Miss Emily Jean Farr turns 4 today!

Happy 4th birthday, Miss Emily Jean Farr! Em is our neice and Paul's god-daughter. She and Patrick are 1 year and 10 days apart. These 2 are going to grow up being good friends. And fireballs!

Can you say PRECIOUS MOMENTS?

Who was dreaming of a white Easter?

You can just about always expect weird weather in Lubbock for Easter Sunday, but SNOW??? This was a first. We just substituted a navy turtleneck for Patrick's navy polo and voile!



















Max, Ava, Patrick & Blaise after Easter Sunday Mass. All looking pretty and handsome in thier Easter outfits.

Cheese for chocolate bunnies and chocolate carrots and chocolate baseball and chocolate basketballs and MONEY! The Easter Bunny also brought Patrick some Superman big boy underwear. The Easter Bunny is good like that. Paul & I got new rosaries. I was still using the plastic one I received at my first communion. I was pretty impressed that I still had it from 1987, but I think as a grown woman, the Easter Bunny thought I could use a new one. Thanks, Easter Bunny!

Britta the Bibliophile (that means booklover)

This Friday’s topic - Favorite books. These are TOTALLY, completely random favorites.

1. The Drifters by James Michener. The book my name comes from. Britta is the second character in the book. My dad gave me a vintage copy when I was in my early 20s. Good thing he waited until then – it’s a book about coming of age, sex, defiance and “finding yourself.”
2. The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer. I did a presentation on this book for my College Teaching class. This was THE BOOK that convinced me my calling was in higher education working with students. I recently re-read it on a work trip. Very inspiring. It should be required reading for ALL teachers.
3. Laugh Again by Charles Swindoll. I have re-read this one, too. It’s an essay about St. Paul’s letters to the Philippians and Ephesians while he was imprisoned and how he was able to talk about his joy in following Christ. Charles Swindoll presents his ideas simply and uses great visuals.
4. Something More and Simple Abundances by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Two different titles. They are both guides to finding personal joy, comfort and passion. Very introspective reading. Again, I have re-read these. These were both important in “helping me be happy with me” – if that makes any sense.
5. Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton. This was the first book I started reading to Patrick when he was only weeks old and we have read it ever since. We have read it so much that he has memorized it! My sweet friend Mary Kate bought Patrick a Sandra Boynton Snuggle Puppy book with a cd, so now he SINGS Snuggle Puppy. This one has also become one of my standard baby gifts.
6. Moby Dick by Hermann Melville. This was my junior English teacher’s favorite book and it rubbed off on me. I loved the themes in the book and wrote one of my best papers ever for this book. And it has one of the best beginning lines ever. . . “Call me Ahab.”
7. Dan Brown’s Angles & Demons and The DaVinci Code. I borrowed The DaVinci Code from my grandfather while I was on bed rest. I read it in 2 days. I was totally enthralled! I read Angels & Demons in vacation in Galveston, again in 2 days. I thought The DaVinci Code movie was pretty right on. I even liked Tom Hanks. I can’t wait to see Angels & Demons.

My LEAST favorite book Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. Paul encouraged me to read this one after I finished The DaVinci Code while I was on bed rest. It was about a poor Irish family and was SO depressing, ESPECIALLY since I was on bed rest and about to have a baby.

A little pink and a little blue!

Congratulations are in store for 2 of my favorite people! Steve, my Dude of Honor, and his wife Erin had thier first baby Monday. Tobias "Toby" Alexander Kowalik. He was born 7 weeks early but is doing very well Steve says. Keep little Toby in your prayers.
Katie, my Matron of Honor, and her husband Jeff found out today that they are having a baby girl! This is very good news for Preston, their 3 year old, since he has been convinced he was getting a little sister from day one. Finally Jeff gets his "daddy's little girl" since Katie has her "mommy's little boy." I am SO EXCITED for both of my friends!

Happy 89th birthday, Sweet Mammy!

My dad's mom - Edna Beth Tye - aka Mammy is celebrating 89 years today! I love this picture we took at Hog Fest in Rotan - mostly for that fact that she os wearing a Coors Light arm band. Too funny! The top picture of of my Dad's side of the family. She has 2 children - my dad and my Aunt Jane, 5 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. I love that she follows Tech sports and Ranger baseball. She calls me for scores sometimes and I feel guilty that I am not paying as much attention to my beloved Raiders as she is.

Patrick's Ark?

After spending an hour in our bathroom cuddling on Patrick's crib mattress during the 98th & University tornado scare, we braved the flood waters to have dinner with my folks, like we usually do on Sunday afternoons. After SEVERAL hours of the rain and too many satellite interruptions on the TV, Paul decided we needed to build a "boat" since there was a river on 93rd Street. He fashioned the USGC CODD out of some cardboard he found in the garage, some packing tape, wax paper and skewers. He braved the rain with Mom's green polka-dot umbrella to put the boat in street by the neighbors house. Mom tried to take pictures of the boat en float but the camera focused on the rain falling off the roof instead. All in all, it was a good adventure for a rainy Sunday evening. The USCG CODD is now docking in Mom and Dad's backyard by a chaise lounge. I imagine it's in shambles now since it was made out of cardboard and tape.

Hope everyone stays safe during all this crazy spring weather.

Our Little Helper

We had a busy day today and Patrick was a big helper! He LOVES to use the kitchen sweeper. My mom gave this to us for Christmas and it ROCKS! It makes cleaning tile or linoleum floors soooo much easier! Especially when Patrick insists that its HIS job.

Patrick also helped Paul in the yard. Paul was re-doing one of our flower beds and found a worm. Patrick thought it was pretty neat. We are also super psyched becasue Archie, our turtle, came out of hibernation today!
Patrick and his worm.