New Blogger: New Problems

Posted by Todd:

Melinda accidently migrated us over to "New Blogger." The sign in page at "Old Blogger" basically tries to trick you into thinking that you have no choice. My brother accidently migrated our family blog, and I had to work to avoid migrating my personal blog for a long time prior to this week. It was inevitable, though.

Anyway, when Melinda migrated this blog, she used my email address and password. As a result, the profiles for my personal blog and this blog are, for the moment, linked. In other words, you will notice that the family picture is gone here (for now). It is because I deleted it while editing my personal blog (not knowing that it would have consequences here). For now, both this blog's and my personal blog's profile is "greerz" with no picture. More importantly, I assume everyone else is shut-out from access. In short, Technical Support is aware of the problem and is working on a solution.

(i.e., Karl: Help! toddcpearson@gmail.com)

A Grand Day

By Melinda:

The kids were out of school on Monday for President's Day so I took them to the Grand Lodge waterpark in Bloomington. It was packed, but we had a ball. Ella loved the giant waterslides. Cole loved the wave pool. We floated around and around in the river until Ella fell asleep in the innertube. Perhaps one of the finest days we have ever had.

Three Inches of Flour

By Melinda:

Sunday Ella was helping her Dad build me a footstool for use at my craft table. Ella was measuring, marking, reading information back to Todd, etc., while Cole and I were in the kitchen baking a cake in our newly installed (and apparently functioning) oven. When Ella joined us in the kitchen I asked if she wanted to help bake the cake. She said yes with great enthusiasm. I told her she could measure the flour. Ella replied: "Great, I'll go get the tape measure." She cracks me up!

She's Scaring Me

By Melinda:

Last night I was cleaning out Ella's backpack and I found a piece of paper with Ella's name written in cursive several times. Her friend Brooke's name was also on the piece of paper, so I asked "Ella, did Brooke write your name in cursive for you?" Ella responded "No, I did that on the bus." Greeting everything Ella has to say with a healthy skepticism, Todd (moving the first piece of paper to the other side of the kitchen) says: "Ok, show Mom on a new piece of paper how you write your name in cursive." She sat down and promptly did. She then tried, with less success, to write someone else's name in cursive.

We can now add writing cursive to the list of things Ella has taught herself: reading, tying shoes, memorizing her home phone number, etc.

What am I, nuts?

By Melinda:

Since the day we moved into our home four years ago I have been devoted to perserving the quality of life in our lakeside village. Taking the long-term view and setting aside what the short-term cost to my family will be I volunteered to serve on the City of Wayzata Citizen's Task Force that will rewrite the City's Comprehensive Plan. This is a very powerful document that will have a profound impact on the direction development will take in our town in the next 10 years. The Mayor called last week and asked me to serve on the Task Force. I readily agreed. Last night at the City Council meeting at which the appointment of the eight of us who will serve on the Task Force was confirmed, I learned that many citizens were competing for those spots, including one neighbor who told me that she was "very jealous" of my appointment. It sounds like we have a lot of work ahead of us, with a projected completion date of March 2008. I'm sure it will also be a difficult process as there are many conflicting views in town over the direction our lakeside village should take. I hope I am up to the job.

Cole Dracula

By Melinda:

Cole has now lost his two upper front teeth. He looks a bit like Dracula. I'll post a picture when I get them downloaded.

Golden Retrievers Rule!

By Melinda:

Just in case you hadn't figured this one out for yourself, Golden Retrievers are way easier to train than my lovely but slightly dopey Borzoi.

Here a cold, there a cold, everywhere a cold, cold!

By Melinda

Cole woke up last week with his first cold in 4 years. Having his superhuman immune system, he skimmed along the top of that cold. Ella came down with it on Friday night -- crawling into our bed in the middle of the night to share the joy of a sleepless night. It hit Todd hard yesterday. Thanks to the use of Airborne (TM) I am still skimming along the top of this cold with just a bit of a runny nose and a little coughing, despite wiping many a nose in the past week (not Todd's for the record).

And speaking of cold, it is COLD here. Scarlett is none too pleased with the weather. She requires adult supervision to ensure she actually leaves the front step to take care of her business. Who thought it would be a good idea to own a Whippet in Minnesota?

Orange, Orange Everywhere

On Wednesday night Cole participated in the belt promotion at Mask Karate and earned his orange belt. He was the only panelist "going for the orange" so he had to do a number of forms by himself in front of the 20-25 people present. He did a great job and we are most proud of him!