Peoria Bound

Robert moments before I dropped him off at school Wednesday. I love having a job where I can take a 2 hour lunch so I can see my kid off on his trip. We went and had lunch together at Puerto Vallarta and then packed him up and got him on his way.

Another adventure....Life is good.

It sounds like he has had an awesome time. They got to see the guy that wrote the music for the Halo video games, they got to see Robert's cousin Nicole play the piano piece that won first place in the young composers contests, they got to spend time with kids just like them from all over the state and they got to spend time with each other. Robert's roommate was Danny Cast. I wasn't blogging yet when he was a freshman but there is definitely a story....

One day at work, I get a phone call from Andrew, he is home and apparently so is Robert. Robert gets on the phone and the first words out of his mouth is "MOM, you HAVE to call the school and tell them this wasn't Danny's fault- it is as much my fault as his and if he gets in trouble, I need to be in trouble too"-- I had no clue what was going on. It just so happened that Danny and Robert were messing around before band started. They were really just giving each other a hard time, In fact, Robert was pretending to choke Danny and Danny reached up to take a swing at Robert. The problem is he accidentally connected. Robert had blood coming from a cut right under his eye, which made it look like his eye was actually bleeding. There was also a blood vessel busted in Robert's eye so he looked like he had been beaten up badly. The school nurse sent Robert home and wouldn't let him come back to school until we had taken him to the doctor.

I called the school; when my friend Laura answered the phone, I told her what Robert had said and she laughed. She had a story to tell me too.

When all of this happened, Danny was the one to take Robert to the nurse, when the nurse said Robert needed ice, Danny RAN to get it for him. Danny helped him to the office and after Andrew had picked up Robert, Laura told Danny he should go back to class. Danny's response: I might as well wait around for my punishment. After the doctor visit and declaring Robert's eye looked worse than it was, he returned to school the next day. They both got called into Mr. Athey's office and because there are rules against fighting and it was pretty evident they had been fighting even if it was friendly, they got two Saturdays of Saturday school. Do you remember the old adage about a good friend bailing you out of jail but a great friend...?

This summer, I came home from work one day and Danny and Robert were sitting on the same couch playing a video game with a bunch of other friends, I almost commented then that I didn't know if they should be competing against each other and sitting that close. When All-State was announced and Danny and Robert were the only two guys going, I thought somehow it was funny. Even more memories those two will remember the rest of their lives. I have a very short list of guys that I would feel totally comfortable with Robert sharing a room with. Danny is most definitely one of them.

We are heading up in a matter of hours. I am really excited to see Robert but just so very glad he has gotten to experience this. It's times like this I stop and thank the Lord one more time for bringing us back home to Jasper county.

Robert Browning as Uncle Henry

The results are posted! Jacob had this down so well on facebook that I just copied and pasted. Thanks Jacob! You made my job easy!! Of course I had to edit it to put Jacob back in.

Jenna Zuber and Kerstine Kerner got Dorothy, Jared Britton got Lion, Danny Cast got Scarecrow, Jacob Sainer and Landon Rauch got double cast as Tin Man, Luke Bloomberg got the Wizard, Robert and Danny Weishaar got double cast as Uncle Henry, Rachel Bratsch is Aunt Em, Kristen Shackman and Lisa Frichtl got double cast as the Wicked Witch, and finally......Taryn and Jamie Mahaffey got double cast as Glinda.

Of course, it takes a lot of cast to put on these musicals. Congratulations to all who are getting ready to go down the yellow brick road. Once again, it will be a trip to remember the rest of your lives!


Don't forget, the musical is Thursday, April 15th; Friday, April 16th; Saturday, April 17th (x2); and Sunday afternoon, April 18th. There will be dinner theater before the Friday and Saturday evening performances.

Wow, do you know that I now only have one more time to post about what Robert is doing in the high school musical? Next year is going to be an absolute killer for me!

Here We Go.......

Musical tryouts tonight.....so begins our spring adventures.

Results tomorrow night at 4:00. It's gonna be a long couple of days......

Good luck Robert!

St. Louis Trip

What an absolutely fantastic day! We got to the Science Center just as it opened. Of course, Robert was driving. He is getting pretty good at driving in St. Louis. I figure he might as well get plenty of practice while I am with him. I started going to St. Louis with friends when I was 18 and he loves it down there as much as I do.

One of the highlights of the day was Robert riding a segway

We no longer have to worry about his future, if all else fails he can be a mall cop.








We love the Science Center. I am really excited that they have put the planetarium shows back to the way they were when we were kids.


Monday afternoon, we took the Great River Road to Grafton. We couldn't believe how much ice was on the Mississippi. The barges were just barely moving through it. We have already decided we need a day trip in the jeep or maybe a weekend, just exploring the little towns down the Great River Road.



We finished off our day at the Fin Inn, a great fish place a friend of ours had told us about a while back. The food was scrumptious and the aquariums at each table were really a neat feature. This too, is someplace we are going to visit again! In fact, I can actually see us just running away for an evening and going here to eat fish. Life is an adventure!







We had a fantastic time and it was just what we needed to take a break before the busy-ness of the next couple of months kicks in.

Finally.... I get to GO someplace!

It seems like we have been in a routine lately of "it's the weekend, which truck gets worked on". The guys FINISHED the front overhaul on the jeep today. We still have Monday. St. Louis, here we come! I have been having severe St. Louis withdrawal. .;*^*;._.;*^*;. I AM SO EXCITED!!!.;*^*;._.;*^*;.

Back in the Groove

It's time for the Browning family to get busy again and get back in our normal "not crazy but should be" life. I have to admit, it has been really nice having a slower pace for a while. We are so backwards. Usually Christmas is a crazy time of year for everyone and it is when life slows down just a little for us. Now January has hit and the calendar is back to filling up.

Robert has musical tryouts on the 21st and leaves for All-State on the 27th, of course, it is pep band season so throw playing at a few ballgames into the mix. He knows his Saturday's are numbered because Musical practice starts the first week in February and that normally consists of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He loves this though. He gets cabin fever when he has to stay home, he would rather just be with his friends. He usually does a better job of keeping his grades up during musical that any other time of year. He's a little like his Mama, the more he has to do, the more he can get done. He is also still doing really well after his teeth surgery.

He has spent the snow days working on the El Camino (and the jeep). The El Camino needed new parts in the steering, he got those put on Friday. Thursday, he put a new hub assembly on the jeep. This was on the driver's side, he and his dad had put the other side on last weekend. When they got that done, they realized they are still hearing a bearing going out. So, the jeep is still on jacks in the garage. Somehow, they can put it back together so it is drivable, just no 4 wheel drive and hopefully Robert can take it to school Thursday for shop day and get the new bearings pressed on. When this is done, the jeep will have had a entire front end overhaul.

Andrew goes back to days on the 23rd. We are really excited about this. It will still be a big change as the new program calls for them working 12 hour shifts, 3 days in a row, then having 3 days off. He will work 8-8 so three days he will be gone all day but still be home in time to go to bed. I am really happy about that, as is Robert. For the past year, when I have thought something was wrong, I would get Robert up to go see about it. I know, Good Mom, huh? Well, he is in better shape, can run faster, hit harder....you know? And he's a guy, just training him for that day in the future when his wife wakes him up and says "I think there's someone in the living room".

Last year at this time I had spent a week in Springfield and had another trip scheduled, this year, there aren't even any on the calendar. Because of the demise of Windows Vista, I am having to do a lot of revamping on the classes I teach. I have 11 laptops that need downgraded to XP as well as I have to find new textbooks. Hopefully we will start our first class of the year in March.

We had our first family meeting of the year last night, lots of plans, usually we get about a third of what we want to accomplished but as long as we know where we are heading we are doing good.

Happy Monday!

Out with the Old, In with the New

Happy 2010 everyone! I spent a little time looking through last year's posts and reflecting on some of the things that were happening in our lives.

Robert has had such a big year, he was in two musicals, is learning to play yet another instrument (Tuba)made it to All-state (the end of this month) and the big one, got his truck running. There have been so many things in between that I can't even think of all of them. All in all, I am so very proud of who he is becoming. I have to tell you, so many of my friends have little ones and I am jealous that my little one grew up so fast but he continues to amaze me just like he did when he took that first step, or rode a bike for the first time, or brought home a perfect paper from school.

Andrew had lots of projects this year, mainly on the jeep and helping Robert on the El Camino. I am hoping for some remodeling projects this year that had been put on hold while they were working on the truck. Hopefully, next year I can look back and "reflect" on my Old Ugly back bathroom, and my kitchen that is in dire need of a paint job, new countertops and maybe even new tile. We shall see.

I spent so much time traveling this year! I used to dread it, now I get enthused about the opportunities it brings me. I guess the highlight of my travels this year have been standing 5 feet from Governor Quinn as he put our LIHEAP program back under the umbrella it belongs under (moved by Blago to benefit his college roommate) and going to Lexington. We are hoping to get to go to the National Energy Assistance Director's Association conference in San Antonio this summer. We went to Denver for this two years ago and I came home very excited about everything I learned. I should know in the next few weeks if this is a go or not.

I know we lost a bunch of famous celebraties and characters this year. There were a few that left a bigger hole than others. Bea Arthur, I remember not being old enough to supposed to understand Maude, but man I loved her! Maude would speak her mind and though it may cut a bit, she told it like it was. She was just as great in the Golden Girls and I still watch reruns any chance I get. Patrick Swayze, what would the world have been without him? And, on top of being a stellar actor, I have admired the fact that he has never been in the scandal sheets for all the typical stuff actors do. He loved his wife til the day he died and he would tell anybody that. Who didn't dream of being Baby though? I liked Roadhouse, and Ghost, but there is just something about Dirty Dancing that always stops me in my tracks. They told on the news last night that Val Kilmer was up for the part of Johnnie Castle, I thought I would be sick, Patrick Swayze WAS Johnnie Castle--end of story. Also, though he did a lot of questionable things, Michael Jackson was very clearly one of the icons of my growing up years, I thought it fitting yesterday, when watching one of the tributes of those we lost in 2009-- some said singer behind their names. Michael Jackson's said "Entertainer"-- that he was at least in the mid '80's.

I know 2009 held some terrible times for lots of people, fortunately for our family, it wasn't our year. Last year, I had made the comment that I was glad to start 2009 because 2008 had been hairy in some ways. I think 2009 has been one of the smoothest years we have had in a while, I hope and pray 2010 remains the same.

So, Happy 2010 everyone, may it bring you joy, peace, happiness and love.