dolls. (OK, Dad just made that last part up. He doesn't know exactly what game they were playing, but there was a lot of laughing and carrying on.)

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Dad sleeping on the couch - with Veronica on his shoulder - and Mom having all kinds of laughs with her brothers and sisters. By the time we got out of there, it was too late to go to our old neighbors' house to see what the Easter Bunny left for the girls there.

However, it wasn't too late to pick up Elena for a sleepover with Emily. At the same time, we dropped off Olivia to play with Elena's sister, Layla. And, if the weather had been a tad warmer, we might have watched the girls play outside on the front lawn all night. As it was, though, we headed home. Fortunately, the girls don't have school the next two days.

Messages For The Easter Bunny

Several of the girls left the Easter Bunny messages prior to his visit Saturday night. Here's a sampling:
Dear Easter Bunny:

I hope you have a grate (sic) Easter!

Love, Julia

(On the second note)

I'm so srooy (sic) that our hose (sic) is such a pit.

Love, Julia

---

Julia also made this very beautiful crown for the Easter Bunny. Inside, it says:

"To: The Easter Bunny. From: Julia.

---

Dear Easter Bunny,

Happy Easter and enjoy your carrots.

Love, Lauren Weide :)

Faces In The Crowd

Mom and Aunt Ann.
Uncle Karl and Tante Shirl.
Mom and Tante Mion

First Round Winners ... And Losers

So we checked our brackets this morning to find out how everyone's teams were doing in the NCAA Tournament.

Of course, there were a few upsets on the court. Drake went down - 101-99 - in a thriller. The girls were at Zio's Pizza to see that one. Emily said it was "an amazing shot." Everyone in the place was rooting for Drake, so it was a big disappointment.

Olivia had Drake for her national champion, so she's already down in the dumps. Veronica has Kansas, Julia has Memphis and Emily has North Carolina. (Lauren never finished her bracket.)

Julia and Olivia each lost 17 teams in the first round. Emily lost 10. Veronica lost 16.

Brackets, Brackets Everywhere

The girls filled out their brackets Thursday morning.
Mark it down: March 20, 2008.

That's the day that Dad introduced the girls to a national phenomenon known as "March Madness" and the science of filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket.

Not to worry - no money exchanged hands. Rather, four of the girls spent about 15 minutes predicting which teams would advance in the field of 64 teams. How did they make their choices? Dad told them about the little numbers next to each team's name (their tournament seed) and how they advance through each round.

For Veronica, it was a matter of choosing which team sounded better than the other. Dad would ask her, "Kent State or UNLV?" and she would say "UNLV." Then he would ask her, "UNLV or Kent State?" and she would reply, "Kent State." (See the pattern?)

So how are they doing? Through Thursday's first round games:

Julia and Emily each picked 12 of 16 winners.
Olivia picked 7 of 16 winners.
Veronica picked 6 of 16 winners.

Lauren did not finish her bracket, saying it was "too hard." When asked if she wanted to finish it Friday morning, she said, "NOOOOO!"

Mom's Wacky Brothers

Karl (left in the bottom pics) and Michael are two "wild and crazy" guys.

Fifty Years In The U.S.

Mom's parents, Beppie and Mike.
Mom and her siblings and parents.
Monday night, we gathered with Mom's family to celebrate Grandma Bep's 50 years in the United States. She may have lived here a half-century, but there is no denying that Grandma Bep is 100 percent Dutch.

There was plenty of eating (pizza and desserts) and picture taking, as the entire immediate OB family was on hand. When the photo of the grandchildren was taken (below), photos were subbed in for the missing people. Also, in at least one case, a stand-in was used (bottom photo). Cousin Jeff impersonated his dad.

The girls had a great time playing with their cousins. And the drive home was fun, too, thanks to the misty, foggy conditions.

The photo of the 24 OB grandchildren.
That's Mom's Aunt Ann making herself at home in the middle.

Are You Wearing Green Today?

Emily Turns 11

Mom warned Emily these photos would show up on the Internet.
Emily turned 11 Sunday and she has officially become a "goofball," as you can see from the photos above.

Actually, Mom and Dad and her sisters love her very much, no matter what kind of silly faces she makes.

So, in the tradition of tracking the progress of the youngest YD, here is a "status update" on the progress of the oldest YD girl.

> Emily is tall - 5-feet-3-inches - and that makes Dad nervous. He sometimes mistakes her for Mom when she walks into the room.

> Emily loves Webkinz. That's all she wanted for her birthday.

> She loves eating at Arby's. In fact, we ate there for her birthday today.

> Emily's pet hermit crab lived for a long time before dying Saturday. If you ask her, though, she would rather have a dog for her next pet.

> She does not like to read. Nor does she enjoy cleaning her room. But she is doing a better (not good) job of keeping her room clean - and she found Dad's wallet while cleaning the Suburban.

> She hasn't shared her career ambitions lately. But when she was little, she professed to wanting to be a "clown driver" when she grew up.

Feel free to share your own thoughts on Emily in the comments section.

The End Of The Hoops Season

The runner-up trophy from the St. Bernadette basketball tournament.
What started in late October for Dad and Emily's basketball team came to an end Sunday morning with a 32-15 loss to St. Bernadette in the championship game of the St. Bernadette tournament.

It was disappointing, for sure, but the medals for the players and plaque for the team made that losing feeling go away a little faster. Julia also got a medal (pictured) and she had her name announced before the game as the team's student manager. Emily didn't score and Dad probably didn't coach his best game. In fact, it wasn't until the next morning that he kicked himself for not switching the 2 and the 4 to opposite sides to compensate for the increased defensive pressure.

Emily also played in her final Bellevue Ice basketball game that afternoon. Like most every game before it, her team lost. Emily played well, though, even setting some nice picks late in the game.


The final post-game huddle for Emily's Ice basketball team (Emily is on the right).

Beef Home Opener

Uncle Neil (left) tracks the statistics from press row.
The Omaha Beef opened their (its?) 2008 home schedule with a game Saturday night at the Civic Auditorium.

This is the Beef's ninth season and Dad and Uncle Neil have been part of the team's statistical crew from the very beginning. Things have changed over the years:

> The pre-game press meal went from a prime rib and full buffet to sandwiches to pizza to popcorn to just pop to nothing.

> Parking for the crew went from inside the building to a lot outside the arena to a lot down the street to parking on the street.

> Per-game pay used to be $15. Nine seasons later, it still is $15.

> We used to get two season tickets. Last year, we didn't get tickets until the day of the game. This year, no tickets (so far).

> They used to back-time the start so the game really kicked off at 7:05 p.m. Saturday night, the kickoff didn't occur until 7:27 p.m. and, combined with a 25-minute halftime (25 minutes?), the stats crew didn't get out of there until nearly 11 o'clock.

Oh well. The Beef won. And more importantly, more than 7,000 fans were on hand - the second-largest turnout for a Beef game in franchise history. The next home game is March 29. If you're in town, consider checking it out.

Found!

The missing wallet (left) and Dad's new one on the right.
Four-and-a-half months after it first went missing, Dad's wallet resurfaced when Emily was cleaning out the Suburban.

Yeah Emily!

It had fallen down between the driver's seat and the middle console. Of course, Dad had searched the Suburban a couple times. And, as Emily pointed out, the few times that Dad drove without his wallet (that had his driver's license in it), he really did have his license with him.

Sadly, those $100 bills that were in the wallet when it was lost were not in there when Emily turned it over to him.

On To The Championship Game

Things looked bleak for Emily and Dad's basketball team Friday night. First, the same referee who called Thursday's game was back on the floor for the Spartan's game against Sts. Peter & Paul. Dad saw this and hustled up to talk to the tournament director - who he reminded that he had told the night before never to have at another one of his team's games again.

The next hurdle was simply getting the girls to play up to their ability. They were nervously tossing the basketball to the opponent - instead of their teammates - and not playing like a team that had won 15 games this year.

With 91 seconds to play, Emily and Dad's team trailed 15-11. It looked all but over when Dad called timeout - just as Emily was shooting AND MAKING a basket to cut the lead to two. That wiped out the basket and left Dad wondering if this was the end of the season.

But Emily found a teammate, Elena, open underneath for a basket and a quick steal and another bucket tied the game up with less than 30 seconds to go. Then Dad subbed in one of his taller players to play defense. As it would turn out, she ended up with the ball and was fouled. One of her two free throws gave St. Mary's the lead with less than 15 seconds to go.

Emily and Dad's team came up with what appeared to be the final stop defensively, knocking the ball out of bounds with 0.9 seconds showing on the clock. But the referees ruled that it went out on St. Mary's, giving Sts. Peter & Paul one more chance. They got a shot off, which bounced high off the rim and off to the right side, triggering a huge celebration by the Spartans and their fans.

Dad didn't celebrate, though. He knows it will be a tall order to beat St. Bernadette on Sunday in the championship game. Uncle Neil schemed with Dad afterwards to come up with a strategy that might do the trick.

The situation harkens back to 1991 when Elkhorn beat Mt. Michael in the final game of the regular season by more than 40 points. Three weeks later, the two teams met in the state title game. But Coach Jim Kane of Mt. Michael had come up with a completely different look that helped the Knights pull through and beat the Antlers. Overconfidence will also be a factor for St. Bernadette, as they have won the past two games (of three) between the two teams.

Down, But Not Out

So Dad and Emily's basketball team didn't win Thursday night. But it wasn't for a lack of trying - or fan support.

Tons of relatives showed up: Grandma and Papa YD, Aunt Jean, Tante Frans, Uncle Neil... And they all cheered loudly as the Spartans held tough through the first half - trailing by only three points at the break.

Unfortunately, one of the referees (and Dad never complains about the officiating) has some kind of problem with one of Dad's players, Laura. In the two other games he has officiated, he has called either four or five fouls on her. Thursday night, it was four fouls. When she exited early in the second half with her fourth foul, St. Mary's didn't score again the rest of the quarter. The result was a 9-0 run for St. Bernadette, on the way to a 27-16 win over Dad and Emily's team.

So tonight, Dad and Emily will be back at it. This time, it's another game against Sts. Peter & Paul. If the Spartans win that one, they'll play St. Bernadette again on Sunday for the championship. Double elimination tournaments are nice, except when you have to keep playing the same teams over and over.

Seeing A Better Picture

What do you do if a Cox Communications worker comes to your door after 9 o'clock at night?

Don't answer it.

That was how we handled the situation Tuesday night. It wasn't clear at the time why a service worker was making a house call - that we didn't order - so late. But we think we have the answer now.

Earlier Tuesday, someone from Cox had left a notice on our door that our cable was "leaking" its signal from inside our house. This could cause all kinds of calamities, the notice said, including interference to airplanes. (Really?)

Anyway, Mom called Cox Wednesday afternoon to schedule a service call. The end result was that a technician showed up at 9 in the morning Thursday to look into the problem. He discovered that our house is an absolute mess. Oh, and that our cable is leaking, too.

An hour later - and some drilling on the back of the house (pictured), he had re-routed some cable and fixed the annoying problem of the "ghost" image we had on Channels 8 and 12.

Trip To The ER

Olivia was in bad shape after cutting her lip.
Olivia and pebble-filled pavement do not get along.

She's found that out the hard way twice in three days this week. The first incident happened Monday on the way to school. Dad was dropping the girls off an hour late (remember that super long UNO hockey game Sunday night?) and Olivia fell in the parking lot. That time, she badly cut the palm of her hand.

Wednesday's incident was even more serious. While playing at the park, she fell on the sidewalk (apparently face-first) and cut her bottom lip. She came running and screaming to Dad, who couldn't miss the sight of bright red blood pouring out of her mouth.

Dad grabbed Julia's red UNO hockey sweatshirt (much to her dismay) and shoved it into Olivia's mouth. Then he made her rinse her mouth out with water from Lauren's new Tour of California water bottle (she didn't complain) and hustled the other girls to pick up their bikes and balls and hustle to the Suburban.

When we got home, Mom did a quick assessment and decided the folks at the ER had better take a second look. Aunt Dee-Dee sped over to the house to whisk Mom and Olivia away while Julia continued to complain about the blood on her sweatshirt.

At Children's Hospital, the doctor told us that they really don't stitch up cut lips anymore because children tend to break the stitches open. So with a popsicle in hand, Olivia returned home with instructions not to eat anything sweet or spicy (or hard) for the next 24-48 hours.

As of this writing, she is doing quite well - with not a single complaint that her lip is bothering her. And Julia seems to have forgotten about the blood on her sweatshirt. (Thanks, Mom, for washing it.)

Day At The Park

We don't have the pictures to prove it, but the entire family made it to the park Tuesday afternoon to enjoy a sun-splashed day in March.

The girls brought two soccer balls, two bikes (Julia and Olivia rode them), two flags and four bottles of water. Playing soccer reminded Mom and Dad that it would be nice to get the girls back out for the sport. What we don't need reminding about is that it will be a long drive to practices and games in Bellevue.

The 2007-08 Spartans

The official team photo of the 2007-08 St. Mary's of Bellevue Spartans basketball team. Front row, from left: Julia YD, Emma D., Maddy G., Annie N. Back row, from left: Coach Janda, Katie H., Sarah J., Emma S., Emily YD, Elena Y., Rachel N., Laura C., Dad, Coach Norris.
Though he is not pictured, Uncle Neil has been a huge help to the team, particularly in Dad's absence. To take a look at Dad's team from 2006 click here or to see his team from last year click here. Note Emily's height in comparison to her teammates from this year to last year.

How Do You Spell...

Veronica is taking an interest in learning how to spell things. She will often ask Mom or Dad to write out a word or someone's name. Then she will take pen to paper herself and try to write the letters. She's pretty good with the letters "O" and "I."

She also spells words in her own unique way. Mom will ask her how to spell "cook."

"B E F cook!"

How about spelling "daddy."

"B E F daddy!"

OK, so she doesn't exactly have Lauren's gift of spelling, but at least she's trying. We're not exactly sure where the "B E F" comes from.

A Wild Weekend

The view from the upper deck in the Devaney Sports Center.
Mom snapped this great picture of UNO's winning goal.
What promised to be a busy weekend lived up to its billing, with no fewer than three basketball games and a hockey game that stretched long into the night.

First, to basketball. We drove to Lincoln Friday after Emily and Dad's basketball team practice. This marked the family's first trip to the state basketball tournament. Dad knew the drill, having covered the event from 1987 to about 2000 for several newspapers. Bellevue East, with cousin Ryan, was playing in the semifinals against Lincoln High. The Chieftains came through with their second straight upset of the tourney to advance to Saturday's final.

Saturday, though, we couldn't make it back since Emily and Dad's basketball team had a pair of games. In the first, they won 18-2. About eight hours later (at 9 p.m.), they played - and beat - Sts. Peter & Paul 23-15, to avenge a regular season loss. The result moves them into a semifinal game Thursday against St. Bernadette.

Meanwhile, in Lincoln, Bellevue East lost by a point in the championship game to Omaha Central and the UNO hockey team lost in the second game of its playoff series with Alaska.

That loss for UNO meant there would be a third game of the series Sunday night. So there we were, back at the Qwest Center, for the final home hockey game of the season. Fortunately, the Mavericks won. Unfortunately for us, it took them three overtime periods to do it. By the time the goal was scored, it was after 11 p.m. (but only Olivia - pictured at right - had nodded off). The girls didn't get to bed until midnight.

Busy, Busy

It is already a case of "March Madness" at the YD house, thanks to a bevy of activities on our calendar.

Last night, we attended the UNO Mavericks' first playoff game at the Qwest Center Omaha. Not only did UNO win, but by scoring four goals (the final score was 4-3), they earned us free tacos at Qdoba Mexican Grill.

Tonight, Bellevue East's boys basketball team plays in the state semifinals at the Devaney Sports Center. Tomorrow, Emily and Dad's team (with a new play for the playoffs) has two games in the St. Bernadette Tournament. It promises to be an on-the-go weekend, with weather that isn't exactly balmy. Today's high is expected to only be in the low 20s.

On another note, Veronica is very happy that Dad is home. She spent a lot of time Thursday with her arm around him and sat on his lap for an entire period at the hockey game. She is also becoming quite the big girl, as she only wears a "night night" diaper at bedtime and "big girl" pants during the day.

With that said, Mom and Dad also have to salute Lauren for her Lenten mission of not sucking her thumb. Like Mom told her, it takes 21 days to start or break a habit and Lauren is doing great.