Indiana Sledding

This is from Wednesday. Yesterday, we did Hillbilly Sledding. We took the bottom off a pallet and Patti pulled the kids around on the 4-wheeler! I'll try to load some pics from that on tonight.

We're still without power and we're told it could be another week! We still have street lights not working in town.

Sledding on Ty's Birthday

That is what I call

a very creative use of snow...

Picture taken dowtown STL today...

shows there might be a purpose for the "ballpark village" area close to the new stadium after all.....I'm not one to usually stir the Cards/Cubs pot but I couldnt' resist passing this photo along.

Happy Birthday, Ty

Happy Birthday, Ty! Looks like it's pretty icy at your end. The boys are off school today and even SIU is closed, so we just got back from two hours of sledding and I will spend the rest of the day sorting mittens, socks, gloves, bibs and boots....you know how that goes! Great fun, though. Hopefully we got some good wipe-out videos to post on youtube later.

Hope you have an awesome birthday, Ty!! Let's meet for dinner. =)

More Storm Pictures

What A Birthday!!

Our power went off at 6:00 last night when a frozen limb fell across a powerline. We decided to stay at home and ride it out. Until....We're laying in bed and hearing tree limbs break and fall to the ground and our roof. At 12:30 this morning, we decided to leave and go to our friend's apartment. It was pouring down rain and 32. At 7:00 this morning, we have @7" of snow and its 24. Oh, at 7:02, my lovely wife stepped on my glasses and broke them!!

The last picture is from yesterday when the ice and snow was cool and fun. The other pics are from this morning at our house. Today is a good day to be a renter!!!

My birthday will get better, I'm sure of it!

Happy Birthday, Ty!!

Happy Jack Bauer Day!

It's a happy day at the Smith House, because our dear friend Jack Bauer returns tonight after a nearly two year absence.

We are happy that the Cardinals won last night, we are still rooting for Kurt Warner.

Classes start tomorrow so my four-week vacation is almost over. Sure went by quickly. I actually got an email from one of my SIU kids, apologizing to me that he will miss the first day of class because he is deployed in Afghanistan and won't be back in the states until Tuesday. This kid gets an A+ before school even starts! He's already my favorite!

Looking forward to buying your book, Tom, for everyone I know. What's the latest?

Have a good Sunday, everyone! Enjoying those playoffs in HD, Dad? =)

My trip to a HS B'ball game

Thought the EHS Alums would find this a bit different experience than when they were in school. Got there in time to blow up the balls for the JV game. 22 Cheerleaders on hand for this game. At half time, 16 JV dancers perform. Then the varsirty game starts. Again, 22 new Cheerleaders and at half time 16 new Varsity dancers. For thegame the students stand and jump like at Duke and the band blares on. Incidentally, we beat East side 40 to 38 withe ball in the air when the backboard turned red. Some very confusing things about the two games. The JV team dressed only 8 boys. The varsity dresses 16 with only 2 of the JV players and only 9 of the 16 get into the game. One varsity player is a freshman and he played a total of about 5 minutes. Coach Waldo has won over 500 games but he overcoaches by screaming at the players and 1 mistake and out. Thought you would like to know how man y people are involved for a game. It is a very entertaining evening and we seniors get in free so I cant be too critical. Happy Sunday to all Norm

Norm on Christmas Night

Tom and Ty: this video is posted especially for you since you missed all the "oh for God's sake"s on Christmas night. Enjoy!

Mom and I agree with Julie that we should meet Ty and family more often for a meal in
Mt. Vernon. An interesting twist on our venture to get the Suburban half way home. First, a giant thank you to Julie for stepping in and driving Mom on the first leg of the journey. It seems that Julie got leg cramps trying to hold back"Pearl" as they thought they were in a funeral procession as Norm was driving so slow. That was not a problem on the way home as Julie and "Pearl" were moving right along. Obviously, we missed Tom and family not bein g able to make it home for the Holidays but we sure did enjoy the troops from Naperville, Newbergh, and St. Louis. Rather quiet around here. I took some smack from two at Mt. Vernon about the lack of our participation in the Blog so we will try to correct that. Much Love to all

Silver Lining....

Well, Ty had to pay a gazillion dollars to get a new transmission for the Suburban, but on the upside, we got to have a fun and wonderful dinner with him at the Mount Vernon Chili's on Wednesday night.

I say we meet there again - we live too close not to see each other more often! =)

Happy New Year??

You wouldn't have seen us smiling quite so much a few hours after the St. Louis tour on New Year's Eve. The transmission went out on the suburban going from Julie's house to mom & dad's. The good news is that it happened in E'ville. We limped to the house going @20mph. We had to rent a vehicle to get home! Mom and dad and Julie are driving to Mt. Vernon tonight to meet Christopher and I to get it home. I'm having trouble uploading pics. I will try later.