Our version of March Madness!

I have a busy week ahead as I prepare to leave for Atlanta early Friday morning. Jimmy's family will make the drive on Saturday to spend their Spring Break in the Peach State with our Peaches - and the rest of her family. Jenny and Eric need to attend a birthing class on Saturday so I am going to travel a day earlier than originally planned. We had always been going to go in two vehicles so that I could stay on and be of some help while the whole extended family waits for Hattie to decide to make her appearance. Papa (Tom) will fly to Georgia after the birth to meet his newest granddaughter! We will drive home together at the end of his week-long vacation.

Can't believe this will be Tom's last vacation before he joins me in retirement, the ultimate vacation! He is surprising me by really looking forward to it; he's counting down the days - and the number of weekends he still has left to carry the clinic cell phone - FOUR!!!! Jimmy says the EHS coaches are all betting that "Doc" will pull a Brett Fauvre when it is actually time to walk out the door of Goodwin Animal Hospital for the last time as a practicing veterinarian. He is going to keep his license current so he can help out should the need arise. A young couple is buying his share of the practice so there will be times when both of them will need to be away from work at the same time. I know Tom; he won't be able to leave Charlie alone to work himself sick. Their practice has grown to the point that one vet cannot handle it solo.

Big decisions are being made about Grandma's care. It looks as if she will be moving to Elm Croft, a beautiful facility in Maumelle, Arkansas, this week. She has done amazingly well since her hip surgery. Everyone who has met her in the hospital, St. Vincent's Rehab, and Sherwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has told Alton and Tommy how impressed they are with her quick wit and her cooperative spirit during various difficult, painful therapies. We are so proud of her!

Hope Atlanta is ready for the Johnsons! We have lots of things planned: aquarium, zoo, cyclorama (a re-enactment of the Civile War Battle of Atlanta); NHL, Margaret Mitchell House, Coca Cola Museum, Six Flags, Stone Mountain. Not sure what else our tour guide, the eight months pregnant Jenny, has arranged for us. I was worried about her having a herd of company at this time but she is excited about having things to do to keep her mind and body busy while she waits for Hattie to give an indication that she has chosen her birthday!

On a side note, Julie successfully registered Maddy at High Goodwin to begin kindergarten in the fall! I surprised myself by crying when Julie texted me as she was leaving central office. Hugh Goodwin is such a big part of my life and I am so excited that Maddy will be able to be in the History Parade, the Nutcracker, Schoolhouse Rock - just so many neat things!!!! She'll even check out books that I bought!!! Jenny and Hannah are both HG alums so the family tradition continues, after a detour where DanMan, appropriately, went to the Math and Science School.

Busy making things

Well, fiddle!!! I just learned something important! I thought that, inside a blog entry, photos would be entered in descending order - just like lines of copy. I intended for Tommy and DanMan to be above the baby stuff picture not below! Anyway, here are the items I made for an auction at Lucy's school. Jenny ended up being in charge of the class donation and I offered to make some things. Shown above are a blanket, sweater, bib, and wash cloth.

Ever since we moved to the country, Tommy has taken great pleasure in our bird neighbors. We have multiple, multiple bird feeders and he is faithful about keeping them full. Recently, he decided that we needed more birdhouses to attract more birds so he and DanMan got busy making some. Saturday he hung one on a sweetgum tree. He started to walk away, turned to look back at the birdhouse when he was about fifteen yards away - and saw a little chickadee fly into it!

Baby Hattie gave us a scare last week. We were afraid she wanted to share Uncle Stephen's March 1st birthday! Jenny was in the hospital for several hours but the doctors were able to stop her contractions. Due day is not until mid-April so we are all relieved that Hattie agreed to wait. Jenny will be 35 weeks tomorrow.

Championship ring!

The El Dorado Wildcats held their football banquet and ring ceremony on Thursday, February 25, 2010! I realize that you really can't tell much from this picture but I wanted you to know that I have been telling the truth! The Wildcats really are state champs; you can read the word CHAMPIONS on the ring! The Cats are graduating so many fine young men. It is sad but exciting. Some of them are boys I taught in elementary school; some are students I met during my long-term sub situation in the EHS library last spring. Some I don't personally know but I feel as if I have gotten to know them by watching them on the field and listening to Jimmy and DanMan. You would be surprised by what you can learn about a person's character by the way he treats the water boy!

Yesterday was Math and Science Fun Day for DanMan's elementary school. A good friend of mine is the focus coordinator there so I have been volunteering in recent years. Yesterday, for the first time, I had DanMan in one of my groups and my friend took our picture. It is not a flattering photo of either of us but still I treasure it! Fun Day is a wonderful learning experience for every child at Yocum Elementary. I did my experiment with 1/4 of the 600+ children enrolled there so it was a L-O-N-G day! I had such a good time though. DanMan (and all the other kids) first tried to blow out a candle with a funnel by blowing through the small end. Then we turned the funnel around and blew through the large end. If the child managed to "aim at the flame" (my mantra for the day), blowing through the large end was obviously the most effective! This is DanMan's last year at Yocum but I imagine I will continue to participate in this activity. I feel kind of guilty because I retired from Hugh Goodwin Elementary and still think of it as MY school. HG does some wonderful learning activities too and I volunteer there as well. El Dorado has gone to a focus concept and DanMan and his parents decided that he would fit best at the Math and Science School. Maddy begins elementary school next year and she has chosen MY school - the Academy of the Arts!

Hannah's first dance!

My precious Hannah Banana went to her first dance Saturday night! I was lucky enough to be invited to go along dress shopping. Didn't we make a great choice?

Grandma with-the-cows 99th birthday party!

Tommy's mother turned 99 on February 1st. Many family members met at the St. Vincent Rehabilitation Hospital on January 31 to celebrate with her. She made me laugh so hard after she was pretty woozy on her way to her hip replacement surgery on MLK Day. A tech of some sort leaned over her and, saying he had to be sure he had the right patient, asked her her birth date. She replied "TWO - ONE - ELEBEN. I'm an old coot!" No, I didn't misspell "eleven"; that's how it came out! (Many thanks to Natalie Doss Costner for my blog tutorial. I THINK I should be posting a picture of Grandma and her sugar-free birthday cake when I click SAVE NOW.)

Over two years later!

I last posted to this journal over two years ago. I am ashamed of myself. With all of the cute people I have to report on, I should be posting daily!

Tom has a retirement date - June 1, 2010. He is counting down the number of weekends he has left to be "on call" - FIVE!

Jenny and Eric are expecting a second daughter, to be named Hattie in honor of her ninety-nine year old great grandmother. The baby is due in mid-April and will be born in Atlanta, their home until July of 2010. Eric is doing a fellowship at Emory in minimally invasive surgery.

Jimmy's Wildcats reached the state championship game in 2008 but lost to Lake Hamilton. In 2009, though, the Cats managed to win their first state title in 51 years!!!! We are so proud of everyone connected with the team! Jill created a book documenting the game from a Johnson perspective. It is a treasure!

The rest of us have no huge news but are well and happy.