Happy Birthday Will!

It's a Boy!  12/3/1992Fifteen years ago, December 3, 1992, I went to work, and so did my wife Jennifer. We didn’t know yet that you’d be born that afternoon, but your mom called me at work from the Doctor’s office and said, “Meet me at the hospital, the doctor says’ this baby is coming now!”. And later that afternoon, you arrived. Katie McGrath won my office’s baby pool to guess your arrival date.

Anyway, that was 15 years ago. You and I both weigh more than we did in this photo. And your hair is much longer than it was then. But I still have the sweater, wore it just last week. Maybe I’ll give it to you on your 16th birthday!

Happy Birthday Will! We’re very proud of you, and love you very much.

Happy Birthday Colleen!

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You’re already in bed after your first day as an 11-year old. But while there’s still some minutes left of your birthday, I thought I’d tell you here in my blog how much we love you and are proud of you. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of you, is fun. You are a fun person to be around. You like to play games (are a wicked backgammon player), and you are also very funny (not looking, I mean humorous 🙂 You’re very curious (yes, like the monkey) – always wanting to learn new things, adventurous (yes, like a pirate) – always eager to try new things. And you are also friendly, kind, and quite a looker too!

Happy Birthday, Colleen! We’re very excited about being with you all of your 11th year.

BTW, the CUBS won tonight!

Back to School

Ah, where does the summer go? Ours was full and fun, but now September is here once again, and this week was time for heading Back-to-School.

We’ve now left elementary school behind, as Colleen enters middle school as a 6th grader, and Will is now our second child in high school. For the last twelve years we’ve had one or more kids attending Henderson Elementary School, and I’d like to say thanks for the great job they did for each of them.

This morning, Colleen and I walked to our respective bus stops together. My pickup is just across the street from hers, and just a few minutes earlier. It was kind of strange, standing across the street waving at each other. Her to catch a school bus to take her five miles to school, and me to catch a commuter bus to take me 30 miles to work.

Tonight I rushed home from work to make it to Back-to-School night at my daughter Katie’s high school. The parents there followed their children’s schedule from class to class, spending 10 minutes in each for a quick introduction and overview from the teachers. I have to confess, it made me glad that high school is far behind me. She will have a heavy workload in classes that I hope will engage as well as challenge her.

If we continued counting years as grades in our ongoing education of life, then this fall I’m a 37th grader. I’m not done learning, but the degrees I work for now come bi-weekly and have dollar signs on them.

Oh yeah, and looking back at last year, we can’t forget what else going back-to-school brings next.

5th Grade Grad

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Colleen made the leap out of Elementary School today, advancing out of the 5th grade. She is our last to complete her Elementary years at Henderson, the school that is literally next door to us. We’ve been very lucky to have our kids start their educations at such a great school. Colleen was recognized with two awards; an Academic Award for earning a straight – A average in her whole 5th grade year, and the Principal’s Award for having the highest grade average in her class.

Congratulations Colleen! We are very proud of you.

A Casey Playwright

A few months back, Katie had a school assignment that required her to submit a stage play to the Student 10-Minute Play Competition sponsored by the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Katie has described her entry as ‘cobbled together’ from a couple of other pieces, and edited down to meet the time requirement. Her entry, Dream a Dream, was one of ten honorable mentions selected in the High School category from among a total of 595 entries.

Each of the honorable mention plays was performed in a reading by Arena Stage actors. I was there with the family video camera, and have finally got it online. So now, for the first time online…

Dream a Dream, by Katie Casey

 

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